On-Season Week 11

WEEK 11

My 13-show roundup was cut to 12 last week after Code Black's continually abysmal performances: therefore 11 shows from last week lowers to 9 this week, as Scorpion and Bull join Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver on breaks; the latter two will finally be overtaken when Lucifer and NCIS LA air their tenth episodes of the season. Also this week, Westworld's penultimate episode airs, Quantico returns, Conviction and Pure Genius continue their slow death marches to the sounds of dying violins, and that ninth show is the timely replacement I've found for Code Black: introducing Incorporated.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 4x08 "Skyfire Cycle"

"Jake and Terry protect Terry's hero, author DC Parlov, when he begins receiving death threats. Amy and Rosa get caught in Holt's argument about maths with his husband Kevin. Gina and Boyle fight to convince the Boyle clan where to holiday."

The first thing about this episode was its reminder that our cast are still vegetating on the night shift: the clarification was what this arc needed (and even if the episode was actually out of order [this should have been episode 6], the two which came before seemed to be night shifts too, so this wasn't affected even slightly).

Terry and Jake go undercover to try and identity
who has been sending Parlov death threats

   After that, "Skyfire Cycle" just became 20 minutes of utter hilarious stupidity. Terry was starstruck upon meeting his hero, the author of a Game of Thrones-style fantasy book series, and his and Jake's antics trying to discover who was sending Parlov death threats was full of insight into Terry's past and appropriate reminders to audiences about that saying about meeting your heroes. Amy and Rosa getting caught between Holt and Kevin's argument over a maths statistics quandary was the best part of the episode: not only did Holt firing Amy after she took Kevin's side make me spit out my breakfast in laughter, but there's nothing quite like seeing Andre Braugher stand in a doorway yelling "BOOOOOOONE!" after Rosa pointed out Holt was sexually frustrated because being on the night shift meant he had little time to spend with his husband.
   The weak link was arguably the C-plot, as Gina and Boyle fought each other by trying to manipulate the Boyle clan into choosing their preferred holiday destination: the Caribbean island of Aruba - or Iowa. Gina remains the weakest character of the bunch (she's there to present sarcastic obliviousness, but her remarks are always hit and miss), and Boyle/Gina family plots remain equally temperamental, but perhaps I'm being too harsh: the C-plot was still very funny and it's probably more likely that the other two outstanding plots of the episode are just overshadowing it a little.

   VIEWERS: 2.36m (Back up again!)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0 (And this!)

VERDICT: Season 4 has made significant improvements to its writing, especially its punchlines. The only blip on the radar of a season in which almost every episode has been standout (with many of those comparable to season 3's "Ava"), was the New Girl crossover - and even that was negligible. "Skyfire Cycle" alone was one of those I could compare to "Ava". 9/10

Conviction - 1x08 "Bad Deals"

"The legitimacy of one of Sam's convictions, that of a teacher imprisoned ten years ago for the murder and kidnap of a schoolgirl, is called into question when she escapes from her captor's basement."

The biggest character-centric episode of the season so far and it didn't come in quite the way I'd expected, although it was executed very well. Sam's conviction of a schoolteacher, Mr. Fleck, who ten years ago kidnapped and murdered a young female student named Sierra Macy, seemed airtight - until Sierra escaped from the basement of her real captor and CIU naturally took on the case. It was a point of pride for Sam to prove he hadn't made a mistake even as CIU tore his conviction apart, and he and Hayes were both brutal in this episode: Sam in his vehemence that Mr. Fleck was guilty, and Hayes towards Sam for his shoddy work.

Sam figures out who kidnapped Sierra when
he notices the chimes Sierra described

   The team weren't so divided by this week's case, however, perhaps because there was a distinct lack of Tess and Frankie. Most of the case-based drama came between Hayes, Maxine and Sam, as Hayes continually pushed Sam to face up to his potential mistake. And in the end, of course, Mr. Fleck was cleared and Sam's conscience was left heavy by the realisation that he had cost an innocent man 10 years of his life.
   Elsewhere, Wallace was cleared of corruption after Hayes stepped in and fabricated a lie that wouldn't leave either of them open to repercussions - although Wallace's gameplan (which was to subtly manipulate Hayes into doing just that) seems to have broken their relationship. And with the corruption charge gone, is their mutual ex Naomi gone too, or will she stick around to fan the flames? I hope the latter. Finally, Maxine's drug use continued, with the scale of it increasing - as is my concern for her. It's a little plotline now, but it will surely and shortly come front and centre.

