WEEK 29
With our Sunday shows plus Scorpion not on this week we've dropped down to just five shows; we're getting very near the business end of the season now. What can MacGyver's penultimate episode produce? Also, will there be even more progress in Bull with the investigation into Benny heating up? And of course, what will happen in The Walking Dead's finale?
Bull - 1x18 "Dressed to Kill"
"Chunk's mentor dies on the runway, but Bull decides to defend the prime suspect in her murder."
1x13's "The Fall" opened with TAC stumbling on a case when Chunk took Bull to an e-sports tournament; in similar fashion (pardon the pun), TAC stumbled on a case in "Dressed to Kill" when Chunk took Bull to a fashion show and his old mentor, Nella Wester, died of arsenic poisoning on the runway. I dislike this "stumble on a case" trope in general, but having two episodes so close together form from the trope meant this was likely to be an episode I wouldn't particularly enjoy.
And I was right. "Dressed to Kill" was an uninteresting distraction from Benny's arc (which received zero attention here at all), and an uninteresting tide-over until Eliza Dushku appears in a recurring role in the final 3 episodes of the season. Even the drama between Bull and Chunk felt forced - why would Chunk, knowing Bull's almost flawless ability to identify innocent people, not have faith in him? It didn't make sense, and accordingly, I found myself drifting out of interest fairly quickly.
On the plus side, Jill Flint as lawyer/Bull's love interest Diana Lindsay made her third appearance of the season. There was no involvement from her in a professional respect, simply as Bull's love interest who wants him to visit for a romantic weekend; their flirting was the only interesting and cheer-worthy aspect of the episode. She also reverted back to her Texan accent, suggesting Diana is back in Callisto. Here's to hoping that, with her role on NBC's summer show The Night Shift, Jill Flint will have the fall free to continue recurring here. She and Bull make a cute couple.
VIEWERS: 11.13m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.6
VERDICT: "Dressed to Kill" had the opener of 1x13's "The Fall" with the murder mystery of 1x16's "Free Fall" and the no-need-for-the-courts conclusion of 1x04's "Callisto", and couldn't better any of them. 6.5/10
1x13's "The Fall" opened with TAC stumbling on a case when Chunk took Bull to an e-sports tournament; in similar fashion (pardon the pun), TAC stumbled on a case in "Dressed to Kill" when Chunk took Bull to a fashion show and his old mentor, Nella Wester, died of arsenic poisoning on the runway. I dislike this "stumble on a case" trope in general, but having two episodes so close together form from the trope meant this was likely to be an episode I wouldn't particularly enjoy.
And I was right. "Dressed to Kill" was an uninteresting distraction from Benny's arc (which received zero attention here at all), and an uninteresting tide-over until Eliza Dushku appears in a recurring role in the final 3 episodes of the season. Even the drama between Bull and Chunk felt forced - why would Chunk, knowing Bull's almost flawless ability to identify innocent people, not have faith in him? It didn't make sense, and accordingly, I found myself drifting out of interest fairly quickly.
On the plus side, Jill Flint as lawyer/Bull's love interest Diana Lindsay made her third appearance of the season. There was no involvement from her in a professional respect, simply as Bull's love interest who wants him to visit for a romantic weekend; their flirting was the only interesting and cheer-worthy aspect of the episode. She also reverted back to her Texan accent, suggesting Diana is back in Callisto. Here's to hoping that, with her role on NBC's summer show The Night Shift, Jill Flint will have the fall free to continue recurring here. She and Bull make a cute couple.
VIEWERS: 11.13m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.6
VERDICT: "Dressed to Kill" had the opener of 1x13's "The Fall" with the murder mystery of 1x16's "Free Fall" and the no-need-for-the-courts conclusion of 1x04's "Callisto", and couldn't better any of them. 6.5/10
Hawaii Five-0 - 7x21 "Ua Malo'o Ka Wai / The Water is Dried Up"
"While McGarrett, Danny, Chin and Kono chase a lead on at-large Yakuza boss Michele Shioma, Grover and his son head to Chicago where Grover will testify against his ex-partner."
