Category: Episode Reviews
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Rubicon, “Connect the Dots”
Much like my inability to keep up with Warehouse 13, I haven’t been regularly recapping Rubicon here for a number of reasons (though none of them are good ones). But after last week’s fantastic and almost entirely procedural episode, “Connect the Dots” returned to the conspiracy stuff with the same attention to detail and character…
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Far from sucking: Reflections on season one of The Vampire Diaries
From the beginning, I was skeptical of The Vampire Diaries. When I heard about the series during development season back in early 2009, I was more than ambivalent. And what shouldn’t I have been? Its development came right on the heels of the Twilight phenomenon and just as True Blood was taking off. The whole thing…
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Burn Notice, “Blind Spot”
Though I haven’t written a lot about Burn Notice lately, that’s not because the series has been slumping. In fact, I think the last few episodes have been fairly strong, even if the ongoing arc is getting simply ridiculous at this point. However, the combination of Chuck Finley and Jesse’s realization helped make “Blind Spot”…
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Covert Affairs, “Houses of the Holy”
Last week, I ranted about how I didn’t really enjoy Covert Affairs that much, mostly because of Piper Perabo’s performance. I still feel that way, but for whatever reason, “Houses of the Holy” at least kept my interest a little more than the post-pilot efforts. I literally cannot explain it, but I totally enjoyed this…
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Warehouse 13, “For the Team”
For whatever reason, I can’t seem to keep with writing about Warehouse 13 and that’s a shame because this season has been much better than the first, especially the last five episodes. I wrote about episodes 3-5 a few weeks back, and while the headline just mentions last night’s “For the Team,” my discussion will…
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White Collar, “In the Red”
I really don’t have a whole lot to say about last night’s White Collar aside from that “In the Red” was yet another fine, entertaining episode that kept the second season’s strong start going.
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True Blood, “Everything is Broken”
True Blood has been damn good since episode five this season, and “Everything is Broken” is yet another exceptional episode that has me again re-analyzing my thoughts on the series as a whole.
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Mad Men, “The Rejected”
On this past week’s Firewall and Iceberg podcast, Sepinwall and Fienberg discussed Mad Men‘s execution of its themes and whether or not said execution was on-the-nose or not. Both of those gentlemen came to the conclusion that while Matthew Weiner makes certain that the audience takes in the point he’s trying to make each week,…
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Psych, “Shawn and Gus in Drag (Racing)”
Though it’s obvious and sometimes cliche, I like it when Psych crafts whole episodes that are more or less borrowed stories from other popular media content. As evidenced by the title of this week’s episode, Shawn and Gus get involved with a drag racing ring, resulting in a slew of “Fast and Furious” references and…
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Covert Affairs, “No Quarter” and “In the Light”
I mistakenly forgot to post thoughts on the last few episodes of Covert Affairs, which I certainly apologize for. But in another way, I know why I didn’t post anything — the series isn’t really offer up much to talk about. I didn’t love the pilot episode like I did the pilots for Burn Notice…
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White Collar, “Unfinished Business”
I’ve been in the midst of a move, so some of these recaps are noticeably late. Apologies. Anyway, another strong episode of White Collar this week, right?
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True Blood, “Night on the Sun”
The last three episodes of True Blood have been some of the series’ best thanks to a more narrowed focus on a smaller group of important characters and an emphasis on the wider scope that exists in this world. “Night on the Sun” continued that trend, but unfortunately also decided to spend lots of time…
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Mad Men, “The Good News”
As 1965 approaches, Don has realized that his life is a complete mess and decides to take a break. Until some bad news spurs him on to create another mess of a life.
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Friday Night Lights, “Thanksgiving”
At the end of season three, if most Friday Night Lights fans were asked for guesses about the end of season four, I’d imagine many, if not most of them would have said something like this: After a season of adversity, the rag-tag group of East Dillon Lions pull it together just in time to…
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Psych, “Chivalry Is Not Dead…But Someone Is”
The great thing about Psych (and really most quality comedies) is that even when an episode is totally strong as a whole, there are still a number of funny moments that keep the story pumping forward and the episode from completely dragging. “Chivalry Is Not Dead…But Someone Is” is one of those episodes.
CB, PhD 