Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: “Watchdogs”

Kyle’s Thoughts

My first impression, while watching “Watchdogs,” was one of skepticism. The Inhumans have been Marvel’s ersatz X-Men, so a storyline that features inhumans as the subject of discrimination should come as no surprise. “Watchdogs” came out of left field with such a story. I vaguely remembered some of the Watchdog players, but even with some familiar faces, a story of this nature takes the wind out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. versus Hydra main arc. That was the case until the episode reached its conclusion.

“Watchdogs” was a good episode that laid a lot of character ground work—any episode that features Mack is a pretty good one—but once it turned the corner and tied the events of the episode into the larger Hydra arc, it turned into a great episode. The Watchdogs aren’t just a villain of the week and a means to explore different characters. The events have lasting repercussions. And the show climbed a mountain of characterization.

I never liked Lincoln but I’m warming up to him after “Watchdogs.” He played well off of Coulson—I still view his relationship with Daisy (Quake or Skye) as forced—and the character needs more interaction with other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Fitz and Daisy make a good—and unlikely—team but that was another strength of this episode. “Watchdogs” shook up the status quo. Simmons and May have had little airtime together but they worked well off each other. It’s natural to see May reach out to a vulnerable Simmons because she struggles with having to track down her ex-husband. It’s also natural to see Simmons reciprocate. But the character who got the grand treatment was Mack.

I was worried that “Watchdogs” introducing Mini-Mack would lead to another forced side-story. Mack’s little brother, Mini-Mack, sympathized with the Watchdogs. As a result Mini-Mack rejected his brother’s job, when he found out what his brother really does for a living, and for a moment, it looked as if Mini-Mack would join the Watchdogs, but blood is thicker than hatred. Mini-Mack sees his brother in a different light and the episode ends their story a satisfying place.

I hated to see Bobbi and Hunter go, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to trim the fat and go in a different direction. It’s only been one episode since the couple’s departure but so far, so good. I like how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes chances. It’s not afraid of change and the changes its made this season carry weight.

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: “Parting Shot”

Kyle’s Thoughts

“Parting Shot” was little more than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. conducting some housecleaning, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Agents’ cast had gotten too big and the show’s transitioning to inhuman centric storylines, so an episode like “Parting Shot” was no surprise. I also liked Bobbi Morse (Mockingjay) and Hunter’s send off.

With this being Hunter and Bobbi’s last rodeo, “Parting Shot” gave them a lot of screen time. I hope the show continues to have these two as guest stars because Hunter has had some of Agents better moments, and Bobbi’s not too shabby either. The event that caused the two’s dismissal was contrived and Agent May’s scenes with Hunter were a little out of place, but the nods to loyalty and duty and the show’s end were great and heartfelt.

I wished Agents had left the episode with the team honoring Hunter and Bobbi, but they had to push Hydra’s agenda. I get it. But the final minute and half were forced.

“Parting Shot” better defined Agent Coulson’s role within the ALCU and how the rest of the world might view him. Thankfully he took a backseat because this week’s Agents was all about Hunter and Bobbi. They’ve always had one of the more intriguing relationships on the show—they’re not your typical couple—and “Parting Shot” was a great character study for these two. And you’ve gotta love the Spy’s Goodbye.

Thanks for reading.

iZombie Review: “He Blinded Me…with Science”

Kyle’s Thoughts

There’s a lot to unpack with iZombie this season. While the show runs the risk of being too much to follow, iZombie handles it well and its characters are surprisingly deep. The show also has a heap of story threads to follow but they converge and interweave in new and interesting ways each week. “He Blinded Me…with Science” was no different.

Blaine (David Anders) continues to make the audience root for him one moment and gasp the next. “He Blinded Me…with Science” was—mostly—the former. Blaine climbed out of his makeshift grave and showed restraint as he took a bus to Liv’s for a bite of brain. He knows his life’s in danger and as he’s more a villain by circumstance, one feels for him as he questions whether or not to take medicine that could cure or kill him. That is until he suggests to Major, who’s dealing with his own mess as the Chaos Killer, that he take out Liv’s current beau, Drake. I told you it’s convoluted, but you don’t realize it while you’re watching, because the characters are engaging.

