I'll have to admit I wasn't looking forward to this episode of Superstore. Though I'm Canadian, I've been following the U.S. election very closely for the last year and have gotten pretty exhausted over the whole thing, which has become a toxic, depressing mess. So the prospect of watching Superstore do an election-themed episode wasn't super appealing. Thankfully, Election Day wound up being being worth it as the show avoided trying to engage with the actual election and the Donald Trump of it all. Instead, it used the election as a backdrop to tell a bunch of stories that moved along the various character arcs and storylines of the season in a funny way. Outside of a throwaway joke from Mateo, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump didn't even come up by name once.
What did come up was the in-universe race for State Senator, as Cloud 9 Corporate sent out a voting guide that serves to not-so-subtly promote the incumbent Senator who supports the "right to work" (anti-union), while also not-so-subtly demonizing his opponent (who has never gone on record as being Pro-America). It's a clear case of Corporate trying to promote their own interests and agenda, which naturally doesn't sit well with Amy and Jonah, continuing their quest to push back against Corporate for worker's rights that the start of the season set up. Despite the fact that no one else cares or finds the voting guide a big deal and no one really reads work memos anyways, Amy and Jonah decide to make their own pamphlet and start going around convincing people to vote for the pro-labour candidate. This leads to a montage that's mostly inconsequential but does lead to the return of Jonah's "working class" voice, which is always funny, especially when it works on the warehouse guy Jonah talks to. Just when the story seems to be running out of steam though, it takes an unexpected turn when Naomi, a girl Jonah's been seeing shows up much to the surprise of Amy.
Because I never miss a chance to compare Superstore to The Office, Naomi as a character reminds me of Katie, the girl Jim briefly dates in season 2 (Who was played by Amy Adams of all people, right before she became a big deal.). Katie was someone Jim dated so we as viewers knew that he had a dating life outside of pining for Pam. She also made Pam jealous a bit for reasons Pam couldn't dare say. Naomi seems to be serving the same function on Superstore. Since Amy is married, it doesn't look good for Jonah to be pining for Amy so Naomi serves as a way for us to know that that isn't the case. Maybe my initial impression is wrong and Naomi will become an interesting character in her own right with a purpose beyond "Jonah's throwaway girlfriend" (which is what Katie became for Jim), but for now she's mainly there to turn this story from a "Amy and Jonah fight corporate story" to a "the state of Amy and Jonah's connection" story, as Amy finds herself pushing away from Jonah once Naomi comes in and recruiting a rethumbed and dull as ever Marcus to help her instead, while Jonah clocks out and goes home. In the end, Amy and Jonah's candidate wins the election and Amy is elated at the little victory, but only has Marcus to celebrate it with. Things feel off and Amy knows it, even before Marcus misreads things and tries to kiss her twice ending things on a funny but poignant note. Jonah having a girlfriend has triggered feelings Amy didn't realize were there and now she has to start to reckon with them and what they mean. It's a good development to end the story on and I look forward to seeing how it plays out as we head into the mid-season finale episodes next week.
Meanwhile, the spectre of voter fraud comes up for Dina and Glenn in the funniest possible way. After pushing back against Dina last week, Glenn is continuing to clash with her as he asserts his authority as manager. Seeing Glenn stand up for himself was the best part of last week's episode and it's good to know that that wasn't a one-time deal. Of course, Dina isn't going to take Glenn's new attitude lying down and when she gets in the way of his attempt to bring the poll workers (One named Sid in particular) some coffee, the coffee winds up spilling all over a ballot box, wrecking 53 ballots. Glenn and Dina try to dry the ballots to fix them, but Glenn winds up sending them all to the wind when he tries to speed things up with a fan and both of them panic over having accidentally tampered with the election. The whole story is delightfully absurd as they go from trying to hide the evidence of what they've done (Especially when they learn the penalty for voter fraud is a $10000 fine and 5 years in prison, not prism as Glenn thinks Sid said) to trying to catch each other confessing on tape (as advised by Marcus, who wound up in prison briefly when his mom did that to him for a lesser sentence) when they worry Cheyenne has overheard them talking about it. This leads to a beautiful scene of them both trying to have a "casual conversation" that eventually devolves to them trying to mimic the other's voices. Meanwhile the poll workers notice 53 ballots missing and laugh because that's way less missing than last time. All of Glenn and Dina's scheming and fretting has been for nothing but they're too caught up in their own struggle to even realize it. It's a clever note to end the story on, and a good reminder of how rare and irrelevant actual voter fraud is in the grand scheme of things.
Mateo also gets caught up in a struggle that winds up being for nothing, as he becomes concerned Dina will figure out he's undocumented if he doesn't have an "I Voted" sticker, something he can't get because he can't vote. After introducing the idea of Mateo being undocumented in the Olympics Special last August, it's good to see it return here, especially with undocumented citizens also being a pretty big issue in the election right now. The episode winds up handling it pretty well too, not making a big deal out of it or an "issues episode", but just having it as something to motivate Mateo through the episode. Mateo winds up confiding in Cheyenne, which also allows her to reveal she knows about him and Jeff in a natural way, setting Cheyenne up as a confidante for Mateo. Mateo/Cheyenne is one of the show's better character pairings so an opportunity for more of that is very welcome. What we get here is delightful, from Cheyenne's misunderstanding of what an "illegal alien" is to the "I Votted" sticker Cheyenne makes for Mateo and his reaction to it. His quest to get an "I Voted" sticker from the poll worker who's fiercely guarding them only becomes heightened when Cheyenne mistakes Dina trying to see if she knows about illegal activity as a hint that Dina's onto Mateo. Ultimately Mateo buys a sticker from a disinterested Garrett but by this point, Glenn and Dina are much too concerned with their own drama to care about who voted or not. It's a clever way of tying in the two stories, having Mateo's fretting be for naught, but also showing why it's something Mateo is rightfully concerned about. A character being an undocumented citizen is something you don't see on TV that much and it's nice to see it being explored here.
Ultimately Election Day was just the palate cleanser that the actual election cycle needed, telling a smart funny episode that managed to avoid getting entrenched in complicated or toxic politics. It's just another reason to love Superstore and another reason that I will miss it dearly when it goes on hiatus after next week. We're getting two episodes next week though, so here's hoping we go off on another high note.
Memorable Moments
-Best Interstitial: Nascar driver Jimmie Johnson cameos as he outraces a child through the aisles to the Muzak croning "Surrender".
-Glenn tries to top Dina for having his head in the game. "I've been here since 4:00 a.m. I've already had three meals". "It's not even 7:00. That's too many meals."
-Marcus gets a lot of play this week and he's delightful. His desire to be part of the gang with Jonah, Amy and Garrett and trying to make drink plans is terrific. "Hey, are we still on for drinks tonight?" "Please stop asking us." "No." "We never were." "Ah, cool. Well, we'll figure it out later."
-Also terrific: Marcus literally picking up Mertle to try to get her to the polls.
-Mateo's indignation at no one knowing who James Brolin is is probably the episode's best Mateo moment.
-Dina tries to make her and Glenn's alibi more specific. "Okay, we were in your office because you were telling me about the affair you've been having with your dental hygienist. She likes when you dance for her." "I do not want to be having an affair!" "Do you want to go to jail?" "No!" "Then you've been dancing for Shelley!"
-Glenn asks Marcus about his chances in prison. "Baby face. Kind eyes. Soft skin. Cute tummy. You'd be very popular." "Oh. Well, that's good." "No, that's bad. That's very bad."
Friday, 4 November 2016
Wednesday, 2 November 2016
The Official Everything Kenny Watches List (As Of Nov. 2nd 2016)
I watch much, much, much more TV than I write about. How much? Well I did the math on everything I've been watching so far this fall (excluding streaming service watches like Luke Cage or Black Mirror) and came up with 30 shows that I watch a week. 30. Now, not every show is on every week and one of the shows actually just wrapped up it's season so as of next week it'll be 29 but that's still a ton of television. So what do I actually watch? That's what this list is for. It's a list of everything I watch plus sorted by airdate (Sunday-Friday.) with a brief blurb of my thoughts on the show. So if you're looking for something to watch, feel free to find something off this list. And if you have any suggestions for new shows I could watch, feel free to suggest them but understand it'll be a while before I ever get to them. So here we go!
-The Last Man On Earth: Will Forte's inventive comedy about a handful of people in a world where everyone else has died continues to surprise and delight with a strong cast and top-notch comedic setpieces (A recent episode featured a hallway of Billy Bass endlessly singing 'Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog' and it's incredible). Will Forte's Phil "Tandy" Miller can still be very hard to take at times, but he rarely crosses over into the "unlikeable jerk" territory he spent most of season 1 in, being more of a well-meaning nuisance than anything else.
-Once Upon A Time: Once Upon A Time has never been a great show, but it's reimagination of an endless number of classic fairy tales and stories, Disney and otherwise is typically entertaining so I keep watching it. The 6th season is full of some of the show's favourite themes like second chances, the duality of good and evil, and whether you can change destiny. Plus Aladdin and Jasmine are there now so that's cool.
-Westworld: It's hard to say what HBO's new drama about a futuristic theme park full of robots who exist to serve the whims and desires of the park's guests is about. The fact that some of the robots seem to becoming aware of the nature of their existence and getting access to their (constantly erased) memories of death and rape is part of it. Ed Harris as a mysterious guest in search of a mysterious maze is part of it too I think. Anthony Hopkin's Park Founder is definitely up to something too. But while the point of Westworld is kind of oblique at this point, it's a compelling and fascinating show with Evan Rachel Wood giving a stand-out performance as one of the park's robot "hosts", Delores who seems to slowly be getting agency.
-Supergirl: Supergirl struggled in it's first CBS season, but the move to The CW has benefited it greatly. Melissa Benoist is perfectly cast as Kara Danvers, the girl of steel. The Season 2 premiere also debuted Tyler Hoechlin as one of the best takes on Superman in media that I've seen in a long time (Though his presence is secondary to Kara's story as it should be). Add in an exploration of Aliens as a prejudiced class X-Men style this season and there's plenty to love about Supergirl.
-Timeless: When Timeless debuted, I called it dumb fun and I stand by that, but Timeless has quickly become confident and comfortable with itself with great results. Watching the central trio try and protect various points in history is a blast and Matt Lanter's Wyatt has quickly gone from a generic bore to an interesting character in his own right. The conspiracy stuff is still ill-defined and dumb, but there's plenty of time for that to be fixed too.
-New Girl: What started as an alright Zooey Deschanel vehicle has evolved into a stellar ensemble comedy to the point where Zooey sitting several episodes out last season did nothing to affect the show's quality. New Girl even made great use of Megan Fox of all people to the point where I'm excited for the upcoming return of her character this season. Season 6 has featured Schmidt and Cece adjusting to married life, while Jess deals with her re-emerging feels for a somewhat more stable, definitely unavailable Nick and Winston keeps being Winston. It's not as good as it's season 2 peak, but it's still a lot of fun.
-Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Brooklyn Nine-Nine started out strong and has kept on being strong for going on 4 seasons now. Five episodes into the 4th season, Brooklyn has been packed with a 3-part storyline about Jake and Holt in witness projection in Florida, a "crossover" with New Girl, and their annual Halloween episode. The result is a season that hasn't really had time to settle down yet, but is still as funny as it ever was.
