Off-Season Week 10

10/13

Only this morning did I find out that The Night Shift isn't to return with another episode until the 24th, which may make the next few weeks seem a little light, since we'll have only Deadbeat and OITNB to review. Let's see how they went this week.

DEADBEAT - 3x10 "Diaper Training"

"When Pac and Danny wake after a boys' night in, they discover Clyde is missing and follow clues to retrieve him."

I'm suddenly not sure where Deadbeat is going. The intrigue of Danny Poker's ability to speak to ghosts as well as Pac has flatlined, having received no focus since it was introduced; now all they seem to do is party together and make lots of jokes about orgies and weed. Is this actually going to reach a climax or will I look back on season 3 and think it was wasted?

   Meanwhile, this episode itself seemed off-pace: without the outrageous topics it had been using as plots before, the humour was non-existent; and the whole premise was missing in the search for Clyde. Sure, a ghost turned up to ask for help, but only because they needed one in the episode: the ghost's entire unfinished business was a fight between Pac and a Yakuza fighter that was built into winning Clyde back anyway.

VERDICT: Can't be forgiven for turning its entire premise into a forced subplot, and didn't have the decency to make me laugh in exchange. 4/10

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK - 4x09 "Turn Table Turn"

* "The CO's power trip gets worse than ever when one guard forces Maritza to eat a baby mouse. Meanwhile, Blanca rebels against them by stopping them frisking her using powerful odours. Boo turns her back on Pennsatucky when she decides to forgive Charlie for raping her. Morello becomes paranoid her sister is having an affair with her husband. Red breaks down, forcing Nicky to decide to get clean again. News of Judy and Cindy's fake relationship spreads. Flashbacks show Blanca's past as the housekeeper for a demanding elderly woman, and how she got revenge when a fellow worker was fired just to keep her attention on her job."

OITNB stoppered the flow of tension by switching its focus from the Latinas' burgeoning panty market to the guards' prejudice, and by using flashbacks of Blanca's past to show how she got her revenge on the elderly lady she worked for, they opened a way of furthering the prejudice plotline. Blanca, who doesn't get much airtime anyway, shone.

   Meanwhile, Maritza's innocent joke with a friend about "if you had a gun to your head what would you rather eat, a live baby mouse or ten dead flies?" turned waaaaaaay too literal at the end when one of the guards forced her to actually play the game, in the episode's (and in fact the entire show's) most shocking, revolting and memorable scene.

   Piper and Alex mostly sat and dreamed of burgers, but it was nice to see them both friendly again; Nicky's decision to get clean fills me with joy, since Nicky is a much more fun character when she's not on drugs; Boo has the right idea by trying to convince the impressionable Pennsatucky not to forgive Coates, but sadly I think she's likely to ignore Boo's advice; Morello's crazy girlfriend past morphs into a crazy wife present, which always adds that extra dimension to her character that was missing since season 2; and Judy remains a bore. I'm convinced I'll never find her interesting. Finally, Aleida begins to say goodbye and spends her commissary money on gifts for her friends - at this point I'm rooting for nothing to go wrong and for her to be freed, but hasn't she been two days away from release for two episodes now?

VERDICT: With Blanca starting a rebellion against the guards and Piper's accidental white power group simmering in the background, I can finally see roughly where season 4 is intended to conclude, and this was a strong episode to lead it all there. 8/10

Elsewhere ...

• There may have been no Night Shift this week (or next - due to the Olympics), but I have the ratings from last week's double header: 5m exactly. A step down from the weeks before, but still pretty healthy for NBC.
• Also, it seems only now are we hearing The Night Shift is only airing 13 episodes this season, not the 15 we've been told all season. I'm slightly disappointed as it means less episodes to enjoy, but from a practical point of view it makes sense given the last episode's cliffhanger of TC leaving for Syria, and it'll make this roundup easier as well!
• For anyone looking to pick up a new show this year, Conviction looks better and better with every trailer or snippet that ABC release.
• And for any fans of NCIS: New Orleans who haven't heard last month's news - Zoe McLellan, who plays Meredith Brody, isn't returning for season 3.

Final thoughts

It's disappointing we've had no Night Shift to review, but we've made do and it'll be a short wait for the Olympics to conclude. Deadbeat's final season is reaching a critical point: it's arc will either grow into something and lift the last few episodes or will be ignored and thoroughly frustrate me, and from OITNB we can expect the revolution to continue. To beef up next week's roundup, I'll watch a double header of OITNB!

Thanks everyone for reading and see you all next time!

Sam