On-Season Week 22

WEEK 22

The only change from last week is the long-awaited arrival of The Walking Dead's season 7 midseason premiere; like A.P.B. and Powerless before it, the eyes of this roundup will be focused more closely towards TWD this week. Those two shows also continue their early runs but with vastly different renewal prospects, while Bull maintains a period of stability in this roundup - and will be hoping to improve its ratings after two joint series low 1.3s in the previous 2 weeks.
   (I've restyled the episode titles in the hopes that it will differentiate them easier when the roundup is published; I've found that when I check through after publishing it isn't as clear as I would like. Also, new feature: "best episode of the week". Self-explanatory, really: each week I'll pick one episode from the roundup and explain why I think it was the best one!)

A.P.B. - 1x02 "Personal Matters"

"The 13th gives chase to a man responsible for a spate of pharmacy robberies, but when he drives through a local park he puts a young girl in hospital; Gideon vows to bring him to justice."

There's only one place to start and that's with the proliferation of Gideon's APB app: to promote it, he creates an advert that displays how effective the app really is by smashing the window of a sweet shop and waiting for the police to arrive thirty seconds later. It was quite fun to see Murphy's face (see image) when she arrived and realised it was all a stunt, and it was a perfect way to open the second episode.
   Plot-wise, the episode was driven by Gideon's desire to provide justice for a young girl mowed down by an escaping pharmacy robber, and by solving the problem of police being unable to follow criminals through local parks in bulky cop cars due to their size by inventing new motorbikes equipped with spike strips. That was one hella impressive feature. It's also Murphy's first case since Gideon promoted her, and she once again counsels Gideon on the importance of people in police work; I'm making parallels to Person of Interest and Finch's argument that humanity is more important than any technological capabilities.
   Brandt's dog Zingo being hurt in a car explosion captured my emotions (nobody likes to see the dogs hurt), but I find that such a visceral move so early in the season sets the tone for the show, which doesn't feel like a show. The production of A.P.B. is so different from other quite fanciful and brightly-coloured cop procedurals (see Lucifer and basically any CBS cop drama) thats it grittiness (an ironic statemement given the show's technological USP) really makes A.P.B. feel real.
   In the final scene, Murphy's ex reveals he is heading a task force investigating Gideon. This arc will be very meaty indeed.

   VIEWERS: 4.53m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
   (Horrifying downtick from an excellent premiere figure. It could level out here and may get a renewal, but I'll be hoping for a comfortingly safe hover between 1.0-1.2 in the future.)

VERDICT: A.P.B.'s admirable efforts to keep its show grounded against the technological flair of Gideon's revolution, and its focus on people, is a huge part of the show's early quality. 8/10

Bull - 1x14 "It's Classified"

"TAC take on the case of a government whistleblower."

Tamsin Dale is TAC's next client: she's a government whistleblower who leaked documents to a leak site named Globespill. Given that TAC are going up against the government in a court-martial, they're low on resources. Their usual hacking capabilities are out of the question (and worse, later hacked to manipulate jury profiles, leading to TAC striking the wrong jurors), and some of the information learned about the leak - like the fact that Tamsin didn't leak the info that actually found its way onto the Globespill website but a redacted version - was classified and couldn't be used in court.
   But Benny couldn't let that be: he wanted the jury to know Tamsin wasn't responsible, even at the risk of being arrested himself. With his sacrifice, Tamsin was forced to give the closing statement herself and received a guilty sentence and 12 years imprisonment at Leavenworth; however, thanks to help from Bull, the "convening authority" overruled them and gave Tamsin simply a year's confinement on base instead. And Benny was released when TAC traded info about Chinese hackers (who were in league with Globespill) and that was that. A happy ending all round.
   Except for Benny, who received a strange letter at the end from the US Attorney's Public Corruption Unit. Uh-oh. FINALLY. A CHARACTER ARC.
   And props to the writers for sneaking in a Westworld reference.