-Fresh Off The Boat: A family comedy about an Asian-American family living in Florida in the 90's, Fresh Off The Boat no longer resembles the memoir it was based on (And it parted ways with Eddie Huang at the beginning of the 2nd season), but it's become all the better for it, telling lots of funny, heartfelt stories that feel specific and unique, even when they're taking on classic sitcom plots. Plus the season 3 premiere became the first American TV Production to film in Taipei, Taiwan so that's pretty cool.
-Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is never going to be as interesting or as good as some of the Marvel Netflix shows can get, but it's become a pretty solid show over the years with Clark Gregg's Coulson and Chloe Bennet's Daisy heading up a strong ensemble. Season 4 has brought in Ghost Rider too and the results have been entertaining so far.
-No Tomorrow: No Tomorrow, a new romantic dramedy has quite a hook. Evie (Tori Anderson) is an orderly, uptight woman who strikes up a romance with free-spirited Xavier (Joshua Sasse) who encourages her to seize the day because he believes an asteroid is going to destroy the world in eight months. While not without it's flaws, No Tomorrow (which has it's new episodes put on Netflix Canada every week) is fun and quirky, and has built a compelling world in a short amount of time.
-Atlanta: Created by Donald Glover, Atlanta just wrapped up a stellar first season Tuesday night. An exploration of what it's like to be black and the Atlanta hip-hop scene, it's an incredibly surreal show that doesn't fit neatly into comedy or drama boxes and is all the better for it. Moments of sudden violence come and go as quickly and suddenly as jokes about invisible cars or Justin Bieber (who is black in the show's universe because of course.). Typical television structure goes out the window with Atlanta so you never quite know what you're gonna get when you flip it on. All you know is whatever happens, it'll be interesting.
-Survivor: 33 seasons in, Survivor is still as enjoyable as ever. This season, they've been doing Gen X Vs. Millennials, and the parts of the show where they play into that theme are exactly as annoying as you think they'd be. Luckily, a good mix of strong players and some cool challenges make the whole thing enjoyable.
-Designated Survivor: Kiefer Sutherland plays the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who suddenly becomes President when a terrorist attack takes out everyone else of the chain of succession. That alone should explain the appeal of Designated Survivor. The show is still figuring itself out, and the non-Kiefer Sutherland characters and storylines aren't as interesting as the Kiefer Sutherland stuff, but the Kiefer Sutherland stuff alone makes the show fun to watch. Kiefer is an amazing actor who gave an iconic performance for years in 24, and his President Tom Kirkland just might wind up being equally iconic if Designated Survivor survives long enough.
-You're The Worst: FXX's twisted romantic comedy about two damaged, awful people who fall for each other is another one of my favourite show's on television. As the couple at it's centre, Chris Geere and Aya Cash are both terrific as Jimmy and Gretchen, making the two likeable and compelling, despite their myriad of flaws. As their friends who are damaged in their own ways Edgar and Lindsay, Desmin Borges and Kether Donohue are also terrific, with Borges in particular a standout as the PTSD-addled Edgar. You're The Worst is hilarious, tragic, crude and dark in equal measure with an honest exploration of relationships and growing up that's often poignant. Season 3 isn't quite as good as season 2, which featured an incredible story arc about Gretchen's struggles with depression, but it's been interesting in it's own right as it explores ideas of family and happiness.
-South Park: South Park has been slowly getting more serialized the past couple seasons and that serialization has been taken to Netflix levels for season 20 as every episode so far has been part of one large story about trolling and harassment on the internet, a building gender war between the boys and girls at South Park Elementary, the U.S. Presidential election, and the way nostalgia and 'membering the glory days leads to not caring about problems in the present and recycled Star Wars sequels. Also J.J. Abrams might be behind everything. 6 episodes into the 10 episode season, everything is starting to come together and I'm excited to see how this all turns out and what the ultimate point winds up being.
-Modern Family: Eight seasons in, I'm watching Modern Family out of habit more than anything else at this point. That being said I still enjoy it and it can still pull off a great episode every so often. It's weird watching Luke and Manny be high school seniors though.
-Speechless: I was impressed by Speechless' pilot and I continue to be impressed five episodes in as it becomes more confident with every episode. Though Minnie Driver's Maya is still the most dominant character on the show, the rest of the DiMeo family has come into their own as well, with John Ross Bowie's Jimmy and Kyla Kenedy's Dylan quickly becoming the stealth MVP's for hilarious moments. Micah Fowler's J.J continues to impress to as he gives a very nuanced, very funny performance.
-Rectify: A beautiful, moving drama about a man who finds himself released from death row when new DNA evidence overturns his conviction after 20 years and his family who find their lives upended with his return, Rectify (which also gets new episodes released weekly to Netflix Canada) is a stunning portrait of life, empathy, and redemption in the American South. As Daniel Holden, the man suddenly thrown back into a world he never thought he'd see again, Aden Young gives a powerful, overwhelming performance that draws you into Daniel's headspace as he grapples with how to be in the world. The rest of the cast from Abigail Spencer as Daniel's devoted sister Amantha to Clayne Crawford as Daniel's abrasive but human stepbrother Teddy is just as good. Now on it's 4th and final season, it's still unclear to everyone (including Daniel) if Daniel actually committed the crime he was convicted of or not but the mystery is beside the point. Rectify is about everything great and terrible about humanity and that focus on humanity is what makes it great.
-Superstore: I write about Superstore a lot. And for good reason! It's really good! It reminds me of The Office in a lot of ways. Season 1 started out solid and got more confident and funny as it went along and that has carried into an even more confident and funny season 2. Season 2 so far has featured everything from strikes, theft, and gun sales to serial killing spokesmen, loose crows, and puppy adoption. Definitely worth your time
-The Good Place: I write about The Good Place a lot too! Probably my favourite new comedy of the fall, this show about a woman who dies and is accidentally sent to The Good Place where she tries to learn to be a better person is a constant delight with lots of twists and turns. With great performances from Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson-Harper and basically everyone in the ensemble, plus a fascinating look at what it means to be a good person, I hope The Good Place sticks around for a long time.
-Legends of Tomorrow: The 4th of The CW's DC superhero shows, Legends of Tomorrow is probably the messiest and least consistent, but when it works, it really works. The first season sent it's large ensemble of Arrow and Flash supporting characters across time to fight Vandal Savage with mixed results, due to Savage not being that compelling. The second season has dropped a few characters who didn't work and added a couple promising ones with a simpler focus of "protect the time stream" and it's been much better so far. Hoping for good things this season.
-How To Get Away With Murder: How To Get Away With Murder (Or HTGAWM for short) constantly swings for the fences with it's wild plotting and over-the-top twists and character turns. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's impossible to look away. And though the quality varies from episode to episode, you can always count on Viola Davis' Annalise Keating to give a powerhouse performance.
-Better Things: Pamela Adlon stars in this semi-autobiographical comedy she created with Louis C.K. as Sam Fox, who makes her living as an actress while being a single mother to her 3 girls. It's an honest, funny, winning look at motherhood that's cut from the same cloth as Louie (Which makes sense considering who's behind it), but manages to feel like it's own distinct thing. The kids are also perfectly cast and are just as whiny and annoying as real kids are, but also funny like real kids can be.
-Pitch: This drama about a pitcher who becomes the first female player in MLB history is flawed, but always interesting, providing an insider look into all the different aspects of baseball, while examining the pressure that comes with being a trailblazer. I'm not a Baseball fan, but I enjoy Pitch a lot.
Phew. So there you have it. A list of everything I watch on television. I could and should probably cut a couple things loose but I doubt that'll happen. This list is definitely going to be updated every several weeks or so as shows end their seasons or I start watching new shows. Will the number of what I watch go past 30? I hope not but it seems like something that'll happen sooner or later. So stay tuned.
Sunday
-Bob's Burgers: The best of Fox's animated offerings for a while now, the adventures of the Belcher clan and the beach town they live in continue to be one of the best ways to spend 30 minutes on a Sunday night. Full of heart, humour, and an endless supply of catchy songs with no signs of slowing down, Bob's Burgers is a delight.-The Last Man On Earth: Will Forte's inventive comedy about a handful of people in a world where everyone else has died continues to surprise and delight with a strong cast and top-notch comedic setpieces (A recent episode featured a hallway of Billy Bass endlessly singing 'Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog' and it's incredible). Will Forte's Phil "Tandy" Miller can still be very hard to take at times, but he rarely crosses over into the "unlikeable jerk" territory he spent most of season 1 in, being more of a well-meaning nuisance than anything else.
-Once Upon A Time: Once Upon A Time has never been a great show, but it's reimagination of an endless number of classic fairy tales and stories, Disney and otherwise is typically entertaining so I keep watching it. The 6th season is full of some of the show's favourite themes like second chances, the duality of good and evil, and whether you can change destiny. Plus Aladdin and Jasmine are there now so that's cool.
-Westworld: It's hard to say what HBO's new drama about a futuristic theme park full of robots who exist to serve the whims and desires of the park's guests is about. The fact that some of the robots seem to becoming aware of the nature of their existence and getting access to their (constantly erased) memories of death and rape is part of it. Ed Harris as a mysterious guest in search of a mysterious maze is part of it too I think. Anthony Hopkin's Park Founder is definitely up to something too. But while the point of Westworld is kind of oblique at this point, it's a compelling and fascinating show with Evan Rachel Wood giving a stand-out performance as one of the park's robot "hosts", Delores who seems to slowly be getting agency.
Monday
-Jane The Virgin: One of my favourite shows on television, the ongoing saga of Jane Villaneuva is a delight week in and week out. Packed full of crazy twists and turns, but grounded in well-developed characters and a sense of whimsy, Jane is definitely worth your time.-Supergirl: Supergirl struggled in it's first CBS season, but the move to The CW has benefited it greatly. Melissa Benoist is perfectly cast as Kara Danvers, the girl of steel. The Season 2 premiere also debuted Tyler Hoechlin as one of the best takes on Superman in media that I've seen in a long time (Though his presence is secondary to Kara's story as it should be). Add in an exploration of Aliens as a prejudiced class X-Men style this season and there's plenty to love about Supergirl.
-Timeless: When Timeless debuted, I called it dumb fun and I stand by that, but Timeless has quickly become confident and comfortable with itself with great results. Watching the central trio try and protect various points in history is a blast and Matt Lanter's Wyatt has quickly gone from a generic bore to an interesting character in his own right. The conspiracy stuff is still ill-defined and dumb, but there's plenty of time for that to be fixed too.
Tuesday
-The Flash: After a stellar first season of Silver Age-style comic book fun, The Flash struggled a bit in season 2 with a villain that felt like a less-compelling rehash of season 1's Reverse-Flash. Season 3 has been promising so far though, as Barry's screwing with the timeline at the end of last season leading to various interesting changes. Grant Gustin also continues to be great in the role to the point where I've almost forgotten how furious he made me back when he was on Glee.-New Girl: What started as an alright Zooey Deschanel vehicle has evolved into a stellar ensemble comedy to the point where Zooey sitting several episodes out last season did nothing to affect the show's quality. New Girl even made great use of Megan Fox of all people to the point where I'm excited for the upcoming return of her character this season. Season 6 has featured Schmidt and Cece adjusting to married life, while Jess deals with her re-emerging feels for a somewhat more stable, definitely unavailable Nick and Winston keeps being Winston. It's not as good as it's season 2 peak, but it's still a lot of fun.
-Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Brooklyn Nine-Nine started out strong and has kept on being strong for going on 4 seasons now. Five episodes into the 4th season, Brooklyn has been packed with a 3-part storyline about Jake and Holt in witness projection in Florida, a "crossover" with New Girl, and their annual Halloween episode. The result is a season that hasn't really had time to settle down yet, but is still as funny as it ever was.
-Fresh Off The Boat: A family comedy about an Asian-American family living in Florida in the 90's, Fresh Off The Boat no longer resembles the memoir it was based on (And it parted ways with Eddie Huang at the beginning of the 2nd season), but it's become all the better for it, telling lots of funny, heartfelt stories that feel specific and unique, even when they're taking on classic sitcom plots. Plus the season 3 premiere became the first American TV Production to film in Taipei, Taiwan so that's pretty cool.
-Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is never going to be as interesting or as good as some of the Marvel Netflix shows can get, but it's become a pretty solid show over the years with Clark Gregg's Coulson and Chloe Bennet's Daisy heading up a strong ensemble. Season 4 has brought in Ghost Rider too and the results have been entertaining so far.
-No Tomorrow: No Tomorrow, a new romantic dramedy has quite a hook. Evie (Tori Anderson) is an orderly, uptight woman who strikes up a romance with free-spirited Xavier (Joshua Sasse) who encourages her to seize the day because he believes an asteroid is going to destroy the world in eight months. While not without it's flaws, No Tomorrow (which has it's new episodes put on Netflix Canada every week) is fun and quirky, and has built a compelling world in a short amount of time.
-Atlanta: Created by Donald Glover, Atlanta just wrapped up a stellar first season Tuesday night. An exploration of what it's like to be black and the Atlanta hip-hop scene, it's an incredibly surreal show that doesn't fit neatly into comedy or drama boxes and is all the better for it. Moments of sudden violence come and go as quickly and suddenly as jokes about invisible cars or Justin Bieber (who is black in the show's universe because of course.). Typical television structure goes out the window with Atlanta so you never quite know what you're gonna get when you flip it on. All you know is whatever happens, it'll be interesting.
Wednesday
-Arrow: The first of The CW's new wave of superhero shows, the 5th season of Arrow is shaping up to possibly be the best season since the 2nd one. Stephen Arnell is still pretty broody as Oliver Queen, but he's training a new team now while also serving as the mayor of Star City and that's a lot of fun. The flashbacks are also more interesting than they've been in years, as we've finally gotten to the Russia part of Oliver's story.-Survivor: 33 seasons in, Survivor is still as enjoyable as ever. This season, they've been doing Gen X Vs. Millennials, and the parts of the show where they play into that theme are exactly as annoying as you think they'd be. Luckily, a good mix of strong players and some cool challenges make the whole thing enjoyable.
-Designated Survivor: Kiefer Sutherland plays the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who suddenly becomes President when a terrorist attack takes out everyone else of the chain of succession. That alone should explain the appeal of Designated Survivor. The show is still figuring itself out, and the non-Kiefer Sutherland characters and storylines aren't as interesting as the Kiefer Sutherland stuff, but the Kiefer Sutherland stuff alone makes the show fun to watch. Kiefer is an amazing actor who gave an iconic performance for years in 24, and his President Tom Kirkland just might wind up being equally iconic if Designated Survivor survives long enough.
-You're The Worst: FXX's twisted romantic comedy about two damaged, awful people who fall for each other is another one of my favourite show's on television. As the couple at it's centre, Chris Geere and Aya Cash are both terrific as Jimmy and Gretchen, making the two likeable and compelling, despite their myriad of flaws. As their friends who are damaged in their own ways Edgar and Lindsay, Desmin Borges and Kether Donohue are also terrific, with Borges in particular a standout as the PTSD-addled Edgar. You're The Worst is hilarious, tragic, crude and dark in equal measure with an honest exploration of relationships and growing up that's often poignant. Season 3 isn't quite as good as season 2, which featured an incredible story arc about Gretchen's struggles with depression, but it's been interesting in it's own right as it explores ideas of family and happiness.
-South Park: South Park has been slowly getting more serialized the past couple seasons and that serialization has been taken to Netflix levels for season 20 as every episode so far has been part of one large story about trolling and harassment on the internet, a building gender war between the boys and girls at South Park Elementary, the U.S. Presidential election, and the way nostalgia and 'membering the glory days leads to not caring about problems in the present and recycled Star Wars sequels. Also J.J. Abrams might be behind everything. 6 episodes into the 10 episode season, everything is starting to come together and I'm excited to see how this all turns out and what the ultimate point winds up being.
-Modern Family: Eight seasons in, I'm watching Modern Family out of habit more than anything else at this point. That being said I still enjoy it and it can still pull off a great episode every so often. It's weird watching Luke and Manny be high school seniors though.
-Speechless: I was impressed by Speechless' pilot and I continue to be impressed five episodes in as it becomes more confident with every episode. Though Minnie Driver's Maya is still the most dominant character on the show, the rest of the DiMeo family has come into their own as well, with John Ross Bowie's Jimmy and Kyla Kenedy's Dylan quickly becoming the stealth MVP's for hilarious moments. Micah Fowler's J.J continues to impress to as he gives a very nuanced, very funny performance.
-Rectify: A beautiful, moving drama about a man who finds himself released from death row when new DNA evidence overturns his conviction after 20 years and his family who find their lives upended with his return, Rectify (which also gets new episodes released weekly to Netflix Canada) is a stunning portrait of life, empathy, and redemption in the American South. As Daniel Holden, the man suddenly thrown back into a world he never thought he'd see again, Aden Young gives a powerful, overwhelming performance that draws you into Daniel's headspace as he grapples with how to be in the world. The rest of the cast from Abigail Spencer as Daniel's devoted sister Amantha to Clayne Crawford as Daniel's abrasive but human stepbrother Teddy is just as good. Now on it's 4th and final season, it's still unclear to everyone (including Daniel) if Daniel actually committed the crime he was convicted of or not but the mystery is beside the point. Rectify is about everything great and terrible about humanity and that focus on humanity is what makes it great.
Thursday
-Grey's Anatomy: I was introduced to Grey's a couple years ago and was immediately hooked on it's irresistible mixture of soapy personal drama and medical stories. 13 seasons in and with much cast changeover through the years, the saga of Meredith Grey shows no signs of slowing down. It's less outrageous than it's used to be, but still interesting and compelling and it's long history gives it a lot of emotional heft to draw on. I wouldn't have thought when the show began that Alex Karev would become one of the most compelling characters, but here we are.-Superstore: I write about Superstore a lot. And for good reason! It's really good! It reminds me of The Office in a lot of ways. Season 1 started out solid and got more confident and funny as it went along and that has carried into an even more confident and funny season 2. Season 2 so far has featured everything from strikes, theft, and gun sales to serial killing spokesmen, loose crows, and puppy adoption. Definitely worth your time
-The Good Place: I write about The Good Place a lot too! Probably my favourite new comedy of the fall, this show about a woman who dies and is accidentally sent to The Good Place where she tries to learn to be a better person is a constant delight with lots of twists and turns. With great performances from Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson-Harper and basically everyone in the ensemble, plus a fascinating look at what it means to be a good person, I hope The Good Place sticks around for a long time.
-Legends of Tomorrow: The 4th of The CW's DC superhero shows, Legends of Tomorrow is probably the messiest and least consistent, but when it works, it really works. The first season sent it's large ensemble of Arrow and Flash supporting characters across time to fight Vandal Savage with mixed results, due to Savage not being that compelling. The second season has dropped a few characters who didn't work and added a couple promising ones with a simpler focus of "protect the time stream" and it's been much better so far. Hoping for good things this season.
-How To Get Away With Murder: How To Get Away With Murder (Or HTGAWM for short) constantly swings for the fences with it's wild plotting and over-the-top twists and character turns. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's impossible to look away. And though the quality varies from episode to episode, you can always count on Viola Davis' Annalise Keating to give a powerhouse performance.
-Better Things: Pamela Adlon stars in this semi-autobiographical comedy she created with Louis C.K. as Sam Fox, who makes her living as an actress while being a single mother to her 3 girls. It's an honest, funny, winning look at motherhood that's cut from the same cloth as Louie (Which makes sense considering who's behind it), but manages to feel like it's own distinct thing. The kids are also perfectly cast and are just as whiny and annoying as real kids are, but also funny like real kids can be.
-Pitch: This drama about a pitcher who becomes the first female player in MLB history is flawed, but always interesting, providing an insider look into all the different aspects of baseball, while examining the pressure that comes with being a trailblazer. I'm not a Baseball fan, but I enjoy Pitch a lot.
Friday
-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: The only thing I watch on Fridays and the first thing I wrote about when I relaunched this blog, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a delightful musical comedy with a lot to say about love, addiction, mental health, how we treat women, and the things we do to be happy. Rachel Bloom gives a delightful lead performance as Rebecca, who's an anti-hero but a very sympathetic one. The songs are top-notch too and just add to making Crazy Ex-Girlfriend a unique and compelling viewing experience.Phew. So there you have it. A list of everything I watch on television. I could and should probably cut a couple things loose but I doubt that'll happen. This list is definitely going to be updated every several weeks or so as shows end their seasons or I start watching new shows. Will the number of what I watch go past 30? I hope not but it seems like something that'll happen sooner or later. So stay tuned.
Monday, 31 October 2016
I Got Thoughts On Jane The Virgin: Chapter 47
I Got Thoughts is a thing I've been trying where I post a point-form collection of my thoughts on episodes of television for shows instead of a normal recap to better express myself and give it a personal touch. Some thoughts will be longer than other ones as the following post will demonstrate.
-Hey, this post is going to get really personal, so if that's not your jam you can skip this post. I won't be mad. OK, here we go.
-So I'm a virgin (Told you this post was super personal) of roughly the same age as Jane waiting for marriage like Jane did. It's a personal choice for reasons that started out as purely faith-based but have expanded as I grew older to be more about my own ideas of romanticism and sex as a personal, meaningful experience between two people. I'm aware a very large number of people feel differently than I do and that's fine. I respect that and I don't judge anyone who doesn't wait because it has nothing to do with me. Everyone's entitled to their own choices and opinions about sex and everyone deserves to have their choices respected. That being said, "waiting until marriage" isn't really something you see on television or film these days and while I'm definitely not calling for more abstinence on TV, it does get lonely sometimes (for lack of a better word). So I've always appreciated how Jane the Virgin has carefully and respectfully Jane's virginity, which she finally lost tonight when she consummated her marriage to Michael at last. It was always something that the show took seriously and explored honestly, but it was never a huge part of the show, despite being part of the show's title (Which will apparently now be constantly changing and in flux). It came up when it was pertinent to the stories the show told and was backgrounded the rest of the time. It was part of who Jane was but it didn't define her. She's always been much, much more than just Jane the Virgin. The show could've lost the "Virgin" part at any time, but they chose to wait until it was right for the character and I find that amazing. I genuinely never expected for them to actually have Jane wait until marriage to have sex so it's a big deal for me that they actually followed through with that. And Chapter 47 was everything I wanted for the episode where Jane has sex, which was handled with the same respectfulness and care that's been present throughout the show as it explored the effect finally having sex had on Jane.