There were two stories here, and more clearly than in any previous episode could they be separated into two categories: one story for plot, and one for substance. Lou Grover's plot carried the substance.
In taking his son Will to Chicago while he testified against his corrupt ex-partner Clay (who had murdered his wife but was imprisoned for stealing drug money), he hoped to achieve two things: ensuring Clay's last appeal failed - and having some good bonding time with Will. The whole thing started off with some hilarity as Grover tried to motivate Will to pack, and was throughlined with constant references to his dating Danny's daughter Grace. But things gradually grew more serious as Grover's wet-behind-the-ear police protection distrusted him, and the rest of his old friends gave him the cold shoulder. What started as some decent father-son gags ended up being a very poignant plot about how doing the right thing can have negative effects. I felt really bad for Lou in the end, and that's a testament to both great acting and great writing.
However, for all the greatness of Grover's scenes, Jerry stole the rug from underneath him with his cheer-inducing receipt of a Five-0 investigator's badge, something he was hankering for pretty much since his first few appearances in season 4. In saving his four Five-0 friends from probable death at the hands of Shioma's Yakuza (after the totally not surprising reveal that Shioma had in fact not been killed in a mutiny), Jerry was finally accepted as a full-blown Five-0 member.
VIEWERS: 8.73m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
VERDICT: I hoped to see Clay return and some courtroom scenes but as the episode progressed it became clear that was only a base for the real meat of the B-plot. A-plot was meh, but had an excellent ending. 8.5/10
There were two stories here, and more clearly than in any previous episode could they be separated into two categories: one story for plot, and one for substance. Lou Grover's plot carried the substance.
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| Jerry proud to receive his Five-0 badge |
VIEWERS: 8.73m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.0
VERDICT: I hoped to see Clay return and some courtroom scenes but as the episode progressed it became clear that was only a base for the real meat of the B-plot. A-plot was meh, but had an excellent ending. 8.5/10
MacGyver - 1x20 "Hole Puncher"
"Mac goes undercover as the assassin Murdoc to protect the target of a relatively new terrorist organisation."
All the signs were there that this was MacGyver's penultimate episode, but I was sceptical because it seemed odd CBS would only order 21 episodes for the season.
And yet.
In another relatively simplistic plot that was completely turned on its head Thornton-is-the-mole style, Mac goes undercover to find out why a seemingly average man is being labelled "The Architect" by a terrorist group and presumed to have knowledge of their impending attack. Instead, there is no terrorist attack: this was all a ruse by The Organisation (for which Thornton had committed treason) to trick Phoenix. The leader of an elite hit squad sent to kill Mac - played by the fantastic William Mapother - wound up being caught, claiming that that had been his intention all along. The obvious question is why is The Organisation back (beyond wanting to kill MacGyver). Is Murdoc connected? Will Mac's ex-girlfriend Nikki have an involvement? Who knows, but with Daniel Holt's (Mapother) affirmation that he intended to be caught, we know things cannot be good.
Meanwhile, Bozer and Riley's side plot was admirably linked to the main focus. When Mac messed up his first undercover impersonation of Murdoc, who had been hired by an elderly couple seeking revenge for their murdered daughter, the pair took it upon themselves to find the true killer. It was a shame there was no comfortable slide from their early scenes to their investigation, they just jumped into it all of a sudden - and there were no unwelcome surprises either (the boyfriend was the killer after all) - but it was a sweet thing for them to do. And it might be the final sweetness of the season.
The final word - since I have worked backwards - goes to the cut-scene: a Phoenix versus NSA softball match. The casual manner in which these secret organisations just met for a friendly match was hilarious - as was Jack's bumbling motivational speech. Phoenix might be good at everything else, but it is not good at softball.
