This week in television, for me at least, saw two season finales, a season premiere, and some great episodes all around! See below for my brief takes on all!
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Television Review – Week 2/11-2/15
Here to recap all the television I watched this week! I’ll keep it brief, too!
I Am the Night – Three episodes into this limited series and I feel like I have more questions than answers. India Eisley’s Fauna is awkward and looks terrified all the time, and Chris Pine’s Jay is a hot mess. It’s all still just vague enough to keep me interested, and the fact that it’s based around the Black Dahlia murder makes it a must-see. Hopefully more exciting news in the weeks to come.
Drunk History – Switching it up this season means that sometimes host Derek Waters isn’t actually interviewing anyone, but some of his friends are. I’m okay with it and so should you because it’s still the same drunk mess that actually makes learning about history (sort of) tolerable. This week’s episode focused on love, since you know, Valentine’s Day, and notable guests included Josh Hartnett and Alison Brie.
Will & Grace – Grace and Jack try a crash diet for Jack’s upcoming nuptials and so they won’t split any more of their pants. Will is trying to be a more exciting professor after getting some negative reviews, so he ends up doing a mock case Judge Judy style between Karen and one of her former step children who actually liked her. Hilarity ensues!
Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Rosa sports a plethora of hairdos (ridiculous) and Jake makes a promise to a victim’s mom that he’ll solve her son’s murder case. he can’t and goes crazy trying to solve it, talking to “olive Rosa” and walls. Eventually they do manage to find the culprit, after some hilarious dialogue and a fantastic turn by CSI agent Daryl (“very uncool name, Daryl!”).
How to Get Away With Murder – Five seasons in and this show is ridiculous but still so darn compelling! Only two episodes left and I’m still not sure what’s going to happen. This week saw a Christmas gathering with Annalise’s mother, played by Cicely Tyson, and some of her firm friends. her boss is awkward, but not as awkward as dinner with the Keating Five (now that Oliver is a part of it) and Conner’s mom. Bonnie thinks she might be pregnant, but she’s not. The feds are onto Annalise and all she’s been up to these past five years, but Tegan’s potential lady-crush on Annalise ends up saving her some time and gets her case reassigned. Side note: I am all on board for Frank and Bonnie to be a thing already!
And as if watching twelve shows simultaneously wasn’t enough I decided to add two more to the mix this week!
Miracle Workers – This limited series where Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan play angels answering prayers and Steve Buscemi is God has some serious potential. Daniel Radcliffe’s character has been answering prayers for centuries and is really good at finding keys and gloves, but anything other than that gets sent up to God. Meanwhile, God has the news on 24/7 and is sick and tired of seeing how awful it is that he plans to destroy earth. In walks the newest angel, played by Viswanathan, hellbent on saving earth by answering one of the “impossible” prayers: helping two people fall in love. Very interested to see where this half hour comedy goes!
Roswell, New Mexico – I discovered this show at five episodes in, so naturally I binged them all Monday in order to be caught up for Tuesday’s new episode! Yes, this was a series in the late 90s, but besides the name and book as source material, these are distinctly different imaginings. This series takes place ten years in the future with a more cultured cast. Primary focus is on Liz trying to figure out what actually happened to her sister Rosa’s mysterious death a decade ago. Pretty quickly she realizes three siblings are aliens, but being a scientist now, they mainly just fascinate her. The aliens, Max, Isobel, and Michael, couldn’t be any more different but they all love each other fiercely and would like to keep their identities a secret, especially from the government who just moved into town for some secret project. My favorite characters so far in the series are Liz & Rosa’s best friend, Maria, and Michael and his former lover Alex (favorite ship, as the kids would call it). I recommend!
Gotham Season 5 Premiere, “Year Zero”
This past Thursday marks the final season premiere of FOX’s Gotham with the episode “Year Zero.” Having not fully watched the show in the past, but having a pretty strong understanding of its premise, this episode was a little tame, but packed with all of your favorites. I have to hand it to them with that opening scene though! Gordon, Bullock, the Riddler, and the Penguin all teaming up to shoot down an unknown enemy?! I suppose twelve episodes later we will see??
After that flash-forward we see the immediate aftermath of Jerome’s blowing up of all of Gotham’s bridges which has essentially made Gotham the most undesirable island ever. There are five “factions” ruling different parts of the city, all are running low on grub. That’s where rich kid Bruce Wayne steps up to get a helicopter with food over for all of the people currently being protected by the GCPD. Of course that was foiled when someone shot it down. Bane? Jerome? That remains to be seen. Then there was a food battle between the Penguin and his crew, GCPD, and then suddenly Tabitha shows up to exact her revenge for Penguin killing Butch in the season 4 finale. All that rage only for Tabitha meet her maker at the hands of Penguin. Barbara plotting revenge all season? Probably.
There wasn’t nearly enough Ed Nygma/Riddler in my opinion, but I imagine his story line will get better. In his Riddler state, Ed is controlling where he is going when he sleeps (which I assume is to Penguin). Meanwhile, Selina, having been paralyzed at the end of last season, has a semi-successful surgery but still can’t walk. That’s enough for her to want to kill herself, but some hospital staff and Bruce get to her in time. A seriously creepy looking nurse keeps hinting at “The Witch” to help Selina, but Bruce is (stupidly) ignoring her. Having not seen Lee Thompkins in the premiere, maybe it’s her? Who knows what Hugo Strange did to her?! And there is also the fact that Jerome did not surface either, but a potential Harley Quinn did, leaving his signature on a map of Gotham for Gordon to find.
I’m excited for what’s to come, but also insanely sad that this show is going to see its end. Given that the original order of ten episodes got bumped to twelve, I’m not holding my breath for any other network or streaming service to pick it up when all is said and done. We can only look forward to what the cast will do next in there careers.