-I was wondering how the sex in question would be handled. This is the CW after all and while Jane has never been afraid to get steamy, a full-on sex scene would've felt weird. The animated representations of Jane and Michael getting into a rocket and travelling around the world though? Perfect the first time (albeit too short, which makes sense as it wasn't that satisfying for Jane) and even better the second time (which got the extended sequence it deserved). It's the kind of super cutesy thing only Jane could really get away with, through the whimsical tone they've established from the get-go.
-Even though last episode ended with Jane and Michael rushing off to have sex, I was worried that they were going to get waylaid by something to delay the moment from happening until at least the end of the episode. And they were waylaid, but the distractions weren't in the way for very long and they had sex by the end of the first act, which was much appreciated. That left the episode more time to explore the aftermath.
-Having Jane's first time be a confusing disappointment where she faked an orgasm was smart and felt true to life. When you build something like that up for so long, there's no way that it immediately manages to live up to your expectations.
-Having Jane also accidentally record her first time and send it to her adviser was a weird choice and probably unnecessary, but the awkward scene between Jane and Professor Donaldson wound up being funny enough to justify it, while moving along the Jane's thesis storyline well.
-The thing in this episode that really hit close to home was Jane's ultimate fear that a huge part of her identity was gone now that she had had sex. Having this fear manifest itself through Jane becoming concerned about Xo considering giving up on being a famous singer to explore other possible career venues was a smart move on the writers parts (I feel I say "smart move" a lot but that's only because the Jane writers make a lot of smart moves) and added more heft to Xo's eventual conversation with Jane, grounding it in their mother-daughter bond. Xo assuring her that she hadn't lost something and had instead gained something was powerful and something I had never thought about before (So Xo helped me out too. Thanks Xo!).
-Jane and Michael watching their own accidental sex tape and that leading to their much more satisfying second encounter (after some hilarious mishaps with both of them too in their own heads earlier in the episode) was the other reason I wound up being fine with that particular plot point.
-Jane's thesis gets revisited this episode too as we find out Alba has an estranged sister Cecilia (Who used to look exactly like Jane), who ruined Alba's wedding by revealing she wasn't a virgin. Gina Rodriguez gets to show off even more of her acting chops by playing a fantasy version of Cecilia as Jane tries to get into her head for why she'd do such a thing for her novel. It's terrific.
-The Cecilia runner even plays into Jane's ongoing identity crisis in the end, as Jane tries to use her newfound sexual experience to deepen the character, but gets completely hung up on that aspect of the character. Once she puts that aside and starts focusing on other details of Cecilia's life, she's able to crack the character and accidentally stumbles on the real reason she tried to derail Alba's marriage: she was in love with Alba's fiance. Hopefully we get to see real Cecilia sometime soon.
-Gloria and Emilio Estefan guest-starred in this episode! That's pretty neat! Having Rogelio call in a favour (According to him, he gets one every 20 years) to help Xo instead of himself like he planned was sweet.
-The majority of the Estefan's appearance is spent fawning over them, so when Jane snaps at Gloria for encouraging Xo to explore other ventures beyond singing, the moment is that much funnier.
-Rogelio pitching an American remake of The Passions of Santos to The CW allows the show to get incredibly, delightfully meta as it both pokes fun at The CW (Jane and Xo have never heard of it and Rogelio hails their "Superhero every day of the week" plan as genius at the actual meeting), while also heaping tons of praise on The CW and giving it a bit of promotion (I was excited to see a poster for The 100 in the background).
-Rogelio giving Dinah 51% ownership of Santos feels like the kind of thing that will haunt him later but I hope not because I love Judy Reyes and want her to be in this show at every opportunity as an ally. Rogelio's declaration that they were artistic soulmates was surprisingly sweet.
-The show finally acknowledges that Luisa and Rose are going in circles by having them literally spend over a month going in circles at the bottom of the ocean. Clever.
-The Sin Rosetro element of the show has long been it's weakest, but focusing it on the idea of Rose wanting to get out of the crime game and settle down with Luisa (who may or may not be game for that. It's left up a secret what she actually decided in the end) has potential. Her apparently killing Rafael's mother at the end of the episode is also promising for at least suggesting that they're going to simplify the crime story.
-No Petra/Anezka this week. Smart call as that story would've overstuffed the episode.
-So I guess Jane The Virgin is gonna have to change that title now (At least in show). That could be fun.
-Thanks for reading all that super personal stuff earlier. I think it turned out really well!
-Hey, this post is going to get really personal, so if that's not your jam you can skip this post. I won't be mad. OK, here we go.
-So I'm a virgin (Told you this post was super personal) of roughly the same age as Jane waiting for marriage like Jane did. It's a personal choice for reasons that started out as purely faith-based but have expanded as I grew older to be more about my own ideas of romanticism and sex as a personal, meaningful experience between two people. I'm aware a very large number of people feel differently than I do and that's fine. I respect that and I don't judge anyone who doesn't wait because it has nothing to do with me. Everyone's entitled to their own choices and opinions about sex and everyone deserves to have their choices respected. That being said, "waiting until marriage" isn't really something you see on television or film these days and while I'm definitely not calling for more abstinence on TV, it does get lonely sometimes (for lack of a better word). So I've always appreciated how Jane the Virgin has carefully and respectfully Jane's virginity, which she finally lost tonight when she consummated her marriage to Michael at last. It was always something that the show took seriously and explored honestly, but it was never a huge part of the show, despite being part of the show's title (Which will apparently now be constantly changing and in flux). It came up when it was pertinent to the stories the show told and was backgrounded the rest of the time. It was part of who Jane was but it didn't define her. She's always been much, much more than just Jane the Virgin. The show could've lost the "Virgin" part at any time, but they chose to wait until it was right for the character and I find that amazing. I genuinely never expected for them to actually have Jane wait until marriage to have sex so it's a big deal for me that they actually followed through with that. And Chapter 47 was everything I wanted for the episode where Jane has sex, which was handled with the same respectfulness and care that's been present throughout the show as it explored the effect finally having sex had on Jane.
-I was wondering how the sex in question would be handled. This is the CW after all and while Jane has never been afraid to get steamy, a full-on sex scene would've felt weird. The animated representations of Jane and Michael getting into a rocket and travelling around the world though? Perfect the first time (albeit too short, which makes sense as it wasn't that satisfying for Jane) and even better the second time (which got the extended sequence it deserved). It's the kind of super cutesy thing only Jane could really get away with, through the whimsical tone they've established from the get-go.
-Even though last episode ended with Jane and Michael rushing off to have sex, I was worried that they were going to get waylaid by something to delay the moment from happening until at least the end of the episode. And they were waylaid, but the distractions weren't in the way for very long and they had sex by the end of the first act, which was much appreciated. That left the episode more time to explore the aftermath.
-Having Jane's first time be a confusing disappointment where she faked an orgasm was smart and felt true to life. When you build something like that up for so long, there's no way that it immediately manages to live up to your expectations.
-Having Jane also accidentally record her first time and send it to her adviser was a weird choice and probably unnecessary, but the awkward scene between Jane and Professor Donaldson wound up being funny enough to justify it, while moving along the Jane's thesis storyline well.
-The thing in this episode that really hit close to home was Jane's ultimate fear that a huge part of her identity was gone now that she had had sex. Having this fear manifest itself through Jane becoming concerned about Xo considering giving up on being a famous singer to explore other possible career venues was a smart move on the writers parts (I feel I say "smart move" a lot but that's only because the Jane writers make a lot of smart moves) and added more heft to Xo's eventual conversation with Jane, grounding it in their mother-daughter bond. Xo assuring her that she hadn't lost something and had instead gained something was powerful and something I had never thought about before (So Xo helped me out too. Thanks Xo!).
-Jane and Michael watching their own accidental sex tape and that leading to their much more satisfying second encounter (after some hilarious mishaps with both of them too in their own heads earlier in the episode) was the other reason I wound up being fine with that particular plot point.
-Jane's thesis gets revisited this episode too as we find out Alba has an estranged sister Cecilia (Who used to look exactly like Jane), who ruined Alba's wedding by revealing she wasn't a virgin. Gina Rodriguez gets to show off even more of her acting chops by playing a fantasy version of Cecilia as Jane tries to get into her head for why she'd do such a thing for her novel. It's terrific.
-The Cecilia runner even plays into Jane's ongoing identity crisis in the end, as Jane tries to use her newfound sexual experience to deepen the character, but gets completely hung up on that aspect of the character. Once she puts that aside and starts focusing on other details of Cecilia's life, she's able to crack the character and accidentally stumbles on the real reason she tried to derail Alba's marriage: she was in love with Alba's fiance. Hopefully we get to see real Cecilia sometime soon.
-Gloria and Emilio Estefan guest-starred in this episode! That's pretty neat! Having Rogelio call in a favour (According to him, he gets one every 20 years) to help Xo instead of himself like he planned was sweet.
-The majority of the Estefan's appearance is spent fawning over them, so when Jane snaps at Gloria for encouraging Xo to explore other ventures beyond singing, the moment is that much funnier.
-Rogelio pitching an American remake of The Passions of Santos to The CW allows the show to get incredibly, delightfully meta as it both pokes fun at The CW (Jane and Xo have never heard of it and Rogelio hails their "Superhero every day of the week" plan as genius at the actual meeting), while also heaping tons of praise on The CW and giving it a bit of promotion (I was excited to see a poster for The 100 in the background).
-Rogelio giving Dinah 51% ownership of Santos feels like the kind of thing that will haunt him later but I hope not because I love Judy Reyes and want her to be in this show at every opportunity as an ally. Rogelio's declaration that they were artistic soulmates was surprisingly sweet.
-The show finally acknowledges that Luisa and Rose are going in circles by having them literally spend over a month going in circles at the bottom of the ocean. Clever.
-The Sin Rosetro element of the show has long been it's weakest, but focusing it on the idea of Rose wanting to get out of the crime game and settle down with Luisa (who may or may not be game for that. It's left up a secret what she actually decided in the end) has potential. Her apparently killing Rafael's mother at the end of the episode is also promising for at least suggesting that they're going to simplify the crime story.
-No Petra/Anezka this week. Smart call as that story would've overstuffed the episode.
-So I guess Jane The Virgin is gonna have to change that title now (At least in show). That could be fun.
-Thanks for reading all that super personal stuff earlier. I think it turned out really well!
Saturday, 29 October 2016
I Got Thoughts On Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: When Will Josh See How Cool I Am?
I Got Thoughts is a new-ish style of recap I'll be doing for some shows where I'll post a point-form list of thoughts I have on episodes of television. It's pretty new (This is the third one) so I'm still playing around with it a bit.
-I didn't write about Where Is Josh's Friend? last week (Actually another reason I started this I Got Thoughts format) but I thought it was a strong start to the season and taken with this week, I'm very excited to see where this all goes.