Despite how much I like Blaine, Liv, Major, and the rest of the principle characters, the one character who made the biggest leap this week was Vaughn Du Clark (Steven Weber). Du Clark started on an even keel but he’s gradually slipped to an over-the-top, the more he’s taken his own drug-laced energy drink. The bottom fell out during “He Blinded Me…with Science,” when Du Clark left his only child Gilda to die at the hands of one of the more traditional zombies. The scene where he ignored his daughter’s screams was sobering and chilling.

With all the fireworks surrounding the weekly mystery, one would forget that there was a weekly mystery. It went well enough, but it was an afterthought. It wrapped up too quickly and neat to become engaging, but iZombie has a lot of ongoing plots going in the air. Some of them were resolved (specifically Drake), so there may be room for the weekly mystery next week.

iZombie continues to impress this season. It’s not just like the comic but that’s a good thing.

Thanks for reading.

Arrow Review: Broken Hearts

Jim’s Thoughts

Have you ever asked someone how their day was, looked for a quick “good” or “bad,” and then found yourself listening to a long story that keeps getting hung up on minor details that don’t really matter? That’s this week’s Arrow. I tend to subscribe to the adage of not saying anything at all if I can’t say anything nice, but since I have a review to write, that’s not really an option. I’ll at least keep it short.

I’ve made no secret of despising the Olicity angle, and this episode was the Olicity show. Add to that the worst Arrow villain since Count Vertigo, and you’ve got a solid hour of cringeworthy show. The blame for Cupid is partly attributable to the actress. She’s over-the-top, but in the interest of fairness, there’s no good way to deliver bad lines, and she spoke mostly in trite catchphrases and puns, as per the character.

On the other end of the show, Damien Darhk’s trial should have been more interesting, but it wasn’t. Buying into the defense’s position that there was no proof that the defendant was, in fact, Damien Darhk was awfully hard when the judge referred to him as “Mr. Darhk.” When it comes to the defense offering an affidavit from a drug dealer to impugn the credibility of a witness, you can say I’m nitpicking, and you might be right, but when you have the judge refer to someone as “Mr. Darhk” when the entire basis of the hearing hinges on contesting that identity, it’s just sloppy storytelling.

I want to soften this review. I want to point to some positives, but I’m not being dramatic when I tell you I can’t find one. This may be the worst episode of Arrow I can remember.

Kyle’s Take

I had hope at the end of “Broken Hearts” that the Olicity story would find resolution and there was one to an extent. Felicity left Team Arrow, at least for a while, and that’s for the best. That tired story and I needed a break.

Another part of story may have lead us down the path of Damien Darhk owning another identity, but the judge kept calling him “Mr. Darhk,” and he still ended up in prison. We know these charges won’t stick, or Darhk will escape, because he has to be free by the season finale, so all the trial accomplished was suspend Captain Lance, and I’m not invested enough in that character to care. The only thing more dramatic than Cupid’s over-the-top performances has been how much Lance changes his world views each season.

Cupid is stupid. I think I’ve seen that meme on the internet, and it’s right. If you want an Arrow fan to cringe, say the name Cupid. She was as insufferable as ever. The only thing she added was that she forced the Olicity story to go somewhere. I hate the Olicity angle as much as Jim but perhaps this week puts it on ice for a bit. I’ll suffer one painful episode to have an Olicity-ectomy.

“Broken Hearts” is difficult to watch for non-Olicity and Olicity fans alike, but Arrow has written itself into this corner, so there was no way out but a horrific episode. Here’s hoping that Arrow had its Chipotle cleanse and has a better show next week.

Thanks for reading.

The Flash Review: “Trajectory”

Jim’s Thoughts

Flash came back reasonably strong from hiatus this week. In fairness, I watched it after Arrow, so that may be skewing my opinion, but I enjoyed it.

