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Thursday, 25 May 2017

On-Season Week 36

WEEK 36

The penultimate week of the season is here - with it we'll see all but Lucifer conclude. We've got finales from Bull and Elementary, the final double-header of the season from Brooklyn Nine-Nine and then the penultimate episode of Lucifer's second season. Before we get into it, apologies for not including the following updates in the previous roundup.
   Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been renewed for season 5.
   Elementary has been renewed for a shortened season 6.
   Quantico has been renewed for a shortened season 3.
   And with the good news out of the way, let's get down to the good stuff!


Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 4x21 & 4x22

4x21 "The Bank Job"

"Jake and Rosa infiltrate Lieutenant Hawkins' gang. Terry, Boyle and Amy try to figure out who Gina's baby daddy is."

Jake and Rosa go undercover as bank robbers
I did wonder if Brooklyn Nine-Nine could pull off the humour of a dirty cop arc and perhaps they didn't. The main plot was fairly funny but more enthralling simply for how the storyline unfolded. Of course, gambits such as Jake and Rosa talking to Holt at his razzmatazz class or them beating up Pimento to sell the illusion they are also dirty cops were very funny. Pimento added that perfect extra dimension to a plot that perfectly suited him - and coked up Pimento was even funnier. The biggest twist, however, was Hawkins flipping the script and arresting Jake and Rosa for the robberies. Hopefully that will set up a great final episode.
   In the side plot, Terry, Boyle and Amy's search for the identity of Gina's baby daddy was interesting. The necessity of following Gina allowed for some belly laughs from creepy Hitchcock, and the entrance of guest star Ryan Philippe was perfect against the backdrop of Boyle's insults about his character Milton Boyle being a troll. The downside is the leap we have to take from Gina being not pregnant to visibly showing in one episode. I understand they had wanted to answer for Chelsea Peretti's real-life pregnancy on-screen, but this was far too much of a leap.
   VIEWERS: 1.82m
   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.7

VERDICT: Entertaining, funny, some absolute cracking one-liners and a good cliffhanger as well. 8.5/10

4x22 "Crime & Punishment"

"Jake and Rosa are put on trial for bank robbery, but can they prove they are innocent?"


Everything about this episode was practically perfect. A hilarious newsflash cold open that encapsulates the characteristics of Rosa ("There is little to no public information about Detective Diaz") and Jake (who is considered to have been on the wrong side of the law for acting out at a magic show), while setting up the 15-year prison stretch if they are found guilty.

   From then on, it's just hilarity. Rosa plans to flee to Argentina to stay at Pimento's secret ranch, Boyle goes white-haired from the stress of Jake's situation, Terry hires hackers to track the banking info to Lieutenant Hawkins and Jake tries to convince an ex-member of Hawkins' team to help prove they are innocent. All of these plots were pretty hilarious and fit well into the storyline, but Terry's was the funniest, where he continually upset the hackers and so they kept revealing personal secrets. However, the strongest punchlines came from Jake (for once), as he continually made jokes about having robbed the banks within the earshot of the presiding judge.
   And we all knew a cliffhanger ending was coming, as Hawkins' ex-team member, Matthew Langdon, transpired to be in cohorts with her, and his damning testimony saw Jake and Rosa sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Thank God for a season 5 renewal.
   VIEWERS: 1.55m
   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.6

VERDICT: Hilarious ending from start to finish. Great conclusion to the season with a compelling cliffhanger. 9/10

Bull - 1x23 "Benevolent Deception"

"For the second case Bull owes J.P., he must travel with her to Miami to help prove the sister of a suspected drug lord innocent of harbouring heroin."

The overriding feeling following the conclusion of Bull's debut season is that the character of J.P. may not be as great an addition as first thought. Her first case was rooted in the TAC ranks, as she defended Benny from a corruption charge. In her second, the TAC team were minimised to give her and Bull's jousting a significant portion of the airtime. But the finale pushed that to the limits, making this episode nearly entirely about the Bull/J.P. dynamic, a dynamic that, after only 3 episodes, is wearing very thin. I'm not sure we saw Danny, Cable, Marissa or Benny past a couple of scenes, and I don't remember seeing Chunk at all. If Eliza Dushku's J.P. is added to the main cast for season 2, this will need to be remedied.
   But in terms of the case - typical CBS. A good premise, but the stakes never felt high enough. The most interesting part of the episode - watching Bull try to fathom a jury when their identities were concealed from public view - was meant to occur because the jurors were scared of retribution given the case's importance, but it never felt like anyone was in danger.
   This was a disappointing finale and, like many CBS shows, doesn't really feel like something that rings out the end of a season. But it will be back for season 2 so, like Bull's closing words, "In a while, crocodile".
   VIEWERS: 8.35m
   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 1.1

VERDICT: An underwhelming episode that ignored a season's-worth of character focus to force J.P. down our throats. Not a hopeful sign for season 2. 6.5/10

Elementary - 5x24 "Hurt Me, Hurt You"

"The NYPD's attempts to bring down SBK grow more dangerous when an old foe is drawn into the battle."

