The Flash 5x12 Review: "Memorabilia" (Do You Remember?) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]

"Memorabilia"

Original Airdate: January 29, 2019 

This week, The Flash rolls out an old sci-fi trope: the memory-sifting device that traps the user and then threatens them with the possibility of death while sifting through memories. Yeah, this one’s a classic. It does have variations, though: sifting through one’s own memories, through dreams, or — as is the case for “Memorabilia” — the memories of other people. The Flash puts a further twist on the premise by sending two teams of heroes through two separate sets of memories. One trip ends quite happily, while the other does not.

YOU DON’T KNOW MY MIND

The episode starts off with some adorable: a West-Allen family outing at an ice skating rink. Well, the rest of the team is also there, but it’s made clear that Barry had the idea for Iris, Nora, and himself to go skating together. That’s interesting, since Barry (playfully) leaves Nora in the dust while trying to teach her, allowing Iris to step in and be the more patient parent. These moments are always really cute, but does anyone ever overhear Nora calling people roughly her age “dad” and “mom”? We know Cicada heard her that one time — does he assume the Flash is older than he looks or something? Or is Central City weird enough that literally no one questions its weirdness?

Speaking of Cicada and weirdness: Sherloque has ordered the delivery of a machine that allows people to dip into each other’s minds. Team Flash’s plan for the episode is to connect with comatose Grace, Orlin/Cicada’s adoptive daughter, and wake her up so she can call off Cicada’s attacks. After mentioning that thoughts and memories could be viewed by people who use the machine together, Sherloque slyly volunteers Nora and Barry for the procedure. Nora, who monologued a message to Future Eobard Thawne at the beginning of the episode, understandably does not want to risk her father seeing what’s going on in 2049.

So when everyone is gone, Nora sneaks up to the machine and goes into Grace’s brain alone, assuming it’ll just be a quick, simple hop onto a little girl’s brain waves and out again before anyone realizes. Wise and well-examined decision, there, Nora. You really are your father’s child.

Inside Grace’s memories, Nora finds the little girl’s consciousness and can actually interact with her. Unfortunately, the portal Nora planned on pulling Grace through in order to wake her up disappears before they can get through it. Nora and Grace wander around the girl’s memories (many of which are obviously warped by nostalgia) in search of the portal, but they can’t find it. No big deal, save for the annoyance of being trapped in the mind of a kid — until things turn sour and Grace, having caught on to Nora being a meta and having spent her comatose hours overhearing her uncle’s anti-meta growls and grumbles, turns on Nora.

As all this is happening within Grace’s memories, Team Flash have discovered the unconscious Nora and realize they should probably go in and get her. When Iris and Barry hook themselves up to save their daughter, though, they don’t end up in Grace’s mind — they end up in Nora’s. While this would have been a perfect opportunity to have the other shoe drop on Nora’s duplicitous, pro-Thawne actions, Barry and Iris really only see some childhood memories. Barry is thrilled because he thinks he’ll probably never see Nora at the age she is in the memory, but Iris is less than happy about her future as a mean mom.

Iris and Barry’s trip to Nora’s past (and their future) turns out to mostly be a way for the both of them to come to terms with their roles as parents. They, unlike Nora and Grace, can’t interact with the past — only observe. Iris has to watch her future self shout at little Nora and she worries over the type of mother she’s destined to become.

Caitlin gets in contact with the memory travelers by using the brainwave device she used to need for communicating with Killer Frost. She tells them they need to break through false memories, and the portal will open up. Nora has to break down the overly heroic and happy image Grace has of her uncle, and Iris and Barry have to find the truth in Nora’s memory, which is that she’s replaced a loving, caring, and understanding Iris West-Allen with a villainous one because… kids, I guess?

These things have to be done while running avoiding getting caught by the memory’s “guardians” — Cicada for Grace, Reverse Flash for Nora. Barry and Iris successfully break apart Nora’s false memory, but Nora is not so successful. Grace is fully on Cicada’s side, to the point where it’s revealed that her guardian Cicada is actually an older version of herself. This, on top of an earlier reveal during Nora’s memory that Cicada continues killing long enough to rack up a body count of more than 150 people, makes me think that villainy might run in the family.

The intrepid brain-traveling family returns to proper life, having learned much about each other (but not the stuff Nora didn’t want them to learn). Iris learned that she really isn’t going to be as terrible a mother as Nora has led them to believe, and Nora has learned that she kind of made her mother the villain of her childhood for unfair reasons. The whole West-Allen family learns that, by Iris starting her blog/news site in 2019, she’s already started changing the future Nora knows, where the blog isn’t started until 2021.

Caitlin’s been learning stuff while they were gone, too — namely, that Grace has a hunk of dark matter satellite shrapnel in her skull, which might explain her deep slide into megalomania so early in life. Barry, meanwhile, has come out of it all with a plan: use the metahuman cure Cisco and Caitlin have been developing on Cicada.

Other Things:

• Iris! Please, please hire a graphic designer for your website before you get any other employees. Your site is hideous.
• Cisco and Ralph had a subplot. It was kinda nice.
• Seeing the Flash Museum was really fun and full of cute little in-jokes: a cover of a real The Flash comic featuring the comic book version of Cicada, for example, and toy Flash phones with the show’s theme song as the ringtone. 
• So Grace, the inspiration for Orlin to go out and kill all metas, is technically a meta thanks to some dark matter-infused shrapnel in her skull. Oh, the irony.
• Barry says he wants to use the meta cure on Cicada even though Cisco and Caitlin promised each other they’d never use the cure on anyone who wasn’t a willing volunteer. Not to go all Eleanor Shellstrop at the end of a The Flash review here, but I seriously hope Team Flash says “fork you” to ethics and goes with that plan. If they won’t kill the guy who racks up over a hundred and fifty murders, a little shifting of the moral goal posts is the next best idea.

