Topher Zia Fired: The Night Shift's Cliffhanger Actually Cost Them - But How Much?

Is The Night Shift Losing Too Many Main Cast Characters?

One of the few broadcast network medical dramas in NBC's The Night Shift was recently renewed for its fourth season, but with that renewal came the news that another of its original cast will not be returning. Of nine original core cast members only five remain, and usually that much character loss isn't tolerated by fans. So let's just have a quick look and see if The Night Shift is going to struggle when its fourth season begins (presumably next summer).

What is The Night Shift?

Better to do a quick overview first, though. The Night Shift is a medical drama that airs on NBC, about a group of doctors who work the night shift at San Antonio Memorial Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. It has so far aired 3 seasons, spanning 35 episodes.

   When it first began airing, it had nine regulars on the books, as follows:

• Eoin Macken as Dr. TC Callahan
• Jill Flint as Dr. Jordan Alexander
• Brendan Fehr as Dr. Drew Allister
• Robert Bailey Jr as Dr. Paul Cummings
• JR Lemon as Kenny Fournette
• Daniella Alonso as Dr. Landry de la Cruz (season 1)
• Jeananne Goossen as Dr. Krista Bell-Hart (seasons 1-2)
• Freddy Rodriguez as Michael Ragosa (seasons 1-2)
• Ken Leung as Dr. Topher Zia (seasons 1-3)

Over time, the bottom four characters have all left the show, for various reasons. Only two characters have been added to the original roster:

• Scott Wolf as Dr. Scott Clemens (recurring seasons 1-2, main season 3)
• Tanaya Beatty as Dr. Shannon Rivera (season 3)

But the loss of original cast members are keenly felt by audiences, so why did these characters leave and what effect did that have?

1. Dr. Landry de la Cruz

Dr. Landy de la Cruz with a young patient

Daniella Alonso played night shift psychiatrist Dr. Landry de la Cruz in the 8-episode first season. She was utilised mostly as the show's emotional constant: be it for patients or staff (most notably Dr. Ragosa, who was suffering a cancer scare), and represented order and logic amid a chaotic atmosphere.

   NBC decided that they wanted the show to expand in its second season to focus more on the ER and paramedics, leaving the character of Dr. de la Cruz surplus to requirements. Daniella Alonso's character was therefore chopped from the show.

   The impact of this was negligible: de la Cruz wasn't the most central character of the original nine, and the second season saw a huge increase in quality as the show expanded. She simply wasn't missed.

2. Michael Ragosa & Dr. Krista Bell-Hart

However, the news of a third season renewal was coupled with two shock departures: Freddy Rodriguez and Jeananne Goossen both had decided not to reprise their roles. Importantly, the decision this time was made by the individual actors: Rodriguez won the role of lawyer Benny Colón in new CBS series Bull, while Jeananne Goossen announced her departure with a mysterious Twitter post:

The decision for Rodriguez must have been fairly easy: getting a spot on Bull would work wonders for Rodriguez's name and career - more so than, with no disrespect, The Night Shift ever could.

   On the other hand, it's hard to read into that tweet from Goossen. I can't figure out if she's simply suggesting that NBC decided not to stand in her way or if there's some deeper inference that things weren't so good behind the scenes.

Jeananne Goossen as
Dr. Krista Bell-Hart

The imperious Michael Ragosa

The impact of Ragosa and Bell-Hart's departures were somewhat eased by NBC upgrading recurring character Dr. Scott Clemens to main cast status for season 3, while bringing in a new, hot-headed young female doctor to replace Bell-Hart. But there's simply no denying that season 3 showed a general dip in quality: Ragosa's growing arc of trying to become a doctor and Bell-Hart's sibling-like relationship with Dr. Allister simply couldn't be replaced by either Clemens or Dr. Shannon Rivera.

   In the end, while de la Cruz didn't need to be replaced, Ragosa and Bell-Hart turned out to be irreplaceable.

3. Dr. Topher Zia

This is a weird one. Following the conclusion of the hospital takeover arc in the back end of season 3, Dr. Cummings' father kept all the ER staff on the payroll - except for Topher, who was promptly fired. Had Ken Leung not decided to leave the show, the writers would surely have begun season 4 with some sort of battle of wits between Topher and Cummings Snr that would have concluded with Topher getting his job back as ER Chief. Instead, Topher was accidentally written out very, very well.

Ken Leung as Dr. Topher Zia

   Why was he written out, though?

   Well, I doubt that was the plan. However, NBC made a hash of waiting and waiting and waiting to announce The Night Shift's renewal for season 4, and by the time they did Ken Leung had decided to focus on other projects. There is time for Topher to be replaced (and no doubt the writers could simply draft in someone new and have them be one of Cummings Snr's colleagues), but can that person replace Topher? He was the glue that held the ER together, and as TC's best buddy and former army vet, The Night Shift has lost yet another dynamic so crucial to its formula.

Season-on-season Ratings

Ratings are one of the biggest factors in shows getting renewed, and the following were the average season ratings for The Night Shift's first three seasons:

SEASON 1:         1.4        6.59m

SEASON 2:         1.3        5.29m

SEASON 3:         1.0        4.99m

Having seen what characters left, when and how important they were, I take quite a lot from those figures. Firstly, that Dr. de la Cruz was in fact not key to the show and that her departure didn't heavily affect the season averages, especially in the all-important demo share. Secondly, that Ragosa and Bell-Hart both were key to the show and their departures did heavily affect the season averages.

   However, it's worth noting that ratings are slightly skewed because of when the seasons aired. Seasons 1 and 3 both aired in the summer (which typically draws lower ratings), while season 2 aired midseason where ratings are expected to be higher. Moreover, it's also important to note that that lowly 1.0 for season 3 actually isn't as bad as it looks: The Night Shift's third season was still the highest rated scripted broadcast network show this summer.

Final thoughts

44% of the original cast has been lost for a multitude of reasons, but worse than that they haven't been properly replaced. It seems clear that, no matter how well The Night Shift's season 3 performance was in comparison to its competition, its severe dip can be attributed to the loss of two major characters, who followed on from the trend that opened the season prior. Now with Ken Leung opting not to return for season 4, NBC could once again face a very unique problem: that The Night Shift may transpire to be one of the highest-rated shows of next summer, and yet still experience a huge dip in ratings after losing their fourth major character in just 3 seasons. And no matter what way you look at it, that's still worrying.

Thanks for reading everyone, I'll see you all next time!

Sam

On-Season Week 10

WEEK 10

Week 9 was the first time all 13 shows here came together at once, and normalcy has returned this week as three drop out. The first two, MacGyver, and Hawaii Five-0, have been the only two shows to have aired an episode every week so far, and in their absence others will have an opportunity to catch up; meanwhile, after the cliffhanger that Ryan has been accepted into the terrorist group at The Farm, Quantico also takes a short break. But everything else remains, as the first third of most of our shows are almost behind us, and Westworld is approaching its endgame.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 4x07 "Mr Santiago"

"Jake tries to impress Amy's father as the team gather for Thanksgiving. While Pimento and Holt get caught up in a televised dog show, the others struggle over who will kill the turkey."

Boyle ready to catch and kill the turkey

Jimmy Smits was a great casting choice for Amy's father, just one part of an episode that worked. All three plot arcs melded together despite Holt and Pimento's largely being separate from the other two, and the usual (and usually dull) boyfriend attempts to impress girlfriend's father trope was actually very good because the writers characterised Mr Santiago much like Amy: uptight, booksmart and attentive to every tiny detail. Spending time having Jake focus on a trait that typically defines Amy in order to impress her father was great - even if the outcome (that Jake would only get Mr Santiago's approval once he had solved a decades-old unsolved case with him) was as obvious as is a Hawaii Five-0 season 8 renewal.
   Quotibles were abound, but the strongest compliment is that they were so much about characters bouncing off each other that they don't work as single, understandable quotes - except perhaps some of Pimento's unhinged ramblings. Beyond that, there isn't much else to say about an episode that was just another (very good) day at the office (and it was a day; no news on the night shift arc's conclusion yet).
   VIEWERS: 2.19m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9
   (The only difference between this week and last was last week's viewers were 2.18m)

VERDICT: If you have to pick episodes to really explain what the show's about, you wouldn't pick this for premise - but as an episode it displays B99's capability in every other area. 8.5/10

Bull - 1x07 "Never Saw the Sign"

"TAC defend a man accused of causing the death of his wife in a car accident."

