On-Season Week 12

WEEK 12

We're down from 9 to 8 this week as the herd begins to thin out over Christmas. Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver return after 2 weeks out and Bull after one; Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Conviction and Pure Genius remain, while Incorporated follows up on its splendid premiere, but the biggest talking point is Westworld's finale: 9 episodes have built to this feature-length 90-minute finale. Can Jonah Nolan produce?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 4x09 "The Overmining"

"Captain Stentley returns to get help in a drug case after he loses a bag of evidence. Terry feels incompetent after failing his lieutenant's exam, and Boyle treats Rosa to a night shift secret."

Jake's stony face when Boyle tells a
terrible joke

Captain CJ opened the night shift arc in episode 3 and returned to close it in episode 9, only this time his utterly shameful incompetence became the spearhead for the episode's primary plot, rather than a Brooklyn-based sideline while the WitSec arc ran its course. CJ was unashamedly open about losing a bag full of evidence in a big drugs investigation (and shockingly unaware of the potential ramifications), leading to Jake and Holt offering to help capture the drug baron, Falco, with him. And capture him they did, with the credit for it going to CJ who, in a live press conference, managed to basically ruin his career by proudly admitting the loss of the bag of evidence in the "one question I can answer". Hilarious (if an outrageous break from plausibility) and witty, it was nice to see Ken Marino back again (for what will be the final time), as the outcome was that Holt put everybody back on the day shift.

Boyle struggles to contain himself
following his terrible joke

   Elsewhere, Terry's failure to pass his lieutenant's exam knocked his confidence and he struggled to prove to himself he had sufficient authority over his underlings when he demanded the precinct save on energy costs, with Amy unable to prevent herself from laminating things and Gina simply defiant in her love for space heaters. It produced some good lines, but the conclusion was rushed and it wasn't up to the high standard of season 4 overall.
   And in the C-plot, Boyle introduced Rosa to one of his guilty pleasures: a foot massage parlour. It simply wasn't funny or engaging and was going absolutely nowhere until it suddenly became a money-laundering front. And while I moaned that they weren't turning it into a storyline, I'm also going to moan because they did: the storyline they chose was awful, predictable and made a hash of an already deplorable C-plot. C for effort here, ungraded for execution.

   VIEWERS: 2.31 (Back up to the mid 2m)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0 (Stable)

VERDICT: Weak overall, as only the primary plot was on par with season 4 quality: the other 2 were either bad or indefensible. 7/10

Bull - 1x08 "Too Perfect"

"TAC's next client is Isabella Colón, Bull's ex-wife and Benny's sister, when a young woman following Izzy's healthy lifestyle regimen dies of an allergic reaction."

Bull went for backstory with "Too Perfect", as Bull's mysterious ex-wife Izzy turned to TAC for help. A young woman following Izzy's healthy lifestyle regimen concocted and drank the healthy smoothie Izzy recommended - but died from an allergic reaction. The lawyers discovered there was pollen in the drink and suspected contamination and tried to pin it on Izzy. I must admit, at first I wasn't convinced of Izzy's innocence and thought this episode was going to lead me into the murky question of should Bull defend his guilty ex-wife or throw her to the wolves? In the end, Izzy wasn't at fault; the guilty party was the dead woman's husband's mistress, who wanted the husband all to herself. And I must again make an admission: I didn't see this one coming. No matter how predictable that should have been, the episode had me so off-guard with all the Bull and Benny background that I forgot there was a reveal to come.

Bull and Izzy stage an argument that
will bolster Izzy's defence

   Perhaps that's not a good thing, though, and there's an argument to be made that the episode was overly focused on backstory as the show tried to make up for its lack thereof in the previous 7 episodes. There were much fewer court scenes and again the not guilty verdict scene was omitted (although in fairness mixing up the court scene structure is necessary to keep the show fresh).
   Light on the rest of the TAC team, we learned about Izzy and Benny's falling out (because she felt Bull poached Benny for TAC after they divorced just to spite her), and some intimate and saddening details of the Bull-Colón marriage (Izzy miscarried). It was all good stuff, and hopefully we see more of Izzy in the future.
   That's a final point that needs to be made: Bull, like MacGyver, is horribly lacking in character arcs and there's a genuine concern that if some don't appear soon, it will affect the show's performance. In that area, the writers need to up their game significantly.
   VIEWERS: 11.86m (Back up over 11m)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.5 (Still equal; fourth week running)

VERDICT: The pendulum swings from heavy in court to heavy on character, but not in a completely satisfying manner. Still hugely enjoyable, and props to the guest star from Person of Interest's Detective Soriano. Worth an 8/10

Conviction - 1x09 "A Different Kind of Death"

"Wallace shadows the latest CIU case: that of a Death Row inmate convicted of murdering an Assistant US Attorney."