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Blindspot 4x11 Review: "Careless Whisper" (Super Fan) [Contributor: Jen]

"Careless Whisper"

Original Airdate: February 1, 2019

A crime novelist uses Team Blindspot for inspiration, but needs the real team to solve his murder.

CASE OF THE WEEK

Winston Pear is a famous crime novelist who decided to use Jane's story and the team as the inspiration for his new crime novel. His writing talent is debatable, although Kurt Weller is a big fan, but his focus for the new book is intriguing enough to get him killed. Pear was writing about the New York Ripper — someone Team Blindspot has never heard of. Pear had a lot of behind-the-scenes information on the team in his book, and they realize there's a leak in the FBI.

Enter Brianna, an FBI employee we've never met but who has enough personal information on Team Blindspot to play snitch to Pear. Brianna insists the New York Ripper was based on a real person. Pear discovered the murderer's identity and was killed by the Ripper. The team reviews the author's  research and clues. They realize the seemingly disconnected cases are connected after all.

The Ripper has a background in law enforcement and medicine based on the evidence, which initially leads the team to same person Pear suspected: Gerald Savitt. However, Savitt has an alibi for all the murders. It's then Patterson realizes they are operating from the same bias Pear was — all killers are male. Savitt has a step-sister named Iris Bricklemyer. Isn't that a great name? Iris is also a police officer and created dioramas with dead mice. (There is not enough yuck in the world...) The dioramas require skill with a hobby knife and surgical precious like a scalpel would. Furthermore, the victims are posed just like Iris posed her rats. So much yuck.

Unfortunately, the team identifies the Ripper too late. She's already at the crime scene as an officer and she kidnaps Jane, who has gone blind — a symptom of her worsening Zip poisoning.

It leads to a fairly cool fight between the Ripper and a blind Jane. What's interesting about Jane is she used to work purely from muscle memory, but now that she remembers everything. All of Remi's training, lessons, and previous experiences are informing Jane's abilities. It seems to make her a better fighter and, most importantly, one who can still come out on top even without her eyesight.

TEAM BLINDSPOT

The best part of "Careless Whisper" is watching the team play Pear's over-the-top versions of their characters. Pear's information on the team isn't exactly accurate. Rich is married and cheating on his wife with Patterson. Jane's headaches are because she's psychic. Kurt's "billowing biceps are threatening to rip rough his shirt." No, wait. That one's accurate.

It's an extremely fun way of exploring storylines Blindspot has zero intention of following through on (like Rich and Patterson) while giving fans a hilarious glimpse into the possibility. Rich and Patterson may be the best wife and husband team up next to Jeller, but they remain platonic coworkers. I'm good with Rich and Patterson as is, but if Blindspot were to ever go there, you wouldn't hear me complain. I've always been low-key annoyed all six Friends didn't pair off into romantic couples (Ross and Rachel, Chandler and Monica, and Joey and Phoebe), so feel free to be my second chance, Blindspot.

Back on Zapata's show: Reade has sent her back undercover to meet up with the hacker Del Toro. Unfortunately, the CIA kidnaps her just before the meet because of course they do. Madeleine sends one of her right-hand soldiers, Dominic Masters, to free Zapata from her CIA captors. Why does everything with Zapata feel like a waste of time? Why even kidnap her if she's just going to be freed a hot second later? I swear, this show gives me a headache.

It feels late in the game to be meeting a new player. Dominic Masters is played by Chaske Spencer, who was Sam Uley in the Twilight series. Yes, those movies. He feels important, which in Blindspot's world could mean crucial for a couple of episodes and then he's killed off unceremoniously. He's cute, at least. I'd be okay with a love triangle, but I highly doubt we have time for that.

Zapata fails to connect with Del Toro, but she lies to Dominic and tells him the hacker has agreed to the job. She didn't really have much choice. If Tasha showed up empty-handed then Madeleine would kill her. But now she needs to find a hacker, which won't be hard. There's two on Team Blindspot.

Zapata is the only team member who is not included in Pear's book because she was too combustible. The author couldn't envision a happy ending for her, according Brianna. Uhhh... since when? I know Blindspot is trying to keep the inevitable happy ending they are writing a secret, but the more they keep telling me Tasha will never have one (and, by default, Reade) the less I believe them.

KURT AND JANE

Now that Jane is no longer evil, we get to enjoy some quality happily married Jeller moments. Jane lets the cat out of the bag and tells everyone how Kurt read two of Pear's books on their honeymoon. She teases him relentlessly through the episode over his terrible taste in authors to fanboy over and it's glorious. Kurt is adamant he only read Pear's books on the plane during their honeymoon. Kurt Weller's sexual magnetism will not be in question. He won't stand for it. Not even for a minute. Bonus? Jane is pregnant in Winston Pear's book, so it's obviously non-fiction.

It would all be perfect if Jane wasn't dying from Zip poisoning. Going blind is a rather alarming symptom, particularly when in the presence of a serial killer. And then of course there was the grand mal seizure. Kurt and Jane put on a brave face, but it is obvious both are terrified. Jane is deteriorating rapidly and they aren't any closer to finding a cure.

Patterson and Rich are forced to tell Kurt Jane only has days to live after hearing about her worsening symptoms. Kurt Weller, wall of strength, finally crumbles into Patterson's arms and lets the grief he's been keeping at bay flood in. Sometimes crying is the only strong thing left to do.

So... can we just stop killing Jane every week? It's hurting my delicious mancake Kurt, and IT MUST STOP NOW. Someone inject her with these stem cells and let's move on to the (real) baby making. Please and thank you.

Stray Thoughts:

• "I might be a super fan." I need that GIF.
• "Isn't death goals the obvious joke?" No one can out Rich Rich.
• A guy has a history of mutilating animals and he gets into the police academy? Not good!
• Maybe Jane shouldn't be in the field while her brain is melting. Just thinking outside the box.

