On-Season Week 25

WEEK 25

The very novel full-length roundups last week are concluded: we're back to normal with 9 shows to review. And there's a lot to digest: among the rest of the week's episodes, Elementary begins the first of Kitty Winter's two-part return, MacGyver attempts a crossover with Hawaii Five-0 and Callen's father returns in NCIS LA.
   Before we see how they performed, a quick note: after much deliberation, I have decided to remove A.P.B. and Powerless from this roundup. I've no wish to spend more time on lost causes (as before with Conviction and Incorporated, both of which have been cancelled). Also, having seen the premiere of Making History and it's own terrible ratings, I've decided that show shan't make it to this roundup at all.

Bull - 1x16 "Free Fall"

"Bull defends a skydiving company thought to be at fault for the wrongful death of the Governor of Connecticut after spotting Liberty serving as the plaintiff's lawyer."

"Free Fall" was probably one of the better Bull episodes of the season. It was equal measures heartwarming, heartbreaking, funny and quirky. But the most ironic part is that this episode, which transcended from a court case to a murder investigation run by TAC, was better than most police procedural whodunnits. That's most likely due to the stakes being much higher here: any revelation was outed in court not in the field by clever police work, so the impact of such revelations was accordingly huger and, here, once something was out it could not be taken back.

   Bull threw most of the punches, in terms of finding and revealing damning evidence, but it was Liberty Davis who had the final say, turning Bull's theory upside down and leading him to realise that Max Hyland, the brother of Walt Hyland, the skydiver who also died trying to save the Governor, had sabotaged Governor Whitfield's parachutes to prevent a new zoning law putting their company out of business. Max Hyland, who had litigated the case himself was, ironically, the killer. That must've hit Bull's ego quite resoundingly.
   Liberty's appearance as a rival provided a huge chunk of the drama: she knew TAC's tricks and employed them to manipulate the jury herself, while also being the catalyst for a number of emotional moments, first as she confronted Bull for joining the case to oppose her, and secondly when Bull approached Governor Whitfield's wife and pleaded with her not to ruin the skydiving company and thus the life of Walt's daughter, Dylan.
   As a final note, Bull's thus-far inability to conjure proper arcs is starting to subside: the investigation into Benny by the Attorney General for his work prosecuting Hayden Watkins nine years ago was revealed to be because new DNA evidence suggested Watkins was actually innocent, while a "reference arc" in Danny breaking up with her British boyfriend spurred on a fresh romance with an FBI contact. Good stuff - although there was no need to wait this late for this kind of stuff.

   VIEWERS: 10.39m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3

VERDICT: Everything a courtroom case should be, with the bonus flair of Liberty as an opponent. Funnily enough, better than most cop procedural whodunnits as well. 9/10

Elementary - 5x15 "The Wrong Side of the Road"

"Kitty Winter returns with the news that she believes people involved in an old case she and Sherlock investigated in London are being murdered."

Elementary's publicity stunt two-part recall of the Kitty Winter character followed an almost trope-like genesis: drag up a previously unmentioned case that she and Sherlock worked on which occurred in a timeframe outside that depicted by the series, a case which is now causing mayhem in the present. Sprinkle the murders with a coroner who is either corrupt or incompetent, throw in some predictable twists (ie the man supposedly orchestrating the murders is thrown off his balcony), and you have a very standard, formulaic reunion episode.

Kitty reveals she is back

   Of course, Elementary managed to do a little more to up the ante. The murder of the barrister on the case in London 3 years ago, Cy Durning, leads Sherlock, Joan and Kitty to Eli Kotite, the man they prosecuted years ago for murder who has seemingly returned for revenge; the episode calls for Kotite to be potentially innocent and they only get one more suspect - a vain, red-haired man - before the episode ends. But it comes with a slightly better twist: that this man is a government agent, and ready to arrest Sherlock after government officials begin ransacking the brownstone.
   As for Kitty, her return was nowhere near as bad as I expected. Giving Kitty a baby brought the character out of her boring doom-and-gloom I-hate-you-all-and-I'm-also-a-really-shit-character lack-of-personality crisis that was so pervasive in her 12-episode stint in season 3 (and allowed for some hilarious reaction faces from Sherlock), and looks to bring a bit of closure to her character, as Kitty promises to quit detective work to raise her child, Archie.
   I'm all behind this. It's just a shame this happy ending required such effort to achieve.

