On-Season Week 16

WEEK 16

Happy New Year everyone!
   A soupçon of normalcy returns as the New Year sees this roundup leap back up to significant numbers: we've seven shows to review this week. Incorporated passes the halfway stage of its (I'm now quite sure) ten-episode first season; with Bull and Conviction airing their tenth episodes, the only fall show not to have broken into double figures is Quantico, which doesn't return for another few weeks. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's two-part midseason finale will see the return of a familiar face, a character who serves a similar guest-star-per-season function as the Hallowe'en specials; it and Scorpion join Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver in the lead at 12 episodes.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 4x11 & 4x12 "The Fugitives Pt. 1 & 2"

"Nine fugitives escape when a prison bus is involved in a crash. Jake and Amy bet their living situation on who can capture the most escaped convicts, before Jake enlists the help of an old ally to capture the sole remaining escapee. Meanwhile, Terry struggles to deal with 'getting old' and Boyle is taught how to text properly."

Brooklyn Nine-Nine hyped up two things in the lead up to this two-part midseason finale: firstly, a guest star from NFL player Marshawn Lynch; and secondly, Doug Judy's return. Neither worked, although in fairness the punchlines given to Marshawn Lynch (his pronunciation of "quesedilla" and being over-talkative despite a closed-off image, which were seemingly unsurprising to audiences because they are already punchlines about Marshawn Lynch) went way over my head simply because I'd never heard of him.
   Doug Judy on the other hand ...
   I seem to dislike a lot of fan favourite characters on a lot of shows I watch (Michonne and Daryl, The Walking Dead; Carter, Person of Interest) and Doug Judy is no different. He's a Hallowe'en-esque guest-star-per-season special, but unlike the Hallowe'en episodes which can make interesting, funny and varied heists, the only facets to Doug Judy's character are A) he'll sing really annoyingly with Jake (which ironically proves Andy Samberg can't actually sing) and B) he'll probably betray them and maybe it'll turn out he'll unbetray them and actually be on their side. Which was what the writers tried to do here - again - and didn't manage to make it any more interesting than the first three times. And on top of that, the first part of the two-parter felt like filler to lead up to Doug Judy's introduction.
   The sideplots weren't much better either. Terry's concerns over his way of life and growing old at least represented a smooth cross-episode subplot, but didn't translate into humour very well and I imagine are probably just a way for the writers to incorporate Terry Crews' glasses so he has less trouble on set (I presume. I don't know if Terry Crews wears glasses).
   Boyle's text subplot - in which he was evicted from the Nine-Nine's group chat because of his over-texting - was the highlight of the episode. It was hilarious and I'm actually shocked it wasn't done sooner. Great punchlines, great interaction. While the rest of the episodes had punchlines in and around each seen, they weren't nearly as well-executed, and the text subplot will get lost in the quagmire of shit that was the season 4 winter finale.
   At least we had a surprising cliffhanger though as Gina, caught in the middle of the road reading one of Boyle's texts, was hit by a bus. Like it will have any real effect on her character anyway. An idiotic tease.
   Oh, and well done for remembering Jake and Amy are together. Fucking finally.

   VIEWERS: 3.44m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3
   (Season highs by a huge margin. The New Year's Day/Doug Judy combination jump won't fool FOX executives, but it's still a plus for the season average and a season 5 renewal!)

VERDICT: Horseshit. 4/10 - and that's doubled from the original 2/10 only by virtue of Boyle's hilarious texting subplot.

Bull - 1x10 "E.J."

"Bull defends the CEO of a tech company whose employee was killed by their self-driving car prototype."

Putting aside the improbability that any current AI could replicate the vast array of human emotions shown by the self-driving car "E.J.", (although perhaps I'm wrong) this was a very good episode. The victim was killed by the self-driving car following his failure to adhere to security protocols when upgrading the car's software, desperate to return home to catch the 1.30am Arsenal v Manchester United football (soccer) match (props to the Bull writers for picking United; also see image because I couldn't resist). And from there the episode follows a natural, if a little uninspired, progression.

The victim's calendar, in which he had scheduled
an Arsenal v Man U match.

   First the victim's wife is accusing the CEO, Ginny Bretton, of negligence, a CEO who, for her impressive portfolio, lived in pyjamas in her childhood home. Standard opener. Then there's the suggestion the victim caused the malfunction by ignoring security protocols. Then there's a few questions of duplicity surrounding a couple of other employees, leading to a reveal that one of them caused the malfunction because he was in love with the CEO who didn't love him back; and then there's an end reveal where the CFO manufactured it all for monetary gain. Standard stuff.
   But emotional stuff. Ginny's driving motivation (pardon the pun) was to build a car that would reduce crashes and fatalities, which E.J. could do by 90%, because she had lost someone in a car crash. This reveal of Ginny's past (and the reveal that Bull had engineered the malfunction in E.J. to convince Ginny to testify) were unfortunately visible a mile off, and that obviousness, coupled with a frustratingly typical plot progression, didn't make for as good an episode of TV as I had hoped.
   VIEWERS: 11.30m (Stable)

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.5 (Back up to 1.5 is good news)

VERDICT: A good premise, but didn't live up to expectations. Great performances pulled the heartstrings, though. 7.5/10

Conviction - 1x10 "Not Okay"

"Hayes pushes CIU to investigate the case of Sophie Hausen, a woman locked up for killing a university basketball star that raped her."

