Hurray for TV! (Officially out of things to start posts with).
Spoilers:
Shameless – “Parenthood” (B+)
Lip is going through some shit.
What a great ending. I know the writers are manipulating us a bit, but damn it if it wasn’t heartbreaking to watch Carl chase after Lip as he stormed out of the house. They really know how to use the younger Gallaghers to tug at your heart strings. Obviously Shameless is great when it’s going for laughs, but it’s that much better when it throws a little pathos into that mix. Now I just hope the next episode picks up where this one left off. The show tends to shift back into the familiar at the start of every episode, and from a tonal standpoint that bugs me a bit sometimes.
I honestly can’t figure out what Frank’s deal with his mother is. He wants her dead, he celebrates when she dies, but then he runs to his ex-wife to console him in his grief. I guess it’s a complicated relationship. Karen’s sort of the same with the baby. At one point she was slapping Lip for telling her to get an abortion and now all she cares about is what she can get for the poor kid. I guess her marriage sort of ended in between those two things, but it feels more like a convenient turn for the sake of Lip’s storyline then it does an actual development in her character. I’ll reserve my judgement though until I see how she reacts to Lip telling her he wants to keep it.
Oh and what do you think the over/under is we ever see Carl play football again?
Alcatraz – “The Ames Brothers” and “Sonny Burnett” (B)
I’m not entirely thrilled that these episodes are apparently so interchangeable they can air them out of order without any sort of repercussions continuity-wise, but I didn’t mind what they gave us this week. “The Ames Brothers” was a good bottle episode, and I’m hoping the Warden’s discovery of the gold plays some sort of factor later on in the series. I could see his character popping up in the modern day as one of the masterminds behind what happened in 63. He has that sort of vibe that he knows more than he’s letting on.
Sonny Burnett introduced the concept of healing blood, an interesting little addition to the mythology, but I found the core of the fairly predictable. I don’t think the inmate story was as good this time around. I’m hoping all this build up between Tommy and Rebecca ends up going somewhere soon, but considering next week’s episode (tonight’s actually) was supposed to air before these two, I’m not holding my breath.
New Girl – “Injured” (A)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this is the first time this show has gone serious. And wow, hats off to the writing staff and the cast for how it was executed. “Injured” was funny, poignant, heartfelt – I found myself really connecting with Nick and his drunken confessions. I think the writing staff waited the perfect amount of time to tackle this type of subject matter too. You do something like this too soon and the audience just doesn’t care enough about the characters. But even Cece made an impression in this episode, and she’s probably the least developed of the 5 main characters. Obviously, the show can’t do an episode like this one every week, but it’s certainly nice to see it’s in their repertoire. While “Injured” may not have been the funniest episode this series has ever done, it was probably my favourite so far.
Cougar Town – “Full Moon Fever” (B+)
There was a lot to like about this episode. You had Andy doing a hilarious Braveheart impression, Laurie starting a very funny (and sweet) relationship over Twitter, and Sarah Chalke making a guest appearance! A guest appearance that actually looks like it’s going to last more than just an episode. Every time I see a Scrubs cameo on this show my heart grows three sizes.
Happy Endings – “The Kerkovich Way” (B+)
Speaking of Scrubs alumni, I have to once again express my absolute adoration for Eliza Coupe. She was the one that earned this episode’s B it’s +. I loved the flashback to Jane and Alex’s great grandmother, saving her village from the Nazis by convincing them they’d already been occupied. But while the main story in this one was strong, the B story felt a little flat to me. I’m not a huge fan of watching Max pine over Grant. With all the fanfare around him finally getting a boyfriend, I thought it was going to last a little longer than it did, and now that it’s all over I’m not sure the relationship earned the kind of fanfare it got in this episode.
30 Rock – “Standards and Practices” (A-)
It’s unbelievable to me how good Chloe Moretz is as Jack’s nemesis. I’d even put Kaylie Hooper up there with Banks, which considering her age and my love of Will Arnett is just downright impressive. How awesome would it be if those two teamed up?
I’m also quite enjoying Kenneth’s new role this season. Taking him out of the Page program was great for his character, and since then I’ve liked almost all of the decisions the writers have made with him, particularly placing him in standards and practices. The combination of his history and unbelievable naivety seems to fit that department perfectly.
Parks and Recreation – “Lucky” (A-)
Sadly, this is the last episode of Parks and Rec we’re going to get until mid-April. But I guess at least the show went out with some pretty good laughs. Not only am I glad that the writers followed up on Andy’s Women’s Studies class, but I also like that they kept Ron involved in proceedings. That Tiger Wood’s outfit still haunts me. At the end of the day though this was really Andy’s time to shine and Chris Pratt absolutely hit it out of the park (Moneyball, anyone?).
The campaign had a pretty good week as well. I liked that Leslie’s strong relationship with the airport staff ended up getting her out of the jam. It reminded me a bit of her cute relationship with the police department. As for Tom and Ann, I’m still not totally sold on the two of them as a couple, but I’m happy that the writing staff is at least having a bit of fun with the mismatch. Their frequent break ups do seem oddly appropriate. Still, it does beg the question why they keep getting back together at all. They have a long way to go to justify those two staying together for any extended period of time.
The Office – “Last Day in Florida” (C+)
While I was happy to see Andy finally set off to win Erin back, the rest of “Last Day in Florida” was so weak by the time they got to that moment I was pretty much over it. Dwight and Jim’s shoving match seemed to drag on and on with pretty much zero comedic payoff and the B story in the Scranton office was as forgettable as most of the storylines that have come out of there since half of the office left for Florida. I’m looking forward to seeing Andy chase down Erin next week, but the little teaser at the end of this one just wasn’t enough to save the episode.
Up All Night – “Couple Friends” (B)
The whole couple friends idea is a bit of a worn out sitcom cliché. Usually writers pull it out when they have a married couple that’s proving difficult to write for and they need to give them the kind of material their single counterparts are having so much success with, hence why finding a couple to be friends with is always comparable to starting a relationship. I guess it’s somewhat inevitable that a show centered around a married couple would end up traversing down that path, but one would have thought it would have taken them longer to do it considering the show is still in its first season. Either way, Christina Applegate and Will Arnett did an admirable job of spicing up the storyline, once again proving they can elevate an episode just on the strength of their chemistry alone.
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