Tag Archives: television

The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (7/28 – 8/4)

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If I had to pick the Worst Thing I Saw on TV, my choice for this week would be easy: Part One of the The Bachelorette’s two-part finale was a depressing downer, with Desiree being dumped by the only man on the show she grew to love and 40 minutes of crying, which proved to be the most painfully real moments I’ve ever seen on reality TV.

Beyond those heartbreaking two hours, the rest of the week featured some strong performances from my favorite couples on So You Think You Can Dance, a new love interest for Donna (and rival for Harvey?) on Suits, the usual laughs from Hollywood Game Night, and some great reruns of New Girl and The Mindy Project—two shows that get even better with repeated viewings.

The best of the best, though, came from SYTYCD, but it wasn’t a moment by anyone in the Top 14 (now Top 12). Instead, it was one of those rare moments when a true pro in their genre shows the kids how it’s done.

With Curtis injured, Spencer Liff had to step in and perform in the Broadway group number he choreographed to “Come Together.” It’s always a treat to watch a choreographer perform their own piece, and this was no exception. Liff was everything this routine called for its dancers to be: fluid, strong, sexy, and thoroughly entertaining. His natural stage presence and technical ability made it impossible for me to take my eyes off him throughout the dance. This is what “Broadway dancing” should look like—it’s not cheesy or corny; it’s simply all about stage presence and style.

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?

Daily Dose of Feelings #19

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There’s no more emotionally volatile time in a person’s life than their teenage years. And no television show reflected that emotionally volatility quite like The O.C. did for my generation. Ten years ago, the show premiered as a soapy piece of summer escapism, but it ended up having a surprising number of emotionally honest moments before its run as king of the “teen soap opera” genre was over.

Most of those emotionally honest moments came from Seth and Summer, everyone’s favorite couple on The O.C. (or at least everyone with good taste). As a sophomore in high school, I latched on to Seth Cohen as my nerdy, sincere dream man. Seth was the kind of guy who wouldn’t judge you for being a virgin; he would take a relationship at whatever pace you wanted; and he would be content just to dance with you in his room because he loves you exactly as you are.

This scene still makes me cry because it’s so sweet. It’s funny and realistic and honest in what it says about sex and relationships. I love how earnest Seth is when he tells Summer that he could never think less of her upon finding out that she was a virgin before him. Seth is the kind of guy we all wish we could have found for our first love. He’s willing to take things slower because Summer wishes they wouldn’t have rushed into such a milestone, and that conversation rings with a truth not often heard on TV—and it’s a truth told with so much love and respect between these two characters.

When Seth offers his hand to Summer to dance with her (with Ryan Adams’s gorgeous “Wonderwall” cover playing in the background), I still get tears in my eyes at the simple romance of his gesture. There’s such a beautiful innocence to this moment. Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody had such a genuine, warm chemistry, and it’s used to great effect here. Bilson is especially endearing and emotionally affecting with just how vulnerable she allows Summer to be. It feels like you’re watching two teenagers fall in love in such a real way, and it resonates as strongly now as it did for me back when I watched it as a teenager for the first time.

TV Time: Teen Wolf 3.09

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It’s time once again for Leah to share her thoughts on the latest episode of Teen Wolf!

If you haven’t watched the episode yet, do that before reading! There are some major events in this episode that you do not want spoiled for you; trust me. Then come back and share your thoughts with me!

Title The Girl Who Knew Too Much

What Happened? In this episode, the Darach continues its sacrifices and our group scrambles to figure out its plan in order to stop it before it kills again. Isaac and Allison try to figure out what Chris Argent is up to, and Stiles tries to tell his father the truth about the supernatural beings that inhabit his town. Ultimately, during the school’s memorial for the recent lives lost in Beacon Hills, Jennifer Blake is revealed to be the Darach when she draws Lydia into an empty classroom in order to silence her and also finally gives us a name for Lydia’s powers—banshee. Sheriff Stilinski interrupts the attempt to kill Lydia, but he gets hurt and is taken by Jennifer as she escapes from Scott and Stiles via the classroom window.

