Criminal Minds 13x05 "Lucky Strikes" Review

“Lucky Strikes” brought back Agent Baby Girl, and for that, I am grateful.

The episode has two stories going on at once. First, a serial killer they had put in a mental hospital appears to be killing again, but they can’t figure out how to prove it. Second, when they first worked this case, this was when Garcia was shot, so her PTSD is triggered and she is snapping at everyone.

I’m glad they kept throwing in little references to the episode in question throughout this episode. I remembered Garcia getting shot, but not Floyd Ferell specifically, until Luke mentioned something about eating the chili he was serving. That made me shiver a bit! This was also an episode that is frustrating from an audience standpoint, because Ferell’s lawyer is arguing Ferell did not do it, any of it, even ten years ago; it was all someone else. They need to figure out if there was someone else or not. Ferell is a lot smarter than he is letting on. He has groomed another member of his Bible study to start killing again, using the exact details of his rituals, including some things never released to the public. When his current partner admits to doing everything before killing himself, the agents have no choice but to share it (though they know he is lying). I did like the twist ending they did. Once Ferell was pronounced a free man by the hospital staff, Rossi steps in with an order to X-ray his stomach…for the missing fingers. Ferell’s façade disappears. Case closed.

Garcia thinks she’s gotten over the events of ten years ago. It’s been ten years, more than enough time to heal physically and mentally, right? But she keeps flashing back to what happened and in trying to control herself ends up snapping at the rest of the team. JJ calls Morgan to come and talk to her. That is all she needs to feel better, for now. Obviously she still has some healing to do, but her quick fix for her current funk is from her best friend. I just love the relationship between the two of them so much and I’m glad they were able to bring him back, if only for two scenes.

This was an overall strong episode, bringing back characters from the past. There’s been a whole decade between that episode and this one. Time moves in their universe, same as here. I wonder if they’ll keeping bringing back old cases, or if this is a one-time thing. Halloween episode this week. Should be good. I’ll try to get a review up sooner than next week.

10/10

NCIS 15x05 "Fake It 'Til You Make It" Review

“Fake It ‘Til You Make It” was a really good episode. You know I love it when the central conflict revolves around one of the main characters and this one is no exception. Mr. Clayton Reeves was front and center.

The episode revolves around an elaborate game a fellow AA member is playing against everyone, but it’s not apparent until the very end. Melissa Goodman fakes a kidnapping, drugs and kills her boyfriend, and steals stolen government software in order to sell it, all while playing the poor, abused recovering alcoholic who killed her boyfriend out of self-defense and knew nothing about the laptop and software he stole. The title of the episode should have made me suspect Melissa all along, but I was too caught up in following Clay’s point of view that I didn’t even think to suspect her. I’m not sure how I feel about the whole “fake trauma” story; those always make me feel a little weird afterward.

I guessed towards the beginning that the episode would end with Clayton at a meeting and he would share something. It was kind of a weird ending, from a writing standpoint. It just seemed like the opening stinger of an episode, not really something for the end. Nevertheless, I really liked the looks we got into his character this episode. He is one of my favorites of the "new guys", and to see his stoic exterior crumble as one of his friends is in trouble was interesting.

The McGee meme was a little odd and seemed to come out of nowhere. But then it became relevant, sort of. As soon as McGee said the meme originated in Paris, I knew it had to be Tony. That was such a nice touch; I was hoping the whole meme storyline wasn’t a whole bunch of nothing. Nope, just a sweet little reminder of past friends, and McGee getting him back with his awkward high school photo was just perfect.

One more relevant tidbit we get out of the episode is Agent Jack Sloane is now a permanent cast member after only one episode. Having some psychology behind these cases will be an interesting twist, though hopefully not too much like Criminal Minds.

We’ve got a Halloween episode this week, and those never disappoint. Though several of these episodes have kind of felt like Halloween. Oh well. I will be watching excitedly, and hopefully will get my review up sooner than next week. (Life happens. You all get it.)

9/10

Criminal Minds 13x04 "Killer App" Review

SPOILERS

“Killer App” was a slightly different episode than usual, but I loved it. It was very emotionally gripping all the way through and really made me think.

The episode begins with a fun look into the relaxing area of a video game company that quickly turns to a brutal and chilling office shooting where no one can see who the shooter is. The team works to try and connect the victims when there is another shooting and four coders are killed. They discover the connection between them: they all were coders on a team which did drone operations for the military. And the unsub is the person who piloted the drone. We learn there’s something a little sketchy going on as the unsub, named Jake, startles and kidnaps a woman named Tori. There is much red tape as they try to get to the unsub and once they do, it’s too late. Tori killed him in escaping, but Peakstone had finished the job by hacking into the drone. They almost kill Tori as well, though both she and the leader of Peakstone are arrested for withholding evidence about the team’s last mission.

It’s not often that Criminal Minds dives into problems with the government or military or related areas. They stick to the unsubs, and that usually involves everyday situations. But this story, of there being a massive cover-up, of a supposed bombing of an insurrection camp turning out to be an elementary school? It’s no wonder the unsub Jake is so triggered by the letter, or why Tori is so squirrelly. This made me so uncomfortable to watch play out and it felt so different from other episodes. But I liked it. I liked that they took a risk. It was a different episode with a different story. I’m glad they didn’t turn it into someone with a recreational drone doing this, or it might have devolved into something involving the greater Internet and starting an argument.

Really, the only gripe I had with this episode is in the provided description it mentions it was an office shooting done by drone. The surprise is taken away. It would have been interesting to figure it out at the same time as them.

There wasn’t much going on by way of the main characters, but that’s fine. We’ve had enough over the last few episodes that we can start sinking into the everyday formula. There were the scenes at the beginning and end with Emily and Luke, going over the last details of the Mr. Scratch situation. I did like the ending, a slice of life, endless paperwork and midnight takeout.

10/10

NCIS 15x04 "Skeleton Crew" Review

SPOILERS

“Skeleton Crew” was a highly enjoyable episode, from the character moments to the Halloween-esque murder mystery.

The episode opens with a very real injured Marine stumbling around at a haunted house/masquerade thing while Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor plays in the background, the classic creepy Halloween music. On this same stormy night, Gibbs’ peaceful evening is interrupted by a stranded traveler and a call from Vance. It turns out his random visitor was not so random after all, and is actually a forensic psychologist there to observe him (I think. They’re not too clear on that part). The search for the Marine’s kidnapped wife leads Bishop and Torres to a ship in the middle of the hurricane, where Bishop’s high school bully is currently the XO. While originally one might think the intent of the kidnapping and attempted murder was jealousy, this is not Criminal Minds and the tag-team bad guys for the week were actually just after a whole lotta money.   