I can’t say I cared at all about Iris’ storyline, but that’s been the norm this season. I’m anxious for her to be used as more than romance fodder, and her awkward moments with her new editor make it look like that’s not happening in the foreseeable future.

The Trajectory character was a fair nod to a lesser-known character, but I couldn’t be made to care much about her over the course of one episode, and I don’t remember Caitlyn going to her for help with Velocity-9. It’s possible I just simply don’t remember it, but I’m also not sure it wasn’t something they’re saying happened off screen. If that’s the case, it feels like a bit of a cheat to me.

This could have just been another villain of the week thing, but the conclusion to the confrontation on the bridge, the blue lightning helped bring things back around to Zoom, and that worked to tighten the episode and stop it from being an hour-long tangent.

We’ve been dealing with Barry needing to get faster since the beginning of the show. It’s almost become a mantra, and I feel like there needs to be some more movement there. The scene with Barry holding the Velocity-9 felt a lot like an after school special.

Harrison’s subplot with Jessie wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly interesting, either. I get where they’re going with this. They’re setting us up for another speedster, and that will doubtlessly come about due to her being injecting by Trajectory, but The CW is running the risk of making the show too bloated. Just as Trajectory had an addiction to Velocity-9, The CW may have a problem with adding characters.

Kyle’s Take

“Trajectory” wasn’t a bad episode. This week’s titular speedster brings the development of Velocity-9 story arc to a close and provides Team Flash with what they need to discover Zoom’s identity, laying the ground work for the season’s finale. Trajectory wasn’t a huge Flash character in the comics—she only appeared in eight issues—and while I buy that she and Caitlin were friends in the past, I would’ve liked to have seen a little context. This week wasn’t the first appearance of Mercury Labs, so why haven’t we seen Eliza before this week? This is a small thing, but it’s still a missed opportunity. A little planning goes a long way.

I liked how Cisco is honing his Vibe powers, but Team Flash discovering Zoom’s identity was too easy. The audience had only known who Zoom was one episode before Cisco. And I didn’t like how Barry reacted after discovering the news. Jay means next to nothing to Barry. Barry mistrusted Jay until Earth-2 Harrison Wells showed up and watching Barry run into the forest and scream gave me the vibe of Henry Cavill’s Superman screaming after killing General Zod during Man of Steel. You didn’t set up any of that, Flash. It might have been good acting on Gustin’s part, but it was ineffective writing, and the scene was forced.

I liked the parts that had something to do with Zoom and I guess there isn’t much the show can do to further the main plot while the gang is shut off from Earth-2. I also don’t see how future episodes can hold back Zoom without coming off as filler.

Jim and I talk about suspension of disbelief in terms of Flash and Arrow and that might sound silly because they’re both super hero fantasies, and suspension of disbelief may be the wrong term to use. The problem we’re seeing with Flash is that fantasies aren’t devoid of logic; they have their own internal logic. A man who can run so fast that he can rip 52 holes into the fabric of existence should be able to run and jump 50-150 feet across a chasm and shouldn’t have an uncatchable speedster.

Thanks for reading.

Grimm Review: “Into the Schwarzwald”

Kyle’s Thoughts

“Into the Schwarzwald” started off with a nice puzzle Nick and Monroe had to solve, and that paired well with the intrigue caused by the murder of Portland’s leading mayoral candidate, the Portland PD and Hadrian’s Wall (the government issue wesen). But then the episode fed us a lot of plot devices.

You could refer to these plot devices as hands of god. In fact, one of the devices could literally be the hand of god. We’re entering spoiler territory, so if you haven’t seen “Into the Schwarzwald” and don’t want to know any more details, avert your eyes. The plot device in question is the one Nick and Monroe found in the box they had retrieved from Schwarzwald. It was a stick. Everyone was upset at their discovery and lost hope. Conveniently, Monroe had been bitten by one of the wesen chasing he and Nick in Schwarzwald and his wound had gotten infected by the time Team Grimm opened the box. They used the stick as one part of a tourniquet and the stick magically healed him. Like I said, convenient.

