Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 4x02 Review: "I Am Ashamed" (Little House of Horrors) [Contributor: Jenn]

"I Am Ashamed"

Original Airdate: October 19, 2018

I heard a thing a few years ago that has always stuck with me — "Guilt says, 'I've done something bad.' Shame says, 'I am something bad.'" Often, we conflate the two concepts. We know we should feel guilty for something bad that we've done to harm ourselves or someone else, but it easily spirals into shame; we go from believing we did something wrong to believing we are broken, wrong, horrible, no-good, and deserving of punishment always. Rebecca Bunch has never been a saint, that's for sure. She's struggled in the past with her mental health, relationships, and processing trauma. But in the final season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, we're beginning to see Rebecca's self-actualization culminate into action. Granted, "I Am Ashamed" spends most of its time focused on Rebecca creating illusions of ghosts in order to deflect from her own shame, but eventually Rebecca gets it. Sorta.

SHAME, SHAME, I KNOW YOUR NAME

The central plot of "I Am Ashamed" is that Rebecca's been exposed to the world of West Covina. An article was published revealing all of her transgressions (of course, the meta joke is that so many of them could only be known by the viewers of the show), which sends Rebecca into a spiral. Obviously. Instead of putting away her laptop, Rebecca does what so many of us do — falls down an Internet rabbit hole. Rebecca's spiral leads her to the story of what happened in her house years ago. As you might remember — and if you didn't, the "previously on" segment helped — Rebecca and Heather live in a murder house. Rebecca learns in the episode that a young woman was innocently shot and killed, dying in a humiliating (and gross) way.

But instead of brushing off this information as insignificant, it's what fuels Rebecca to do or not do things in the episode. The shame Rebecca feels because people know all of the terrible things she did? It drives her to inaction; she spends the entire episode hiding in her house. It seems natural that a woman who suffers from phobias and control issues would fear the outside world after it abandoned and ridiculed her.

So try as they might throughout the episode, Heather, Valencia, and Paula can't get Rebecca to leave the house. She won't even step outside to have a session with her therapist. I have to give Rebecca some credit for the self-actualization she's experiencing recently. She isn't perfect, but she recognizes that her actions do have consequences and genuinely wants to become better. She struggles to do so, because falling back on her old habits (denial, hiding, blame-shifting, etc.) is much easier than admitting dark truths about herself.

Because "I Am Ashamed" is set around Halloween, Rebecca begins to hear noises and weird things in the house that lead her to believe the spirit of Devon, the girl who died in the house. The thing about Devon is that she's a perfect outlet for Rebecca's anxieties. Instead of acknowledging the shame she feels, Rebecca transfers her desperate, frantic energy onto finding out if a ghost is truly haunting her house. Devon died because she made one mistake. Now she's being judged for that one mistake, and Rebecca is (of course) internalizing the lesson and weight there.

At first, Heather and Paula are skeptical about the whole "haunted house" thing, clearly pointing out the real issues Rebecca is avoiding. Valencia is, unsurprisingly, the one of the group who's super into the spirit world. To humor their friend, the group leads a séance and tries to summon the spirit of Devon. They don't expect it to work, but suddenly weird things begin to happen and Paula and Heather are left to acknowledge the spookiness of it all. Rebecca then feels Devon wants them to visit her grave, so the women oblige because they're a girl group.

While at Devon's grave, Rebecca's internalizing comes to fruition. "Devon," she says, "I know what it's like to feel ashamed. And I know that it's easy sometimes to dwell in that shame rather than move on." It was a nice moment where Rebecca spoke to herself as much as to the ghost of this girl. Shame is hard to deal with, honestly. It creeps up when you least expect it. It makes your stomach tie in knots, and causes you to break out in sweats. Your shame keeps you locked inside metaphorical and literal places. But there is hope — that is the thing that really combats shame. It's the realization that we are all flawed but that our mistakes don't define us. And because shame thrives in secrecy, the first step — like Rebecca took — is confronting it, head-on.

This year, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend reminded us that embarrassment and regrets will always be bigger Halloween monsters than ghosts and zombies. But like ghosts and zombies, they too can be defeated.

Extra fun:

• There were some minor stories this episode — Nathaniel has a new not-so-silent partner at the firm, thanks to Rebecca's group therapy buddy. And then Darryl struggled with caring for his new daughter because so much has changed with parenting since the last time he did it. The story is played for laughs (Darryl leaves Heabecca with White Josh because he was told at his parenting group that breast milk is better than formula and goes through a black market vendor to get it), but ultimately even Darryl's ex-wife admits that he's a good parent and that his daughter will be okay even if he doesn't follow all of the advice everyone gives him).
• The new credits debuted this week! I love that we got to hear Rachel explain it at Comic-Con and perform it for us. Seeing it completed was so much fun, though I still prefer season one's credits above... everything else, honestly.
• "Thanks for sauntering back in here after weeks of absence."
• MISSED YOU, PATTON OSWALT.
• "Thank you for being the kind of person I would hate to hang out with on Halloween."
• I still don't know why Josh Chan is here, but he is.