VIEWERS: 6.67m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9
VERDICT: The same issue continues to arise in that MacGyver never actually raises the tension in even its most high-stakes episodes, but this was a good one nonetheless. Still didn't feel like a penultimate episode. 7.5/10
All the signs were there that this was MacGyver's penultimate episode, but I was sceptical because it seemed odd CBS would only order 21 episodes for the season.
And yet.
In another relatively simplistic plot that was completely turned on its head Thornton-is-the-mole style, Mac goes undercover to find out why a seemingly average man is being labelled "The Architect" by a terrorist group and presumed to have knowledge of their impending attack. Instead, there is no terrorist attack: this was all a ruse by The Organisation (for which Thornton had committed treason) to trick Phoenix. The leader of an elite hit squad sent to kill Mac - played by the fantastic William Mapother - wound up being caught, claiming that that had been his intention all along. The obvious question is why is The Organisation back (beyond wanting to kill MacGyver). Is Murdoc connected? Will Mac's ex-girlfriend Nikki have an involvement? Who knows, but with Daniel Holt's (Mapother) affirmation that he intended to be caught, we know things cannot be good.
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| Operatives converge on Mac's position |
The final word - since I have worked backwards - goes to the cut-scene: a Phoenix versus NSA softball match. The casual manner in which these secret organisations just met for a friendly match was hilarious - as was Jack's bumbling motivational speech. Phoenix might be good at everything else, but it is not good at softball.
VIEWERS: 6.67m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.9
VERDICT: The same issue continues to arise in that MacGyver never actually raises the tension in even its most high-stakes episodes, but this was a good one nonetheless. Still didn't feel like a penultimate episode. 7.5/10
Quantico - 2x16 "Mktopaz"
"The cache is accessed by a wealthy socialite who specialises in helping people forge connections with each other."
This has to be the best of the three procedural Quantico episodes so far, for its storytelling, the emotional focuses and the sheer number of horrifying plot twists.
Dealing with those in order then, I have first to talk about the odd cold open: to use a Firefly descriptor "two-by-two, hands of blue", we saw the two faceless assassins that killed Léon preparing a kill room for presumably someone else on the team. Following that, we lead into the mission of the episode, which is that a wealthy socialite Rebecca Sherman has accessed the cache to try and find a way around US Passport Control. It transpires she's being blackmailed; she and her contact, Thomas Roth, are both killed by a sniper during their meet. This was a fairly average scene until the entire team was forced to leave Sherman to bleed out for fear that attempting to save her would expose their mission - but with their deaths, that's two more faces on the board.
Then there was the amazing emotional subplots, the main focus being ... Clay? He's hardly flavour of the month even with the audiences, and insight into his character isn't the keyhole we desired to see through, but in having his lies exposed to his fiancée and his relationship thrown into disarray Quantico makes a very critical point: that the few relationships the team members do have are important. That's why Shelby contacts her con artist "sister" in Riyadh, that's why Owen visits Lydia in prison and that's why Nimah continues to call Raina, who is cold shouldering her.
But that's where the story makes an impressive return to its cold open: we see Raina entering the room the assassins set up earlier, but as caller ID tells her it's Nimah calling she is attacked and overpowered by the assassins. Is she killed? And if not yet, will she be? And if that wasn't enough, the biggest shock of them all was the reveal that the sniper who shot Sherman and Roth was Sebastian, who then holds Harry at gunpoint and forces him to call Alex and explain he is leaving the team. I'm not sure if I'll enjoy this sidebar (Harry is one of my favourite characters), but hell if the show can't produce stunning twists without its original alternate timeline format.
VIEWERS: 2.96m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6
VERDICT: Perhaps one of the better episodes of the season, even with an unwanted focus on Clay. The stakes grow higher and the suspense builds. 9/10
This has to be the best of the three procedural Quantico episodes so far, for its storytelling, the emotional focuses and the sheer number of horrifying plot twists.