   VIEWERS: 4.25m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6

VERDICT: The all-too-formulaic structure of the episode bogged down a fairly decent, intriguing entry. Kitty wasn't bad either. Was going to give an 8.5 initially, but I'm not sure the excellent final moments were actually enough to deserve the extra half point. So a respectable 8/10

Hawaii Five-0 - 7x19 "Puka 'ana / Exodus"

"While Lou and Chin chase the killer of three people in a sober living house, McGarrett and Kono search for a woman kidnapped by sex traffickers."

Hawaii Five-0 sent out a plea for help with "Puka 'ana", as the show decided to make a point about the horrors of sex trafficking. The episode was about as dark as Hawaii Five-0 goes (not including when they chopped up Danny's brother and put him in a barrel), and just as emotional (see how the case deeply affected Kono), but it had a problem: Lou and Chin's sideplot. Five-0's attempts to recover the kidnapped girl as each horrific detail of her torment was unravelled was the better plot, and Lou and Chin just got in the way.
   There was a decent feedline to the case, however, that it had been Noelani's nurse friend who alerted the team to the potential abuse (Noelani is the M.E. who replaced Max). Scott Caan had the day off again, so there was no Danny present.
   I think the show does suffer when he's not present, which is roughly once every 4 episodes it seems. The relationship between him and McGarrett has become so central to the show and this episode especially would have been perfect to showcase Danny's concern for his daughter Grace and drive his retirement suggestion; Kono being extremely haunted by the case was believable but felt forced, like the writers needed someone to be angry and horrorstruck since Danny wasn't available.

   VIEWERS: 9.29m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1

VERDICT: The episode needed more Danny and less Lou and Chin, but a very good episode. 7.5/10

MacGyver - 1x18 "Flashlight"

"Mac, Jack, Riley and Bozer head to Hawaii to help deal with the consequences of an earthquake."

MacGyver's "Flashlight" felt like a throwback to Hawaii Five-0's old days, with references to days past coming from all angles: references to Chin's most recent birthday, the death of Dr. Madison Gray and how Kono met her husband Adam peppered an episode that did its damnedest not to let novelty take it hostage.

L-R: Chin, Jack, Mac and Kono examine the damaged
building beneath which scientists are trapped

   Mac, Jack, Kono and Chin helped survivors caught in a building that is actually a secret DARPA research lab, but soon realise the earthquake was taken advantage of by thieves looking to break into the fourth-floor vault and steal smart bullets. Mac continually impressed Chin and Kono, who were not used to his improvisations, and saved the day by rescuing the scientists and using a laser to redirect the smart bullets. This scepticism from the two Five-0 task force members was a fresh perspective on Mac's abilities, which we as the audience had taken for granted.
   Meanwhile, Bozer rescued a trapped dog and fixed its broken leg, all whilst dealing with a growing jealousy over Riley's closeness with an IT guy (personally I think Bozer's heroics should win him all the ladies), And Matty oversaw the entire mission from LA, though as usual she had a very minor role.

   VIEWERS: 8.02m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0

VERDICT: A decent crossover but I'd hoped for more of a focus on the earthquake than the thieves. The whole earthquake premise feels wasted now. 8/10

NCIS: Los Angeles - 8x16 "Old Tricks"

"Kensi and Deeks go undercover in a retirement home to find who killed a naval lieutenant. Meanwhile, Garrison returns."

