Once Upon a Time, Dexter, Revenge, and Homeland

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Once Upon a Time- We Are Both
If the characters leave Storybrooke, they lose their memories of their real selves? Wow, that IS terrible news. Emma kind of sucks at curse breaking even more than we initially thought. We're glad August is alive though. We always liked him. We really want Graham back, but we don't think we are ever getting that. It was stupid of the characters to want to leave. We don't think that's a realistic reaction, even if they are scared of Regina.

Will there be any consequences to Regina using magic like Rumple hinted there would be? It was smart of her to keep the grimoire. You never know what might come up. Sadly, it was probably more due to vestiges of evilness than wisdom. Regina looked great in the black dress she was working. Regina wants redemption. That's fine with us. There are plenty of baddies and potential baddies left who are more fearsome than she is.

We were literally just thinking two days ago that we wished that little girl would come back to this show and mimic Ginnifer Goodwin again. Too bad she was only in one scene and has clearly grown a lot in a year. When we realized this was a Queen flashback episode, we were disappointed. We wanted a sideways episode. We guess the Queen's story's second half wasn't told yet, and it needed to be, especially since Cora is back in the leads' lives.

It looks like Rumple is upset because he can't leave town and look for his son. No sight of Belle this week, which is weird. Charming called David out on being weak and confused, which was good because he was frustrating last season to the point of being unhot and sleezy. How dumb was it for David to promise Rumple that he wouldn't interfere with Rumple's actions? That's going to come up to bite him later. It was good to see Snow and Emma at the end. Mulan is a dick. She couldn't even listen to them before treating them badly? This episode wasn't as good as last week's, but it wasn't bad either.
Episode grade: B

Dexter- Sunshine and Frosty Swirl
It's good that Deb sat and listened to the whole story right away. We thought she was going to run away and Dexter would have to track her down and tell her about his life at the very end of the episode. This season is speeding things up and really helping the show catch our interest again. We loved Deb's line, "I am the worst f***ing detective in the world." Her reaction was good. They debated the merits of Dexter's coping mechanisms, and Dexter got punched in the face which, to be fair, he deserved.

We've been liking Deb a lot more since she became lieutenant. She's not even annoying us here when she's naively trying to undo nearly 40 years of Harry's hard work. There's no way Deb can save Dexter. This episode showed that Dexter can resist his urges as long as he believes there is hope for himself in the long term. His hope was shattered in the great last scene though. Deb should have taken Dexter in after he gave her permission. She loves him though. This arrangement can't last long. It's too co-dependent to even be a good idea.

Greene hates Dexter for the dumbest reason. Too bad Dexter didn't kill him. Greene is such an annoying creeper. There's nothing we love more than Quinn and Batista shutting down that strip club every day. We forgot that LaGuerta and Doakes were close. She now knows the Bay Harbor Butcher was probably never caught. Where is this going? The tension is high this season, and the show isn't wasting much time with the side characters. It's committed to a) problems for Dexter and b) setting up the big bad Miami Metro will be going after. We're so afraid it's going to get bad again, but we're happy for now.
Episode grade: A-

Revenge- Resurrection
One of the rich kids reached out to Declan, and Declan couldn't at least be friendly. He's the worst. Then the rich kid turned out to suck too. Nolan forgetting Padma is proof he's really gay. She's gorgeous. We like that he offered her the CFO job. He's such a maverick. In real life, that would be a bad move though. We can't believe Amanda lied to Emily about the test results. Victoria is back where she belongs. That didn't take long. Charlotte continues to avoid annoying us this season. We like that the mother stuff was tabled until the end. We aren't interested in another show that postpones the meeting of some mother. We need to see her in the present, not just in flashbacks in order to care.
Episode grade: B

Homeland- Beirut is Back
Who else loves that Saul gave Carrie a hug when he first saw her? We wondered if their first meeting would be icy because of all the craziness last season and Carrie's latest little rebellion. We were thinking, "Carrie needs to realize she was right about Brody soon, for her own sanity." Saul, Carrie is not listening to you. Ever. Just roll with it. The shooters chasing Carrie in the second half was intense and not something we've seen this show do much of so far.

Dana is one of our favorite characters, even now that she's acting out more. We like the emerging subplot where she is friends (and maybe more?) with Finn Walden. Jessica needs to become more sympathetic. Her love Mike is back, and he's obnoxious even though he happens to be right. We can't believe Brody saved Nazir. Alright, we can. But whoa. He's so toast when he gets caught. Speaking of: DID THAT JUST HAPPEN? In episode two of the season?!! Saul knows Carrie was right. Unfortunately, they gave a lot away in the preview for next week. It looks gnarly.
Episode grade: A-