The episode crammed in so many references to modern events. The whole premise of the power being knocked out because of a hurricane would have been very realistic probably around the time this episode was in production. I enjoyed the references to Game of Thrones and Hamilton (though the writer must be a Jorah/Dany shipper and that I really can’t abide by).

We get so many great moments with our characters just having fun being their characters. Jimmy all excited for his first solo week by putting on a bowtie (and apparently singing “My Shot” over and over). Abby gifting the team zombie apocalypse emergency kits (and the beepers inside end up being how they let Bishop and Torres know, hey, you’re trapped on this ship with possibly the murderer). Torres getting his coffee and leaning back as Bishop and Buckner chat.

Vance brings SA Sloane to "meet" Gibbs.

The most interesting part of the episode is of course SA Jack Sloane (and Gibbs being Gibbs, but that was expected). The way she is inserted into the story, and especially with the episode ending with her, makes me think that she will be around a lot more. Perhaps she will sort of become an Abby-replacement once Pauley leaves at the end of the season? At any rate, her presence is a very intriguing one and I wonder how they will use her in the future (without the show turning into Criminal Minds, that is).

I guess the only thing that could have made it better would have been playing a little more on the theme of it being a masquerade and having to detain people and somehow the whole team was trapped in the haunted house. Though that might be a little too Scooby-Doo. The NCIS Halloween episodes rarely disappoint.

10/10

Criminal Minds 13x03 "Blue Angel" Review

SPOILERS

“Blue Angel” gave yet another unique unsub of the week while incorporating Matt Simmons in an episode that seemed to have a little something to say about the importance of family.

The episode starts to be about finding the link between two supposedly unrelated men, horribly tortured and captured all on tape, sent to the families. The link turns out to be an escort both of them used, and all of a sudden the episode is about her, Kimberly. The obvious idea for the unsub is a jealous ex-boyfriend or partner, but after a little digging it seems like a more probably solution is a family member. She doesn’t know anything, but it seems like her mother does. While the two women are kidnapped, the team figures out Kimberly’s biological father killed her biological mother and her “mother” is actually her aunt. Her father is now out of prison and is not happy about the way Kimberly’s life turned out, so he is going after the men she has had a connection with. The team finds where they are hiding and everyone gets away okay. Her father is arrested, and both Kimberly and her mother seem to be fine.

Agent Matt Simmons and his wife.

I really liked the scene at the beginning with Matt Simmons and his wife. I thought they were just doing a little character building to make him seem more real in our eyes, but it turns out there was a greater purpose there. While watching over Kimberly, she is a little suggestive but he turns her down, staying true to his wife, not hiding behind anything. She appreciates that, and we get to see what a loving family could be, should be, when compared to the mess that ended up being Kimberly’s family, with her father and her aunt/mother. The episode rewards us with a reunion with Matt and his wife and kids.

This episode kept me intrigued throughout. It was a different kind of story which sprinkled throughout little moments with the characters we love so much. The team is still sticking together, doing what they do best.

10/10

NCIS 15x03 "Exit Strategy" Review

SPOILERS

“Exit Strategy” was one of those episodes where I loved the buildup and hated the resolution.

Torres is on a joint stakeout with someone from the PD. He goes to apprehend their target and while away from the car his partner for the day has disappeared. He’s run off with a woman whom Detective Sergeant Sportelli is positive died ten years before. It turns out she had escaped the bomb that supposedly killed her and started over with a whole other life. There’s a whole bunch of digging up the past, discovering who the real father of her son is, who could possibly have kidnapped him, why they are still after the money she was looking for ten years ago. And it turns out…one of the dirty cops is Sportelli. They rescue the son and corner Sportelli, who, instead of surrendering, decides to commit suicide. There’s a happy ending for Michelle Lane and her son as she is able to put her crazy past behind her.

There’s also a very nice subplot carrying on from last episode with Ducky over in Scotland. He is giving a talk about his best cases, including the only instance of “Body in a Body”. A fellow alum rescues him from a barrage of fanboy questions and offers him a teaching residency for a semester at her college, John Jay. The episode ends with Ducky telling Palmer he is going to take the residency. He’s discovered he isn’t as needed as much as he thought.

Ducky gives a lecture.

This is an episode where there are “lasting consequences to the universe”. Sportelli has showed up in several episodes before. He was always a thorn in their side, like any non-NCIS law enforcement on the show. But to almost using him as a scapegoat and taking him out of the narrative permanently seemed like the easy way out instead of bringing in a new character. Also, Ducky transitioning out of the show is one I had not really been expecting. Here’s one more of the original characters moving out of the show.

I still don’t dislike the show, don’t get me wrong. So far it hasn’t seemed like they are running out of ideas for plots. But the characters are starting to get exhausted, and after 15 years, who wouldn’t?

9/10

Criminal Minds 13x02 "To a Better Place" Review

SPOILERS

“To A Better Place” was a nice warm-up kind of episode, not too over-the-top to get both the viewers and the team back into the swing of things. While not as heart-pounding as last week’s, there were still some moments I enjoyed.

The unsub this week is killing girls and leaving them in old suitcases, extremely influenced by his grandmother and his lack of a mother. He has been able to curb his violent impulses his whole life until his grandma suddenly dies and he is left alone. Yet he is still hearing her voice in his head and imagines she is still there. She is guiding his actions and decisions; he wants to ask out a fellow coffee shop worker, yet she disapproves. After he asks her out and takes her to meet his grandma, who is obviously not there, she wants to leave him. He snaps and tries to kill her, but Spence gets there in time to stop him. It’s revealed his mother never left him like he thought, and his grandma had killed her in trying to stop her from leaving.

It’s one of the episodes where you end up feeling a little bad for the unsub. His whole life has been built on the lie of a memory of something that never even happened. All he wants is a mother, someone stable, someone who won’t leave him. And even though he goes about it the wrong way, it’s still something a little bit different from many other unsubs.

Spence is back on the team.

Another big part of the episode is Spence getting reinstated into the team. He passes everything and is allowed back in, but only if for every 100 days he works, he takes 30 off. He doesn’t like that idea but he goes with it because otherwise he wouldn’t be allowed back at all. Emily helps him out a little too, by arranging for him to teach lectures on his month off. He is told that he will be watched carefully; the last time they let someone back in after a situation like his, he acted irrationally and dangerously in a hostage situation. I found it unsurprising, then, that at the end of the episode, Spence finds himself the lone agent in a hostage situation, where he has to diffuse the situation and get everyone out safely while waiting for the rest of the agents. He is able to keep calm, though, and everyone gets out safely. Spence reflects on his time in prison being a good thing. Germs don’t bother him as much now. He’s taking baby steps. So far, so good, in his recovery.

