Facing Life Challenges: This Is Us "Honestly" Fall Finale

 

The fall finale of This Is Us gave us laughs, a kickass dance move, not to mention being tough, and a past secret revealed. Here's a recap!

I thought this episode was really good. From seeing Kevin learning both young and in real-time learning to toughen up and find a way his way to learn and be the person that he wants to be from the quarterback for the school to give his new director what he wants out of him. 

Then we have Randall and Malik. Malik was overshadowing Randall at his work to learn what a city councilman does for his district. While Malik was a bit late, tired, and even forgot to end Randall's live stream (more on that later). 

We learn the reason why because he was trying to get things to plan not only for him but for his kid. While Randall completely understood where Malik is coming from, he learns of Malik's dream to be the first chef in Philly to get three Michelin stars. 

As for the failure to end the live steam of Randall's daily video; that was pretty much the funniest moment in the episode. I think that we should name that dance move (if it even is a dance move) after Randall. I think I'll be doing that while making Thanksgiving (except for not having clothes on because I don't do that). 

But the video could be the best thing for Randall to say; because this could be the thing to reunite with his birth mother as we see her husband watching the viral video. 

I thought that Rebecca and Jack's story of dealing with Kevin and getting him to sleep was a good story. And we see the difference of styles of Jack and Rebecca's parenting style but knowing that each other does have the same quality as we see Jack about to go into Kevin's room until he stopped crying. 

Pretty much the shocking moment of the episode was Kate and after seeing baby Chloe (which will probably be renamed due to the mother has hated that name for a long time). Kate learned that she almost had an abortion but stopped and decided to give her child up. 

Well, that brought something painful to Kate and after talking to Kevin, she tells Toby the one thing that no one knew about. After her break up (or escape) from her abusive boyfriend, as Rebecca and family were to see Kevin in New York, Kate stayed home and learned that she was pregnant.  And from the promo for the next episode (Jan. 5th) this story is not done yet. 

Could this be the start of Kevin going for his Oscar? I think so. It's been mention in the episode that he wants to take Rebecca to see the biggest award show of all. After this episode, I just want to see where Kate's backstory goes and I don't think it will go well. 

This was a very good episode to close out the fall season (in a way). I know four episodes aren't enough to start but at least we got four episodes. The writing was as good once again with another good performance was the cast. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

What did you think of the episode? Leave a comment below!

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This Is Us returns Tuesday, January 5th on NBC.

Feelings: Chicago Fire "That Kind Of Heat" Fall Finale

Well,

First, let me get this out of the way so I can talk about the ending to this "fall finale" episode. 

"That Kind of Heat" was an excellent episode with intense emotional and memorable moments. Ritter steps up along with Gallo to help Boden and then stops when Herrmann and company fill up the truck with gas to help save a woman who had fallen on the L-tracks. 

Kidd gets her Girls on Fire starting tremendously but is missing one person. He tries to convince her to return but understands that she needs to work to help her parents during COVID-19. That didn't stop Kidd as she saw an opportunity to help both the teen and Boden by giving her a part-time job at the firehouse. She accepts and looks forward. 

With the Amblunce 61 totaled, Severide tries to hunt it down before it's gone for good. He saved the driver's door that had Leslie Shay's memorial on it. It also clarified Gallo and Mackey, who questioned being at 51 after the accident. She learned the connection between Mackey and Cruz as he's like her guardian or big brother to her father, who had died years ago. 

Okay, now that I got that out of the way. Let's get to the main story of this episode: Brett and Casey. Well, from the recent recap about Mackey, both Brett and Mackey came out fine. Casey does some superhero stuff to get to 61. Soon after, Brett questions how Casey got there so fast and learns how it happened later that night at Molly's.

The next day, Brett couldn't make eye contact with Casey and tried to avoid him all shift. That is until later that night when Casey comes to Brett's apartment and asks why she is avoiding him. She replies with a kiss, and soon, the rockets blast off as they kiss and land on Brett's couch. 

But Brett asked Casey whether, if Gabby came back, he would go with her and boy, he used the wrong words in this one. Even telling Brett that he doesn't know because it's complicated. You got that right! Soon, Brett asked him to leave, and it ended sadly. 