What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments below!

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A Million Little Things 1x05 Review: "the game of your life" (The Good Fight) [Contributor: Jenn]

(Image credit: ABC)

"the game of your life"

Original Airdate: October 24, 2018

We're all fighting for something — purpose, a promotion, love, belonging. We fight for our voices to be heard and for our marriages to be saved. We fight for silly things and profound things. For most people, when there's something significant at stake, they approach the situation with boxing gloves already on. They're ready for a fight. Even though "the game of your life" tells very different stories, the core of each of them is that people are willing to fight for the things they believe in. So let's take a look at what's worth the sacrifice, shall we?

THE MOST IMPORTANT BASKETBALL GAME

We'll start with Gary and Maggie's story, mostly because it was the most emotionally grounded one in the episode and had some pretty high stakes. As we remember from last week's episode, Gary found out from her ex-boyfriend that Maggie's cancer has returned. So in classic Gary fashion, he creates a special day to get Maggie to open up, instead of just revealing what he already knows. The couple spends most of the afternoon enjoying deep dish pizza... until Gary's cover is blown when Maggie notices he brought grape soda. His silence is telling enough, and Gary earnestly then tells Maggie that he'll be by her side as she fights cancer and goes through treatment.

But that's when Maggie drops her bombshell — she's done with treatments and chemo. If she's going to live or die, it will be on her own terms. James Roday does incredible work in the next scene as Gary earnestly pleads with Maggie to reconsider and finally storms off in anger because Maggie will not relent. He spends the rest of the afternoon angry, until he decides to make a bet with her: if he wins a basketball game they'll play, then she has to go to treatment. Maggie counters that she accepts his terms but if she wins their game, he can't bring up treatment anymore.

And while initially it seems like Gary might win the game, Maggie ends up with the victory! Of course, Gary is upset and the drive home is awkward. But then Gary and Maggie have an incredibly heartbreaking scene. Gary isn't the kind of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. His go-to method of response to most situations is sarcasm. In the car, however, Gary begs and pleads with Maggie to not make him watch her die. I think for the first time, Maggie is incredibly hurt by this abandonment. She knew Gary wouldn't understand her decision, but expected him to stay by her. Gary and Maggie's moment is absolutely heartbreaking. Through tears, she thanks him for the day.

I cried. Obviously. Gary and Maggie's story is so sweet though! It's filled with genuine emotion in which Gary is becoming a better version of himself. With his decision to stay with Maggie at the end of the episode, my only hope is that Maggie continues to grow and let Gary be there for her.

BE THE TREE

Katherine and Eddie's story continues to develop — maybe not in the way Eddie expected though. After Katherine realizes that she'll be late to Theo's play, Eddie decides that he'll figure out a way to stall the play from starting until Katherine arrives. True to his word, Eddie comes through and gets the working moms to pester the principal until Katherine shows up. But when it's time for Theo to go on stage, he confesses that another kid teased him about being a tree. Trees aren't important, he was told. Katherine very sweetly tells Theo that sometimes she feels like a tree, too — a person who plays a very small role in a giant play. But trees matter, she assures him. People need them and the play needs Theo. It's a sweet moment of connection for Katherine and Theo, who you can tell comes to expect that his mom will FaceTime or "try her hardest" to make it to an important event. Eddie is seen as the primary parent, but how does that make Katherine feel? Pretty terrible, obviously. She wants more from her relationship with Theo than being seen as secondary.

At the end of the episode, Katherine and Eddie share a moment. If it was a rom-com, they would have kissed as Eddie wiped soap off her cheek. But Katherine is angry — all she could think of throughout the day was the fact that even though they seemed to click, she knew how broken they were as a couple. And she couldn't move past Eddie's infidelity. Worse though, Katherine wonders aloud why she doesn't feel like she deserves more from her relationship with Eddie. It's a heartbreaking moment for anyone watching who's ever felt that way about a relationship — that we've deserved more than we settle for.

Eddie moves in with Gary at the end of the episode, leaving Katherine to embrace the primary parent role. I'm interested to see how her relationship with Eddie and the rest of the group continues to develop.

A LITERAL FIGHT

Sophie gets suspended for punching a girl in this episode. Obviously Delilah is upset... until Sophie tells her the reason. A girl in Sophie's grade posted a prayer for Jon because she believes anyone who commits suicide is in hell. When Delilah tries to provide platitudes to her daughter, Sophie reminds Delilah that Jon was the only person who took them to church; Delilah doesn't even believe in God. The conflict between Sophie and Delilah in the episode was one that I was afraid the show would take to a trite, theological place. Thankfully, I was wrong. While their conversation about religion lasted exactly one scene, the two spend the rest of the episode being suspended and trying everything they can to make themselves feel better.

They eat junk food. They bring out an old punching dummy and Sophie hits it. They watch movies. But nothing seems to quite cure the feeling that both Sophie and Delilah have inside. That's because the catalyst isn't religion necessarily — it's unanswered questions. Delilah is 43 and doesn't know what she believes about God. Sophie isn't sure either, but both women can't turn to the person who had all the answers for them.

