You're The Worst 2x12 "Other Things You Could Be Doing" (You Stayed) [Contributor: Rae Nudson]

"Other Things You Could Be Doing"

Original Airdate: December 2, 2015

Let’s just get this out of the way: Lindsay is pregnant... from a turkey baster and re-heated sperm? I really hope she got some off-screen action because I’m already at capacity this year for turkey baster pregnancies after Jane the Virgin. Is there any chance that the dad isn’t her ex?

It could be great to see this gang react to the grown up demands of having a baby, but I’m a little wary of pregnancy storylines on a show that is about people who think only of themselves. Would Lindsay even want a kid right now, even with her renewed sense of life after her near-death experience last week? I am doubtful. (Also, why is the only pregnancy symptom on TV morning sickness? I have never met anyone in real life whose first sign of pregnancy was being sick. I know that it’s a real thing, but there are other ways of indicating pregnancy, TV.)

Lindsay’s apology tour was fun, especially when she swooped in on Paul’s date to hand over the divorce papers. But the heart of the episode was, of course, Gretchen and Jimmy.

The last episode left Jimmy on top of a bar with a cute, blonde bartender. Nina is a hot mess, so obviously Jimmy is attracted to her. She is almost okay with boning him on top of her bar while knowing he has a girlfriend, but once she comes to her senses, she wants to do things right. So she agrees to pick him up for a quick getaway and to text him instead of knocking so she doesn’t alert his live-in girlfriend. (You know, the right way.)

When Jimmy gets home, he finds Gretchen there, laying down and refusing to speak to him. Fed up, he takes her phone and texts all her contacts to come over. I have to say, I am relieved that Jimmy finally took real action toward Gretchen. Leaving her alone to suffer wasn’t working for either of them, and while reaching out indiscriminately to all her contacts was maybe not the wisest choice either, I was just so glad he did something to let her know she wasn’t alone. Gretchen remained unresponsive while people came and tried to talk her out of her stupor. When she ran out of visitors she stood (“Hey! You’re erect!”), and in a heartbreaking scene, she told Jimmy that she doesn’t think she’ll fight her way out of it this time. She tells him to go, and that he deserves to have fun, and that it’s okay that he’s not okay with her. And Jimmy leaves.

Like Gretchen, my heart was back on the floor when he walked out the door. Depression in a relationship can be so difficult, and I can’t blame anyone for leaving if they aren’t getting what they need from their significant other. But I also desperately wanted Jimmy to stay and show Gretchen that he loved her even if she wasn’t okay.

But out the door he went, before realizing he made a horrible mistake and diving into the bushes when he sees Nina pulling into the driveway. Nina’s text messages went from 0 to 60 in no time. After he didn’t respond, she kept texting... and texting... and texting.

The way You’re the Worst displays texts on the screen is as much part of the humor as what the texts say. Nina’s contact picture appearing next to her increasingly frantic texts overlaid on the screen as Jimmy hid on his driveway provided visual contrasts and jokes galore. To top it off, when Jimmy finally responded, he used Lindsay’s refrain from a few weeks ago: “New phone, who dis?”

When Jimmy finally gets back inside where he belongs, he sees Gretchen on the floor, and it looks like she’s asleep. When the camera slowly pulled back to show that not only did Jimmy stay, but he built a blanket fort over him and Gretchen, I got a little weepy. Gretchen, visibly relieved, starts crying as she lays her head on his chest.

I know it might not look like it, but for Gretchen, feeling emotion and showing it with tears could be an improvement for her. A symptom of depression can be feeling nothing, so when Jimmy helped her break through to feel something again, it was touching. All I wanted — and I’m sure all that Gretchen wanted, too — was Jimmy to show Gretchen that he was there for her, and that it was okay to feel like she wasn’t okay. It took him a while, but he finally did that with his blanket fort.

Sometimes, when your loved ones can’t get up, you have to just lay down with them.

Other notes:

• Edgar and Dorothy are moving in together! They are very cute, and I’m happy for them. It will be interesting to see how the show moves forward with Edgar even more removed from Jimmy and Gretchen. His last few storylines have been so separate; it would be nice to see them a bit more intertwined. 
• Jimmy’s reactions in the background of the scenes where people were trying to talk to Gretchen were hilarious.
• Next week is the season finale, everybody get ready.

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3x09 "Closure" (A Long, Dark Road) [Contributor: Alice Walker]

"Closure"

Original Airdate: December 1, 2015

Well, after taking a week off for Thanksgiving, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was back this week with a bang. Multiple bangs, in fact. There was a LOT going on this week, and I’ve got a lot of feelings to unpack so let’s take a deep breath and break this thing down.

FATAL ATTRACTION

Anyone who has ever seen any sort of action/drama had to know that as soon as Rosalind and Coulson settled down to “finally have those burgers,” something bad was about to happen. There was happiness, flirting, a casual reveal that Rosalind and Banks are bosom buddies –– it was all too good. The gunfire was expected; Rosalind’s quick death after Ward shot her in the neck was not. I had (incorrectly) assumed that Rosalind Pike would be around for most of the season, and certainly did not think she’d be bumped off before the midseason finale.

I was surprised that the writers went through with the death without having any sort of medical intervention or dream revelation. Now, I know I was just complaining about Marvel not having the guts to make death permanent –– and we even got another fake-out death in the form of Andrew Garner. While this one seems like it will stick, this was not the answer I was looking for. First: this is not a real solution. Rosalind Pike, while an excellent character, has only been around for nine episodes. That’s less than Agent Trip (remember that guy?) got in season two, and she was in no way an integrated or crucial a part of the cast or show.