While that ended pretty sad from Brett's point of view, let's look at the bright side: they finally have admitted their deep feelings for one another. This show does not go one, two, or three episodes to see if a relationship would go anywhere (like other shows). Still, we will see how they'll face this relationship and whether or not Casey could let Gabby "My Miracle" Dawson. 

So, did I like the episode? Oh yeah, I loved this episode. This episode played with my emotions, and I'm glad I had the night off from work to watch this at home. During those Brett and Casey scenes, my heart was beating, and my hands got cold and sweaty. 

While Ritter and Kidd had a powerful story in this episode, I think the little story that deserves is Severide getting Shay's memorial door back to the new ambulance 61. That would have bothered me so much. 

Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

What did you think of the episode? How did you handle Brett and Casey's final moment?  Shay's memorial return? Ritter's rescue and Mouch's speech? Leave a comment below!

Follow me on Twitter @abaker20

Chicago Fire will return on Wednesday, Jan. 6th, on NBC.

Family Styles: Chicago Med "Those Things Hidden in Plain Sight" Fall Finale

 

The fall finale of Chicago Med (if you want to call it that) dealt with changes and even family drama. Here's a recap! 

After last week's episode, Dr. Laink had left Med, and Goodwin announced who would be the Chief of the ED...that would be...Dr.Ethan Choi. Of course, Will wasn't too pleased because he thought he would get it with his seniority at Med. 

It didn't go well when Will's patient was suffering from an air bubble, and trying to locate it took too long due to Ethan's decision on the course of treatment. Will talked with Goodwin, and she told him that she didn't consider him for the Cheif position due to his past actions and recently in a relationship with an addict. Looks like Will might be looking for a new job with Dr. Viriani.

Natalie deals with a young pregnant mother brought in from jail but with no records of her condition. The patient demanded a professional OB and got one, but the mother took a turn for the worst as she needed an emergency c-section. But soon, things started to become with the patrol officers as they would take her back to jail on a misdemeanor.

Natalie goes full Wonder Woman, pushing the parol officer away from the mother and baby. But she wasn't charged for anything because they don't want bad press. Go, Natalie! 

 Dr. Charles tries to bond or talk with Crockett since he hasn't shown up to a session. But just as Crockett starts his sessions, Charles gets a call from his daughter about her mother not well. They brought her into Med, where Crockett performed emergency surgery for an ulcer. But Charles learns that his ex-wife is planning to move to Arizona. But looks like Crockett might need that session with Charles soon. 

April treats a teen suffering from COVID-19, and her mother video calls her to check in on her. But soon, the daughter's health was not in good shape, and after April chewed a resident and got Ethan to give her patient a ventilator, it still wasn't good. Trying to reach the mother until April saw that the mother had arrived and tested positive for COVID-19. 

"Those Things Hidden in Plain Sight" was a good episode. I thought with Choi as the new ED chief was a good choice. While the dynamic between April and Ethan didn't change a lot as Ethan gave April what she wanted but then stood his ground by not having the mother come to see her daughter before she passed. 

While it did work with Ethan and Will. Not too pleased with the decision, Will tries to help his patient, but Ethan buts in and makes a good story that makes Will look good. But proves to Will that he can be reckless at times with orders, as Goodwin pointed out. 

Natalie's story started off weird, but it got better and well, her pushing that cop away from her patient was super badass. Probably my most improved story in the episode. While Charles and Crockett's story was good, maybe after watching Charles' family, he could talk about his soon.  

Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

What did you think of the episode? Leave a comment below!

Follow me on Twitter @abaker20

You can catch Chicago Med return Wednesday, Jan. 6th, on NBC.

Good Cop Rise: Chicago PD "White Knuckle" Fall Finale

 

As things get intense with Atwater and The Blue Wall, Voight and the team fight the clock to find a murderer. Here's a recap! 

After getting a beat down at the end of last week's episode, Atwater tries to secure his home, but his work card wouldn't work when going to work. But that was just the beginning as Atwater later no would get a call from his brother about the security alarm going off, but he knew that the police had bugged his home. 