Two of the formatting structures from the opening few episodes returned: the mirror jury selection that I so like was a welcome sight; the return of the shameful and cringe-worthy intro speech ... not so much. The rest of the episode proved the series might chop and change these features with others, as the final "not guilty" verdict scene was cut after the lawyer's closing speech for what was the first time (I believe) this season. I had had my concerns about stale formatting after just the first few episodes (although I chopped the paragraph from my earlier roundup to give the show a chance to prove those concerns were invalid), and I'm glad they were quickly eased.
   The case was a good one, too: the father who didn't remember seeing a dot matrix board that said "congestion: slow down" before he crashed. The get-out clause was a bit better here: our father, John Phillips, was being railroaded in the case by a corrupt State Assemblyman named Dorrit, part of whose campaign called for the demolition of a local library, causing a hacker named Austin to hack the sign to make it say "no need to read". The lawyer's clinching argument: to take a sign that had been in the courtroom all through the case and ask jurors to explain what it said. When none of them could, the final concern was abated and John was cleared.
   On the subplot side, Marissa's fluctuating attire leads to her revealing she is reconciling with her ex-husband - a tiny deviation from the case as a whole as it probably took up less than 2 minutes. Another thing that needs mentioning: this is now two episodes in a row that public defenders have taken the case to real court instead of Benny; while I like seeing other people drafted in from time to time, it's about time to get Benny back in real court and not just TAC's mirror court.
   NCIS nugget: The pronunciation of "David" as "Dah-veed", much like much-loved NCIS Special Agent Ziva David. Was a nice nugget, but a bit forced.
   VIEWERS: 10.87m (Slight downtick)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.5 (Equals last week)

VERDICT: A strong episode with a much stronger clinching detail; the corrupt assemblyman was a brilliant foe despite having few scenes. Previous episodes have missed that conflict. 8.5/10

Code Black - 2x08 "1.0 Bodies"

Across the first 7 episodes of Code Black's second season, each episode's rating has averaged out to a 5.85. That is a diabolical performance and now that I'm even skipping through parts of episodes because I can't be bothered to sit through it, I've decided to chop Code Black from this roundup. Anyone who reads this and wants me to keep posting the viewer and demo share ratings let me know and I will do so, but I'm no longer going to be watching the show.

   VIEWERS: 6.16m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9

VERDICT: DROPPED

Conviction - 1x07 "A Simple Man"

"CIU investigate the conviction of a man with a low IQ who has spent 15 years in prison for causing a fire at his family restaurant that ended with a homeless man's death."

"A Simple Man" was a comedown after the highly charged episode before it, but it had everything it needed to as once again Conviction's unrivalled aptitude for story and character continuity blossomed. Wallace took his revenge on Hayes for bringing an FBI corruption investigation to his door by allowing a documentary crew to follow her and CIU, something he knew she would resent after growing up in the limelight as a former First Daughter. The premise of characters being followed by a documentary crew is an overcooked one these days, but for Conviction the choice to adopt it was valid - and they rightly chose not to let the typical low-quality camera trope interfere with what they had built, leaving an actually satisfying documentary episode in its wake.
   Other continuity included Max's drug use, which, after being revealed in the previous episode, spiralled when she popped a pill following comments Sam had made about her which the documentary crew took out of context. Bastards. And I'm sad for Max, too. Tess expanded even more on the sequence of events surrounding her wrongful conviction of Matty for her aunt's murder when she was 12, and the camera crew managed to corner Sam into talking about Greg Stainer, the security guard who killed himself in front of him and Max in the previous episode.
   One standout scene was Hayes trying to get information from a money launderer: she wrote down on a pad of paper that his office was bugged in order to trick him into providing written proof of his corruption. Sneaky. I thought it was brilliant - like the majority of "A Simple Man", which concluded with the reveal that one of the 3 brothers' wives had tricked Leo into putting kitty litter in the wrong bin so she could start the fire.

   VIEWERS: 4.14m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7
   (Last ratings comment for Conviction just to say it was nice knowing you)

VERDICT: Continuity was the strongest part of the episode in yet another display of CIU's easy disunity. 8.5/10

Elementary - 5x07 "Bang Bang Shoot Chute"

"A base jumper and ex-army parachutist is shot in mid-air by a sniper; it is later found his chute was also sabotaged, leading to the belief that there were two separate killers."

After fluffing a good premise the previous week, Elementary tried to make up for it with another interesting one: a base jumper killed by two different people. The show managed to earn forgiveness by sticking to the original premise the whole way through the episode, I'm just not sure it pulled off the episode perfectly. The first killer's identity hinged on three hereditary traits to do with hair (or lack thereof) on the body - and it was, unsurprisingly, the wife. I wasn't shocked, as I'd called her at the very beginning, but her motive surprised me. Husband, Nerely, had a burner phone which he used to cheat on her. I can accept it, even if I find it a bit of a stretch that someone would have a burner phone to cheat, since that would by definition not be a "burner" phone, and leaving a second phone lying around the house is hardly stealthy. That's what passwords are for on main-use phones.
   The second killer was the son of a suspected terrorist, who had been flown across the country illegally by Nerely in the airplane he bought with money given to him by an ex-army buddy which had been looted from an army fund in Afghanistan, because Nerely's affair had been with his sister. So the successful sniping was an honour killing. I think the show left it late to get to this climax, but at least the reveal of the wife being the killer was very cunning on the writers' part.
   Meanwhile, Shinwell returned. He's either back to his criminal ways or just doesn't want Watson's help anymore (could this arc get any more predictable?) but I thought his scene playing chess in the park with Sherlock was brilliant and I'd like to see more of that.

   VIEWERS: 5.01m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7

VERDICT: I'll buy the reveal even if I'm not convinced by it. Did OK as an episode, but wasn't a big improvement. 7/10

Lucifer - 2x09 "Homewrecker"

"Dean Cooper, a property magnate who retains ownership of Lucifer's nightclub Lux, is killed, leading Lucifer to believe his mother is trying to undermine his Los Angeles roots."

Amenadiel is disgusted when his mum seduces Dan

Following on from "Charlotte's" beginning to plot Lucifer's LA downfall, it came as no surprise when the man with whom he had a rather shaky agreement for ownership of the Lux nightclub was found dead, leading to his son taking back the property; what was a surprise was that it was all just a well-timed coincidence. Dean Cooper, who had hired a professional seducer to try and prove his son's fiancée was just a gold digger (she wasn't), was killed by his son's fiancée in revenge, but she and the son both took the fall for the murder. Meanwhile, "Charlotte" piggybacked on her good fortune by continuing to undermine Lucifer and Amenadiel's almost genial relationship, later going so far as to sleep with Dan simply to get information on Lucifer's weakness: Chloe.
   Chloe has been in mortal danger before this season, from Uriel, but "Charlotte" certainly represents a step up. She's possibly even more conniving than Uriel was, and certainly a more intense, duplicitous character: Uriel didn't even try to hide his psychopathy. If "Charlotte" is now turning her attentions to Chloe, Lucifer is going to be in an even tighter position than when Lux was taken from underneath him. At least it was nice to see Dan happy for a while, when he knew he was going to get some action with "Charlotte".
   There were hilariously appropriate music choices (although I'm afraid I can't remember an example, I simple noted that phrase down for later reference), but the episode, for all its promise of future implosions, lacked a little intensity itself.

   VIEWERS: 3.63m (Slight downtick)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0 (Slight downtick)

VERDICT: Another well-positioned episode within the season using a smart plot device; "Charlotte" remains one of the best characters of the show right now. 8/10

NCIS: Los Angeles - 8x09 "Glasnost"

"An American woman is poisoned with polonium-210, and Callen's father returns to help solve the case."

NCIS LA moved forward a number of plot arcs with a simple storyline of an American woman transpiring to be Russian, whose handler had previously been Callen's father, Garrison. The surprising return led to a number of revelations, but at least Garrison was clear he had no excuse  for leaving Callen as a baby beyond he wanted Callen to be safe. On that note, now that we know Callen's real first name (Grisha), it's odd to hear Garrison call him it when everyone at OSP still knows him as G. Or Callen. Still on that note, it's hard after 8 seasons to keep up with Callen's complex past, but the recapping throughout the episode did enough to keep viewers in the loop.

   Hetty was back, but as is the norm now barely featured. It's a real shame, and odd, considering that Granger seems to be in a very perilous position as he suffers from the effects of Agent Orange. His speech was even worse in "Glasnost", and while it's a great arc, NCIS LA might be crossing the line and making Granger a little too unintelligible.
   Shout out to Deeks' continued patience with Kensi's off-on again treatment, although at least she's more on than off now whenever he comes to visit. Putting tech geek Eric in the field with Deeks was as funny as it was good writing; and just to loop back to Callen's mythology as a final point, he now has a half-sister? Will his story ever end? (What was going on with the casting, however? India de Beaufort now plays Callen's half-sister, despite both her parents being white?)
   Oh, and props to Vyto Ruginis returning in his usual one-episode-per-season guest role as Arkady Kolcheck.

