|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| THIS ISSUE: The Blacklist, Orphan Black, Grey's Anatomy, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Blacklist's Lethal Twist |
|
| NBC |
|
 BECAUSE: Did The Blacklist really just kill off one of its two main characters? It's hard to know what to believe on TV anymore, but here's what we know from Thursday night's game-changing episode: We heard Elizabeth Keen flatline after a wreck caused complications with the delivery of her baby. We heard her pronounced dead by a doctor. We saw her get zipped into a body bag by professional body bag zipper, Mr. Kaplan. And all this happened in an episode that invoked the holy lyrics of Paul Anka's "(You're) Having My Baby" -- that's just not something you mess around with. Plus, James Spader sure seems to think Lizzie is dead… |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Orphan Black |
|
| BBC America |
|
| WHAT HAPPENED: If there's any proof needed that just because a character dies, that's no reason to kiss them goodbye, look no further than the season 4 premiere of Orphan Black, which went back in time to focus on Beth Childs, a clone we only ever knew from Sarah assuming her identity. In the flashback episode, we find out that Beth -- whom EW recapper Jessica Derschowitz describes as, "poor, poor Beth" -- isn't doing so well: she's a detective who's addicted to painkillers, has a complicated relationship with Artand Paul (and newly introduced clone M.K.), and she's finding out a lot of scary intel about the dangers of Neolution. Apparently, they're doing a little "biometric study" which at best includes implanting magnets in fingers, at worst includes implanting some kind of bug in the cheek, and at unimaginable, includes a "surgically bifurcated penis." In the end, Beth accidentally kills Maggie Chen, and then we're suddenly back in the future with Art calling Sarah to tell her, "Neolution knows where you are. They're coming for Kendall Malone. You need to run -- right now." |
|
| WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: So...things are going well! NOT. Going back in time for a prequel was a fun way to bring back old characters (hey, Dr. Leekie), and assure audiences that things have always been pretty rough for the sestra, but it was also a huge storytelling risk for a premiere. When EW asked why they chose to tell Beth's story now, show creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson said that it was something they'd been throwing around since the very beginning, "Then, as we decided that season 4 would be a return to the roots, it really made sense to set the table with a pure Beth episode. To keep that secret was a challenge." If you're wondering if those discussions included the idea of re-staging that train sequence that kicked off the entire series from Beth's point of view, Fawcett and Manson say they've "talked about it." And have no fear about the minimal amount of Sarah in the premiere -- Manson told EW, "She's going to lead us through. She's our main girl." And ours, too. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Grey's Anatomy |
|
| ABC |
|
| WHAT HAPPENED: Two hours of Grey's Anatomy, one very dramatic storyline. When Grey Sloan is briefly put on lockdown, Ben and Andrew find themselves trapped in a hallway with a pregnant woman in need of an emergency C-section. If it wasn't performed right then, they would lose the mother and the baby, so, Ben made do in the hallway, performed the C-section, and lost the mother and the child anyway. Security footage is found later revealed that there actually was a way for Ben to get the mother out of that hallway, but he just didn't take it. The second hour of Grey's focuses on the advisory committee put together to decide Ben's fate, where everyone but Bailey votes to suspend him for six months...she, however, votes to terminate him completely. It's a good thing Jackson and April tentatively made up (in a pretty touching scene), because this hospital can only handle so many beefing couples. |
|
| WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Two hours of Grey's Anatomy is a lot, and while the Ben story was well told, it felt a little long for some. As the A.V. Club said in their recap, "[Thursday night's] double-header offers a perfect case study in what separates an average Grey's Anatomy episode from a great one: Focus. The first episode...narrows in on one event to tell a tight, tense story that offers welcome stylistic flourishes and refuses to pull its punches. It's one of the strongest episodes of the season and one of the better Grey's entries across the board. Meanwhile the second episode...is -- well, it's there." Perhaps we have to take the good with the bad; the #Benley with the #Japril. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| DC's Legends of Tomorrow |
|
| The CW |
|
| WHAT HAPPENED: If ever you find yourself in a Back to the Future III style setting opposing a group called the Stillwater gang: BEWARE. That's where theLegends crew ended up -- a town called Salvation in 1871 -- in Thursday's episode as they tried to outrun the Time Masters. Of course, Rip wants everyone to stay on the Waverider, but Ray Palmer has dreams of being a frontier sheriff, so no luck there Rip. In the Wild West, Rory shifts back from bounty hunter to hero, Sara is finally smiling again -- okay, there was at leastone smile -- Dr. Stein saves a young H.G. Wells from tuberculosis (sure, sure), and Rip is forced to face off with his Old West foil, Quentin Turnbull...alongsideJonah Hex (played by Jonathon Schaech). But all ends well, including a defeat of the Time Masters who turn out to be no match for the West-hardened Legends. |
|
| WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: This is what we want! More period costumes! More excitement for zany schemes! (Perhaps a little less forced Kendra-Ray romance!) IGN says in their review, "It's pretty clear by now that Legends of Tomorrow is at its best when it focuses less on its ongoing conflicts and more on letting the characters run wild in each new time period." Just let the comic book heroes play. And hell, if the time period fits, let them do it in hats and chaps. We're completely onboard with this YahooTV sentiment: "If you're going to make a show about time-traveling superheroes, you'd damn well better be able to make sure your Wild West episode is on point." And on Thursday,Legends achieved just that, with cowboy hijinks, wooden-barrel diving, and Time Masters-evading to spare. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| One More Thing... |
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment