Merlin to end on a climactic note, Emily Owens, M.D. canceled, Downton Abbey renewed for a fourth season, Chevy Chase leaves Community, Starz eyes a Spartacus’ spinoff centered on Julius Caesar, and another TV carrier dispute to entertain and revolt us.
This episode definitely lives up to the show’s new tagline of “Fight the Dead, Fear the Living”. One of the fundamental aspects of the comic is that humans are the real threat, not the zombies, and this season is finally delivering that message for the show. When the Dead Comes Knocking rotates between three storylines: Maggie/Glenn being captured, Rick and the gang forming a rescue party, and (quite randomly) Andrea and Milton studying zombie transformation. Out of those three plotlines, two of them are great and one left me wondering why it was even there.
ABC cancels Last Resort and 666 Park Ave, Showtime renews Web Therapy, CBS wants more of Elementary but less of Vegas, NBC develops project on founding father George Washington, MTV buys teenage mystery drama Blackwood, and Netflix pokes fun at Amazon.
Hounded is a mixed bag, in some way it’s very interesting and advances the plot, but certain storylines felt slow and downright obvious. Starting with one of the episodes strong points, we had Michonne versus Merle. I
Five-Twenty-Ten was still not quite right, but at least there was hope for better days ahead. The return of Nina Sharp didn’t lead to the kind of emotional peak we had with Broyles, and her interaction with Walter raised some issues with the direction of this final season of Fringe. Also, although Peter’s vendetta was at times entertaining, it still felt overextended and a bit alien to what we have come to like over the past four years.
Nuke It Out was a vast improvement over the previous episode which served as a lukewarm introduction. Instead of hiding its main storyline, Nuke It Out embraced it with some bold choices and some startling revelations along the way. Instead of staying secluded on the island, the story brought back Washington D.C. which is proving pivotal with the added benefit of being interesting. Unfortunately, by going all out on so many fronts, the show also built on its tendency for irritating local (island) plot lines, but even that couldn’t ruin a mostly satisfying viewing experience.
Fringe’s Seth Gabel cast as villain in Arrow, Syfy’s Haven renewed for a fourth season of troubles, the CW’s The Beauty and the Beast and NBC’s Chicago Fire get full-season orders, NBC wins Election Night coverage, and Dish Networks is back in the news.