   VIEWERS: 10.43m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.5
   (Adjusted down from 1.6, but 1.5 is still fabulous news for NCIS LA and CBS)

VERDICT: Arkady was back, Callen's past became a little bit clearer while still shocking us and the overall dynamics were more interesting. Now NCIS LA is settling into the season, its quality is improving. 8/10

Pure Genius - 1x05 "Fire and Ice"

"A hockey player suffers a severe spinal injury while the Bunker Hill staff are on a 'team-building exercise' watching the match. Meanwhile, James's over-exuberant attempts to use bioprinting techniques to create skin for a mother whose face is badly burned drives a wedge between Dr. Wallace and his wife."

Up until now, James's equal-parts ingratiating and annoying "we can do anything and also I have a lot of power to help get it done" philosophy has worked for the benefit of his patients, so that even viewers who sometimes think he's a little overbearing can forgive him, but now an obstacle in the form of the big bad FDA threatens to prevent him from helping a mother with facial burns. Cue James calling in Julianna Wallace, Dr. Wallace's wife, who just happens to be an FDA rep with a flawless record, and keep badgering the pair of them until Julianna finally cracks when Wallace emotionally blackmails her. Five episodes in and the Pure Genius formula is showing why its base premise is brilliant, but its execution is far from. It needs a character like James Bell, but sometimes it and James need to take a step back.
   This episode also features the first real occasion where James fails a patient: the hockey player whose spinal injury is so severe that James's overpromising cannot this time translate into reality. There's something like a happy ending when James creates an electrical stimulation sleeve for his arm, which would help stimulate the brain to move the arm better, thus shortening recovery time, but the results are still nothing like everybody hoped.
   Sad as it is for the patient involved, Pure Genius needed a tale or two where Bunker Hill fell short. After all, miracles don't happen every day. For proof of that, we can look again at James's G.S.S. patient, Keating, who pops up again to suggest that, while a cure is a long way away, there will soon be some movement on that front.

   VIEWERS: 4.74m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.8
   (Both tick down)

VERDICT: A stumbling block was what this show needed and this fit the bill. James's temperament is becoming less tolerable, however, as the goodwill from positive outcomes dries up. 7.5/10

Update: Pure Genius has been capped at 13 episodes by CBS; unofficially, that means cancelled.

Scorpion - 3x09 "Mother Load"

"Paige's mother Veronica calls Scorpion to help her when she finds a nuclear device in a building she is holding a secret meeting."

Did somebody say "strained relationship between main character and main character's previously unseen, unmentioned or unheard of parent"? Sounds like shit parent mythology to me!
   OK, so it wasn't all bad - but there's a lot to be said for bringing in parents because it has to be done right. Scorpion has struggled to get it right in the past (Ken Fahey playing Sylvester's dad was an atrocious casting choice), although the strain between Walter and his parents was at least plausible. Veronica Dineen shows up in "Mother Load" full of lies about what she's doing, how she has the items she has and where she's been the past few years (for example, her "gated community in Arizona" transpired to be "Arizona State Penitentiary for Women"), and Toby, as group psych, gets caught in between Paige's anger and Veronica's attempts to reconnect. Typical shit parent mythology - although Toby's awkwardness was hilarious.
   Scorpion also managed to showcase its long-evident Castle-esque skill for identifying one main character trait and sticking with it: today, Sylvester's love for war games (his arc of running for Senate in a virtual game became a to-the-streets signature campaign), and his love for the comic hero Super Fun Guy becomes, in the end, the only way Scorpion can safely get rid of the nuclear device - by using a giant Super Fun Guy balloon to fly it out over the ocean and neutralise it. I just love the image, too. It's very upbeat and victorious.
   Elsewhere, Cabe's potential love interest turned out to be played by Reiko Aylesworth (good casting choice), in an episode that shifted the emphasis from the uncomfortable will-they-won't-they of #Waige that is seeping some of the watchability from the third season.

   VIEWERS: 7.07m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2
   (Identical demo share, viewers down barely from 7.17m)

VERDICT: The twists and turns in Scorpion episodes are becoming predictable; throw an SPM (shit parent mythology) in there as well and you get a very underwhelming episode that therefore makes its character consistencies look brilliant. 6.5/10

Westworld - 1x08 "Trace Decay"

"Hale adjusts her plan after Theresa's murder, which Ford has Bernard cover up. Maeve instructs Felix and Sylvester to give her control of the Hosts. Dolores continues glitching."

After the brilliant ending to episode 7, I was eagerly anticipating episode 8. Although it followed on from Theresa's murder (in a clever role reversal as Ford began talking to the Host Bernard), it felt like a sudden filler that had no new shocks to offer.
   Meanwhile, Maeve's increased intelligence allows her to take a further step by blackmailing the techs to give her control of the Hosts, and as she returned to Westworld she altered narratives by simply talking. I'm not sure what the endgame is for this or how it connects with Ford's greater plan to keep his vice grip on Westworld (since this close to the end the two arcs are horribly disconnected and Ford's focus seems solely to be on keeping Hale at bay), or even if it does connect at all.
   Hale's displeasure at Theresa's death was evident throughout the episode, as she tried rigidly to readjust her plan by sweet-talking Director of Narrative Lee Sizemore into replacing her and updating a Host (the man who played Dolores's father in episode 1) for her nefarious means. Dolores and Teddy, the latter of whom had something of a heart-to-heart with the Man in Black, both continued glitching - and more seriously. With Maeve in control now, and seemingly nobody aware of this, I can't predict what's going to happen at all.

   VIEWERS: 1.777m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.8
   (Almost identical to the previous week)

VERDICT: A very unclear episode that didn't have anything to match the reveal of the previous episode. The most interesting characters today just ... weren't. 6.5/10

Update: Westworld has been renewed for season 2.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Conviction - Hayes: (when Sam sticks a USB drive of evidence into her laptop): "Future reference, consent to pull it out doesn't equal consent to stick it in."

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On-Season Week 9

NEXT WEEK'S ROUNDUP: (will be posted here when complete)

Update: After 7 seasons on Hawaii Five-0, Masi Oka, who plays medical examiner Dr. Max Bergman, has decided to leave the show. His departure will reportedly occur in the thirteenth episode.

Final thoughts

Most shows this week ended up equalling the previous week's ratings: those on that list include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Bull, Elementary, Scorpion and Westworld; although Code Black also matched, it has the dubious award of being the first show I've dropped from my roundups after chronically poor writing. Shows that didn't manage to equal their previous efforts include Lucifer, NCIS LA and Pure Genius.
   In terms of episode quality, I found that Scorpion and Westworld were the weakest here, both with poor 6.5/10s. Taking  out of the equation the 0/10 rating which accounts for the episode that led to my decision to drop Code Black, Week 10 averaged out to a 7.6, which is respectable but nothing standout.

Sam

On-Season Week 9

WEEK 9

After a very good Week 8, Week 9 brings with it a record: most shows to roundup in one week, as for the first time in this on-season all 13 shows reviewed here will air in the same week. That means that Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Bull's lengthy spells out have finally concluded; can they continue drawing their stable ratings? After hitting series lows last week, can Conviction, Elementary and Quantico improve? And can Hawaii Five-0 repeat its impressive ratings performance? I don't know, but I'm eager to find out!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 4x06 "Monster in the Closet"

"Pimento returns from his time on the run and he and Rosa decide to get married."

At Amy's request, Holt reluctantly pops his balloon arch

No word on whether our characters are now off the night shift (the lighting of the episode doesn't give us a clue), but the return of Adrian Pimento breathed some life into already revived proceedings. His utter insanity makes for great hilarity when it's used properly (he kind of fell off during his arc in season 3), but now that he's here to stay (in some sort of semi-permanent capacity), the writers have started to adapt the way he affects the group dynamics. Most notably today, we learn he shares a sort of kinship about the universe with Gina whilst simultaneously being terrified of her.
   Along the way to a wedding that he and Rosa decide they actually don't want to go ahead with, Amy oversees Hitchcock and Scully perfect the seating arrangements (an actually perfect use for their characters; it's ironic their best use isn't even the police work that is the actual premise), Boyle's cooking (which he somehow manages to get wrong?), Terry sorting out hair, Holt taking care of decorations (because decorations is his thing ...) and Rosa's relaxation. In the end, Rosa gets the whole team drunk and sabotages her own wedding because neither she nor Pimento were actually ready to get married.
   Pimento's return to the Nine-Nine was a hilarious one, and I'm keen to see how his relationships evolve in the future. He seems to be a creditable addition to the ranks, and if he nails down his spot he could single-handedly freshen up this season.