So what do they do now?

Delilah mentions something that initially seems like a throwaway line — a quote from "Rainbow Connection" (which apparently is what Jon would sing to Sophie before she was even born) — and tells her daughter that maybe they'll just have to be okay with not having answers. For now. They'll find them, someday. But it's okay that they don't know things. Their story ends with Sophie digging out her guitar, playing and singing "Rainbow Connection" to comfort her and her mom.

That song is about to become more poignant than we know.

More stuff:

• We find out who's pregnant in the episode and... dun, dun, dun! It's Delilah. 
• This episode also features Rome determining whether or not his family has a history of depression. Initially, his father denies experiencing the kind of darkness Rome describes. But Rome's mother catches him before he leaves to tell him otherwise. Turns out, depression is a part of Rome's family history.
• "I don't want to go to court. I want to watch my son be a tree."
• "I once backed his car into his OTHER car."
• "Sure you don't want kids? I'm having a sale."
• " ... Was that before or after you slept with other members of our friend group?"
• Well played delaying the school production, Eddie. Well played.
• WHY DOES GARY HATE DEEP-DISH PIZZA?
• "I don't know a Tom. I'm Gary with the grape soda."
• "With all due respect, that is the stupidest thing your face has ever said."
• "Why don't I feel like I deserve more?"
• It's cool, James Roday and Allison Miller made me ugly cry.
• "You're so nonchalantly touching the part of the stick Regina urinated on."

How about that twist, though? Stay tuned for the resolution in next week's episode!

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Blindspot 4x02 Review: "My Art Project" (Cracks) [Contributor: Jen]

"My Art Project"

Original Airdate: October 19, 2018

Blindspot often packs so much action and answers into their premiere, midseason finale, and finale that the episodes in between don't have enough to do. This problem has plagued previous seasons, and it seems season four will be much of the same. We slug our way through "My Art Project," but it is so boring.

CASE OF THE WEEK

The case of the week is fairly convoluted, even by Blindspot standards, but I'll do my best. Rich realizes one of Jane's tattoos from the Tokyo cache is located inside FBI headquarters on a large piece of artwork depicting the globe. The outline of the tattoos matches the outline of the Tasman Sea. I have no idea what Rich is talking about. I don't see how the outlines match, but whatever. Moving on!

The tattoo leads to a web address (don't ask me how... something about magnetism and numbers). The web address leads to a real address, so Remi and Patterson check it out. They are knocked out by gas and when they awake, they've moved locations.

A man named Jason Stack greets them and claims to be part of the same super secret branch of the NSA that Nas works for — Zero Division. He's running an operation which collects inter-office agency intelligence. The artwork is used as a recruitment technique. If you are smart enough to figure out the puzzle, then you may be the type of agent Slack needs. Yes, this is a ridiculous recruitment method, but just roll with it.

Long story short, Jason Stack does not really work for the NSA. He's a Russian code breaker and spy named Boris Sokolov. He has been leaking American intelligence for years. His family defected to the United States, but Boris believes they are dead.

Team Blindspot is determined to stop him, but Remi has another plan. She believes Sokolov has the locations of FBI black sites, which could lead to Shepherd. When they meet Sokolov again, Remi takes an antidote so she remains conscious while Patterson is knocked out by the gas. She offers him the location of his family in exchange for the USB drive containing the black site locations.

Remi convinces Sokolov to take her hostage by promising that Jane's husband will never shoot if she's in danger. She promises to protect Sokolov once he's taken into FBI custody. Of course, this is all a lie. Remi gives Kurt a nod and he immediately shoots Boris. Now there's no one to tie Remi to the information she stole. More importantly, she has the black site locations which bring her one step closer to Mama Shepherd.

TEAM BLINDSPOT

Rich suggests the team could use help analyzing the artwork, so they bring back Boston. Boston is the only one to immediately notice Jane's new look and edgier attitude! Yes, it's all about the hair! She's evil!

At first, Rich is thrilled to be working with his ex-boyfriend again. However, when the team seems to enjoy working with Boston a little too much, Rich's jealousy begins to show. The competitive banter between Boston and Rich is hilarious, but it does expose some warranted uncertainty on Rich's part. There were many times last season when Rich had to prove his loyalty to Team Blindspot. He chose the team time and again.

However, he hasn't received the same kind of confirmation from the team. Bringing in Boston is the only way to do that. I'm not saying the team can't like Boston or enjoy working with him. However, I believe there will come a time when either Kurt, Reade, or Patterson reassures Rich that he is their favorite reformed criminal and no none could take his place. I think the character has earned the reassurance.

Zapata continues to be on her own show and it is a hot mess. Burke informs Tasha that poison is her preferred method of murdering people. She killed her husband Silas the same way. Her smile after sharing this story to Zapata is truly creepy.  Well done, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. You officially gave me the wiggins. It's clear this is not a person Zapata should double cross, which makes her plan to double cross Burke even trickier.