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RENT Live: In Defense of FOX’s Intent to Represent Life for More Than One Generation [Contributor: Araceli Aviles]

The show must go on, and it did this past Sunday with FOX’s semi-live production of the Tony Award winning musical RENT. There are already scores of articles debating the choice to air pre-recorded footage of the musical due to cast member Brennin Hunt’s last-minute injury. Some were fine with the choice, while others called out the creative team for poor planning (Hunt did not have an understudy). The one thing everyone can agree on is that the decision to reunite the original Broadway cast with their 21st century counterparts for a finale tribute to RENT creator Jonathan Larson was truly fitting.

Larson never lived to see the musical’s first off-Broadway production, let alone the tsunami of success his work has wrought. Not only did the musical catapult the careers of its original cast, but it became one of the most recognizable and impactful musicals in modern history. RENT was Larson’s masterpiece and passion project. It was his way of giving a shouting voice to a generation being told to hide in the corner and be silent.

That was what it was in the 1990s, but what does it mean today?

To the Gen-X and early Millennial generations, RENT was the musical we needed to hear. It’s as ingrained in our memories as the rise of N.W.A., Green Day, and the Dawson’s Creek theme song. All contradictory phases in pop culture to be sure, but nevertheless, all important markers of the late 80s and 90s. Many of this generation are now parents themselves, some to teens and preteens who like to say things like, “Mom, that music is so old.” [Insert outraged emoji here.] But many of these comments come from a lack of understanding of where these artists and phenomenons came from. RENT specifically came out of a generation that was not only being stigmatized and discriminated against every day, but people who were quite literally staring death in the face. Gen Z has their own social issues to contend with, but in many ways, the coping mechanisms have changed.

Each generation has its own social issues, of course. For the Baby Boomers, they were the social justice fights of the 1960s and the Vietnam War. For Gen-X, it was the AIDS epidemic. For Gen-Z, it’s mass shootings. This might seem like a gross oversimplification of the progress and history of the late 20th and early 21st century of Western civilization (especially in the context of musicals), but bear with me for a moment.

Each struggle was tangled up in a fight against discrimination and bigotry, but the HIV/AIDS crisis had a deeper layer to it. Not only did it place an increased stigma specifically on the LGBT community because of years of ignorance about the virus, but HIV was quite literally a death sentence for a decade. It took years — and far too many lives lost — to create drugs capable of effectively combating the virus (a fact confirmed in RENT). It took far longer for those who survived to shed the false and bigoted labels that came with an HIV diagnosis. Larson knew that, and he knew how important it was to put specific words to the indescribably pain of many.

But what really made the first incarnation of RENT so indelible in our minds is a spirit of friendship — of hope in the face of the disenchantment with the establishment and, above all else, making the most of love. Live or not, I believe FOX’s version pulled that off. You could see it in the joy and charisma Valentina puts forth from that very first pose of “Today 4 U.” You can see it in the instant connection between Brennin Hunt and Tinashe’s Roger and Mimi, which was palpable in one of the only live scenes of the broadcast: “Your Eyes.” And don’t even get me started on the masterful complexity that was the work of Vanessa Hudgens, Jordan Fisher, and Brandon Victor Dixon — all of whom turned out performances that you could feel coming from the inside out. The mark of a great performance isn’t just in the strength and caliber of the performer, but whether the performers themselves could feel the power in the work they were tasked with. Every single RENT Live performer did that. You could tell they loved what they were doing, and took their place in this show very seriously.

One of the hallmarks of RENT that made the musical successful is that it was set in a time and place where there was no escape from the struggle, except in defiance. By defiance, I don’t mean rioting or protesting, although that certainly has its place in the story. Defiance in terms of refusing to accept the hand you have been dealt until you absolutely have to. Defiance in terms of not giving into despair and reveling in the things you do have — such as your individual power, willingness to accept vulnerability as a strength, forgiveness, and ultimately, your voice. In other words, the ability to embrace what is and what could be, instead of hiding in the shadows; or in the case of Gen-Z kids, technology and its many false escapisms.

So to anyone who wants to quibble over the power of live versus semi-live broadcasts, I ask you to put that question into the “What’s Done is Done” category, in favor of a more important question: Can a new generation learn from Larson’s work? Can they learn about that time, and apply Larson’s message to a new road forward? Can they be taught to stand tall together like RENT’s ensemble during “Seasons of Love,” instead of hiding in cyberspace? It certainly answers the question of how to explain the musical’s importance to today’s youth.

Because anyone who believes that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been eradicated in the United States isn’t paying attention. Anyone who believes that racial discrimination, homophobia, and homelessness is another person’s problem has their head in the sand. Just because we have made progress in the last two decades does not mean that Larson’s work is finished, and that is why RENT Live was a necessary production that deserves commendation.

It’s also why, though many won’t be dissuaded from criticizing FOX’s production of this musical, the cast carried the bookends of this production with them during their performances. Reuniting the original cast at the end of the live show was a sweet gesture, but more poignant is Larson’s message at the beginning of the broadcast. Had he lived, he would have been all over this production trying to perfect it. But in the end, his message would have been the same:

“In these dangerous times where the world is ripping apart at the seams,

we can learn from those who stare death in the face every day.

By reaching out to each other and bonding as a community,

rather than hiding from the terrors of life.”

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Grey’s Anatomy 15x10 Review: “Help, I’m Alive” (Coming to Terms with the Truth) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]

“Help, I’m Alive” 

Original Airdate: January 24, 2019

The midseason premiere of Grey’s Anatomy left all the characters’ dirty little secrets exposed, much to their chagrin. Most of the doctors have spent the season trying to avoid their problems, so it’s only natural that it is time for them to come to terms with their situations. “Help, I’m Alive” is a very character-centric episode that allows the viewers to take a deeper look at the characters’ lives.

