Mad Men
- Only Mad Men would use a scene in a character's love life to distill an issue that still makes the feminist movement seem unapproachable to some women of color. While I sometimes wish that the show would take a more direct line on race in the sixties, it's difficult to fault the subtle portrayal of Peggy's increasingly willful naivete when I've known people who made the same kinds of rationalizations about why their particular milieu is predominantly white. We're heading into the years when militancy started to seem like the most viable option for some activists on the left side of the political spectrum, and I'm interested to see how the show's old-school conservatives react.
- Weiner is so specific about the way he wants things to play out that I'm sure it's not an accident, but I'm really fascinated by the way Kiernan Shipka and January Jones have started to sort of mirror each other in their performances. The subtle way that they've shown Sally picking up on Betty's mannerisms, particularly when she's upset, really distinguishes Shipka's performance from those by other actors around the same age.
- A second viewing didn't make her soup/pot metaphor make any more sense, but Joyce remains delightful.
- The moving of Miss Blankenship's body joins the lawn mower sequence as one of this show's all-time greatest dark yet hilarious set pieces.
How I Met Your Mother
Modern Family
Cougar Town
Community
30 Rock
The Office
- I decided to group these all together because it's difficult to write about comedies without it turning into a quotefest, and these were all good, but not superlative episodes. All ultimately made me happy to see the characters again, and all made me laugh at one point or another. None challenged my feelings from last season that my affections for HIMYM, 30 Rock and The Office are on the wane, but they didn't make me want to completely stop watching either. Solid week all around.
- My favorite line of the week, from Community - Jeff's observation that the message of Twilight is "Men are monsters who crave young flesh."
Glee
- I love Community, but I have to give "Best Meta Reference to Internet Commentary on the Show" to Glee's opener.
- So...Matt transferred out, and Sam and Sunshine transferred in? Does McKinley not have freshmen or graduates? The whole discussion about Will stating that New Directions welcomes everyone audition-free made me think that they could construct a really great episode around someone showing up with lots of enthusiasm and no singing ability. Not saying that this is true of me back in high school, necessarily, but upperclassmen who are established in an extracurricular activity can build up some serious ire towards green, excitable freshmen with no idea what they're doing.
- "Getting to Know You": Using the history of the musical to make a sly wink at criticism of the show's broad handling of minority characters, or just the first song that came to mind when they needed something to sing to a group of Asian children? Also, as much as I like Artie, it's hard to quibble with Tina's call there. Those are, indeed, magnificent abs.
- It's always nice to see the show repurpose show tunes, but I'm a little disappointed at the context surrounding the episode-concluding "What I Did for Love." A Chorus Line is all about people pursuing careers in the arts and the sacrifices they make to do so, and shares a lot with Glee in that respect. If Glee ever elected to do an episode with original songs, I think A Chorus Line's hyper-confessional libretto could serve as an interesting model for the kinds of songs they could do. The titular love is specifically of dance, the love that unites the disparate characters of A Chorus Line, which made it somewhat disheartening to see it turned into Rachel's tribute to her own narcissism. The show can use as much candor as possible in addressing how shallow its characters can be, but I couldn't help but think how much better it could've worked as a group number.
Sons of Anarchy
Robin Weigert! More Deadwood! Can we have John Hawkes next, please?
Terriers
With this third outing, Terriers distinguished itself from other mystery-of-the-week style shows with a dark, unsettling resolution to the episode's central case. The writers are showing that they're unwilling to simply coast on Donal Logue's natural charisma, and as a result he's turning in a standout performance.
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice
- Good follow-up to last season's Grey's finale, particularly with the layered flashback structure and the use of the therapy sessions. The myriad ways that PTSD impacts the different characters seems like a rich dramatic vein for the show to tap throughout the coming season, with great performances by Sandra Oh, Chandra Wilson and Chyler Leigh in this particular episode. I also liked the way it sort of bled over into PP - they've managed to maintain the ties between the two shows without it feeling too strained.
- With the PP subplot, I had to include a link to Gene Weingarten's amazing, Pulitzer-winning Washington Post piece about parents forgetting their children in the car.
Also Watched: Rubicon, Chuck, Gossip Girl, Parenthood, 90210, Life Unexpected, Hellcats, Top Chef: Just Desserts, Nikita, Bones
Next: I watched allll the pilots...
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