Favorite Quotes
“You found a dead body?”
“Not yet.”
“Not yet? What do you mean not yet? Lydia, you’re supposed to call us after you find the dead body.”
“Oh no, I’m not doing that again. You find the dead body from now on.”
“How are we supposed to find the dead body? You’re always the one finding the dead body.”
“Guys…I found the dead body.” (Stiles, Lydia, and Scott)

“I cannot believe that we’ve gotten to the point where a sentence like ‘What if the Darach was an emissary to the Alphas?’ actually makes sense to me.” (Stiles)

“I smell blood.”
“Where? In what direction?”
“I don’t know, I’m not that good at this yet.” (Isaac and Allison)

“I don’t know why I’m the one that keeps finding the bodies. But maybe…if I just stop trying to fight it…I find them before it happens. Maybe with enough time for someone like you to do something about it.”
“You get me the time, and I’ll do something about it. I swear to God, I will.” (Lydia and Scott)

“You’re just like me, Lydia; look like the innocent flower, be the serpent under it.” (Jennifer Blake)

My Thoughts The “sheriff finds out” plot has been one that I’ve been waiting to see happen for a long time, because one of my favorite relationships on the show is between Stiles and his father. The scenes in Season 2 showing the deterioration of that relationship were some of the most painful scenes for me, and I am quite ready for the sheriff to join in on the supernatural-mystery-solving team, especially if he and Melissa McCall work together like they have been lately, because I am very much in favor of them being an awesome parental team helping their boys out. I think this episode showed us just how much their relationship has worsened due to the fallout from the lies Stiles has had to tell his dad to protect him. The emotional climax with Stiles’s line, “Mom would’ve believed me,” just killed me with feelings for the both of them. Hopefully we’ll get a scene in the next few episodes that will deal with the consequences from the sheriff realizing that his son was actually telling him the truth about werewolves, because I feel like the audience still needs some emotional payoff from the sadness in this episode.

On a side note, I feel like the chess scene with Stiles and the sheriff is probably what it is like for non Teen Wolf fans when we try to explain the plot to them. Sorry, everyone who has heard my excited ramblings about the show and wondered What the heck are you talking about?

We can finally put a name to what all of Lydia’s powers add up to! She is a banshee, which explains why we’ve seen her screaming so much in this season and last season. We still don’t know the full extent of her powers, or how her screaming works other than that she screams before a death occurs. What I find interesting is that it appears that Lydia’s scream acts in a similar way to the wolf howl; it gives her a way of calling the pack, as we saw that not only Scott, Ethan, and Aiden heard her scream, but Derek was able to hear Lydia’s scream all the way from the hospital. I’m hoping that we see that Lydia has more powers than just screaming to forewarn of a death and showing up at the place the bodies will be found, or that she at least learns how to gain some control over her powers.

The last major arc in this episode was the reveal that Jennifer Blake, our seemingly innocent English teacher, is the Darach. I knew there was something strange about her! I am quite curious about her past and her motives now, as she clearly knows the Alpha Pack and fears them enough to feel that the sacrifices are a “necessary evil.” That she is clearly being portrayed at the moment as a character who, as Peter would say, “live[s] in shades of gray,” is quite interesting, and I can’t wait to see where they take her character.

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Daily Dose of Feelings #18

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Sorry for the unannounced hiatus from these posts. I was all set to start writing when I suffered a bout of narcolepsy…or just couldn’t stay awake any longer after too many days of staying up too late to write.

Sometimes emotional moments catch you off guard. They’re the ones that leave you shaking your head as the tears form in your eyes, wondering how a show or an actor can manage to surprise you after you thought you’d seen it all from the world of television.

The ending of this season’s finale of New Girl caught me off guard, and that seems fitting for a show whose best moments have come when I didn’t expect them. After the way the finale had built to Nick and Jess deciding to call off their budding relationship, I expected the finale to end with tension and angst in order to create suspense going into this coming season. Much to my pleasant surprise, however, the season ended on an incredibly happy and hopeful note, with smiles, laughter, and one hell of a kiss.

While so much of New Girl works on an emotional level because of the complexity of Jake Johnson’s performance, this scene works because of Zooey Deschanel. I love her vulnerability at the start of this scene because it feels so genuine. Her eyes are red, her nose is red, and her voice sounds like she’s been crying ever since she walked away from Nick earlier in the episode. Those little details may not seem like much, but added together they make her emotional investment in this man and this potential relationship so subtly powerful. At this point in the season, we knew how much Nick loved Jess, so it was such a gorgeous moment to finally see how much Jess loved Nick when her voice broke as she asked him to “un-call it.”