SUPER LINK

The first of the many storylines gives Meredith and Link a better understanding of each other. Meredith is in a pretty bad mood all day after Alex has to bail on helping her with little Bailey’s fifth birthday party. To make matters worse, Catherine is back at Grey Sloan and fires Meredith from her surgical team for spilling the beans about her tumor. As a result, Meredith takes out her anger on Link for the remainder of the episode. She criticizes Link’s every decision, from nonchalantly waiting for an incoming trauma to not stabilizing their patient’s pelvis before going to the OR. Meredith’s displeasure is twofold: she is using Link as a punching bag for her own anger management, and she is trying to convince herself that she doesn’t like him.

Even though they don’t realize it yet, Meredith and Link do have a lot of similarities. They are only focused on their differences for the first half of the episode, which is made abundantly clear when they both separately ask Jo, within a matter of seconds, why she thought they would be perfect for each other. While Meredith, Link, Nico, Jo, Helm, and Parker operate on their patient, Jo decides that this is the perfect moment to cut the tension. She clearly wants Meredith and Link to work out their differences and get together, so she starts telling Meredith about Link’s past as a cancer survivor. Link is rightfully upset, as he feels that he should be the one to tell people his story.

Funny enough, Meredith doesn’t immediately lighten up and instead decides to question his medical judgement. Link, who is tired of Meredith’s judgement, goes into full detail of why he made the calls that he did and reveals that doing anything differently could have cost the patient her life. He goes on to say that he doesn’t need approval on his medical practice from Meredith, who is taken aback by his response and the fact that she didn’t catch what he did. After the surgery, Meredith freaks out about having a house full of 5-year-olds for a superhero-themed birthday party and isn’t happy that one of the superheroes that was set to make an appearance had to cancel on her.

Link offers his help after overhearing Meredith’s phone call. Meredith welcomes the help, and the two of them go back to her house to start setting up the party. Link’s knowledge of superheroes and willingness to stop everything to help makes Meredith realize that he’s not the person she thought he was. This is especially apparent when Bailey and his friends arrive to the party in full superhero costumes and ask Link if he is Thor. Of course, Link throws himself into the role and plays with the kids.

As the party winds down, Meredith gives herself a rare five minute break to sit down at the kitchen table to have a drink and piece of cake with Link. I love the conversation that the two have because it is the most honest and open they have been with each other. Link finally understands why Meredith can be uptight and stressed. He truly respects the fact that she is a single mother of three, works crazy hours as a surgeon, runs her own department, and still has time to win awards for medical innovations.

Meredith comes to understand Link’s laid back attitude more as the day goes on and learns more about his background. She admits that she doesn’t dislike Link, which is Meredith code for “I’m trying to suppress my growing feelings for you.” The two share an organic bonding moment, and it is clear how they could naturally become a great couple. Based on her actions in this episode, I can definitely see a future where Meredith actually opens up to Link and lets him into her life. She has always had a hard time being open, but he might be the man to change that.

FAMILY TURMOIL

It was only a matter of time before Catherine, Richard, and Jackson would be together again and chaos would erupt. The events of the episode slowly build up the pressure in the powder keg before it explodes in a heated family argument. Unfortunately, they spend most of the day avoiding the topic of Catherine’s illness by working on a case together. Catherine thinks that she can perform a revolutionary surgery on a patient with the help of Richard and Jackson. Everything is smooth in the family until the surgery takes a turn, and Catherine can’t complete the procedure.

After the surgery, the three of them convene in a room and things quickly get heated. Catherine accuses Jackson of questioning whether she was fit to do the surgery. Jackson and Richard get defensive and bring up the topic they have all been avoiding: they want to know why Catherine won’t talk to them and why they had to find out from someone other than her. Catherine is very upset that she didn’t tell them herself, but says she was waiting for the right time. This makes Richard and Jackson upset because they feel that she hasn’t been honest with her family. After some more shouting, Catherine finally breaks down and tells them that she didn’t want to talk about it because then it would be real. It’s easy to feel terrible for this family with all they have been going through lately.

FLYING SOLO

The third story of the episode deals with Owen, DeLuca, and Schmitt helping a woman with the flu. Owen, who has not been feeling well, decides to walk around the hospital and help patients while hooked up to an IV bag. This is definitely foreshadowing, as there is no way in which trying to be a doctor and a patient at the same time can end well. Owen and DeLuca realize that their patient’s colon is distended and take her up for surgery. While prepping for the surgery, the patient’s colon bursts, leaving her in great pain. Owen tells the anesthesiologist that they need to hurry up and start operating, so the anesthesiologist goes to give the patient a paralytic to stop the pain before putting her under. Only problem is that he mistakenly injects the paralytic into Owen’s IV instead of the patient.

Well, Owen drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes within a few seconds, leaving DeLuca to have to operate on his own. DeLuca jumps into action and tells Schmitt that he will have to take care of Owen. Schmitt is very nervous, having to intubate Owen before his airway completely closes. DeLuca walks Schmitt through the procedure like a seasoned pro, and Schmitt is proud of his accomplishment of doing his first intubation. DeLuca continues on with the surgery, and Alex comes in to check on him a little while later. Alex asks DeLuca to tell him the steps he has taken so far, and DeLuca rattles off the correct list. Alex then asks what else he still has to do, which stumps DeLuca. He says he doesn’t know what else he should do and asks Alex to tell him what is next since this is his first solo surgery.

Alex tells DeLuca that he has done everything right and that the only thing left to do is close up his patient. DeLuca stepped up at the right time and completed his first solo surgery with great success. This will definitely be a big confidence booster for DeLuca, but let’s hope this doesn’t go to his head. The episode ends with DeLuca sending a text to Meredith asking her if she wants to help him celebrate his first successful surgery, but she doesn’t see the message since she is enjoying her quality time with Link.

