Top 5 TV Shows for April 2015

We had another odd month of TV in April. Bob’s Burgers was off the air, Powers continued to fluctuate between good and I can’t watch this, and iZombie introduced its love interest—and I’m not a big fan of that arc.

As a result, those three shows didn’t make our list but we have five others that met the challenge – for the most part – and we saw a couple of resurgences and a couple of new faces. That’s enough about the also ran shows, let’s get to our Top 5 RV shows for April, 2015.

5) Arrow

Oddly enough, Arrow makes it on our list because even though they haven’t been consistent, they’re a lot more consistent than the three shows that just missed the cut. I could exchange five and four – and have a couple of times – and I wouldn’t feel too bad about doing so, but Arrow starts off our list because of its inconsistency all year.

We’re also awarding Team Arrow’s risk-taking. They may or may not have written themselves into a corner but they’re coming out swinging and that should make for an interesting season finale.

4) Grimm

Grimm edges out Arrow again this month but by the narrowest of margins. Nick and company haven’t had the best track record for the month of April either but their ongoing story arcs solidify the four spot here. Their season finale is also more of a sure thing – as in they should have more a workable and coherent ending to their season – than the man in the hood.

Grimm should watch its back. Arrow could zip pass them next month, should Arrow deliver a memorable finale—and that’s something Arrow does well.

3) The Flash

The Flash dropped from our top spot last month, but it didn’t fall too far. It lands at our third spot because, like so many of the other shows on our list, it wasn’t consistent. The Flash’s last two weeks were solid and propelled the season to its finale but the two episodes at the beginning of last month didn’t fare as well. Hopefully, The Flash will ride its newfound momentum to a great finish.

2) Orphan Black

Orphan Black made its triumphant return this month. The acting, direction, and writing are still firing on all cylinders. I was skeptical of the newly introduced male clones and how they’d fit in this world but they’ve integrated well and I’m surprised Orphan Black didn’t get our top spot. But there’s one show that topped it.

1) Daredevil

There’s no doubt that Daredevil should earn top honors this month. Daredevil is to Netflix what Final Fantasy VII was to the original Playstation. If you didn’t buy the device/service yet, this is your reason to do it.

The action sequences are rawer than anything you’ll see on any other channel. You can feel Matt Murdoch fighting twelve people in the single shot hallway scene. It’s not pretty but taking on twelve people at once isn’t pretty. The acting’s fantastic; each character was three dimensional, not your typical flat stereotypes. I was on the fence about making Kingpin, a villain that barely qualifies as human in the comics, sympathetic but Vincent D’Onofrio brought the character to life. And if this is what we can expect from the marriage between Netflix, Marvel, and ABC Studios, bring on the rest of the Defenders.

Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage already have series planned for later this year and early next year and Punisher just got added to the mix. I can’t wait.

For those of you who don’t have Netflix, here’s the intro for Daredevil. It’s haunting and a warning that there will be blood. Yes, there’s plenty of blood but the blood serves as a reminder of Matt Murdoch’s dangerous world. He won’t escape too many fights without a few scrapes.

Powers Review – “F@#k the Big Chiller”

Kyle’s Review

Powers’ season finale, “F@#k the Big Chiller,” climaxed too soon for my taste. It reached an apex with close to twenty minutes left in a forty minute episode. That’s a long denouement. As a result, “F@#k the Big Chiller” played more like two mini episodes stapled together: the moments before Wolfe dies and the ones after Wolfe’s death.

The first portion of “F@#k the Big Chiller” had a solid pace but the acting felt forced. I almost believed Pilgrim’s first expletive when Wolfe escaped the first time but then she paused for ten seconds and started swearing for a few minutes, throwing a temper-tantrum. That was tough to watch. Noah Taylor’s Johnny Royalle almost sang his curse word a few scenes later and it was everything I could do to not chuckle. He should put that moment on his F***ing Wicked audition tape. The acting started to smooth out when the show focused on the action—and there was a lot of action. Somewhere along the way, Calista becomes the new Wolfe in a not-so-subtle hand-off of powers and that’s where the long walk to the finish began.