   VIEWERS: 2.18m (Rises slightly after a three-week break)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9 (Stays level)

VERDICT: Pimento is back with his terrifying outlook on life. A brilliant way to come back from a long absence. 9/10

Bull - 1x06 "Bedside Manner"

"TAC take the case of a surgeon with a giant God complex who is being sued for malpractice."

The best part of "Bedside Manner" wasn't the difficulty created for the viewers in rooting for the overwhelmingly egotistical defendant, Dr. Robison, nor was it the fact that after all this time Cable is growing into quite clearly the best character in the show. It's that we cannot root for Dr. Robison - not because, when stripped of all moral judgement, he was innocent of malpractice - because we still see both sides of the argument, and that's the cleverest thing about Bull. We could root for Dr. Robison - after all, we know he isn't going to be guilty. But in doing so, how do we reconcile that the plaintiff, Emily Provery, a young woman whose fibroid surgery had complications that resulted in a hysterectomy that means she can no longer have kids, is still the victim, a devastated woman caught in the middle of a situation that neither she nor Dr. Robison could control? No amount of egocentricity or otherwise could deflect that.
   But as an issue that TAC needed to overcome, egocentricity was a great obstacle. And it proved to be the final hurdle: even after all the evidence that proved Dr. Robison wasn't liable for Emily's hysterectomy, aptly titled "Bedside Manner" came down to jurors who couldn't relate to Dr. Robison because he had no bedside manner. He displayed no empathy, or even sympathy for Emily's predicament. Not because he didn't care - but because he didn't know how. So what would we prefer if we were Emily: a doctor who was our friend, or a doctor who had a near-perfect surgical record that gave us the best chance of a good outcome, but couldn't hold our hand through it?

   VIEWERS: 11.87m (Stable in the 11m's)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.5 (Stable)

VERDICT: Asked some great questions of the audience in an episode that really put that audience in a position similar to the jurors: convince us. 8.5/10

Code Black - 2x07 "What Lies Beneath"

"A prison riot floods Angels with patients. Meanwhile, Willis and Campbell are called to help an officer on a Russian submarine."

The two main plot points of "What Lies Beneath" were of contrasting interest. While I was thoroughly disappointed that the Russians didn't kill off my two least favourite characters, they also didn't offer a gripping plot to invest in. Although, perhaps that was because I simply hate Willis and Campbell.
   However, the prison riot that put Angels in its baseline "code black" was much more fun. The two prisoners who spearheaded this plot were a murderer who refused a heart transplant because he was a bad guy, and a white supremacist who killed a black guard and took our Dr. Rorish hostage. The murderer refusing a heart transplant was a decent and unexpected twist, given the way the other prisoner plot went, and surgical intern Dr. Pinkney's early connection to the black guard who was murdered set up her spiral into frustration with the Hippocratic oath when she was forced to help save the white supremacist who killed her.
   At least this episode made some headway in returning to basics: despite Willis and Campbell's inflated presence, there was no sign of any of the two remaining interns, and all of the cast were our favourite carry-ons from season one. Malaya and Jesse trying to help Guthrie with his believed Parkinson's continued with his refusal, and at some point he's going to have to give up and let them. His illness has been the only real arc of the season so far, and Code Black needs a proper character arc soon.

   VIEWERS: 5.68m (Dropped slightly)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9 (Equals the previous episode)

VERDICT: Had the opportunity to course-correct and bump off Willis and Campbell but didn't take it, but there were no meddling interns and the prisoner plot was very good. 7/10

Conviction - 1x06 "#StayWoke"

"CIU investigate the case of Porscha Williams, a black activist convicted of the murder of a white cop."

The controversial and edgy is always a great place to stand when you want to create compelling TV. Conviction has done that in the previous 5 episodes, if you ask me, but none of those 5 put together could start as much of a conversation as "#StayWoke". White cops killing black people is a huge issue in the modern-day world; to study both sides of that, "#StayWoke" flips the script and follows CIU attempting to exonerate a black activist for the murder of a white cop.

Tess visits the man she wrongly identified
as her aunt's killer when she was 12

   Everything boils over here: race, sex, profession. There's no side of the argument that's good to be on, and that was well-addressed in the CIU's infighting at the beginning of the episode. Does an all-white jury prosecuting a black woman amount to racism? Is a protest called a riot if undertaken by black people and a demonstration by white people? The furnace got hotter and hotter until the episode concluded in really the only way it could: Porscha was exonerated. Not that there was ever any question of that - ABC and Conviction couldn't have the moral of this story be yes, the black woman did it. And she didn't. Porscha was exonerated. The race debate continues.
   Character-wise, we learnt a little more. Hayes and Wallace's ex, hostshot lawyer Naomi, showed up to defend Wallace's corruption charge and hit on both of them - but ended up in Wallace's office in the final shot. We learnt Maxine is a recovering pill addict (19 months, 2 days), and the man Tess identified as her aunt's murderer when she was 12 wasn't actually the killer, and that every day since his exoneration she's visited his coffee truck and left a substantial tip in penance. I really like Tess and I need her to get her forgiveness before Conviction is over.
   VIEWERS: 4.31m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.8
   (Both tick up)

VERDICT: Racially-charged from the get-go. Such a focus is reminiscent of The Night Shift's season 3 episode "Three-Two-One", and I've rated it the same. 9.5/10

Elementary - 5x06 "Ill Tidings"

"The Head Chef of a renowned restaurant is found dead, after ingesting foie gras laced with fibreglass and snake venom."

Elementary was back with another ridiculously complex episode: this time an art heist hidden behind the evacuation of the New York Stock Exchange incited by the mass murder of seven men, six of whom (the seventh being the restaurant's Head Chef) were part of a group that held parts of an algorithm that verified the legitimacy of website domain names. Every step was cleverly interconnected, but the whole thing just felt odd. A mass murder via poisoned food is a huge way to kick off an episode, as is the reveal that six of those who died held individual portions of an algorithm that had an important role in protecting public safety online. This concept gave Elementary a chance to follow an unexpectedly high-stakes and unique storyline, but somehow the episode spun away from that and the opening sequences became overkill (pardon the pun) in a plot to evacuate the Stock Exchange so art on show inside could be nicked. Don't get me wrong, as a nefarious plan it was quite efficient, but given the episode's starting point it's hard to view this as anything other than an opportunity squandered.
   Speaking of squandered opportunities, the episode's inference that Sherlock, due to some idiotic Sherlock reasoning, broke up with his girlfriend Fiona (who is an amazing character and added a previously unexplored dimension to Sherlock's character), was an absolute pisstake. And even though Bell appeared to be getting a love interest, who really believes that will be relevant by next week? That ADA he likes will probably get mentioned maybe once more before Elementary is cancelled.
   At least the coroner, Eugene, was back. I like Eugene.

   VIEWERS: 5.45m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7
   (Both rise)

VERDICT: Wasted a good plot premise and wasted a good opportunity for character growth in a Person of Interest-esque break-up that wasn't at all necessary. 6/10

Update: CBS has ordered another 2 episodes, bringing Elementary's fifth season total to 24.

Hawaii Five-0 - 7x09 "Elua la ma Nowemapa / Two Days in November"

"One of Jerry's conspiracy theorist friends meets with him to discuss huge findings - but is murdered before she can speak."

Hawaii Five-0 went right out there with "Elua la ma Nowemapa" by giving Jerry, who for the last few episodes has had very little to do, a starring role in a huge episode that shone a light right in the face of the JFK murder conspiracy. The episode hinged on a secret Honolulu meeting of government bigwigs in the days before the assassination, who conspiracy theorists suspected were meeting to discuss the final aspects of the plan. And as the plot moved along and evidence turned audience's heads this way and that, the writers, through Jerry, had a logical but out-there reason for why each piece of evidence still led to the conclusion that JFK's assassination was an inside job. For those who don't know much beyond the basic details of the assassination, it was an eye-opening and thought-provoking episode.
   But the whole premise fell down at the end, because the writers were never for a second going to stick to one conspiracy theory and say "this is what killed JFK and it was an inside job". They didn't need to - they had an out: the assassination under discussion was actually that of Fidel Castro's - but also decided not to go down that route and instead had Jerry's friend on the receiving end of a bullet because of a pharmaceutical company whose actions weren't really properly explained. It was a weak ending to a very enlightening episode.
   VIEWERS: 10.01m (Only the second episode to hit double figures since the s7 premiere. Superb)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3 (Won the night again. Fantastic)

VERDICT: Although the ending was horribly bungled, I'm still giving this an 8.5/10 for an unapologetic and damn brilliant reexamining one of the world's most famous conspiracies.

Lucifer - 2x08 "Trip to Stabby Town"

"Uriel's grave is dug up and Azrael's blade is used to commit a string of murders at a yoga studio."

