Scandal, Parks and Rec, The Office

By Courtney (Kerry Washington - TIFF 09') [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Scandal- White Hats Off

We’re bummed that Stephen is gone, but that red head we hate is still there. The president is still a hot old dude though. Those are rare. The president’s wife is still horrible, and we loved when he yelled at her. Everything he said was true, even if it was totally harsh. In this episode, we find out Quinn’s background. It could have been more interesting. She’s a suspected bomber/murderess, but she probably didn’t do it. Probably. Olivia Pope and her henchman gave Quinn a new identity, papers, and a chance to start over, but nobody knows that.

We didn’t like the show spending time in the courtroom because the prosecutor wouldn’t have been allowed to give that particular opening statement. TV shows never follow boring old evidence rules, unless you’re talking about The Good Wife. Normally, the regular rules take all the drama out of a courtroom scene. We liked the sex scandal subplot. Really, getting the media to spin your mistake takes all the bite out of sex. That’s completely realistic. The media tells us what we should think of events and stories. It’s effective.  We loved the term “America’s Baby.” Hilarious. We just want to note that no one this open-hearted, conscientious, and humble would ever be elected president.

Episode grade: B+

Parks and Recreation- Soda Tax

Is it just us, or is this season not as good as the last three so far? We liked the topical storyline with the soda. We liked the line where the “child size” soda was the size of a liquefied two-year-old child. We’re glad Leslie went with her conscience. She won’t last long in politics doing that, but hey, it’s TV. We love her relationship with Ron. Ben trying to befriend his interns was painful, but we love the reminder that he’s a huge nerd. It’s one of the things we like about him.

We want Ben back in Pawnee immediately. We were sad that April drew the picture of him. It’s better when April targets people who deserve it. Ben doesn’t. The arc where Chris is depressed about his meaningless life is appealing. He deserves it after he dumped Ann for no reason a few years ago. The idea of him going to therapy is good and sure to provide laughs. Who is the therapist going to be? Will we get to see the sessions?

Episode grade: B

The Office- New Guys and Roy’s Wedding

The original showrunner is back and vowed to earn viewers’ trust again, so we thought we’d check into the season’s first episode. Not bad. It wasn’t anything like the seasons we loved (1-5), but it wasn’t as terrible as the last two seasons either. We liked hearing the documentary crew tell us that they were interested in Pam and Jim. We don’t hate the plot where they are getting as bored with themselves as a couple as we are with watching them be a couple. Oscar sleeping with Angela’s husband is pretty genius. James Spader is gone. The fact that his character turned out to be so unfunny boggles our minds, because his first appearance in his interview was funny. We will miss Kelly, but her exit scene was worthy. Dwight’s high wire stunt had us laughing, but it’s sad that he’s not the father of Angela’s baby. We weren’t sure about making Andy a little meaner, but this episode was yards better than most of last year’s. A promising start.

Then, in the second episode, things got back to boring and unfunny. Jim is still hiding his business venture from Pam, which is never good in a marriage, and Roy grew as a person. It was fun to bring him back, but who cares about him? Especially since he wasn’t funny. The plot where Erin was tricked by Clark was gross and stupid. Clark is an idiot, and we hate him. We’re glad Pete ended up taking her out. At this point, we aren’t shipping her with Andy anymore. We didn’t ship her with him that much anyway. Nellie trying to get Dwight to follow Taliban law could have been funny, had the show mined another section of Taliban law. As it was, the plot went nowhere and, even worse, got no laughs. Did we pick this show back up too soon?

Episode grades: B and D-