9/13
OK, so welcome back everyone. We're coming to the end of the off-season and the finish line for these shows this year (and Deadbeat forever) is in sight. I try to clear up the confusion over Deadbeat's episode ordering, focus on a Night Shift two-parter and see if OITNB can keep the momentum going following its cliffhanger ending last time out. So let's tuck in!
DEADBEAT - 3x08/9 "The Shawshanked Redemption"
"When Danny Poker suggests Pac and Clyde take some more high profile cases, Pac goes undercover in a high-security prison where a ghost wants help to finish her final tattoo."
Among hilarious incomplete tattoos, prison race riots and pigeon advertising, I still have one question: is this actually episode nine or episode eight? I still can't tell, and that's a problem for the writers that has really thrown out the flow of these last two very funny episodes. Regardless, if we judge this episode on its own merits as we did last time, it's really rather good.
As has become the norm for Deadbeat, it focuses on the gross and the outrageous for some great laughs. Among masturbation jokes, prison rape and some trial and error in the pigeon advertisement business, Tyler Labine who plays Pac gets a lovely amount of fat jokes thrown his way, and like any true actor he takes them in his stride - but it makes them no less funny or true. Spot on writing, but now we have only four episodes left until this unique (and perfectly titled) show ends. Sad emoji.
VERDICT: Another solid promoter of an episode. Rarely does a third season consistently out-quality the first two. 8/10
THE NIGHT SHIFT
3x10 "Between a Rock and a Hard Place"
"TC cares for a child nearly swallowed by a sinkhole, while elsewhere in the field Paul tries to convince a grieving mother to donate her son's organs - with Brianna waiting in the wings. Scott is reminded of his past when the boy he paralysed ends up in his care - but stakes are heightened when his furious father needs life-saving surgery. Topher deals with the potential fallout of the hospital takeover and Kenny dithers over his love life."
I really liked this episode. TC and Jordan are still acting independently of each other, but it's not difficult to watch or unnatural anymore. TC's girlfriend, the pharm rep Jessica, was predictably soiled when it was revealed the company who intend to buy the hospital hired her to get the low-down, and Topher has unknowingly let her peruse the hospital's finances - and the company already won the bid anyway! Good thing TC dumped her: he's right, what she did has the potential to destroy this ER family. Scott's plotline was intense and raw, but it was a nice throwback to a haunting event for him and I really enjoyed his buttons being pushed again - although I do still pray his and Jordan's kiss was a mistake. Kenny is still being marginalised somewhat without Gwen by not having a proper arc, but, although Brianna didn't get her lungs, I think Drew adopting her would be the cutest thing ever.
No Shannon today. Interesting.
VERDICT: Finally an episode I really felt everyone's storylines went nearly perfectly. Entertaining, full and more character-focused than patient, which hasn't been a staple of this season. 8/10
FOR THE SECOND PART: I reckon we'll see more of Jessica trying to make amends with Topher and TC, Kenny's date with Brianna's social worker Nina, Scott and Jordan being awkward and Shannon will definitely be back. Plus Drew's Major Syd Jennings visits, having left for D.C. earlier in the season. So let's go!
3x11 "Trust Issues"
OK, so I only managed to guess a little bit of what happened. The writers decided to throw a spanner in the works of Drew's mission to adopt Brianna, and used TC's self-destruction as the tool, for when Drew was verbally abused in a bar, TC began a brawl that landed them both in jail and caused Drew to miss Brianna's lung transplant. It's a very typical trope for an adoption storyline, but it didn't feel out of place here as it was natural that TC's emotional spiral should cause significant collateral damage to his friends. Perhaps that's why - as he states - he is best going off to Turkey/Syria with Syd for a month, something Topher recommends. TC's short-term departure should last a couple of episodes tops, and will provide an interesting depiction of a serious real-world issue.
Jessica returned as I predicted and TC ignored her, even after she bailed him out. I don't think her arc is complete quite yet, though, and I want to see her in the future. As for Drew, Rick and Brianna, they had a cute ending when they all met up in the hospital after her transplant with things looking up for Brianna's health and their adoption chances, as Nina (the social worker whose date with Kenny we did not see) agreed to do what she could to lessen Drew's incarceration's impact.
Elsewhere, Jordan's kiss with Scott seems like it won't grow into anything, as she heads on a double date with Paul, Shannon and a guy she met in a store. Unfortunately, the date took the usual spin of him ending up in hospital (because no scene outside of the hospital can just be a scene outside of the hospital), but led to a polyamory subplot that provided humour and some learning points about love and relationships for Jordan and TC's characters - and I loved it.
And Scott's relationship with Annie hit trouble when he admitted he and Jordan kissed - I wonder if that's for the best, although I doubt it's over yet.
Unfortunately I can't provide any episode viewer ratings yet as it's a little early for NBC to have released them, but The Night Shift's second half has been jumping back up to the mid-5m mark and I'm hoping it stays that way to give it its best shot at a season 4.
VERDICT: The Night Shift is 1 for 2 in terms of actual two-parters (this was more of a double header than anything else), but it was another strong episode that focused on our characters and propelled everyone into the final stretch of the season. 8/10
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK - 4x08 "Friends in Low Places"
* "Piper has hit rock bottom after being attacked by Maria and her crew. When she finds Alex and Nicky in the garden, she gets high with them, and reveals her burn to them. Alex also confesses her murderous secret, but all these only leads their 'family' to reunite, as Red burns Piper's swastika into a window. Maria's selling drugs out of the salon, worrying Aleida as she has days until she is released. Charlie makes a heartfelt apology to Pennsatucky. Crystal shows up at Caputo's house in the search for answers about Sophia, but Linda turns a gun on her to get her off the property. Judy kisses Cindy in an attempt to prove to the world she's not racist."
Rather typically, the fire that was set in the previous episode burned out shortly after this one began. I must admit, however, that this hour didn't feel like it dragged.
MCC implements the construction lessons they decided to go for instead of Caputo's vocational courses, which allowed a centre for all the arcs to congregate and gave fair airtime to most characters, including Boo and Pennsatucky, two more who had been underused this season.
I was glad to finally see Alex and Piper come together, since it seems Alex only gets any airtime if her storyline is connected to Piper (and Laura Prepon is a fantastic actress), but Judy King is still a bore and the fact that time is still being filled with Morello's "who took a dump in the shower" storyline is gobsmacking. And on top of that it seems the writers are making nearly everyone relapse or start up drug use, since Nicky, Alex and Piper all shared a crack pipe in the corn fields on top of the dead hitman Alex killed in the premiere. Somehow the writers are managing to make Piper into the most unlikeable character on the show.
Daya got an extra five seconds of airtime compared to normal and Maria is all of a sudden the big bad as she has everyone under her thumb. What a turnaround two episodes can offer...
VERDICT: A likeable enough episode considering it didn't deliver on the promises made before, but everyone's arcs are splitting off in uncharacteristic, sudden and odd directions. 7/10
Final thoughts
So we might not have had any clarity on the Deadbeat issue, but all three shows put in solid performances this week and I've thoroughly enjoyed them all. I can't wait to see what's coming up!
Thank you everyone for reading and see you all next time!
Sam
No comments:
Post a Comment