9/10

NCIS 15x02 "Twofer" Review

SPOILERS

“Twofer” was a good follow-up to the season premiere. It was a unique case of the week while not ignoring the ramifications of what transpired in the previous episode.

Let’s start with the case of the week and the other small storylines. While caskets are being moved, one is opened and two bodies fall out. How did Richard Coyne get in there? The case seems pretty open-and-shut as he disappeared a week before he was supposed to testify at a trial of a drug dealer. We get more Ducky and Palmer action this episode as Ducky is plagued by his (adorable) “Scotland the Brave” ringtone from the University of Edinburgh, and Palmer becomes delirious after inhaling something from Coyne’s body. There were drugs in his liver which crystallized when coming in contact with oxygen, as Abby hypothesized earlier, and the drugs were not the types of drugs the obvious suspect drug dealer dealt. Who could it possibly be? It wasn’t the wife, though she was currently seeing the guy who was there when he died, accidentally or not is up to you to decide. In order to hide the body, one of the friendly people from the graveyard was a buddy and hooked them up with a nice casket (though already occupied). The show got me there; I wasn’t really suspecting either of the graveyard workers. The only bit that annoyed me with the episode was Torres’ sudden concern with disturbing graves and how they were going to haunt them. That didn’t quite seem in character, and at first I just thought he was joking. I did like the ending, where it turns out Ducky is going to be recognized at a special weekend and get an honorary degree; he’s not simply being hounded for money.

Torres learns about disturbing burial sites.

The heart of the episode is of course Gibbs and McGee on their little road to recovery. They are all cleared to go back to work except they must pass a psych eval. Surprisingly, it’s not Gibbs who skips out on his appointment, but McGee. He goes to Gibbs’ house to talk because he can’t sleep, and Gibbs really isn’t having it. Eventually McGee goes to the doctor and tries to talk it out. He’s been worrying a lot since he’s come home, because there was no time to worry while in Paraguay. But he just might be better suited to deal with anything bad that comes his way because of this. Gibbs’ transformation was definitely curious. He’s sunnier, to use the doctor’s word. He was still affected by Paraguay, but he’s dealing as best he can. And he actually goes back for more therapy at the end of the episode. It will be very interesting to see where these two go throughout this season, or if this, for the most part, is the end of it.

9/10

Good title, btw. "Two-for-one"...in a coffin

Criminal Minds 13x01 "Wheels Up"

SPOILERS

“Wheels Up” was a great season opener, resolving the cliffhanger and definitely setting up for some interesting times ahead.

The episode picks up where the last one ended, the aftermath of the trap set up by Peter Lewis, AKA Mr. Scratch. Walker is dead and Emily is missing, but everyone else is sent to the hospital with treatable injuries. It is up to Garcia, new agent Matt Simmons, Luke, and Spence to use Walker’s and Emily’s research into Scratch to find his location and rescue Emily. They use the radio frequency from the trap to track down his “IT department” and from there his hideout. There is a chase and Scratch ends up hanging off the side of the building. Luke makes the decision to not help him and lets him fall to his death. One more monster gone.

There are so many little details in the episode that just resonated with me. I was surprised at how much they managed to pack in. For example, Rossi’s little scheme to get Luke and Spence into his office was definitely worth a laugh. JJ and Will’s little conversation about what the future could be like, her as a full-time mom and him owning a breakfast place was so cute. Spence so frustrated at how he’s lost his touch was so jarring, a big hint as to where his character is going to go this season as he deals with his PTSS from prison.

Emily flatlines as Scratch tortures her.

Of course I have to talk about the scenes with Emily and Scratch. I didn’t figure out it was all a delusion until she did, so I was right there with her the entire time. My heart was pounding constantly and I had to look away for some stuff. I thought it was very clever how they used Emily’s previous brush with death to be the thing that brings her back and out of the delusion. I also liked how they brought back up the idea of Hotch again; I thought I heard somewhere he might be coming back, but maybe they squashed that rumor in this episode. However, I think using Scratch was a very mature and not too abrupt way of getting Hotch out of the story.

I am sad to see the character of Stephen Walker go. I really did like him. But I do like Matt Simmons so far and I will keep an open mind with him going forward in the season. The team is mostly back together, and I think the last scene is going to set the tone for the whole season. Emily shares the mantra that kept her grounded, two simple words, “Wheels up”. Their words, their little battle cry, their reason for existing, their strength. Last season they were a bit torn apart, with Hotch leaving and Spence in prison. I hope this means this season is going to have them even more grow closer as a family, referencing this episode whenever possible.

Wheels up.

10/10

NCIS 15x01 "House Divided"

SPOILERS

“House Divided” was an episode that left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, it resolved the cliffhanger, got our friends home, and logically inserted a time jump to the story, leaving me satisfied for the season ahead. On the other, this episode really made me feel like the NCIS I started watching years ago is not around anymore.

After leaving us with the stinger of Torres pulling a gun on the helo pilot, the episode introduces us to the mandated hearings about the Paraguay incident headed by the DoD where they are putting Torres and Vance through the wringer, trying to discover what happened. Meanwhile, Team Gibbs, now Team Bishop, is working through a new case where a man has called them from a payphone but is shot before he could talk. I correctly predicted the man was connected to the trouble in Paraguay, as he was smuggling the RAC’s uranium into the country. While finding out more about him, they end up getting a number to a satellite phone, the same one belonging to the leader of the RAC whom Gibbs and McGee just incapacitated. Luckily the DoD was just playing to the cameras and are as much rule-breakers as NCIS, and they are able to get a chopper out to the agents and bring them home.

Gibbs and McGee in Paraguay.

Things I didn’t like about the episode: there wasn’t much of the trademark NCIS humor, and what little it had fell somewhat flat. I felt the story was too predictable, at least the first half. And the scene where Bishop was heading the team was really such a stark reminder that the NCIS I first grew to love, the strong middle seasons, was gone. The characters are either dead, thrown into a fan-fiction fueled lifestyle (*cough* Tony), not vitally important to the episode (Abby, Ducky, Palmer) or otherwise occupied in a prison cell. And…maybe I miss it a little.

Things I liked about the episode: everything in Paraguay. The whole idea of Gibbs refusing to talk under torture but McGee being able to logic his way to giving in was very in character. I was really thrown off by the whole fight, but it turns out was all staged and part of an off-screen convoluted plan worthy of Season 7 of Game of Thrones. More playing to the cameras to get a knife in Gibbs’ hands. The fact that the terrorists were people too and the one who was willing to turn on the leader once he had the chance was surprising.

Yeah, yeah, nice fluffy feels at the end. Everyone’s home and it’s great. All reset for the season ahead. I love McGee and Delilah and again I got the old NCIS feelings when it was Abby who first greeted McGee at the door. So it wasn’t an awful season opener. I’m just interested in how they’re going to move the season ahead and make it seem new and exciting. It’s season 15.

