TeeVee
Arrow 1.2: So, Oliver appears to have spent a good chunk of the last 5 years practicing his delivery of "YOU HAVE FAILED THIS CITY." No, really, he seems very proud of it.
I'm going to watch every week hoping that the new episode will be the one where Laurel starts to become Black Canary, even though I know it will be futile for quite some time.
CW, you have such INTERESTING ideas when it comes to siblings. I know that my brother's wounds always make me want to rip his shirt off. I could barely contain myself the one time he came home and announced "Meg, I just rolled my truck on the dirt road trying to use it as a shortcut and had to walk back home." (He actually did do that.)
The show's idea of the law remains...amusing. Very amusing. I'm also pretty sure that a police detective wouldn't be able to assign that kind of protection detail based on the guy mentioning her. (Though I kept going "But you're Harry Dresden! Just cast a protective ward!" during all the bits where he was freaking out about Laurel's safety. Not that I blame him, though I could do with a bit less of his making it be all about him.)
For the record, if people ever break into my apartment and try to shoot me, you will require a crowbar to pry me off the closest safe person, even if I can barely tolerate them. (Actually, it almost looked like she stumbled while she was running over and Oliver just grabbed her? I'd have to rewatch though. Or just stare at the endless tumblr gifs of it. Never doubt the power of CW shows to have very prolific shippers.)
I suspect Oliver's "playboy" act is going to make me start being very annoyed with him before long, but we'll see. I'm not big on that trope. Amell seems to be trying for PTSD with Oliver, which makes perfect sense, though I'm not sure the show is actually writing him that way. (Though, kudos, show, for pointing out that Oliver does NOT have the needed knowledge or experience to run a company. Though, he appears to have managed to create a suit, a recorder arrow, regular arrows, a bow, etc while on the island. Maybe he brought them back in that little brown baggie that clearly possesses size/space altering properties, as it was about half the size of the ice cream carton that was supposedly inside it. I mean, he certainly didn't have time to buy and create all that and all the stuff in his warehouse AND start his crimefighting career in a single week.)
My liking of Oliver's mother went up at the end when she revealed that she sabotaged the Yacht (or at least, knew it was sabotaged). I realize there's probably something off with that.
I hope there's a lot more Kelly Hu in our future, though not necessarily with that wig.
MUCH better handling of Diggle in this episode than in the pilot. Not that that would be difficult.
Good cliffhanger, though I suspect I'm going to end up making even more Edmond Dantes comparisons in my head.
Beauty and the Beast 1.2: This episode was about 10% angsty manpain, 10% sisterly bonding and 80% WOC buddycops. I approve of this ratio, though could do less with the angsty manpain if Vincent is going to be setting off my "creepy no" meter like a lot of his scenes this episode did. Vincent, I liked you better in the pilot, where you were bland but nice, and not setting off my stalker alert in a way that I might have to take seriously, as opposed to "oh, CW...". (Right now I feel like their relationship is Vincent going "I pine for your purity but we cannot be but I will stalk you for your protection and tell you to avoid me!" and Catherine going "You will lead me to my mother's killer! You will be very useful and I will not let you escape helping me! Oh, and you got I really bad deal so I feel pretty bad for you.") Also, I'm glad this show is giving Kristen Kreuk lots of action scenes.
Covert Affairs 3.11: That was certainly a short midseason hiatus. What was that, 3 weeks? 4?
I LIKED THIS ONE A LOT. The first half of the season was hit and miss for me, but hopefully this episode sets the tone for the rest of the season.
EYAL. SO HAPPY THERE WILL BE LOT OF EYAL IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON. Even though I'm worried that it's going to be breaking up Annie and Eyal's buddyspy relationship, or worse, killing Eyal off. (I "d'aww"-ed a bit at Auggie and Eyal's rescue plan. Eyal, the dogs were your idea, weren't they.)
I didn't like seeing Annie tortured, but I liked seeing her DEALING with being tortured. (And Piper Perabo handled the shock pretty well.) And I was overjoyed that, after all the running and action that as going on the whole episode, Annie saved them both by outsmarting her interogator. THIS IS WHY I WATCH. The guns are nice and all, but I watch for Annie being clever and reading people.