   VIEWERS: 10.57m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3

VERDICT: I do love Benny and a sort-of centric episode is nice, as he has the most interesting background of them all. A well-worked episode outside of the usual conventions and a great cliffhanger. Finally, a character arc. 8.5/10

Castle 7x14 - "Resurrection" ... er, I mean ... Hawaii Five-0 - 7x17 "Hahai i na pilikua nui / Hunting Monsters"

"Serial killer Dr. Madison Gray turns herself in to HPD, but has unfinished business with Dr. Alicia Brown."

Following MacGyver's O'ahu name-drop last week, this week we see Hawaii Five-0 contend with the return of Dr. Madison Gray, serial killer extraordinaire. She is returned as Lauren Parker, a Wisconsin tourist covered in blood that partially matches Alicia Brown. Only Alicia's absolutely fine, so perhaps there's a twist with her daughter Sienna being alive still? A nice misdirect suggested Gray collected Alicia's blood when they originally clashed in 7x04, but still, the blood was only a partial. So when Gray's twisted game culminated in Alicia breaking her out of prison and flying to Wisconsin, I was unsurprised to find that Sienna was indeed alive.

Dr. Madison Gray turns herself in to HPD

   She was being held captive by a Benton Jones, cohort of a man named Sears who was up until this point the prime suspect in Sienna's "murder"; Gray lured Alicia to her daughter's rescue only to trap her once she had arrived home and spring her endgame: after years of having killers kill on her behalf, she wanted the challenge of turning a good person into a killer. Who's the victim? Dr. Madison Gray herself, if Alicia goes through with it. Hell, Gray even gave her the gun. And the screen goes to black as a gunshot sounds, so did Alicia kill her or not?
   We won't find out next week it seems, but it'll come back in the future. The problem is this episode raised so many odd questions. Why was Sienna held alive all these years? How did Gray know this unless she was previously involved? And why, given the length of Sienna's captivity, wasn't the endgame to have Sienna become a serial killer and kill her mother? That was what I thought would fit better with Gray's goals, but hey ho. I'm not the writers.

   VIEWERS: 9.48m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1
   (Near-season low demo share on a down night across the board)

VERDICT: I think this plot went down the wrong path, and despite major differences it reeked of Castle and 3XK. Still, it was a doozy, so I'll give it an 8/10

MacGyver - 1x16 "Hook"

"Mac and Jack travel to Louisiana to recover the fixer for an Armenian crime syndicate, but run into a family of bounty hunters less than keen on surrendering their captive."

Cut-scenes are back! After a short break, MacGyver utilises what has turned out to be one of its most stable sources of humour, this time by trapping Mac and Jack up to their necks in quicksand. As usual, Mac has a plan - only it's quite hilariously not what Jack expects, as it consists of them simply screaming for help. Presumably it works, for following the opening credits the real meat of the episode begins.
   That meat is the mystery of Matty and Jack's fallout, which Mac, Riley and Bozer try to coax from him during "Truth or Dare". Happily, the truth remains a mystery by "Hook's" conclusion, although I am sure a more specific answer will eventually arrive.
   But to the main plot, where the Coltons confuse with some shady tough talk, then outwit Mac and Jack on numerous occasions. There was something so MacGyver-ish about the execution of the premise, which is great hype but the story isn't what it seems - and not in a good way. When promos suggested Mac and Jack would "come up against the Colton family" I expected more like The Blacklist's "T Earl King VI" than this. It had some good moments however; the tactical team being responsible for retrieving Deckard rather than Mac and Jack made them pleasantly infallible - and how about Bozer, when undercover with Riley, pretending that he had played hard to get by giving her one phone number digit at a time? Riley's face was priceless!
   In the end, the Armenians came to collect Deckard but some swift thinking from Mac to use Jack as a decoy neutralised the threat, while in the final scene Jack apologises to Matty for their mysterious fallout and she joins them in another impromptu round of "Truth or Dare".
   VIEWERS: 7.31m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9
   (Series low on a down night)

VERDICT: A decent episode, but the misdirect of the promos left a sour taste. 8/10

Powerless - 1x03 "Sinking Day"

"When Van loses one of Wayne Securities' biggest clients, he orders Emily to secure a deal with Atlantis. The rest of the team try to figure out if one of the accountants is a superhero."

