I’m gonna try taking a different approach to the Thursday articles. Instead of a straight recap of everything I watched in the last week, I’m gonna start writing about anything that’s been on my mind in television. This week, that’ll be some things I watched that were notably good or notably bad. In the future, it might be something like a writeup of some underrated / unheralded TV performances, great newcomers or supporting actors, or maybe just something I’m thinking about with a particular show that could use a longer essay.
Also, this will no longer be solely my feature! If you have something in the vein of the above you want to write about, take a spot on Thursday! The only requirement is that it has to be about television in some way. So the weekly Thursday TV article is open for all in the community to contribute.
So, without further ado, some thoughts on some recent TV.
The Abbott Elementary episode “Trip” was dire. A huge step back after what had been a strong half-season to this point. Gonna be tough to discuss without spoilers, but it aired over two weeks ago, so let’s break it down.
The A-Plot: Contrived, felt juvenile in a way that reflected poorly on the characters, and almost laugh-free. (I got one laugh in the opening scene in the teacher’s lounge.) This is a sitcom, right? I don’t really watch for poorly executed relationship drama. On top of that, reducing Jacob, once again, to nothing but Janine and Gregory’s gay relationship cheerleader is very grating and obnoxious, and probably problematic in a way someone else could explain better than I could. Woof.
The B-Plot: The best story of the episode involves a former student visiting Melissa… and then it turning out he’s going to prison for financial fraud and wants Melissa to write him a character recommendation, having taken her lessons about being wise to the hustle and getting yours the wrong way, and really showing no remorse for his crimes. It’s a good idea for a story, but again, it’s largely laugh-free, with only one particularly good scene at the end (Ava guiding Melissa through her decision to say no— specifically, her insight that scammers will often use emotional manipulation, trying to make you feel bad for not letting them scam you).
The C-Plot: Pointless, laugh-free.
The show had been firing at a level since the winter break and the move to the mall that made me think it had returned to the sharp and funny comedy with a streak of absurdism it had been in its best days, instead of the generally-pleasant hugging-and-learning show it had been later on. This was neither, and it wasn’t even the inconsistent characterization and spotty batting average on jokes that characterized the weaker parts of season 4 and 5. Was this my least favorite episode of the entire series? It’s certainly on the short list, and I can’t think of any other entries at the moment.
The next episode was funnier, with one particular new wrinkle of characterization killing it on the comedy front, but it’s all still being dragged down by this mini-arc that feels implausible and will obviously be resolved before long. I’d let you know if I stayed up late enough for Abbott to put its episodes on Hulu how the season finished, but even if I do stay up that late I’m probably going to pretend I didn’t.
The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins ended pretty strong with two very good episodes! What’s been really impressive about this first season of the show is that it’s not only reaching rare levels of being purely funny (levels that are difficult to find outside of the Tina Fey / Robert Carlock creative tree), but it’s actually told a pretty effectively moving story about the relationships among these people, and in particular that it understands the relationships between the characters and that they’re all distinct. Those relationships, and the conflicts that do arise, are also significantly more mature than one might expect from a sitcom (or from the entire history of television). And considering the types of characters he usually plays, it’s particularly refreshing to see Tracy Morgan play Reggie as such an empathetic and emotionally intelligent character, perhaps the most so on the entire show. What a treat this show was.
Hacks is back! I’ve quite enjoyed the first two episodes so far, although things are feeling a bit like the calm before the storm, because I’m sure the path to the triumphant comeback show at Madison Square Garden will not actually go smoothly. But there have been some very funny moments: Deborah’s increasing exasperation over Tony Kushner— while Ava is fawning over him, no less— is one great example, and I hooted at the title of the true-crime podcast mentioned in the second episode: Murder My Stupid Ass, Please. There’s also some real pathos, particularly in the second episode, with Deborah’s relationship to her fans, and Ava and Deborah’s own relationship and what they’re finally willing to admit about it. I’ve seen a couple of comments that this feels a bit like a victory-lap season, and I wouldn’t go that far, but my “calm before the storm” comment speaks to that. Anyway, I’m actually quite enjoying it, and after episode 2 I’m brainstorming ideas for the worst marketing campaign in history.