SELF HELP

A bunch of other characters have small side stories about taking steps forward in helping themselves. Bailey has finally started seeing a shrink and getting the therapy she desperately needs. We get to see that Bailey is making some progress, which is great news. She needs to continue helping herself before she has another breakdown. Richard also makes some strides by finding a new sponsor and taking advice from him. Richard is going to meetings more frequently and starts meditation and prayer again. With all that is going on with Catherine, Richard is going to need another support system, so it’s good to see him recognize that as well.

Schmitt gets a much-needed boost of self-confidence through taking care of the unconscious Owen. Teddy walks by the hospital room where Schmitt is watching after Owen and wants to know what happened. As she is freaking out, Schmitt calmly explains what happened. Teddy thanks him for helping Owen and says that she is respectfully going to stay and watch over Owen until he wakes up too. Schmitt is overjoyed to hear that someone respects him as a doctor and decides that he will no longer go by Glasses. He finds Nico and pulls him into an on-call room for a quick make out session to display his newfound confidence. Schmitt continues his transformation by having Parker and Helm help him get contacts, that way he can give up his clunky glasses and be a new person.

After Owen starts to recover from his rough day, he has a conversation with Teddy about whether she plans to stay in town. Teddy spent the day trying to get a job at Grey Sloan, but since Maggie is the head of cardiothoracic surgery and is Amelia’s sister, things haven’t been working out well. Teddy considers going back to Germany, but Owen doesn’t want her to leave. He decides to give Teddy his job as head of trauma and work for her to keep her and his unborn baby in Seattle. Owen is right in saying that he needs help in trauma because the hospital hasn’t hired someone to fill April’s position. Plus, with what the two of them accomplished in the elevator in the midseason premiere, they will make a great trauma team.

With Teddy definitely sticking around, we will have another fun romantic situation to watch play out. Owen wants to be with Amelia and have Teddy and his baby around, so I don’t know how he’s going to balance two lives. Amelia spends the day working with Tom Koracick to hopefully find a way to operate on Catherine’s tumor. Tom is interested in Teddy and decides to introduce himself to her at the end of the episode. It would be really interesting if Teddy and Tom become a thing because seeing Amelia and Owen’s reaction would be priceless. Plus, a love square might be kind of fun.

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6x03 Recap: “The Tattler” (Gina Follows Her Dreams) [Contributor: Alisa Williams]

“The Tattler”

Original Airdate: January 24, 2019

A few months after we learned that Brooklyn Nine-Nine had been dropped by Fox, and then picked up by NBC, Chelsea Peretti, who plays Gina Linetti, announced she was leaving the show. Fans were super bummed and left to wonder exactly how she’d be written out. Peretti hinted that this wasn’t the last we’d see of Gina, but she’d no longer be a series regular. Well, in the latest episode, we found out how it’s going down. Let’s recap.

Jake and Gina are super excited about their 20th high school reunion. It’s 90s themed, so they get to wear what they did back then, and their self-named “Dope Denim Crew” rides again. They parade out into the bullpen in oversized denim jackets, jeans, and truly terrible t-shirts to show the team. Jake tells them all about the long hair and gold earring he used to wear (a look he stole from Gina). Boyle is surprised that Jake wants to go back to his reunion after “Tattlegate.” No one else knows about this, so Jake fills them in.

In his junior year of high school, the popular kids finally started talking to him — especially the coolest kid, football player Brandon Bliss. Brandon even asked Jake to tag along to help steal Brandon’s parents’ van, and then go get drunk in the woods. Jake was ecstatic. But the day before it was supposed to go down, someone ratted Brandon out to the principal, who told his parents, and he got in big trouble. Everyone was convinced it was Jake, and for the rest of high school he was known as the Tattler, and any hope of being popular was completely dashed.

But, 20 years later, Jake says he’s totally over it and besides, he figures everyone’s forgotten about it. Jake, Gina, and Amy all head to the reunion and things are going great at first. Gina spins a new lie about her amazing life for each person she meets: she’s been writing the Thor movies, she designed the Freedom Tower, she came up with the term “apps.” Everyone’s eating it up.

Then things start to go downhill for Jake. An old high school buddy brings up the tattling incident and soon there’s a crowd gathered around laughing about how Jake tattled all those years ago. Jake shouts that he wasn’t the Tattler, but no one believes him, and he realizes he still does care that he was wrongly accused all those years ago. Amy devises a plan for them to track down who the real Tattler was so they can clear Jake’s name.

Gina’s too busy to help because she’s pitching an app idea to Quentin, a tech mogul from Silicon Valley. She tells him all about her app idea, Toddler. “Like Tinder, but for toddlers,” she says. Basically, it’s to help parents find and rate playdates for their kids. Quentin is interested, and as his interest grows, so do Gina’s lies about how she has a thriving business, a board of directors, and lots of bidders who all want in on the Toddler app. Quentin’s hooked and makes an offer.

Back at the precinct, Terry, Hitchcock, and Scully are in the break room listening to a radio show. Holt walks in and wants to know why they’re listening to a trashy FM station and Terry tells him how the show does a contest. They play a mystery sound and whichever caller guesses it correctly wins a cash prize. Holt thinks the whole thing is stupid and a waste of time and doesn’t understand how they can find this fun. Just then the mystery sound plays. It’s a crinkling of some sort and now they have to narrow it down and figure out what kind of crinkling it is.

While Terry, Hitchcock, and Scully go on a “crinkle hunt,” Rosa enlists Boyle to help her with a personal problem. It turns out she’s been dating two people who found out about each other and now she’s not sure what to do. She needs to decide between them but she likes them both and doesn’t know how to pick. Boyle says that as genetically indecisive people, the Boyles have created a sure-fire way to make decisions. He has Rosa take a 309-question survey that will help her decide who she should be with.

Unfortunately, after answering all the questions, it’s a dead tie between the two. Next, Boyle convinces her to hang upside down like a bat so all the blood flows to her head and aids her in decision-making. This does no good and by the time Rosa gives up, she gets a text from one of the women breaking up with her. Boyle declares that his method was a success after all, because Boyles don’t make decisions — they just wait it out until the universe is forced to make the decision for them. Rosa decides she’s happy with the outcome and will just go with the one woman who’s left.

