I’ve still got to write up that wrap up for Terriers, so expect that soonish. In the meantime, here’s the scoop. Two shows ended their seasons this past week and one had a Christmas special. All were pretty good this week. Shame that Fringe will be gone for another six weeks. SERIOUSLY, FOX, what be the hell, yo?!
Fringe: S3 x 09 – Marionette ★★★★☆
A really good episode dealing primarily with Olivia’s return to the regular universe. She copes with the damages caused by Bolivia while trying to solve a mystery of organ theft. Yet another example of why you shouldn’t watch this show before or during a meal. The effects were pretty good and the creepy factor was raised to eleven. I mean, seriously, rebuilding someone just to have them dance around for you? Oy!
Community: S2 x 11 – Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas ★★★★☆
Community is easily my favorite comedy show since Arrested Development. Lots of fun in each episode with just as much meta humor as one can stand. This time, the students of Greendale find themselves stuck in a winter wonderland via Abed’s altered reality. They play out his fantasy, which finds them galavanting about in humorous stop motion versions of themselves. Jeff is a jack in the box, Troy is a little drummer boy and Pierce is a teddy bear. While I’m not a huge fan of musical numbers, the ones in this episode are humorous and poke fun at holiday specials. Props to the Cave of Frozen Memories.
No Ordinary Family: S1 x 10 – No Ordinary Sidekick ★★★★☆
The sidekicks get the story in this episode as George gets credit for Jim’s rescue and Katie struggles with not getting the respect she needs from Stephanie. It’s a good episode with some nice character moments. Daphne starts to suspect Katie’s boyfriend and gets a rather shocking visit from him while the rest of the family is away. It’s nice to see that the Powells are finding out their weaknesses as the show progresses, and J.J.’s is particularly creative.
Boardwalk Empire: S1 x 12 – A Return to Normalcy ★★★☆☆
It’s election time in Atlantic City and truces are called. There’s some nice “mobster stuff” near the end of the episode and it’s nice to see Capone again after a few episode absence. Nucky and Margaret work through their issues and we get a really nice moment between the two in regards to their deceased children. Jimmy Darmody and Eli start plotting against Nucky and that’s pretty much where things end. A little on the underwhelming side in terms of finales, but considering the show has been great so far, it’s a small complaint.
The Walking Dead: S1 x 06 – TS-19 ★★★☆☆
The season finale to The Walking Dead was good, but a few things bothered me. The first thing that didn’t quite sit right was the CDC storyline. While it was nice to see everyone get a reprieve from the apocalypse, the reprieve didn’t feel earned from a thematic standpoint. Can’t really explain it better than that other to say that them getting to safety felt too easy, especially since going to the CDC in the first place was not very well planned out. The bits with patient TS-19 were really well-done, however, and are what drew me to this episode the most. All in all, The Walking Dead was a fun and engaging show set in a zombie apocalypse. I think the TV format suits this genre well.