Tasha visits Kira Evans, an associate of Crawford's (played by the woefully-underused Gloria Reuben). She wants all of Crawford's secret files, which Evans eventually hands over. Everything is going all right until Burke shoots Evans point-blank. She casually tells Zapata to clean it up, and now she's an accessory to murder.

Zapata does clean up the murder, but is unable to shoot Evans' little girl who is hiding in the closet. It's good to know Tasha hasn't completely lost her mind. Of course, leaving this loose end untied will only cause more problems with Burke in the future, but it is nice to see Zapata doing the right thing for a change.

Reade, in his infinite wisdom, refuses to believe Tasha went down in Blake's plane — even after Rich confirms she's on the manifest. The CIA is looking for Zapata as well. She hasn't checked in and they are tired of her off-book approach. I'm tired of it too. I have no doubt Reade will piece this all together, but how many felonies Zapata will commit in the meantime remains to be seen.

KURT AND JANE

There was not a lot a movement on the Kurt and Jane front in this episode. Remi continues to pretend to be Jane, and Kurt continues to not figure it out. The worried and doting husband routine is working for now; it's actually really sweet. However, if Blindspot insists on this cat and mouse game between husband and wife for several episodes, it can rapidly make Kurt look like a moron.

There is a crack in the Remi facade though, and Kurt is beginning to notice. He sees her taking pictures of evidence. When Kurt questions Remi about it, she simply explains that she is having difficulty remembering things in the field. Kurt constantly being upset when "Jane" doesn't come to him immediately makes me question if he remembers seasons one through three of Blindspot. You two never tell each other stuff right away. That's how 99% of the drama is created on this show!

Kurt noticing Remi taking pictures isn't the only crack she shows. Remi complains about what a nuisance Kurt will be now that he's back on active duty. She creates a lethal solution she can stab Kurt with, should he figure out Jane isn't Jane. However, Roman — a.k.a. the crazy voice inside Remi's head — wonders if she'll have the strength to kill Kurt Weller. Remi is adamant she hates everything Kurt stands for.

Methinks she doth protest too much! I said in my review last week that I am uncertain how Blindspot is going to play out this Jane/Remi memory cure. Will Kurt be able to get through to Remi, or will he need to wait for the cure? It seems Blindspot is going with the former, which makes for better television. I don't believe Remi hates Kurt as much as she says. Her memories as Jane are still in there and I doubt she'll be able to follow through on killing Kurt. More importantly, if there is an crack inside of Remi where Jane resides, then Kurt will find it.

Stray Thoughts:

• Rich Dotcom is on fire! Favorite lines: "Before you know it we'll be burning the American flag and eating borscht." "Welcome back Curtis I-Don't-Know-Your-Middle-Name Weller!" "I'm the work wife!"
• Does Patterson have a storyline this year? So far it seems like no.

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Doctor Who 11x03 Recap: “Rosa” (A Powerfully Honest Look at Racism) [Guest Poster: Stephanie Coats]

“Rosa”

Original Airdate: October 21, 2018

A lot of the time, Doctor Who is about space, aliens, time travel, and how kindness and cleverness can defeat evil. But sometimes, the show reaches out and touches audiences in an especially poignant and timely way. In “Rosa,” Doctor Who did something extraordinary: it told the historical truth of Rosa Parks without dumbing anything down, without downplaying the fear people of color lived with or the courage it took to stand up to terrifying levels of hatred, and without missing the point that racism still exists today. It was powerful, emotional, and sometimes uncomfortable to watch but so incredibly important.

This is the exactly the episode Doctor Who needed to make.

NOT IN THE UK ANYMORE

Rosa Parks just wants to ride the bus home after another long day of work. She pays the fare, but the driver tells her she must disembark and enter through the back to “her” area. She refuses and there’s a brief tussle before she plops herself down in a “whites only” seat. The driver screams at her to get off the bus and, when she does, he drives off without her.

Twelve years later, in 1955, the TARDIS appears in an alleyway. To the surprise of no one except Yaz, Ryan, and Graham, the Doctor is having some trouble taking them straight back home. Or rather, the TARDIS is being her usual stubborn self. While scanning the area, the Doctor picks up traces of Arton energy. The group go out exploring and immediately gets into hot water. Ryan kindly picks up a woman’s fallen handkerchief and receives a hard slap of thanks from her husband. This is 1955 Alabama and they don’t like black men handing white women anything.

Ryan is held back by Graham and Yaz, but it’s Rosa Parks who saves the day by stepping in to defuse the situation. The group is thrilled to meet her, but she has no idea why. She’s not yet the catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. The TARDIS team goes to a diner for lunch and discover it is the day before Rosa will famously refuse to give up her seat on the bus. Further discussion is halted when the waitress says they refuse to serve black or Mexican people, the latter incorrectly referring to Yaz.