Second and more problematic is that by violently killing Rosalind in front of Coulson, the show fell back on one of the oldest and most outdated tropes in comic book history: they stuffed her in the fridge. This sharp powerful woman, who was not only a spy extraordinaire but also an all-around amazing character, is reduced to a simple stereotype by her murder. Her death served only to further Coulson’s storyline, driving his actions and newfound bloodthirst. I don’t mind killing characters off; I can even handle excess violence, but when it is done at a woman’s expense for the sole purpose of driving a man’s journey, it bugs me. It’s lazy storytelling, and it is not cute.

After Rosalind’s death, Coulson goes into full vigilante mode, launching an all our assault on Ward. But to do so effectively, he has to get inside his head. This leads us right into the next problematic area.

REVISIONIST HISTORY

I have watched S.H.I.E.L.D. loyally ever since it aired its first episode, I’ve been a fan of every iteration of the team, and sometimes I even long for the easy, simplistic days of mid-season one. So when Coulson barked at May to prep the interrogation room and gather up “the original team,” I was all about it. Would we have flashbacks to a lighter time when FitzSimmons were the adorkable duo with burgeoning crushes on Skye and Ward? Would we gain insight to their background, examining the bonds that drew us to these characters in the first place? Maybe we’d even get some long-lost SkyeWard action!

... Nope.

Instead we got awkwardly-paced exposition that revealed nothing we haven’t already been beaten over the head with. May and Ward didn’t do much talking when they boned down? I’m shocked. Jemma liked Ward and was flustered by him? Okay, sure. Skye/Daisy and Ward bonded over their rough childhoods? Yeah, that’s basically the most boring aspect of their relationship. Fitz’s interview was the most jarring, with a brand new memory of Ward sitting in his bunk looking at a picture of his family.

Now, while that is clearly Psychopath 101, Grant Ward was no amateur; he was so deep undercover that I have a very hard time picturing this. This changed narrative also feels like a cheat, and cheapens what actually happened on the show. The one compelling moment came when Skye alluded to their parallel paths, and understood how easily Ward was taken in by a strong male presence. The two of them always did feel too much. Flip Ward and Garrett with Daisy and Coulson and you could tell that same story.

WAR PAINT

Coulson leaves Mack in charge (Director Tank? Yes please!) and jets off with Bobbi, Hunter, and a master plan to hit Ward in his soft underbelly. Now, this is where the show should have taken Daisy along, and used her to manipulate Ward into coming out of hiding/combat –– there is plenty of unfinished business and emotional payoff there. But instead of using Daisy as bait, Coulson digs up... Ward’s brother, Thomas, whom Ward once trapped in a well at the insistence of his sadistic older brother.

Thomas helps them get a trace on Ward, who is busy torturing Simmons to find out how they made it through the portal and back again. Fitz breaks, and Ward sets out to lead a HYDRA mission to the alien planet to get that evil alien back to Earth. Fitz is hoping to bring back Will, and Daisy’s team of Secret Warriors are getting their start backing up Coulson. They’ve got a tough job ahead since Coulson jumped from a plane straight into the portal before it closed. Impeccable aim, that Coulson.

This coming week will be the midseason finale, which always tends to be some of the strongest episodes this show offers. It’s also taking place on the alien planet that served us so well before. I am holding out hope that this episode was moving all of the pieces into position, and that this episode will be the grand payoff. Regardless of what else happens, this should mark a change in the Ward story. He either needs to die by Coulson’s hand or reveal a whole other hidden agenda. I cannot imagine them stretching out this game of cat and mouse much longer.

Highlights and low lights: 

• Agent Banks, we hardly knew ye. I would have loved to see you and Rosalind drinking wine and dishing secrets. 
• Mack and Daisy fist-bumping before a mission. It’s the little things. 
• Really, is Ward once again blindly following a father-figure into a new mission? Whatever happened to working for himself? 
• Fingers crossed for a Will/Jemma reunion. I need it. 
• Hunter’s idea of really going off-book is faking a robbery? Come on man, you’re supposed to be the bad boy around here! 

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Empire 2x10 "Et Tu, Brute" (Betrayals) [Contributor: Rae Nudson]

"Et Tu, Brute"

Original Airdate: December 2, 2015

So, I missed last week’s review because of Thanksgiving, but I’m back just in time for the midseason finale. Before I dive into this week, here’s what I missed last week when I was eating all the mashed potatoes:

• Cookie discovered a new sister I hadn’t heard of (was she on this show before?) and wore a fantastic muppet coat to a crack house to find her other sister Carol. 
• Carol has a dark secret of betrayal she’s keeping from Cookie, but we don’t know what it is.
• Cookie finally found out her new man is a part of the kidnapping ring that took Hakeem, and he disappeared way too quickly after spending so many episodes on their relationship.
• And most importantly, Alicia Keys' hair color was a perfect shade of purple. Oh, and she and Jamal kissed.

This week was the midseason finale, so this is the last review before the show picks up again in at the end of March. Twists are fun and a large part of why I love Empire, but the most powerful moments of this episode were the quiet ones.

THE BABIES OF THE FAMILY

One of the strongest storylines in a season full of plot twists is Hakeem’s anger at his father. No matter how many ups and downs there are, Hakeem could always be counted on to distrust Lucious. So it came as no surprise that Hakeem would vote against Lucious in a board meeting that set out to remove him as CEO. But the way Empire used flashbacks, dramatic music, and pregnant pauses made it seem like it should be the most dramatic moment in the episode — or season.