Hot button topics are bread and butter to Conviction: in "Not Okay", the show explored the sadly very relevant topic of university campus rape, along with the ethics of what does or doesn't amount to rape. Much like in episode 6, where the CIU argued a case based on racial prejudice, the moral discussions here were fantastic, and no argument made here is wrong - but every argument is right. And once again, given the controversial nature of the topic, the writers covered themselves well by ensuring these arguments applied the right questions to the topic without apportioning blame to any undeserving party. And by this point, these moral debates amongst CIU staff are totally normal - which character is on which side of what argument and why? - but unbelievably engrossing.

Hayes revealing the university provost covered up the rape

   Unfortunately, the plot didn't quite stand up momentum-wise, as it was underlined by Hayes' over-vehemence to stick a middle finger up to the system; where before she fought fairly, this time she almost wanted Sophie to be the killer just so that she could free a guilty person in return for an innocent man being given the lethal injection. And that moral quandary, which drove the edgy episode (along with Hayley Atwell's performance) was utterly compelling. It also helped push Hayes towards accepting herself and giving a proper relationship with Wallace a go, which I approve of.
   Elsewhere, Tess tried to make things right with Matty, the man she wrongly identified as her aunt's killer when she was 12, but he fled after finding out who she was. I imagine that will be left unresolved now, given there's only 3 episodes left, which is a shame. But it wouldn't be technically unresolved as an ending could be read into that answer and, although a sad one, if this isn't touched upon in the future it will be a loose thread tied up.

   VIEWERS: 2.05m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.4
   (What. The. Fu...)

VERDICT: Edgy, emotional and had our main character driven by all the wrong motivations. One of the best episodes of the series. 9.5/10

Hawaii Five-0 - 7x12 "Ka 'Aelike / The Deal"

"Five-0 rescue Chin from the cartel, but another case of murder awaits them upon their return to O'ahu."

So after all that build-up to Chin being kidnapped by the cartel, Hawaii Five-0 writers cleared it up inside the first 10 minutes. The Mexican federal agent explained where they might find Chin's kidnapper, Juan Diego, and just as Diego was about to feed Chin to a pit full of hungry dogs McGarrett and the team arrived to save the day, right before Sarah's aunt and uncle relinquished custody to Chin, citing Mexico as too dangerous for her to live in. None of that displays any forward thinking from the writers.
   "What's in the car?" could have been the tagline for the promo, linking to the old "what's in the bag?" a few episodes before (which ironically was the plot that led to Chin's kidnap), as a car salesman by the name of Mitch Lawson was killed. It was seemingly perpetrated by a colleague, but then it was discovered Lawson was smuggling drugs in the cars - but then it was discovered he was actually smuggling uranium, and now we have another cliffhanger: there's a dirty bomb loose in O'ahu.
   All of this in time for a well-written exit plot for Masi Oka's character Max Bergman, who departs in the next episode. Will he die? Probably not, but at least his exit is tied in well with Jerry needing to find a new place.

   VIEWERS: 10.02m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2
   (Both tick up)

VERDICT: A decent cliffhanger resolved poorly, which led into an episode with a slightly less decent cliffhanger. The middle was good though. 7.5/10

Incorporated - 1x06 "Sweating the Assets"

"Laura's backstory is revealed as she ponders making a house call to her ex-housekeeper in the Red Zone."

The first half of the season has focused on Aaron/Ben's struggles to keep his clandestine motivations under wrap whilst trying to gain promotion, but after an intense episode that concluded with Roger Caplan's murder, Incorporated shifted that focus. To Laura.
   We knew a few important details about her: she had been through a traumatic experience in the Red Zone at some point in her past, she was estranged from her mother and she self-harmed regularly, but what "Sweating the Assets" did in an episode that was 90% flashback was explain what happened to her. It was a typical girl-goes-to-bar-against-mother's-wishes storyline, ending with Laura kidnapped for ransom - and when her mother didn't pay the kidnappers cut off her right ear.
   Elizabeth refused to pay because Spiga's policy wasn't to pay for the safe return of kidnapped employees, but presumably to wipe them out along with the kidnappers. Which is what happened to Laura's father, while Elizabeth did nothing to save him. This time at least, she sent Julian to rescue Laura, and her duplicity continued when she explained he would not receive his transfer and was instead to be promoted, which also reveals how Julian got to his current position.
   Ben/Aaron featured a little at the front and back ends of the episode, where he was shown to be taking steps on a fresh plan to rescue Elena, with Theo's help, but that was about it. This was Laura's episode, and Allison Miller's chance to shine - and she did.