   VIEWERS: 3.36m
   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6

VERDICT: Character-centric and dramatic, "Bad Deals" was a style of episode the show needed. 8/10

Elementary - 5x08 "How the Sausage is Made"

"NYPD search for the killer of a man who was sedated and literally ground into sausage meat."

The first thing I noticed about this episode was how short it was. 39 minutes something, including the full theme tune just to try and buff it out a bit. That's a remarkably short episode, but it didn't feel like too much was missing. Eugene the coroner appeared again briefly; I always love to see Eugene about. He's a great character.
   The whole genetically modified meat plotline was interesting (the methods of murder recently have been nothing short of brilliantly unusual) and the furore over its classification (if it was classified as actual meat the company couldn't sell it to those who practice Islam or Judaism, whereas if it was classified as in between they could) was a smart and unpredictable way to reveal the killer's motive. The killer himself, the company head Platts, was a good villain, but his accomplice, Farley, was a highlight of the episode. I did a double take when I realised Farley was played by Fran Kranz (probably best known for his role as Topher Brink on Dollhouse), and loved his portrayal. Word to some good editing: the final scene where Sherlock and Joan confront Farley and Platts framed the former pair in each shot to imply unity, whereas Farley and Platts were always in separate shots to imply separation, as Sherlock tried to convince Farley to sell out Platts.
   It was good to get back to Sherlock's drug abuse as a side plot when he stopped going to meetings, and the mention of hacker group Everyone in aiding Sherlock's investigation was great. In return he was to perform a short set of observational comedy for Everyone's amusement. Usually we do not see the humiliating tasks Everyone have Sherlock perform due to time constraints, but with the episode's spare 4 minutes of space, I think it was an oversight not to include a scene with Sherlock performing his comedy set.

   VIEWERS: 4.95m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7
   (Take a bow my comments on Elementary ratings as the violins sound its impending doom much like they do for Conviction and Pure Genius)

VERDICT: The episode had pretty much everything and a very season 1 feel to it. Perfect 9/10

INCORPORATED

With these roundups set to shrink during the winter hiatus, Incorporated poised to begin, and a vacancy on Wednesdays after I chopped Code Black, I figured lumping in Syfy's new drama would be a benefit (joke's on me if it ends up at some point being the only show to review! I'll pray for that not to happen).

   So for those who don't know anything about Incorporated, it's a new sci-fi drama on the Syfy channel. Its base premise is a sleeper agent goes undercover in a biotech corporation called Spiga (the largest in the world), to find and rescue a woman who has been kidnapped by the higher-ups and forced to work as a sex slave. But the setting is vastly different to what you might think: it's set in 2074, corporations have all the money and power instead of governments in a world ravaged by climate change, and the worlds are split into two zones, Red and Green. Green Zones are those for the monied; Red Zones are the poverty-stricken outside areas.

   The series is executive produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and if that's not enough of a sell perhaps the cast is. Sean Teale (Skins; Reign) plays the lead character Aaron/Ben Larson, Allison Miller (Terra Nova) plays his wife Laura; Dennis Haysbert (24, The Unit), Julia Ormond, Ian Tracey, Eddie Ramos and David Hewlett all round out the cast.

   If you want to know more, here's two links that will preface the show for you:

ScreenerTV's Article (minor - very minor - spoilers in this)

The Wikipedia Page

If you're thinking it's been done before and it doesn't sound fresh - I agree. There's nothing massively new to it - but if you fancy giving the show a go, you might be pleasantly surprised. I was.
   Anyway, as of today - and for it's 10/13-episode run (sources vary), Incorporated is going to join this roundup in place of Code Black. So I suggest you go watch the premiere episode, or if not just keep reading to find out what happened in the premiere!

Incorporated - 1x01 "Vertical Mobility"

"In 2074 Ben Larson, a manager at giant biotech firm Spiga, juggles his work life and home life with his quest to rescue a woman from his past who is being forced to work as a sex slave for Spiga higher-ups."

