I'll be very busy for the next few weeks, so I'll won't have much to say about the shows.
The Walking Dead: Now we're getting somewhere. Shane has been on the fence this entire, neither evil villain nor good guy, but he kept being painted as being dangerous. Indeed, he did kill Otis and as much as admitted it to several people. He finally snapped, and it ratcheted tension up several notches. With Dale and Shane dead and pack of zombies near the farm, it looks like things will start happening.
Shameless: I don't know about other people, but Monica is too mean and uncaring to be likable, even when she's supposed to be silly. Other than that, the episode was on point with the ghost business and Estefania phone sex.
I like how The Good Wife handled Caitlin. She wasn't a manipulator or scheming in the least bit--she was just doing her job. The writers, through Alicia, kind of led us into this direction where there would be this major confrontation between Alicia and Caitlin once Caitlin unveiled her master plan. But that never happened. Caitlin explains why she quitting the firm--because she's pregnant and has a loving fiance--and walks off, leaving a stunned Alicia. It's a fitting contrast to Alicia, who thinks she has something to prove, but is now unsure of the path she's on, a message greatly enhanced by the possibility of rebuying she old home and seeing the marks of how tall everyone in the family was.
Without another love story about people who had to stay apart, Once Upon a Time was much more enjoyable last night. The Storybrooke stuff was somewhat forgettable, especially because it was all setup, but the Red story was gruesome and fun.
For whatever reason, possibly as as test, The Mentalist aired on both Thursday and Friday. The first episode was more potent because it had the specter of Darcy doing something in secret, which was eventually revealed to be the FBI investigating Jane for his ties to Red John. The second episode was a mix of everything, with more focus on Rigsby and Cho for a change.
Awake ends its second episode with a clear message: there's a conspiracy. Given how many shows have tried conspiracies and not gotten them right, I'm a bit wary about this. On the other hands, the anemic ratings indicates there won't be a second season anyway.
Psych's horror movie homage was all sorts of good. It was actually scary at times, funny at other times.
In a very cool episode of Justified, Raylan gets trapped by Quarles and the FBI (which is indirectly Quarles doing), and narrowly makes it out. I like how Limehouse is playing it. While Quarles and Boyd are duking it out and putting themselves in the crosshairs of law enforcement, he's playing it cool, trying to keep things calm for his people before making any hasty decisions.
I assumed that Lucy Liu wouldn't be staying on Southland for another season, and this seems even more certain now that she signed onto a pilot. Now there's a plot that signals Tang's potential exit. Cooper is intent of getting to the bottom of the shooting, whether she removed the cap from the gun.
Last week's episode of The River was the strongest episode yet, including the pilot. My initial thought was that the episode should have come earlier. But looking back, the episode was right where it belonged. The meager character development in previous episodes actually paid off well in the episode as we look on the tapes of the past. Everyone has some stake in what's going on, and the characters hearing Emmett talk was quite potent. The final twist of the abandoned compound was pretty sweet also, although the bad ratings probably means we won't see more beyond the final two episodes.
After Alcatraz's latest two episodes, I told myself I'd be fine seeing it come back for another season. The episodes seemed to have more grit than previous ones
Smash wavers between earnest and way too dramatic, and this incongruity is unnerving. I want to like the show, but there are times when it's really annoying.
Being Human's second season has been all over the place. Each of the three characters have their own stories, and, aside from some chance intersections, haven't really interacted to the extent that they should. This disconnect leads to a general sense of the plot never moving, as a whole and in individual episodes. It feels like brief snippets and then the episode is over.