No idea what's with Joan and the pills. Weird thing to suddenly have popup after 2 1/2 seasons, and the way she looked at it was "long term thing I'm fighting" as opposed to a new thing that started in the last few weeks.
Nikita 3.1: This episode had a lot of really high points, but opened on a sour note by having Ryan do the intro narration? WTF? THAT'S NIKITA'S JOB. Never got over the WTF there, and both the beginning and ending of the episode made me feel like the writers are more interested in Ryan's troubles and struggle than the rest of Team Nikita, including Nikita herself, and I don't like that feeling. (If I want a show focusing on the struggled of an intelligent educated white dude adjusting to a stressful new job and responsibilities, I have a few dozen other options.) But what it does right it still does right, I just hope the current direction doesn't overtake everything that was good in the first two seasons.
Once Upon A Time 2.3:
I mostly enjoyed the flashback part of the episode, but the "no babies" curse felt...unnecessary? For the most part I'm completely fine with the "you know how it'll turn out but here's how they got there" aspect of the show. And I really hope Cora lied about killing Lancelot, because while I'm sure he'll be in more flashback episodes, I like looking at him and imagining the agonies "black Lancelot" is causing some people. (And, you know, I liked him in general.) Also, I think this is the first time they've actually killed a female character in the show? I'm not sure.
I liked the (Dis)Enchanted Forest parts a lot this week. Aurora getting character growth and providing Emma with a reason to show off her arms is very much appreciated, as was Mulan being in charge and all the Snow/Emma stuff. And I enjoy Cora as a villain. (And I liked snow's "as bad as you think Regina is" comment. I don't think Snow can really hate Regina and might even love her in a way, and I REALLY hope we get lots of scenes with them once Emma and Snow inevitably return to Storybook. (And maybe take everyone else with them?) I did a bit of an "aww" at Emma's heartbroken face after the ogre crushed her gun. Partly because I think that's the gun Graham gave her? And while I wasn't on that ship at all, that is a bit on the sad side. Though I half think that killing him in Storybook maybe have sent him back? Probably not.
I guess Cora shielded herself from the curse and the people around just happened to get shielded around her?
The Storybook parts were...ok? I'm glad Jefferson and Grace were reunited and hope this means he'll be helping to get Snow and Emma back now. Wish there had been more of Regina and Red. There HAS to be a deleted scene out there of Regina waiting for Henry at the diner and everyone but Red and Granny scampering away.
Person of Interest 2.3:
STANTON! I hope she shows up more this season.
This episode felt like fanfic. FUN fanfic. Reese bodyguards socialite! Finch bonds with dog! (Next week looks to be Reese crashing a romance novel.)
Not sure about Carter not telling Reese that Snow is sniffing around again. I trust her to stay on top of things, but am worried about how things will go down once she does tell them.
Finch and Fusco both needed to be patted on the head, though for different reasons.
Carter and Reese buddycopping was satisfied all my buddycop needs this week. (But BATB threw in more, and that was good too.) Especially Carter's reaction to "Reese walks into a bar. Everyone is knocked out in 5 minutes."
Revenge 2.3:
Aw, Amanda, you'll get to actually drink that beer again in a few months instead of just wistfully smelling it, Unless you die. Which you'd better not.
I think I lost whatever good opinion I might have had of Jack this week. That last scene with Amanda was incredibly UGH and I can't tell whether or not we're supposed to think Amanda wronged him or not. Because from his POV, he forbade her to have a relationship with her sister and when she tried to anyway he said he'd have done the same but basically can't stand her anymore for it.
(Objectively, I realize I should be as angry at Emily for how she's been using Amanda and while I think it's been way too much, I can't be as angry.)
All I have to say about Aidan is that Emily putting him in a dumpster made me very happy. Well, and I hope his sister isn't dead. All I can say for Declan is that he put JR Bourne on my screen for a few minutes.
Victoria stole the show this week in all ways possible, though I think I hate Daniel even more than his father now. (This fake wedding is going to be a blast.)
Honestly, I'm just so happy to have Emily and Victoria back on my screen that aside from my unhappiness with how Amanda is being treated, I find it hard to muster more than "EEEEEEEEEE!" (Presumably i'll get better as the season progresses.)