Lucious’ pain at losing Empire after sacrificing so much of his life and his soul was much more effective at portraying the gravity of the situation. And even that had an excessive gun — Lucious doesn’t need a gun to be scary, and no one’s life was actually in danger. That moment landed harder than Hakeem’s vote, but it would have landed even better if Empire turned it down a notch and let the characters carry the story alone without drama for the sake of drama.

Speaking of, the camera choices for Rhonda’s fall down the stairs were very in your face. Literally — they were zoomed in on her face as she was falling. It seemed like the shocking camera angles, like the flashbacks and music during the board vote, were a way to indicate that this is a Big Important Moment when the show hadn’t built up enough emotion for those scenes to hit hard enough all on their own. It looks like they are setting up Rhonda and Andre to lose the baby (I hate losing-the-baby storylines). This should be devastating, but it doesn’t have the emotional power it should because it seems like the only person invested in the pregnancy was Rhonda, and only for the attention she got from Lucious. Andre and Rhonda have hardly been allowed to have any time to talk about becoming parents, and the show hasn’t delved much into the interesting contrast between the Lyon’s broken family and starting a new family with a new baby.

It sure looks like Anika pushed Rhonda, and she has been coming over more often (maybe to case their house?), but what does Anika get from this — being the only one in town who is pregnant with a Lyon baby? Right now her motives are unclear, and she is being painted only as a crazy ex.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR, KINDA

Jamal and Skye have a great connection. Their chemistry is obvious, and they make great music together, metaphorically and literally. Their kiss was sweet, and it seems like Jamal could really be into Skye. The show attempted to show Jamal grappling with the idea of being attracted to a woman after he built so much of his public image on being gay, but then their relationship was over as quickly as it started.

Someone else who made a quick entrance is Camilla, who is back after disappearing on Hakeem last season after Lucious offered her money to get out of their lives forever. As Cookie noted, she didn’t take the money, but she still left Hakeem high and dry. Apparently to move on to Mimi, who she is now married to. I assume that after their whirlwind romance, their honeymoon was full of revenge plotting and margaritas.

Mimi turned on Lucious and set him up to be removed as CEO. Since Mimi started her career at Empire by turning on Cookie, this shouldn’t be a surprise to Lucious, but of course it is because he considers himself invincible. Mimi and Camilla’s plan involved manipulating almost every member of the Lyon family, but easily the person most under Camilla’s thumb is Hakeem. Hakeem has been so interesting to watch this season as he came into his own and worked hard to make something from nothing with his mom at Lyon Dynasty. But with Camilla’s influence, he’s ready to throw it all away to punish his father and have another shot at Empire.

All of these twists could set up a killer back half of the season, if Empire doesn’t implode in on itself first. With Hakeem back at Empire, it brings back the tension of all the Lyons fighting for the same thing that was so powerful in season one. But first it needs to keep up the twists while allowing character moments to breathe.

Cookie Crumbs:

• I love that Cookie lives by her own dress code, no matter the occasion. She wore a slinky oil-black dress to a prison and giant pink fur coat to a crack house. 
• Once again, the Pepsi commercial was so effective at being a commercial that I thought it was a real commercial and not part of the show. I am glad this Pepsi storyline is over, and I hope we don’t have as obvious of product placement in the future — all it did was bring the momentum of the episode to a halt.
• That’s all I have folks, what did you think? See you in a few months.

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Scream Queens 1x10 "Thanksgiving" & 1x11 "Black Friday" ('Tis the Season) [Contributor: Melanie]

"Thanksgiving"

Original Airdate: November 24, 2015

So a combined technological catastrophe pushed last week's episode and this one into one big ol' post. But, considering they both follow in the theme of holidays, it's rather fitting they go up together. "Thanksgiving" continued Scream Queens’ trend of “not as awful as it could have been” episodes, this time by making some surprisingly poignant points about family gatherings and Thanksgiving. While this certainly is nowhere near the standards set by classic Thanksgiving episodes, “Thanksgiving” is one of the better-crafted holiday episodes of this season. Generally speaking, shows use their Thanksgiving episodes to point out all the flaws in their characters’ family dynamics, and this was no exception. Each character got a moment to shine, with their disappointing Thanksgiving dinners put on display before they all returned to the Kappa house.

So maybe it wasn’t your run-of-the-mill Thanksgiving, but we can all relate to having some disappointing holiday celebrations. The strength of the episode came in its focus on the importance of found family, something many college students can probably understand, as they band together for "friendsgivings" that often wind up being better than their celebrations with family. With everyone ditching their awful family dinners in favor of spending time at the sorority house (and Grace vocally choosing her friends and sorority sisters over her new-found siblings), it’s an incredibly positive way to show how important it is to feel safe and comforted, even if the people who make you feel most safe and comforted aren’t the people with whom you share genetic material. And as someone who spent Thanksgiving with extended family, I can definitely relate.

So here’s what happened this Thanksgiving...

Chanel reveals to Chad that Neckbrace was never pregnant, and that she was killed after falling down the stairs. Chad is excited at the prospect of seeing a dead body (which... is a little weird, yes? Are we going to ignore the vibes here?), and Chanel agrees to show him to strengthen their bond. However, Neckbrace’s body is missing, leading Chad to suggest that she’s still alive.

