Reviews
This is short reviews for last week's Grey's Anatomy episode, yesterday's Castle, and last season's final for Criminal Minds for the Review challenge over at the-deepbluesea.
Castle:
First, it was nice to see more of Ryan and Esposito. I missed them the first few episodes of this season. But they are back and better than ever. It was amusing to watch Castle talk them into letting him onto the case. It was nice to see Castle working on a case again. While I did enjoy the first two episodes of the season, the dynamic felt off. Castle and Beckett’s chemistry is not just the romance. A huge part of it is the solving of cases together. I’m hoping we’ll have Beckett back where she belongs now. Her decision to leak it to the press that the mafia family member was being questioned was classic Beckett, but her being fired makes sense too. While Beckett is smart and talented enough for the FBI, it is a job that just isn’t suited for her. She’s not a big-picture person. She’s a person who focuses on individual victims and bringing justice for them. Yes, she’s had some big cases, but even during ost of those her focus has been on the single murder. Also, I’m enjoying Alexis’s current storyline. She’s clearly not comfortable with the engagement and is acting out. It makes for hilarious television.
Grey's Anatomy
I mostly enjoyed the episode. First off, I’m really enjoying the Callie/Arizona storyline. Yes, it is sad and gut-wrenching. And I am kind of annoyed that everyone on Grey’s cheats (as well as the idea that it is okay to cheat if it is true love as with Meredith and Derek but not okay if it isn’t). However, this past week proved that they are going to do the story justice. It was hard watching Arizona cheat after Callie was doing her best to help Arizona through losing her leg and being the best wife she could be. However, it is clear that Arizona has ptsd. And the way Callie said that while she’s still mad and not ready for therapy, she knows that Arizona needs it and that something else is going on proves that the writers know what they are doing. Also loving the current Meredith/Derek story with them not sleeping and being new parents and all. I’m loving that Derek is doing his share. I felt during the last two season there was a lot of “mothers are always the primary caregivers and dad’s are babysitters” too much for my taste. So I’m glad we’re getting something different here. The two things I didn’t like were Webber and the Alex storyline. I hate Webber. He’s a horrible person. And the way he treated Meredith was horrible. I also hate Derek. He’s a bit more sympathetic than Webber, but he’s still horrible. And since they killed off the only one of the new interns I actually liked, I’m annoyed that this romance with one of them is putting more focus on the new interns. And I don’t find it believable. The Christina stuff is gut-wrenching. I'm a total Cristina/Owen shipper, but they've totally ruined the ship for me. I just can't see them making it work. Why did they have to make Owen need kids?
Criminal Minds
First, lets get this out of the way. I wasn’t a hute fan of the first part of the two parter. I was glad for a Hotch-centric episode, but it didn’t really hold my interest. And the second part felt too short. I think it would have been better to take out the first part and expand the second, Replicator-centric part. Second, holy crap, Mark Hamill is the Replicator. Perfect casting. And he was superb. He’s an amazing actor who is perfect for playing villains. And he proved that he could be the bad guy in more than just voice roles. He was creepy and yet was able to play and FBI agent who was evil and good at pretending not to play evil. One thing that annoyed me about the episode was the randomly sticking Strause and Rossi together. I think killing Strause was the right choice, and her death scene was really well done. She has become more sympathetic in recent seasons, and in her death was completely sympathetic. So sad. And I actually kind of ship Strause/Rossi now. But they should have put more hints earlier that they were together. It felt like just a play to cause Rossi pain. This show has a bad record of fridging women for the male characters and not doing the same for the women. Hailey’s death worked okay. Maive’s didn’t. And here I’m kind of 50/50 on it.
Castle:
First, it was nice to see more of Ryan and Esposito. I missed them the first few episodes of this season. But they are back and better than ever. It was amusing to watch Castle talk them into letting him onto the case. It was nice to see Castle working on a case again. While I did enjoy the first two episodes of the season, the dynamic felt off. Castle and Beckett’s chemistry is not just the romance. A huge part of it is the solving of cases together. I’m hoping we’ll have Beckett back where she belongs now. Her decision to leak it to the press that the mafia family member was being questioned was classic Beckett, but her being fired makes sense too. While Beckett is smart and talented enough for the FBI, it is a job that just isn’t suited for her. She’s not a big-picture person. She’s a person who focuses on individual victims and bringing justice for them. Yes, she’s had some big cases, but even during ost of those her focus has been on the single murder. Also, I’m enjoying Alexis’s current storyline. She’s clearly not comfortable with the engagement and is acting out. It makes for hilarious television.
Grey's Anatomy
I mostly enjoyed the episode. First off, I’m really enjoying the Callie/Arizona storyline. Yes, it is sad and gut-wrenching. And I am kind of annoyed that everyone on Grey’s cheats (as well as the idea that it is okay to cheat if it is true love as with Meredith and Derek but not okay if it isn’t). However, this past week proved that they are going to do the story justice. It was hard watching Arizona cheat after Callie was doing her best to help Arizona through losing her leg and being the best wife she could be. However, it is clear that Arizona has ptsd. And the way Callie said that while she’s still mad and not ready for therapy, she knows that Arizona needs it and that something else is going on proves that the writers know what they are doing. Also loving the current Meredith/Derek story with them not sleeping and being new parents and all. I’m loving that Derek is doing his share. I felt during the last two season there was a lot of “mothers are always the primary caregivers and dad’s are babysitters” too much for my taste. So I’m glad we’re getting something different here. The two things I didn’t like were Webber and the Alex storyline. I hate Webber. He’s a horrible person. And the way he treated Meredith was horrible. I also hate Derek. He’s a bit more sympathetic than Webber, but he’s still horrible. And since they killed off the only one of the new interns I actually liked, I’m annoyed that this romance with one of them is putting more focus on the new interns. And I don’t find it believable. The Christina stuff is gut-wrenching. I'm a total Cristina/Owen shipper, but they've totally ruined the ship for me. I just can't see them making it work. Why did they have to make Owen need kids?
Criminal Minds
First, lets get this out of the way. I wasn’t a hute fan of the first part of the two parter. I was glad for a Hotch-centric episode, but it didn’t really hold my interest. And the second part felt too short. I think it would have been better to take out the first part and expand the second, Replicator-centric part. Second, holy crap, Mark Hamill is the Replicator. Perfect casting. And he was superb. He’s an amazing actor who is perfect for playing villains. And he proved that he could be the bad guy in more than just voice roles. He was creepy and yet was able to play and FBI agent who was evil and good at pretending not to play evil. One thing that annoyed me about the episode was the randomly sticking Strause and Rossi together. I think killing Strause was the right choice, and her death scene was really well done. She has become more sympathetic in recent seasons, and in her death was completely sympathetic. So sad. And I actually kind of ship Strause/Rossi now. But they should have put more hints earlier that they were together. It felt like just a play to cause Rossi pain. This show has a bad record of fridging women for the male characters and not doing the same for the women. Hailey’s death worked okay. Maive’s didn’t. And here I’m kind of 50/50 on it.