Revolution 1.5:
Umm...wow was the trailer for the next episode enraging. For me, at least. Seriously, show? You're going to go there? Hopefully that's a VERY small part of the episode and not the main plot as trailers imply. (Also, no, Aaron, that isn't Miles's choice to make. It's Charlie's.)
Nate/Jason/Nipples/Spiderman being Neville's son was blatant by about halfway through the episode and definitely by the time he pushed Charlie off the train (He may have a thing about Charlie, but I don't think he'd get himself killed for her. I wonder, though, if he knows his father actually was going to let Miles kill him.) I actually didn't really expect to be right about that? At least not this soon. Also, a person with their hands bound just isn't going to be able to do that sort of leaping and acrobatics successfully, much less gracefully. (Why this is the first bit of acrobatics and physical exploits to make me be all "lols no" in the show, I don't know. Though I also raised my eyebrows at Charlie on the horse, because I don't think they had many of those in her village.) Actually a bit surprised, though, that Julia is still alive. PLEASANTLY surprised, but I thought they were going to make a fridged wife be why he's so messed up.
Charlie and Danny being in the car together for 5 whole seconds ignited my "HUG ALREADY! HUG!" needs, but it wouldn't really have been practical. I liked how they both dealt with Neville this episode, though. I think Charlie actually had him almost fooled brfore trailing him. I'm wondering who he was saying she looked like, though, because I don't think he meant Danny. (And I doubt Danny said a word about her so Monroe told him, which means he may know Rachel, too, so there's a decent pool of people she could look like.) Monroe and Rachel should stop having so much messed up chemistry, especially in scenes that amount to "I'm having your son carted here so I can have him tortured in front of you."
I did a tiny wibble at Charlie remembering Miles taking her joyriding when she was 4. But Miles's meanness to her this episode soured me a lot.
I continue to love Charlie's character growth, but I hope she remains idealistic and wanting to see the good in people.
I was getting ready to ditch the show if they killed Nora right after killing Maggie and...how the next episode goes is going to have a big impact there.
The only thing I have to say about 12 devices is "well, that's...a lot." I like how they're showing technology slowly re-emerging through the printing press Hutch seemed to have and the train.
Elementary, Haven and World Without End were all pretty good, but I don't have much to say about them. Most of Scandal was good, but the "romantic" plotline reached new heights of icky and creepy.
I'm going to watch every week hoping that the new episode will be the one where Laurel starts to become Black Canary, even though I know it will be futile for quite some time.
CW, you have such INTERESTING ideas when it comes to siblings. I know that my brother's wounds always make me want to rip his shirt off. I could barely contain myself the one time he came home and announced "Meg, I just rolled my truck on the dirt road trying to use it as a shortcut and had to walk back home." (He actually did do that.)
The show's idea of the law remains...amusing. Very amusing. I'm also pretty sure that a police detective wouldn't be able to assign that kind of protection detail based on the guy mentioning her. (Though I kept going "But you're Harry Dresden! Just cast a protective ward!" during all the bits where he was freaking out about Laurel's safety. Not that I blame him, though I could do with a bit less of his making it be all about him.)
For the record, if people ever break into my apartment and try to shoot me, you will require a crowbar to pry me off the closest safe person, even if I can barely tolerate them. (Actually, it almost looked like she stumbled while she was running over and Oliver just grabbed her? I'd have to rewatch though. Or just stare at the endless tumblr gifs of it. Never doubt the power of CW shows to have very prolific shippers.)
I suspect Oliver's "playboy" act is going to make me start being very annoyed with him before long, but we'll see. I'm not big on that trope. Amell seems to be trying for PTSD with Oliver, which makes perfect sense, though I'm not sure the show is actually writing him that way. (Though, kudos, show, for pointing out that Oliver does NOT have the needed knowledge or experience to run a company. Though, he appears to have managed to create a suit, a recorder arrow, regular arrows, a bow, etc while on the island. Maybe he brought them back in that little brown baggie that clearly possesses size/space altering properties, as it was about half the size of the ice cream carton that was supposedly inside it. I mean, he certainly didn't have time to buy and create all that and all the stuff in his warehouse AND start his crimefighting career in a single week.)
My liking of Oliver's mother went up at the end when she revealed that she sabotaged the Yacht (or at least, knew it was sabotaged). I realize there's probably something off with that.
