Parenthood‘s always been one of my favorite shows on television, but it’s certainly had a shaky season: the Kristina mayoral campaign was a misfire, for one, and there was a hell of a lot of wheel-spinning over the course of the last 22 episodes. However, this finale is a touching, emotional, and satisfying conclusion to season 5.
“I’m sorry. The point is: this show, Annie, it isn’t just their show. This is our show. And it’s not over. And the sooner we find that treasure, the faster the Jeff/Britta pilot falls apart.”
This has always been a show about a community, as expected: a living, breathing group of friends whose school is an essential aspect of all their beings. “Basic Sandwich” emphasizes that fact nicely, serving as a sweet, funny ending to what is most likely the penultimate season of the show.
“It’s nicer. It’s easier. It’s not better.”
Last season, one of the major character questions was whether Philip Jennings was coming around to the American way of life, seduced by the glamor and the peaceful life and the culture. That question arises again in “New Car”, which is an excellent installment in an increasingly excellent sophomore season.
“What if you’re right, and they’re wrong?”
Fargo was and will always be a classic, and it is a cinematic achievement rivaled by very few. To go into this limited series, we must be of the mindset that it is most definitely not the film and is most definitely not trying to be the film; rather, it draws from elements of the Coen brothers’ work and crafts a new world around them, all the while maintaining a constant foundation in the setting.
“She knows I’m a terrible husband.”
As we move into the final season of Mad Men, our characters are being stripped down to their most basic parts; no longer do they have anything to hide, for try as they might, they can’t stop the world from spinning and losing them in the shuffle. A sense of exhaustion permeates the atmosphere in “Time Zones”, one that portrays a group of people who’ve been stuck before and are stuck now.
COACHELLA: Well, at least Nasim Pedrad’s doing something! The sketch seems like a half-developed idea that goes absolutely nowhere, and while the actors do their best to make a mediocre script entertaining, the jokes don’t land. GRADE: C
MONOLOGUE: The monologue isn’t particularly funny, but hey, there are a bunch of guests: James Franco, Zooey Deschanel, and Taylor Swift (who shows up whenever a man shows emotion). Rogen himself has this general likability around him, and the entire sequence is fun to watch unfold. GRADE: B-
“Neither of us is free. He’s not done.”
Hannibal seems to create a perpetual sense of claustrophobia, engulfing the audience in its characters and their mind games. Everyone in the show is trapped in some way, whether it be through emotional connection or steadfast loyalty or fascination or mere expedience; the walls are closing in as the Earth spins on its axis.
“You are a very good liar, Nina Sergeevna.”
The Cold War resulted from a clash of ideals, but it was also very much a war of technological advancements; that idea is prevalent in “Arpanet”, an intriguing and thrilling episode about the relationships between humans and technology.
“You’ll never leave Harlan alive.”
With that, so ends the penultimate season of Justified. It’s been a shaky one, but at the end of it all, it served its purpose as a set-up to what should be an explosive final season. “Restitution”, like the rest of the current season, is not without its bumps, but it’s a satisfying way to close off various storylines and introduce intriguing new ones.
It may seem like hope is rare, but when you experience it, it’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.
Hope is something that’s eluded a number of Gallaghers this year on Shameless, a year that’s been dark and relentless and, for the most part, unforgiving; this isn’t the same show we saw in the pilot, but it recognizes that even amidst the pain, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
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