Review: Elementary 2x12 "The Diabolical Kind"

Original air date: January 2, 2014

Do you hear that? That lovely sound of shows returning from their winter hiatuses? Ah, it’s my favorite time of year.  Okay, it’s a close second to the actual holiday season.  Which I hope everyone’s holidays were great.

Elementary makes its return with a familiar face from last season.  There’s been a kidnapping of a little girl and Jamie Moriarty’s men are behind it.  Sherlock convinced that she’s behind it, even from behind bars, goes to her for information.  He discovers she’s no longer in a traditional prison.  Ever since her arrest she’s been trading information for favors and lives more comfortably than one would assume a criminal mastermind in federal prison would.  Yet it is exactly how I would assume Jamie Moriarty would be living in federal prison.  She offers Sherlock her help as long as they continue to get her things from her Amazon wish list.

Review: The Crazy Ones 1x05 "She's So European"

Original Air date: Oct. 24, 2013

Sydney is anxious to impress a client for a new senior dating website, Helena.  Likewise both Simon and Zach vie for Helena’s affections and both end up receiving them.  Sydney tries to come to terms with not only realizing her father has a sex life, but also with the new shared information of his and Zach’s personal faces and preferences from her new best friend Helena.  Not to mention discovering that all her secrets shared with Helena have now found the ears of both Simon and Zach.

At the same time Andrew takes lead on recording a voice over with Fred Melamed for the first time.  After a few struggles he stands up for himself and finally gains the respect from Melamed. 

It was a pretty strong episode.  It was funny and an entertaining watch.  I enjoyed this episode more than last week's but I think "Bad Dad" has been my favorite episode so far. 

Favorite bits of the episode?

• James Wolk and Robin Williams playing with each other in southern accents.
• Andrew screaming “erase my browser history” when he thought he was going to die.
• The entire scene with the mayonnaise jar.  The faces, the grunting, and Sydney screaming about the children or something.
• Fred Melamed picking Helena up by using a rom-com movie trailer voice.

In Conclusion: I think I’ll never be able to make a sandwich with mayo again without laughing.  I wouldn't say no to more Zach and Sydney scenes because I want to ship them, if only because I’m projecting because I really like James Wolk.  I admit it, I’m shallow. Don’t judge. 

Review: Elementary 2x05 "Ancient History"

Original Airdate: Oct. 24, 2013

I’m a fan of this week’s episode.  It was fun having a backwards and at one point an even sideways case.  Sherlock is bored.  He hasn't had an interesting case for awhile now and his search through old cold case files has come up empty.  So of course he goes to the morgue and looks through the corpses hoping to find something that the medical examiner might have overlooked. 

There he finds the body of a man killed in a motorcycle accident, but things are not as they seem.  Upon analysis of the body Sherlock is able to determine that the man, Leo Banin aka Vitaly, is a retired hitman and had in fact murdered someone prior to his death.  Captain Gregson can’t categorize it as a murder till they find a victim so the detective duo set out in search of a dead body.  Inciting such amazing quotes from Sherlock such as “Travis, you’re alive; how unfortunate.” as well as “Alive, again. Why can’t anyone be dead today?”  In the end they discover that it was Banin’s wife who had hired a few of his old colleagues to murder him and when that failed she caused his motorcycle accident.

Review: How I Met Your Mother 9x06 "Knight Vision"

Original Air Date: Oct. 21, 2013

This used to be my favorite sitcom.   I thought it was unique, smart, and creative.   There were times where I would rave about how stories unfolded and how intricate the storylines could get.  This season I am not feeling the same way about this show.  This series has lost something along the way and now just feels like any other sitcom on television.  It feels like it's given up.  It's the last season and now it feels like the writers are sitting back and phoning it in (Marshall is literally phoning it in with the rest of the group this season).

Before I get to the recap of this episode can someone tell me something… Is this entire season taking place in real time or something? Are we going to get a full twenty-four episode season that all takes place in the span of a single weekend?  Six episodes and its still 50-something odd hours until the wedding.

Anyway, this week features Ted trying to find his wedding weekend hook up. Ted can’t decide if he should be an insensitive jerk or a decent human being.  The ghostly knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade shows up and condemns his every choice for being 'wrong'.  Robin and Barney steal Marshall and Lily’s “how we met” story in order to ensure the minister will marry them.  Spoiler Alert: He finds out the truth and it literally kills him.  Marshall is still on his buddy roadtrip on his way to Farhampton.  He attempts to figure out the best way to tell Lily that he's already accepted the judgeship.

Honestly, the show just doesn't feel the same without Marshall interacting with the rest of the group. Even the interactions between the rest of the group just doesn't feel the same.  I have literally nothing else to say about this episode except... "What the damn hell?!" is this season?

From the promo for next week it looks like we’re getting a goofy silly Halloween episode on crack. So there’s that?

Conclusion: This show feels like it’s given up and that breaks my heart.  Sorry, I wish I could be more positive on this show but there's nothing I can say.  I don't think I laughed once.  I'm seriously drawing a blank.

Review: Elementary 2x04 "Poison Pen"

Original air date: Oct. 17, 2013

So. Let’s talk about this episode. On this week’s episode of Elementary a man is found dead, poisoned by nitroglycerin. As the truth unfolds we discover a nanny with a hidden past, an abused teenager, and a wife whose alibi was that she was too busy planning the same murder to commit said murder. This was not a man who was going to be missed.

Now, the cases in Elementary are usually interesting, but honestly they are not what keep me watching each week. I’ve watched more than my share of crime procedurals and it’s the characters that always makes this show so much different than others. There isn’t a character on this show that I don’t love. In those respects, this episode did not disappoint and I’m not just talking about shirtless Johnny Lee Millar opening boxing scene either.

One of the major things that I think what sets Elementary apart from other modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes is that this version isn’t all about Holmes; it’s an ensemble. In fact, Sherlock Holmes’ name isn’t even in the title of the show. I think that speaks volumes for what this show wants to be. Which was obvious in this episode as Joan was the one problem solving, coming up with ideas, and ultimately finding the key piece of evidence.

Review: The Crazy Ones 1x04 "Breakfast Burrito Club"

Original air date: Oct. 17, 2013

I’m a little behind this morning so bear with me as I settle in with my mug of tea.

While this show has some great actors such as Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Wolk, Hamish Linklater, and Amanda Setton… this sitcom just feels flat.

In this week’s episode Sydney (Gellar) is being forced to go on a much needed but much dreaded vacation by her father and business partner Simon (Williams).  Sydney is a work-aholic.  She never leaves the office and her wildest fantasy includes beach blazers and giving the pitch of her life.  As she’s about to leave, the advertising firm finds out last minute that a meeting scheduled for next week for breakfast burritos has been push to the morning.

Sydney quickly puts her travel plans on hold as she feels she needs to be there to supervise the group and more importantly her father.  Which ends up being a task akin to herding cats.  While attempting (and failing) to come up with ideas they share stories about their love lives, read some odd poetry, and at one moment of crazy insanity burn a cardigan in the trash bin.