9/10

Doctor Who 10x12 "The Doctor Falls" Review

SPOILERS

“The Doctor Falls” was a really good season finale, with the highlights being the literal and figurative dancing of the Master and Missy, Bill’s gradual adjustment, and the Doctor just being the Doctor.

I’ve got two nitpicks with this entire thing. The first is the ambiguity of Missy’s death. Is the Master actually dead? Did Steven Moffat really just kill off everyone’s favorite villain? If so, I’m really annoyed that this is his legacy. Then again, the Master always seems to find a way to come back. Let’s hope this is not a permanent end. The second is Bill’s ending. Moffat likes his full circle stories, and throwing Heather in at the last second to rescue Bill and make her a creature like her is a very Moffat-like thing. But didn’t we see this already? Oh yeah, last season, when Clara was saved from the brink of death and is currently zipping around the universe with Maisie Williams. Seriously? The exact same ending for two companions? I am glad it didn’t end up being the Doctor futilely trying to rescue Bill but triggering his regeneration instead, but still.

The Master and Missy torture the Doctor.

The two Masters were entertaining to watch. It was fun trying to figure out whose side Missy was really on, and witnessing the pure evil that is Simm’s Master. The two of them taking each other out seemed like the only logical way to finish it. I only wish the Doctor could have seen that Missy did want to come back to him.

As usual, Capaldi’s acting was through the roof amazing. “Who I am is where I stand, and where I stand is where I fall.” Even though I knew he wasn’t going to regenerate in this episode, it really seemed like it. I loved the little throwback moments with the flashbacks to other companions and the Doctor saying previous incarnations’ last words. He is seemingly very stubborn, almost in a Tennant-like way, that he doesn’t want to change so he keeps shutting it off and pushing it back. It seems like he will need a nudge in the right direction, and who better than himself to do that?

The Doctor meets...the Doctor.

I knew there was a reason they showed Susan’s picture in the first episode. If this final adventure includes the First Doctor, I really hope it includes at least her, and maybe his other companions as well; the actors from An Adventure in Space and Time were spot-on to the originals. I can’t wait for Christmas.

9.5/10 (for re-using plot)

This will be the last blog post for a while; I’m taking a summer hiatus while the shows I usually review are off-air. I’ll be back here in the fall! Check out my YouTube channel FantasiEntertainment for Game of Thrones reviews once the show airs. 

Doctor Who 10x11 "World Enough and Time" Review

SPOILERS

“World Enough and Time” kept my attention through the whole thing and all of a sudden it’s the end. One more episode left, then Christmas, then someone new. But let’s just say for as much as we knew about this episode, there was a twist none of us could have predicted. Right? (Actually, reviewing my notes I predicted that twist in the second act, but it still caught me a little off guard).

So for most of the episode it seems rather normal. We have a quirky Missy put to the test and she ambles about an almost-doomed spaceship pretending to be The Doctor. She calls Bill and Nardole “Exposition” and “Comic Relief”, which was a nice little light-hearted meta-moment before the sole inhabitant of the upper part of the ship finds them, demands to know who the human is, and accidentally shoots Bill as the Doctor is pleading with him to not. All this is told against a small backdrop of Bill and the Doctor acting all student-professor at the university and he is telling Bill about the Master/Missy and Bill is saying “promise you won’t get me killed” as she falls to the ground in the present with a spectacular hole in her chest. But…she’s not dead yet. She was taken to a lower deck and fixed up. She wasn’t damaged enough to turn into what the audience knows to be a Cyberman, so she has to live in the hospital and work there, rooming with an odd guy named Mr. Razor.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Who!" says Missy in the only happy part of the episode.

It turns out the black hole the ship has been circling is causing a bit of wibbly-wobbly, and the lower levels where Bill is has time moving so much faster than where the Doctor, Missy, and Nardole are. It is implied many months or even years pass by the time the three at the top get over to the elevator and get down to her. (Maybe the time jump in the last episode was a foreshadowing of this?) By the time they get down there, Mr. Razor had already tricked Bill into thinking she was going to meet the Doctor at the elevator, but instead was lead into the Operating Theater and, well, turned into a Cyberman. While the Doctor is approached by a confused and saddened Cyber-Bill, Missy is approached by Razor. As soon as he started talking, I figured out who he was. I did appreciate the continuity of acknowledging Simm’s Master was Prime Minister and Bill would have remembered him, hence his disguise as Razor. Did anyone else get chills when the music has those dissonant four beats?

So the Doctor now has to deal with the two versions of his best frenemy, a companion who thinks he abandoned her, and the Genesis of the Cybermen (which even I know is a reference to the “Genesis of the Daleks”, one of the more popular Classic Who stories). I’m oddly excited for next week. I want to see whose side the Master and Missy will end up on, how they will end up beating the Cybermen, and of course how it will end and where the story will leave off to set up the Christmas episode.

My only complaint about the episode, and the only reason it’s getting a 9.5/10, is “killing off” Bill. First of all, this seems like a repeat of last season, having the Doctor face off his enemies without his companion, newly killed. If they bring her back, I will be a little upset just because again it would seem like a retread of last season. Also, I’m not sure if that would even work. Her death seemed rushed and cheap, though I guess more beloved the character, the harsher the death? Thanks Moffat. At least we had an inkling she wasn’t signed on for more than one season. If only Who companions could get a happy ending.

9.5/10

Doctor Who 10x10 "The Eaters of Light" Review

SPOILERS

“The Eaters of Light” was okay. There were times when I was really on board and times when I couldn’t wait for it to end.

We get a mysterious teaser with two kids playing around some cairns in Scotland and the little girl hears music. A crow seems to be saying “doc-tor” and the camera pans down to the carving of a TARDIS on one of the rocks. So he did something there, in the past. When we jump back to the past, Bill is determined to find the lost Ninth Legion of Rome, and the Doctor is determined to prove her wrong. They split up, Bill finds what is left of the Ninth Legion and the Doctor and Nardole find a group of people called the Picts. Both are terrified of some kind of monster. In a clever time jump writing trick, two days pass in a minute. The Doctor finds the gateway to the monster/alien/light eater’s world and works with the leader of the Picts, a young girl named Kar, to figure out how to send it back. Bill becomes friendly with the “extremely modern” Romans and they find their way to where the Picts, the Doctor, and Nardole (plus popcorn) are hiding.

The Doctor and Nardole reason with Kar.

The penultimate act was the most troublesome for me. They had to get the alien back in its dimension, using music to attract it and sunlight and filters to force it away, but they still had to guard it. Kar and the remaining Ninth Legion solders volunteer to fight it. Since so many went through, the cave collapses and it is assumed the light eaters won’t be able to get out anymore. And why did the little girl hear the music in the present? Because music is funny like that. It seemed almost…rushed. I don’t know how I would have done it differently.