A more focused and better-developed season of Lucifer has finally shown where it's taking the last 5 episodes of the 13 that will air before midseason: a battle of wits over those who wish to go back to heaven (Lucifer's mum and Amenadiel) and those who wish to stay on Earth (Lucifer), and the episode built to the promise of this future battle.

Ella demonstrating how one of the murders was perpetrated
in an unwittingly sexual manner

   Azrael's blade's whereabouts were known by only Lucifer, Amenadiel and their mum (who for ease I will now call "Charlotte", the name of the human whose body she inhabited). When "Charlotte" has humans - who will be incited to murder by the very nature of the knife - dig up Uriel's grave to cause a killing spree that will pull God's attention, Lucifer and Chloe are cleverly separated in theory: Chloe profiles the overkilling of the victims as a crime of passion, while Lucifer knows whoever possesses the blade will kill for even the simplest of things, and this disconnect followed their investigation. It was a clever way to twist a set-in-stone understanding of the logic of murders - topped off by the blade eventually finding its way into Dan's hands. Who better to wield a knife that could wipe Lucifer out of existence than the one person he's spend truly tormenting?
   Meanwhile, Lucifer grew closer to Ella while she unwittingly helped with his search for the celestial blade in return for him coming to confession with her (oh the irony), and "Charlotte's" attempts to adjust to human life, while much improved, are still producing hilarious moments as she fails to recognise a mum should not brag about her sexual exploits to her son. Amenadiel and Maze becoming cat burglars was a funny sideplot as well, although no Trixie today.
   VIEWERS: 3.89m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1
   (Both slight ticks upwards)

VERDICT: Lucifer had a clearly mapped-out 13 episode second season, and it will rise to the occasion after an episode like this. But will that direction be delayed, heightened or altered what with Lucifer's back nine order? 8.5/10

MacGyver - 1x09 "Chisel"

"While chasing a terrorist in Latvia, Mac and the team are trapped inside the Embassy with 6 hours to wait before back-up arrives."

MacGyver did good with its ninth episode of the season by just making an episode. "Chisel" wasn't pretty and it wasn't massive - but what it was was one of the better episodes of the season in terms of Mac's on-the-fly creations. Getting Mac, Jack and Riley stuck in a US Embassy building that Latvian terrorists didn't care to siege was a good plan, but the siege aspect took a lot of character goodness away on the day. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - as I say, this was simply a decent episode. Jack wasn't as funny as he usually is, Riley's airtime was limited as her hacking skills proved unnecessary and Thornton's interrogation of Bozer was a little discomfiting since he was previously the comic relief - without that, this episode had very little humour. But Bozer getting a job as a lab geek for Phoenix is going to bring all of the cast together in much less time than I expected.
   After the cliffhanger ending in 1x08 where Mac's evil ex Nikki returned to warn him of things to come, "Chisel" moved on completely from that. There was no mention or reminder of Nikki and, while that's hardly unexpected, it was perhaps a little jarring. A word to the customary MacGyver cut-scenes: there was none today. Instead, the opening of the show being Bozer's interrogation provided more time for actual substantive subplot - and again, that probably took away from the humour a little. But a stepping stone like this didn't lack much for losing that humour, and now MacGyver is going to take a step towards its endgame as the whole cast are bunched into the same corporation.

   VIEWERS: 8.20m (The first episode to rise above 8m since episode 3)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1 (Steady as ever)

VERDICT: A step in the right direction that sacrificed a few key features of the show to get it done. 7/10

NCIS: Los Angeles - 8x08 "Parallel Resistors"

"An engineering student is electrocuted at a trivia night."

In an episode that again lacked Bar Paly, Callen and Sam worked closely with a shy young Russian girl, Nadia, the hugely intelligent daughter of the electrocution victim, Yuri Volanev, to stop a rogue Chinese student from getting his hands on a classified civilian engineering project. Typical obstacles like a patsy were thrown into the mix: Scott Yung had turned a Pakistani student into helping him because the money he offered would be enough to help her family in Lahore. The bait-and-switch was pushed even harder than usual when Ganeev was identified as a patsy: every angle that the team had covered before - rescuing Nadia, not yet arresting Scott - was covered in a brutal interrogation.
   I liked the storyline, and the subplots too. Kensi was feeling better this episode and had stopped jumping down Deeks' throat, while he took some time in the field as well by going undercover as Nell's surfer boyfriend. But the subtleties of the episode were there, too. Following on from the reveal that Granger had been damaged by Agent Orange, his speech was again impaired. Miguel Ferrer has a deep and gravely voice, and it can't be hard for him to put himself on the edge of understandable. But there was a distinct lack of Hetty - which I predicted for this season, but is in full swing a little harder than I expected. Sad times there.

   VIEWERS: 12.11m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.6
   (Huge boosts in both areas after a Trump interview served as the lead-in)

VERDICT: Subtly moved characters forward when it didn't advance them blatantly. Decent episode that just lacked a little urgency. 7.5/10

Pure Genius - 1x04 "Not Your Grandmother's Robotic Surgery"

"One of James's old school teachers arrives at Bunker Hill with stage 4 metastatic cancer. Meanwhile, Brocket and Talaikha treat a blind army vet suffering chronic eye pain."

Pure Genius might have kept me waiting for James's G.S.S. patient Keating an episode longer than I expected, but he returned here to do not very much actually. But then, all this was was a check-up, just to keep viewers in the loop that yes, James still has the G.S.S. gene. After all, since the premiere, while the show found its feet, it hasn't been mentioned.
   The two patients were of contrasting interest: James's heartbreak over the situation of his teacher Mrs Gardner threw him out of wack emotionally, and it was actually hard to watch him do his motivational speeches when he was just so lacking in emotion. Part of that was of course Brocket, upon whom he directed quite a lot of his frustrations after the unwitting knockback in the previous episode. On the other hand, the blind veteran Masood was a fantastic case, emotionally and medically. The whole "never seen his wife" because he met her after he was blind and she looked so different to his previous exes was a heartstrings-pulling scene and when her concerns were vindicated it was almost a celebratory moment.
   Finally, Wallace's adjustment to the unusual (lack of) hierarchy at Bunker Hill continued (and entertainingly) while there was a happy lack of Malik. Fuck Malik.
   VIEWERS: 5.68m (A small tick upwards)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9 (Stable but worryingly low ground has been found)

VERDICT: Showing a different side to James was both good writing and yet hard to watch, while the majority of the episode was very good. 7.5/10

Quantico - 2x07 "Lcflutter"

"Alex is captured by the terrorists, who torture Dayana in front of her to convince Alex to tell them where the stolen hard drives are. At The Farm, Owen teaches the recruits how to withstand torture techniques by letting them try to break him."

After the twist-heavy "Aquiline", "Lcflutter" takes somewhat of a breather (it's funny cos the episode's about torture). The juxtaposition of the interrogation plots - Alex at the hands of the terrorists and Owen at the hands of the recruits - was both clever writing and nicely-timed in the overall plot, and the latter came with the decision to use Owen's daughter Lydia as a tool to get him to reveal his CIA alias, which worked. Lesson passed, and it was an intriguing lesson for the audience too.

Owen watching Lydia being waterboarded

   Unfortunately for Alex, while her attempts to get close to Owen may have worked in the end, they didn't work quickly enough and Shelby is now going undercover as Léon's girlfriend. I like Shelby and Léon as a thing (though not as much as Shelby and Caleb in season 1), but I do wonder what direction this fake relationship will go now that Ryan has finally been accepted into the terrorist group dubbed the "AIC".
   In the final loose thread, Miranda, who we know is working for the terrorists, plants her phone on her director boyfriend. She's just about managing to keep her involvement a secret, and it's great TV.
   VIEWERS: 2.75m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7
   (Both tick up slightly)

VERDICT: Little bit of a comedown from last week, but paced well, cleverly written and perfectly positioned for the overall plot. 8.5/10

Scorpion - 3x08 "Sly and the Family Stone"

"The Scorpion team travel to Ireland for the anniversary of Megan's death, but a nearby lake brimming with carbon dioxide threatens to explode and kill everyone in the village."