-I wasn't sure about the new theme song at first but it's quickly grown on me. It does a good job of summing up Rebecca's mindset for the season now that she's no longer in denial for her feelings and is all in on being in love. Also the "Blam!" ending that lasts just long enough to be awkward is hilarious.
-Very good week for the music this week. The three new songs were all great in their own way for reasons I'll outline below and I'm a sucker for a good reprise so as worried as I was for Greg's new-found sobriety, him returning to But I Could If I Wanted To right before punching a wall was great.
-Where Is Josh's Friend? made it clear that Josh and Rebecca clearly have different levels of investment in their relationship. Luckily, by the end of When Will Josh See How Cool I Am? Rebecca has also realized that and is making a push against Josh's "staying in our own lanes" attitude towards her.
-Before she learned that though we had the adventure of her trying to become a master ping pong player in a short amount of time, which had a guest appearance from national treasure Albert Tsai as her child mentor and helped offset the heavier material of the Greg story with some welcome silliness.
-I've been very impressed with how Greg's newly discovered alcoholism is being handled this season. Santino Fontana is doing great work making Greg feel like the same guy we met last season, albeit less angry and trying to improve himself in a meaningful way. The varied reactions of Greg's friends trying to figure out how to best support him was also nice (With Hector's constant forgetting that Greg can't drink being a very Hector touch). The road to recovery is long and complicated the CXGF writers seem interested in fully exploring it, which is nice.
-Heather is still pretty much on the fringe of the show's world ever since breaking up with Greg but she was good here as a friend and a support for Greg. Vella Lovell is always great on the show so more of her this season would definitely be welcome.
-Very glad they didn't drag out Rebecca and Josh hiding the truth from Greg for very long. Having it come out now while Greg is still early into recovery and could possibly spiral back was smart. Even though I figured Greg wouldn't actually be out drinking, I was genuinely worried when he was suddenly missing.
-Interesting that Josh and Rebecca had essentially the same reaction to Greg's alcoholism. They both didn't see it coming and then both used it as an excuse not to tell Greg about them sleeping together (Though Josh was not able to keep the cat in the bag for very long).
-Greg got a DUI because he was going to tell Rebecca he loved her! Aw, that hurts. He seems to have processed what Josh and Rebecca did pretty healthily in the end though. Of course if the ending with Rebecca smelling his sweatshirt is any indication, she might be interested in Greg again, which might not be the best thing for Greg. Agh, the relationships on this show are so messy and well-drawn.
-At the least, it's good that Rebecca's conversation with Greg has opened her eyes a bit to the reality of her situation with Josh. It was a relief to hear her tell him "I deserve to be with someone who treats me well".
-Josh's self-centered personality and emotional immaturity have always been part of his character, but now that he's no longer with Valencia, it's really becoming obvious. It's good. Josh's flaws only serve to make him more interesting as a character.
-Paula trying to quit her addiction to Rebecca's drama and applying to law school was a very smart move on the writers part that opens up a lot more stories for her and gives us a good example for how Rebecca's single-minded pursuit is affecting and hurting her relationships with others.
-Having Paula's big concern in this episode be "Does Rebecca support me doing this?" rather than "Will Rebecca write the letter on time?" was a smart choice. It lets the fact that Rebecca does write the letter in the end be more important than her not doing it on time (which we all knew was going to happen). It helps that Daryl had actually written Paula a recommendation letter so Rebecca screwing up didn't actually hurt Paula.
-That being said, it seems we're eventually going to reach a point where Rebecca and Paula hit an impasse over Rebecca's behaviour.
-Daryl being under the very mistaken impression that he and Paula are best friends was a great beat when he mentioned it during Paula Needs To Get Over Josh! and I was thrilled to see it return here. Oh Daryl. Paula will realize you're the friend she needs one day. At least she used your letter (when she had no other choice).
-Paula's marriage seems to be in a more stable, supportive place this year which is nice. Also the "After everything you've done for her-" "That she didn't ask for" exchange was a nice echo to both After Everything I've Done For You and the pairs spoken word exchange of the theme song last season.
-White Josh DOES look kind of resemble a giant, buff chipmunk (A Chiphunk to use Rebecca's phrasing.). I'm not sure I'll ever look at him the same again.
-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is very good at making distinct characters like Greg's ridiculously supportive boss Kevin (who's getting a lot of play so far this season.) or his Motorcycle gang AA Sponsor Guardrail. Hopefully there's more Guardrail in the episodes to come because he seems to be the kind of gruff but supportive presence Greg needs right now.
-I was looking forward to Ping Pong Girl the moment it showed up in the promos for this weeks episode and it did not disappoint. Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne fame wrote a terrific send-up of late 90's/early 00's pop punk that manged to skewer the idea of the "effortlessly cool without trying girl" and bro culture as filtered through Rebecca's fantasy of what that is and how she can twist it to lead Josh to make a meaningful commitment. The song's also full of great lines like "Ping-Pong shows that she has control over her body, but it doesn't threaten my masculinity like basketball or hockey". The cuts from the fantasy music video back to Actual Rebecca trying and failing to learn Ping Pong before getting too caught up in the fake music video playing out in her head were also great and made it clear how well Rebecca's plan would actually work (which is to say not at all).
-Although Ping Pong Girl is probably my favourite song of the episode (I have a real soft spot for pop punk), Maybe This Dream and Greg's Drinking Song were equally terrific, character driven songs that were funny but also had a certain kind of sadness to them. Behind Paula singing a Disney Princess song about the disappointments of life and "Dump Cramps" is a poignant mix of hope and fear about her applying to law school and her worries that it won't work out. And Greg's Irish drinking song about all the things that happen when he drinks is funny, but also paints a bleak portrait of how serious his problem actually is.
-All in all, another strong and inventive episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Next week appears to tackle the Josh/Greg/Rebecca triangle head-on with a Marilyn Monroe-inspired number. That sounds promising.
-I didn't write about Where Is Josh's Friend? last week (Actually another reason I started this I Got Thoughts format) but I thought it was a strong start to the season and taken with this week, I'm very excited to see where this all goes.
-I wasn't sure about the new theme song at first but it's quickly grown on me. It does a good job of summing up Rebecca's mindset for the season now that she's no longer in denial for her feelings and is all in on being in love. Also the "Blam!" ending that lasts just long enough to be awkward is hilarious.
-Very good week for the music this week. The three new songs were all great in their own way for reasons I'll outline below and I'm a sucker for a good reprise so as worried as I was for Greg's new-found sobriety, him returning to But I Could If I Wanted To right before punching a wall was great.
-Where Is Josh's Friend? made it clear that Josh and Rebecca clearly have different levels of investment in their relationship. Luckily, by the end of When Will Josh See How Cool I Am? Rebecca has also realized that and is making a push against Josh's "staying in our own lanes" attitude towards her.
-Before she learned that though we had the adventure of her trying to become a master ping pong player in a short amount of time, which had a guest appearance from national treasure Albert Tsai as her child mentor and helped offset the heavier material of the Greg story with some welcome silliness.
-I've been very impressed with how Greg's newly discovered alcoholism is being handled this season. Santino Fontana is doing great work making Greg feel like the same guy we met last season, albeit less angry and trying to improve himself in a meaningful way. The varied reactions of Greg's friends trying to figure out how to best support him was also nice (With Hector's constant forgetting that Greg can't drink being a very Hector touch). The road to recovery is long and complicated the CXGF writers seem interested in fully exploring it, which is nice.
-Heather is still pretty much on the fringe of the show's world ever since breaking up with Greg but she was good here as a friend and a support for Greg. Vella Lovell is always great on the show so more of her this season would definitely be welcome.
-Very glad they didn't drag out Rebecca and Josh hiding the truth from Greg for very long. Having it come out now while Greg is still early into recovery and could possibly spiral back was smart. Even though I figured Greg wouldn't actually be out drinking, I was genuinely worried when he was suddenly missing.
-Interesting that Josh and Rebecca had essentially the same reaction to Greg's alcoholism. They both didn't see it coming and then both used it as an excuse not to tell Greg about them sleeping together (Though Josh was not able to keep the cat in the bag for very long).
-Greg got a DUI because he was going to tell Rebecca he loved her! Aw, that hurts. He seems to have processed what Josh and Rebecca did pretty healthily in the end though. Of course if the ending with Rebecca smelling his sweatshirt is any indication, she might be interested in Greg again, which might not be the best thing for Greg. Agh, the relationships on this show are so messy and well-drawn.
-At the least, it's good that Rebecca's conversation with Greg has opened her eyes a bit to the reality of her situation with Josh. It was a relief to hear her tell him "I deserve to be with someone who treats me well".
-Josh's self-centered personality and emotional immaturity have always been part of his character, but now that he's no longer with Valencia, it's really becoming obvious. It's good. Josh's flaws only serve to make him more interesting as a character.
-Paula trying to quit her addiction to Rebecca's drama and applying to law school was a very smart move on the writers part that opens up a lot more stories for her and gives us a good example for how Rebecca's single-minded pursuit is affecting and hurting her relationships with others.
-Having Paula's big concern in this episode be "Does Rebecca support me doing this?" rather than "Will Rebecca write the letter on time?" was a smart choice. It lets the fact that Rebecca does write the letter in the end be more important than her not doing it on time (which we all knew was going to happen). It helps that Daryl had actually written Paula a recommendation letter so Rebecca screwing up didn't actually hurt Paula.
-That being said, it seems we're eventually going to reach a point where Rebecca and Paula hit an impasse over Rebecca's behaviour.
-Daryl being under the very mistaken impression that he and Paula are best friends was a great beat when he mentioned it during Paula Needs To Get Over Josh! and I was thrilled to see it return here. Oh Daryl. Paula will realize you're the friend she needs one day. At least she used your letter (when she had no other choice).
-Paula's marriage seems to be in a more stable, supportive place this year which is nice. Also the "After everything you've done for her-" "That she didn't ask for" exchange was a nice echo to both After Everything I've Done For You and the pairs spoken word exchange of the theme song last season.
-White Josh DOES look kind of resemble a giant, buff chipmunk (A Chiphunk to use Rebecca's phrasing.). I'm not sure I'll ever look at him the same again.
-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is very good at making distinct characters like Greg's ridiculously supportive boss Kevin (who's getting a lot of play so far this season.) or his Motorcycle gang AA Sponsor Guardrail. Hopefully there's more Guardrail in the episodes to come because he seems to be the kind of gruff but supportive presence Greg needs right now.
-I was looking forward to Ping Pong Girl the moment it showed up in the promos for this weeks episode and it did not disappoint. Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne fame wrote a terrific send-up of late 90's/early 00's pop punk that manged to skewer the idea of the "effortlessly cool without trying girl" and bro culture as filtered through Rebecca's fantasy of what that is and how she can twist it to lead Josh to make a meaningful commitment. The song's also full of great lines like "Ping-Pong shows that she has control over her body, but it doesn't threaten my masculinity like basketball or hockey". The cuts from the fantasy music video back to Actual Rebecca trying and failing to learn Ping Pong before getting too caught up in the fake music video playing out in her head were also great and made it clear how well Rebecca's plan would actually work (which is to say not at all).
