Though Scandal often throws humor into its episodes, rarely does the show deliver an episode that’s as downright hilarious as “Mama Said Knock You Out.” It’s a welcome relief after last week’s devastating heartbreaker, and a nicely contained hour of pure family drama.
The family bonds in “Check-Out” are very much at the forefront, and while it still feels like the stories that Norman is being given are not all that interesting compared to some of the other things going on in Bates Motel, this episode at least challenges his mental state more than any other before.
“The Blood of Man” earns a bunch of credit for being a satisfyingly action-packed return to this world. Florence is on the brink of collapse, the Medicis are in death’s line of sight and Leonardo can’t catch a break.
Olivia Pope is back.
Since the beginning of season 3, Olivia Pope’s been on a downward spiral. She’s been losing her edge thanks to her parents, her tumultuous relationship with Fitz, and her discovery of B613’s existence. She’s only been a shadow of her former confident and commanding self, and it’s been both disheartening and fascinating to watch our heroine be so thoroughly humanized.
…is a frustrating reminder of some of the poor decisions Bates Motel makes in its storytelling. Fortunately, though, Caleb’s presence in the episode is unexpectedly intriguing and creates interesting dynamics for the other Bates characters.
The Returning #1 Written by Jason Starr Art by Andrea Mutti Colors by Vladimir Popov Letters by Ed Dukeshire Published by Boom! Studios The Returning chases the white whale of horror/sci-fi: a fresh re-imagining of the undead. ‘Changers’ have been popping up, the relatively recent dead returning to life. While not noticeably different …
Sad as it may be, “The Originals” is showing no sign of stumbling following the loss of series regular Claire Holt (Rebekah Mikaelson). If anything, the story’s tighter than it’s been in weeks, and everyone is given a purpose in the episode. Though light on the action, “Moon Over Bourbon Street” is a promising beginning to the season’s final chapter.
All that being said, when the curtain closed on “VIII.” and the first season, I couldn’t help but feel intrigued and satisfied with having spent eight hours with the show. If Black Sails hasn’t quite reached the notes a pirate series on the Spartacus network ought to, it has laid a great foundation that highlights a lot of potential going forward.
“Bullets and Tears” makes the best case possible for why Rabbit’s presence this season has at least been important in helping develop the relationship between the man known as Lucas Hood (or Tom Palmer, as he would have been known in another life) and Anastasia.
After a few fairly by-the-numbers entries of Elementary in the past weeks, “The Hound of the Cancer Cells” grounds the detective series back into the sphere in which it usually excels: character.
Remember when everyone on Scandal seemed like a decent human being? Olivia Pope and her gladiators were doing bad things for good reasons, and even villains like Cyrus or Hollis Doyle seemed relatively tame?
Since the show’s first episode, the original family has been using the phrase “always and forever” to represent their undying devotion to one another, despite plenty of betrayals and abuse (mostly at the hands of Klaus). And the phrase, though admirable, has always felt a bit off in relation to the remaining original vampire siblings.
In “Yes Men”, Thor’s Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) joins the gang on Agents of SHIELD to track down Lorelei (Elena Satine), an evil enchantress from Asgard. Lorelei has a nasty habit of hypnotizing men and using these love-sick slaves to build armies and conquer worlds. Lady Sif is more than happy to bring her to justice, considering that Lorelei enslaved someone Sif cared for during one of Lorelei’s failed attempts to conquer Asgard. When Ward is brought under Lorelei’s spell, May and Sif have to work together to stop Lorelei from taking over Earth and stop Ward from hurting May. Meanwhile, Skye is recovering remarkably quickly, thanks to the mysterious GH-325 recovered from the SHIELD base, but Coulson is losing his patience as Director Fury refuses to take his calls or answer questions about GH-325.
It’s amazing to see the differences between an exposition-heavy episode of Black Sails in its seventh episode and an exposition-heavy episode in its second or third. By now, most of the characters are fleshed out so that even if you might not be invested in them and their conflicts, their intentions are clear.
Penultimate episodes in a season of television usually suffer from over-reliance on exposition, because that’s just how they function. It’s something totally excusable, because these episodes are meant to build up to the big bang of the finale, which – if any show on TV right now could pull off – Banshee should be able to deliver with an exclamation.
After an unusually light episode by Elementary’s standards last week, Lestrade sticks around a little while longer in “Ears to You” – an episode only mildly less light. If the tone is still a little bit jarring, the use of Sean Pertwee’s Lestrade is much more effective this time around, as he gets to bounce off Sherlock and Watson in both entertaining and interesting ways.
Most of the internet seems to agree that Olivia Pope is a great character. She’s headstrong, intelligent, and independent, but she’s still human enough to make foolish decisions and mistakes (the least of which is engaging in an affair with the president). But, sometimes, even great characters can begin to irritate other characters and the audience.
Between “Le Grand Guignol” and last week’s episode, The Originals is dialing back on the large-scale drama and focusing instead on the show’s namesake–a storytelling move that’s proving to be an excellent decision.
Episode 13, “T.R.A.C.K.S.”, ended on a cliffhanger with Skye, shot twice in the abdomen by Quinn, getting rushed to SHIELD for medical attention. “T.A.H.I.T.I.” picks up right where “T.R.A.C.K.S.” left off, and Coulson’s team is faced with a moral dilemma. They can try to save Skye with the same techniques Director Fury’s team used to bring Coulson back to life, but by saving her life, they could cause her immense pain and make her wish she had died instead.
After an excellent episode last week, Black Sails picks up right where it left off. Following a beautifully-shot ship battle, Flint and his crew find themselves in a bit of a stalemate after boarding the ship they’ve attacked. Most of the action here takes place a night, giving the scenes an appropriately dark atmosphere as Gates tries to come up with some kind of plan to infiltrate the holding without getting his men killed.
One of the small pockets of story that hadn’t been explored that much was how Emmett’s character fit in among everyone else. Both of Doug Jung’s scripts, though, seem to have anticipated that question and answered it with an exclamation point.
On the spectrum of tonal heaviness, Elementary usually leans to the lighter side of things, but it’s rarely as light as “The One Percent Solution” is.
Thus far, Scandal’s go-to formula is a melting pot of backstabbing, affairs, double dealings, and constantly-shifting alliances, and, three-and-a-half seasons in, this formula has yet to fail: “Ride, Sally, Ride” shows Scandal still knows exactly what it’s doing.