GREASED LIGHTNING

A man dressed like a T-bird from Grease tries using alien tech to break into the TARDIS but can’t get past the forcefield. Meanwhile, even though they never got lunch, the Doctor and her friends follow Atron energy signals to a bus company and they locate a briefcase hidden by a perception filter. Inside is additional Atron tech. That’s when knockoff Danny Zuko attacks and the group flees. The Doctor confronts the mysterious alien, who is wearing a vortex manipulator, and zaps his Atron-powered gun with her sonic.

Our team regroups in a motel room but are once again interrupted by horrible racism. A cop who has been following them knocks on the door, forcing Ryan and Yaz to hide in the bathroom. The Doctor and Graham stall by saying Graham is Steve Jobs and they’re in town to pitch a smartphone. This gives Ryan and Yaz time to escape out the bathroom window and down the alley a bit. They talk about the pervasive racism in Montgomery and how it still exists in the present in the UK. However, Yaz reminds Ryan it’s better and it will keep getting better as long as we work at it.

Coming together for a third time to try to sort things out, the team is able to determine Rosa’s bus schedule and find her on her usual route home. Ryan follows her off the bus and asks to “join the fight.” She invites him to serve the coffee at a meeting that night that includes Dr. King. Ryan freaks out in the best way.

Elsewhere, the Doctor confronts Danny Zuko for the second time, tricks him into sending his weapons into the future, and overheats his gun. With nothing to threaten her with, he has to listen as the Doctor deduces he was recently released from Stormcage prison and he has a neural inhibitor in his brain to prevent him from harming anyone. She tests this theory by baiting him, but he barely grabs her and is forced to let go. His true name is Krasko and he is planning to upset history by preventing Rosa Parks’ famous moment on the bus in the hopes of keeping people of color from achieving rights and equality. Basically, he’s an alien racist who wants to prevent Rosa and the Civil Rights Movement from instigating change throughout history and throughout the universe.

THE MOST IMPORTANT BUS RIDE IN HISTORY

Using his “in” as a fellow bus driver, Graham chats up the driver from Rosa’s famous future, James Blake. But Blake has had his schedule changed so we won’t be there for Rosa to stand up to tomorrow. Graham reports this to the team and the Doctor tells them their plan is to protect history, to make sure things happen exactly as they’re supposed to.

To that end, the Doctor and Yaz send Blake’s replacement driver on a holiday to Las Vegas. Graham and Ryan show up at Blake’s day trip at the creek, thereby driving him to leave and return to work. Krasko breaks the bus and cancels the route but the Doctor and Graham hotwire another one and deliver it to Blake, who has got to be wondering why these people care so much about a bus route. To keep an eye on Rosa, the Doctor rips her coat and takes it to her for repair, leaving Yaz there to make sure she gets to the bus on time. Ryan has the hardest task: trying to get people, especially white people, to line up for the bus even though he’s black and Krasko has posted notices that the route is canceled.

When he encounters the alien himself, Ryan finally gets to fight back after needing to stay silent and non-responsive throughout every racist encounter in the episode. He uses Krasko’s own temporal displacement device to send him through time and away from Montgomery. Then Ryan boards the bus with the others. Doing a head count, the Doctor realizes they need to remain on the bus to take up enough seats so that Rosa will be asked to move to make room for white passengers.

It’s gut-wrenching and powerful to watch as Rosa quietly but firmly refuses to give up her seat. Blake screams at her, threatens her with arrest, but she doesn’t move. The Doctor, Ryan, Yaz, and Graham must remain still and not interfere even though it’s clearly requiring every bit of willpower to do so. The police are called and Rosa is escorted off the bus, nodding gently to Ryan through the window. Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor shows them how even though Rosa’s life was still a struggle after that moment, her courage inspired an equal rights movement that stretched throughout the world and into the universe. 

Final Thoughts: 

• Doctor Who is at its scariest when it plays on our primal fears and the true hatred, injustice, and racism portrayed in this episode hit home. I would wager every single viewer found this episode deeply uncomfortable because it wasn’t racism happening on another world in another galaxy. It was real life. It happened to people who are still alive today. And it’s still happening.  
• I’m not the biggest River Song fan but it did strike me as odd that she wasn’t mentioned or hinted about AT ALL in this episode. Krasko was released from Stormcage, where River was imprisoned too, and has a vortex manipulator just like she did. But not a single passing word about her. 
• In the tradition of the Tenth Doctor, Thirteen’s shirt changed color when visiting the past. Instead of blue, her striped shirt was red. 
• Ryan, about a mysterious alien suitcase: “Can we open it?” The Doctor: “Is the right question!”
• Yaz: “Everything here is a fight for you. Do you ever get tired? What keeps you going?” Rosa Parks: “Promise of tomorrow. When today isn’t working, tomorrow is all you have.”
• After they’re kicked out of the diner, Graham worries they aren’t going to stop for lunch again. That’s a man who has his priorities in the right place. 

