this week in tv
Anyone else watching Mildred Pierce? I'm DVR'ing tonight's episodes to watch later this week, as other than reality shows all I'll have is Castle and Justified.
HIMYM, "Legendaddy." It was good, but it could have been better. Having John Lithgow be kind of milquetoasty was good, especially Barney's lament that if he was going to be a boring suburban dad he should have been Barney's boring suburban dad. But that left NPH without a lot to push against. We saw Barney being understandably angry, and Lithgow just saying he's sorry but not being particularly prepared to do anything or make any explanations. And he doesn't seem like a guy who hit rock bottom and turned his life around; he seemed like a guy who never was the partyer that Barney and his mother once knew. Which could have been used with Lithgow slipping into his former persona in order to get close to Barney and hurting himself in the process. That could have been interesting. But the character as written didn't make a lot of sense.
I liked the b-plot about blind spots and everyone being easy on Marshall, though. I really like how the show is keeping Marshall's mourning very current, but not overwhelming.
Hawaii 5-0, "Ne Me'e Laua Na Paio." An entire episode of misdirections, but well done. I like that Chin really solved it this time, or Chin and Danny. And I sort of love that Danny can't sext. Rachel probably isn't a sexter. (Nor Steve for that matter.)
Anyone else notice the conspicuous Dark Horse booth at the comic-con? (Also dalmatians just make me think of the Dean of Greendale Community College.) Note that since H5-0 is written by geeky guys there was nothing about the con itself that was weird or denigrated; even Danny was kind of into it by the end. Nice ST in jokes, too.
Some parts of the fandom have been dreading the appearance of the former-CIA chick Jenna Kaye, fearing she'll be some love interest for Steve. Others couldn't wait for her to show up and ship her with Kono. I'm leaning toward the latter, myself. But I'm hoping that Steve won't be keeping this a secret from the team. (Though why would someone who calls herself a clean freak put her gum under a desk?)
Castle, "One Life to Lose." Mac? Noooooo!
It's so sad that OLTL is the last soap being produced in New York. And of course Castle doesn't, either, hence their using actors from AMC in the show, as AMC moved to LA last year. Very meta. Funny how there really isn't that kind of ship war thing going on with Castle, of course, as the main ship is, well, both really obvious and actually very well written. (So is the Lanie/Esposito, as we saw again this week.)
Best line: "The Coen Brothers have asked me to play Matt Damon's half-wit father in their new movie. It's the role of a lifetime, has nominations written all over it."
Top Chef, "Last Supper." The one bite challenge was more interesting than the quick fire, though I might just be grouchy whenever Mike wins. And if he wins the whole thing I will be very, very sad. But Blais seems back on his game, and while his arrogance can be a little annoying, at least it keeps Mike from getting into his head.
Justified, "Save My Love." I feel like all I say is "this is such a good show" but you guys? This is such a good show! The way they kept amping up the tension was truly masterful and there were so many little moments, like Winona's little smile in the elevator or how well they're showing us that Rachel really is the best of Art's three deputy marshalls, or how incredibly complex Boyd is generally, or how everything in this county is intertwined, or Raylan's expression when the corporate coal lady said his history with Boyd sounded like a love story, or Art almost definitely knowing what Raylan and Winona were up to in the evidence room. I love how the show gives us Raylan as a hero who is very smart and has many abilities, but isn't the bestest best at everything all the time, without giving him specific "flaws."
Seriously, start watching this show. You needn't watch season 1 to watch season 2, though you might need to catch up on season 2 thus far to really get what's going on. That said, they do a good job with the previouslies and the ongoing story really isn't that complicated.