The beginning of this scene may be emotional because it’s such a realistic depiction of the vulnerability that comes with loving someone, but the end of this scene gets the tears flowing for me because it’s such a realistic depiction of the happiness that comes from loving someone. The sound of Nick’s confident steps towards Jess is such a perfect touch—it makes my heart race in anticipation. And then he kisses her in that way only Nick Miller can kiss her, and the sheer happiness she feels with him causes her to laugh in one of the sweetest, most honest moments of love I’ve seen on television in a long time.

That’s what love is; it’s happiness. It’s someone who makes you smile, someone who makes you laugh. This is one of those scenes where understanding the characters and their journeys makes a scene even more emotionally resonant. Jess Day loves to be happy—she likes happy things like singing and dancing and polka dots. And Nick Miller has trouble finding and holding on to happiness—he’s grumpy and cynical and thinks people are the worst. So it’s a beautiful, surprisingly emotional thing to see these two people find each other and make each other this happy.

Love doesn’t always have to be dramatic and angst-ridden. It should be something that brings you joy. The same can be said for TV shows. New Girl brings me joy, and I’m so happy it chose to end such a great season on such a joyful note.

Daily Dose of Feelings #17

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It’s already been established here that series finales make me an emotional wreck. There’s something about that beautiful blurring of the line between characters and actors that heightens every moment in a series finale and makes every important beat resonate on a level that feels deeply personal.

Saying goodbye to a television series is like saying goodbye to a part of ourselves, like leaving home. That feeling is perfectly encapsulated in the Gilmore Girls series finale. When Rory talks about leaving Stars Hollow and leaving her mother, she speaks for us as an audience. We knew the day was coming when we’d have to say goodbye to Taylor and Luke and Miss Patty and Lorelai—but that didn’t mean we’d be able to do it without a few tears.

What makes this scene so moving is the way it gives us moments to reflect on so many of the characters we came to love over the course of the series. It begins with such a beautiful moment between Lorelai and her father, a moment that we spent so many years hoping to see. It’s not overly sentimental, but it’s incredibly heartfelt—and it was an emotional moment that felt earned rather than exploitive.

Everything about this scene feels genuine. Rory’s speech was a perfect way to give us one last look at the people and the place that made Gilmore Girls so special. I lose it every time when I look at Luke and think of how much he did for Rory—not just in this episode but throughout the series. He was more of a father to her than Christopher ever was. Luke is the kind of man who would throw together a graduation party in the middle of the night for a young woman who isn’t even his daughter. He’s the kind of man who makes a tent himself because it’s going to rain and he still wants people to be able to celebrate this young woman—and the mother who raised her.

The best thing about Rory’s speech is that it feels real. It’s not long or impossibly eloquent, but it’s filled with so much love for Stars Hollow—the kind of love a person can only have for their hometown. It’s also filled with so much love for her mother, a love so deep that even a Yale graduate can’t articulate it. When Alexis Beldel and Lauren Graham lock eyes at the end of this scene, it’s impossible to remain dry-eyed. You know those tears are real; you know you’re watching these two women say goodbye to each other as much as you’re watching Rory begin the process of saying goodbye to her mom. The love in this scene is so genuine, and that’s what makes it such a special moment.

Daily Dose of Feelings #16

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There’s nothing like a scene with a newborn baby to get the tears flowing. Some sort of special magic is worked when a TV series puts a baby in the arms of a great actor and lets their reactions speak for themselves. There’s a simple but powerful kind of joy in those moments that’s unlike anything else on television.

Brothers and Sisters was a show about family, so naturally you’d expect it to have at least one great “baby moment.” And boy did it ever. The show was famous for a few things: its absurdly talented cast, its flair for the melodramatic, and the way the former often made the latter more palatable than it ever should have been. When Robert meets his adopted son, Evan, for the first time, it’s a perfect example of what this show was all about. After having a heart attack on the way to the hospital for Evan’s birth, Robert finally gets to hold his newborn son while still hooked up to machines and breathing with the help of oxygen tubes. It could have been cheesy and over-the-top, but the combined powers of Rob Lowe and Calista Flockhart turned it into something deeply moving and almost impossibly genuine.