I hope there's a lot more Kelly Hu in our future, though not necessarily with that wig.
MUCH better handling of Diggle in this episode than in the pilot. Not that that would be difficult.
Good cliffhanger, though I suspect I'm going to end up making even more Edmond Dantes comparisons in my head.
Beauty and the Beast 1.2: This episode was about 10% angsty manpain, 10% sisterly bonding and 80% WOC buddycops. I approve of this ratio, though could do less with the angsty manpain if Vincent is going to be setting off my "creepy no" meter like a lot of his scenes this episode did. Vincent, I liked you better in the pilot, where you were bland but nice, and not setting off my stalker alert in a way that I might have to take seriously, as opposed to "oh, CW...". (Right now I feel like their relationship is Vincent going "I pine for your purity but we cannot be but I will stalk you for your protection and tell you to avoid me!" and Catherine going "You will lead me to my mother's killer! You will be very useful and I will not let you escape helping me! Oh, and you got I really bad deal so I feel pretty bad for you.") Also, I'm glad this show is giving Kristen Kreuk lots of action scenes.
Covert Affairs 3.11: That was certainly a short midseason hiatus. What was that, 3 weeks? 4?
I LIKED THIS ONE A LOT. The first half of the season was hit and miss for me, but hopefully this episode sets the tone for the rest of the season.
EYAL. SO HAPPY THERE WILL BE LOT OF EYAL IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON. Even though I'm worried that it's going to be breaking up Annie and Eyal's buddyspy relationship, or worse, killing Eyal off. (I "d'aww"-ed a bit at Auggie and Eyal's rescue plan. Eyal, the dogs were your idea, weren't they.)
I didn't like seeing Annie tortured, but I liked seeing her DEALING with being tortured. (And Piper Perabo handled the shock pretty well.) And I was overjoyed that, after all the running and action that as going on the whole episode, Annie saved them both by outsmarting her interogator. THIS IS WHY I WATCH. The guns are nice and all, but I watch for Annie being clever and reading people.
No idea what's with Joan and the pills. Weird thing to suddenly have popup after 2 1/2 seasons, and the way she looked at it was "long term thing I'm fighting" as opposed to a new thing that started in the last few weeks.
Nikita 3.1: This episode had a lot of really high points, but opened on a sour note by having Ryan do the intro narration? WTF? THAT'S NIKITA'S JOB. Never got over the WTF there, and both the beginning and ending of the episode made me feel like the writers are more interested in Ryan's troubles and struggle than the rest of Team Nikita, including Nikita herself, and I don't like that feeling. (If I want a show focusing on the struggled of an intelligent educated white dude adjusting to a stressful new job and responsibilities, I have a few dozen other options.) But what it does right it still does right, I just hope the current direction doesn't overtake everything that was good in the first two seasons.
Once Upon A Time 2.3:
I mostly enjoyed the flashback part of the episode, but the "no babies" curse felt...unnecessary? For the most part I'm completely fine with the "you know how it'll turn out but here's how they got there" aspect of the show. And I really hope Cora lied about killing Lancelot, because while I'm sure he'll be in more flashback episodes, I like looking at him and imagining the agonies "black Lancelot" is causing some people. (And, you know, I liked him in general.) Also, I think this is the first time they've actually killed a female character in the show? I'm not sure.
I liked the (Dis)Enchanted Forest parts a lot this week. Aurora getting character growth and providing Emma with a reason to show off her arms is very much appreciated, as was Mulan being in charge and all the Snow/Emma stuff. And I enjoy Cora as a villain. (And I liked snow's "as bad as you think Regina is" comment. I don't think Snow can really hate Regina and might even love her in a way, and I REALLY hope we get lots of scenes with them once Emma and Snow inevitably return to Storybook. (And maybe take everyone else with them?) I did a bit of an "aww" at Emma's heartbroken face after the ogre crushed her gun. Partly because I think that's the gun Graham gave her? And while I wasn't on that ship at all, that is a bit on the sad side. Though I half think that killing him in Storybook maybe have sent him back? Probably not.
I guess Cora shielded herself from the curse and the people around just happened to get shielded around her?
The Storybook parts were...ok? I'm glad Jefferson and Grace were reunited and hope this means he'll be helping to get Snow and Emma back now. Wish there had been more of Regina and Red. There HAS to be a deleted scene out there of Regina waiting for Henry at the diner and everyone but Red and Granny scampering away.
