Stronger Than You Think: Chicago Med "Down By Law"

Talking about a roller-coaster ride of an episode!

Face it folks, women are much stronger than what they get credit for as Natalie tells Will that at the end of the episode. And she doesn't have to tell me twice about that at all.

"Down By Law" is one of the best Natalie episodes of the season so far as she no only dodges bullets from a drive by shooting after a transfer run, but tries her very best to give her 14 year old patient a chance to make her own decision over her husband, who happens to be the reverend. After diagnosing the girl with a tumor in her uterus, Natalie tells them at they're best option was to take Chemotherapy or the last measure would be a hysterectomy.

With the Reverend not liking any options, he tells Natalie that she won't have any of it as they are trying to have children (EW! right?). Natalie pushes to the limit to get that girl to speak for herself, but soon gets taken off the case and Will takes over. But soon Natalie suffers from a concussion from the shooting when Barry was protecting her.

Will follows on what Natalie was trying to do and gets the reverend to fill out paper work while he tells the patient that the chemo would work. But she tells him about her family history that her mother and grandmother died of what she has and decides to go for the hysterectomy instead of chemo.

Meanwhile, after a night out, Rhodes brings his date to Med for what she thinks is nothing but digesting issues. But it turns out that she had a small heart attack and tries to get her to stay and have a  surgery. But what he didn't know was that she tested positive for cocaine and also she was married.  So Rhodes is playing the Doug Ross card, sweet!

April and Ethan deal with Barry and the shooting that had happen. But the gun that Barry carried was illegal due to the fact that he isn't who we all thought he was and that was more devastating for Maggie, who finally opened up to him.

And with Reese enjoying treating the inmates at Cook County Prison, a patient comes in with thoughts of killing his pregnant wife. Dr. Charles takes his word seriously even if the wife don't think he would do it. After admitting him, Reese pulls off the most dangerous thing she's done: being in the room with the patient and given him a knife to see if he would kill. But he didn't and it didn't sit well with Dr. Charles at all, but it seems that he won't suspended her.

As I said before, this was one of the best Natalie episodes this season. She goes beyond to try to get her patient to speak up for her health decision making rights. Torrey DeVitto gives her best performance this season. Also not to mention Rachel DiPillo and Marlyne Barrett as well as her character Maggie was about to accept Barry into her life but learns that Barry isn't who she thought he was and is taken away by the CPD. Reese going against Dr. Charles and proving the patient isn't a harm to anyone was such a bold and fearful move. The writing was solid in this episode. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Chicago Med Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

Here's a promo for next week's episode.

What Happens in Vegas, Will Help You Out of Vegas: This Is Us "Vegas, Baby"

This Is Us is back for the final three episodes and this week's brings a celebrations with rejuvenation.

With Kate and Toby celebrating their bachelorette and bachelor party in Vegas, things don't go according to what they were hoping. With Kevin and Randall hanging with Toby, they face some challenge with Kevin learning that he was cut from the Ron Howard film and Randall's encounter with Deja get's him thinking that something is wrong.

Kate's party with Beth and Madison seemed to be a blast than Toby after Kevin and Randall bailed out on him. Randall talks with Beth about how he thinks that something is wrong and she tells him that he needs to stop worrying and not only do they get into it but Kate intercepts as well. Not only Kate talks to Randall of how she loves to hangout with him after Jack died and later Kate talks with Beth about their relationship.

Meanwhile, with Toby hanging out with a group of so called back up friends, Kevin and Randall talk with Toby and after Toby gives some advise to their problems, they take him on the night in Vegas.

With the bachelor parties, we take a look at Jack and Rebecca's anniversary from their first to just before the kids were born. But we land on the year that they decide not to celebrate and Kevin thinks that Randall, Kate and him should help them celebrating by cooking them dinner. Well, things don't go all that well with dinner getting pushed late and Jack forgot to turn the oven on.

But the reason why Kevin thought about doing this was that Sophia's parents were getting a divorce and thinking that they would too if they didn't celebrate. But that wasn't going to happen, but the kids did pull off a surprise when Jack and Rebecca went to their bedroom to find a path of Christmas lights that led to the widow and a message for them to tell them to look at the meteor shower. 

