TV Reviews

Parks and Recreation – Lil’ Sebastian

While
Part 1 of the finale saw massive – albeit temporary – changes to the
Parks Department, “Lil’ Sebastian” saw some major changes to the
show itself, and it looked like these could have a lasting impact on
the series. There were so many funny moments it’s hard to list them
all and the writers seemed to squeeze in callbacks to just about
every fond memory fans have of the series into a single episode. As
we said goodbye to Parks and Recreation
for a few months, Pawnee was saying goodbye to their beloved mini
horse, and as would be expected, a horse’s funeral turned out to be
extremely comical.

Parks and Recreation – The Bubble

With
only two episodes left this season, the Parks Department was seeing
big changes as Chris shakes things up as City Manager. Meanwhile,
Leslie and Ben are put in an awkward situation with Leslie’s mom,
which leads to some equally awkward laughs. Though the final two
episodes of the season were labeled “Part 1 and 2,” there wasn’t
much crossover between them and “The Bubble” did fine standing
on its own. Both storylines were well-written and provided equal
amounts of humor, making for an enjoyable episode, if not a barn
burner.

The Office – Search Committee

There are two ways of looking at last night’s season finale, and how
much you liked it depends on which way you choose to direct your focus.
As an hour-long episode of a long-running sitcom with a large cast of
characters and several notable guest appearances, it was exceptionally
funny. I often don’t laugh out loud that much while watching TV, but I
couldn’t stop chuckling almost the entire time I was watching. And the
guests actually kind of worked out – James Spader was definitely the
best of the bunch, but everyone ended up being funny. But as a season
finale, a way of wrapping up the major subplots and story threads that
have been running all year long, of bringing some sort of emotional
resolution to everything, of even answering the question of who’s the
new boss, it was a failure. The only thing of significance to really
happen was Jo sending Gabe back to Florida after realizing how entangled
he’s become with the locals, and that’s a pretty minor development.
Otherwise, people looking for closure were left hanging.

The Borgias – The Art of War

It’s the
penultimate episode of The Borgias’
first season, and all hell is breaking loose in Rome. As one ally
after another refuses to offer support, Pope Alexander is left with
only the Vatican’s forces to try and stem the tide of the French
invasion. While plot advancement was the main focus of the episode,
it was the characters that really made “The Art of War” shine,
with the aid of some sensational performances from the cast.

After
being denied aid from Spain against the “French apocalypse,”
and continued nightmares over his family’s safety and the very
safety of Rome, it was easy to think that Rodrigo was going to be
even more distraught over his predicament. But the contrast
between Pope Alexander’s last meeting with the College of Cardinals
and the one in this episode was done beautifully. Rodrigo steeled
himself – not wanting to repeat their last conference when he ranted
and raved only to appear weak and ineffectual, he instead presented a calm face
and determined will. His confidence in his words and assurance that
they would achieve the desired effect gave him an air of magnanimity
that Irons portrayed perfectly. Going so far as to even lay hands on
the cardinals, as if they were his most cherished colleagues,
Rodrigo’s intentions were by no means subtle. Unfortunately his
confidence was hubris, as no speech could keep the cardinals and
most of Rome’s populace from fleeing like “rats deserting a
sinking ship,” as Juan put it.
Even so, it couldn’t take away from an incredible scene or shake
Rodrigo’s resolve to go down with the ship, if he must.

Smallville – Finale

With only one exception, all major characters that ever appeared on Smallville
were brought back for the series finale. The 2-hour episode first
reminded us why we cared for those characters in the first place. It
then tied some loose ends before (and after) leading us through an epic
and breathtaking — even if slightly imperfect — ending to the saga.

I
think any modern Superman story is bound to put Lois at the center.
It’s a sign of the times and a good one, too. Before this ultimate
episode, the series had already established Lois and Clark were made for
each other, so bringing Lana back would not have been helpful and could
have provided an unwelcome soap angle to a story that already had a lot
going on. That is why I think keeping Lana away made absolute sense. I
liked Chloe and Oliver discussing their own wedding and defining their
relationship without any of the angst that seemed to surround it lately.
The steps taken to bring Lois to reason and rein in Clark — who was
himself starting to doubt — provided for truly beautiful moments and
remarkable dialogues. Clark (to Lois): “You’re not in my way, Lois.
You’re by my side.” I think they did well to take the time to sort
things out. It ultimately gave us the closed-door scene which was one of
the best ever between the two. Welling was good but Durance was simply
perfect in a scene that summed up what Smallville has done with
these two characters over the years. One of my favorite scenes in the
whole episode was the close-up of Lois’s vows. The contrast between her
blatantly unfinished vows and Clark’s perfectly formatted piece spoke
volumes on the differences that make them such a good match.

Game of Thrones – The Wolf and the Lion

The latest episode of Game of Thrones was the best one yet, and I
think a big part of that was it didn’t feel the need to touch base on
absolutely every character and plot thread. I didn’t even notice until
today that we visited neither Jon at the Wall or Daenerys across the
Narrow Sea, but we didn’t need to, because most of the really important
stuff that happens with them needs to wait a little bit to get going,
and there was plenty going on in Westeros, especially in King’s Landing.
It was easily the bloodiest episode yet, and one that should prove to
anyone wondering that yes, there is a point to all this, and things are
going to get messy.

The Killing – Stonewalled

With
each day in, The Killing seems to be further from answering
the question, “Who killed Rosie Larsen?” Or the question, “Why
should we be watching The Killing?
Though we learned a little more about some of the characters
and even saw a potential piece of evidence uncovered, “Stonewalled”
was a fitting description of how this series is making its audience
feel when it comes to advancing the plot.