Carbon dioxide explodes from the lake

Walter's return to his family in Ireland dredges up a lot of bad blood. Not just between him and his family, but the kids who used to bully him at school (who haven't quite grown out of it yet), while his jealousy over Paige and Tim's relationship also comes to a head. All of these, along with how Toby is becoming a more Paige-like emotional counterweight for Walter, Walter's continuous transition from one crazy invention to the next, and the fact that Sly is closer to Walter's own family than he is (Sly commits to weekly video chats with the O'Brien seniors), highlight just how detached Walter has become from the group since Megan's death and Paige's relationship began. In fact, so does just how little of a factor Megan was in this episode. It's a sad state of affairs, but at least in some ways the air is cleared.
   No pun intended, after a failed attempt to clear the carbon dioxide from the lake spewed a cloud of CO2 over the village that could have killed everyone without Walter and Tim's timely teamwork. He had better not stay long though just because they've made up. #Waige needs to get going.
   Meanwhile, Happy pushes for a quick wedding while Toby tries to convince her it needs to be elaborate and well-planned. I think they'll meet somewhere in the middle and the end of season 3 will see their wedding and #Waige get underway. That's my hope anyway, but for now it's a good starting point.
   VIEWERS: 7.17m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2
   (Both tick up)

VERDICT: A decent episode, but nothing really more can be said than that. 7/10

Westworld - 1x07 "Trompe L'Oeil"

"Charlotte Hale, Delos board member, begins her plan to overthrow Ford. Meanwhile, William and Dolores split from El Lazo, Maeve threatens to kill the techs if they don't help her escape and a secret is revealed about Bernard."

Now that the glitching Hosts storyline is well underway, the overarching consequences are beginning to show. The face of those consequences: Charlotte Hale. She's cute, she's sweet - and she's super conniving. She likes to intimidate even those she plans to have work under the new regime, as exampled by her inviting Theresa to meet her at the same time she is shagging one of the Hosts. Nothing says I'm powerful and super-confident like a boss who calls her staff to heel while she's sampling the merchandise.

Bernard kills Theresa

   Hale appeared briefly in the previous episode when she arrived at Westworld, but now it seems we at least know why Theresa was committing corporate espionage: Delos wanted backups of the Hosts' programming and Ford wouldn't give it to them. That wasn't the direction I expected this to go in, so it was a good if anticlimactic twist.
   But nothing could prepare us for the final scene.
   Bernard was revealed to indeed be a Host - and his confusion and denial was so superb I almost felt sorry for him - right before Ford triggered a part of Bernard's programming that turned him into a cold-blooded killer. Good night Theresa. Now we'll see how adaptable Hale is.
   Elsewhere, Maeve's storyline is heading towards chaos: now that she knows what Westworld is, she blackmails the techs into helping her escape. That will lead to a colossal crescendo sometime down the line. Contrastingly, William and Dolores ride off into the sunset, and although Lawrence forewarned them of trouble that lay where they were headed, they're in no immediate danger and this storyline's conclusion is therefore more open than the others. Anything could await them.
   No Man in Black. Almost forgot about him. Ah well. Maybe next time.

   VIEWERS: 1.745m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.8
   (Both tick up)

VERDICT: The slow build-up is actually getting to something as characters butt horns. Dat ending scene doe. 8.5/10

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Bull

Defendant's lawyer (to plaintiff): "Would you agree the defendant is kind of a jerk?"
Plaintiff's lawyer: "OBJECTION!"
Judge: "She's trashing her own client ... Are you sure you want to object?"
Plaintiff's lawyer: "... Objection withdrawn"

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On-Season Week 8

NEXT WEEK'S ROUNDUP: (will be posted here when complete)

Update: The Night Shift has been renewed by NBC for season 4, expected to air summer 2017.

Final thoughts

Our first full week with all 13 shows (and probably the only week for a very long time), has come to an end with typically varying results. Bull and Brooklyn Nine-Nine returned with fantastic episodes that picked up where they left off; Code Black, MacGyver and Scorpion created filler episodes that remained commendably stable; ratings increases for Conviction, Elementary and Quantico were justified or not by episodes of largely differing quality. The biggest ratings increase of the week was for NCIS LA, but it and Pure Genius managed to continue rather than shine, while Hawaii Five-0, Lucifer and Westworld all tried something huge and pulled it off in the ratings.

Thanks for reading everyone, see you all next time!

Sam

On-Season Week 8

WEEK 8

Week 7 - at a 7.3 average - didn't pan out for some shows as well as intended, so with Week 8 we'll hope to see improvements. Hawaii Five-0 and Elementary have making up to do after both squandering the chance to produce memorable milestone episodes; Conviction returns but Bull and Brooklyn Nine-Nine remain out for their second and third weeks respectively. Everywhere else, it's business as usual once more.

Code Black - 2x06 "Hero Complex". Wait, I mean ER 5x15 - "The Storm Part 2". Um ... no ... er ...

"A rape victim, her attacker and the man who rescued her all come into Angels, but the story isn't how it first seems. Willis helps euthanise an ALS patient; Mike has spinal surgery."

The events of Charlotte Piel's death are well behind the staff of Angels Memorial already, but Malaya's near-rape the previous season equips her well to sensitively handle the tormented teenager who was assaulted at a frat party, especially when the doctors presume incorrectly which of the two men is the rescuer and which is the rapist. It was a reveal you could see coming a mile off, but it was executed quite well, and the actress's performance was exceptional.
   Meanwhile, Dr. Doug Ross helps Joi, the mother of a young boy with a terminal illness, in ending her son's life. No, wait. Colonel Ethan Willis helps a young woman, Joy, in an assisted suicide. To be accurate, Code Black continues to snap up plotlines that ER did 15 years ago when Willis, much like Doug Ross did in 1999, euthanises a 22-year-old woman suffering from ALS. The patient's circumstances and the manner of the euthanasia differed, but they were identical in base premise. But it wasn't executed to be as heartbreaking as the promos suggested, and in the end Campbell's furious confrontation with Willis after the fact was the strongest part of the plot.
   Elsewhere, Dr. Abby Lockhart treats Simon, a comedian with leukaemia. Wait, no. Dr. Savetti treats Stewart, a comedian with a heart condition. Also, Angus and Mike's father showed up and once again forgot he's not actually Mike's medical proxy so his opinions are invalid. Mike had the surgery to try and fix his spine (he couldn't feel his legs) and hopefully it all went OK and he'll be back soon. I like Tommy Dewey who plays him.

   VIEWERS: 6.03m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9
   (Significant rises in both areas but will it be good enough come May? I don't think so)

VERDICT: A stronger episode, but again Code Black shows its predilection for condensing ER's season-long arcs into a single episode and failing to execute them half as well. 7.5/10

Conviction - 1x05 "The 1% Solution"

"CIU investigate the murder of a rich woman named Debra Porter where the convicted was an underprivileged man the family had taken under their wing."

Following directly on in both plot and subplot from Hayes' interview meltdown about privilege benefiting those who have committed crimes, "The 1% Solution" asks the question more confrontationally by having Hayes put CIU on the case of an underprivileged man, Jared Willett, convicted of killing a rich woman, Debra Porter. The case took a number of turns, including evidence the defence refused to submit in the original trial, the murder weapon being planted on someone else and the eventual revelation that Jared and the rich woman's son, Sean, had perpetrated the murder together because it was heavily inferred she disapproved of their gay relationship. It was another hot topic, but this time gave some relief to all the freeing of convicts CIU had been doing by having the conviction they were investigating turn out to be legitimate.

Hayes alone in her office

   In the main subplot Hayes, kicked out of her brother Jackson's house, began sleeping in the CIU offices and called Jackson every morning until he picked up and let her apologise for her interview meltdown. And Wallace, now under investigation by the FBI for corruption, told Hayes their personal relationship was over and hired hotshot lawyer Naomi Golden as his attorney - a woman who happened to be the ex-girlfriend of both Wallace and Hayes. While I don't particularly like Jackson's character at all - he's smarmy and doesn't care for the moral exposure Hayes provided in her interview because it negatively affects him - I enjoy Wallace and Hayes pitted against each other, and hiring their ex is a sure way to push them further apart.
   Finally, Frankie struggles with his conscience as he tries to decide whether he should present his imprisoned boyfriend's case to CIU for review, in the end concluding he needs more time to think about it. I wonder if the show will cover this, given it's likely to only have another 8 episodes left before cancellation. A case revolving around one of the team's close friends or relatives would be an interesting break from the usual format.
   VIEWERS: 3.74m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6
   (Significant drops in both areas saw Conviction hit two new series lows)

VERDICT: The cumulative consequences of Hayes' actions are piling up and causing drama to surround each case she plucks out of thin air to review. And each case is a myriad of intrigue and so relevant to the contemporary world. 8.5/10

Update: Due to Conviction's poor ratings performance, ABC has announced that, while the remaining episodes will air, there will be no back order. Shocker ...

Elementary - 5x05 "To Catch a Predator Predator"

"A man who catfished sexual predators online and forced them to admit to their crimes is shot in a seedy motel room right before he could shame the next predator he had stalked."

After a below-average episode that ignored the momentousness of its positioning, "To Catch a Predator Predator" worked its magic to rejuvenate my faith in the writers. It was, for all its cleverness however, quite hard to follow the episode through all the suspects, since the murder plot wasn't a typical one. The victim, Novak, was stalking and identifying sexual predators, but the motives for his murder expanded far beyond simple revenge on the part of said sexual predators, growing so far as to be too complex for me to explain here (also partly because the ambiguity surrounding each suspect doesn't answer anything).