Watching Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat: Behind the Scenes really reminded me how much fun this season was, what a great character Anthony was to make the center of the show, and, certainly not least of all, just how much work went into preparing this season. In the original Jury Duty, the actors were supposed to be strangers to one another; here, they’re supposed to have long histories with each other at this small, family-owned company. What an accomplishment. Maybe this will get a longer piece.
Invincible is having an odd season. On the one hand, I felt some of the early episodes were a bit filler-y, particularly the third episode. But the flipside of that is, we got to spend some time with the more interesting characters on Earth (both in personality / backstory and in variety of powers). Then the last few episodes have finally brought the main plot forward and gotten me invested again… but on the other hand, we’ve left most of the interesting characters behind so Mark, Nolan, Oliver, and Allen can go fight the Viltrumites, whose characterization is essentially all “Space Nazis whose superpower is punching really hard.” So, it’s been a mixed bag, where when the plot moves forward, it seems to be in the most generic superhero-story section of the story… and yet, I still find myself engaged and invested. So… I’m not really sure how to evaluate it. The finale aired yesterday, so I may or may not have updated thoughts based on that.
Matlock has had a two-episode arc involving AI that’s a little weird. On the one hand, it seems to be overstating what LLMs can do and pinning significant parts of the story on that. On the other hand, it seems to understand that falling into that AI psychosis is unhealthy. It’s a strange little detour in the story. That said, the overarching plot seems to be coming to a head, and we’re getting a two-part finale tonight to wrap up season two (and, reportedly, the Wellbrexa story). But it’s also NFL Draft night, so I won’t be watching Matlock live.
Bob’s Burgers returns Sunday for a handful of episodes to close out season 16. That’s the only upcoming premiere I have on my calendar until late May.
Not a beginning yet, but we did get a recent announcement that Diane Morgan’s gloriously stupid documentarian Philomena Cunk will be returning to our televisions later this year with Cunk on Cinema.
And in season endings since I last wrote: The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins aired its two-epsiode finale April 13. Abbott Elementary (two episodes) and Invincible aired their finales yesterday. Matlock (two episodes), Animal Control, and Going Dutch all air their finales tonight.
The first episode in Matlock‘s two-parter is called “Who Are You?”, and as much affection as I have for the show, it almost certainly will be at best the second-best TV episode with that title. (Related, High Potential reminded us recently I have friends everywhere.)
About the writer
Captain Nath
Born on the bayou, thriving in the mountains. Writer, gambler, comedian, singer-songwriter, bon vivant, globetrotter, and all-around Renaissance Man with perfect opinions about TV and music. Pronounced with a long A and with the H.
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M*A*S*H, Season Three, Episode Twenty-Four, “Abyssinia, Henry”
“Why can’t everything be on the same time?”
“Coz the Earth is round and keeps rotating, sir.”
“Oh, I thought it was just an army thing.”
“Honey, don’t tell anybody. We’ll just walk into the Saturday country club, start dancing, and let ‘em all cheer!”
“Stand up straight.”
“I am standing up straight. The country’s crooked.”
“Henry… that outfit is really you.”
“If you’re Adolf Rajou.”
I don’t know who that is, but the shot structure makes it so funny.
“You behave yourself, or I’m gonna come back and kick your butt.”
Is there a greater disparity between the shittiness of the motivation behind a creative choice and the effect of it as art? Henry got killed entirely to shaft Mclean Stevenson, but it’s so moving and works so well in the context of the episode that I think we’d all believe it was intentional for effect. It’s one of those no-going back moments – the show would and could never be as silly as it was those first three seasons, because killing off lovable old Henry means things can never be as they were. It’s all the worse because this has one of the funniest drunk scenes the show would ever do; Stevenson is incredible in these bits, and the whole episode, he plays a weak man trying not to look sad that he’s losing his friends and a bit of his identity.
The feeling here in particular is the unfairness that someone so harmlessly nice has something horrible happen to him (and, as it stresses, to his loved ones waiting for him back home). From this perspective, it’s definitely one of the best episodes, if only because it gets its theme across through an intense emotion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VPbNFNEpag
Don’t worry. Henry’s fine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxmvqrCNwH8
Having gotten so much negative feedback, the showrunners would never dare to kill another main character. I wonder how the finale would have been if they would gone that route.
The video link at the end of my comment shows the clip in its proper context 😉
I should have watched your vid first.
But then I would have not seen Cher’s gown.