I got a better sense of the characters in the second portion of “F@#k the Big Chiller,” but the story meandered in predictable areas. Even the big reveal at the end wasn’t as big as I’m sure Powers would’ve liked. They choreographed the scene so much that it left nothing to the imagination. Even so, the final scenes do pose enough questions to warrant a second season. I don’t know if Playstation will renew Powers but the series ended with a cliffhanger, so it’s clear that they want to pursue one. I just hope Powers irons out some of its rough edges, particularly the ones with Pilgrim and Walker.

Verdict:

Powers’ “F@#k the Big Chiller” couldn’t decide what it wanted to be in this wonky finale.

Arrow Review – “Al Sah-Him”

Jim’s Review

I think Arrow has really started to find its footing since the reemergence of Ra’s. It’s given the show a little more focus, and a good source of tension to carry through week to week. If you’re familiar with my past takes on the show, you can probably guess what I’m going to say this week. There was entirely too much Laurel. This week, there may also have been a little too much of everyone moping around missing Oliver.

It may be a little unfair to knock them for the grief portrayed by Team Arrow. It’s only been a few weeks at this point, and not showing any mourning would be equally sloppy, but I can’t help but feel it might have been better to have something else for them to be doing.

To that end, I think it was too soon to bring Oliver back to Starling City. It was interesting to see a face-off with Diggle, and it was shocking to see Oliver act so brutally toward his friends, but I think it could have been better handled if they’d given it more time to breathe first. With that said, it’s still a nice upward trend in the show. We all know Oliver won’t last as Ra’s. That’s just obvious, but in the meantime, my hopes are on the rise for a great close to the season.

Kyle’s Take

Laurel didn’t bother me as much this episode because even though everyone sported a hangdog look, she actually fought crime before Ollie came back to town. The rest of the cast was too verklempt.

I will knock the writers/directors/actors for the grief Team Arrow showed this episode because after the midseason break (when the team thought Ollie was dead), they continued the good fight. Did they grieve? Yes. But they could also get out of bed in the morning. Most of the mopey scenes in this week’s “Al Sah-Him” were over-the-top. I say most because the one at the end, after they found out that Ollie had changed and wasn’t just chilling in Nanda Parbat, made sense.

I agree that Ollie should’ve spent some time away from Starling. It took a few weeks for him to make it back home after he died (midseason) and this week fast forwarded three weeks—yet another reason to not believe Team Arrow’s deep depression: they’ve had more time with which to grieve. The Ra’s angle works – for the most part – and I liked the stinger at the end of the episode. The flashbacks finally tied into the greater arc for this season. But what of the season finale?

I’m afraid that anything Arrow comes up with for the finale will either be ludicrous and/or undermine the classic Batman – oh no, the “b” word – villain Ra’s Al Ghul. The only hope of a somewhat satisfying ending comes from Ra’s Al Ghul’s lengthy monologue–and that was a little too much exposition for me.

While the end of this season should be fun and action-packed, I’d have a hard time accepting Ra’s letting Ollie go or Ollie taking down the League of Assassins. The writers may have written themselves into a corner that I don’t think they can overcome with any style or grace. Still, I look forward to the twists and turns Arrow has in store for us.

Verdict:

No amount of moody blues could keep the action-fueled “Al Sah-Him” down. Arrow zings toward its season finale.

Not enough Arrow? Check out our Arrow Secrets page here.

The Flash Review – “The Trap”

Jim’s Review

After a couple of stumbles, Flash seems to be developing a trend of finishing strong. This week’s episode kept with that. Grant Gustin continues to deliver a particularly strong performance. It’d be easy for him to overplay the part of the conflicted hero, trying to work with and subvert Dr. Wells at the same time, but he’s done it well.

There was a lot more of the Iris romance angle this week, both with Eddie and Barry, and I continue to just not care. Iris simply isn’t being given anything to make her an interesting character. Her “great revelation” that the appearance of meta-humans in Central City may be linked to the STAR Labs explosion did nothing to give her credibility as an investigative journalist. Actually, I’m thinking her next big breakthrough will be to link low income to poverty.

