The slow burn of Boardwalk Empire continues to spread through this episode. So far each episode in its first season feels like different steps being added to a ladder. For some, that dramatic pacing is great, but understandably, it can feel too tedious for others.
Terriers has only gotten better and better as this season has gone on. I not only immensely like the characters, but find them believable and tragic in their own way. This week’s episode, Ring-a-Ding-Ding, combines both an interesting and emotionally impactful narrative with overarching character development, which makes you think about some characters differently. Just as we were starting to become comfortable with the show’s dynamic, both in terms of storytelling and character interactions, they change it up and it makes this episode and the entire show stronger.
Fans of the show by now should know if an episode starts off bright and happy, then there’s about to be a very dark turn. America’s favorite racist drug addict is experiencing happiness with Vida and finally has a fan base in Mexico… other than Stevie.
“Basic Rocket Science” gave us the first movie-reference based episode of the second season. Last year Community attempted this on a few occasions, sometimes very successfully (the paintball-centric “Modern Warfare”) and sometimes less so (the mob parody “Contemporary American Poultry”). The main difference between the two was their ability to have the characters behave convincingly no matter how ridiculous the events around them were. “Modern Warfare” went wonderfully over the top, with its depiction of a campus divided into tribes during an all-out game of paintball. But, through all of it, Abed still acted like Abed, or at least how I’d imagine Abed would act while engaging in war against the chess club. In “Poultry,” conversely, the characters acted how the show needed them to act for the sake of the joke or movie reference, not how they would actually act in that (highly implausible) situation.
It is kind of weird that it took South Park this long to get to the love affair American television is having with all things New Jersey. In this episode they satire at least three different shows focused on this small state and they generally do it pretty well. There are some weird bumps along the ride but all in all it is a funny episode, but while there are hints of greatness, does not really achieve the top tier of South Park.
This was a great episode. Strangers on a Treadmill illustrated the reason why we care so deeply for this fragmented yet endearing family, all the while being highly entertaining and heartwarming (yeah I know I may sound cheesy). At the end of the episode we have a deeper appreciation for all most all the main characters, and if not for Modern Family’s uncanny ability to pull this off a lot, it would be huge character development point.
A smooth-talking, high-level executive in a lucrative but morally suspect industry has a sudden crisis of conscience. In his moment of panic, he drafts a mission statement (not a memo), declaring how he wants to conduct his business from now on, even if it means taking a financial hit. This moment of honesty leads to some admiration from individuals, but also to anger from his business partners who do not think his new moral stance will be good for the company.
Mining corpses humor is nothing new to sitcoms. Community has even used it before, during its first season when Brita accidentally dumped a dead body on the college lawn. But in that episode the corpse was simply a (very funny) prop. It wasn’t used to confront the characters’ fears regarding their own mortality. In this week’s episode, the death of Pierce’s mom leads to certain characters doing just that. That the show manages to keep the laughs coming fairly consistently while dealing with these issues is pretty impressive.
South Park returns for the second half of its fourteenth season. That’s quite a feat. Over the past couple of years the show has become increasingly hit or miss. When the show is good it’s amazing, when the show isn’t good…it can still be entertaining but sometimes almost unwatchable. Poor and Stupid is not a great episode, the gab wears thin easily, they overuse the gag, and it just doesn’t feel like a good episode of the show.
When you live in California Earthquakes are going to happen. Their depiction in fiction ranges from total destruction all the way to a bonding experience. Modern Family falls somewhere in the middle. No one was hurt in the quake, minus Luke running to a wall afterwards, and all members of the family undergo some sort of character development that help their relationships.