Radar coming into surgery with that news will always be one of TV’s most emotionally devastating moments, especially with the silence coming in at the end as everyone simply has to keep working. The series used that “and the work goes on” effect really well more than once–“The Late Captain Pierce” is another good example–but this is probably my favorite.
The show does go with Scrubs and, to a lesser extent, The Shield in being about how people just keep getting up and going to work every day.
One of the more satisfying elements of The Pitt’s first two seasons so far is watching people leave work and/or grab a beer together after a fourteen-fifteen hour shift.
I love how jarring it makes it feel when the women literally let their hair down at the end after we’ve spent weeks only seeing it pulled back.
Not gonna lie, I thought Al-Hashimi had sex hair but my friend said no, everyone’s just not in a bob.
Many people wondered why Trump won in 2016 and I think now I’d silently point to the Always Sunny episode “The Gang Gets Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” as a 22 minute encapsulation of the reasons in a nutshell. Most importantly, the episode is funny (and horrifying, everything that happens to the “Juarez” family is a nightmare and they’re clearly freaked out), especially when Charlie looks around and says, “Did the neighborhood just rob us?”
I also went down a YouTube rabbithole about Lindy West’s new book despite not actually knowing her writing that well. But Adult Teeth and the discourse encapsulates why – ironically, as my degree is in Creative Non-Fiction – I largely haven’t read memoirs or personal essay collections since college.* There’s a degree to which you need a massive ego to assume people will read an entire book about your life alone, many essay writers in the 2010’s were often insufferable, and West, like Elizabeth Gilbert, keeps flipping the script about her personal life in part out of denial. Unlike Gilbert, however, I feel bad for West and hope she gets out of this marriage with an obviously manipulative husband who claims his adultery is polyamory.
*Big exception for Bechdel’s Fun Home, which I have reread and is a masterpiece, and then her follow-up about her mother didn’t have as much to say, I suspect because her relationship with her wasn’t as complicated as her father’s.
Elementary, “The Red Team” – A pretty dark mystery here: members of a think tank that found a horrifiying (and classified) security flaw in US counterterrorism planning that are being killed off. The plot is chock full of the dread that even in 2013 still gripped a lot of New Yorkers, even if there is a mordant sense of humor underlying it as we learn Holmes loves to mess with conspiracy theorists online. But around the murder are the ramifications from Holmes going rogue and nearly murdering Moran. He’s been suspended from his consulting gig, and even though he of course gets his job back, Gregson no longer trusts him. Very good performance by Aidan Quinn as the utterly pissed cop.
Doctor Who, “Fury from the Deep,” last three parts – We never learn exactly how natural gas drilling allowed seaweed to become sapient, start moving, form a group mind, and learn to posses humans. But it’s pretty creepy and well animated. (People who saw the actual serial when it aired insist it was very scary, but when discussing this, Russell T. Davies admits that not being able to go back and rewatch it might have given it an undeserved reputation.) Overall an entertaining if padded serial, with some well written one off characters (most notably the woman head of the gas company, unusual for its time), the introduction of the sonic screwdriver, and the final appearance of Victoria. A character who was sweet, kind, well acted, and kind of useless. Weirdly, her tendency to scream actually becomes the weapon that defeats the seaweed. I am not sure what to make of that.
MASH, “Mulcahy’s War” – A GI shoots himself in the foot, and rebukes Mulcahy’s attempt to counsel him because how could a chaplain who’s never been to the front line understand? So of course when the opportunity arises to go get an injured man from a aid station, Mulcahy joins Radar. A well done episode, but one that kind of forces Mulcahy into a box that ill suits him. Saying he needs to have been at the front line is like saying he can’t counsel people who cheated on their spouses because he’s never done that! (Also, the MASH until is three miles from the front line and bombed all the time.) Still, it is an effective spotlight for William Christopher.
Slow Horses, “Hello Goodbye”
Jack Lowden kills it in River’s scenes with Harkness–he’s been funny before, but he’s so cuttingly, precisely, dryly witty in his absolute refusal to get on board with his long-lost military cult leader father’s bullshit (“Childline?”), and he has two great dramatic beats as well, hitting Harkness with the fact that the Westacres attack was Yves deliberately fucking up Harkness’s shit as revenge for a lifetime of abuse and saying, “I forgive her,” with just the right emphasis on “her,” when talking about his mother. Completely different scene, but his reaction to finding out Whelan put out a shoot-to-kill order on him is also hilarious.