Next thing later on, when Atwater, Ruzek, and Burgress were chasing a suspect, no patrol cars ever responded to their request for backup, which would also lead to Ruzek getting shot. Later that night, Atwater told Kenny he could come to get him instead of having others do his job. 

That would lead to Atwater talking with Voight about the situation. Would Atwater turn in his badge or take the punishment? After the talk, Atwater came up with the third option, which he told Kenny in his own home that he would turn in his badge and come after him with lawsuits. Kenny backed off.

The week's case was of Voight and team trying to beat the clock of an alderman's son found with a dead victim. The suspect is out of his mind from drugs, and Miller tries to get Voight to make it a quick open-and-shut case, but Voight doesn't want to do that and gets her to give them 48 hours. 

With the evidence they got, they finally cracked the case with the suspect who killed the victim and knocked out the alderman's son. Miller congratulated Voight and told him she was different from the rest, but Voight didn't see it. 

"White Knuckle" was an excellent episode. While the week's case wasn't substantial, it did hold up along with Atwater's storyline with Kenny.  Hawkins was impressive once again in this episode, and there were three scenes that I loved: 1. where he came home to look for the bug that the police placed after "fixing the security alarm. 2. The scene when he talks to Voight about his options against Kenny and how Voight tells him that Atwater's a good cop and should do what a good cop would do. 3. In that scene, Atwater talks to Kenny about his third option of suing him.  

Also, does anything feel how weird it is that this was a fall finale after last week's season premiere? 

Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.

What did you think of the episode? Leave a comment below!

Follow me on Twitter @abaker20 or Instagram @abaker72

You can catch Chicago PD returns with new episodes on Wednesday, Jan. 6, on NBC.

Celebrating and Playing: Single Parents "Good Holidays to You"/"The Angie-Man"

"Good Holidays to You"

It was the holiday season, and while Angie wanted to give Graham the best holiday ever, he was asking for two things: snow and to see his father. Angie gets Will's help to find a place where it will snow, but it turns out to be a dusty, warm, dry area. Angie and Will stole a snow machine while trying to get the snow going and got arrested. But Angie learns that Graham has been asking Santa to see his father for a while. 

Meanwhile, Emma, Amy, and Rory learn that their parents have been having a relationship for a while and try to hustle them into getting many more gifts. As Doug bails out Will and Angie, they celebrate Christmas at the cabin, and things calm down. Even Doug tells Poppy that he loves her. 

"Good Holidays to You" was another excellent and charming holiday episode, too. Good character development and good wiring as well. I loved the Angie and Graham story and the moments in this episode. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

"The Angie-Man"

As Will throws an anniversary party for his parents, they assume that Angie is Will's girlfriend. Both Will and Angie played along and played it so well. But as the party is over, Will's girlfriend shows up, and Will explains to his parents that Angie is only his best friend. But in the end, both Will and Angie are taking a separation friendship for a bit. 

Meanwhile, Poppy was dealing with a wine call back, and Doug offered to take Rory to his dance class. Soon, Miggy gets Poppy to take the day off. Soon gets caught by Doug and Rory at the mall. Doug understood and took Rory to his dance class without using the shoes that he bought him. And the rest of the kids helped Tony sharpen his image to look for a new girlfriend. 

"The Angie-Man" was a good episode and one that's my favorite Angie-Will episode. After this and the Thanksgiving episode, I hope they will end up together. This episode had strong writing, strong character development, and performances from the cast. Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.

You can catch Single Parents Wednesdays at 9:30/8:30 on ABC.

Save Halstead Chicago PD "Absolution" Fall Finale

The fall finale of Chicago PD left us holding our breaths. Here's a recap!

It has been weeks since Marcus West died for a crime that he didn't commit, and Jay hasn't forgotten it whatsoever. He's been kind of a friend with Marcus's widow, Angela, and his son. But when Angela gets into the wrong kind of job, she and Jay end up held hostage, and the Intelligence Unit hunts down.  Call it that Angelea and Carlos stole the harmful drugs from the wrong gang, and while Intelligence tries to find leads, they go to one man, Darrius.