Sherlock realises who the killer is

   In the end, the killer was a victim of one of the sexual predators, Shane Fitzhugh, who Novak exposed. She had finally come forward about the abuse and a case against Fitzhugh was being built, before Novak took matters into his own hands, causing Fitzhugh to flee to Bali. Cue the woman being so furious with Novak for ruining her justice that she went to confront him and ended up killing him. Her identity hinged on her statement to police admitting she was now on an anti-depressant and anti-anxiety cocktail, which Sherlock had spotted at the desk of a woman earlier on in the episode. And it created that great moment where Sherlock realised who the killer was - and in that same moment so did I as a viewer. That kind of moment is rarely created in TV, and for all the episode's over-complex narrative, creating that moment creates forgiveness.
   What I can't forgive is the unsurprising and boring reveal that Shinwell is somehow still involved in criminal activities, however willingly or otherwise that may be. Or the throwback mention of the appalling Kitty Winter, Sherlock's apprentice from season 3. She's gone. Thankfully. Let it lie.
   VIEWERS: 4.68 (series low)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6 (equals series low)

VERDICT: A stunning reveal cancelled out an over-complicated episode - but one that was a giant step up from last week and probably still the second-best episode of the season so far. 9/10

Update: If you've read my roundup earlier this week about Kitty Winter's (Ophelia Lovibond) return to Elementary, enjoy a little snicker at the comments I wrote before I found out. I haven't cut them out.

Hawaii Five-0 - 7x08 "Hana Komo Pae / Rite of Passage"

"Danny chaperones Grace at her winter formal dance, but while he tries to uncover the identity of her new boyfriend, terrorists take the students hostage."

Hostage situations are hard for TV creators to write these days without them feeling stale and done; Hawaii Five-0's takeover of a school dance was a good example of how to freshen things up. Part of that was perhaps pace and structure: the episode moved in three 14-minute increments: there was build-up for the first 14, Danny and Lou's son Will trying to make contact with police for the second 14-minute segment, and then the final 14 minutes where HPD showed up and figured out how to apprehend the terrorists.

Terrorists take students hostage

   It's difficult to come up with a good reason for terrorists to be taking over a school dance, and a typical example is for leverage: take hostage the child of a diplomat or wealthy enemy and you have a legitimate explanation. Like "Rite of Passage", which even managed to hide the identity of the child for a long time. When the terrorists couldn't find the kid they had come for, I presumed it was Will Grover, who was snaking through the school with Danny trying to contact police. But I had forgotten about Will's friend, Jeremy Ramos, who had snuck off to smoke some weed, and who transpired to be the son of a Filipino diplomat. It would be nice (or not) to see an even fresher take (like a school shooting, which I have to admit would be controversial but very relevant), since sometimes the juxtaposition of worldwide terrorists and fifteen-year-olds can be jarring.
   The whole Grace-Will boyfriend plot was humorous (Scott Caan as Danny excels as the overly-protective dad), as was the poker night sideplot that had the rest of our Five-0 cast gathered together. There were also some good cameo appearances from Dog the Bounty Hunter and Al Harrington as Mamo, both friends of Five-0 who took part in the poker night.
   VIEWERS: 9.81m (Stable)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.4 (Equals the season high so far)

VERDICT: Done-before premise infused with plenty of Five-0 mannerisms that worked to separate it from previous TV entries. Great cameos. 8.5/10

Lucifer - 2x07 "My Little Monkey"

"The man who killed Chloe's father is released on day leave to go to his granddaughter's christening, but along the way is himself killed. Meanwhile, Lucifer tries to learn more about human nature by shadowing Dan, and Maze tries to reconnect with a terrified Dr. Martin."

In a clever juxtaposition of plot points, the fallout from Lucifer revealing his true self to Dr. Linda Martin sees Linda struggle to come to terms with the truth of divinity while Maze struggles to come to terms with the truth of life on Earth. In the end, they reconcile after Maze gets a job as a bounty hunter (and what could be more suitable?) and Linda agrees to go out and celebrate with her. Maze's relationships, especially with Linda and little Trixie, are an important part of the show, and as they both grow Maze becomes ever more central a character.
   But most of the episode centred around the discovery that Chloe's father's murderer, Jon Fields, killed during his day leave, didn't actually kill her father but was hired to be a patsy. It was a raw, emotional episode, and while I generally hate reveals that uproot a main character's family mythology (see Castle's father on Castle transpiring to be a CIA agent, or McGarrett's mum on Hawaii Five-0 being alive and a CIA agent, or Chuck's mum on Chuck being alive and a CIA agent) - this just worked for the show. Not because changing the mythology of John Decker's death was necessary, but because Chloe's reaction in pushing Lucifer away gave Lucifer a chance to understand more about humanity and brought Dan and Lucifer closer, which will provide an important (almost) reset on their antagonistic relationship. And that was necessary.
   This frank focus on Chloe and Dan left Amenadiel and Lucifer's mum in the cold, and while that is still the better and more intense plotline of the series, there's much more happening now that will fill the rest of the first half of this season - and Lucifer's back nine order set to air next year after A.P.B.
   VIEWERS: 3.52m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
   (Both slightly up from last week)

VERDICT: A generic plot idea was executed better than I expected, and addressed different character relationships. Very, very good. 8.5/10

MacGyver - 1x08 "Corkscrew"

"A renowned assassin is sent after MacGyver."

MacGyver pulled one out of the bag today by answering a lot of the lingering questions and creating many more. An assassin known only by his file number, "Suspect 218", is hired by an unknown organisation to target Mac. Thornton locks him in a secure room (which takes all of 30 seconds for Mac to escape from), before he and Jack rush back to his house, where S218's arrival has alerted Bozer to Mac's lies. Using wine bottle rockets, S218 is held at arm's length and Bozer has a number of heart-to-hearts with Mac and Riley over their lies.

Nikki corners Mac in a café

   Later on in the episode, S218 corners Thornton, Jack and Riley in a junkyard using remote control sniper rifles, but Mac shows up to flip the script by overriding S218's radio frequency and apprehending him. S218 then chooses a name for himself: Murdoc. This whole storyline was intriguing (Murdoc was a fabulously sociopathic villain) and the creative escape methods Mac used were terrific.
   Much like in the opening cut-scene (they still remain, only this time it featured Mac on a date, ironically in an escape room). He showcases his creative thinking to find the clues and the cut-scene concludes with a kiss. An ending cut-scene of sorts is also given, where Mac's evil ex Nikki (unseen since episode 1x01), returns to warn him that things aren't black and white, she's not necessarily evil and Thornton isn't necessarily good. Food for thought.
   VIEWERS: 7.70m (Stable between 7-8m is good)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1 (Fifth 1.1 in the last 6 episodes: stable)

VERDICT: The show did well by enlightening Bozer so early on, and Nikki's return was well-timed. Fascinating, innovative episode. 9/10

NCIS: Los Angeles - 8x07 "Crazy Train"

"The latest victim is found in the stomach of a shark: the surviving NSA agents explain that ISIS are after them because they are tracking a cell that intends to cross the border from Mexico. However, everything is not as it first seems when a prominent cartel get involved, and Callen has to go undercover in a mental hospital."

The script was flipped pretty early on in this episode that the NSA agents weren't being tracked by ISIS because they had intel on a terror cell trying to enter the US from Mexico, but one of the NSA agents in the group had stolen $17m from the bank of a cartel boss, and while Sam dealt with them Callen went undercover to gain the trust of the fourth member of the group, who could confirm which of them was the traitor.
   It was all pretty normal stuff, although the fun of the Benuelos cartel's interrogation technique - throwing people into the ocean and luring sharks to make them talk - added a bit of spice. I haven't seen shark torture since that early Hawaii Five-0 reboot episode, and it always makes for something different.
   Props to casting for hiring the creepy CIA chemical torturer from Castle's finale as the man in the mental hospital, and props to writing for Granger's upcoming Agent Orange infection storyline and their continually amazing characterisation of Deeks. This week he reveals to Kensi the engagement ring, but she refuses until she is better. Which might not be too long, perhaps halfway through the season. There was no Anna today and I do hope she's not gone to ATF yet; Bar Paly is still a great addition to the show in lieu of Daniela Ruah's downtime.
   VIEWERS: 10.26m (Over 10m despite nearly an hour's delay!)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.4 (Up two tenths from last week)

VERDICT: The quality of episode is stabilising after a shoddy open to the season. NCIS LA is now proving it can return to some good stuff without the flair of Anna Kolcheck. 8/10

Pure Genius - 1x03 "You Must Remember This"

"A patient struggles to comprehend losing weight before a surgery on the tumour that is causing her increased weight; meanwhile, an ex-police officer regresses to the mental age of a seven-year-old after a car accident. Brocket tries to delete CCTV of her kissing Malik."