Flockhart is so warm and natural in this scene as both a mother and a wife, but this scene really belongs to Lowe. The overwhelming love and awe in his eyes is incredible. The way his voice cracks when he says, “I forgot how little newborns are,” is one of the greatest acting moments I can remember from a show filled with superb actors. This scene is so unashamedly emotional and joyful, and it’s a beautiful thing to see. There’s so much honesty in Lowe’s performance, a kind of naked vulnerability that is a rare thing to find, even among the best actors in the medium.

I love happy tears, and this is one of my favorite scenes to watch when I want to experience them. Sometimes I forget how good Brothers and Sisters could be when it was at its best—and this scene is a fantastic reminder.

Daily Dose of Feelings #15

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I had a professor in college who once said of The Great Gatsby, “You can talk about this book for one class or the rest of your life. And since I won’t be teaching you for the rest of your lives, let’s just make this one hell of a class.”

That’s how I feel about the ending of “Sucker Punch,” the midseason stunner from the second season of Castle, the episode which took me from loving the show to full-blown obsession.

There are so many emotional beats in these final five minutes. It begins with the quiet support between Beckett and Castle and with the reminder that this man gave up no small amount of money for her to have a chance to catch the man who killed her mother. “Sucker Punch” was the episode that convinced me in no uncertain terms that Rick Castle was already hopelessly in love with Kate Beckett, even if he didn’t want to admit that to himself yet. Then, the scene escalates into one of the greatest twists Castle has ever pulled off; one of the most tension-filled standoffs in the show’s history; and one of the first moments to really show us just how great Stana Katic could be when she’s allowed to let Beckett’s raw emotions burst through her normally stoic façade.

And through it all, there’s Castle. Nathan Fillion is so good in this episode because he’s so subtly affecting. In many places throughout this episode, like the beats after Beckett shoots Coonan, he’s a supporting figure rather than the emotional center of the episode. But what’s so great about Fillion is how he makes the term “supporting actor” really mean something. When Castle puts his hand on Beckett’s shoulder, it’s such a powerful moment of comfort, and it’s done without him saying any dialogue.

That’s all well and good, but the tears didn’t really start for me when I first watched this episode until the very last scene. There’s something so warm and gentle about Castle and Beckett’s interactions here; you can feel that something has changed between them, shifting their relationship into something deeper, something more.

I can remember the moment I first watched Castle pull out every kind of food imaginable in an effort to make Beckett happy. I was so surprised by the simple intimacy and sweetness of this small but thoughtful act that I started to cry. For all of Castle’s talk about big gestures, it was this very realistic and very unpretentious moment of affection that made me fall in love with this character. Yes, I adore “smartass Castle” and “articulate Castle” and “charming Castle,” but more than anything, I love genuine Castle—and that’s how Fillion played this scene. No bravado, no humor—just a man trying to do what’s right for the woman he’s grown to love, even if it means sacrificing the ability to spend every day following her around.

But Beckett doesn’t want that sacrifice. Instead, she tells Castle what she wants with the most open and honest confession of feelings we’d get from either one of them for a long time. Katic’s soft smile in this scene is a true thing of beauty because it’s something we had never seen on Beckett’s face until this point. And when she tells Castle he makes her job more fun, it still feels like one of the biggest moments in their relationship. There have been plenty of more dramatic speeches, professions of love, and even a marriage proposal, but Beckett saying she’s gotten used to Castle pulling her pigtails and Castle promising to keep her secret safe is still my favorite dialogue they’ve ever exchanged. It’s so meaningful but so simple—it’s not trying too hard to be emotionally resonant, and that’s what makes it even more beautiful.

The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (7/21 – 7/28)

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This week in the world of television, there was plenty of drama during the “Men Tell All” episode of The Bachelorette. So You Think You Can Dance had its weakest episode in a long time. Harvey and Mike reunited on Suits. I fell more in love with Amy Poehler than ever thanks to her appearance on Hollywood Game Night. And a huge fight led to some huge steps forward on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

While this wasn’t the most exciting week of television I’ve watched this summer, it did have its share of fun moments. The best of those came from this week’s episode of Suits, where Louis made each of his scenes memorable. In honor of my father’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!), it feels right to single out one of his favorite characters on TV right now—and Louis deserves the recognition. His Dead Poets Society speech to the associates he was leaving behind was perfect (I actually started clapping), and his Jerry Maguire impressions were hilarious.