The second plot device shouldn’t be too much of a spoiler. Grimm has set up Adalind regaining her hexenbeist powers for weeks and they pulled the trigger this week. But they did so in an obvious manner. A bully from Rosalee’s past, who I vaguely remembered, hounded Rosalee for assistance. When she didn’t comply, the bully attacked Adalind, and that’s when her powers jumpstarted.

My issue with both plot devices is that they were choreographed. I knew what would happen a good two or three minutes before it happened, so the suspense Grimm wanted to build never grew higher than a whimper.

The Renard story line worked a little better than I thought I would this week. I haven’t cared about Renard’s arc because his existence reminds me that we aren’t getting a story about the royals. Sure, most of them have died, but there’s still intrigue in Europe and Grimm isn’t giving up the goods.

I never bought into Renard becoming Mayor and could see his ascension to that position from the start. Again, “Into the Schwarzwald” pulled the trigger on this plot thread and tied Renard to the Black Claw. This was a nice development but Renard putting together the pieces fell flat. He discovered that the mayoral candidate’s publicist was looking in the direction of his shooter before shots were fired. I saw her do that last week and figured that would tie into a conspiracy, and that’s what we got, a conspiracy. But I’m not that upset about the deliberate nature of Renard’s story. Sure, I saw it coming, but it didn’t come out of nowhere.

Grimm continues to feel around for its story this season, and while there have been some great individual episodes, the overarching stories have been clunky. Thankfully, the characters are still ones fans can and should care about, but Grimm needs stories that match its dynamic characters.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: “Bouncing Back”

Kyle’s Thoughts

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. put its human characters on the back burner this week and promoted its inhumans, so “Bouncing Back,” the mid-season return show, had plenty of bumps in the road.

The strength of Agents has been its human characters, and while Fitz-Simmons finally got together (that was a huge payoff for fans, but it may and should have complications), the rest of the human cast was plot spackle. Lash, Melinda May’s ex-husband, was namedropped more than once, but Agent May was nothing but a tool to further Agent Coulson’s development. Agent Coulson had a few moments in the episode, but his biggest role was as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mouthpiece, warning Malick that the agency’s on to him—neener, neener, neener. And Lance and Bobbi were statues, literally, for half the episode, which forced the inhuman characters to take center stage.

Now, I don’t mind the inhuman characters, but they haven’t been developed as much as the human characters, and “Bouncing Back” aimed to fix that. Guiterrez gained some good background here, as we were reintroduced to him. Agents planned to shove Skye (Daisy, Quake, or whatever he name is) and Lincoln down our throats, so seeing them lock lips wasn’t a shock, but I still don’t buy their relationship; it’s forced. And Elena (Yo-Yo Rodriguez) was a nice addition. She provided context for the aforementioned Guiterrez (The Melter). The pieces were there to build on the inhumans but there’s still some chemistry issues. I trust that Agents will iron these out as the show continues to shift from a human-centric story to an inhuman-centric one.

Grant Ward’s transformation into the monstrous It was predictable. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good, it just means that one could see It coming before the mid-season break. The rise of It wasn’t the question; it’s what It will do after It gains power that is. I was on the fence with turning Ward into It, but I’m glad Agents brought It back to Earth. The show has done a good job of building up this monster, and Agents has another monster at its disposal: Lash.

We haven’t seen the last of Lash, so it’ll take the inhumans we’ve met and a few more to deal with both It and Lash. We’ll see plenty of inhuman action. My hope is that “Bouncing Back” won’t be the only episode used to develop Agents’ inhuman characters.

Thanks for reading.

Blindspot Review: “Scientists Hollow Fortune”

Kyle’s Thoughts

After a strong stretch just before the mid-season break, Blindspot has been a mixed bag. I still don’t buy the Patterson story. Thankfully, the writers didn’t get technical with how military intelligence treats a security breach and focused on Patterson’s mental and emotional state, but with each reveal to the larger web of lies the show makes, Blindspot loses steam.