What I did like about the episode was how the Doctor was willing to once again put himself in the line of fire for the human race, trapping himself into combat with the light eaters indefinitely since he can regenerate. I also liked the little bookends with the crows speaking, how they used to speak with humans, and now all they do is say “caw” (hear: Kar).

Of course I loved the ending. It was a great setup for the next episode, and I can’t wait to see what Missy gets herself into. It will be satisfying to see whether or not she is actually trying to redeem herself or if it is all a big scheme, and of course how The Master plays into all of this. Does she degenerate? Is there a rift somewhere and a “Day of the Doctor” situation happens (the poster sure looks like that)? As excited as I am for this finale to get going, it is a little bittersweet as we are two episodes and a Christmas special away from the end of Capaldi.

8/10

Doctor Who 10x09 "Empress of Mars" Review

SPOILERS

“Empress of Mars” was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I think I would have appreciated it more if I knew more about Classic Who lore or experienced it; I’ve heard of the Ice Warriors, but I wasn’t any more excited than I would be for any other creature.

In this universe, NASA is a big CGI building with lots of fancy equipment like probes digging around Mars. They find the message “God Save the Queen” written on the surface, placed there hundreds of years before. The Doctor shows up and he of course wants to find out how it got there. Off Team TARDIS goes to Mars in the 1800’s. Bill makes a few movie references and manages to fall down a hole. Nardole goes to get rope from the TARDIS to help her but the TARDIS has a mind of her own and takes him back to Earth. He can’t figure out how to get it to work, so he goes to Missy for help, and has to let her out of the vault.

The Doctor and Bill find some Victorian soldiers and their “pet” Ice Warrior, one who had landed on Earth and they brought back, promised a reward of treasure. However, the treasure turns out to be the tomb of an Ice Queen (the real Empress of Mars and not Queen Victoria, a nice little double meaning title) and one greedy soldier later, the tomb/hibernation chamber wakes up its inhabitant and things go a little downhill from there.

The Doctor meets the Ice Warrior, nicknamed "Friday".

There’s a bit of a standoff and a lot of talking, especially between Bill and the Ice Queen. The mutineers decide to attack all the Ice Warriors but their imprisoned leader ends up finding a little bit of courage and kills the mutineer leader. In order to save the rest of his men, he allows himself to stay behind and be a prisoner, helping them rebuild their world. The Doctor sends out a universal email asking for help, and a response comes from something called Alpha Centauri (apparently a big Pertwee creature, and they had the same actress do the voice). They create the message “God Save the Queen” to give the aid something to aim for. The TARDIS shows up and then it gets really interesting.

Now we have another ending with The Doctor and Missy, and Missy is giving him a weird look. Through a little bit of comment-digging, some people are speculating that the Doctor is actually regenerating and has been dying for a while, maybe even before he lost his sight, and since Missy is a Time Lady she can see it. It’s starting to take its toll on him and he’ll have to try even harder to keep up the façade if Missy is onto him. I still can’t tell if she is being genuine with her niceness, and wanting to reform. If she is, Simm!Master is going to be a very interesting difference, whenever he shows up. 

8/10

Doctor Who 10x08 "The Lie of the Land" Review

SPOILERS

“The Lie of the Land” was an interesting conclusion to this little mid-season trilogy…and there’s only four more episodes left until the Christmas special and the real regeneration!

It’s always interesting when different shows portray a glimpse of the future or alternate universe that is definitely not quite right. I was reminded of many other Doctor Who stories, but this one was its own horror because humanity at large was under the Monks’ influence and only a select few could see through them…only with disastrous consequences if they are caught. Bill uses a mental image of her mother to help separate the false memories from the true ones. All seems saved once Nardole shows up, completely healed from the last episode. Convenient TARDIS gadget is convenient and they find the Doctor.

The whole scene between Bill and the Doctor was really interesting to see play out. The way the trailer showed it, I really believed the Doctor was working for the Monks and Bill would have to figure out how to save humanity. What I didn’t imagine was how much it would escalate, to the point of Bill thinking shooting the Doctor would be the only way to fix everything. However, the whole show there was a big scheme to confirm for the Doctor that Bill was “awake”. The bullets were blanks and he has the ability to put on a little regeneration lightshow on cue. Thanks, trailer. Nice twist. But despite Team TARDIS together again, he still thinks he needs more help, and he turns to the only person who is as smart as he is: Missy.

Missy in her vault with some interesting insights.

Missy has seen the Monks before and knows the only way to stop them is to stop the brainwaves of the person who made the decision in the first place, which is Bill. The Doctor thinks he is mentally strong enough to take on the Monks’ broadcasting technology, but he isn’t. The only one who can fight is Bill. It’s all a game of minds and memories, the true versus the false. It seems like the Monks are winning until they come across Bill’s memory of her mum. It was created by the pictures the Doctor sent her in the first episode, untouched by a world under Monk control, and is the only thing strong enough to stop them. They leave and the world goes back to normal…and of course doesn’t remember a thing.

And wow, that ending with Missy. If she’s not faking, this is going to be a very interesting little arc for her. I can’t wait to see how her character ends up.

9/10

Doctor Who 10x07 "The Pyramid at the End of the World" Review

SPOILERS

For only being halfway through the season, this is feeling more and more like a finale arc, but hey, I have to trust the writers know where they’re going with this. Moffat, I’m looking at you.

A mysterious pyramid shows up in the middle of disputed land, and the three largest military powers in the world, the US, China, and Russia, are all staking it out. The Doctor is called in as President of the World, a title he only recently gained, to figure it out. It turns out the evil monks who had been running the simulations of Earth in the previous episode decided now is when humanity would be at its weakest. The military leaders, and the Doctor, surprisingly, decide a joined attack is the best course of action. Unfortunately, the monks see them coming and stop their attack before they can do any damage, and they want to talk. The monks reveal they will help Earth, but only if someone in power gives their consent willingly and with love. However, as the leader of the UN and the military leaders learn, acting out of fear and strategy is not pure consent, and they all are killed. It’s now up to the Doctor, who is still blind.

The Doctor and others look at the strange pyramid.

I just loved the background story, how something as simple as one too many drinks, broken glasses, and a misplaced decimal point could end in global destruction. Erica was a doll and it would be nice to see her back. The whole sequence in the lab was interesting as well; everything seems like it will work out until he has to work a combination lock and the sonic can’t open it. He can’t see. He’s going to die. Until…

The twist with Bill at the end was something I didn’t see coming; rather, I wasn’t guessing the Doctor would get his sight back in this episode. I knew she would survive though; she was acting out of love, not love of the monks, but love of the Doctor, and that was enough. They restore his sight, he survives, and because of Bill’s consent as a representative of humanity, the world plunges into being ruled by the monks.