My first inclination upon seeing the promo for "Hurt Me, Hurt You" was that this would be a very good episode. I do like Jon Huertas (who returns to play gang leader Halcon, who appeared in episode 5x02). and Halcon is a good character - having his and his gang's return not only provide a complex attempt for SBK leader Tyas Wilcox to escape prosecution, but be the single clue that unravels Tyas, was incredibly rewarding. Tyas remains one of the most interesting bad guys of Elementary's entire five-season run so far, which is great until you remember he's appeared - and stolen the show - in only two episodes.
   But the rest of the episode was less than pleasing. Firstly, the writers have managed to twist Shinwell's plot back to Joan, and conveniently forgot that for the middle part his involvement was mostly with Sherlock, making the attempted payoff of Joan's grief about as weak as an attack with a feather.
   And then there was Mystery Random Woman from the NA meetings, who transpired to be a hallucination of Sherlock's dead mum. The point of involving this hallucinatory sidebar is immediately diminished by the fact that the episode included far more interesting proof that Sherlock is losing his cognitive capabilities, and it was also about as clear as a foggy day. Dear Mum is a hallucination, but the fire she set in the brownstone was real? Yeah makes sense.
   Kind of like Elementary's renewal.
   VIEWERS: 4.10m
   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.5

VERDICT: Sideplots detracted from a very good episode. That will be all, else I'll rage forever. 7/10

Lucifer - 2x17 "Sympathy for the Goddess"

"Charlotte continues her search for the final piece of the sword, but a young man smuggling something for her is killed and Chloe is drawn in to solve the crime."

Chloe and "Charlotte" working together on a case couldn't be a funnier premise, and in it those hilarious facets of "Charlotte" that don't understand normal human behaviour shine through: prime examples being her willingness to give a lot of money for a product before receiving any proof at all the person possesses it, or her constant stumblings when talking to crime boss Bianca Ruiz. But Chloe having to work her way around that was hilarious.
Maze initiates a fight with Lucifer
   Other noteworthy moments: Linda's troubles with the Ethics Committee after helping Lucifer break God Johnson out of a mental asylum creates not only a fun subplot but proves once again Lucifer has no idea about human behaviour - and it was fun seeing Linda mad at him. Dan and Chloe discovering "Charlotte" is Lucifer's "step"-mum and Dan's shock; and of course, Maze and Lucifer's fight after Maze was hurt he planned to return to Heaven. And "Charlotte" accidentally killing her smuggler due to her divine body struggling with its human host. All good, funny stuff.
   It's notable, however, that there is distance between Lucifer and Chloe in these back 5 episodes. A significant amount of distance. More of the case work is being pursued by Chloe either alone or with a new partner (Maze and "Charlotte" the most prominent examples), and there's also a number of scenes with her in the precinct that lack Lucifer's presence. This is to be expected given Chloe has little overall plot importance in this back straight, but it almost makes the murder cases feel pointless - and of course it's no fun when you consider the whole Lucifer/Chloe attraction has barely been addressed since 2x14.
   But a problem I discover retrospectively is this didn't have the feel of a penultimate episode: in fact, I was rather surprised when I looked up at the title and realised that it was. There wasn't quite the build to the finale that there was midway through the season with Chloe, Dr Carlyle and the Lucifer/Chloe relationship - but the episode did end on a crucial note: that the final piece of the sword - the key - has been found, and Amenadiel had it this whole time.
   VIEWERS: 3.05m
   DEMOGRAPHIC SHARE: 0.8

VERDICT: The decrease in Lucifer and Chloe scenes is becoming impossible to ignore, and it's having a direct influence on the quality of these final few episodes, no matter how good they are. 7.5/10

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Hitchcock (on why he likes the film The Fault in Our Stars): "Teenage romance, dying chick, oxygen mask. Checks all my boxes."

BEST EPISODE THIS WEEK:

The season finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine was only really contested by its penultimate episode, but the jarring suddenness of Gina's pregnancy failed to fit a flow, and hence the finale "Crime & Punishment" wins the Best Episode of the Week title on the final week where more than one show can compete. (Next week, of course, we have only the Lucifer finale to review.)
   I just think this was a perfect advocate for the show. It didn't use Holt as much as I had liked, but Jake was funnier than he ever is (and I mean that to encompass the majority of the series run), Rosa was as typically Rosa as you would expect re her exaggerated closed off lifestyle, while Boyle was perfectly involved in quirky remarks about a quirky weekend-doesn't-exist themed restaurant (that is quite a unique theme), and Terry managing to piss off three hackers by simply asking if they could do the job was funny as anything.
   And then there was the cliffhanger, which, if you read the creators' interview before season 2 returned in April, you knew was coming but was still good anyway. Fantastic way to end Brooklyn Nine-Nine's strongest season.

LAST WEEK'S ROUNDUP: On-Season Week 35

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


Final thoughts

Well that's pretty much it for this season. All we've got left is Lucifer's finale next week, but everything else is done. Brooklyn Nine-Nine goes out on a high, while Bull and Elementary go out on relative lows. But either way, all three will return next season and all three will likely make it back onto TVRRoundup's review. As will Lucifer.

Thanks for following this season, it's been great! The full collections of our remaining shows will be up soon for anyone who wants to relive the excitement, along with an overall analysis of each show's seasons and a Best Of 2016/17 in the next few weeks. Enjoy Lucifer's finale next week, but besides that thank you very much for sticking with me! I hope you come back next season!

Sam

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