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Supergirl 4x02 Review: "Fallout" (Tensions High) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]

“Fallout”

Original Airdate: October 21, 2018 

In an interesting choice, this week’s Supergirl has no villain of the week. Instead, the show makes the wise decision to focus entirely on the events of last episode, including the escape of Mercy Graves, the reveal of the president as an alien, and how animosity toward aliens on Earth is growing. I’d actually be cool with the show foregoing minor villains entirely this season, because honestly? Their villain of the season is hatred. Bank-robbing aliens and metahumans who can control lightning just look a little silly in comparison.

YA GOT TROUBLE

Protests outside the White House! Okay, this episode’s pacing and utilization of primary characters is good — its political language? Not so much. The dialogue during the opening protest scenes are about as clunky as your average Facebook-shared political cartoon, except worse because extras (who are just trying their best, I’m sure) are actually saying the lines. Fighting amongst protestors breaks out. A car careens into a flagpole, dislodging it and sending it crashing into the crowd.

Before it can squash anyone, Supergirl swoops through and lifts the flagpole into the air. Old Glory still a-flapping in the breeze, Supergirl crams the flagpole into the concrete sidewalk outside the White House gates and poses next to it. “Now is the time to talk to each other, not fight,” she calls out to the dazed protestors, as the background music thrums. Hey! Hey, Supergirl — I see you, trying to win me over with classic cheesiness. I’m onto you, and I’m not that easy.

Since she’s definitely not an American-born citizen (seriously, how did that little fact slip past all the background checks?), President Wonder Woman must step down as Commander-in-Chief and leave the role for her Vice President, a man named Baker who toes the line between suspicious and charming when Supergirl talks to him later in the episode. As the DEO watches the president’s resignation address, one DEO soldier pipes up with a loud declaration that, as an alien who disguised herself as human, President Marsdin belongs in one of their holding cells. Um... The DEO was previously led by a Martian. How did an anti-alien person get through screening?

Speaking of the former director of the DEO, J’onn is heading the weakest storyline of the episode: his search for Fiona, who was killed last week. Maybe if we, the audience, had been given more time with Fiona — and if she disappeared without us seeing her actual death — J’onn’s story here would be more compelling. As it is, though, J’onn is on a mission to solve a mystery we already know the answer to, and it comes off like he’s been given “busy work.” Yeah, he stumbles into an anti-alien rally led by this season’s big bad, but we already knew about this season’s big bad and the episode’s already full of anti-alien rhetoric, so what’s the point?

Meanwhile, at CatCo, James Olsen is trying to keep neutral during the highly polarizing anti-alien wave sweeping the nation. He has good reasoning for it (he can’t draw attention to himself after the Guardian fiasco; CatCo’s job is to give people news, not opinions) but butts heads against the charmingly imploring Nia Nal, who wants him to write a Letter from the Editor about the current state of things.

Nia’s storyline in this episode crosses with Brainy’s storyline, as Nia goes in search of some coffee and Brainy in search of some disgusting, disgusting apple and olive pizza to boost morale at the DEO. They end up at the same pizzeria. While Brainy is waiting to pay for his pizzas, Mercy Graves hacks into Lena’s Image Inducer system and takes the tech that aliens use to look human offline. Once Brainy looks like his alien self, the pizzeria owner turns and orders employees to beat Brainy with baseball bats. Nia steps in to tell them to back off, which they do. Brainy is left with first-hand experience of primitive Earth prejudice, and Nia is left with strengthened resolve to get James to write that editorial piece. As a transgender woman, Nia has her own first-hand experience with primitive Earth prejudice, but she believes that standing up to injustice holds a mirror to the faces of bullies, and James should use his position of power to that effect.

When Lena locks Mercy out of the Image Inducer system during the Brainy situation, Mercy’s only option is to storm L-Corp and access it through the mainframe. She does that.

Kara just so happened to have been interviewing Lena about Mercy’s past with the Luthor family, so she ends up trapped in the L-Corp building along with Lena and Eve Teschmacher. The scenes with Lena and Kara, who is trying desperately to separate herself from Lena so she can change into Supergirl, are my personal highlight of the episode. Lena shows such hilariously logical concern for Kara while Kara fakes phone calls to hide her DEO earpiece and catches bullets. I do love the dynamic between Kara and Lena a lot, and these scenes shine with it.

After making their way through the L-Corp building, Lena and Kara end up in the place where Lena keeps all her sciency prototypes. Mercy’s already been around, having stolen a gun arm of the Lexosuit and situated herself in the room for the perfect villainous saunter. She spews some “you should be fighting the aliens because POWER!” nonsense at Lena, and this whole confrontation sorta underlines what’s wrong with Supergirl’s approach to a real-world problem of prejudice and needless hatred: it’s too simple.

Mercy wants to fight against aliens because she wants power and she likes being bad. Later on, Agent Jensen listens to the story of Brainy’s experience with bigotry and doesn’t feel compassion for someone he knows going through something awful, and he doesn’t feel any hope or empathy when he listens to Supergirl’s inspiring speech against bigotry on the news — he feels anger, and ugliness, because it’s very simple for the show to draw the line between good and bad with things like anger and ugliness.