The episode did leave with another emotional moments from Kevin calling Howard about the cut that wasn't true, to Jack telling Rebecca about how much he wishes to see her everyday and when Beth decides to find Deja, who was sleeping in a car with her mother.

"Vegas, Baby" was another satisfying episode that's full of humor, emotion and rejuvenation. For the first time, I really enjoyed how the character Beth was so well developed and kind of being the bad person just a bit with Randall worried about Deja. I've always thought of Beth to be a realist for Randall and the family not thinking too big and not thinking too small. With the ending of this episode I really can't wait to see what the final two episodes of the season would bring. The writing was really good and along with the performances from Susan Kelechi Watson and Chris Sullivan, who I enjoyed a lot in this episode and learning a bit from his past I can totally relate with him about. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch This Is Us Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

Oh man..... Chicago Med "On Shaky Ground"

Another week, another powerful episode of Chicago Med.

The title for this episode "on shaky ground" is probably the best way to describe the episode with it's well developed storylines and conflicts between the characters. From Natalie help deliver a 26 week baby that was still in it's amniotic sack is still alive and tries to do everything to keep him alive. While Bekker performs open heart surgery on her mentor that request that he be awake for it, but Rhodes has her back and helps her get through it. Reese overcomes her fears when going with Dr. Charles when visiting the Cook Country prison.

And not to mention April and Ethan having difference of opinion about a patient and the DCFS. The patient, who's a runaway from home due to the fact that her father beats her, comes in with unknown symptoms until they find that a cockroach had crawled through her nose and in her head drawn to spinal fluid. The reason she's been leaking spinal fluid was from the blows to the head from her father. April gets to Ethan about to reconsider after seeing that the DCFS system isn't the best thing. And April lets her leave to where she's been staying.

"On Shaky Ground" might be one of my favorite episodes so far this episode with some of the medical storylines that were so fascinating. Both the writing and the character growth was strong and not to mention that DeVitto, DaCosta, Tee and Donnell and Kuhling gave good performances. Overall, I give this episode a 8.5/10.

You can catch Chicago Med Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

"Okay" This Is Us "The Car"

With the Super Bowl episode being such a tragic event, the episode is a remembrance of the man from the view of the family car. 

"The Car" was a powerful eulogy of who Jack Pearson was as a father and a husband. It just had enough balance of emotion, inspiration, and humor to the previous episode. You see Rebecca and the kids still dealing with the loss but also remembering their father in bits and pieces in time that starts with buying the car and leads to that final weekend. With a bit of help from Dr. K, doing his wise man thing, reminding Rebecca that she's just as strong as Jack and letting her know how much he was scared, too.

After her talk with Dr. K, she takes the kids and Jack's ashes to Jack's favorite tree, which also holds a deep place for Rebecca. She tells Kevin, Kate, and Randall that they should live and not have to worry about who's the man or whose fault it is that leads Jack back into the fire. But the one thing that leaves with a powerful meaning is that Jack was a man who could see into the future, which Rebecca talks about before pouring some of his ashes by the tree.

In the last scene, Jack tells the car dealer he doesn't want to buy a used car. Still, the station wagon means he doesn't have much money to pay for it. Still, all he wants is for his family to be okay, and it ends with Rebecca driving the kids to a Bruce Springsteen concert that Jack bought a couple of weeks ago for them to go and also help her with her fear of driving through the bridge that we see at the beginning she fears.

The writing and the performance of this episode could not be any better. There was depth, and there were well-developed characters, mainly Rebecca, who we see grow a lot. Mandy Moore should be considered for an Emmy role, not to mention Milo Ventimiglia as well. The one scene that stood out was when Dr. K visited and talked with Rebecca, followed by the scene where she and the kids talk about Jack at his favorite tree spot. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch This Is Us on Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

Timeless Season 2: New Mission Trailer

Just less than two weeks away til the anticipated season premiere of Timeless. New Season, New Mission, New Enemies for #TimeTeam.

Here's not only a new trailer but how the show got to be last season's beloved hit.

You can catch the season premiere of Timeless Sunday, March 11 at 10/9c on NBC. Set your DVRs now or watch it LIVE!