Chanel joins Chad’s family for dinner, and while they’re going around announcing what they’re thankful for, Neckbrace arrives. Chad quickly tells his family that she’s his sober coach. After informing Chanel that she survived the fall because of her neckbrace, she then tells the entire Radwell family that she’s pregnant.

Chanel finds an opportunity to call her mother for advice, but gets ignored. Then Chad’s father tries to bribe her to leave Chad, an offer that she refuses, but Chad tells her she should take him up on it.

With all this drama simmering in the background, it seems like a perfect time for a family game of Pictionary to break out. The Radwells play against Chanel and Neckbrace, and when Brad pulls “Neckbrace Whore” as his first card, the family takes the opportunity to hit her with a constant stream of insults as they guess. Chanel defends Neckbrace, then apologizes for what Neckbrace has been through, and goes off on the Radwells. Finally, she breaks up with Chad, and then storms out of the house with Neckbrace by her side.

In between the back and forth of the two main storylines, we also get a glimpse of Gigi and the Red Devil celebrating the holiday together. They make hand turkeys while the Thanksgiving parade plays in the background, and it’s almost not weird that the Red Devil is in full costume while all of this goes on. They order “room service Thanksgiving” with a side of some ominous tones.

Meanwhile, Chanel #3 apprehensively returns home for the holiday, receiving a less than warm welcome from her family. After being forced to sit in the back “with the help” and eat a frozen dinner, she explodes on her family and walks out, saying she’s going “home.” She returns to the Kappa house, where she finds Munsch preparing a turkey, and they decide to have dinner together. Elsewhere, Westin is preparing dinner when Grace calls to inform him that she and Zayday aren’t going to Oakland. Instead, she invites him to join the rest of the sorority house for Thanksgiving.

Back at the Kappa house, they’ve started playing a game while they wait for the turkey: who might be the Red Devil be? Munsch immediately accuses Chanel #3, which Grace shoots down. To retaliate, #3 accuses Munsch, claiming she has the strongest motive, given her hatred of sororities. Before this game can turn into an all-out war, Chanel #5 arrives with an odd assortment of stuffing, saying that she chose to come spend the holiday at the house with Munsch after being ditched by her family. She goes on to suggest that Munsch faked her alibi in the death of her husband. Westin interjects and, going back to trying to guess the identity of the Red Devil, suggests that Grace could be the killer. Chanel #5 agrees, given Grace’s obsession with her mother and potential trust issues with Westin that could have spurred her killing spree.

Pete arrives, joining them at the dinner table, and after saying he’s up to speed thanks to Zayday live-tweeting the meal. He supports Grace and after Westin drops his accusation of his daughter, Pete accuses Westin, claiming that a rogue murderer was Westin’s best shot at preventing Grace from pledging. He also claims that Westin knew secret entrances into the house, and finally, that Westin is Boone’s biological father and therefore likely the father of the other baby.

Later, Grace meets with Westin, who swears that he had no idea about Boone. Grace tells him Pete won’t find the police, but is resolved to find her half-siblings. But even though she’s related to the killers, her loyalty lies with her friends. They return to the table, now joined by Chanel and Neckbrace, and soon Chad, who half-apologizes for his family just as Chanel serves the turkey, which, to everyone’s surprise, has been replaced with Gigi’s head.

Body count: 1

WTF moments:

• “Freddy was the one that got grandpa’s old pistols and challenged me to a duel.”
• All the things the Radwells are thankful for.
• Westin actually accusing Grace because, you know, that’s not his daughter or anything.

Killer suspects:

• Chanel #5: Basically she’s the only person who hasn’t been outright accused, at least with any solid reasoning, and her reasons for returning to the sorority house were shaky.
• Grace: The show blatantly said she couldn’t be a suspect, so that makes her a suspect. And she was present for the majority of the murders.

"Black Friday"

Original Airdate: December 1, 2015

And onto what always follows stuffing and turkey (no, not trying to dodge a game of 20 questions from your grandmother)!

The episode opens with another monologue from Chanel about Black Friday and her history of using it as a way to buy her friends cheap Christmas gifts. In the present, picking up almost exactly where we left off, Zayday is talking with Munsch about the head incident while the Chanels come downstairs with the intent to go shopping at midnight. They argue about it, considering what happened at dinner, but leave anyway. Meanwhile, Wesin, Pete, and Grace are at the police station to get help, since their initial call after discovering Gigi’s head went unanswered. To explain the incompetence, the (idiot) detective we’ve seen in previous episodes reveals the mayor turned over the entire homicide department.

While the Chanels are at the mall, Chanel has an epiphany that she should buy nice presents for her friends. But while they’re leaving, the entire mall shuts down around them, and just as they realize the doors are chained shut from the outside, the Red Devil appears with a crossbow. The girls duck into a store to hide, but Chanel decides to face the killer directly. The Red Devil shoots her in the chest while she attempts to get away, all the while throwing insults at who she believes to be Munsch. Denise arrives with backup, revealing that she took over as chief of police, but while she’s busy monologuing, the killer shoots one of the cops and takes off.

Back at the house, Chanel calls a meeting where she insists Munsch is the killer, and when the others begin to agree. Chanel proposes they proactively kill the dean, which Zayday rejects. Grace defends Chanel’s plan, in the name of sisterhood, and they decide to poison Munsch. At the Dickie Dollar Scholar house, Chad is trying to host a meeting only to find the entire frat has been killed and only Pete — who isn’t even a brother — is present to help him read Boone’s will. It turns out Boone left everything to Pete and when Chad interrogates him, Pete reveals Boone was his source for dirt on the Greek life on campus. However, Chad points out Pete tried to pledge the frat the previous year, and he’s angry at being denied (so apparently the “you pledged but were rejected” motive is just fueling everyone on this show). Chad offers him membership, which Pete rejects.