-Although Ping Pong Girl is probably my favourite song of the episode (I have a real soft spot for pop punk), Maybe This Dream and Greg's Drinking Song were equally terrific, character driven songs that were funny but also had a certain kind of sadness to them. Behind Paula singing a Disney Princess song about the disappointments of life and "Dump Cramps" is a poignant mix of hope and fear about her applying to law school and her worries that it won't work out. And Greg's Irish drinking song about all the things that happen when he drinks is funny, but also paints a bleak portrait of how serious his problem actually is.
-All in all, another strong and inventive episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Next week appears to tackle the Josh/Greg/Rebecca triangle head-on with a Marilyn Monroe-inspired number. That sounds promising.
Friday, 28 October 2016
It's All Eyes on Dina When Superstore Deals With A Halloween Theft
Halloween makes for good television, especially when it comes to sitcoms. It gives shows an opportunity to dress up, cut loose, and get a little spooky and the results are seldom disappointing. Halloween Theft doesn't do a lot with Halloween, beyond put the cast in costumes and let it be a backdrop for Dina going into authoritarian overdrive and for Amy's motivations this week, but there's just enough Halloween spirit to elevate an already good episode of Superstore into a great one.
In these recaps of Superstore, I often compare Dina to Dwight Schrute from The Office. It's an easy comparison to make. Both of them are abrasive oddballs in positions of authority, obsessed with rules and order, and who have little regard for their fellow employees, often making their lives harder. There's a couple of key differences between Dwight and Dina though that tonight's episode of Superstore make abundantly clear. The first is how they relate to their managers. Dwight always had a great love and respect for Michael and that allowed Michael to keep him more or less in line. Dina has no respect for Glenn, who is a massive pushover so she's much harder to control or stop. The second key difference? Dina has boobs, which are suddenly put on full display in Halloween Theft.
The costumes Halloween Theft puts their characters in make a lot of sense from a character standpoint. From Jonah's "trying too hard too be clever" Brexit costume to Amy's "totally loves Halloween" Cleopatra to Garrett's "suave and stylish" James Bond to Glenn's "fun but very impractical" Hot Dog, you can tell a lot of effort was put by the writers into what the characters would wear. Of course, Dina has no desire to dress up for Halloween and her main concern is monitoring who's buying things like toilet paper and shaving cream so the writers develop a simple but clever way of getting her into costume: having Sandra dress up as Dina and the rest of the store saying they could twin. This leads to Dina in a incredibly distracting and ridiculous sexy cop costume. The sexy cop costume is maybe the episode's best joke this week and props to Lauren Ash for being willing to go for it. She goes all out this week, not changing a thing about how Dina conducts business despite being in something more revealing than she typically wears. Watching her interrogate and chase people down in the costume is ridiculous and makes every scene she's in funnier. The disconnect between how Dina looks and how she acts causes a lot of problems for Garrett this week who finds himself suddenly attracted to Dina. He knows her personality is terrible but his caveman brain can't help himself. It's always funny to see Garrett off his game and while this is probably just a one-time scene, a possible romantic connection between Garrett and Dina could be promising. In the meantime though, this is a good story for Garrett who's inability to act normally around Dina makes him a good suspect for her investigation.
The funny thing about the titular Halloween Theft that a lot of the stories in this episode become connected to is just how minor it is. A box of irregular produce scheduled for destruction has gone missing and Dina won't let any employee leave until she knows who did it. The low stakes heighten the absurdity of the situation and allow the writers to focus on the jokes, like a great sequence of Dina interviewing many of the employees with Jonah annoyingly interrogating himself and Glenn struggling to sit down in his hot dog costume (The other costume sight gag gift that keeps on giving of the episode). We never find out who stole the fruit because it doesn't matter. This lets us keep the focus on Glenn and his struggles with an assistant manager who doesn't respect or listen to him. When Amy and Mateo (Who want this situation to be over so Amy can trick-or-treat with her daughter and Mateo can go on a secret date with Jeff) get Glenn to take them to the Chesterfield Cloud Nine so they can secretly replace the missing produce, Glenn is struck by the many "differences" between the two branches but mostly he's struck by the great relationship the Chesterfield Manager and Assistant Manager have. Him ultimately stopping the investigation is a similar beat to him stopping the drug testing a couple weeks back, but the key difference is he never approved the investigation. By stopping it, he's asserting himself as manager and fighting back against Dina. Hopefully this leads to a shift in their dynamic and a more assertive Glenn going forward. It'd be a shame if they walked back the character development because assertive is a good look for Glenn.
The investigation is the biggest story this week and most of the other plots relate back to it, but Jonah and Cheyenne have their own story as they have their first significant interaction. At first they have nothing in common, until they discover a shared love of gossip. It's a story that's been told before by other shows with characters who don't really have much reason to interact (Community did it 4 episodes in with Jeff and Shirley) but it's given a bit of a twist here when Jonah finds out everyone thinks he has a crush on Amy. Just as Garrett is thrown off by Dina's outfit and forced to evaluate his feelings, Jonah is thrown off by this information. However he may or may not feel about Amy (And he's adamant he doesn't have a crush on her), he didn't realize other people were drawing their own conclusions. Amy meanwhile has one goal in the episode: go trick-or-treating with Emma. Her plans are dashed however when Emma wants to go to a party with friends instead. Amy thought she had one or two more years left before Emma started to move on from her but that time has already slipped away. It leaves her in a vulnerable space but Jonah's efforts to listen to her are derailed by a co-worker doing lewd gestures in the background, keeping him too concerned about how his friendship with Amy looks to actually help her. In the end he manages to invite her to see "Nosferatu" with him and Garrett (And Dina, who invites herself), but it's become clear he won't be able to shake this anytime soon. He's gonna have to confront his feelings, whatever they may be, sooner rather than later.
All in all, Halloween Theft felt like a return-to-form for Superstore after the slight let-down of last week's episode. It was full of funny stories that were based in character and seemed to go somewhere in the end. Even the slightest story, Mateo trying to go on his date with Jeff has a pay-off when Cheyenne bears witness to Jeff and Mateo driving off together. With Cheyenne's newly revealed love of gossip, that relationship might not be able to stay secret for very long. It also was probably the best showcase for Dina yet in establishing what makes her a unique character. There wasn't a whole lot of Halloween in Halloween Theft, but the episode was definitely a treat.
Memorable Moments
-Best Interstitial: A rare two-part interstitial as Mertle encounters the grim reaper, who she later chases.
-Dina briefs the store on possible things to look for. "Let's watch out for people buying toilet paper, eggs, shaving cream, ketchup, your squeezables, your squirtables. Everything is a weapon today, okay?" "What about guns?" "Those are fine."
-Dina is dubbed "Booge". Boo Scrooge.
-Dina interrogates Sandra. "You don't have the courage or the intelligence to have stolen anything." "Then why are you even talking to me?" "I just wanted you to know that."
-Dina interrogates Brett, who's dressed as a burglar. "There's something about you I just don't trust".
-At Chesterfield, bedding is where jewellery should be, the lights are (apparently) dimmer and the aisles are (apparently) narrower. What a mess.
-Assertive Glenn is terrific. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go home and cut myself out of this hot dog costume and make love to my wife! If she's up for it."
-The best part of Jonah's Brexit costume is his confusion that no one has asked him about his costume.
In these recaps of Superstore, I often compare Dina to Dwight Schrute from The Office. It's an easy comparison to make. Both of them are abrasive oddballs in positions of authority, obsessed with rules and order, and who have little regard for their fellow employees, often making their lives harder. There's a couple of key differences between Dwight and Dina though that tonight's episode of Superstore make abundantly clear. The first is how they relate to their managers. Dwight always had a great love and respect for Michael and that allowed Michael to keep him more or less in line. Dina has no respect for Glenn, who is a massive pushover so she's much harder to control or stop. The second key difference? Dina has boobs, which are suddenly put on full display in Halloween Theft.
The costumes Halloween Theft puts their characters in make a lot of sense from a character standpoint. From Jonah's "trying too hard too be clever" Brexit costume to Amy's "totally loves Halloween" Cleopatra to Garrett's "suave and stylish" James Bond to Glenn's "fun but very impractical" Hot Dog, you can tell a lot of effort was put by the writers into what the characters would wear. Of course, Dina has no desire to dress up for Halloween and her main concern is monitoring who's buying things like toilet paper and shaving cream so the writers develop a simple but clever way of getting her into costume: having Sandra dress up as Dina and the rest of the store saying they could twin. This leads to Dina in a incredibly distracting and ridiculous sexy cop costume. The sexy cop costume is maybe the episode's best joke this week and props to Lauren Ash for being willing to go for it. She goes all out this week, not changing a thing about how Dina conducts business despite being in something more revealing than she typically wears. Watching her interrogate and chase people down in the costume is ridiculous and makes every scene she's in funnier. The disconnect between how Dina looks and how she acts causes a lot of problems for Garrett this week who finds himself suddenly attracted to Dina. He knows her personality is terrible but his caveman brain can't help himself. It's always funny to see Garrett off his game and while this is probably just a one-time scene, a possible romantic connection between Garrett and Dina could be promising. In the meantime though, this is a good story for Garrett who's inability to act normally around Dina makes him a good suspect for her investigation.
The funny thing about the titular Halloween Theft that a lot of the stories in this episode become connected to is just how minor it is. A box of irregular produce scheduled for destruction has gone missing and Dina won't let any employee leave until she knows who did it. The low stakes heighten the absurdity of the situation and allow the writers to focus on the jokes, like a great sequence of Dina interviewing many of the employees with Jonah annoyingly interrogating himself and Glenn struggling to sit down in his hot dog costume (The other costume sight gag gift that keeps on giving of the episode). We never find out who stole the fruit because it doesn't matter. This lets us keep the focus on Glenn and his struggles with an assistant manager who doesn't respect or listen to him. When Amy and Mateo (Who want this situation to be over so Amy can trick-or-treat with her daughter and Mateo can go on a secret date with Jeff) get Glenn to take them to the Chesterfield Cloud Nine so they can secretly replace the missing produce, Glenn is struck by the many "differences" between the two branches but mostly he's struck by the great relationship the Chesterfield Manager and Assistant Manager have. Him ultimately stopping the investigation is a similar beat to him stopping the drug testing a couple weeks back, but the key difference is he never approved the investigation. By stopping it, he's asserting himself as manager and fighting back against Dina. Hopefully this leads to a shift in their dynamic and a more assertive Glenn going forward. It'd be a shame if they walked back the character development because assertive is a good look for Glenn.
The investigation is the biggest story this week and most of the other plots relate back to it, but Jonah and Cheyenne have their own story as they have their first significant interaction. At first they have nothing in common, until they discover a shared love of gossip. It's a story that's been told before by other shows with characters who don't really have much reason to interact (Community did it 4 episodes in with Jeff and Shirley) but it's given a bit of a twist here when Jonah finds out everyone thinks he has a crush on Amy. Just as Garrett is thrown off by Dina's outfit and forced to evaluate his feelings, Jonah is thrown off by this information. However he may or may not feel about Amy (And he's adamant he doesn't have a crush on her), he didn't realize other people were drawing their own conclusions. Amy meanwhile has one goal in the episode: go trick-or-treating with Emma. Her plans are dashed however when Emma wants to go to a party with friends instead. Amy thought she had one or two more years left before Emma started to move on from her but that time has already slipped away. It leaves her in a vulnerable space but Jonah's efforts to listen to her are derailed by a co-worker doing lewd gestures in the background, keeping him too concerned about how his friendship with Amy looks to actually help her. In the end he manages to invite her to see "Nosferatu" with him and Garrett (And Dina, who invites herself), but it's become clear he won't be able to shake this anytime soon. He's gonna have to confront his feelings, whatever they may be, sooner rather than later.