After meeting and offering with the boss that the drugs belong to, Intelligence waits for the drop off to exchange, but it goes south pretty badly as Jay and Angelea aren't there. After capturing the boss or father to the kidnappers, Hailey played hardball and used the boss's father to give the location of where Jay is. While this was going down, Jay told Angela the truth that he was a cop and was the one who put her husband in jail and killed him.

When Intelligence gets to the location, only Hailey gets in, with the rest following. As Jay knocks out one brother and kills the other, he checks on Angela, who happens to shoot him, leaving in a cliffhanger.

"Absolution" was the best fall finale of the rest of the Chicago series this season. Holy smokes, the episode doesn't hold anything back, and Jesse Lee Soffer performs fantastically. And Tracy Spiridakos gives her best performance, too, as her character fights tooth and nail to find her partner. Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

You can catch Chicago PD on Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

Fly: Chicago Med "I Can't Imagine the Future" Fall Finale

The fall finale of Chicago Med holds nothing back. Here's a recap!

In the fall finale, we see Dr. Charles do one last thing for his wife: throw a party with family and friends. At the same time, it may not be something new for Charles to do for someone. It's a real turning point for the character as, at the start of the episode, he gets overwhelmed with emotions when Caroline tells him that she wants him to remarry. 

Things aren't looking great for April and Ethan as April learns she's going into early menopause, but with luck, the IVF could work. She takes not having children to heart and takes it out on Ethan, who's been reading a book about being a father. Later on, the two will have even more arguments when both Ethan's and Marcil's patients could be part of the domino transplant. However, when Ethan's patient dies before going on the table, Marcil's patient still gets the kidney from Ethan's patient's mother. Ethan and April leave on bad terms, with April kissing Marcil as Ethan is about to head out overseas.

Will treats a patient who believes he can fly when he skates on the ice. With an injury to the vertebrae, Will options the patient's father for him to have the brace instead of surgery, but that's not what the patient wanted, and he got the surgery and passed with flying colors to make a full recovery. While Maggie takes care of Ben, who almost is at heaven's gate, but instead creates a full recovery from fighting the measles.

As for Natalie, while treating and hoping that Phillip's daughter gets the surgery, her memory returns, as she gets flashbacks to the events leading up to the crash. After learning about the girl making a full recovery, Natalie remembers what she wanted to tell Will and meets him on the roof to say that she loves him, but in return, Will tells her that he's taken to what she had said and has moved on. NO!!!!!!!!

"I Can't Imagine the Future" was a fantastic fall finale with powerful writing and performances from the cast. The Maggie-Ben story was emotional; I wondered if he would make it. Dr. Charles's story was overwhelmingly inspirational; we have never seen his character be that full of emotions that just took my breath away. And the Natalie and Will situation again has me pulling my heart out as I've wanted these two to get back together. It can't end like this again! Once again, I still have hope! Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Chicago Med Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

Help! This Is Us "So Long, Marianne" Fall Finale

It's another Thanksgiving episode with the Pearsons, you know there will be a lot of cry time in this episode. Here's a recap!

It's Thanksgiving and as the Pearson family prepares for their holiday tradition; Deja and her mother reunited, but with how well Deja's mother has been with work and hanging out with friends it upsets Deja to the point that why couldn't she had been like that with her. But the upside she forgave and enjoyed her mother's presence.

Toby gets a truth bomb about baby Jack's first solid food (for which I have no clue why tell him) that didn't go so well. Even though that upset Toby, Kate was mainly upset about how Toby has changed since doing CrossFit classes. After talking to Beth about it, she was going to tell him how she feels; but instead wished him happy Thanksgiving and proceed on but reads a text message from what seems to be a lady in Toby's class. Uh Oh!
Randall takes Anne and Nicky on a road trip to the old house to get the Pearson Family Thanksgiving traditions and while getting it; there happens to be a collection of CDs. One of the music playings happens to be a song called "So Long, Marianne" that Nicky got emotional; because it brought memories back to when he and Jack celebrated Thanksgiving together. As they got back Nicky had Randall make a stop to get some stuff to make a shrimp plate; that is now added to the family tradition, which a grownup baby Jack displays for his family Thanksgiving.