My concern is there's little to compliment this episode about. The two patients' storylines were adequately mysterious to hold and develop organically, but not one of the actors who portrayed them could do anything to make them interesting. That isn't a huge issue - I'm happy to keep parroting that every show will do a dull episode here and there - but that wasn't what stained this episode.

Bunker Hill staff performing brain surgery to help a
policeman recover his memories

   Before I get to that, though, perhaps some compliments. I mentioned last week I wanted to see more of Dr. Strauss and Dr. Channarayapatra, and now the show has settled into its premise it is expanding its characters. Angie remained pining after Dr. Strauss, who (unfortunately for her) still maintains the vow of celibacy he took when he was ordained, and he got more airtime here; likewise, Talaikha Channarayapatra got a good focus, too.
   The problem was James's pining after Brocket. Or, more specifically, the problem was Malik. I have nothing against TV shows doing the usual will-they-won't-they between two lead characters and having one of them pit stop with another character in the build-up, but as an audience member I don't like being lied to. The entirety of the episode was spent on Brocket regretting her kiss with Malik and getting close to James - even going so far as to invite him out for a drink - until Angie annoyingly intervened and turned it into a staff do. But the punchline was Brocket had kissed Malik, not the other way round, and at the end of the episode she went to the bar and smiled past James at Malik. I had thought Pure Genius was shaping James and Brocket's relationship up in a slightly more refreshing way, but no, and although I suppose I'm more angry since I really don't like Malik, from a writing perspective it was a rude bait and switch.
   Fuck Malik.
   VIEWERS: 5.33m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9
   (Both practically identical to last week)

VERDICT: Somewhat ironically, "You Must Remember This" is an episode we could quite easily forget. 6/10

Quantico - 2x06 "Aquiline"

"At The Farm, the recruits are taught to assess whether a drone strike is called for in certain scenarios, while in the future Alex and Lydia hunt for hard drives that the terrorists are searching for."

Could anything more have been stuffed into this episode? "Aquiline" was a rollercoaster ride from start to finish, and so full that I'm going to have to summarise rather than analyse the majority. In The Farm timeline on the anniversary of Simon Asher's season 1 death, Shelby continues her secret sexual relationship with Léon, Lydia tries to intimidate her father into backing off his investigation into why he was dropped from field work to The Farm, Harry continues to press Alex and Ryan on their mission and they have even more trouble identifying the AIC terrorist recruiter.
   In the future, we are barraged with twists and turns. There's no Miranda complicating matters, but following on from last week, Lydia convinces Alex she is a victim and the terrorists are after hard drives containing decades of CIA surveillance intel, only to reveal she is on a secret CIA op to retrieve the hard drives and leave Alex handcuffed to a pole with terrorists on their way to her location. There was some interesting titbits here that relate to the conclusion of their time at The Farm, and we learn Alex was kicked out and Owen Hall has been imprisoned. Those outcomes look tasty.
   But again in the future, Raina and recruits Harry, Sebastien, Leigh, Dayana and Léon fight and accuse each other of being part of the terrorists based on their connected travels since they left The Farm. Terrorists take Leigh out for interrogation and when they bring her back they activate her remote necklace, the weapon with which the terrorists have subdued their hostages, and it slits her throat, killing Leigh on the spot. Dayana and Raina are then brought out of the room for interrogation only for it to be revealed it was not Raina at all - she had been switched out and her twin, Nimah, working as part of the terrorists, had been trying to gather the intel. What a stunning move - although I chastise myself for not seeing it coming.
   VIEWERS: 2.20m (Series low)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6 (Equals its series low)

VERDICT: The biggest episode so far in both timelines and it was wonderfully executed. There is so much to expect from the rest of the season and it doesn't look set to disappoint. 9/10

Scorpion - 3x07 "We're Gonna Need a Bigger Vote"

"For the first time, only one system will collate all the US's Presidential election voting data, but when the system is hacked and 90% of votes are removed, Scorpion are called on to fix the election."

Toby causing a distraction on TV

Could there have been a more relevant topic this week than a Presidential election? In an episode which sidelined Walter due to suspicions of citizenship fraud, saw Tim return and took the Scorpion team around LA under the noses of their FBI handlers, the team identified the hackers as men from the Chinese consulate. Their motive? "The World Court is about to make a decision about a new Arctic shipping route. Due to rising temperatures, ice-breaking vessels will soon be able to traverse directly over the North Pole." That's 20% shorter than the current route, and the World Court won't give that route to China without a stable leader. The consulate's plan is foiled - barely - when Cabe gets the hackers' laptop out of the consulate and onto American soil just in time. It's a huge episode focusing on a huge and, on this week of all weeks, immensely relevant topic, and it was done perfectly.
   But the rest of the plots were good too. Although the return of Tim advanced his and Paige's relationship and saw Walter receive a cutting remark from Ralph (seriously, that kid tore him to shreds with a single sentence and it was terrific), Happy's pregnancy was debunked as a false positive due to cadmium poisoning from the solar panels she worked on recently (an unforeseen twist that saddens me but works as a plot device), Walter's citizenship was granted by the President and Toby then proposed to Happy - who without hesitation said yes. Bar Paige's relationship with Tim, this hilarious episode had everything fans wanted.

   VIEWERS: 6.92m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1
   (No issues with either rating)

VERDICT: Supremely well-timed. Terrific plot twists set to change the team dynamics throughout, most damningly between Walter and Ralph. 9/10

Westworld - 1x06 "The Adversary"

"Maeve, now conscious of her false reality, tests its limits, and in her next meeting with the technicians demands alterations to her attribute coding - which only reveals a disturbing secret. The Man in Black and Teddy try to pass a garrison but Teddy is recognised and a fight breaks out. Elsie discovers the tracker's origins, while Bernard finds Ford in a disused sector of the park with Hosts with original programming."

Maeve convinces Felix to give her a tour of
the Westworld facility

The focus of the show keeps flitting between the storylines inside the park - such as Dolores, William and Logan - and those outside of it, such as Bernard and the technicians. In "The Adversary", the latter focus was adopted and the story was much better for it. Bernard continued his investigations into the Host anomalies (I'm still convinced he's going to turn out a robot), while Elsie's discovery that Theresa Cullen, the Head of Operations, was the one smuggling data out of the park seems to have been revealed much too easily. I'm certain it's a frame-up, and that the real culprit (who assaulted Elsie at the end of the episode - shocker) will be someone clever enough to avoid detection. Perhaps Lee, the Head of Narrative, whose disillusionment with Westworld following Ford's rejection of his narrative leads to him getting drunk and pissing on the control centre - in full view of a visitor he had previously attempted to seduce, who transpired to be Charlotte Hale, one of the Westworld board members.
   Ford's secret Host family in the disused Sector 17 keeps things plodding along interestingly, but the Man in Black and Teddy passing through the Union Army outpost was a rather dull sideplot. The Man in Black's arc has stagnated recently and I don't find it intriguing anymore - not when all of the technological problems, such as Maeve's self-awareness and the voices the Hosts keep hearing, all link back to Ford's mysterious, presumed-dead partner Arnold. I wouldn't be shocked if Arnold was later revealed to be alive, but I'd be hugely disappointed.

   VIEWERS: 1.637m (A small uptick back to a decent middle ground)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7 (Up a tenth)

VERDICT: Seeing the outside of the park is always more fun than the inside, and now that I actually care for some of these characters I'm more inclined to enjoy the dangerous situations they continually find themselves in. 7.5/10

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Elementary - Sherlock: "He is an expert manipulator of perverts. Baits them with ease. I'd go so far as to call him a master baiter."

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On-Season Week 7

NEXT WEEK'S ROUNDUP: (will be posted here when complete)

WEEK 8 Rating: 8.2

Final thoughts

Much like Americans scoff at British actors doing American accents, we scoff at Americans doing the typical posh British accent, but this week the number of varied and exceptional British accents by actors from Scorpion and Lucifer (and Jonny Lee Miller's superb American accent) were notable because they were actually very good.
   In terms of ratings and episode quality, Code ER, Westworld and NCIS LA rose significantly in the ratings and all produced decent episodes, though a significant rise counts for little for the foremost show of those three; Hawaii Five-0 equalled its season high; Scorpion, MacGyver and Lucifer remained stable in their timeslots, while Pure Genius matching the previous week matters not when its ratings were still so horribly low. Finishing with troubling outcomes, Quantico, Elementary and Conviction all hit series lows despite stunning episodes, the latter in complete ratings freefall.

Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you next time!

Sam