Dealing with those in order then, I have first to talk about the odd cold open: to use a Firefly descriptor "two-by-two, hands of blue", we saw the two faceless assassins that killed Léon preparing a kill room for presumably someone else on the team. Following that, we lead into the mission of the episode, which is that a wealthy socialite Rebecca Sherman has accessed the cache to try and find a way around US Passport Control. It transpires she's being blackmailed; she and her contact, Thomas Roth, are both killed by a sniper during their meet. This was a fairly average scene until the entire team was forced to leave Sherman to bleed out for fear that attempting to save her would expose their mission - but with their deaths, that's two more faces on the board.
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| Sebastian holds Harry at gunpoint |
But that's where the story makes an impressive return to its cold open: we see Raina entering the room the assassins set up earlier, but as caller ID tells her it's Nimah calling she is attacked and overpowered by the assassins. Is she killed? And if not yet, will she be? And if that wasn't enough, the biggest shock of them all was the reveal that the sniper who shot Sherman and Roth was Sebastian, who then holds Harry at gunpoint and forces him to call Alex and explain he is leaving the team. I'm not sure if I'll enjoy this sidebar (Harry is one of my favourite characters), but hell if the show can't produce stunning twists without its original alternate timeline format.
VIEWERS: 2.96m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6
VERDICT: Perhaps one of the better episodes of the season, even with an unwanted focus on Clay. The stakes grow higher and the suspense builds. 9/10
The Walking Dead - 7x16 "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life"
"Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom and the Scavengers face off with the Saviours."
The Walking Dead's penultimate episode promised an average finale, and delivered averageness in buckets. Whether we were watching the confusing flashbacks/dream sequences with Sasha (and her dead barely-beau Abraham), Michonne not dying, Negan not taking Rick's hand or the poorly executed fight scenes at the end, it was hard not to feel like The Walking Dead had missed its target, which was a big bullseye with WAR written all over it. I'm not one to complain too much - I wanted Negan to survive season 7 and I'm glad he did - but the finale just felt a bit drab.
As I've said, the fight scenes were poor. Hilltop and the Kingdom showing up just as Negan was about to actually do something terrible (like kill Coral and cut off Rick's hand), was itself terrible. Not necessarily in that it occurred, just that the whole episode had been building to some form of crescendo (I would have liked to see Rick finally lose his hand), but the cavalry's arrival completely spoiled it. And someone do tell me how the tiger knew who were the baddies it needed to maul to death?
Also, I was sad Michonne didn't die.
But there were positives from the episode. Like Sasha sacrificing herself in her attempt to kill Negan. When Eugene refused to give her a weapon, she did the only thing she could and turned herself into a weapon by taking the suicide pill. We'd seen her do it, but not until they opened the coffin did I remember what happens when you die. Walker Sasha was a great "oh fuck" moment.
As was the Scavengers' betrayal. I feel like that might've been predictable - they were shady from the off and of course would settle for a better deal - but they've got in bed with the devil and Rick's not going to be pleased with them next season. After he deals with that giant gunshot wound in his side that somehow didn't leave him bleeding to death inside a few minutes.
And as I say, Negan survived. I reckon the first half of next season will be the all-out war - and that is something I am hyped for.
VIEWERS: 11.31m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 5.4
VERDICT: Half-and-half. Really could have been executed better, both story-wise and visually. But some "oh fuck" moments boosted my drifting interest and set up season 8. 8/10
The Walking Dead's penultimate episode promised an average finale, and delivered averageness in buckets. Whether we were watching the confusing flashbacks/dream sequences with Sasha (and her dead barely-beau Abraham), Michonne not dying, Negan not taking Rick's hand or the poorly executed fight scenes at the end, it was hard not to feel like The Walking Dead had missed its target, which was a big bullseye with WAR written all over it. I'm not one to complain too much - I wanted Negan to survive season 7 and I'm glad he did - but the finale just felt a bit drab.