The Powerless cast trying to figure out whether one of their coworkers is a superhero was a rehashed subplot from the original version, and although we only got snippets of the original version it seemed moderately better executed than this. There was a little humour, but Jennie Pierson who plays Wendy does not have the same comic ability as Kate Micucci who was presumably dropped after the premise change, and the conclusion felt far too rushed.
   At least the other plotline was better, although again not by much. The vague racist humour was present as ever, along with some clever fish puns to do with the underwater Atlanteans, but it was mostly more entertaining than funny, as Van tried to deal with the father he reveres whilst proving he is a good businessman (spoiler alert, he isn't). But there's very little to say here, really. It was as good as the premiere and that's about it - but that doesn't say much. And neither will I.

   VIEWERS: 2.40m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.8
   (Steady, but cancellation low)

VERDICT: Powerless had another off day as it struggles to find a good balance between humour and intriguing plotlines. 7/10

Quantico - 2x12 "Fallenoracle"

"Owen manipulates a Farm lesson to counter an AIC mission; in the future, the terrorists try to gain the upper hand while Alex leads the hostages out of the building."

The multiple timelines have become so complex that I'm left wondering now whether the things I consider new information are actually new or if I have a poor memory. Such was the case when Carly, whom in the past Sebastian began dating, was revealed to be married to Sebastian by the time of the terrorist attack - but involved with the terrorists when she takes Harry hostage. Sebastian makes a hard choice in shooting her, and takes a bullet from her in exchange.
   But that's not even the biggest reveal here, because what the FBI learn is that the AIC isn't even a rogue terrorist group: the group led by Lydia are a sanctioned CIA black ops squad. So now the question of who even are the terrorists has morphed into is anyone even a terrorist at all?
   A little headway towards answering their purpose came in the past timeline when Owen, armed with the knowledge that the AIC want something from the NSA, organises a lesson in the recruits wiping their identities from technological existence by having them infiltrate the NSA, and it's revealed that the AIC want to tap NSA servers to receive their information. But anyone who fails to get out of there cleanly is kicked out of The Farm - and the victim of that is Léon Velez, leaving the FBI with no undercover informant.
   We finally see the full story with Harry's mysterious ex Elliot; Lydia is revealed to be running hostage recovery in the future; and the terrorist who kidnaps Will Olsen turns out to also have possession of the incriminating hard drives. And according to Lydia that person is - Dayana Mumpasi.

   VIEWERS: 2.54m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7

VERDICT: The terrorist mystery is hitting its crescendo as it comes to an end - but by God if it isn't more confusing than ever. I'll be glad for answers. But still, this was a cracking episode full of twists and turns, and is ever unpredictable. 8/10

Scorpion - 3x16 "Keep It In Check, Mate"

"Scorpion must rescue a CIA informant in Sardovia when the government's Enigma-like decryption key begins to reveal the names of traitors."

As Valentine's Day approached, Scorpion dealt with a mission to evacuate a CIA asset on their own in the fictional Sardovia. Needless to say, all did not go to plan. It's hard to make all the obstacles in a 40 minute episode feel organic, but by playing to the strengths and weaknesses of the competitive chess grandmasters Walter and Sylvester (who went undercover in a chess tournament to deliver the code word and evacuate Natalya Abelev), but "Keep It In Check, Mate" managed the feat. Walter and Sly's competitive streaks were front and centre as it became a battle over who would face Natalya which ended with neither winning because Sly messed up the board in his exuberant victory dance before the judges could check his win; Scorpion had to then get the next-in-line disqualified so Walter could take his place. It wasn't plain sailing, but it was funny, it really worked to show off the chemistry between the two characters and it was interesting.

Walter and Natalya compete

   Skipping to the C-plot: Ralph's struggle to work out which girl he should take to the Valentine's dance when asked by two separate girls was cute. He went to the geniuses for romantic guidance rather than his mum, though this mistake was corrected at the end as Paige excitedly agreed to teach Ralph to dance. I like Ralph sideplots. He's awesome.
   Unfortunately, what was that B-plot? Happy's dad Patrick was invited to the garage and then told by Cabe that he had to testify against a drug runner who had forced him to wipe cars' VIN numbers back when Patrick was drinking, but that he would still have to spend 2 years in prison. I don't see why it was at all necessary to have Patrick imprisoned (he wouldn't go through with Happy's plan to help him escape), although if the aftermath is handled right in the back end of the season I won't be able to deny the impact it will have on Happy. Speaking of which, Jadyn Wong absolutely sold the emotion as Happy watched her father processed and imprisoned. Supreme acting from an actress whose character never really shows much emotion at all.
   VIEWERS: 7.16m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.2