One of the biggest criticisms I've seen levelled at Incorporated's premiere is that it is full of sci-fi dystopian future tropes and doesn't have anything new to say. I wouldn't say that's an unfair judgement, but I didn't find it hard to move past the numerous genre clichés (class segregation, self-driving cars, gel healing spray, iPad-like body scanners, holograms etc), and if the story told isn't a new one, then those telling the story definitely are.

   And one thing they did right was not make the premise too premise-y. Far too often this season shows have come out with premise-heavy, character-light premiere episodes that haven't quite fit the bill.

   Not Incorporated.

   The 46-minute premiere episode was necessary world-building: we know Ben Larson's real name is Aaron, he's married and trying to have a baby with the daughter of a Spiga executive, he has unexplained links to a Red Zone cigarette dealer who has just joined the crew of a seeming criminal mastermind, and Ben needs to get a promotion to the 40th floor within Spiga in order to receive access privileges to Spiga's collection of sex slaves so he can rescue someone linked to his past. We needed to see how the worlds of the Green and Red Zones operated and how to move between them - and we did see that. Our characters' starting points come somewhere in the middle of the series mythology, with Ben now about to make his move, as he dethrones his friend and boss to create the 40th-floor vacancy. There's your "vertical mobility".

   It's clear there's a lot to come from Incorporated, and its premiere gave everything to the audience that it needed in a year where many haven't, and that transparency fills me with hope for the rest of the 10 (or is it 13? I'm as yet unsure) episode first season.

   VIEWERS: 0.523m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.15
   (They look terrible compared to everything else on this list, but for Syfy these, while on the lower side, are acceptable, so a fairly good start for Incorporated.)

VERDICT: As aesthetically pleasing as you'd hope from a sci-fi, with raised stakes right from the get-go and an impressive cast. A very promising series. 8.5/10

Lucifer - 2x10 "Quid Pro Ho" (midseason finale)

"The decapitated head of Boris Sokolov, the star witness in the trial against Perry Smith, the corrupt warden who murdered Chloe's father, is mailed to the LAPD. The trial is further complicated when Lucifer's mum defends Perry."

Lucifer swears to be truthful in court

Lucifer packed a lot of good stuff into a long 44-minute episode. It quickly picked up from the cliffhanger ending of "Charlotte" about to blow up Chloe's car, when Amenadiel came to the rescue. After the landlord of Lucifer's nightclub died the previous episode, another coincidence occurred here in Boris being murdered right before Perry's trial (no way "Charlotte" wasn't involved), and threatens to destabilise Lucifer and Chloe's relationship (therefore paving the way for "Charlotte" to convince Lucifer to return to Hell), but despite the setbacks Chloe refuses to help convict Perry at the expense of her relationship with Lucifer. I think it's a lovely marker of their closeness despite Lucifer's antagonistic and bloated personality, but thankfully justice was served when Dan had the Russians (who don't like their men being killed without permission) take Perry away and presumably kill him in retaliation for Boris's decapitation. This whole episode continued the "shit parent mythology" arc that began a few episodes ago, proving, in the end, just how important it was to the overall storyline.
   Lucifer also found out that Dan slept with "Charlotte", which was a hilarious scene, and Maze had a sword fight with a Chinese swordfighting expert - and thanks to her demon skills pulled off an easy win. That was a fun scene too.
   Divinity and humanity combining was the ultimate cliffhanger, however, as it was revealed why Chloe has such a special effect on Lucifer: God had sent Amenadiel down to Earth previously to bless an infertile couple and the product of that was - yep, Chloe Decker. The implications are huge (and I should have seen this coming really), especially with Lucifer and Chloe on the edge of a kiss in the final shot.
   Also, props to the writers for booking Sharif Atkins (Gallant from ER) in a guest starring role as the prosecutor. God he looks skinny these days.

   VIEWERS: 4.09m (The midseason finale becomes the only episode bar the s2 premiere to reach above 4m. Excellent)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1 (Goes up, remains stable)

VERDICT: With three episodes left, Lucifer is getting bigger and more suspenseful by the episode. 8.5/10

NCIS: Los Angeles - 8x10 "Sirens"

"OSP finally get a fresh lead in the hunt for the mole when a gunfight erupts outside Callen's home."