Appropriately titled "A Different Kind of Death" was a look into another avenue Conviction rightly explored: an innocent Death Row inmate. Earl Slavitt was convicted of murdering AUSA Tom Simon, a friend of Wallace's back in the day: therefore, ignoring the animosity between himself and Hayes, Wallace foists the case upon CIU 5 days before Slavitt's scheduled execution and tags along for the ride, to make sure Slavitt really was guilty.

Hayes realises Slavitt was executed before she could save him

   The pressure of having to prove Slavitt innocent with only 5 days before his execution, with all CIU's attempts to halt it failing, led to the most panicked episode of the series. The stakes were huge: prove Slavitt innocent and get him out of prison before the State killed him. Unfortunately for Slavitt, CIU were just too late. For me, that was always the predictable ending, but for once I was rooting for the predictable ending. Conviction needed Slavitt to die, needed to find a way to say that even when their characters put in their best efforts and prove a man innocent, that isn't always enough to beat the system. Of course, in the real world Wallace wouldn't have left it to the last minute to put CIU on the case and Slavitt would have lived, but his death was necessary.
   Props to the editing: that 30 seconds where Hayes is desperately rushing through the explanation of why Slavitt's innocent in a voicemail to Wallace while unbeknownst to her Slavitt's execution is already underway is one of the best scenes I've seen all season. Having her panicked explanation as a voiceover to Slavitt being led to his death was a phenomenal moment and I can't put into words what I felt. It was just heartbreaking.
   Elsewhere, Max's drug use was spotted by eagle-eyed Sam, and Hayes' mother's Senate run continues. How are these going to wrap up with 4 episodes left?

   VIEWERS: 3.34m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6

VERDICT: A good episode elevated by a single heart-wrenching scene. Conviction is going down fighting, just like Slavitt. 9/10

Hawaii Five-0 - 7x10 "Ka Luhi / The Burden"

"The body of a teenage athlete who went missing 10 years ago is discovered when the hypnotherapy of a disturbed teenager suggests he has knowledge of the crime; he continues to undergo hypnosis to help Five-0 get to the truth."

The title of the episode refers not only to the burden of the boy, Rhys, whose emotional issues stemmed from his witnessing of the athlete Maggie Reed's murder when he was a child, and the burden of the killer - Rhys's mother, who accidentally ran Maggie over before choosing to bash her skull in to cover her tracks. The reveal was a great scene: the emphasis was so focused on the father as the killer because he filed a report stating he hit a boar the day after Maggie disappeared, but in actuality he filed that report on behalf of his wife. It was a very different type of murder investigation which worked well and gave plenty of space to the episode's burden: Danny's sister.
   Not that I don't love to see Missy Peregrym (Reaper, Rookie Blue), but she was a tool in a "shit family mythology" (which I think I'll adopt as a replacement for "shit parent mythology", since it is a much broader, all-encompassing term). Here, Bridget Williams comes to Hawaii on a business trip, but it becomes clear she's overwhelmed by lack of support from her husband and her draining responsibilities as a mother; Danny's attempts to convince her not to cheat fill the enormous space left by the unusual murder plot progression, and serve as a poor B-plot in what was an otherwise very good episode.
   VIEWERS: 9.33m (Dips below 10m again

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2 (A small tick down after 2 weeks out)

VERDICT: Split right down the middle: A-plot excellent, B-plot a subpar rehash of a tired but won't-die trope. So I'll split between average and good and go for a 7.5/10

Incorporated - 1x02 "Downsizing"

"Spiga begin to vet prospects for the job vacated by the framed Chad Peterson, which puts Ben in a reactionary position. Laura tries to help Chad's family, while Theo participates in a caged fight in the Green Zone."