Next week’s episode ends this arc. It features a scary world taken over by the monks, the Doctor apparently on their side, and Bill going to Missy for help. It reminds me a bit of the year that never was, with Martha and Jack back in Season 3. It will be nice to see this all resolved, I’m guessing with a big retcon and we’ll be back to regular time travel zipping around the galaxy episodes in two weeks.

9/10

Once Upon a Time 6x21/22 "The Final Battle" Review

SPOILERS

“The Final Battle” was a delightful mix of seasons 1 and 3, with a special emphasis on the relationship between Emma and Henry and hey, if this is the last episode with most of the main cast, I am so beyond fine with it because I just loved it.

The whole episode was full of callbacks and tying up all the loose ends. It begins with a montage which I at first thought was going to be a look back through all the seasons, but it ended up being a highlight reel for Henry, which makes sense after watching the episode. Once again, Henry is the only believer in the whole town, which has reverted to “curse” form with Fiona as the evil mayor. The only difference is Emma is there too, as a mental patient who never broke the curse in the first place. Henry needs to get her to believe and Fiona is doing everything she can to stop him. Emma even ends up leaving the town, but it is Henry, as an Author of a little book of “Emma The Hero”, who manages to bring her back and believe again.

Emma is in a mental hospital and not believing anything.

It’s a good thing she believes too, otherwise every other realm that exists would be doomed to oblivion, including the Enchanted Forest and her family. Killian sets off to find a magic bean, a callback to the first adventure they had together. David gets crushed by the fallen beanstalk, and it’s Snow’s kiss that wakes him up, a callback to the very first scene of the show, which they added clips in there to show the parallels in case we somehow didn't get what they were going for, and I guess to reassure us that, yes, he’s alive, don’t worry. They use Jefferson’s hat to rescue people from other realms, including Aladdin and Jasmine, a callback to both Season 1 and Season 6. I was happy to see Zelena without the green, despite being in Oz. All of them huddled in the room as the blackness got closer and closer was chilling, even though I was about 98% sure they would all survive.

Rumple ended up killing Fiona, which I guess made the most sense. It wasn’t Emma’s fight there, it was his. It should have been his to begin with. He becomes “good”, I guess. Gideon faces off with Emma, and to his credit he is trying to do the right thing but since he is still under Fiona’s control, he can’t help it. She ends up throwing down her sword, and as he stabs her she gets all glow-y (I was reminded of that incident with Cora in Season 2). He disappears, and becomes a baby again so Belle and Rumple have a second chance with him. Emma lies on the ground, apparently dead, but then Henry says “I love you” and kisses her. And she wakes up. Season 1 finale, of course. There is a nice little montage of everything working out (and apparently “Evil” Regina and “Wish” Robin get a happy ending) and it ends with a big family meal at Granny’s…which is also an illustration in another storybook. The little girl from the beginning is reading it. It’s the future. What’s going on?

Emma refuses to kill Gideon. She is the Savior.

That ending, though. I watched a react video who guessed the guy was Henry the first time we saw him; I didn’t realize it until they set up the scene to be exactly like Season 1, Episode 1. The little girl was just adorable and I loved how they played the scene the exact same way. The show came full circle. Also, I noticed his apartment number was 815. I wonder, after all this time, if there will be a significance to that number/time or if the creators just liked using it over and over as a fun Easter Egg like A113.

In conclusion, I am so excited for next season. I wasn’t sure if I would be watching, with Jennifer Morrison and many others announcing their departure. But I am more curious than anything. Why was grown-up Henry in the Enchanted Forest? How did they get back to our world?  Why would he not remember he had a daughter? How is their family in trouble? All these, and more, should be answered next season. I can’t wait.

10/10

NCIS 14x24 "Rendezvous" Review

SPOILERS

“Rendezvous” was an okay episode, despite being the season finale. I think the only thing that made it a season finale was the cliffhanger that put main characters in danger of dying.

Body parts of a Petty Officer bring the team to Paraguay, only to find out they just found the hand of one officer, and the body belonged to his missing buddy. They returned to Paraguay against orders to help the man who saved their lives while they were on a mission there. His son had been captured by a local terror/rebelling group, and the team decides to help since they are there. They manage to rescue all the stolen children and get them to the safety of a helicopter, but the rebels followed them. Gibbs and McGee stayed behind to give them some cover fire. Gibbs, I understand. McGee, that was a bit of a bonehead move I kind of saw coming. Obviously, they’re not going to die. However, it will be very stressful for the other characters until we all know that for certain.

McGee and Torres look around the village in Paraguay.

This was an underwhelming finale to an overall pretty okay season. I am a fan of serial shows, or more accurately, a combination of episodic and serialized. Usually, the back half of an NCIS season would have some big storyline that comes to a resolution within a few episodes of the next season. Even having two or three episodes with a certain bad guy would be fine, like all the way back with Ari in Season 2. With the exception of Operation Willoughby, which only involved a few characters for the heart of it, there were no big storylines like that this season.

There are a couple explanations I can find for this. First, last season did sort of close an era. It was the end of Michael Weatherly as a character, as he went off to get his own TV show (or live what is probably just Tiva fanfiction, which I am perfectly okay with). It would make sense to start a season fresh, get the new characters in with a little backstory and a couple episodes focused on them. Maybe next season will have a little more fire.

Second, there is still next season. That will be 15 seasons, which is confirmed to happen, and there is no talk of ending the show yet. I think it might be possible they are just running out of ideas at this point. They’ve killed off enough family members, come up with plenty of terrorists, drug lords, and schemers to rocket the show for 14 years. Maybe it should be coming to an end? Who knows at this point. All I can say is a rewatch of the middle seasons may be in order soon.

8/10

Doctor Who 10x06 "Extremis" Review

SPOILERS

“Extremis” was a trippy episode. I kept vacillating between whether I liked it or not. I think I was a little too critical while watching and didn’t enjoy it as much, but in retrospect, it was pretty good.

I was a little surprised when they brought the Pope in, someone I believe they’ve mentioned before but we have never seen. I think it made sense to put him in this episode, though, because of the turn the episode takes, which I will talk about in a minute. The Pope comes to the Doctor for help, asking him to read this old text called “Veritas”, a text which has driven all who have read it to suicide because the truth of the text is a secret too horrible to live with. I was trying to figure out what exactly this could be. If it was something like, there is no Heaven, then people wouldn’t be rushing to kill themselves. So what could it be?