NCIS LA has finally circled back to its mole arc in time for its tenth episode: the woman, Natalie Grant, who turned the incarcerated Carl Brown, was chased by not-police all the way to Callen's front door before she ditched her attempts to turn herself in and fled. And that led to the rest of the story: that the people for whom Natalie and Carl had been spying didn't trust them anymore, and Natalie wanted to keep her life by handing herself into law enforcement. In the end she didn't, but OSP found a new lead just in time by circling back to another plot: Granger's Agent Orange issue. The once again unintelligible Director had visited a bar a few episodes back after his diagnosis, where he was approached by a good-looking woman who was here revealed to have an involvement with the mole. In a way, this connecting of the dots in such a broad and potentially unassuming way reminds me of Castle's season 7 and 8 focuses on LokSat and Castle's kidnap - although NCIS LA is doing better at sticking to characters than Castle did.
   Deeks and Eric partnered up again (Eric thinking he's a boss because he's done a bit of field work is hilarious), and Hetty got the most airtime she's had since season 6 and it was a welcome breath of fresh air (more Hetty please!), but Kensi's recovery has taken a rapid turn. Last episode she was struggling to walk or lift anything - now she's running? This reeks of desperation to return her to the team which could have been avoided by not writing her into such severe injuries. Poor writing.

   VIEWERS: 11.39m (Back up over 11m. Nice)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.5 (Equal)

VERDICT: Kensi's unimaginably speedy recovery was a rather big smudge on a very well-thought-out painting. Nomadic Callen set to begin a new search for yet another home? 8/10

Pure Genius - 1x06 "Bunker Hill, We Have a Problem"

"James organises for Wallace to perform historical remote surgery on a dummy in the International Space Station; an outbreak of E.coli brings Malik and Scott closer to their respective love interests, Brocket and Angie."

Dr. Wallace performs remote surgery on a dummy on the ISS

This is how you do unusual medical drama. Remote surgery on a dummy in the International Space Station - all part of James's master plan to drum up publicity for Bunker Hill - is something you don't see in medical shows because they generally lack the tech: not Pure Genius. Dr. Wallace might have been perturbed by the amount of press but James treated this like almost any other day: by which I mean he was his typical, over-exuberant, pushy self. In the end, complications arose (shocker), but by chance the astronaut himself turned out to be suffering from appendicitis (what a coincidence), so Wallace and the astronaut performed remote surgery successfully the second time around, restoring Bunker Hill's reputation. The complications and outcome were easily predictable, but the nuanced plot made up for it.
   Likewise, an outbreak of E.coli led to a hunt for the source: the mystery came together when it was revealed the source was a mobile food truck. The patients, a couple of art scholars about to be married under the Golden Gate Bridge, were instrumental in a heartbreaking story of their own, revealing secrets about Scott's past (he was a minister and can speak Chinese), and bringing the pairings of Scott-Angie and Malik-Brocket together. Scott got some notable airtime for once, but Malik ... well, my feelings about Malik are clear at this point. But just in case - fuck Malik. The E.coli outbreak was interesting, even if the writers turned to the unlikely diagnosis as the first option which, given they fit this episode into less than 40 minutes, could have unwound a little more slowly and fairly. Likewise with the ISS surgery, which felt a little condensed towards the end. There was space for more but Pure Genius didn't see the need.

   VIEWERS: 4.79m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.8
   (Violins sound as Pure Genius pulls in more shocking ratings)

VERDICT: Atypical plotlines unfolded well. I may not like the character arcs, but I do like how the show uses its setting to keep the plotlines as diverse as possible. 8/10

Quantico - 2x08 "Odenvy" (midseason finale)

"In preparation for recruits returning to families for Thanksgiving, Owen instructs them all to create believable cover stories. Meanwhile, the AIC finally makes a move by auditioning its CIA recruits. In the future, Alex, Harry, Léon, Dayana and Sebastien try to destroy the terrorists' bioweapon."

There's almost too much to talk about with Quantico's (rather early) midseason finale. The plot of creating covers for Thanksgiving were, much like the rest of this season, well-placed within the overall arc of the season, and also provided the perfect cover for the AIC to initiate its new recruits. We knew Ryan had been accepted after all his undercover work - but two others who turned up to be part of a man's murder were Léon and Dayana. Shocking? Perhaps not, but it's a big reveal nonetheless, and their blackmail suggests they may not after all be a willing part of the group.