Hitchcock, Scully, and Terry are still in the breakroom arguing over what made the crinkling noise. Holt walks back in and is exasperated that they’re still working on this. He starts crinkling everything in sight to make the point that they’re never going to figure it out. He crinkles paper, coffee bean bags, and then opens Terry’s yogurt — and the yogurt opening sounds just like the sound they heard! Suddenly, Holt is invested. Terry calls in to the radio show and tells them the sound is a yogurt being opened — but they’re wrong! It turns out it was just a bag of chips. Even though they didn’t win the prize, Holt realizes this was pretty fun after all.

Back at the reunion, Amy grills Jake about what he remembers from the day Brandon Bliss got in trouble. Jake remembers that everything was fine first period, but after third period Brandon was mad at him. Jake also remembers that he heard a fellow football player had told Brandon that it was Jake who ratted him out. Now they just have to figure out which football player took third period with Brandon. They break into the administration office and look at the old records and get the name: Danny Matthews.

They interrogate Danny and he admits he told Brandon that Jake was the Tattler because he knows that he was — he saw Jake talking to the principal that day. Danny recognized Jake’s long black hair, gold earring, and even the denim jacket he’s wearing right now. Jake realizes that the only other person who dressed like that, matching jacket and all, was his fellow member of the Dope Denim Crew: Gina. She was the Tattler!

Jake confronts Gina in the middle of her finalizing her app pitch with Quentin, and tells Quentin not to believe a word Gina says because she’s a liar. Quentin storms off and the deal’s a bust. Jake tells Gina he knows she’s the real Tattler and she admits the whole thing. She says she’s sorry she let Jake take the rap all these years for something he didn’t do, but also says it would have been way worse if she hadn’t ratted out Brandon to the principal. Brandon and his crew were bad news, and if Jake had gone through with stealing a van and got caught, he’d never be the great cop he is today. Plus, she didn’t want to lose her best friend to Brandon Bliss, who isn’t even at the reunion because he’s on parole for various other crimes.

Jake realizes Gina’s right — isn’t she always? — and tells her so. They track down Quentin so Jake can apologize for ruining Gina’s deal and convince Quentin to take a chance on her. Jake delivers a super inspiring speech, but Quentin takes a hard pass. Jake’s shocked, but then Quentin admits he’s been lying this whole time. He isn’t a tech mogul at all, he was just saying that to mess with people.

Jake tells Gina that even though Quentin was a fake, that doesn’t mean Gina’s idea isn’t great. He encourages her to pursue her dreams of starting her own business, of creating something awesome. Gina decides she will, but if she’s going to pursue her own ambitions, then she won’t have time to work at the Nine-Nine. She tells Jake she’s quitting.

It’ll be sad not having Gina’s weekly presence — and the squad definitely won’t be the same — but may all your dreams come true, Gina Linetti.

Bullets on the Bulletin Board:

• “This is them. This is Marvel. They probably want to talk about Thor IV. Thor: More Thor. 
• “Why learn to grow when you can fix the past?”
• “So the lesson here is to listen to Hitchcock and Scully more?” “No, that can’t be possible.” “I don’t think we earned that today.”

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The Flash 5x11 Review: "Seeing Red" (Rage Against the Dark Matter) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]

"Seeing Red"

Original Airdate: January 22, 2019 

Cicada and his awful Batman Voice is back in full focus this episode. Rumors online keep telling me he’s not the real villain of the season but they’re sure dragging his story out in a way that implies he’s the villain of the season. Anyway, “Seeing Red” — as the name would suggest — focuses a lot on the effects of anger, not only in Cicada and the people on his anti-meta side, but also in Barry.

Although it’s not as precisely balanced as episodes have been in the past and it lacks a certain “wow” factor (possibly due to the absence of Cisco through the whole thing), this isn’t a bad episode. It’s certainly a step up from the frustration-fest we dealt with last week, I’ll say that much.

HE’S A MANIAC, MANIAC!

Huh. So it turns out the Dr. Ambres, the doctor lady we’ve seen helping out Cicada since the beginning, is a lot more bloodthirsty than she originally seemed, since she directs him to go on his killing spree that sets off the plot of this episode. Between this and the somewhat heavy-handed planting of the “blame all the metahumans” idea she gave to Orlin in "O Come, All Ye Thankful," I’m wondering if maybe she’s the big villain of the season instead of (I assume, as the most logical alternative to Cicada) Eobard Thawne from the future. I really wouldn’t put it past this show.

After getting a list of meta targets from Dr. Ambres, Cicada hunts down a man named Bork (which just makes me think of the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show) and our old friend, Matthew “Snakeface McGee” Norvok. You remember Norvok, right? The guy with the snake in his face. Anyway, Cicada kills Bork Bork Bork and Norvok flees, to snakeface again another day.

Oh hey, Barry Allen doing his non-superhero job! Always a delight, especially when Nora gets to be his intern-slash-sidekick. At the Bork crime scene the next day, the two quickly realize that Bork’s injuries resemble those of past Cicada victims and determine that Bork was a meta. He’s also one of three victims of Cicada’s attack, which means Cicada is escalating after his little murder hiatus. As Team Flash is discussing this escalation later at S.T.A.R. Labs, an alarm goes off, indicating that Cicada’s striking again.

Cicada’s latest victim is seriously injured but still alive. In all the chaos, Cicada is able to attack Nora — she gets stabbed in the back, resulting in a broken spine, paralysis, and a temporary pause in her speed-healing. Even though the show dips into dramatic “what if Nora never gets better?” territory for, like, half a second, she definitely does get better. In this very episode in fact. Her injury is less of a catalyst for exploring Nora herself and more about exploring Barry’s attachment to Nora as his daughter. When he sees Nora hurt, Barry goes a little murder-y himself in his anger and that becomes a key beat of the episode.

