I did not cry when the Challenger exploded

Once Upon a Time - Desperate Souls

Well, a good thing finally happened! Emma beat Sidney in the election for sheriff. Here’s hoping that means she will get a new jacket to wear. We are really starting to hate that red one. We were missing Graham, naturally, but this was still a good, heartfelt episode for the show to come back on. It’s about time we heard about Rumpel’s backstory. We thought it was really good, but it could have been better. It was almost creepy enough. We feel like the show needs to dip a little into the macabre, Brothers Grimm-style, but that might hurt its appeal with families, which is what is keeping it high in the ratings. We liked Gold’s manipulative plan and how Emma fell right into it with honesty. We like that Henry said Gold is worse than Regina. We need a big bad who is not her. She doesn’t scare us. Don’t get us wrong: we hate her. But we’re not scared of her. She’s a whiner.
Episode grade: B+

The Good Wife - "Alienation of Affection"

This one was intense. Our love for Carey just grew stronger with his pithy, brave little speech in his deposition. We also love Will’s choice of a lawyer, Elsbeth Tascioni,  She’s weird, brilliant, and tough. Will has this one in the bag. Elsbeth is just the person to stare down that awful hag, Wendy Scott Carr. That fight just got more interesting ... We're wondering, as near-professional women, is Alicia’s red suit appropriate for an attorney to wear? It’s super cute and we look good in red, but we think it’s questionable. Let us know what you think about that, if you know. We were chuckling at Diane’s new suitor. We like him and we hope they at least have a fling for a couple of episodes. Diane is really growing on us.
Episode grade: A-

Shameless - “Summertime”

This episode felt familiar. Frank owes someone money and gets the family into trouble, so the family has to march down and fix it. It’s actually a good episode for anyone trying to jump in on the show. If you can enjoy this episode, you will enjoy the rest of them. We were disappointed with Fiona for being co-dependent and not leaving town in the finale, but we understand that she cares for her siblings’ welfare before her own mental and emotional health. Justin Chatwin was absent this week, and we have a feeling that his return will be a high point the show wants to build to a little more. Frank and the family are still funny (the back of Frank's sign!), and we enjoyed seeing everyone’s summer jobs. The show is still fun. Maybe it’s even more fun, because it seemed less sad/more light-hearted. Poverty and addiction never felt less depressing. Maybe it’s because we all feel that each and every one of these kids are going to be alright, and Frank will keep doing what he’s doing, which is fine by us. All the kids have smarts and potential, which is completely unrealistic. They should be way more messed-up.

There’s still lots of debauchery to be had. Frank’s bar bet was pretty good. We could have told him it was a bad idea, had we been there. Tasers don’t always take people down when they are angry, filled with adrenaline, very large, or just badass. We wonder where the show is going from here and if the characters are ever going to change or have some sort of arc, as people. We like what they are doing with Lip in the academic world and we like that Cash is done living a lie (not that we think his decision was kind; we just like it for the show). Overall, this is a remake done right and we will be sticking around this season for more.
Episode grade: B

The Firm - Pilot

This one wasn’t bad, but it’s going to have to get a lot better to earn our viewership. Leeard already has Suits and Ern already has The Good Wife. We tend to like our legal shows in small doses. Plus, it’s been ages since the original The Firm movie that this is based on, and even longer since the book (both of which are better than this show). Does anyone still care about these characters? How many of you remember them? How many of you saw that movie in the first place. This might have been a good idea right after the movie, but now it just feels like one legal show too many.

All this show really did was remind us that we kind of want to be private investigators for attorneys, like Kalinda. There are a lot of storylines at work here, and one of them could get interesting. But this two-hour pilot didn’t win us over. We don’t like the main character either, nor do we find him particularly original or interesting. There were also too many flashbacks. However, there is potential here. We have a good premise. We may check back later (when there is a whole season to binge on), but, for now, we aren’t watching it. If you love legal shows, check it out yourself. It’s decent if you have room for another lawyer/shady firm show in your life. We really don't.
Episode grade: C+