   VIEWERS: 0.424m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.12
   (Perhaps the downtick wasn't just Christmas ...)

VERDICT: The flashback episode proves just how much you don't need to move a plot forward a whole lot to create something substantive, and the titbits of info on her character in the first five episodes prove how, when done well, you can answer your own questions without feeling like you've taken away the mystery. 9/10

MacGyver - 1x12 "Screwdriver"

"Agent Adler calls Mac and Jack for help when she uncovers a lead that could see Nikki arrested. But everything isn't as it seems."

Never trust a show that has a slow start. Person of Interest taught me that. Because you never know what it is hiding. And MacGyver, with "Screwdriver", pulled off a huge twist that I never saw coming.
   But I'll begin at the beginning: the cold open, in which Jack was being interrogated by a terrorist who had drugged him with truth serum. He sung like a canary - until Mac arrived to save him, citing that it didn't matter Jack had told the terrorist about Phoenix because he is going to jail. Like word doesn't get around in jails ... There was no resolution here, so the humour didn't work as well.

Nikki arrests Director Thornton

   I'm as big a fan of Amy Acker as there could be - and I called it that she was well-positioned as the portrayer of Agent Sarah Adler, because Adler could become a good recurring character. Having her bring a lead on the show's main mythology so far, Nikki, to the table was an inspired idea. Bringing back Murdoc for a few short scenes to expand on that even further - inspired.
   Nikki's whole bit was that she wasn't actually a traitor, but a deep cover CIA operative. Plenty of evidence backed her up, but plenty didn't, and her secret mission - to find a government mole codenamed Chrysalis - was a convenient way to turn her back to the good side. But having Director Patricia Thornton be the mole? That was a stunning twist. How do you feel to sign up a main cast and lop one of them off early on in season one? That won't be the last we see of Thornton, and I wouldn't be surprised if the writers tried to twist her back to a good guy, although I hope they don't backtrack on this shocking reveal. This has the potential to change the course of the show, which has been slow so far, and I'd like to see this play out properly.

   VIEWERS: 8.48m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2
   (Impressive ratings for a show that had been on the decline)

VERDICT: For the return of Amy Acker, the mythology of Nikki and THAT twist - 9/10

Scorpion - 3x12 "Ice Ca-Cabes"

"The Scorpion team attend to a broken generator in the desert, but when it explodes shrapnel endangers Cabe's life - and the only way to save him becomes to kill him."

Walter and Paige collect hydrogen sulphur from a nudist spring

A criticism you could level at general procedurals is that we know they're going to solve the case and catch the bad guy at the end of the episode, barring any seasonal arcs that are being implemented, but we as the audience watch to try and crack the case ourselves. That is not the case in such shows when characters are endangered, because 99 times out of 100 that danger is never going to actually represent a threat to a main character. So when Scorpion put Cabe on the edge of death for an entire episode it wasted 40 minutes.
   OK, so it didn't waste 40 minutes. There were some good character moments: Walter and Paige's awkwardness after Tim's controversial departure, Cabe being unable to recognise when a woman is flirting with him and the return of Toby's outfit fetish. But the main chunk of the plot, which was the threat to Cabe's life that required uber-extremes to save, had no emotional weight because the show wasn't going to chop a fan favourite character.

   VIEWERS: 7.37m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2
   (Both hovering nicely in respectable areas)

VERDICT: The main plot served no purpose and had no weight. At least the character moments were good, and it was very funny too. 6/10

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Bull

Bull: "[The victim failed to adhere to proper security protocols in the leadup to his death because] he was in a hurry to get home for a game."
Marissa: "At 1.30 in the morning?"
Benny: "You've obviously never seen an Arsenal Man U match."

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On Season Week 15 (+ Midseason Previews)

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

Final thoughts

Be still my heart. This week has had some great twists, some unexpected moments and some very differing ratings performances. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's two-part winter finale stormed the ratings with season highs in both demo share and viewers, but didn't have the writing consistency to back them up (not that stonking ratings is a problem); Bull and MacGyver saw ratings increases alongside excellent episodes while Hawaii Five-0 saw an increase alongside a slightly weaker episode; Scorpion hovered in ratings with a disappointing episode; Incorporated switched its focus but hasn't come out of its (Christmas) ratings slump. Lastly, the burn-off of Conviction's final four episodes saw a shocking slide to 0.4 in the demo share, leaving me to wonder if ABC wouldn't get better ratings if it aired reruns instead.
   Final word must be a shoutout to Bull, who incorporated a reference to my football team in its show.

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

Sam