Ah. Everything is a simulation. We are living in a computer game. It was a bit creepy when the scientists all started rattling off the same numbers, but the explanation made sense: computers don’t do random. So I started thinking that perhaps the Doctor was real and the other two were a simulation, since he was separated from them for a long time in the episode. But he was a hologram too, and all seemed lost…until he emailed himself using the trusty Sonic Shades and brought us right back to the beginning of the episode with him opening the email outside of the vault, which, the first time I was the scene, he had just never read it, getting distracted by the Cardinal. He now knows there is a big threat to Earth, and he has to stop them in the typical Doctor way.

Missy faces her executioner, her oldest friend.

Of course we have to talk about Missy, who was intermixed throughout the episode. She is finally being executed for all of her/his crimes and the Doctor is the one who has to flip the switch of this special “Time Lord Killing Machine”. He does, but he tweaked with the wiring beforehand and she is just shocked. He had promised to guard her body for a thousand years, and he does. She’s in the vault, completely alive. The plug about River from Nardole was very sweet, since they make it clear this is right after he leaves her to go to the library. Never thought we would see her diary again.

Here’s my prediction, and I can’t believe how obvious this is getting: because the Doctor spared her life, Missy gives him some regeneration energy to fix his eyes, a bit like River did with Eleven when she regenerated from Mels. This means that Missy will have to regenerate, and who else would she regenerate into but John Simm’s Master? It makes perfect sense.

9/10

Doctor Who 10x05 "Oxygen" Review

SPOILERS

“Oxygen” had some things to say about capitalism, and it honestly wasn’t my favorite story. It was a bit scarier than “Knock Knock”, but a lot of it didn’t sit right with me. I’m not sure why.

I liked how they brought the lecture hall back, and yet again the Doctor has a monologue which previews the episode to come. What happens when you are exposed to the vacuum of space? The important thing is to keep breathing. I enjoyed the little Star Trek reference at the very beginning, and was I the only person who thought his sketches on the chalkboard made a skull?

Narole was tricked into coming on the trip this time, and he was not happy about it at all. He provided sarcasm and not a whole lot else. However, with the Doctor being blind for the foreseeable future, he will be more necessary to keep up the deception or to help the Doctor around (though knowing him, he probably has good senses anyway and might not need that much help). We go an episode without seeing the vault, but despite Internet chatter, I don’t think Missy is inside.

Nardole, the Doctor, and Bill don the potentially dangerous space suits.

I figured Bill was not going to die. Her suit was malfunctioning, so there was something in it that would prevent her from being shocked all the way. It was a little bit scary, though, as the Doctor insisted they leave her behind and you have to watch her terrified as she thinks she is going to die (and for a few minutes, she is, walking around like a zombie). Just watching her suit malfunction in other scenes was a bit nerve-wracking since you didn’t know how that would affect her. The scene when she had to be exposed to space was a bit trippy as well. Bill had a rough episode, but we know she stays for a little while.

With the death of the screwdriver and the Doctor being blind, it looks like the sonic sunglasses are back. Not my favorite thing, but I have hope the writers know where they are going with this. There’s a lot of speculation going on right now about how the Doctor will get his sight back. He will probably end up triggering a small regeneration to temporarily fix it, or end up like 10, regenerating into the same form for the remainder of the season.

The episode showed the extremes of capitalism, making a vital thing like oxygen limited and expensive. The company is just exploiting the workers, and once they have served their purpose, they will be replaced with new ones. The suits which protect them also kill them, but not as a malfunction. The Doctor figures this out eventually, and uses it to his advantage as he makes the workers more valuable alive than dead. Apparently this incident leads to the ends of capitalism in space.

Next week’s episode looks awesome. I’m getting serious “Library” vibes from it. Hopefully it is pretty good.

8/10

Criminal Minds 12x22 "Red Light" Review

“Red Light” is the season finale we have been waiting for. It was amazing, a roller coaster of emotions that didn’t stop until the end, and even then we were left with a cliffhanger. Let’s get into this.

The main focus on the episode was Reid, of course. This whole half season was about him and bringing this story to a close. Who was after him? Why were they after him? How is he going to get out of it? How was it all going to end? All these questions had been answered except the last, as we waited with anticipation to see what happened with his mother’s kidnapping. I was right in my prediction they would not kill her off. The other thing about Reid is we see his darker side as in anger he throws Cat up against the wall and tries to choke her, and of course the big secret, that he enjoyed poisoning his fellow prisoners.

And of course I can’t not talk about Cat Adams. I enjoyed her character and her interactions with Reid. I loved how they played out Cat’s game, bringing them into a mind palace of sorts, all swanky and completely the opposite of where they were. I was surprised at how far she took her deception, and was not surprised of the nature of the relationship between her and Lindsey. I figured Lindsey would be the weak link to break the whole thing up, and she was. She felt betrayed by her lover and gives herself up. A good thing, too. She was quite the killer, and even the gas station fire seemed like overkill.

I really enjoyed them bringing Derek back for part of an episode, even if it was just for 10 minutes and that was all we were able to see of him. I couldn’t remember the last time Emily and Derek had seen each other, so that was sweet. And him and Garcia is something I’ve missed. I love their relationship so much.

Oh man that cliffhanger. Of course they’re all going to be okay, unless someone wants to change their contract, and then they will mysteriously die during the break. Everyone is going to be fine. I was expecting the house to blow up as soon as they got there. Having a trap on the road was very unexpected but I liked it. It goes along with the idea of Scratch being very tricky and unexpected. I wonder how long this story will take to be resolved next season.

10/10

NCIS 14x23 "Something Blue" Review

“Something Blue” was such a good episode. McGee and Delilah are currently my #1 ship on the show and I just love watching them interact.

The main story of the episode revolved around a Petty Officer who suddenly died in his sleep. It turned out he had accidentally ingested ecstasy and combined with his blood pressure medicine resulted in a heart attack. This was another unfortunate case of wrong place, wrong time, because the ecstasy was actually meant for a commanding officer, and not even out of malice, just as a prank. The perpetrator is not redeemable in my eyes, however; despite apologizing and admitting to it as soon as he was caught, he planted the drugs in another man’s bunk and thought that drugging the CO would be an acceptable prank.

The real heart of this episode were the interactions between Tim and Delilah, as well as the rest of the team. This was the first episode in a long time that I really felt again how much of a family this team is. Sure, we have had little hints here and there throughout the season, but in this episode all of them came together. I loved the opening scene with all of them at the tux place, offering their opinions and showing off a little, and how easily they all became concerned for McGee and Delilah later on in the episode. The special “family” dinner was a wonderful end. It was really beautiful.

The gang helps McGee choose a tux.

I’m docking a half point in my score just because of how predictable the storyline was. I figured out very soon in that Tim and Delilah would ditch the big wedding and get married before the end of the episode, because of whatever happened with Delilah, and I guessed before the episode even began and the thumbnail was the two of them resting in the hospital bed that she was pregnant. I think with the amount of television I have seen over the years some storylines and tropes are used over and over again (though I think the title kind of gave it away too).