Kevin helps with Tess' problem of how to come out in public. As they went for a Thanksgiving pre snack; they stopped at a fast food joint and he advises her to use the drive-thru intercom to come out and once she did it was all good that even she posted her celebrity crush; which got a ton of likes. Even after Nicky's speech, he tells Kevin that it's time for him to move back and if they needed each other that they would call. Kevin was thinking of living in a smaller environment.

I know that we all be worried about since the last episode is about Rebecca. While Randall tries to apologize to her for his concern. She decides to go out for a walk to see a movie, but as we see her go out it turns out to be a flashback to what's to come in the nine months. We see her lose her way around the town, forgot her phone, and couldn't find her credit card. She then ended up being dropped off at the cabin by police; where we see Kevin, Kate, and Miguel celebrating their 40th birthday, without Randall due to a fight.

But when we come back to the present time; we see Rebecca back at Randall's house with a bake good and tells him that when she went to see a movie she couldn't remember what movie she was seeing during a trailer for Cats. But she admits to him that she needs to see someone.

"So Long, Marianne" was such an emotionally powerful episode; that really plays to your heartstrings like all of the holiday episodes from this series. This one really hit hard with me due to the fact that I've seen how people are with either Alzheimer's and dementia due to seeing my mother take care of patients at nursing homes and me being a homecare aide that we have to learn the signs of these diseases. I think we're going to see Mandy Moore give some of the best performance this season and beyond because after the fall finale I thought she really played the character so well. Also, I thought that Griffin Dunne gives another strong performance as well. This episode was not only written well but had so much strong character development that it was done so well. Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

You can catch This Is Us returns on Tuesday, Jan. 14th at 9/8c on NBC.

Moving Up: Superstore "Managers' Conference"/"Shadowing Glenn" Fall Finale

"Managers' Conference" 

When Glenn gives up two tickets to a Cloud 9 managing conference, Amy and Jonah take it after learning it's an all-paid trip with the works. As they get there, it is his to get in, but Jeff gets them in by sneaking them in with other IDs. As they try to leave, Amy learns that the managers get free stuff and take advantage of it.

Jonah tells Amy that she should go for a manager position, and after meeting a couple of managers who don't think their workers should get high wages. After that, ma, maybe she should go for a managing position.

Garrett and Dina fight over who can wrap gifts for their customers best. As soon as they had the perfect wrapping on a blessing, they were done.

Glenn asked Mateo for his social security number,r as it showed in the records that it belonged to someone else. This worried Mateo that this could be the last we see him. But when Glenn asked again, Mateo gave him another set of numbers, and when Glenn checked it out, it was right.

"Managers' Conference" was a hilarious episode that felt like a fall finale. This episode should have ended up being the fall finale with the Christmas moment of Glenn helping Mateo. From Garrett and Dina to Mateo and Cheyenne, I couldn't get enough of watching these rich and well-developed characters play to each other. Good writing and performance make the frecareeres as good as they would be in an episode of Superstore. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

"Shadowing Glenn" Fall Finale

In the fall finale, Amy decides to go for managing training and asks Glenn for approval. But he decides to train her in the comedy version of Karate Kid. He teaches her what he knows, but Amy doesn't think she needs to know all this since she thinks she knows what to do.

That was until Amy made a mistake with one of the orders and tried to get the shippers to ship them back. But Glenn comes and saves the day and gets the other orders returned.

Cheyenne and Mateo decide to go into the business together and come up with a funny name, Cheateo. It may or may not work. But I would think it would be fun.

Meanwhile, Dina is looking for a new career and gets Jonah to help after he was the one who called out while Amy watched Glenn's managing video. After turning down almost every job, there might be one that she would be good at.

"Shadowing Glenn" was a well-written, well-performed episode. The cast puts on a tremendous performance. Amy and Glenn's storyline gives that Karate Kid at work feel to it. Lauren Ash's performance was terrific, And even Cheyenne and Mateo's storyline could beat its best this season with them working together to run their own business. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Superstore when they return in March next year and catch up with episodes on NBC.com and the NBC app.

Chasing Your Heart: Chicago Fire "Always a Catch" Fall Finale

The fall finale of Chicago Fire is not only a hyperdrive of drama, but it also gives us the biggest cliffhanger of the other Chicago shows. Here's a recap!