Grace and Chanel have tea with Munsch and pretend to apologize and flatter her, insisting they want to start a feminist collective with her. They offer her apple cider (apparently her favorite), laced with puffer fish venom (because who doesn’t have a puffer fish?). The poison doesn’t work, and Grace regroups with Pete who insists it was a sign to not try again. She gets all special snowflake-y about morals or something and this somehow means she should continue trying to murder the dean. Pete then notes that the Red Devil’s hatred of frats and sororities is something he understands. Grace then tries to offer Pete sex in exchange for support for her plan to kill the dean, which he still refutes.

The Chanels, Grace, and Zayday meet to come up with another plan, but this time Grace says no. Chanel holds a vote and forces Grace out of the house while Zayday has a stupid, random change of heart. Grace meets with her dad the next day and finds Pete with him. They reveal their research has yielded no conclusions, except that Gigi’s sister was the fourth girl in the bathroom who took the babies before committing suicide and leaving them to her. Pete leaves to write more, and Westin and Grace discuss Gigi, Pete, and relationships. He gives an after-school special level talk about sex and they hug it out. At a spa, the Kappas have brought Munsch to a cryo sauna (dear God) where they drop the temperature to around -100 Fahrenheit.  But Munsch emerges, very much alive.

Pete gets a suspicious call (which we of course don’t hear the other end of) and after arguing, warns the caller not to call him again. He has some prolonged eye contact with his Red Devil costume. At the Kappa house, they try to figure out how Munsch survived. They throw out possibilities, all refuted by Chanel. Neckbrace suggests she’s the “Rasputin” of the story, unable to die easily. Then Chanel presents a new plan: she gives the girls new smartphones to communicate while she uses herself as bait to drown Munsch in the pool. But the Chanels screw it up when they get in a fight with a retail worker and miss Chanel’s call. She’s all on her own when Munsch confronts her, and things get creepy fast. Munsch leaves, equally creepily, and Chanel returns to the house in a rage.

Grace visits Pete at his dorm, intending to seduce him, and finds him packed up to leave. Grace then gives a very sappy, Taylor Swift level speech about him being her “first.” He rebuffs her, claiming he doesn’t want her first time to be with a murderer.

DUN. DUN. DUN. ... Actually I really don’t care about those two.

Body count: 1

WTF moments:

• They fired their entire homicide department. Sure.
• Denise as chief of police.
• Jumping the gun on Munsch.
• Zayday’s flip-flop on what to do about Munsch.

Killer suspects: 

• Grace: Her motives got weird and she was one of the only people who knew the Kappas would be at the mall.
• Pete: Even though the killer is likely a girl, he had some pretty weird stuff going on and admitted to being a murderer of some sort.
• Zayday: She also has weird motives, played flip-flop for no reason when it came to what to do about Munsch, and like Grace, she was one of the few people who knew the Kappas would be at the mall.

Hopefully next week all computers involved cooperate and we can get this party rolling a lot smoother!

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Arrow 4x08 "Legends of Yesterday" (Time Travel is Really Hard to Write About)

"Legends of Yesterday"

Original Airdate: December 2, 2015

Recently, my sister lamented the fact that she had to work on a group project with people in her Marketing class. She's in college, after all, and it seems absurd that a professor grade everyone in the class based on how they work together in a group. I think it's absurd, but I also can understand where the professor is coming from. In the real, working world, it doesn't matter what skills you possess as an individual. Not really. What matters is how you function with your team. Your success as a department within an organization isn't founded on one person's ability to code or someone else's interpersonal skills. Your success as a team depends on how you function as a team — a unit of individuals working toward one goal.

Barry and Oliver have changed a lot since they last worked together. Actually, if you remember, the last time Barry saw the team from Star(ling) City was in a cell in the spa retreat known as Nanda Parbat. And the Oliver that he meets in "Legends of Today" should be wildly different from the Al Sah-Him character that he was rescuing the team from last season (oh, don't worry... we will be discussing this in a bit). What will always be interesting to me is the fact that Oliver and Barry are dynamic personalities — each man thinks that he knows what is best for the people around him, and neither is afraid to vocalize those beliefs.

Oliver and Barry often butt heads which I think is wonderful. They have such a sibling dynamic and it's important to realize the importance of this — while Oliver is older and, in a lot of ways, wiser, he's not always right. Sometimes he needs the fresh eyes of Barry for clarity. And Barry is often far too eager and believes himself to know it all. In these instances, he needs to hear the harsh criticism from Oliver to set him right again.

... Unfortunately, it's up to Oliver to take or leave the good advice that others give him. It's up to Oliver and Oliver alone to grow, to not make the same mistakes and repeat the pattern of behavior that he did last year. And "Legends of Yesterday" was an example of Oliver Queen backsliding in his characterization, and the writers' decision to follow the soapy trope of a secret child rather than the carefully constructed path of change that they crafted at the beginning of this season. As you might surmise, I was not a fan of this episode. While a majority of it was good (we need more of Team Flash to interact with Team Arrow, or maybe we just need more Cisco Ramon in our lives), the most important aspects of the episode were decidedly not.

So let's talk more, then, about "Legends of Yesterday." But before we do, be sure to read Deb's review of The Flash's "Legends of Today" to catch yourself up to speed (ha, ha). All right? Let's head to Central City with our favorite Team Arrow friends so we can fight off Vandal Savage together.