All in all, Halloween Theft felt like a return-to-form for Superstore after the slight let-down of last week's episode. It was full of funny stories that were based in character and seemed to go somewhere in the end. Even the slightest story, Mateo trying to go on his date with Jeff has a pay-off when Cheyenne bears witness to Jeff and Mateo driving off together. With Cheyenne's newly revealed love of gossip, that relationship might not be able to stay secret for very long. It also was probably the best showcase for Dina yet in establishing what makes her a unique character. There wasn't a whole lot of Halloween in Halloween Theft, but the episode was definitely a treat.
Memorable Moments
-Best Interstitial: A rare two-part interstitial as Mertle encounters the grim reaper, who she later chases.
-Dina briefs the store on possible things to look for. "Let's watch out for people buying toilet paper, eggs, shaving cream, ketchup, your squeezables, your squirtables. Everything is a weapon today, okay?" "What about guns?" "Those are fine."
-Dina is dubbed "Booge". Boo Scrooge.
-Dina interrogates Sandra. "You don't have the courage or the intelligence to have stolen anything." "Then why are you even talking to me?" "I just wanted you to know that."
-Dina interrogates Brett, who's dressed as a burglar. "There's something about you I just don't trust".
-At Chesterfield, bedding is where jewellery should be, the lights are (apparently) dimmer and the aisles are (apparently) narrower. What a mess.
-Assertive Glenn is terrific. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go home and cut myself out of this hot dog costume and make love to my wife! If she's up for it."
-The best part of Jonah's Brexit costume is his confusion that no one has asked him about his costume.
The Good Place Wonders What To Do With Its Most Improved Player
Most Improved Player begins the same way the Pilot did, with Eleanor sitting in the waiting room of Michael's office with a sign informing her that "everything is fine". Except as we've seen time and time again since the Pilot, everything is not fine and that sign is nothing but a meaningless platitude. Ever since Eleanor (and Jason, though he remains in hiding throughout this episode) arrived in the good place by accident, nothing has been going fine for her, Chidi, Tahani, Michael, and even Janet. Eleanor shocked everyone by coming clean about her being there by mistake in the last episode. Now they all have to reckon with what that means and if Eleanor truly belongs in the bad place. The result is another strong episode of The Good Place, as the show continues it's hot streak and continues to up the stakes to an incredibly high degree.
The bulk of the episode is carried by Eleanor and Michael, and Kristen Bell and Ted Danson do some of their finest work yet as Eleanor tries to convince Michael that she really wasn't all that bad and Michael fights his conflicted feelings on how to handle this situation. He's trying to be an impartial arbiter, but he's clearly hurt by Eleanor deceiving him for all this time and confused by the affection he has for Eleanor and that conflict is clear throughout the episode. The process is also complicated by a still recovering Janet. Janet brings a much needed levity to the early parts of the episode through a running joke where every time she is asked to bring Eleanor's file, she produces a cactus. It's a joke that never stops being funny and the visual of dozens of cacti on Michael's desk by the time he's interviewing "Jianyu" is a great gag. Without Eleanor's file to rely on, Michael has to make due with a litmus test of good/bad questions and a lie detecting cube. This gives us more insight into the moral system the good place judges us all by and helps to make the episodes point. Eleanor has never murdered someone or committed arson or taken her shoes and socks off on an airplane or paid money to hear music performed by the "Californian funk band The Red Hot Chili Peppers" or been emotionally invested in The Bachelor franchise. She's not a truly bad person, just a flawed one, but the good place system has no room for flawed people.
This becomes clear when Eleanor's file is found and the flashback of the episodes begin. The flashbacks on The Good Place can be kind of hit or miss, not really showing us anything about the characters that we didn't know already but because they come this week through Michael's interrogation and commentary as Eleanor's story gets worse and worse, they work well this week, helping to emphasize the point the episode is making on Eleanor. Eleanor borrowed her bitchy roommate Madison's dress without permission, ripped it and said nothing leading Madison to put a dry cleaners out of business with a lawsuit. When social media found out and turned against Madison, dubbing her "Dress Bitch", Eleanor and her other roommate made "Dress Bitch" T-Shirts that practically sold themselves and Eleanor used the profits to buy an identical dress to the one she wrecked. Now nothing Eleanor did in this story was evil, but her staying quiet about ripping the dress led to a dry cleaner going out of business and her capitalizing on her roommates humiliation, even if it was justified wasn't right. With the details of this story, presumably the first of many laid out in full, Michael asks if she thinks she belongs in the good place and she admits that she doesn't. It's a poignant moment and all Michael needs to finally call the bad place to come get Eleanor.
The bad place has been shrouded in mystery since the beginning and we finally get a taste of what it's like through the introduction of Trevor, Michael's bad place counterpart played by Adam Scott. Bringing in Adam Scott (who played Ben Wyatt for years on Parks and Recreation, also created by Mike Schur) is a smart move. Though you wouldn't know it from watching Parks, Scott is really good at playing smug and self-satisfied and he makes Trevor weirdly likeable, while also being totally despicable. Trevor knows he's terrible and he loves it, which makes him a good foil for all the characters of The Good Place. His blatant terribleness is rare on this show, making him a novelty and he goes all out. Watching him explain the train to the bad place, which will makes thousands of stops for no reason, is very hot and goes up by a degree every time you think of how hot it is and which only serves room-temperature Manhattan clam chowder (which doesn't matter because it's closed anyways) is a marvel. Trevor's presence teaches us enough about the bad place to hammer home the fact that Eleanor's situation is about to get significantly worse.
The truth is Eleanor doesn't deserve the good place, but does that mean she deserves the bad place? Chidi, who spends the whole episode conflicted about the situation and unsure about if he should confess to Janet's murder doesn't think so. He confronts Michael, confessing to the crime but also revealing why it happened, how he's always known about Eleanor and arguing about how much progress Eleanor has made. It's a scene that really highlights how far Chidi and Eleanor have come from Flying, when Chidi wasn't sure if she was worth helping. Michael admits that he enjoyed Eleanor's company but points out that this isn't Little League and there's no trophy for "Most Improved Player", even if Eleanor has become a better person, to which Chidi simply says "Well maybe there should be". It's this line that points out the real flaw in the good place system. People don't stop changing and growing even after they've died, but the system doesn't care. Even if Eleanor had kept her charade going a bit longer, she still would've been sent to the bad place even if she didn't deserve it anymore. It's all punishment with no rehabilitation. It's all Michael needs to convince him to stop the train and keep Eleanor around, at least until they can get to the bottom of this unprecedented situation.
It turns out Trevor has more than one can of flaming snakes disguised as nuts though. He declares that until the situation is sorted, they'll hold onto the other Eleanor before producing the shaken and dishevelled good Eleanor Shellstrop who was sent to them by mistake, looking almost like a mirror image of our Eleanor except with a darker complexion. The idea that our Eleanor had taken the spot of someone more deserving has been kind of in the background throughout the show but suddenly it can't be ignored anymore. There's another Eleanor who earned her spot in the good place, who has been tortured in the bad place all this time and keeping our Eleanor means she stays there. It's a stunning twist that manages to kick the show into an even higher gear. Suddenly the argument to keep Eleanor around has gotten a lot more complicated. It's hard to say how it will all play out but one things for sure: everything is still not fine and will continue to be not fine for a while to come. And that's wonderful (for us anyways).
Memorable Moments
-Tahani doesn't have much to do this week beyond be angry at Eleanor and sort through her conflicted feelings before admitting "a casual sense of kinship" "much as one might be fond of a street cat", but she does get in some choice name drops.
-"You know, I haven't been this upset since my good friend Taylor was rudely upstaged by my other friend, Kanye, who was defending my best friend, Beyoncé"
-"You know, one of my shyest friends, I won't say his name to preserve his privacy, but he found my presence so comforting that he asked me to co-host his TV show Anderson Cooper 360."
-Also when Michael says Tahani has been very helpful, the lie cube indicates otherwise, continuing Michael's hilarious low-key hatred of Tahani.
-Jason also doesn't get to do much, but his fascination with the cactus leading to him pricking himself is mistaken as monk wisdom by Michael, which is very funny.
-Eleanor warns Michael about the T-Shirt story. "I'll tell you, but it doesn't make me look great, so don't judge me." "That's literally the purpose of this entire exercise."
-Michael doesn't understand the ol' fake nut can with burning snakes bit. "Oh, flaming snakes ate all the nuts you brought me".
-The bad place ordered 100 Hawaiian Pizzas to Michael's office. The monsters.
-Before getting on the bad place train, Trevor tells Eleanor to "smile more", a brilliant callback to the Pilot which lists that as a pretty big negative action.
The bulk of the episode is carried by Eleanor and Michael, and Kristen Bell and Ted Danson do some of their finest work yet as Eleanor tries to convince Michael that she really wasn't all that bad and Michael fights his conflicted feelings on how to handle this situation. He's trying to be an impartial arbiter, but he's clearly hurt by Eleanor deceiving him for all this time and confused by the affection he has for Eleanor and that conflict is clear throughout the episode. The process is also complicated by a still recovering Janet. Janet brings a much needed levity to the early parts of the episode through a running joke where every time she is asked to bring Eleanor's file, she produces a cactus. It's a joke that never stops being funny and the visual of dozens of cacti on Michael's desk by the time he's interviewing "Jianyu" is a great gag. Without Eleanor's file to rely on, Michael has to make due with a litmus test of good/bad questions and a lie detecting cube. This gives us more insight into the moral system the good place judges us all by and helps to make the episodes point. Eleanor has never murdered someone or committed arson or taken her shoes and socks off on an airplane or paid money to hear music performed by the "Californian funk band The Red Hot Chili Peppers" or been emotionally invested in The Bachelor franchise. She's not a truly bad person, just a flawed one, but the good place system has no room for flawed people.
This becomes clear when Eleanor's file is found and the flashback of the episodes begin. The flashbacks on The Good Place can be kind of hit or miss, not really showing us anything about the characters that we didn't know already but because they come this week through Michael's interrogation and commentary as Eleanor's story gets worse and worse, they work well this week, helping to emphasize the point the episode is making on Eleanor. Eleanor borrowed her bitchy roommate Madison's dress without permission, ripped it and said nothing leading Madison to put a dry cleaners out of business with a lawsuit. When social media found out and turned against Madison, dubbing her "Dress Bitch", Eleanor and her other roommate made "Dress Bitch" T-Shirts that practically sold themselves and Eleanor used the profits to buy an identical dress to the one she wrecked. Now nothing Eleanor did in this story was evil, but her staying quiet about ripping the dress led to a dry cleaner going out of business and her capitalizing on her roommates humiliation, even if it was justified wasn't right. With the details of this story, presumably the first of many laid out in full, Michael asks if she thinks she belongs in the good place and she admits that she doesn't. It's a poignant moment and all Michael needs to finally call the bad place to come get Eleanor.