The actual episode plot, however, is all about gathering up Cicada’s potential victims and getting them into protective custody. The show actually does a pretty good job mimicking some typical procedural stuff for this storyline, including getting Cecile to organize a safe house for the metas and hunt down the leak within CCPD that provided Cicada with the metahuman list in the first place. Spoiler: it was Officer Jones, the victim of meta-tech from the fourth episode of the season. He did it because he was angry. That’s a big motivator this episode.

See, for example: Barry almost killing Cicada in the climactic final battle, after our villain gets a tip-off from Officer Jones on where the metahumans are getting picked up for transfer to the safe location and shows up to kill ‘em all. Like I said, Barry’s anger over Nora’s injury made him contemplate more drastic measures for dealing with Cicada. I was actually surprised the episode never brought up Barry exploring his angry feelings during the crossover event, since it would have made a good connecting thread from that to this. There was also Barry’s rage when he traveled back in time and met up with Eobard Thawne. I’m not sure how much more of this season will be dedicated to Barry’s darker emotions, but it’s interesting how that subject keeps popping up.

With a little help from Killer Frost — the only meta unaffected by Cicada’s dagger — the team manages to get all the metas to safety and Barry doesn’t kill anyone, but Cicada does get away. Barry’s strong protective feelings over his daughter give him an idea to appeal to Cicada’s emotions using Grace, the comatose adoptive daughter of Orlin Dwyer. They just have to wake her up, and Orlin/Cicada’s killing spree will have no more purpose. Easy-peasy, right? Of course, we’re ignoring the fact that Orlin’s kill count is in the dozens at this point and he’s definitely going to jail, so he’d probably see no reason to just stop killing metas for an adoptive daughter he still won’t ever be allowed to see. And, in fact, he would probably continue blaming metas for sending him down the spiraling path of murder in the first place but... Yeah, wake the little girl up, Team Flash. It’s a good deed regardless.

OKAY, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SHERLOQUE

A minor subplot of this episode is Sherloque investigating Nora, and I know that this is a significant thing simply because so much time is dedicated to it — but seriously, what is going on with this? Why was Sherloque suspicious of Nora from the start, and how is this going to play out? It’s probably the most frustrating mystery of the season, since I can’t figure out what the angle is supposed to be, or even what the bait-and-switch angle might be. Are we supposed to be thinking Nora is a villain? That she isn’t who she says she is? Or are we supposed to be thinking Sherloque is a villain and isn’t who he says he is? A lot about the way the show frames his investigation implies he knew from the start that Nora was a lying liar, but I really don’t know how he could have known.

But I don’t know, maybe his character is just that he notices stuff no one else does, he noticed Nora’s shiftiness, and he didn’t want to openly accuse her while no one on Team Flash even likes him. Iris certainly gave him a real talking-to in this episode (yet another anger motif, by the way) and Barry almost killed a guy for hurting Nora, so Sherloque should definitely be wary of crossing Team Flash where she’s concerned.

Other Things:

• Norvok got a redemption arc, by the way. That was nice. He still has a snake in his face, though, so that’s a bummer.
• The final scene of the episode was Orlin looking at pictures of Team Flash while making grimacing faces and I have no idea what it’s meant to convey.
• I still really like the Caitlin and Killer Frost relationship development. It just didn’t fit into this review too well, since anger did not factor into their quarrel so much as fear did. Important, though: Killer Frost snatches some Cicada blood for Caitlin to use in the metahuman cure.
• Next week: IF YOU DIE IN THE GAME, YOU DIE FOR REAL!

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6x02 Recap: “Hitchcock & Scully” (Meow!) [Contributor: Alisa Williams]

“Hitchcock & Scully”

Original Airdate: January 17, 2019

In the latest episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, we get to learn a little bit more about Hitchcock and Scully, circa 1986, at the height of their careers. The cold open is a young (and hot!) duo taking down a notorious crime boss named Gio Costa. The young Hitchcock and Scully are played effortlessly and hilariously by Wyatt Nash and Alan Ritchson. Mad props to NBC for casting the perfect pair, seriously. 

Flash forward to present day, and it turns out Internal Affairs is investigating this very case. Captain Holt is convinced Commissioner Kelly is behind this, seeking to wreak further havoc on the Nine-Nine for Holt complaining about him to the mayor. Holt decides he’s had enough. He’s going to go on TV and tell the city what the mayor is up to. He asks Jake and Boyle to look into the Costa case themselves so they’ll know what they’re up against with IA. Jake and Boyle sit down with Hitchcock and Scully to go over the facts. Looking through the old case file, they find a photo of the duo and are shocked to discover that Hitchcock and Scully were, well, super hot. Or, to borrow Boyle’s descriptor, “Meow!”

Jake asks them to go over what they remember about the case. Hitchcock and Scully tell him and Boyle that they got to Costa through a confidential informant on the inside. Jake asks who this CI was, but they say they don’t remember. It was a long time ago, after all. Jake moves on, asking why they think IA would investigate the case, but Hitchcock and Scully are as clueless as usual. Then, Jake spots a clue in the old photograph. The case file says Hitchcock and Scully recovered three bags of cash from the crime scene, and that’s how much was logged into evidence, but in the photo, reflected in a mirror behind Hitchcock and Scully, there’s clearly a fourth bag. When Jake presses about it, Hitchcock and Scully get defensive and storm out.

Meanwhile, Terry and Rosa are upset over the cramped quarters the Nine-Nine is now subjected to, since Commissioner Kelly indefinitely closed the precinct’s bottom floor for “renovations” and moved everyone up to the bullpen. The “downstairs people” — as Terry and Rosa call them — are gross and rude and ruining everything, from stinking up the elevator to leaving the kitchen and bathrooms a mess. They complain to Amy, who is sergeant downstairs, but she takes offense at their condescending view of the downstairs people and bickering ensues. Terry and Amy take their complaints to Captain Holt, but he has bigger problems to deal with, like preparing for the TV interview with Gina’s help.