Community, "Critical Film Studies." I don't really know what to say about it. I thought it was very very good, and I enjoyed it. I didn't catch the My Dinner with Andre bit until Abed started telling his story, which was almost but not quite as ludicrous as that whole bit about the theater troupe in the woods of Czechoslovakia. I like the movie, but in the end I'm way on the side of Wallace Shawn, and here I was way on the side of Jeff. I was glad that in the end they decided to have the party after all. It was sweet and heartfelt and I liked getting more glimpses into Jeff's psyche. I'm sad that Britta has it so hard, though!
crossposted from Dreamwidth |
comments | comment at Dreamwidth
HIMYM, "Legendaddy." It was good, but it could have been better. Having John Lithgow be kind of milquetoasty was good, especially Barney's lament that if he was going to be a boring suburban dad he should have been Barney's boring suburban dad. But that left NPH without a lot to push against. We saw Barney being understandably angry, and Lithgow just saying he's sorry but not being particularly prepared to do anything or make any explanations. And he doesn't seem like a guy who hit rock bottom and turned his life around; he seemed like a guy who never was the partyer that Barney and his mother once knew. Which could have been used with Lithgow slipping into his former persona in order to get close to Barney and hurting himself in the process. That could have been interesting. But the character as written didn't make a lot of sense.
I liked the b-plot about blind spots and everyone being easy on Marshall, though. I really like how the show is keeping Marshall's mourning very current, but not overwhelming.
Hawaii 5-0, "Ne Me'e Laua Na Paio." An entire episode of misdirections, but well done. I like that Chin really solved it this time, or Chin and Danny. And I sort of love that Danny can't sext. Rachel probably isn't a sexter. (Nor Steve for that matter.)
Anyone else notice the conspicuous Dark Horse booth at the comic-con? (Also dalmatians just make me think of the Dean of Greendale Community College.) Note that since H5-0 is written by geeky guys there was nothing about the con itself that was weird or denigrated; even Danny was kind of into it by the end. Nice ST in jokes, too.
Some parts of the fandom have been dreading the appearance of the former-CIA chick Jenna Kaye, fearing she'll be some love interest for Steve. Others couldn't wait for her to show up and ship her with Kono. I'm leaning toward the latter, myself. But I'm hoping that Steve won't be keeping this a secret from the team. (Though why would someone who calls herself a clean freak put her gum under a desk?)
Castle, "One Life to Lose." Mac? Noooooo!
It's so sad that OLTL is the last soap being produced in New York. And of course Castle doesn't, either, hence their using actors from AMC in the show, as AMC moved to LA last year. Very meta. Funny how there really isn't that kind of ship war thing going on with Castle, of course, as the main ship is, well, both really obvious and actually very well written. (So is the Lanie/Esposito, as we saw again this week.)
Best line: "The Coen Brothers have asked me to play Matt Damon's half-wit father in their new movie. It's the role of a lifetime, has nominations written all over it."
Top Chef, "Last Supper." The one bite challenge was more interesting than the quick fire, though I might just be grouchy whenever Mike wins. And if he wins the whole thing I will be very, very sad. But Blais seems back on his game, and while his arrogance can be a little annoying, at least it keeps Mike from getting into his head.
Justified, "Save My Love." I feel like all I say is "this is such a good show" but you guys? This is such a good show! The way they kept amping up the tension was truly masterful and there were so many little moments, like Winona's little smile in the elevator or how well they're showing us that Rachel really is the best of Art's three deputy marshalls, or how incredibly complex Boyd is generally, or how everything in this county is intertwined, or Raylan's expression when the corporate coal lady said his history with Boyd sounded like a love story, or Art almost definitely knowing what Raylan and Winona were up to in the evidence room. I love how the show gives us Raylan as a hero who is very smart and has many abilities, but isn't the bestest best at everything all the time, without giving him specific "flaws."
Seriously, start watching this show. You needn't watch season 1 to watch season 2, though you might need to catch up on season 2 thus far to really get what's going on. That said, they do a good job with the previouslies and the ongoing story really isn't that complicated.
Community, "Critical Film Studies." I don't really know what to say about it. I thought it was very very good, and I enjoyed it. I didn't catch the My Dinner with Andre bit until Abed started telling his story, which was almost but not quite as ludicrous as that whole bit about the theater troupe in the woods of Czechoslovakia. I like the movie, but in the end I'm way on the side of Wallace Shawn, and here I was way on the side of Jeff. I was glad that in the end they decided to have the party after all. It was sweet and heartfelt and I liked getting more glimpses into Jeff's psyche. I'm sad that Britta has it so hard, though!
crossposted from Dreamwidth |
comments | comment at Dreamwidth