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The Flash 2x08 "Legends of Today" (Welcome Back, Team Flarrow) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]

"Legends of Today"

Original Airdate: December 1, 2015

I think a lot of the "previously on" at the beginning of the episode was for the benefit of the Arrow viewers who don't tune in to The Flash very often (which, you guys totally should tune in often because The Flash is wonderful comic book deliciousness) since there's no way the people running the show could believe we've forgotten about Earth-2 Harrison Wells, Cisco's metahuman powers, or the fact that Barry and Oliver are friends. I know we had a little vacation there, guys, but it was only a week! Our memories are better than that.

Barry's opening voiceover is probably for the benefit of casual viewers, too, as it explains some of Barry's troubles post-Zoom and we've technically been over those already. It's good of them to carry the Zoom aftermath over, though — in more than just a "he's a really big threat" way. Barry evidently lost some of his speed after his paralysis, and he's not getting any better even though he's been training with the help of Caitlin and ParaWells. That's a problem, since ParaWells calculates Zoom's abilities to be about three or four times what Barry's currently clocking in, meaning that Barry's got absolutely no chance of facing Zoom without coming out of the encounter even worse than before.

TEAM FLARROW

So, what instigates this exciting crossover event, exactly? Well, it turns out that Cisco's "new beautiful friend who kisses [him], occasionally," Kendra, is being hunted down by a guy named Vandal Savage. Besides sounding like he was named after a really crappy metal band from the 90s, Vandal Savage is a vicious dude with some knife skills that put Barry's speed to the test... oh, and he's also magical. And immortal. These are all new things for Team Flash, but Barry knows that Team Arrow has experience with the mystical and magical parts of this weird, messed up universe, so he decides to seek help for Kendra in Star City.

Even though Oliver's not too sure about basically luring a very dangerous guy to Star City, Barry makes it a lot harder for him to turn them away when he saves Oliver from Damien Darhk's evil clutches. And, yeah, Darhk's only on the screen for a few minutes but man is he a fun villain. Even outside of Arrow, he's a fun villain, and I really wish he'd been around more so I could make a decent "Darhk" pun subtitle, a la Jenn's Arrow reviews. Sigh. Anyway, Oliver (with some urging from Felicity) reluctantly agrees to let the teams merge so that they can all better protect Kendra and help stop Vandal Savage.

Thus we get some excellent interactions between the two CW superhero teams. Everyone mixes remarkably well with each other in this episode and we see some mixes I don't think we've ever seen before, including Thea and Barry meeting for the first time (Thea being quite impressed by knowing The Flash), and Thea and Cisco chatting about Thea's sub-par superhero name, "Speedy." It's amazing how much chemistry exists between these characters who aren't usually seen together. Felicity and Barry seem like old friends together, by the way Felicity chastises him for not telling her how badly hurt he'd been after Barry's fight with Zoom. Cisco and Felicity talk about things in a way that makes you totally believe they might occasionally call each other up and chat about technology, computers, gadgets, satellites, and copper wiring.

I know I shouldn't be surprised, since The Flash is a spinoff of Arrow, but the moods between the two shows are so polar opposite that I'm just so amazed by how perfectly they mesh together. I'm not sure I've ever seen crossovers handled as perfectly as the Arrow/Flash crossovers are handled. Even though the atmosphere of this week's The Flash was consumed by the grittiness and darkness of Arrow's Star City, the writing and dialogue was The Flash — and it still worked. It worked amazingly well, and I can't wait to see what happens in the Arrow half.

But oh yeah, first, we have to get through plot of this episode. There's a lot more going on than wonderful cast chemistry and perfect one-liners. Kendra, the future Hawkgirl, is dealing with the idea that she might not be who she's always believed herself to be, and Cisco's dealing with the possibility of losing this new person in his life who he really, really likes. Not to Vandal Savage, of course — we all know that Team Flarrow is going to save her from the week's Big Bad — but to a destiny that he can't follow her into. Oh, and also to the winged guy named Khufu who showed up, got caught by Barry and Oliver, and then proceeded to tell everyone that he and Kendra have been lovers for thousands of years and are inevitably drawn to one another during each reincarnated lifetime.

Cisco, Cisco, Cisco. When will you ever catch a break? Your only other romantic prospect is a morally ambiguous thief and now your girlfriend's going to turn into an Egyptian bird-lady and fight crime on another TV show. Life's tough, buddy.

While chained to a pole, Khufu fills everyone in on the ages-old animosity between him, Kendra, and Vandal Savage, explaining that the guy gains more and more power every time he kills the two bird-people. They've apparently died 206 times before, and Khufu really doesn't want to make it 207, so he insists that Kendra fall her way into her winged priestess form because... maybe they would have a chance against him, I guess? Not sure what help the wings would offer, but fine.

Also, Malcolm Merlyn emerges from the shadows, annoying Barry just as much as Malcolm annoys me every time he pops up on screen, and tells the team(s) that Vandal Savage is after something called the Staff of Horus. (Horus has a bird head! Get it? Also, between this plot and Sleepy Hollow, I have been googling a lot of stuff on Egyptian mythology lately.)

Barry and Oliver team up to fight Vandal Savage in a church, but things don't exactly go according to plan. Savage blows up the church and absconds with the powerful Staff of Horus, but Barry determines the battle to be a tie and our heroes live to fight again in the other half of the crossover event.

