Monday night teevee...
I am so glad that the girls are up to speed with the audience now, having seen Ian in the video with Alison. And I like that their reaction wasn't bankrupted because we knew something they didn't. They were totally stunned, as they should've been!
Aria and Ezra continue to annoy me. I think they're Too Stupid To Live, and this was encapsulated when Aria declared that "A saved my relationship." No, moron, A is keeping you on a string. If Ezra had manned up and quit his goddamn job, THAT would've meant something. Sticking around the school means you keep acting like moony idiots who could get Ezra in bigger trouble if he's caught. I really just want to smack Aria every week.
Meanwhile, my love for Spencer has grown exponentially. It's funny, because I think all the work they did to make Aria likable in the first half has broken down in the second half, and it's Spencer and Emily who are showing the most development. Spencer following Toby, opening herself up to new leads and investigating Ian, was so huge. And I even got a flicker of 'shipper-ness. Spence is such a control freak, such a fixer...and she could give Toby a much *healthier* sense of being cared for and controlled than Jenna does.
And, uh, shallow note: When Toby got perp-walked through the school hallway, all I could think was, "My god, he's TALL."
Then there's Emily, whose arc with her mother continues to be heartbreaking. What I love is that we're finally seeing Emily's inner strength. She was absolutely this passive, quiet girl...with Shay Mitchell being touted as the weakest actress in the bunch, but I think that was a writing choice, so that we could see Emily bloom. Her telling her mother she was ashamed of her? Ginormous step! And, okay, I'm petty, petty and more petty, but I was SO glad to see Maya get 'shipped to "juvie camp." Emily and Maya were very pretty together, but there was no substance and Maya, I'm sorry, was utterly miscast.
Not much to say about Hanna this week except, "Oh, sweetie." She's another one, like Aria, who is playing right into A's hands.
Watching Greek is such a chore this season. I feel like any charm and depth the show had has disappeared. And there is only a cursory connectivity to season three. When did Calvin and Heath reunite? Wasn't Heath going to medical school? Cappie is a douche, Dale is one-note, and Rusty is completely unsympathetic. Casey's whining about CRU law school being hard...? I guess we should be thankful she DIDN'T go to GW. The only characters that remain remotely entertaining and rootable are Evan and Rebecca.
Chin Ho and Kona had the entire pre-credit teaser to themselves. GASP. Is that allowed?
The Case of the Week hit every branch on the cliche tree this week.
-a head in a box
-Steve's daddy issues
-the ransom drop (which was SO obvious from the minute the dad began fidgeting)
-Amanda Schull being in on it
-Steve being the heroic Great White Hope who gets the victim's family citizenship (please...they would've been deported in a heartbeat!).
However, the show continues to be a great time-pass, and this was another episode where I felt like the cast was fairly balanced. We got a LOT of Chin Ho and Kona, met Malia, etc. While I found Reiko Aylesworth kind of uninspiring as Malia, I'm just glad Chin's past is getting development!
The CHiPS jokes felt really, really forced and shoehorned in, but the bit at the end, where Steve and Danny both fumbled to identify as the one Kona found hot, was adorable.
I really think they need to start mixing up the foursome, though, because the split down the middle is stagnating things and making the show even more formulaic. It'd be nice if we got more of Kona with Steve or Danny with Chin Ho, etc.