Fair amount of emotionally affecting material this episode–Louisa risking her life to get the grenade out of River’s hood (and River trying to get her to move away), Lamb discovering Bad Sam’s body, Shirley’s horror and heartbreak at Marcus’s death, Lamb trying to stop Shirley from seeing his body, Lamb pulling strings to get Marcus’s family ten years of pay, River having to commit his grandfather to the Park’s assisted living facility (the way David keeps saying, “You promised me, River!” is gutting; you can tell how much care River’s put into the arrangements, from the flowers from David’s garden to all the clothes he’s promising to rotate in the wardrobe, and yet he knows none of it makes any bit of difference to his grandfather’s sense of betrayal right now, and may never make a difference), and Lamb inviting River for a drink after all that (River’s face as he slowly takes in why this is happening is a lovely beat) and the two of them raising their glasses in unison.
Ownage: Coe persuading Shirley not to execute Patrice to avenge Marcus (“He loved you, and he wanted you to love yourself”) and then unflinchingly and almost casually doing it himself once he has the gun–not so much for Marcus, whom he barely knew, but because it makes sense and prevents further problems, including Shirley changing her mind. (Coe, Emma Flyte, Whelan, and Moira have all been great additions to the series.) Moira leveraging Ho’s intel to not only return to the Park but get a four-day work week and a raise.
Bonus bits: David doesn’t want to sit on Lamb’s office toilet, which is 100% fair. Louisa’s run-in with Flyte, who puts together that Louisa’s yet another person who lied to her before reluctantly partnering up with her to try to protect River from Whelan’s shoot-on-sight order, is great. Curious where Flyte will go from here, since she’s been battered into realizing that her career move has only gotten her further enmeshed in cover-ups (especially given what happens with Harkness at the end of the episode). Dancer saying he’s not a “gun librarian.”
Live Music – highly-rated UK improvisational noise-rock act Earth Ball. I’m always a little wary of improv bands and that was justified here, aside from a solid rhythm section I didn’t feel like they were really playing off each other that well, in fact one of the guitarists had his back to the rest of the band for basically the entire set. There were interesting moments but also a lot of annoying ones. The crowd had considerably thinned by the time they finished their set.
Support acts were great though so it was still worth going. A solo synth drone / krautrock guy using the name Either/Or, even though if you google that name there is already an established experimental act by that name – do your basic homework, people! And also Kogumaza, the real reason I was there. Excellent local-ish droney post-rock, three songs in 40 minutes or so, all very good.
Woooooo live music!!
Columbo “Any Old Port In A Storm” (s3e2) – Donald Pleasance kills his brother over a vinyard. Great episode with Pleasance almost stealing the show. He is a tightly wound ball of tics, shifty eyes, snobbery (“Liquid filth!”) and nervous giggles. Like Anthony Perkins, Pleasance is one of those actors playing just to the left of everybody else. He’s on a different plane or in a different time zone. There is always a psychotic bent to him. His interactions with Peter Falk are fantastic. A usual episode often taps out as soon as Columbo pins the killer. But here the emotion in Pleasance, a huge sense of relief, as he shares a final glass of wine with Columbo is one of the best endings. Just some great character work between the two leads. Many episodes have a character who blackmails the killer. That part is played by Julie Harris in possibly the best performance of that roll. She is clearly in love with Pleasance without him returning it. When she plays her blackmail card in forcing Pleasance to marry her it may be the best scene in the episode. It’s one of the longer episodes apart from the two tv films before it. Everything about the murder hinges on the weather the day of the killing and what temperature wine can be kept at. Columbo running around asking people if it rained on the date of the murder a week prior – no cell phones to easily look it up – is hilarious but goes a little long in my opinion. Pleasance cleaning up after the killing felt a little long too. Otherwise top tier Columbo.
If you haven’t seen Wake In Fright, Pleasance is great in it and indeed just to the left of the other characters, the only one of these weird Australians (including the bourgeois teacher) who is self-aware.
I hypothetically want to see that, but I’m worried the kangaroo hunt will be too much for me.
Don’t blame you, it was too much for the film crew who largely burst into tears after the shoot.
Yeah, exactly why I’ve put it off all these years.
Absolutely with you on Hacks – I’m 100% certain something fucked up is right around the corner.
Maybe Thursdays should just be “Hacks conversation” because that’s the only thing I write about that gets responses.