The episode started as usual: he laughed, and even Bodens showed his love for Tuesday the dog. That was until Cruz was on the phone with Chloe, who was about to get donuts for the crew, until she got into an accident on the highway. When 51 gets there, it's one of the most significant pileup accidents probably since Chicago Med season two's "Cold Front" episode.

Getting there, the only thing that Cruz could do was search for Chloe. Moving down from vehicle to vehicle, he finally sees her badly hurt. After the team gets her out and into the Med chopper, Cruz and the team get to Med as fast as they can, and the only thing they can do is wait. At Med, Cruz informs Chloe's parents about her condition and plays the waiting game. Fast-forwarding: Chloe wakes up and kisses Cruz, but Cruz learns from Chloe's mother that he's been the best thing for her for a long time.

Severide and Kidd's relationship could be in trouble even before they could put a year on it. Kidd learns from Tyler that Severide has been jealous of having him around her. She confronts Severide about it and responds that he's not, but she has known Severide for a long time, and he has a history of jealousy. But this time, he's not looking out for her, as it's Tyler trying to win Kidd back for him. The episode leaves Severide eating pizza while Kidd hangs out with Tyler at the bar.

After a heroic call and switching vehicles to get a child to Med, Foster meets with a familiar face. Foster gets an opportunity to go back and become a doctor, but after talking with Boden, she decides to stay as a paramedic because she believes that's what she should do. Cheers to that!

After seeing Cruz's relationship with Chloe, Brett decides to go for it with Kyle and asks him for dinner. When she asked him, his response was yes.

Casey and Namoi take their relationship to a new level. After interviewing the company's family accused of those trailer home fires. After getting threatened, Namoi makes a counterpoint threat and leaves with Casey excitedly. Later, Casey moves their relationship to the next level. After they fall asleep, Casey wakes up and sees a fire in the apartment that seems to come from the scene from the Super Bowl episode of This Is Us. But it leaves us with a cliffhanger to hang on to til January.

"Always a Catch" was an exciting, character development-driven episode. It felt like a movie-sized hour episode that held nothing back for viewers to see good and bad things. The pileup scene gave me chills from the crossover event early this season. I feel that this will be the end for Kidd and Severide. I think Kidd will realize that Tyler has been messing with them. But I also believe if she doesn't know it, Severide will do something. The happy moments go to Brett, Cruz, Chloe, and Foster. Not to mention Boden and Tuesday. As much as I would love to slap Casey for taking his relationship to a new level so quickly. I'm slightly okay with it. But leaving them in that situation of trapped fire, will one of them live? I can't wait for January.

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Chicago Fire when they return on Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 9/8c on NBC.

Love is a Funny Thing: Chicago Med "Death Do Us Part" Fall Finale

This week's fall finale of Chicago Med not only left us with intense drama but also a shocking final moment that would leave us stunned. Here's a recap!

On his wedding day, as Will gets ready and gets fitted for his tux, he gets stopped by Ray's son asking to check up on him. There, he sees that Ray is not okay and tells him he must go to the hospital. But that was until another of Ray's sons found the device that Will had left, and healthy things intensified. As Will is held captive, Ray collapses, and Will goes from looking like James Bond to MacGyever in 20 minutes as he performs brain surgery to stop the leak in Ray's brain. The operation was successful, and later taken to the hospital. Will stayed with a gun to his head. More later.

Meanwhile, at Med, Ethan and April treat a pregnant woman about to give birth, but the problem comes when the baby wants to be born butt first. Ethan called for an emergency c-section, but the baby was delivered naturally, and it turned out that the baby would not live. The parents weren't pleased with the outcome and decided to leave the baby before it died. April decides to stay with the child while Ethan and Viki attend the wedding.

Charles deals with a strange case when a husband is brought in after he is attacked by his wife, who thinks that he isn't her husband. Charles talks with the wife, and from his understanding, she's got a tumor in the brain and takes scientific drugs to help it stop growing, but the side effects are what's causing her to attack her husband. Charles gives her another drug, which soon causes even more of a problem. But before taking her off of that, she asked for surgery to take out the tumor. They get stopped from doing it by her husband, who believes that she doesn't want it.