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?

Daily Dose of Feelings #14

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Some of television’s most emotional moments need no explanation. Some moments are more profound because of the background we know about characters and relationships, but some are simply so visceral that all you need to know is what’s in front of you.

Ned Stark’s death on Game of Thrones is one of those visceral moments, but even more than Ned’s death, his wife and son’s grief is so palpable that all you need to see is their one interaction in the woods after his death to feel every ounce of the sadness these characters are carrying with them.

Michelle Fairley is characteristically brilliant in this scene. The moment when she has to lean against the tree, letting her strong façade crumble only for a moment, is so profound. She allows herself that one moment of all-consuming grief, but she knows she has only that moment to fall apart before she has to be strong for her son.

And then there’s Richard Madden. This is my favorite scene of his entire career on the show because it’s so raw and so real. It’s easy to forget that Robb is a boy in so many ways, pushed into a man’s role after his father’s death. But this scene is such a painful reminder of the character’s youth. You can feel his need to hurt something, to break something, to make something else feel the pain he’s drowning in. And when he says, “I’ll kill them all,” he looks and sounds like the boy he really is.

When Robb collapses in his mother’s arms, it’s impossible not to believe the love the Starks have for one another. The way Catelyn strokes Robb’s hair is so maternal and soothing, and it’s a really interesting contrast to the coldness in her voice when she tells Robb that they will “kill them all” after they get Sansa and Arya back. When Robb says he wants to kill them all, I get tears in my eyes because of how grief-stricken and young he sounds. When Catelyn says it, I get chills because she sounds so certain.

A part of so many characters died when Ned did, and this scene shows that more painfully than any other.

Daily Dose of Feelings #13

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Parks and Recreation is my favorite show on television. I love that it’s a show about fundamentally good people who do nice things for each other. I love it for its optimism, its warmth, and its belief in wearing its heart firmly on its sleeve. And I love that it consistently manages to make me cry happy tears.

As Leslie Knope is so fond of saying, “No one achieves anything alone.” That’s the theme at the center of Parks and Rec, and it’s been reflected time and again in scenes where all of the characters pitch in to help one of their own. The most affecting of these scenes comes at the end of Season Four’s Christmas episode, “Citizen Knope.”

Because apparently this scene is too perfect for the Internet to handle, I have no video clip of it for you, but here are two sets of GIFs from Tumblr which should give you a taste of why it’s is so beautiful:

Open this set first…

…And then this one.

This is one of those scenes where, as it was unfolding, all I could do was stand with my hand over my mouth, smiling and crying at the same time. As each person offered Leslie their help with such perfectly in-character responses (Andy offering his duties at “javelin…if need be,” Donna offering up her Benz, Tom volunteering as “Swagger Coach,” Jerry having no idea about the plan), I found myself getting more and more emotional—until Ron completely stole my heart with his offer to do any other damn thing Leslie might need.

Parks and Rec is a show about love: the love between a woman and her city and between that same woman and the wonderful people she surrounds herself with every day. This scene captures that perhaps better than any other so far (except, of course, Leslie and Ben’s wedding). Ron’s right, Leslie is always there for her friends, but the beautiful thing about her is she never expects them to do anything in return. That’s what makes it so special when they turn around and give back to her the support and love she gives them every day.

Amy Poehler’s reaction at the end of this scene shows what makes her such a damn good actress and such a perfect Leslie. There’s a beat when her eyes fill with tears and her voice breaks when she says, “I don’t know what to say.” That reaction is so honest. I admire and adore Poehler for so many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is her fearlessness when it comes to playing a scene not for laughs but for happy tears. It takes a special kind of actor to make you cry for their character because you’re so happy for them, but Poehler does it again and again with Leslie. This scene is so emotional because the gesture feels earned; we truly believe Leslie deserves this act of kindness.

I love when Parks and Rec puts us in Leslie’s shoes, letting us be surprised by the wonderful moments in her life right along with her. That sense of surprise has been the driving force behind some of the show’s most memorably emotional moments, and it’s certainly a big part of why this scene is so affecting. It was the perfect Christmas gift for Leslie, and it was also a great Christmas gift for fans of Parks and Rec—a show that is never afraid to aim for the audience’s heart in the best possible way.