Champions New Comedy Series

From the creators Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy comes a new comedy series, Champions. Vince seems to live the simple life. He's a charismatic gym owners and living the bachelor's dream with his younger brother, Matthew. But as his high school fling Priya drops off their 15 year old son Michael changes everything.

Starrng Anders Holm (Workaholics), Andy Favreau, Mouzam Makkar, J.J. Totah (Spiderman Homecoming), and Fortune Feimster (Life in Pieces and The Mind Project).

You can catch the series premiere of Champions Thursday, March 8 at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.

Kevin Can Wait Season 2 (so far)

With a very questionable kick off to the new season, the second season of Kevin Can Wait has found it's stride.

I will admit that I wasn't too happy about the new change to the season of letting go Erinn Hayes after the first season and killing her character Donna. But I gave the show the benefit of the doubt and see what they had come up that would make sense and when the second season of the show premiered, it was just a huge disappointment. Knowing that she had died and making a joke about her gym membership wasn't the smartest thing to do and I did have a bit of pissing mood and wanting to watch the show.

But I did and down the road the show got better during it's Thanksgiving episode that really set me thinking that this show will work. And soon after I felt the show finally was better than where they were at the start of the season. The stories were good as it still feels that classic sitcom that we're so use to watching back in the day..

Yes, Leah Remini and Kevin James have a great chemistry that you just can't deny. They chemistry brings another energy to the show that may or may not feel that it's a different style of The King of Queens, but hey it works. And not to mention the cast from Taylor Spreitler, Ryan Cartwright that are hilarious and probably my favorite supporting characters on the show.

So far so good Kevin Can Wait is the show to watch Monday nights. Overall, I do give the season after 16 episodes a 7/10.

You can catch Kevin Can Wait Mondays at 8/7c on CBS.

Black Lightning "Lawanda: The Book of Burial'

When the town Reverend plans to peaceful march to stop the 100 gang from killing again after Lawanda's death, Jefferson tries to do all he can to stop the march from happening But when that plan doesn't go, he has them go on a detour so he could watch and protect the marchers.

When Jefferson sees someone coming out of the alley with a gun, he jumps into action and stop the man from shooting and shocks him, along with another one who was charging up. Just as things were okay, the march was about to go on til Tobias, who's trying to stop on the orders of Lady Eve, sees what's happened along with that Black Lightning is still alive and shoots but hits the Reverend through and through and even its Khalil too.

With the Reverend doing well, it's Khalil, who won't be as the bullet hit his spinal cord making him not able to walk.

Meanwhile, Anissa tries out her powers, training at the garbage lot and filming it. Later as she researches about genetic mutation, she meets with Grace Choi and soon them seem it hit it off as friends.

I thought that this episode was very good from the beginning to the end. The episode was enough to keep me interested. I thought the performances from the cast was good, each playing equal amount. I've really enjoying Anissa's story arch so far learning her powers and trying to figure out understanding how. Also the nice throwback to comic "The Outsiders" was very good when talking to Grace. Overall, I give this episode a 8/10.

You can catch Black Lightning Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

Great News Season 2

After a perfect and impressive first season, the second season of Great News was fantastic and made it one of the best new series on network television.

Considering this is the series' second season, it's still fresh from its first season, with great storylines for the characters to expand. From Diana, St. Tropez took over the news company and tried to make the news station move to the 21st century instead of just doing the news. Katie tries and gets advice from Diana and, for one day, takes over The Breakdown successfully but realizes that she would instead do what she wants: cover a news story and not take Greg's job. Diana insults Portia, and the two go into a "Squad Feud" with a very Taylor Swift-like music video to win over Diana until she takes Portia's social media followers.

Carol, who's still an intern, tries her best to step up and get a promotion but realizes that Greg won't give her one; she quits and heads up to "My Morning Wine Up." But Katie learns that her mother is only there because she's easy to make fun of on television, and soon Carol quits that job and leaves ultimately.

Katie and Greg's relationship grows into what we all hoped was to be a couple. Briga performs best in the episode "Catfight," when Katie tries to prove that she and Greg are right for each other over him and his girlfriend, Cat. Greg finally decides on their relationship at the end of the season; they are a couple.