VERDICT: "You beat the American like a dog!" shouted one Sardovian codebreaker, right before Natalya's name was decrypted. Kind of sums up the whole episode. 8/10

The Walking Dead - 7x09 "Rock in the Road"

"Rick tries to convince Hilltop and the Kingdom to join his burgeoning fight against the Saviours. Negan finds Daryl is gone and orders his men to find him."

Adapting to survive is one of the key skills characters of The Walking Dead quickly learn, but surviving under the crushing forces of the Saviours is untenable and "adapting" isn't possible: it's fight or die. Problematically, Hilltop and the Kingdom are in two different places with regards to their situations. While Hilltop's only resistance to Rick's plan is its (naturally) frightened leader Gregory, the Kingdom is almost completely unaware that Negan even exists; thus while Rick may have drummed up support from the Hilltop citizens, the Kingdom will be a harder sell in the future. Even harder with Morgan trying to find a non-lethal solution.
   But Rick found a partial solution that benefited them twofold: Daryl's recent escape from the Saviours (and the fact that the Saviours never enter the Kingdom) means leaving him behind will not only keep him safe but keep the "convince-Morgan-and-King-Ezekiel-to-fight" plotline plodding along. It's a shame, since Daryl has only just been reunited with his Alexandria posse, but at least this part of the plan feels like it was planned, like Rick was being proactive rather than reactive - because when he and the group come along a barbed wire fence covered in explosives it seemed like a forced writing ploy to give our team something of an advantage early on, however slight.

Rick and Michonne clothesline a horde of walkers
using barbed wire stretched between their cars

   Meanwhile, Negan, heard here in voice only over a walkie-talkie, orders Daryl found after returning to his colony and finding him gone; Simon later shows up at Alexandria believing Daryl to be there. A tense but short search yields no Daryl but reveals to Rick that Father Gabriel has cleared their pantry and left clues as to where he is - does he have a plan of his own?
   Carol makes a cameo - a single scene outside of the Kingdom to remind everyone she's still lurking in the shadows.
   And the episode closes with Rick's group, out searching for Gabriel, ambushed by a large number of armed people and, realising that this could benefit his fight for the Saviours, Rick gives an amused and relieved smile before the screen goes black.

   VIEWERS: 11.99m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 5.7

VERDICT: Low on intensity, high on hope. A better all-round episode than some The Walking Dead has put forward in recent years, and whether through my own lack of attention or poor memory I'd forgotten Negan hadn't yet discovered Daryl had escaped, so including the Saviours' search actually surprised me. Welcome back. 8/10

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

MacGyver "I'm sorry doesn't fix anything, it just starts the conversation."

BEST EPISODE THIS WEEK:

The Walking Dead and Hawaii Five-0 are right up there this week, but the former's return was exceedingly lowkey, whilst the latter made some grievous errors in the way it approached the return of serial-killer-killing-serial-killer Madison Gray. Likewise, Scorpion could be up here but for its shameful sideplot.
   So I have to give it to A.P.B. this week. It followed one of the best premieres this year by keeping all the promises it made: dazzling technology, gritty settings, grounded characters, an emotional tug and it also introduced Abraham Benrubi as Gideon's technical adviser Pete McCann. Its ratings fell quite dramatically but when each of the previous two episodes had finished I instantly wanted more.

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On-Season Week 21

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

Final thoughts

Well, that was Week 22! The Walking Dead's return was lowkey in writing but actually a good advert for where the show is at now; its ratings took a significant leap from the pre-midseason lows. A.P.B. nosedived following excellent premiere ratings; Quantico remains as low as ever and Powerless is likely cancelled. Our Friday shows suffered from small declines on a down week; MacGyver and Hawaii Five-0 both hit season lows or near-season lows. Bull remained steady at 1.3, but that remains its season low to date.

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

Sam