THE (MIS)ADVENTURES OF CAITLIN AND HARRY

But stuff's going on back in Central City, as well! Caitlin and ParaWells are hard at work trying to find a way to make Barry fast enough to compete with Zoom. Caitlin makes a breakthrough on developing a drug that should help people who are able to tap into the Speed Force become even faster, which should help Barry... Except that Jay implies that he knows what the drug is (seeing how he knew its name was "Velocity-6") and that it would be extremely dangerous for Barry to use it. Well, that's forboding. Please don't tell me you're going to do a "Barry gets addicted to speed (literally)" plot later on, show.

While skulking about in the shadows, ParaWells is spotted by Patty and followed back to S.T.A.R Labs. She confronts him and good ol' ParaWells, being a genius and everything, not only doesn't treat the gun being aimed at him as the threat that it is, but actually advances on Patty with the gun-like Velocity-6 injector. And gets shot. What a surprise, Harry!

Caitlin tries to save the life of ParaWells and calls for Jay Garrick's help. Jay injects himself with the Velocity-6 drug and it doesn't look like a particularly fun experience, which might be why he implores Caitlin and ParaWells to keep it away from Barry. Considering how pointless all of this side-plot was on the surface and how it was clearly just a way to introduce the Velocity-6 drug into canon, I'm thinking that your begging has fallen on deaf ears, Jay.

BARRY ALLEN PUPPY GIF OF THE EPISODE:

THE EXTENDED TEAM PUPPY

  

Other Things:

• In honor of the crossover, I've been asked to choose my MVP of the episode the same way Jenn picks them for her Arrow reviews and it was really hard. Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity was wonderful throughout the whole thing with her perfect line delivery, Grant Gustin as Barry is pretty much always MVP-worthy, and even Ciara Renée as Kendra, although she's still a pretty new character, had some incredibly good moments. However, I predicted that I would be picking Carlos Valdes as Cisco and I guess I'm sticking to it: Cisco showed not only his usual fantastic sense of humor, but also a mixture of empathy and vulnerability that I really loved in this episode. He so clearly cares about Kendra and wants to be with her, but he also knows that life pulls people in directions other than the ones we intend. He knows that Kendra remembering her past and regaining her powers probably means she won't be around for him much longer (he did hear Khufu explain that the two of them had been lovers for centuries) but his fear and sadness at the prospect of losing her is overshadowed by how excited he is for her. He's absolutely overjoyed when she flies for the first time. This episode showed a terrific range for Cisco (and Valdes), rather than sticking to the usual wisecracks and one-liners, and so he's my choice for MVP in an episode with lots of MVPs.
• "Oh, thank god, Barry!" "Dude. Come on." HAHA.
• Felicity talking to herself! Calling Oliver "my love"! Oliver calling her "honey"! Overall, a very fun little scene and a good display of the Oliver/Felicity relationship.
• Damien Darhk is the actual best. His little surprised giggle when The Flash shows up was marvelous. Can The Flash keep him? Our villain's no fun at all.
• "Keep doing what you're doing, make smart decisions!" Did I mention that every single line from Felicity was perfectly delivered in this episode?
• "I just noticed, no sleeves... Don't you get... cold?"
• "Oliver, I just saved you guys from whatever the hell Flock of Seagulls was about to do..."
• "Why don't you get a haircut, and then maybe we can talk about it." "I think you're just mad because my conditioner game is on point." Cisco and Thea friendship, yes.
• "Did you tell me that guys like us don't get the girl?" "Yep. I was wrong." (Oliver slides out of frame.) Stephen Amell's comedic timing is A+ and I wish they took better advantage of it on Arrow.
• So Cisco vibes Kendra, but Kendra isn't technically a metahuman... Does this mean that Cisco's powers aren't restricted to metahumans? Can he vibe magical people as well? This, plus the thing where he vibed the future (Kendra, with wings, in costume) makes me wish they would just outline exactly what his Vibe powers are.
• Barry's complete astonishment over how ridiculous Malcolm is? Perfection. Seriously, he does the "Can you believe this guy?" snort and everything.
• Man, that stunt when Khufu knocked Oliver off his motorcycle looked rough. Kudos to the stunt people on these shows.
• "Is that the only way this guy knows how to enter a room?"
• "Since when did our lives suddenly become an Indiana Jones movie?" Cisco. <3
• They kept Barry's costume mannequin in the new Arrow Lair! How nice of them!
• "We're too late." "Something you're not used to saying very often, I'd imagine." Ha. Nice, evil dude.
• The music when Kendra sprouts wings is amazing. I don't remember hearing it on either The Flash or Arrow before, but is it a theme of some kind?
• Oh I wonder who that kid who runs into Oliver could possibly be. Oh my gosh, it's such a mysterious mystery and I'm sure it couldn't have anything to do with the brief reminder in the "previously on" segment that Oliver had an illegitimate child with a lady Moira paid to stay quiet.

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15 Things We Learned From the "Pretty Little Liars" Special [Contributor: Megan Mann]

It seems like it was forever ago that we finally found out the answer to the biggest question of all: Who is "A"? While most of us were disappointed to learn that it was, in fact Cece (a dark horse in the pool of candidates), it was even more disappointing to know that we had witnessed the summer finale of Pretty Little Liars and would have to wait until 2016 in order to find out more about our favorite Rosewood residents.

Thankfully, I. Marlene King understands that we can’t just sit and wait until the winter finale for our fix of our favorite Liars. We’ve been given Halloween episodes in previous years, and last year we were treated to a Christmas episode. But this time around, we get a look at the future of Rosewood’s most infamous group of gal pals. Here’s what we learned:

High school love... is not forever, apparently.

