Kids, let me tell you the story of a little show called How I Met Your Mother, a show that I’ve spent a good amount of my life with, a show that I’ve loved and hated and stuck with and almost quit. It began in the fall of 2005, and the journey that it took us on was entertaining, emotional, and downright beautiful. And that, kids, is why I’m disappointed by this finale.
Shameless has always been excellent when it comes to juggling comedic and dramatic storylines, and this episode proves it; simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, it manages to provide our characters with some much-needed resolutions while setting up for the finale.
“They’re screwing with the wrong people.”
With that line (which admittedly, fell flat), another season of The Walking Dead has come to a close. This was certainly the most structurally ambitious season yet, and Scott Gimple’s first year as showrunner was dedicated to character development, to shading in relationships and interactions that were sorely lacking beforehand. The finale is no different, and although it’s deeply flawed, it’s fairly effective as a transition into season 5.
“Are you alive? Prove it.”
Battlestar Galactica is, at its most basic level, a survival story. The human race has been stripped down to around 50,000, and over the next 70~ episodes, we’ll get to know a small fraction of that, a group of characters whose worlds are shattered, who are forced to rebuild themselves–and by extension, humanity as a whole–bit by bit, day by day, battle by battle. Where this miniseries succeeds is really delving into our various characters and the places they occupy in the community, and we get a real sense of who they were before and how this situation changes them. BSG isn’t as much interested in telling stories about newfound lands and strange discoveries than it is about a ship and its crew placed into chaos.
HEALTHCARE.GOV: Sigh. This topic is past the point of being funny, but the show’s able to milk some entertainment from it, most notably from Kate McKinnon’s Justin Bieber. However, the sketch never truly gels, instead coming off as shaky and unfinished. I wonder how a “Between Two Ferns” parody would’ve turned out. Can you even parody that? GRADE: C+
MONOLOGUE: I love Louis CK, and I’m so happy that we get a stand-up routine from his monologue. There’s excellent stuff in here about God/religion and gender issues, and this just proves what a great talent he is. Man, I am so excited for Louie this May. GRADE: A Continue reading
Hannibal Lecter is a fascinating character, but it’s extremely difficult to sympathize with him after we see what’s been done to Beverly. He still possesses a certain amount of humanity, but there’s no denying that he’s also a monster, someone who’d slice Bev up and display her as a form of grotesque, unsettling art.
I don’t remember much of my past, but what I do remember is wrapped up in nice, neat memories, little packages of bliss or pain that serve as a reminder of where I came from. It’s the same with Philip Jennings, who spends this fantastic hour of television struggling with himself, wanting to grasp onto a past he feels like he’s lost.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine burst onto the scene last fall as TV’s best new comedy, and over the course of the season, it’s grown into a hilarious and well-crafted show with interesting characters and stellar writing. Tonight’s season finale neatly wraps up the season-long arcs and previews what should be a fantastic season 2.
“I may not know a lot about a lot of things, but I DO know how to blow shit up.”
Boyd Crowder, with the ultimate evidence that smoking kills. Aside from that moment–which is just plain awesome–this episode is ripe with crackling dialogue, sustained tension, and interesting character development, and it looks as if Justified is really shifting into gear for the season 5 endgame.
Nick and Jess first kissed back in “Cooler”, and that began an excellently handled relationship arc that brought us laughs, tears, and full-on awkwardness. Yet, all good things are bound to come to an end sometime.
Polar Bears Watch TV 