Jensen is bad. He has ugly emotions and he helps Mercy and Otis escape, and they are also bad because they have ugly emotions. And yes, a lot of bigoted, awful people are simply bigoted, awful people who are just going to die angry, but a lot of other bigoted, awful people are... neighbors. Coworkers. Soccer moms at shopping malls who don’t go to rallies or hold protest signs or order bombs on the internet to kill the schoolmates they don’t like their kids hanging around. Supergirl doesn’t have the finesse to handle the truly insidious reality of prejudice, and the one time they might have gotten close — a CatCo employee making an anti-alien gibe at a coworker — the person’s empathy cuts in and she’s ashamed as soon as she realizes she hurt someone.

On Supergirl, there are people who make mistakes within the realm of prejudice — like the CatCo employee — but aren’t that bad, and there are people who hurl slurs in the streets and want to murder everyone who doesn’t look like them, and the latter are the true enemy. The approach is cartoonish, and considering that it’s loosely based on current events, that cartoonishness can be ethically dangerous. Painting bigotry with such a wide brush of “ugly-filled people who order bombs online” allows prejudiced people to look at it and go, “Well, at least I’m not like that,” ignoring that fact that “not like that” is still “that,” just quieter.

Anyway, Mercy and Otis have escaped. They use a device to spray kryptonite into the atmosphere, poisoning Kara as she’s flying and sending her plummeting to the ground.

Other Things:

• Wait, Brainy’s using Lena’s Image Inducer and not like... future technology? I’m pretty sure he should be on a different network or something.
• Okay, Kara’s ending speech kinda got me in that part of my heart that still believes in hope. Good work, show.
• I like the little hints that Lena might be getting over her grudge against Supergirl. Also: I probably could’ve written another thousand words on Lena’s characterization in this episode and how she’s actually a morally (light) gray character written right, but people have to read these things! I’m not that cruel!

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The Good Doctor 2x04 Review: "Tough Titmouse" (Personal Responsibility) [Contributor: Araceli Aviles]

"Tough Titmouse"

Original Airdate: October 15, 2018

The theme of this week’s The Good Doctor centered around parents finding the right way to be there for their kids. For the parents of kids in the hospital, decisions are made in the face of fear. However, what about the decisions you already made for a child? What if you regret a choice you made that changed the course of your child’s life? Or worse, what if you don’t, and living with the pain of doing the right thing is harder than anything else? Several parents found themselves in these positions, including one doctor who has kept a very tight lid on his personal life.

Shaun is the one person who could not understand the parental perspective, nor was his storyline directly related to this topic. Shaun’s biggest challenge was getting Lea to talk to him. However, Lea isn’t the only person Shaun has made angry. Dr. Glassman is perturbed, at the very least, when Shaun interrupts his very vivid hallucinations of his late daughter Maddie (The Americans’ Holly Taylor).

It’s difficult to say what would have been easier on Glassman: Shaun disrupting his mentor’s conversation with his dead daughter, or letting this guilt-riddled therapy session reach its conclusion. The latter is what happened, and it was painful to watch. Because as we finally learn the reason Glassman harbors so much guilt over his daughter’s death is because he feels he handled her addiction all wrong. Father and daughter go through the ringer dredging up every argument they ever had, just the way they would have had she survived.

The two main cases of the week dealt with opposite ends of the parent-child dynamics. Dr. Reznick and Brown technically deal with a young adult whose parents take drastic steps to keep their daughter from extreme sports. In that case, no one won because an arguable overreaction was in direct reaction to an underreaction.

Shaun deals with a teen with Fragile X Syndrome whose mother decides she no longer has the energy to take care of him on her own. But while this case seems more closely relatable to Shaun, especially given his flashbacks to his time in a foster home, the case is actually closer to Dr. Melendez. As we learn in this hour, Melendez also has a disabled sister who is also in a group home. True, she seems to receive the finest care he can provide her. But there’s no easy way to understand the pain both child and caretaker feel when your own best isn’t enough. Through his sister, we got to see a new depth to Melendez and why personal responsibility is such an important part of his character.

What this hour was really about is that personal responsibility doesn’t end when a child reaches adulthood, and it shows fewer discrepancies than we think between “healthy” children and those with a sickness or disability. That kind of weight stays with you. But taking full responsibility sometimes means admitting you can’t do it alone. Glassman made that mistake, and it took his daughter’s ghost forgiving him to finally regain a little peace.

By the hour’s end, Shaun had to admit his fears to Lea. Shaun was a little too honest with Lea about his pain. All he had to do was pepper his honesty with kindness. That Lea could understand. Still, my jaw was on the floor when Shaun told Lea he rented a two-bedroom for them to share! Go big or go home, right?

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A Million Little Things 1x04 Review: "friday night dinner" (It All Started in an Airport) [Contributor: Jenn]

(Image credit: ABC)

“friday night dinner”

Original Airdate: October 17, 2018

When you look at an event — a fixed point in time — you can find yourself asking: “How did I get here?” All of the little decisions and moments seem just that in the moment: little. Insignificant. It’s just one drink. Just one time. Just one little white lie. But then those moments string together to form bigger moments and bigger decisions and soon, we end up sitting on the floor wondering how exactly our life turned out the way it did.

