Yesterday's, Today (Supernatural, Arrow, Nashville, American Horror Story )

By Ewen Roberts from San Diego, CA, United States [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Supernatural- Blood Brother
If we were to describe the contents of this episode to you -- Benny's backstory, Dean creatively killing vampires, flashback to Castiel, Dean ditching Sammy for the case-of-the-week, Sam finding out about Benny, Dean being an awesome friend, betrayal, and allusions to Hemingway -- you might be fooled into thinking this was a good week. Not so. Aside from the completely unoriginal episode title, this episode was extremely boring, especially in the first half. It took Benny way to long to tell Dean his story in the car. By the time they got to Benny's maker's house, the episode was more than 20 minutes in. That's right, a phone call and a drive took that long. At least the look on Sam's face right before the credits was hilarious.
Episode grade: C

Arrow- An Innocent Man
Finally, we have an episode that was as fun as the pilot. The last two episodes had us bored and worried, but this one was serviceable entertainment, mostly thanks to its surprising ending. What an idiot! He needs to change BEFORE he goes on illegal killing sprees. Duh. We like Laurel's cop dad. We're starting to root for him. The truth is, in this show, Oliver doesn't seem that necessary. We don't get the sense that the police are incompetent or corrupt, like in Gotham. They've already caught Arrow, right? They can't be that bad, and Detective Lance doesn't seem corrupt. He keeps making us with the next book of The Dresden Files was out already...

We cringe whenever this show deals with legal matters. Having Laurel be an attorney was a poor choice for a show that already walks the line between believable and ridiculous. That judge would have stayed the execution with evidence like that. We finally realized where we'd seen Oliver's sister before. She's Agnes from Gossip Girl, the model who burned Jenny's dress collection. She's so pretty. Those cheekbones. We watch her and then fondle our own cheekbones (okay, fat cheeks) in the mirror, cursing the Lord (not really, we love him). We also saw a familiar face from Doctor Who.
Episode grade: B

Nashville- We Live in Two Different Worlds
Gunnar and Scarlett's music is so impressive that Ern, the blogger who doesn't like country music, has downloaded two of their songs. Rayna and Juliette's songs suck a bag of d***s though. This week was heavy on the drama, but at least it split Rayna and Deacon up for good. Our main complaint with this show right now is that there's no tension for the viewer and little direction. Where are we going with this? What are the stakes? Peggy and Teddy are either boning or involved in bad business together. We hope it has to do with his financial troubles because an affair would be an easy out for Rayna, and the show needs to conflict. We're having trouble tolerating Scarlett's speaking voice. She just seems like such a doormat, wet-blanket, girly-girl, twit. Nut up and dump Avery. He's a douche.
Episode grade: B

American Horror Story- Nor'easter
So, that ending ruined our lives. Ern is rarely scared by entertainment and can count the times fiction scared her on Mickey Mouse's hand. However, Ern must admit that mutilation is a good way to at least disturb. That was horrifying. Still, we've been desensitized by previous mutilation on the screen (The Last King of Scotland). Poor, poor Shelly. We blame that demon in Sister Eunice. Dr. Arden is the most messed-up person in the whole joint, bar none. Talk about Madonna/Whore issues. Talk about issues with women. What we wouldn't give to have a flashback where we meet his mother. Kit, Grace, and Lana should have kept running past the nasties. Sure, there was a storm, but Briarcliff is hell. We'd take hurricane Sandy over that place.
Episode grade: A-