How do you get back into the usual routine after such a mind-blowing arc conclusion? The answer is apparently by thinly spreading the show's main character mythology - Callen's family past and present - between a storyline that didn't really serve any of the main characters. Callen went off gallivanting with his father, Garrison (who had kidnapped Pacey Smith, his ... grand-daughter's ... boyfriend? ... who transpired to be an LAPD confidential informant), and to be honest, I'm rather confused how this arc is still going. I'm sure there was some sort of Romani blood feud involved in Callen's past, and he had a sister who died and now there's another one who's alive and apparently has a kid ... I dunno. While I like Garrison, Callen's family life has become so complex I've basically no idea what's going on anymore.
   The main meat of the episode was very lowkey - and that's how you follow up a mind-blowing arc conclusion. There was only one small gunfight at the end, and the "chase" scenes were limited to strolling after an elderly couple scamming retired veterans in a retirement home, their target being a man who had secretly hidden an illegal, gold Double Eagle coin valued at $7.5m.
   Meanwhile, Nate made a second lowkey appearance of the season by passing Kensi in her psych eval. He even hung around later as Nell and Eric had something of a heart-to-heart, both admitting they also turned to Nate for psychological help to deal with the ramifications of their actions as OSP keyboard warriors. Will something happen between them soon? It's definitely getting close.
   Finally, Granger (unseen) flees the hospital, leaving Hetty a note saying he has unfinished business. That's going to be the end of him then - but at least he had a slightly more upbeat goodbye than being killed off - and the tribute to Miguel Ferrer at the end, to the tune of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" was a tearjerker.
   VIEWERS: 9.46m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.3

VERDICT: A bit all over the place and missed the usual dynamics. An episode that didn't know where to focus. 7/10

The Walking Dead - 7x12 "Say Yes"

"Rick and Michonne scavenge for supplies, in hopes of meeting the terms set by the junkyard community."

With "Say Yes", the emphasis returned to the key premise of the show - zombie apocalypse! In an episode filled with so few main characters (outside of Rick and Michonne, only Tara, Rosita, Gabriel and Sasha had sporadic scenes), Alexandria's hopes of beating the Saviours was improved when Rick and Michonne, who had been scouting for days, came across a carnival full of dead soldiers with guns and a stockpile of food.
   The writers then added the typical drama that comes from few characters entering into a zombie-laden area, although the biggest was by fear the fakeout of Rick's death which was neither believable nor well-executed, unlike Glenn's fakeout death in season 6. Glenn being a character that Rick speaks of later in the episode, admitting his torment over being unable to save him from Negan.
   Jadis is unhappy, however, that they have not supplied enough guns; this leaves Rick furious, but he's left with no choice than to continue scouting for more, and surely has little time left to manage this.
   Meanwhile, Tara struggles whether to reveal the truth about Oceanside and try to pull the women into the battle versus the Saviours, while Rosita continues to act like a petulant child and go off on her own again - although she eventually winds up at Sasha's vegetable patch asking for help. The two women in Abraham's life collaborating to kill Negan ... it was only Abraham, guys. He really wasn't a character worth crying over. Seriously, Rosita and Sasha's hidden plan is going to get one or both of them killed, and likely others too before the season is out.
   VIEWERS: 10.16m

   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 4.7

VERDICT: A forgettable episode that lowkey brought hope to Alexandria again. Some big decisions made elsewhere that will only go wrong somewhere down the line. 6.5/10

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

NCIS LA - Eric (about Nate): "Miss that guy. Don't see him often enough."

BEST EPISODE THIS WEEK:

There's only one contender for this, and that's Bull. It was the only real standout episode this week, deploying a loved recurring character in an entirely new, adversarial position, in the process dialling up the tension for a courtroom murder mystery that was more compelling in its progression than a typical cop procedural. Easily the best episode of the week.

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: N/A 

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

Final thoughts

An extremely lowkey week! Ratings and quality was generally down, even after chopping 3 shows from the roundup. We go again!

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

Sam