Tag: tv review

Kathy Sees Criminal Minds S8:5 “The Good Earth”

But I refuse to watch the next episode, “The Apprentice”. The premise turned me off–an unsub who mutilates puppies, then escalates to prostitutes. Um, I don’t think so.

Anyway, back to “The Good Earth”. (Synopsis here, if you’re interested.)

Hotch being…Hotch

After really enjoying “God Complex” last week, “The Good Earth” was kind of a let down. It had a huge ick factor (wood chippers are never used for actual wood chipping on this show) and it was pretty much physically impossible for the unsub to do what she was doing without hulking out first. Actually that might have been fun to see, because the rest of the show wasn’t. It had a little bit of mystery, but mostly it was about the unsub and less about the team doing their profiling jobs. The bright spot is that at least the team speculated at what she was doing before she did it, not after, as a lot of the episodes have done and I have complained about ad nauseum. read article

Kathy Sees WALKING DEAD and HOMELAND

And explains why she’s not gonna watch either of them again.

For your viewing pleasure.

My #2 and #3 shows, Supernatural and Criminal Minds, are getting long in the tooth (and short on fresh ideas), thus I’m compelled to find a couple more shows to latch onto while these take a nosedive wind down their last seasons. My #1 show, Sherlock, isn’t coming back until next year. I’ve got to find my TV crack somewhere. So I decided to try two of the hottest shows around, Walking Dead and Homeland. Guess what? I’m still looking.

First, WD. Not much to say here, considering I couldn’t get through the first episode. I did learn that I don’t like zombies, and this show is too gooey for me. I’ve already been called on the irony that I’ll watch Criminal Minds (creepy in it’s own right) like it’s my job, but not WD. I can’t explain it, other than if the BAU starts dealing with the zombie apocalypse, I’ll bow out. My daughter, who watches WD like it’s her job, recommended I read the books. I think I’ll heed her advice. read article

The Hudsonian Sees ARROW

Arrow Hits a Bullseye – by Joshua Hudson

***The pilot episode originally aired on the CW on October 10, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST. What follows is a love triangle between myself, the CW, and Oliver Queen.***

When a movie based on comic book characters makes $1.5 billion worldwide, everyone wants a piece of the action, right? Especially when you have your own catalog of cool characters, and you have yet to make that much. Being shown up by your competition is never a good thing. read article

The Hudsonian Sees BEN & KATE

Okay, so this is Kate & one of the kids. Ben’s kinda boring anyway.

Ben and Kate’s Debut Is Le Pew

 by Josh Hudson

This FOX comedy pilot originally aired on September 25, 2012 and is a new staple at 8:30 EST on FOX’s Tuesday comedy lineup. I’m with you. I don’t know why either. read article

Kathy sees CRIMINAL MINDS: “The Silencer” (8.1)

Check your rainbows and puppies at the door. Synopsis at IMDB. 

Admittedly showrunner/episode writer Erica Messer had her work cut out for her in the Season 8 opener.  In 43 minutes she had to: introduce a new character, give the character some “character,” tie her into two existing characters, write a solvable crime, show what the existing characters did on summer vacay, plant the seed for a series-long criminal arc keep existing viewers happy/interested while intriguing new viewers so the suits upstairs would be, like, WTG Criminal Minds. Yes, that was a ridiculous run-on sentence, which is kinda what this episode felt like–the run-on sentence from hell that would make your high school English teacher break out in hives.

I would love to coherently recap the actual crime our intrepid profilers “solved”, however I’d have to watch it three more times, and this ep doesn’t warrant a repeat viewing. As usual the actors were great–they always are on this show–but from a writing perspective, I found “The Silencer” difficult to follow, full of exposition, way too much dialogue for normal people (unless they have Red Bull intravenously fed through them every half hour) and an ending that was supposed to be creepy, but just wasn’t.

Maybe I’m jaded. Maybe after seven seasons I can’t help but see the formula seeping through the show. Maybe Messer was trying to cram too much into one episode, which ended up dulling the impact of this week’s criminal mind. I don’t know. I’m not ready to give up on this show…but I’m not lowering my expectations, either. And–this is important–neither should you. read article