One thing I love about Incorporated is how tense almost every scene is. If Ben isn't desperately trying to evade detection at every turn, then Laura is self-harming or trying to help someone in peril, or Theo is manipulated by Terrence - and every scene between Spiga exec (and Laura's mum) Elizabeth and the evil security head/torturer Julian is spine-tingling.
   In "Downsizing", Ben manages to evade detection by convincing his rival for the 40th floor job to help frame Chad for their trip to the Red Zone - and it works. Unfortunately for Ben, said rival spots him hiding some unathorised tech (a 2074 version of a USB stick on which he's hidden the evidence of his motive - finding Elena) in the interrogation room and when Ben goes back for it it is gone. Throughout the episode Ben has mostly had the upper hand without anyone knowing, but now he's lost the advantage and it's going to set up a tasty season to come. Can he twist this around or was this actually part of his plan? (I doubt the latter, if I'm honest.)

A refugee camp in Milwaukee for climate change victims

   Laura continues to self-harm as Chad's family are disavowed, but she rescues their kids from exile by helping a childless couple adopt them. She's yet to come into her own with a real plot, but a little further down the line I'm sure Laura will get entangled in some way.
   Theo's fight didn't go how he planned: his reckless cheating won him the fight, but at the cost of bringing him completely under Terrence's control, Terrence viciously murdering Theo's opponent to prove that losing wasn't an option. With Theo now fighting his way to the executives' club and Ben trying to work his way there, this is starting off nicely.
   Finally, flashbacks to 12 years earlier show us how Ben (then Aaron) first met Elena, in a refugee camp for victims of climate change, as he flaunted the system and figured out ways to steal guard rations and help people. He made an ally in a shady guard, Hendrick, who in the present is part of the Spiga HR Department - and Ben's only ally inside the company. Theo hasn't come into the past yet, but I'm liking where practically all of this is going.
   VIEWERS: 0.539m (Only a slight tick up)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.18 (As predicted, the online release drove down Incorporated's premiere demo share, and with its second week it rises to an even higher, happier figure and gives us a proper baseline for future analysis)

VERDICT: The edge-of-your-seat thriller continues. Ben didn't get the promotion at episode 2's end like I predicted, but that will soon come - and when it does everything else will be nicely aligned. 8.5/10

MacGyver - 1x10 "Pliers"

"Mac and the team travel back to Mac's hometown, but find their vacation interrupted when one of the children from Mac's old school is kidnapped."

After a couple of weeks out, MacGyver returned with an underwhelming episode. As important as character backstory is, there's something about that returning-to-the-homeland-and-getting-caught-up-in-sudden-random-episode-filling-troubles that always grates on me: if you're going to do it, do it right. MacGyver kind of just fell in between.
   The emotional weight of the kidnapped girl, Valerie, and its effect on her father was omitted by having Mac, Jack, Bozer and Riley continually joke about their rental car, their team dynamics, Mac and Bozer's childhood ... It was an episode full of punchlines and some very good sciencey stuff, but there were no real stakes in the game and the story suffered for it.
   Luke Arnold (John Silver in Black Sails) was wasted as one of the kidnappers who, like Valerie, was sidelined by writing deficiencies (although he really didn't pull off the American accent), and in the end although the episode was funny it just wasn't a well-constructed or well-paced one.

   VIEWERS: 7.46m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
   (Both make small downticks)

VERDICT: MacGyver continues to blow hot and cold, and with "Pliers" blows very cold indeed. Not a good example of what this show can do. 7/10

Pure Genius - 1x07 "A Bunker Hill Christmas"

I pretty much decided when I woke up this morning that I didn't want to watch Pure Genius, and after actually watching it I'm only more convinced that there's little point carrying on. The high-tech medical show began with promise, but as I pass the halfway point of what will be its solitary first season it's time to realise that not even one of James Bell's miracle cures could rescue it.
   The biggest problem with the show is the most unfortunate: given its impressive premise, Pure Genius just hasn't been executed very well. It's just missing something that I can't put my finger on, but that bugs me every episode because it isn't there. Of course, the show does have other problems, namely that indefensible pairing of Dr. Zoe Brocket with Dr. Malik Verlaine instead of with James Bell. Watching that reach boiling point in "A Bunker Hill Christmas" was worse than watching Wolf of Wall Street (which to those who know me was an impossible feat because I fell asleep). And for that reason, as well as that unidentifiable spark which Pure Genius lacks, I'm bugging out before CBS pulls the ripcord.