Person of Interest 2.3:
STANTON! I hope she shows up more this season.
This episode felt like fanfic. FUN fanfic. Reese bodyguards socialite! Finch bonds with dog! (Next week looks to be Reese crashing a romance novel.)
Not sure about Carter not telling Reese that Snow is sniffing around again. I trust her to stay on top of things, but am worried about how things will go down once she does tell them.
Finch and Fusco both needed to be patted on the head, though for different reasons.
Carter and Reese buddycopping was satisfied all my buddycop needs this week. (But BATB threw in more, and that was good too.) Especially Carter's reaction to "Reese walks into a bar. Everyone is knocked out in 5 minutes."
Revenge 2.3:
Aw, Amanda, you'll get to actually drink that beer again in a few months instead of just wistfully smelling it, Unless you die. Which you'd better not.
I think I lost whatever good opinion I might have had of Jack this week. That last scene with Amanda was incredibly UGH and I can't tell whether or not we're supposed to think Amanda wronged him or not. Because from his POV, he forbade her to have a relationship with her sister and when she tried to anyway he said he'd have done the same but basically can't stand her anymore for it.
(Objectively, I realize I should be as angry at Emily for how she's been using Amanda and while I think it's been way too much, I can't be as angry.)
All I have to say about Aidan is that Emily putting him in a dumpster made me very happy. Well, and I hope his sister isn't dead. All I can say for Declan is that he put JR Bourne on my screen for a few minutes.
Victoria stole the show this week in all ways possible, though I think I hate Daniel even more than his father now. (This fake wedding is going to be a blast.)
Honestly, I'm just so happy to have Emily and Victoria back on my screen that aside from my unhappiness with how Amanda is being treated, I find it hard to muster more than "EEEEEEEEEE!" (Presumably i'll get better as the season progresses.)
Revolution 1.5:
Umm...wow was the trailer for the next episode enraging. For me, at least. Seriously, show? You're going to go there? Hopefully that's a VERY small part of the episode and not the main plot as trailers imply. (Also, no, Aaron, that isn't Miles's choice to make. It's Charlie's.)
Nate/Jason/Nipples/Spiderman being Neville's son was blatant by about halfway through the episode and definitely by the time he pushed Charlie off the train (He may have a thing about Charlie, but I don't think he'd get himself killed for her. I wonder, though, if he knows his father actually was going to let Miles kill him.) I actually didn't really expect to be right about that? At least not this soon. Also, a person with their hands bound just isn't going to be able to do that sort of leaping and acrobatics successfully, much less gracefully. (Why this is the first bit of acrobatics and physical exploits to make me be all "lols no" in the show, I don't know. Though I also raised my eyebrows at Charlie on the horse, because I don't think they had many of those in her village.) Actually a bit surprised, though, that Julia is still alive. PLEASANTLY surprised, but I thought they were going to make a fridged wife be why he's so messed up.
Charlie and Danny being in the car together for 5 whole seconds ignited my "HUG ALREADY! HUG!" needs, but it wouldn't really have been practical. I liked how they both dealt with Neville this episode, though. I think Charlie actually had him almost fooled brfore trailing him. I'm wondering who he was saying she looked like, though, because I don't think he meant Danny. (And I doubt Danny said a word about her so Monroe told him, which means he may know Rachel, too, so there's a decent pool of people she could look like.) Monroe and Rachel should stop having so much messed up chemistry, especially in scenes that amount to "I'm having your son carted here so I can have him tortured in front of you."
I did a tiny wibble at Charlie remembering Miles taking her joyriding when she was 4. But Miles's meanness to her this episode soured me a lot.
I continue to love Charlie's character growth, but I hope she remains idealistic and wanting to see the good in people.
I was getting ready to ditch the show if they killed Nora right after killing Maggie and...how the next episode goes is going to have a big impact there.
The only thing I have to say about 12 devices is "well, that's...a lot." I like how they're showing technology slowly re-emerging through the printing press Hutch seemed to have and the train.
Elementary, Haven and World Without End were all pretty good, but I don't have much to say about them. Most of Scandal was good, but the "romantic" plotline reached new heights of icky and creepy.