Hanna and Caleb move to New York, but because of her new career in fashion, things don’t work out between the two. And when she comes back to Rosewood, she’s engaged! Even Ashley Benson is sad that Caleb and Hanna are not together after the time-jump. I mean, really though: who wouldn’t be sad to split from Rosewood’s reigning Disney prince? #Haleb4Eva

And, as to be expected, Spencer and Toby fell apart when she left Rosewood and he stayed there. He’s a cop, remember?

Toby is movin' out.

Do you guys remember that time that Toby’s house blew up? Because honestly at that point in the series, the destruction kept piling up and it was hard to keep it straight. As a result of all of the chaos that ensued, Toby took the large sum of money and moved just outside of Rosewood. When he witnesses a robbery, he apparently meets a very important woman. Well, who is she? I need answers.

Bros before Rose(wood).

Oh my God. Toby and Caleb go fishing on the weekends. It is adorable.

Emily is not having the best five years.

Apparently, Emily drops out of school because her dad dies. DID YOU READ THAT? HER DAD DIES. This is not okay. I’m not okay. Are you okay?

And to add to all of this suspense and drama, it looks like Emily has a secret. Because, well, of course she does. And of course we don’t know what that secret is. The new episodes of this show haven’t even started airing yet and already there’s this intrigue. Go figure.

Sibling bonding time!... Or not.

We see a clip of Jason and Ali visiting Cece three months after the events at the prom. The visitations continue throughout the next five years. It’s through visiting Cece that Ali meets her fancy doctor husband, Dr. Rollins. In true Ali fashion, due to the nature of their meeting, it’s all secrets and white lies.

Ugh.

Goodbye, my teacher/lover.

Aria has gotten over Ezra and I, for one, don’t like that. She leaves Georgia and photography behind, trading them in for Boston and writing, which finally lands her a career in publishing. \

Ah, don't you just love how television makes getting your work published look so easy? Interestingly enough, it’s her career that brings Aria back to Ezra... only in a working capacity.

Down the rabbit hole, Ezra goes.

Ezra has had a rough five years. He follows Nicole, from Habitat for Humanity, but that was apparently taken away from him really violently. He returns to Rosewood, broken and drowning in alcohol. It’s definitely a different kind of Ezra we’ll be meeting in the flash-forward than the one we were used to seeing.

Welcome bAck, Cece Drake.

Cece, now going again by the name Charlotte, is getting better and hoping to soon come home. Ali reaches out to the Liars and asks them to come back to Rosewood and help her create a safe setting for Cece/Charlotte.

The clothes maketh the (wo)man.

The hair, makeup, costume, and music composing departments all wanted to give the show a more sophisticated vibe, as the girls are now five years older and no longer teenagers or children. I love this idea.

BUT WHERE ARE THE MOMS?

Okay, guys. Remember how the moms were trapped in a basement at the end of the summer finale? Yeah... how they escaped is still a mystery. The actresses themselves don’t even know what happened! You’d think that through all of this, the show could have at least told us how the moms got out of that stupid basement. Sigh.

Enjoy your stay at the Radley Hotel... 

Radley has become... a hotel. Wait, seriously? Yeah. Okay, sure. Who wouldn't want to stay in a place that used to be a mental institution?

Whatever. That’s a choice. We do the girls sitting in the bar at the hotel together and I really hope that that’s going to play an important part in the new episodes.

The Hastings women conquer the world.

Spencer is living in the barn while she helps her mom run for a seat in the Senate (Spencer, having also become involved in a political career herself.)

YEAH, YOU GO, MAMA HASTINGS. YOU TEAR CAPITOL HILL UP.

Farewell, "A."

The girls saying goodbye to each other before they went their separate ways was also the writers saying goodbye to the "A" storyline. But the real question is: what will Rosewood even be like without "A" constantly tormenting the girls?

It's Ali vs. Mona

Another scene that bridges the gap between the past and present is Ali teaching at Rosewood High School. (Did she go to college for that? What are her credentials?)

Anyway, when the students leave, Mona is sitting in the back row. The two catch up on everything and everyone before Ali says exactly why Mona really is there: Mona wanted to work at the hospital in the same ward Charlotte is in, but Ali blocked her application.

Apart from that, we learn more about Mona, which raises questions: what’s Mona’s job in the public eye? I need to know. Is she an actress? She’s always been so good at that. 

Nevertheless, Mona wants to see Charlotte and Ali won’t let her. She lurks in the corner while Ali makes a phone call and it makes me think that Mona is going to be up to something this season.

A new Big Bad is looming...

Ali brings the girls back and she needs their help, but there’s something that happens that makes them all stay. Because of that, that’s where a new “Big Bad” comes about. There’s apparently something very dark and twisted about this one that’s much different than "A."

You all know what this means... we're about to get back to our sleuthing ways! But this time, the Liars will be dealing with a brand new threat and a bigger threat than anything they have dealt with thus far. After the events of last season, I can’t imagine what could be worse, but apparently that’s what we’re going to be coming up against.

What could possibly be worse than Mona and Cece? What could have happened to prompt someone to go after the Liars in such a way? Why do I have more questions than answers before season 6B has even started? 

We’re so close to the winter premiere and with all of this new information, we’re just going to have to sit and contemplate everything that could have happened in those five years that we missed. 

I’ll see you in January, my little Liars.

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