I can’t have been the only person crying at the scene with Gibbs and McGee at the end. McGee wearing stars for his father? I’m okay with that. But Gibbs giving McGee his watch, a family heirloom meant to be passed down, is what did it for me. He even engraved it to say “Breathe”, like he had at the hospital earlier in the episode. Papa Gibbs is my favorite type of Gibbs, and I have this urge now to start the series over and watch little techie Timmy and think about how much he has grown since then.

9.5/10

Once Upon a Time 6x20 "The Song in Your Heart" Review

“The Song in Your Heart” was the highly anticipated musical episode of Once Upon a Time, landing in that interesting spot between the plot-smashing “The Black Fairy” and the two-part season finale.

I kept going back and forth between if I liked the episode or if I didn’t. I was on board with the musical storyline up until they found Hook in the pub. Like a lot of this season, it felt very early season. We have Snow and Charming wanting to defeat the Evil Queen and Regina in turn wanting to destroy them. Snow makes a wish on the Blue Star and they wake up the next morning uncontrollably singing and dancing (I got some “Once More, with Feeling” vibes from that). I liked how they flitted around the Enchanted Forest and let a lot of the side characters have a line to sing, only to be interrupted by Regina. And then they go in search of Captain Hook and I kind of lost where they were going with it; it was clear they were finding a way to throw him in because he could sing (And wow, can Colin O’Donoghue sing high notes!). But in terms of storytelling it bugged me.

Snow and Charming meet with Captain Hook.

Their voices were actually all really good. I can see why people wanted a musical episode. I just felt like it was a little wasted. Honestly, the biggest problem I had with the music was it all started to sound the same. The orchestration was pretty much the same modern musical orchestra and everything was loud and there was key change after key change after key change. I will say there were some unexpected resolutions in the melodies; good job to the composer for playing with my expectations. Also, Rebecca Mader slayed it. I’m not the biggest Zelena fan, but that was good. That song in particular sounded the most like an actual song from a musical – any ideas on what it could be?

I do appreciate that they did wipe the musical event from their memories, and that they did tie the musical part of it into the present storyline and gave Emma some literal strength in her actual heart so she won’t be alone in the Final Battle. That way the musical storyline was not too forced and it gave a little bit of light-heartedness before the season finale.

I loved the end. I kept watching the clock, thinking “there’s three minutes left. Plenty of time for something to happen”. But no, we get puddle-inducing Captain Swan wedding vows and first dance without a hiccup. Then they all break out into song (the big question is whether or not they remember it the next day) and everything seems to be great…until they all somehow still forgot about the Black Fairy’s curse and Grumpy/Leroy had his “The curse! It’s here!” line and the early season callbacks keep coming. Season finale next week, and I’m just excited to see how this is all going to turn out.

9/10

Doctor Who 10x04 "Knock Knock" Review

“Knock Knock” was an okay episode. I think the setup was stronger than the resolution, but that’s just my opinion.

I liked the way they are continually making Bill into a very realistic character. She’s in her twenties. She gets into a group of five other people and they start looking for a house to share. I liked the little montage as they looked around, with how tiny some of the spaces were. I also loved how she used the TARDIS as a moving van and told her housemates the Doctor was her granddad.

Haunted house I was into. Moving in all alone at night? Yeah, that’s a recipe to die, or more accurately, be eaten by the alien lice that live in the walls. Creepy landlord, the sound of little footsteps moving around them, knocking in the walls. Some of these moments were a bit eerie. You knew Bill and the Doctor were going to be fine, but I figured everyone else was fair game to get eaten up. Everything was sealed up and they were trapped in different parts of the house. All seemed lost until they found their way into the tower. Then the episode went downhill.

The Doctor tries to reason with Eliza.

I was getting major season 1 vibes from the entire episode. Not that that’s a bad thing – I really liked season 1 as a whole, and “The Doctor Dances” is one of my favorite two-parters of the series. But the whole resolution of the “daughter” actually being the mother and her sacrificing herself to bring back all the kids who had just died really felt like old hat. As someone said on Twitter, “Everybody lives, Bill. Just this once, everybody lives!” Four out of four episodes which seem to really feel like retreads of past episodes, and I can already see how next week’s episode is going to have a few familiar elements as well. Am I being narrow-minded, or am I not the only one noticing this?

I’m glad they had another scene with Nardole and the vault. So whoever is in there can play the piano and knows that Twelve likes Beethoven. That points toward it being Missy, but I still feel like it will be Simm!Master.

So as we look to next week, we’re given something serious to ponder over: is Bill going to die in the next episode? I saw a headline somewhere a while back that said she was fired, but I didn’t look further than that, so it could have been inaccurate. It looks like it will be the kind of episode where I’ll hold my breath the entire time, and that might be the point.

8.5/10

Criminal Minds 12x21 "Green Light" Review

“Green Light” was the episode I have been waiting for, finally bringing the story of the second half of the season to a close right after that wonderful cliffhanger in last episode. I do like how they carefully hinted at these things in the past, with one episode it was revealed there was a woman there, and the next with the identity of the woman revealed. What none of us were expecting was for there to be a second woman, who was actually impersonating Scratch and behind the whole thing.

Looking back on the episode, it might have been a little more obvious that something was going to happen involving Reid and prison. A good chunk of the episode was flashbacks to previous violence and problems in the prison; this wasn’t just so the audience could remember those things, Reid had to remember those things as well. It was obvious he was starting to lose himself and he really needed to get out of there. He made a shiv and stabbed himself so he could be put in solitary confinement now that the other prisoners whom he poisoned knew he was the one who did it. So it’s a good thing he got out of there.

Reid in solitary confinement.

They won’t kill off his mother, right? That would just be too cruel at this point. And Prentiss was right: they lose his mother, they lose Reid. And there’s been no other indication that Gubler wants to leave the show, since they got him out of prison. They’ll find her just in the nick of time and everything will be all right.

I really like this whole throwing away expectations and really surprising us. Cat Adams. I had forgotten about her. So this whole thing about Scratch going after the team is completely separate from these women who want to go after Reid.

My only problem with the episode was how quickly they finally managed to get Reid out of prison. There was all that hype about the fingerprints needing to get there quickly and they had that whole scene in the courthouse and it just felt so neatly wrapped up in a bow. They fixed it by having the rest of the story not wrap up neatly. Though I guess there would have been no other way to get him out of prison. Anyone else want to give him a hug as he stood there and waited for the door to open?

Good episode. Really good episode. Finally there’s some “end of season” resolution and Reid is out of prison. I can’t wait for the next one.

9.5/10