And let's not mention John Michael Higgin, who plays News anchor Chuck Pierce, given such a significant supporting role this season and steals the show. In this season, Chuck gets fried from a news story that sparks a business executive and tries to fix it. Katie and Chuck go their way as journalists to uncover why this person hates Chuck and tries to hide his life secret.

Season 2 of Great News was an intense season of solid writing, outstanding performances from this ensemble cast, and strong character development. I agree with critics that this show is the closest thing to 30 Rock with all the vibes and jokes. The exhibit should come back for a third season. You don't see many shows making fun of the news business these days, and this one hits the nail on the head. What can I say? Great News makes my Thursday nights a whole lot better, along with the other comedies.

Superstore Renewed for Season 4

Looks like the employees of Cloud 9 will be stay a while longer.

It was announced Wednesday that NBC has renewed Superstore for a fourth season with an order of 22 episodes.

"Superstore is one of our signature NBC comedies, and we're so pleased to be bringing it back for the 2018-2019 season," said NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke said in a statement.

In it's third season, the America Ferera-led workplace comedy has average 4.1 million total viewers and a 1.1 demo rating, that draws a slightly larger audience than in Season 2.

With Superstore picked up along with other renewed comedies of The Good Place and Will & Grace. We're still waiting on the decision of Great News and with renewed scorecards showing that it isn't looking good.

You can catch Superstore when it returns Thursday, March 1 at 8/7c on NBC.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 4 Premiere Date

Great news for the fans of the hit Netflix comedy "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt."

If you were wondering when Season 4 will premiere GREAT NEWS! This week begins the production of the fourth season of the series and the premiere date is set to stream the first six episodes of the season on Wednesday, May 30th and the rest will air later in 2018.

Jane Krakowski announced the news on Kathie Lee and Hoda Fourth Hour of Today Show.

All three seasons of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is available to watch on Netflix now.

A Different Way of Teaching: AP Bio "Pilot: Catfish"/ "Teacher Jail"/"Burning Miles"

The latest new NBC comedy A.P Bio premiered last week and even though the pilot episode had it's moments, it didn't stand with the other two episodes.

The "Pilot: Catfish" episode had funny moments but it was predictable at times. From the student who pissed at another student's home because the teacher did that same thing at a hospital. Eventually, even though Jack Griffin doesn't want to teach to his student, he did anyway. But even though it was predictable, it still had me wanting to tune in.

With two episodes being available online to view, "Teacher Jail" and "Burning Miles" literally were the best so far. There were so many moments of laughter and unpredictable. The cast really comes alive in these episodes, mostly Glenn Howerton, Patton Oswalt and Aparna Brielle. But the one that stands out the most is Allisyn Ashley Arm, who plays the low talker, nervous student Heather, who at times pulls off some of the funniest scenes.

So far, I enjoy A.P. Bio. Even though the Jack doesn't want to teach the students anything but get even with his enemies, he will teach a student or students a lesson that doesn't really come from the biology book. The cast is an A. The show does show it's teeth in its second and third episode of the first season and you can watch online or wait til they get broadcast on Feb. 25th and March 1 with another new episode airing that night too.

So far I give A.P. Bio 8/10.

You can catch A.P. Bio Thursdays at 9:30/8:30c on NBC or catch all three episodes now at NBC.com.

This Is Us "Super Bowl Sunday" Super Bowl After Show

Say what you will about this year' Super Bowl After Show of This Is Us, but it might as well be one of the best.

From the beginning to the end, "Super Bowl Sunday" delivers with highly emotional moments that was met with joyous and humorist moments. Even though he knew what this episode was about Jack's death, it was way more than just that as we see these characters take on the 20th anniversary of Jack Pearson's death that you would have thought died in the house fire but it turned out that he died from a cardiac complications due to the smoke that he had inhaled from the fire.

Throughout the episode, we see how each take on the day: Kate, who blames herself for Jack's death as it was her asking to get their dog in the house, re-watches the video tape that Jack made when she was singing in her bedroom, but worries of losing it when the VHS eats it but is saved thanks to Toby and his guy. Kevin looking to forget the day, but visits his Jack's tree and talk about the things that had happen and promises that he will be more like him even if it takes 30 years and talking with Rebecca about how she's gotten a message from Jack yet on that day.