The bad place has been shrouded in mystery since the beginning and we finally get a taste of what it's like through the introduction of Trevor, Michael's bad place counterpart played by Adam Scott. Bringing in Adam Scott (who played Ben Wyatt for years on Parks and Recreation, also created by Mike Schur) is a smart move. Though you wouldn't know it from watching Parks, Scott is really good at playing smug and self-satisfied and he makes Trevor weirdly likeable, while also being totally despicable. Trevor knows he's terrible and he loves it, which makes him a good foil for all the characters of The Good Place. His blatant terribleness is rare on this show, making him a novelty and he goes all out. Watching him explain the train to the bad place, which will makes thousands of stops for no reason, is very hot and goes up by a degree every time you think of how hot it is and which only serves room-temperature Manhattan clam chowder (which doesn't matter because it's closed anyways) is a marvel. Trevor's presence teaches us enough about the bad place to hammer home the fact that Eleanor's situation is about to get significantly worse.
The truth is Eleanor doesn't deserve the good place, but does that mean she deserves the bad place? Chidi, who spends the whole episode conflicted about the situation and unsure about if he should confess to Janet's murder doesn't think so. He confronts Michael, confessing to the crime but also revealing why it happened, how he's always known about Eleanor and arguing about how much progress Eleanor has made. It's a scene that really highlights how far Chidi and Eleanor have come from Flying, when Chidi wasn't sure if she was worth helping. Michael admits that he enjoyed Eleanor's company but points out that this isn't Little League and there's no trophy for "Most Improved Player", even if Eleanor has become a better person, to which Chidi simply says "Well maybe there should be". It's this line that points out the real flaw in the good place system. People don't stop changing and growing even after they've died, but the system doesn't care. Even if Eleanor had kept her charade going a bit longer, she still would've been sent to the bad place even if she didn't deserve it anymore. It's all punishment with no rehabilitation. It's all Michael needs to convince him to stop the train and keep Eleanor around, at least until they can get to the bottom of this unprecedented situation.
It turns out Trevor has more than one can of flaming snakes disguised as nuts though. He declares that until the situation is sorted, they'll hold onto the other Eleanor before producing the shaken and dishevelled good Eleanor Shellstrop who was sent to them by mistake, looking almost like a mirror image of our Eleanor except with a darker complexion. The idea that our Eleanor had taken the spot of someone more deserving has been kind of in the background throughout the show but suddenly it can't be ignored anymore. There's another Eleanor who earned her spot in the good place, who has been tortured in the bad place all this time and keeping our Eleanor means she stays there. It's a stunning twist that manages to kick the show into an even higher gear. Suddenly the argument to keep Eleanor around has gotten a lot more complicated. It's hard to say how it will all play out but one things for sure: everything is still not fine and will continue to be not fine for a while to come. And that's wonderful (for us anyways).
Memorable Moments
-Tahani doesn't have much to do this week beyond be angry at Eleanor and sort through her conflicted feelings before admitting "a casual sense of kinship" "much as one might be fond of a street cat", but she does get in some choice name drops.
-"You know, I haven't been this upset since my good friend Taylor was rudely upstaged by my other friend, Kanye, who was defending my best friend, Beyoncé"
-"You know, one of my shyest friends, I won't say his name to preserve his privacy, but he found my presence so comforting that he asked me to co-host his TV show Anderson Cooper 360."
-Also when Michael says Tahani has been very helpful, the lie cube indicates otherwise, continuing Michael's hilarious low-key hatred of Tahani.
-Jason also doesn't get to do much, but his fascination with the cactus leading to him pricking himself is mistaken as monk wisdom by Michael, which is very funny.
-Eleanor warns Michael about the T-Shirt story. "I'll tell you, but it doesn't make me look great, so don't judge me." "That's literally the purpose of this entire exercise."
-Michael doesn't understand the ol' fake nut can with burning snakes bit. "Oh, flaming snakes ate all the nuts you brought me".
-The bad place ordered 100 Hawaiian Pizzas to Michael's office. The monsters.
-Before getting on the bad place train, Trevor tells Eleanor to "smile more", a brilliant callback to the Pilot which lists that as a pretty big negative action.
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
I Got Thoughts On Timeless: Party At Castle Varlar
I Got Thoughts is a new style of recap I'll be doing for some shows where I'll post a point-form list of thoughts I have on episodes of television. It's pretty new so I'm still playing around with it a bit.
-Going to Nazi Germany 4 episodes into the series is a bold choice, though not as bold as going to the Lincoln Assassination in episode 2. The show handled it well though (unlike when they did Lincoln) and the result was the strongest episode yet.
-Smart decision to not have Hitler anywhere in this episode. That would've complicated things way too much and a "should we kill Hitler" conversation two weeks after the "should we save Lincoln" conversation would've been repetitive.
-Was very glad that Flynn's plan this episode wasn't to give the Nazis a nuclear bomb, but was instead to give Wernher von Braun to the Russians, which is much more interesting from a story perspective, especially because fellow time travel show Legends of Tomorrow already did a "Nuclear Weapon unleashed earlier in World War II" story a couple weeks ago.
- Incidentally Wernher von Braun is one of my favourite historical figures. Well, favourite is a strong word but he is someone I find very fascinating for reasons the episode pretty much covered. He was a Nazi but only (as far as we know) so he could work on his rocket research and try to get to the moon. His rockets killed thousands of people and he should've been charged with War Crimes, but he wasn't and helped get America to the moon instead. While his line to Rufus at the end of this episode about his "concern being whether the rockets go up, not where they come down" is taken from a Tom Leher song rather than something he actually said, the line is fairly accurate to how he felt and the show did a good job capturing the ethical murkiness of helping von Braun, with our heroes knowing he'll never get punished for what he did.
-Wernher von Braun was ultimately used as a mirror for Rufus, who is dealing with a lot of guilt over his role in the mothership's invention and the spying he now has to do on Wyatt and Lucy, but you could also connect him to Flynn, who doesn't seem to enjoy helping Nazis or shooting Lincoln but claims to be doing it in service of a "greater good". Hopefully we find out what that "greater good" is soon enough though because Flynn is still a very flat character.
-Wyatt on the other hand had his best episode yet and I'm impressed with how quickly he improved. Letting him fanboy over getting to team up with Ian Fleming and know German plus the backstory we got from him about his hero grandfather being the reason he does what he does (and the reason he struggles with saving Nazis or letting Lincoln die) did a lot for his character and letting him actually have a personality.
-Sean Maguire made for a good Ian Fleming and made a good foil for our heroes to bounce off of this week.
-First Robert Lincoln. Now Ian Fleming. Is every historical figure our heroes run into going to fall in love with Lucy?
-Lucy had a good arc this episode as we see her trying to find a way to manage with the crazy situation she's suddenly found herself in. It feels true to life that a civilian historian is not going to be totally OK with suddenly having to deal with actual history and real Nazis who could actually kill her and the conclusion with her becoming more assertive in wanting to put history back so her sister is alive helps solidify her motivation going forward.
Lucy and company's adventure with Ian Fleming inspiring a "new" (well to them) Sean Connery Bond movie would be dumb on any other show, but for Timeless, it's perfect. Lucy probably does sleep with Bond in that version.
-Between the introduction of the wardrobe dock with hundreds of specially-made outfits for every era and region, and the reveal that Anthony had used the stolen nuclear core to make a battery to sustain the Mothership without needing to plug it into power grids for 300 years, Timeless definitely feels like it's settling in for the long haul.
-Still not super interested in whatever this Rittenhouse group is, but the end scene with the representative depowering Rufus' car long enough to threaten him to continue spying on Wyatt and Lucy was pretty intriguing. It'd be nice to get some actual answers sometime soon though.
-Going to Nazi Germany 4 episodes into the series is a bold choice, though not as bold as going to the Lincoln Assassination in episode 2. The show handled it well though (unlike when they did Lincoln) and the result was the strongest episode yet.
-Smart decision to not have Hitler anywhere in this episode. That would've complicated things way too much and a "should we kill Hitler" conversation two weeks after the "should we save Lincoln" conversation would've been repetitive.
-Was very glad that Flynn's plan this episode wasn't to give the Nazis a nuclear bomb, but was instead to give Wernher von Braun to the Russians, which is much more interesting from a story perspective, especially because fellow time travel show Legends of Tomorrow already did a "Nuclear Weapon unleashed earlier in World War II" story a couple weeks ago.
- Incidentally Wernher von Braun is one of my favourite historical figures. Well, favourite is a strong word but he is someone I find very fascinating for reasons the episode pretty much covered. He was a Nazi but only (as far as we know) so he could work on his rocket research and try to get to the moon. His rockets killed thousands of people and he should've been charged with War Crimes, but he wasn't and helped get America to the moon instead. While his line to Rufus at the end of this episode about his "concern being whether the rockets go up, not where they come down" is taken from a Tom Leher song rather than something he actually said, the line is fairly accurate to how he felt and the show did a good job capturing the ethical murkiness of helping von Braun, with our heroes knowing he'll never get punished for what he did.
-Wernher von Braun was ultimately used as a mirror for Rufus, who is dealing with a lot of guilt over his role in the mothership's invention and the spying he now has to do on Wyatt and Lucy, but you could also connect him to Flynn, who doesn't seem to enjoy helping Nazis or shooting Lincoln but claims to be doing it in service of a "greater good". Hopefully we find out what that "greater good" is soon enough though because Flynn is still a very flat character.
-Wyatt on the other hand had his best episode yet and I'm impressed with how quickly he improved. Letting him fanboy over getting to team up with Ian Fleming and know German plus the backstory we got from him about his hero grandfather being the reason he does what he does (and the reason he struggles with saving Nazis or letting Lincoln die) did a lot for his character and letting him actually have a personality.
-Sean Maguire made for a good Ian Fleming and made a good foil for our heroes to bounce off of this week.
-First Robert Lincoln. Now Ian Fleming. Is every historical figure our heroes run into going to fall in love with Lucy?
-Lucy had a good arc this episode as we see her trying to find a way to manage with the crazy situation she's suddenly found herself in. It feels true to life that a civilian historian is not going to be totally OK with suddenly having to deal with actual history and real Nazis who could actually kill her and the conclusion with her becoming more assertive in wanting to put history back so her sister is alive helps solidify her motivation going forward.
Lucy and company's adventure with Ian Fleming inspiring a "new" (well to them) Sean Connery Bond movie would be dumb on any other show, but for Timeless, it's perfect. Lucy probably does sleep with Bond in that version.
-Between the introduction of the wardrobe dock with hundreds of specially-made outfits for every era and region, and the reveal that Anthony had used the stolen nuclear core to make a battery to sustain the Mothership without needing to plug it into power grids for 300 years, Timeless definitely feels like it's settling in for the long haul.
-Still not super interested in whatever this Rittenhouse group is, but the end scene with the representative depowering Rufus' car long enough to threaten him to continue spying on Wyatt and Lucy was pretty intriguing. It'd be nice to get some actual answers sometime soon though.
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