A Million Little Things is fixated on the little moments that lead to the bigger ones. And I, for one, am glad they are. It’s easy to focus on the big event of the series (Jon’s death), but it’s more important to understand how the characters became who they were when he died. This week’s episode focuses on little things about each character that led them to who they are in the present-day and who they might become in the future.

THE SOFTER SIDE

When A Million Little Things began, I was worried that Katherine would just become this demonized workaholic wife. I was also worried that we wouldn’t get much out of Eddie’s character other than “former musician who had an affair with Delilah.” This week, we got the chance to explore more of their characters — and I loved it. Eddie was having some existential moments, returning to a bar he used to frequent when he was an alcoholic and thinking about the feeling of being on stage performing. But we learn more about how bad Eddie’s drinking became; on the day his son was born, Eddie was drunk in the middle of the day at a bar. He hit bottom and he hit it hard.

In spite of his transgressions, Eddie admits that to Katherine. She had to be someone he never wanted her to be. It was his fault that he put her into that position, and he can’t blame her for it. While Katherine appreciates the sentiment, it’s clear that their road is still rocky. But she, too, admits that they were broken as a couple long before Eddie and Delilah began their affair. Katherine’s softness had to take a back seat in their lives — she was the one trying to hold their family together when Eddie was spiraling. When Sophie fights with Delilah, she comes to Eddie and Katherine’s for a guitar jam session. Katherine has the chance to speak wisdom and gentleness to Sophie, which is really beautiful.

Part of Katherine’s struggle is feeling like an outsider, and I think that “friday night dinner” demonstrated the fact that Jon never wanted people to feel unwelcome. No matter what, there would always be pizza on a Friday night if he could help it. And while Delilah’s memories and our flashbacks show us glimpses into other aspects of Jon’s personality (the darker side of hospitality is that you pour yourself out and there’s nothing left to give to those you love; your whole identity is helping people), it was nice to see that Katherine still felt welcome by the end of the episode.

Things aren’t perfect, of course, because how could they be? But it’s a start.

GARE BEAR

I love James Roday. The work he’s already doing with Gary’s nuances and complexities? It’s beautiful. This week, Gary and Maggie’s relationship is rocky. Maggie meets a former hookup of Gary’s at a meeting and accuses him of being a player (not entirely wrong), and Gary meets Maggie’s former boyfriend outside of her apartment where he learns that Maggie’s cancer is back. Speaking of, Maggie is such an interesting character. She has all of this head knowledge of why people react the way they do — she gives solid advice to Rome in the episode over lunch about people existing but not really living. That’s what Rome is doing, and that’s what Maggie has to decide between. From her perspective, another round of treatments would just be an existence: a cycle of chemo and radiation. But Maggie’s future doesn’t look promising without treatment. In fact, doctors seem surprised she’d even consider the option to refuse treatment.

Maggie wants to live, but she wants to do it on her own terms. And so she and Gary fight about his past and his gross desire to hook up with cancer survivors. She accuses him of not being serious, but he fires back that SHE claimed things weren’t serious either. Maggie won’t open up to Gary — not fully — and so Gary decides to be the one to take the first step. From her ex-boyfriend, he knows Maggie’s cancer is back but she won’t be the one to tell him. So when he shows up at her apartment to clear the air about his past, she surmises that he’ll tell her she’s different from all the other women. Instead, Gary claims that he’s different.

He takes off his shirt, and finally shows Maggie his scar. She’s stunned into silence, and it’s such an incredibly wonderful, wordless scene. Gary’s such a soft character who masks his vulnerabilities with sarcasm and one-night stands. It’s easier to detach that way, and I’m interested to know if this kind of defense mechanism really set in after his cancer diagnosis. I hope we’ll see that soon. But Gary clearly cares about Maggie and instead of waiting for her to let down a wall, he put his down. Maggie’s still in hiding, but Gary’s example of vulnerability and sacrifice is incredible; he had no expectations for how she’d respond, but he did it anyway.

That’s what being brave truly looks like.

More things:

• Rome is working through his struggles and making changes! He quits his job at the end of the episode because he wants to focus on making his movie. His whole family and crew are supportive of his decision.
• “There’ll be high fives and fist bumps all around. Unless they’re like you and then it’ll be a weird combination of both.”
• “I gave a Russian chick a backstage pass.” “That’s not a euphemism.”
• The Alzheimer’s/dementia story with Delilah’s father is so sad, especially at the end when her father doesn’t know Jon is dead. 
• “We don’t always get to choose who and how we love. Sometimes it chooses us.”
• Ooof, the fact that Eddie was drunk on the day his son was born though.
• Regina and Rome’s relationship is lovely; I just hope he tells Regina soon about his depression.
• “That’s what we’re doing now? Being big people?” “Yeah. Maybe you should try it.”
• I’m glad Eddie and Gary’s relationship isn’t entirely fixed yet.

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