The sequence with Cisco remembering the events of the alternate timeline felt poorly explained, and that, in conjunction with the uninteresting Iris segments made for a weak midway point to the episode. By far, Dr. Wells going outright evil made for the high point. His loathing/need for Barry makes for an interesting story, and I look forward to it. Of course, the preview for the upcoming episode look really interesting. Grodd, anyone?

Kyle’s Take

This week’s Flash was fantastic if you turn off your brain and don’t ask too many questions. I’ll try something new this week and turn off my brain for the first portion of this review, and then turn it back on for some issues I found, but let’s start with the mind on shut down.

“The Trap” brought Flash back to the point it was at before Barry’s day trip, just after the tsunami. It tied many of the threads together: Wells gets outed, Eddie discovers his relationship to the Reverse-Flash, and Iris knows Barry’s secret. Fireworks popped all over the place, similar to the time warp/day trip episode, and we’re thrust toward Flash’s season finale with plenty of momentum. Throw in some great acting by Tom Cavanagh (Harrison Wells) and The Reverse-Flash’s loathing/need for Barry and a few gotcha scenes and this week’s episode proved to be a fun game of cat-and-mouse.

(Brain engaged.)

Yes, Iris discovering that meta-humans were created by the STAR Labs explosion was a duh moment, but Flash’s bigger issue is its inability to explain how alternate timelines work. They need to get out ahead of this and I’m disappointed that they didn’t put more thought into it before the series began. Cisco’s echoes of the alternate timeline where Wells kills him and Iris uncovering Barry’s secret that can be explained – most likely – by her experiencing an echo of the same timeline is inconsistent if no one has echoes of the timeline where the Reverse-Flash didn’t kill Wells. If you introduce another timeline (like the one without Wells’ untimely death), you can’t ignore it.

Then, the Reverse-Flash tells Eddie that he’s his great-great-great-grandfather (or something to that effect). That’s kind of like Hitler raising hell in the time of his predecessors and then telling one of his ancestors (that he’s making life difficult for) that they’re related. That ancestor would at least consider celibacy (or castration)—and good bye, Reverse-Flash.

Okay, there is a precedent for members of the Thawne family to become supervillains in the comics, but Eddie hasn’t shown a vicious bone in his body in the show so far and he’d be overreacting if he turns rogue after finding out Iris loves (and marries) Barry, not him.

Finally, we’re left with the gotcha moments. While they were fun, they weren’t earned. The Flash did little to explain how they could pull them off, since the biggest gotcha moment required The Everyman to possess knowledge that he couldn’t possibly have. There was no clue – besides a force field not working – that the man threatening Cisco wasn’t The Reverse-Flash. It was a bait and switch that manipulated the audience.

Despite these flaws, I choose to turn off my brain – for now – and enjoy this rollercoaster. Bring on Grodd.

Verdict:

A fun – if uneven – episode that gets fans excited for the season finale.

Did you want more Flash? Make a dash to our Flash secrets page here.

iZombie Review – “Maternity Liv”

Kyle’s Review

I like the word play iZombie has used for its titular character Liv. The titles that use Liv’s name are cute and reveal what you should expect during the episode. “Liv and let Clive” was fun as is this week’s “Maternity Liv.” The episode itself fell short of its punny title.

As you can guess, Liv eats the brain of a deceased pregnant woman. Fortunately, the baby survives so we don’t have that death on our conscious. Unfortunately, the woman whose brain Liv eats gets reduced to motherhood. iZombie has walked a thin line between deep and stereotypical victim characters but the mother on Liv’s slab this week had only one defining characteristic: she was pregnant. To make matters worse, Liv’s zombie hunk ate the brains of a homosexual male and that caused the zombie hunk to prance around in stereotypical fashion.

Even the weekly mystery was a yawn. iZombie bucked the trend (and reality) of someone close to a murder victim as the culprit for a nonsensical solution. That hurt. Usually, I can count on the mystery to do work if the interpersonal stuff doesn’t. Even worse was that iZombie set up a great who done it that could’ve pinned the murder on a jealous boyfriend or her overbearing parents. Instead, we’re left scratching our heads.

But all wasn’t horrible. The police lieutenant – the one proven zombie at police HQ – might have figured out that Liv’s a zombie too and I liked how Major and Detective Babineaux could be at odds with Major introducing the press to the missing kids case. iZombie has plenty to work with in regards to its ongoing arcs. We’ll have to see which direction they’ll take. Hopefully, they’ll make some wiser choices and get back to some deeper characters and mysteries.

Verdict:

“Maternity Liv” was the weakest episode of iZombie so far but folks who follow the ongoing arcs had something to cheer for.

Bob’s Burgers Review – “Itty Bitty Ditty Committee”

Kyle’s Review

Gene presents a problem that most Bob’s Burgers characters don’t have: he doesn’t have the attention span to have long-term or focused goals. The other Bob’s Burgers characters can always tap one desire that engages the audience with the character. Gene only wants to have fun. His inability to see beyond his bulbous nose makes it difficult to write for him if you don’t have a solid objective for him like in “Best Burger” (get Dad the ingredient he needs to win a cooking competition) earlier this season. This issue reared its ugly head in this week’s “Itty Bitty Ditty Committee.”

Sure, Gene loves music but he really wants to be a musical star rather than learn how to play anything – his piano lesson lasted all of two minutes – and despite his “love” of music, he was too willing to give it up as soon as it became work. Gene’s band booted him out after they booked a gig at a prestigious birthday party and while reinstatement in the band should’ve been Gene’s short-term objective (and was for the aforementioned two minutes), he lost sight of even that. The story resolved with his bandmates saying that music wasn’t fun without him. That didn’t ring true either because at least two out of those three bandmates had taken a year of lessons to learn their instruments. Why would they consider learning how to play music as just work?

Don’t get me wrong. I like Gene as a character but I question how easy it is to write him as the main character. He works better as the guy who gets a hair-brained idea and his sudden desire runs counter to what the main character wants to do like in “Topsy” from the second season, where Gene writes a musical about elephant and electric love. “Topsy” even shows that Gene would be willing to put in the work, even if his goal is to be a star.

The side story of Linda’s armpit rash fared slightly better. She doesn’t want to look like a fool with two furry friends (her pit hair) under her arms and eventually, finds a way to deal with the embarrassment. In genuine Linda style, she owns her massive pit hair and even earns a compliment by episode’s end.

“Itty Bitty Ditty Committee” may not have been the welcome back episode of Bob’s Burgers I was expecting, but it was fun. You also have to love the straw solo at the end.

Orphan Black Review – “Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis”

Kyle’s Review

“Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis” faltered a bit but Orphan Black’s good is still better than most show’s great.

I didn’t know it was possible, but Sarah (the show’s protagonist) got lost in this week’s episode. Sure, she was physically in the show but the male clones took over in the scenes with Sarah, causing her to react instead of plan or do much of anything else. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily. Ari Millen does a good job as the male clones but he doesn’t make his characters as different as Tatiana Maslany (the female clone actor) and I’m not as invested in his characters yet.

As with the female clones, the male clones have a fatal flaw in their makeup. I won’t spoil it here but this defect leads to a powerful scene. But the scene in question wasn’t as powerful as Millen’s final scene as the Prolethean turned lover boy on the run, Mark Rollins. Mark is one of the few male clones who does stand out.

As for Maslany’s clones, Helena sustains more abuse. I like that she doesn’t buy into her captors’ lies. She may not have had too much screen time but we got a nice taste of her character. Cosima makes a brief appearance too and it was memorable as she defied authority but the true female clone stand out this week has to be Alison Hendrix. She continues her bid for school trustee and found her edge over the competition. Again, I won’t spoil it here but she sure does know how to turn a situation on its ear. After she lost most of her money and anonymity, she became the forgotten clone but she made strides for her return as The Clone Club’s financier.