   VERDICT: DROPPED

Westworld - 1x10 "The Bicameral Mind" (season finale)

"Maeve, Hector and Armistice make their escape from Westworld. The identities of Wyatt and Arnold's killer is exposed as the Man in Black reaches the end of his search for the Maze; Ford invites the cunning Delos board members to the inauguration of his new narrative."

Westworld's 90-minute finale was a feature-length answer to a slowly built-up season, and validated as many internet fan theories as it disproved. The Man in Black did transpire to be William, proving that the series had been showing multiple timelines and that everything with William and Logan was 3 decades in the past. Dolores was revealed to be both Wyatt and the person who killed Arnold, which she did closer to 34/35 years into the past and proving that the conversations of consciousness between Dolores and Bernard that stumped a few people (OK, that stumped me) were actually between Dolores and Arnold 34/35 years ago, before Arnold programmed her to slaughter the Hosts to prevent the park opening.

Dolores is created by Arnold

   The conclusion to Maeve's escape was so simple yet so unexpected (again, maybe only for me), but when you're watching AI evolve you (I) forget (forgot) that this could all be another manipulation - which it was. Of course this wasn't going unnoticed, but I didn't think it was controlled. Maeve was programmed to escape Westworld, but in the end returned for her daughter. One unanswered question there (and a suspicion of mine that I've not seen mentioned anywhere else I've looked) is whether that change of heart from Maeve was programmed or not. I don't reckon she made that choice of her own volition given every other step was pre-planned, but then again it doesn't quite tally with the season's final revelation. Bear with me, there's a little more to explain before we get there.
   Ford reveals to the Man in Black/William that the Maze was merely another simple narrative, although Dolores later reaches true consciousness by accepting her reality, just in time for Ford's final speech to the gathered Delos board members. Ford, who revealed previously that he hadn't been preventing the Hosts reaching consciousness (after a change of heart following Arnold's death), and instead was buying time for them to acclimate and prepare, criticised the Delos board for their exploitative actions and revealed they would all be part of his new narrative, before Dolores shot him point blank in the head and an army of Hosts began to slaughter the board members. William/Man in Black watched on, delighted, as the chaos ensued, because his own dream to see Westworld's Hosts evolve finally came true.
   And there we have it. I'm not sure much has been left unanswered that will spill over into season 2 (and without Ford that's a big transition), but Westworld won't be back until at least 2018 so we don't have to worry about it for a long, long time. Take a bow, Jonah Nolan.

   VIEWERS: 2.240m (season high!)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0 (equal)

VERDICT: Another over-long, frustratingly slow episode that spent most of its time answering questions before a blistering final few minutes - although I shouldn't have to wait that long. 7.5/10

SEASON VERDICT: It depends what you like. I started watching for Jonah Nolan, who I'd back (and still do) to pull off any TV show he wanted. There's no doubting the writing throughout Westworld's first season was fucking sensational - but I can't really get past the format. If you're good for 10-episode seasons of 60-90 minute episodes and love AI or Jonah Nolan, this is the show for you after Person of Interest. It's a very thinky show - you have to involve yourself to really understand it (as always with Jonah!) - and if you like to do that, then look no further. If not, don't even consider it, because if you struggle with shows that are far too slow and leave you just a little annoyed at how long it takes to get to the reveal, then you might be me. Or like me. And that's why, for all the out-of-this-world acting, writing, producing and graphic design (and despite an episode average of 7.3), I simply can't give this show anything higher than a 6.5/10. I feel like my time was wasted here - but you might not. Maybe take a look?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Gina: "Not to brag, but I was name-checked in my kindergarten teacher's suicide note."

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On-Season Week 11

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

Final thoughts

Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Bull both continue their pretty solid runs, but with episodes of differing quality, while Incorporated rose on its premiere ratings without a pre-release to drive down live viewing figures. Conviction struggled as usual, but at least it avoids the unwanted honour of being dropped from this roundup due to lack of quality so far bestowed upon Code Black and Pure Genius: that will come by January's end when ABC finally cancel Conviction officially. Hawaii Five-0 dipped into some shit family mythology, albeit with a wonderful guest star, and MacGyver struggled alongside it, although ratings don't really reflect that for either of these two solidly performing Friday shows. Finally, Westworld finished its first-season run with a shocking ending, resulting in breaking its viewer high for the season.

Thanks for reading everyone, see you all next time!

Sam