The
beginning of the episode finds Linden and Holder still face down on
the ground with guns to their heads, while the audience finally gets
a look at the room they’re in. Seemingly set up to house a young
girl, what we see of the room is highly disturbing. But we
are of course denied anymore immediate answers; along with the two
detectives, as the FBI pushes them out and refuses to tell them more
than what we all had already guessed, that they’re going after
suspected terrorists. Seeing Linden become unhinged as she loses
control of the case to the Feds (now there’s an original idea), was an
interesting turn for the woman that’s so placid it’s hard to believe
she’s human sometimes. When you add having to deal with her son
leaking crime scene photos, it was definitely time for Linden to
reach a breaking point; and certainly well past time for her to
display some kind of emotion. Beyond seeing another side of Linden’s
character, she also made some progress on the case by confirming that
a shirt found in the room belonged to Rosie, or at least did at some
point. Though this could be taking us right to the killer, it feels
just as likely it will turn out to be another big mislead (remember
the pink wig?), that distracts the detectives and the audience.

Nikita – Pandora

After the revelations of last week’s Nikita,
I was worried for the show. I was worried that the writers had backed
themselves into a corner that would require a far too intricate or far
too stupid story to realistically get out of. Needless to say, my worry
was unfounded. Countless of times in the 22 episode run of the show’s
first season, storylines have developed leading us as viewers to believe
that one thing will happen when something entirely different is on the
horizon. The finale “Pandora” lived up to its legacy and delivered
possibly the best episode of the series in terms of hard-hitting
content, whilst all the while providing the action that many viewers are
looking for. 

The
episode opened following immediately on from last week’s cliffhanger in
which Alex may or may not have just shot Nikita. Pretty quickly it is
revealed to us that this is the case and that the titular hero is dead.
The one bad thing about having a show be named after a specific
character really comes to light in that moment as, despite her clearly
being dead, we all know that you can’t have Nikita without Nikita. When Jack Bauer died at the end of the fourth season of 24,
there was undoubtedly a large percentage of any viewer’s brain telling
them that he can’t possibly be dead, but the tiny seed of doubt that
made you think “did that really just happen?” is what made the moment so
powerful. Ultimately, Jack, much like Nikita, wasn’t really dead and in
fact the two of them had their revival play out in pretty much the same
way. We see in a flashback that after shooting Nikita’s body armor,
Alex quickly discarded her monitoring device and injected her with
tetrodotoxin, a paralytic substance that would make her appear dead
until the Division cleaner flushed her system before discarding her
body.

Parks and Recreation – Road Trip

Whether
it was because they had just come off a hysterical episode or the
writers were too focused on progressing a relationship, this episode
wasn’t amongst Park and Recreation‘s
best. Still enjoyable for the storyline and the laughs it did
produce, “Road Trip” was a little lacking in the humor
department. This is not to say it didn’t have its moments because it did, as all
P+R episodes do.

Leslie
and Ben are forced to deal with their mounting sexual tension on a
long car ride when Chris sends them to Indianapolis. The “Will
they? Won’t they?” storyline had been building most of the season,
so it was definitely time for it to see some advancement. Their
scenes both in the car and once they arrived to Indianapolis were
performed well on both their parts; their anxiety to express their
desire for each other was very convincing. Ann inserting Al Green’s
“Let’s Stay Together” into Leslie’s platonic road trip mix made
for a hilariously awkward scene. As did Ben brushing an eyelash off
of Leslie’s face, causing Leslie to utter the funniest line of the
night, “Get away from me! I’m sorry. I’m…I’m allergic to
fingers.” Unfortunately there
wasn’t much comedy in their storyline beyond that, with a few more notable
moments, but for the most part the writing seemed all about forcing
Leslie or Ben to make a move on the other and just when they were
about to, a rug was pulled out from under us at the last minute. While
they’re both great in a group and have excellent onscreen chemistry,
going one-on-one for Leslie and Ben just didn’t result in as much
humor as you would hope, at least not this time around.

Parks and Recreation – The Fight

Every
now and then P+R likes to repay its small, yet fiercely loyal fan
base by giving us an episode with so many hilarious lines and moments
it reminds us exactly why we’re fans. “The Fight” may cause you
to hyperventilate with laughter, but it’s worth investing in an
oxygen tank, and with P+R you know you’ll get your money’s worth
down the line.

Amy
Poehler deserves double credit for not only putting up a hilarious
performance in front of the camera, but also for writing this
fantastic episode. It was a wise decision on her part to focus “The
Fight” on Leslie and Ann’s relationship, providing Ann’s character
some much needed progression. In fact, Ann being devoid of any kind
of development was actually worked into the plot and was part of what
led to their argument. Ann’s lack of drive, casual dating, and
refusal to go after a job at city hall, all have Leslie fuming at her
and results in their first fight of their friendship. Adding
to
the realism of their dispute was Leslie’s overblown expectations
of Ann being as excited by the prospect of working in city government
as she would be, meaning Ann wasn’t the only one in the wrong. (There
was also Leslie’s refusal to do anything about her own feelings for
Ben.)
Managing to turn the negative of Ann being so stagnant in the
past few episodes into a positive with a believable and well-executed
storyline was not only impressive but refreshing for broadcast
comedies since so many of them don’t seem concerned with having their
characters grow and change. It also made Leslie’s line, “If I
don’t push you in the right direction you end up standing still,”
and the fact that Poehler wrote
the episode where Ann finally stopped standing still, eerily
coincidental. While their fight itself wasn’t a big source of
humor, it was well written and helped build on their relationship.
Luckily, just about everything else was an excellent source of
comedy.