Speaking of money bags, Sarah’s beau Cal, who happens to be the formerly estranged father of her daughter, has deeper pockets than we might have guessed from last season. He had plenty of money lying around a year ago but apparently he has enough cash to purchase a gorgeous, new home. Cal, played by Game of Thrones’ Michiel Huisman, has a dark past of which Sarah has only scratched the surface. This might have played into Sarah’s diminished role but I see her clawing her way into the center of Cal’s past in the not-so-distant future.

Verdict:

A solid episode, “Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis” traded female clones for male clones to good effect. Orphan Black’s secondary female clones played well but Sarah needs more direction. I think she’ll have it soon.

Grimm Review – “Iron Hans”

Kyle’s Review

This week’s episode of Grimm, “Iron Hans,” was a partial return to form to Grimm’s earlier season success. The Wesen of the week brought Monroe’s choice of non-violence back in the lime light – and I like the fact that Grimm returned to familiar Wesen instead of introducing a new Wesen, which meant that they didn’t have to waste the majority of the show’s hour explaining why we should care about this new Wesen – but the continuing stories shined the brightest.

Adalind’s love child with Nick reached critical mass. Juliette embraced her hexenbiest and I’m mostly on board with her vengeance, since Nick sided with Adalind instead of her. I also get Nick’s side, too—Adalind is pregnant with his child and even if Adalind wasn’t pregnant with Nick’s child, an unborn baby of about seven months is an innocent no matter the parentage. I still get Juliette’s sense of betrayal. While I like this angle a little more than I did before, I don’t like how heavy handed Grimm was when delivering it. Grimm used the line, “Adalind is having the baby that you (Juliette) were supposed to have.” That’s a little too on the nose.

Still, those developments worked nice and I got the sense that Monroe’s tormentors may be back soon. Grimm isn’t too subtle but the Wesen he meets in the woods let him know that his reputation precedes him. They were all right with Monroe’s actions but this could be a more gentle hand to reintroduce other Wesen who might not agree with Monroe’s actions.

Verdict:

I hope “Iron Hans” is a sign of what Grimm has in store for us in the future. Most of the ongoing stories progressed.

Orphan Black Review – “The Weight of this Combination”

Kyle’s Review

I can’t say enough nice things about Orphan Black. The previous two season were excellent (writing, acting, directing, and general awesomeness) and I keep waiting for the show to fall off. That didn’t happen with its third season debut episode “The Weight of this Combination” and it could have given how last season ended. Orphan Black’s second season ended with a microphone drop of sorts, introducing a series of male clones that could’ve upset the show’s balance.

I say balance because Tatiana Maslany is brilliant as the female clones and that was a lot for Ari Millen to live up to. He’s done an admirable job so far but the show hasn’t gotten away from what made it great the previous two season: Maslany.

It’s criminal that she hasn’t been nominated for an Emmy but Sci Fi shows typically don’t receive love come award season. Malany will play one clone, pretending to be another clone, and she nails it. She doesn’t portray Rachel in the scenes where Sarah infiltrates DYAD, she portrays Sarah pretending to Rachel. It’s just off enough, in the manner of how Sarah would be off when playing Rachel, so that other characters that know Rachel well can tell that she isn’t who she claims to be and close enough to fool characters who may not have been in contact with Rachel that much—and the best part is that the fans are in on it the whole time.

The plot is a tangled mess at this point – you’ll have to catch up with seasons one and two before watching this episode – but if you can binge watch this show in order to watch Orphan Black’s third season, I highly recommend it. It’s the best Sci Fi TV show on air and I’m going to stop waiting for the show to slip.

Verdict:

Orphan Black is the best Sci Fi TV show, period. You owe it to yourself to watch “The Weight of this Combination.” The opening sequence alone is a great one: we get to see the perfect world of one of the show’s least understood characters, Helena.

The Flash Review – “All Star Team Up”

Jim’s Review

This week’s episode of The flash was rough. There’s just no other way to put it. With Iris making a scene during a nice group dinner, she’s actually becoming radically unlikeable.