Jake and Boyle have wrangled Hitchcock and Scully into an interrogation room, but if they thought it would be easy to break these two, they thought wrong. Scully informs Jake that they just ate a huge meal full of cheese and the interrogation room is a time bomb about to explode with farts. Jake and Boyle quickly move them out to the patio to continue the conversation, but Hitchcock and Scully are being unhelpful. They claim they never had the fourth bag of money, and produce their financials to prove that they’re not just poor, they’re “destitute.”

Jake looks over their credit card statements, but other than an unhealthy habit of frequent visits to Wing Slutz, nothing looks out of the ordinary, and they’re certainly not lying about being broke. But then, Jake spots a red flag. Hitchcock has a monthly charge for a parking spot, even though he doesn’t own a car. Jake and Boyle, with Hitchcock and Scully in tow, pay a visit to the parking garage. It turns out he owns a creepy van with the name “Beaver Trap” painted on its sides. While investigating the back of the Beaver Trap, Jake and Boyle find the fourth bag from the photo. It’s empty, but before they can question Hitchcock and Scully about it, the van doors slam and they’re trapped inside.

Jake uses a creepy mannequin leg to spring the latch on the Beaver Trap’s back door, and they jump out as fast as they can. But Hitchcock and Scully are long gone, and they’ve taken Jake’s car, with Jake’s phone inside. Boyle says not to worry, he has an app that can track Jake’s phone (of course he does), so they can see exactly where Hitchcock and Scully are. But in order to catch them, they’ll have to take the Beaver Trap.

Hitchcock and Scully didn’t go far. Jake and Boyle corner them at Wing Slutz, where they run into a surprise: the waitress is none other than Marisa Costa, Gio Costa’s wife, and the CI who helped Hitchcock and Scully take down Gio all those years ago. Now that that secret’s out, they confess everything. They did steal the fourth bag of money, but not for themselves — they gave it to Marisa so she could start a new life. As a CI, she was supposed to be paid for her help, but the captain at the time screwed her over and so she would have had nothing. Hitchcock and Scully helped set her up with her new life and new job at Wing Slutz, and they check in on her regularly to make sure she’s doing okay.

Back at the precinct, things have escalated between the upstairs and downstairs people. Rosa and Terry ban the microwave from the downstairs people after an unfortunate uncovered soup incident. While they and Amy argue about it, Holt and Gina prepare for the TV interview. Just then, Commissioner Kelly shows up. He’s heard about the interview and he tells Holt that if he goes through with it, he has all sorts of ideas that will “spice up” life at the Nine-Nine.

Things outside Holt’s office are just as tense. Amy pretends to declare a truce with Rosa and Terry, but it’s really a distraction so one of her fellow downstairs people can put a whole fish in the microwave. As if the smell wasn’t bad enough, the microwave then explodes. Holt comes out, upset about the disturbance in the midst of Kelly’s visit. Kelly pops out too, wondering about the smell and the commotion. Holt realizes the stress his team is under due to all that Kelly is doing to them and tells Kelly he’s had enough. From all of the Nine-Nine being forced into the bullpen, to Kelly reporting his officers to IA, it’s got to stop. But Kelly says he never reported any of the Nine-Nine officers to IA — though he thinks that’s a great idea.

But, if it wasn’t Kelly, then who called Hitchcock and Scully to tell them they were under investigation? Holt calls Jake with this update and Jake quickly deduces that it’s someone who was hoping they’d lead him straight to Marisa. It turns out, Gio Costa is out of jail and just as Jake is putting two and two together, Gio pulls up with his goons and heads into Wing Slutz. Jake and Boyle usher everyone into the kitchen and plan to head out the back, but they can’t be sure that way is clear either. Scully and Hitchcock concoct a ridiculous plan that involves strapping gallons of sauce to their chests and storming the bad guys. Jake and Boyle are against it, but Hitchcock and Scully will do anything to save Marisa.

They burst out the back door, only to find that the bad guys have all been apprehended by Captain Holt and the rest of the team who rushed to their rescue. Just then, Gio elbows the officer holding him and goes for a gun he had concealed at his ankle, aiming to shoot Marisa. Both Hitchcock and Scully jump in front of her, and take bullets to the chest.

... But they’re unhurt! The sauce was so thick that the bullets couldn’t penetrate it. Taking advantage of Gio’s surprise, Terry tackles him to the ground.

Back at the Nine-Nine, Holt confirms that Hitchcock and Scully will be punished for stealing that money. Their sentence? Desk duty for a year (they’re thrilled). Meanwhile, since Holt missed his TV interview, Gina did it instead. She tells the team the network has never received more complaints, which she’s fine with. She’s all about creating controversy.

With everyone safe again, and enjoying some down time at the bar, Jake and Boyle are left to ponder what happened to Hitchcock and Scully all those years ago that took them from being perfect police specimens to the washed up has-beens they are now. We flash back to a final scene with young Hitchcock and Scully, who are checking on Marisa at her new gig at Wing Slutz before they head off to the gym to lift weights. She tells them she likes her new job and offers them their first wings, on the house. One bite and they’re hooked. It was all downhill from there.

Bullets on the Bulletin Board:

• “I’ve said ‘excuse me’ more times this morning than I have in my entire life. Twice!”
• “Are you body shaming us?” “No, I’m personality shaming you!”
• “You’re joining in the witchhunt!” “You’re fake news! Sad!” “Yep, that’s definitely the language of the innocent.” 
• “I can’t believe we let Hitchcock and Scully get the drop on us. It’s like being outsmarted by a couple of tomatoes.” 
• “Why are you smiling?” “Because he’s one of those friendly villains, like the Verizon guy who defected to Sprint.” 
• “I don’t like your threats and I don’t like the cheery manner in which you’ve chosen to deliver them.” 

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