As I've said, the fight scenes were poor. Hilltop and the Kingdom showing up just as Negan was about to actually do something terrible (like kill Coral and cut off Rick's hand), was itself terrible. Not necessarily in that it occurred, just that the whole episode had been building to some form of crescendo (I would have liked to see Rick finally lose his hand), but the cavalry's arrival completely spoiled it. And someone do tell me how the tiger knew who were the baddies it needed to maul to death?
Also, I was sad Michonne didn't die.
But there were positives from the episode. Like Sasha sacrificing herself in her attempt to kill Negan. When Eugene refused to give her a weapon, she did the only thing she could and turned herself into a weapon by taking the suicide pill. We'd seen her do it, but not until they opened the coffin did I remember what happens when you die. Walker Sasha was a great "oh fuck" moment.
As was the Scavengers' betrayal. I feel like that might've been predictable - they were shady from the off and of course would settle for a better deal - but they've got in bed with the devil and Rick's not going to be pleased with them next season. After he deals with that giant gunshot wound in his side that somehow didn't leave him bleeding to death inside a few minutes.
And as I say, Negan survived. I reckon the first half of next season will be the all-out war - and that is something I am hyped for.
VIEWERS: 11.31m
DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 5.4
VERDICT: Half-and-half. Really could have been executed better, both story-wise and visually. But some "oh fuck" moments boosted my drifting interest and set up season 8. 8/10
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
MacGyver - Jack: "Last time we played NSA Listening Post Number 27 Panthers, we were pretty pathetic."
There isn't a contest this week as far as I'm concerned. Quantico takes this trophy. That's largely due to the significant number of twists it's managing to sustain in a procedural format, but also for an episode that largely evaded falling into numerous writing traps, the best example of which is having the meeting between Sherman and Roth end with one or both of them shot - while this did occur, it was used more as a device for the team's emotional involvement with the case and was written far more interestingly than simple sniper takeouts.
On a slightly unhappy note, I'm also aware from reports that this is likely Russell Tovey's final episode as Harry, since Tovey is going to be acting in UK theatres soon. Harry was my favourite character and while I imagined he might be one to die I didn't think he would be written out this early. Admittedly, his dead-or-alive status is currently equivalent to that of Schrödinger's cat - although that's promised to be wrapped up soon. My money's on dead. Either way, there's no denying Quantico had the best episode this week.
BEST EPISODE THIS WEEK:
There isn't a contest this week as far as I'm concerned. Quantico takes this trophy. That's largely due to the significant number of twists it's managing to sustain in a procedural format, but also for an episode that largely evaded falling into numerous writing traps, the best example of which is having the meeting between Sherman and Roth end with one or both of them shot - while this did occur, it was used more as a device for the team's emotional involvement with the case and was written far more interestingly than simple sniper takeouts.On a slightly unhappy note, I'm also aware from reports that this is likely Russell Tovey's final episode as Harry, since Tovey is going to be acting in UK theatres soon. Harry was my favourite character and while I imagined he might be one to die I didn't think he would be written out this early. Admittedly, his dead-or-alive status is currently equivalent to that of Schrödinger's cat - although that's promised to be wrapped up soon. My money's on dead. Either way, there's no denying Quantico had the best episode this week.
LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On-Season Week 28
NEXT WEEK'S ROUNDUP: (will be posted here when complete)
Final thoughts
So there may not have been any progress with Benny in Bull, and the episode pretty lax, but overall it and the rest of our shows provided a decent week of TV. But something I've not mentioned in above reviews is this week's trend in the good guys suddenly finding leverage over the bad guys in secret children they had carefully hidden from their felonious lives. This was evident in both Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver (I can't imagine if I'd watched both back-to-back live and been like - hey these guys did the same rubbish get-out clause!) and really sucked.
But beyond that, there's not much else to say. Bull, Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver and The Walking Dead are all renewed and Quantico is likely cancelled. So let's just keep them coming!
But beyond that, there's not much else to say. Bull, Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver and The Walking Dead are all renewed and Quantico is likely cancelled. So let's just keep them coming!
Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you next week!
Sam
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