The team-up between Ray and Felicity and the STAR Labs group made for a couple of fun moments, but ultimately, it felt manufactured. Felicity’s advice to Barry about dealing with Cisco and Caitlyn was a bit obvious. “Trust them” is a little simplistic, and ignores the problem of having trusted Dr. Wells in the first place.

Emily Kinney was completely wasted in the episode. In fact, I’m thinking back on it, and I’m not sure she was ever shown standing up. Her puns were absolutely cringe-worthy, and they never did explain why Barry couldn’t maneuver around her droid-bees.

I’m sorry to say this has been a true stumble in an otherwise very strong season.

Kyle’s Take

The Flash has been stumbling for a while and this week, it couldn’t catch itself before falling flat on its face. At the beginning of the season, we were calling The Flash electric (pun intended), fantastic, and a great inaugural season. Now, we’re calling it a very strong season and I think the villain of the week format contributes the most to its decline.

I’m not as big of a Kinney fan as Jim. I guess I should be a Kinney fan because she’s from Wayne, Nebraska and I should back my fellow cornfed, Great Plains walkers, but she was less wasted as an actor and more cast in a role she had no business portraying. The two characters Kinney’s Queen Bee draws inspiration from are forty-fifty years old. Kenney’s almost thirty but she played a teenager in The Walking Dead because she looks that young. Her Queen Bee in The Flash was supposed to have a PhD and you don’t have a PhD when you’re nineteen unless you’re Sheldon Cooper. What are they supposed to do with her, attach freaking prosthetic crow’s feet? Enough about the villain’s age and the miscast, and let’s get to the actual Queen Bee character. Brie Larvan has the abilities of The Atom villain, The Bug-Eyed Bandit, but she shares a name with HIVE’s leader. If HIVE sounds familiar to Arrow fans, it should. Arrow has name dropped HIVE five times this year (they were the ones who hired Deadshot to kill Diggle’s brother) and this week looked like a golden opportunity to introduce the gang and have a multi-show cross-over, and they blew it. Like so many villains of the week, The Flash flushed her.

Not even an “All Star Team Up” could save this episode. Usually, a superhero team up means a great episode for The Flash or Arrow, but Atom visiting Central City was unmotivated and disrupted Arrow’s timeline. Not to get too into Arrow during a Flash review, but the last time Rickards made an appearance on The Flash as Felicity, she didn’t show up in that week’s Arrow. It’s okay to give the same actors screen time in both shows, during the same week, but the creative team set a precedent with Felicity’s inability to return to Starling City in time for the Arrow’s exploits—heck, she was on a train at the end of the previous crossover episode and still couldn’t make it to Starling on time.

The Wells saga has been marking time for a while and the longer it drags out, the less believable it gets. I believe in Barry’s mistrust of Wells, but The Flash still hasn’t explained how he knows Wells is the Reverse-Flash besides Wells’ slipping up about the speed force. Barry (to Cisco and Caitlin): Here are two flow charts. One is of my mother’s killer and the other one is of Wells. They look somewhat similar, so Wells must be the Reverse-Flash. Okay, Barry. You too, other Barry.

And I don’t know about Jim, but whenever more than half of a table gets upset and simultaneously leaves in the middle of a meal, it’s no longer a nice dinner party. It becomes a tense dinner party. I don’t like how Iris left the table either but with Ray buying out the entire restaurant, making the restaurant empty, you can’t call her freak out much of a scene. My biggest issue with Iris is that everyone’s lying to her but she picks on Eddie. I’m sure her character is channeling her emotions but the writing doesn’t reflect that. She’s oblivious to everyone else lying to her. You’d think she’d know when her father or stepbrother was lying but apparently not.

Verdict:

“All Star Team Up” is the weakest episode of The Flash so far but the next few weeks look promising: Wells might get outed, Grodd makes his official debut, and the Rogues return, hopefully with some other villains in tow.

If you want to know more of our Flash musings, check out our secrets page here.