Randall puts on a Super Bowl party for his daughters, but a sudden death of the family pet gecko changes things. He and Tess talk about how things have changed since meeting William, Deja and his new job. But a after telling her that she will always be his #1 to him, and promises to do things when she's older and we get to see a stunning future of Tess meeting with Randall as she's a Foster care worker.

But through the performances from the cast that was outstanding, the one that really stood out was Mandy Moore's character Rebecca, who dealt seeing Jack being the husband and father of saving his family, coming out with some severe burns and smoke exhaustion. After getting a check at the hospital, she leaves Jack to call to check on the kids and get a candy bar, but after that call changed and getting the devastated news, you see her changed from the person that she was to being the brave mother that she turned out to be, who deals with telling Kate and Randall. When Rebecca, in the present day, gets a call from Kevin asking if Jack sent a message, she thinks that it was Kevin that was the message this year.

I can go over and over about this episode as it was emotional engaging from the beginning to the end. From the first five minutes of the episode I was in tears due Jack getting back in the house to get the family dog. Each story had a special moment and the actors really delivered their best performance of this season so far. But Moore was the one that really stood out in this episode and deserves an Emmy nomination for this episode. The episode really depicts that after an even that something can go wrong in an instant and how a family can still grieve and come together on it's difficult day. The ending came as a stunner when we see the future of Tess as a foster care worker and meeting with her dad.

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch This Is Us with a new episode this Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.

"Okay, Here We Go" The Good Place "Chapter 26: Somewhere Else" Season Finale

Hot diggity dog! With such a creative adventure in Season 2, where would our gang end up in the season finale?

As Michael makes a case for Eleanor and the gang to Jan about how the system is broken and the two had a decision about it, in private. While they were in a private meeting, feelings were out in the opening: Tahani tells Eleanor about how she walked away from her parents, Janet tells Jason how she really feels and Chidi goes for it and kiss Eleanor with the phrase "hot diggity dog!"

Soon Michael and Jan come out and figured out a way that would give him more time: to place them all in their own Middle Place or go back to The Bad Place. With both options suck for them, Michael comes up a way that might work and with a little convincing to Jan to do it, she agrees and with the snap of his finger....we're back all the way to the beginning before death.

We jump back to Eleanor just before she gets killed, but instead of getting run over by shopping carts and hit by a truck, she gets saved by a mysteries man, Michael. And soon after Eleanor tries to be a good person from being an advocate for the environment to coming out to her roommate about the dress that she ruined and the t-shirts her and other roommate sold. But soon all good things do come to and end when Eleanor experience a set back when she accidentally bump a car and is sued by the person for whiplash. 

Meanwhile, Michael and Janet are in a room watching all four, but mainly Eleanor in this episode, as they watch the transcripts of their doing.. Michael sees that Eleanor has slipped back into her old attitude and tries to help her give her a push in the right directions again. As Eleanor celebrates her birthday, she meets with the bartender, who happens to be Michael (Did anyone get a Cheers nostalgia? I sure did!). Michael advises Eleanor about how rewards are't necessary gonna been given to you as known as moral dessert. And asked her the simple question: what do we owe each other?

When Eleanor wakes up, she searches for Chidi and watches his long videos of ethics and morals of a good person. After watching all of them, Eleanor flies to Sydney, Australia to see Chidi and asked if they could talk. Michael looks at the transcript from Eleanor's and with a smile he says, "okay...here we go."

The season finale was so satisfying from start to finish, not only ending on a good note but a path to what's ahead for season three as I assume that with Eleanor meeting up with Chidi that they're heading to a path of meeting each other and doing some good. But that's just a thought. The episode really depicts second chances and asked that question about the morals and ethics of being a good person, which this season really strives to the theme. Loved the performance from Bell and Danson, mostly watching them at Sting's Dessert Rose bar and Danson was the bartender. Who didn't freak out watching that scene? Overall, I give this episode a 9/10 and Season 2 a 10/10.

You can catch The Good Place on Demand, on the NBC app, Netflix later this summer (I assume).