Dayana, Ryan and Léon get accepted into the AIC

   Also sticking to Thanksgiving, Harry returned to London to visit his MI6 handler Charlotte. She was played by Lara Pulver (an actress I like to see even if in general she plays some dull characters), and we learnt Harry wasn't at the Farm as part of an MI6/CIA swap pilot program, but rather undercover making future connects for the British government in preparation for England to leave the EU. Bringing Brexit into the plot was clever as hell - and I like it. As was having Harry's ex Elliot transpire to be Charlotte's brother. We learn more and more by the episode.
   In the future, the team's attempt to stop the terrorists' bioweapon leads to 3 things: firstly, the revelation that the bioweapon is actually a suicide failsafe in case the terrorists can't pull off their plan; secondly, that the whole group get caught; and thirdly, that in the future timeline Ryan is working with the terrorists. Why? How? When? We don't know, but it was a stunning end that perfectly sets up the rest of the season.
   I cannot believe we have to wait nearly 2 months.
   VIEWERS: 2.29m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7
   (More violins. Violins everywhere)

VERDICT: Offered more answers than I expected, but in doing so opened just as many. And a good guest star too. What a way to go on winter hiatus. 9/10

Update: ABC is moving Quantico to Mondays in time for its return on January 23rd 2017. It will take Conviction's 10pm spot.

Westworld - 1x09 "The Well-Tempered Clavier" (penultimate episode)

"Bernard corners Ford and demands to have his removed memories returned to him. Dolores escapes from Logan, leading William to confront his brother-in-law-to-be and demand they find her. Maeve convinces Hector to help her escape the park."

In the penultimate episode of Westworld's first season, a huge focus was given to Bernard's quest for answers. Needing leverage to make Ford talk, he hacks Clementine so that she will hold Ford at gunpoint. Ford explains that Bernard himself is based upon his partner, Arnold, right before Ford pulls the rug out and reveals he was in control the whole time - and forces Bernard to commit suicide. I think I always knew Ford wasn't ever in danger here, but Bernard killing himself? If he's permanently lost, that's a huge thing for the show to have done - and how will that bleed into the Arnold mythology in the final episode: help or hinder? It probably, however, leaves Ford open to wage full-out war on Delos just as he tries to bring his new narrative into being.
   Maeve convincing Hector to help her escape was a small subplot in the grand scheme of the episode, but it didn't need to be more than that, because now she has an ally their flight will coincide with Ford's war - and the techs Felix and Sylvester will get caught right in the middle of it. Meanwhile, Dolores's escape confuses me (what does it build up to?), but William's sudden turn to "black hat" - or at least his sudden shedding of his conscience - is a mouthwatering prospect. I couldn't tell you what happened with Teddy, whose search for Wyatt continues, but Charlotte Hale's meeting with the Man in Black suggests he's involved with Delos's coup, but he is determined to steer clear of it to continue his search for the Maze.
   Whatever is to come in the final episode, it's big.

   VIEWERS: 2.086m (Second time Westworld's pulled over 2m. Great!)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0 (Season high by a huge margin!)

VERDICT: The final steps have been taken to set up the upcoming wars, with as many questions answered as asked. And it was done with tremendous simplicity after the heavy setting introduction in previous episodes. 8/10

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Conviction - Hayes: "We're all bad guys in someone's story."

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On-Season Week 10

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

Update: CBS has ordered another script of Scorpion, bringing its total for season 3 to 25 episodes.

Final thoughts

Violins sounded for almost half of the shows reviewed this week: Conviction took a ratings nosedive to below replacement level, while Elementary, Pure Genius and Quantico all remaining shockingly low. That's in spite of all 4 having pretty good to exceptional episodes this week. Incorporated's stupendous premiere put up numbers on the slightly lower side for Syfy, but that could be because the premiere was released online 2 weeks earlier - I guess we'll see next week if the numbers rise when the second episode airs first on TV. NCIS LA equalled its wonderful 1.5 demo share and pulled in a few extra viewers too when it returned to the mole arc; Lucifer's midseason finale performed similarly by matching its demo share but rising above 4m for only the second time this season. Westworld's penultimate episode hit a season high demo share and rose above 2m viewers for only the second time this season, while Brooklyn Nine-Nine's consistently good writing paid off with an increase in ratings.
   The final thought for this week, it seems, is that for the most part shows either performed very, very well - or shockingly poorly.

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

Sam