A couple of weeks ago we learned that Jane did this to herself and she was revealed to be Taylor. During “Scientists Hollow Fortune,” we discovered what Taylor-Jane’s motives are—at least on the surface—for wiping her own memory and that she died at some point. While some of these story threads are interesting, Blindspot did little to develop the characters outside of Jane and perhaps Patterson, and those cracks are showing their toll.

I keep waiting for Weller to become a more intriguing character but he’s flat. Zapata had a nice thing going with the NSA director but now he’s dead and she’s lost her mojo. Director Mayfair is up to something—I guess—but she’s more of an also in this episode character, even though she’s the director. Agent Reade is suddenly in a relationship with Weller’s sister, but I don’t know that I care too much with how that plays out; this has more to do with Weller’s lack of levels. Ultimately, Blindspot comes off as a plot heavy show with very little character.

I’ve given the show half a season, but if it doesn’t improve its supporting cast, I don’t know if I’ll continue watching to the season’s finale.

Thanks for reading.

Bob’s Burgers Review: “Sacred Couch”

Kyle’s Thoughts

“Sacred Couch” was a good, but out of place, episode. Sure, the Belchers have owned the same couch for five or six seasons, but their couch doesn’t hold the same significance as The Simpsons’ couch. Marry this incongruity with the fact that Bob struggled with his burger puns last week, which is something Bob’s Burgers is known for, and you get an episode that belongs on another show.

Besides the focus of this episode being a family couch, the rest of the episode went off without a hitch. You had one family member, Linda, who loved the couch and didn’t want to see it go, another who destroyed the couch, Louise, who then had a change of heart, and Bob worrying about money. Throw in a side story for the other two kids, Gene and Tina, and you get the recipe for a fun episode. But no amount of developing the Belchers’ couch into a legitimate member of the family could replace the fact that this story fits more with The Simpsons than Bob’s Burgers, and I was hoping for an episode that didn’t play on nostalgia, since we received a heavy dose of that last week with “Sexy Dance Healing.”

Still, “Sacred Couch” is a good episode. The show did a good enough job setting up the loss of the couch as a blow for the family. I’m just looking for something a little different next week.

Thanks for reading.

Grimm Review: “Key Moves”

Kyle’s Thoughts

Nick and Monroe visiting the Black Hills worked better than I thought, but I still question why Grimm more than doubled its number of secret Grimm keys in one week after not mentioning them in three years. The ending of “Key Moves” shed some light on that subject, citing that the story will continue in episode 100, but Grimm dropped the ball on this story arc and watching the flashbacks this season only shinned a light on how out of place this story is. Not all the flashbacks revolved around the keys. The ones with Nick and Adalind worked to illustrate how complicated their relationship is and why they would want to take it slow. I liked those flashbacks.

And I liked the Grimm keys story too, I just don’t know why Grimm took three years to get back to them. It had been so long that I had forgotten Renard wanted the keys for himself. I remembered as soon as Nick refused to tell his boss what he was looking for, and that was an aha moment for me, but I’m not certain anyone who hadn’t watched Grimm’s previous seasons recently would’ve gotten that reference without scouring their memory banks.

Speaking of Renard, I’m still not sure about his side story. It looks as if another faction of royals may have wanted him dead, but the assassin killed the wrong man. Now it looks as if Renard will take up the position of Portland’s mayor for some reason. Either way, Renard won’t be assuming the throne any time soon and that may have been the goal all along. Again, I’m not sure. In terms of that story arc Grimm has a firm grip on its blinders.

Grimm has also kept the window open on Adalind returning to her witchy ways. That doesn’t mean Nick will get back with Juliette. The show’s done a good job of severing that relationship. I just wouldn’t be surprised if Adalind became a hexenbiest.

I’m interested in the Black Hills conclusion. It’s a fun story but it’s a story that should’ve been explored a year or two ago and that got me to thinking of the Nick-Juliette-Adalind triangle. Grimm had to drop that web in order to get to something that was working for the series two seasons ago. Now that the series has gotten back to an interesting story, I hope they don’t rush its conclusion.