Pollstered!

Hey sports fans! It’s been a busy week so I’m going to have to give you the abridged version of some of these reviews. Enjoy!

Spoilers...

How I Met Your Mother – “Field Trip” (B)

Not everything in this episode worked, but on the whole I actually liked most of “Field Trip”. First off, Barney’s Ewok bit was a stroke of genius. It didn’t really matter what else happened in the episode, it was getting a semi-decent rating just for coming up with about 20 hilarious PowerPoint slides about Ewoks, ranging from Ewok topography to their hairstyles and anatomy. Ironically enough I went on to watch Jedi later that night.

Robin’s courtship with her therapist was a little less memorable. It throws a bit of cog into her pursuit of Barney but I think it’s pretty obvious the relationship won’t last. I do like Kal Penn but for some reason he feels a little bit underutilized here. Actually, most of Robin’s boyfriends (you know, other than Ted and Barney) haven’t really been the kind of characters that stick with you. I’ve grown attached to a couple of Ted’s girlfriends, but never to any of Robin’s boyfriends. I guess it’s because she’s always been destined as a potential love interest for the other leads on the show and we know Ted is going to marry someone outside of the group, but I do find that interesting...

I wasn’t a huge fan of Marshall’s storyline this week either, but I want to put an asterisk beside that statement. I thought Martin Short was quite funny and Marshall definitely had a few good lines as well, it’s just as a whole I didn’t really buy the idea that an environmental lawyer would just give up on the planet like that, as if it were a foregone conclusion. It makes very little sense. And inserting Lily into that story, rather awkwardly I might add, just exasperated the problem.

Maybe the silliest storyline of the week though I did like. Ted’s field trip was definitely a little out there – one of those stories that would just never happen in real life – but when they combined it with Barney’s storyline it was just the right amount of stupid to be funny. I loved how Barney somehow knew all of the students’ names as well as some of their mom’s names, and watching the group crash Robin’s date and hang out at the bar actually ended up being pretty endearing, so like I said – stupid but funny.

House – “Transplant” (B-)

So pretty much everything I talked about in my last review was either a poorly made assumption or just wrong, from Robert Sean Leonard appearing in a play to House staying in that prison for any length of time. Unfortunately, I don’t have a great beat on the inner happenings of House and those are just the breaks sometimes.

Of course with that said I wish I was right, because now the show has transported itself back into the same old familiar territory that has grown stale over the last few seasons. At least from House’s perspective, we’ve already seen this sort of storyline when he returned from the mental hospital.  I’m kind of getting a little frustrated with the cyclical nature of this show.

The one saving grace of this move by the writers though is it allows us to view some of the supporting characters in a new light. Foreman as Dean of Medicine could be interesting and since House’s incarceration effectively acts like a time jump when we do get the return of some of the other familiar faces on this show they should have a few new stories to tell.

I don’t mind Charlyne Yi’s new character either. She’s brings a different energy to the show (Charlyne Yi brings somewhat of a different energy to life too, so naturally it’s going to rub off on the show) and her character’s dynamic with House could end up adding a nice touch of humour.

I guess in the end what I’m saying is I’m a little disappointed that the writers have seemingly transported House backwards a few seasons, but I’m cautiously optimistic that maybe, with all the changes this season, they’ll be able to give us something new this year. It’ll likely be the final season for House and you always want to see a show go out on a high.

Grey’s Anatomy – “What Is It About Men” (B-)

This happens every few seasons on Grey’s, where they devote an episode to the men of the show. Normally it’s good for a few laughs – rarely do they hold any sort of substance – but for the most part it serves to highlight one of the main weaknesses of the writing staff on Grey’s, and that’s writing for its male characters.

Now yes, I realize the irony of that argument. Most TV shows have the exact opposite problem – they’re male centric and either don’t develop their female characters or worse turn them into unrealistic fantasy woman. It’s hard to criticise Grey’s for going in the other direction, but I think the ideal should be for every character to be well developed regardless of gender, and I don’t think that’s a really groundbreaking assertion.

So blah blah blah Grey’s is targeted for women... how did this episode do? About the same as the others I’d say. There were a few funny moments between the guys but there were also a few times I rolled my eyes. The deck was a nice addition, and I quite liked the joke at the end where they discovered it wasn’t level, but the whole concept seemed a little on the nose. There’s just something about the dialogue, the way they talk during these so called bonding sessions, that just seems decidingly unnatural.

Whatever, I guess I should just be glad they did a show about the guys at all.

Modern Family – “Hit and Run” (A-)

This was a real comeback episode for Modern Family. If you’ve been reading the blog over the last couple of weeks I haven’t exactly been gushing over the show of late. There’s been a few good storylines here and there but in general Modern Family has been pretty average this season, save for maybe the premiere. Let’s just hope “Hit and Run” has broken it out of its funk.

Once again I enjoyed David Cross’s part in the episode. I don’t know how much of role he’s going to play or whether or not the writers are going to stick with this Claire running for office thing, but his guest stints have both been solid. And while Claire was off challenging him for his seat on city council, we got to see Phil give his best shot at child rearing, hilariously punching Luke and drugging Alex within a few short minutes of wife’s absence.

I also loved Gloria’s response to Claire running for city council. Her absolute glee at finally getting to help someone with their problems made the fact that she kept assuming Claire wasn’t going to win that much funnier. That and Gloria’s description of the “Bieberization of America” were two of the highlights of the episode for me. When Sofia Vergara brings it, she really brings it.

But all the storylines were pretty good in this one. It was fun watching Jay deal with his client’s ridiculous demands, especially the quick cutaways to Jay describing how he was actually feeling. And Cameron and Mitchell had a markedly better week this week (I loved Lily’s reaction to finding out the two of them went to Muppet movie without her). Oh, and did anyone else notice David Neher (aka Todd from Community) at the end there. Man, that guy is everywhere these days.

Line of the night:

GLORIA: Well to be fair Haley started her crime ring when your eye was still on the ball.

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Alright, maybe that wasn’t as abridged as it could have been.