Conner and Ava perform surgery on a mystery man who is an informant for the FBI and Jay. Jay comes into the hospital and asks Conner for help because that guy may know where Will is being held. Conner decides to stop the surgery and move him up to the surgical floor and asks him questions, but soon, he goes into cardiac arrest and dies. But did he give the location of where Will could be?

While in panic mode, Natalie is worried about where Will could be and thinks that he may be having second thoughts. After calling and calling him, she finally gets word from Maggie, who got a call from Jay that he's outside the church. She rushes out there to see Will covered in blood from the shot that Jay took to save his life, but he had to leave fast to be placed in the witness protection from Ray and his gang. He hugs her and tells her he loves her as he leaves her.

"Death Do Us Part" was an intense, high-driven fall finale episode. There was everything that you would want, from a mystery illness to an extreme and emotional story of the baby born only to die with no parents except April being there. I would hope that moment would bring April and Ethan close together. But the man-driven moment was Natalie and Will and the shocking moment that there won't be a wedding and that Will is gone. Also, does anyone think that Goodwin and Charles should hook up? Anyway, the writing and performance from this episode were excellent and strong. I can't wait for the next episode in the new year. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Chicago Med when they return on Wednesday, Jan. 9th, at 8/7c on NBC.

A Freight Train of Emotions: The Blacklist "Ian Garvey (No. 13)" Fall Finale

The fall finale of The Blacklist wasn't at any point a disappointment as it delivered a finale that will have everyone talking about through the hiatus.

With Tom Keen no where to be found, Liz is worried after trying to call him a lot. They soon pick up clues to where Tom has been around from the motel to the gas station. Liz thinks that Tom is trying to kind Nick's killer.

While Liz is searching for Tom, Tom, who happened to open the flood gates of trouble, is being held by Ina Garvery in the woods. Ian tries to make Tom talk about the suitcase but won't speak of it, not even when both Pete and his girlfriend's dead bodies in the wood clipper. Ian makes Tom call Red and telling where to meet, unaware that he and Dembe are a couple of minutes away but plays to their plan.

With Ian gone to meet with Red, Tom escapes along with the suitcase and runs into the woods, guns a blazing. As it looked like things were coming to an end, Tom runs into a car that has Red and Dembe and gets in even after getting shot in the back. The three rushed off.

Now with Tom being with Red, you know there's going to be some father-in-law/son-in-law bonding time happening here. As they find shelter for the moment, Tom and Red talk about not only the suitcase but the whole reason why Tom got the job to look after Liz and we see flashbacks of Tom getting the information about Liz and only interact but never to fall in love. Well, love is a powerful thing.

Soon Ian and his men get to the house that Red, Tom and Dembe are at, the three hide til when Tom's blood drips down from the vent. Red and tom get out but not without leaving a bit of a warm getaway package for Ian, burning their vehicles. As they stopped at the gas station, Tom asked again about what's in the suitcase, Red talks about how he heard about him and Liz getting married (the first time) and talked about how mad he was but know how Tom makes her happy.

After their talk, Tom makes a getaway with the bones and DNA results. He gets to the Union Station and looks at the results with an expression that quickly makes him call Liz to tell her to meet him at home alone (having the babysitter take Agnus somewhere safe). Red gets word about Liz gone MIA and gets word that the last call came from the train station. He makes a call to Tom at the station and tells him that he doesn't have to do this, but Tom won't stop.

As Liz gets home, she's with worried and excitement but that goes away when she sees him tied up and beaten. That's where Ian and his group surround them. Liz of course, punches Ian in the face. Ian makes Tom pay for what he had done, by stabbing him in the stomach. And again when he asked Tom to call Red but wouldn't. Liz gets punched and falls to the floor where she suffers a severe head injury. There Ian lets his guys clean the place up and to kill both Tom and Liz while playing "Southern Cross" playing in the background. But Tom grabs the knife that was left from Ian and free himself and goes after the guys and then Red and Demeb get there with their guns going off blazing. And when Red gets to Tom, he doesn't kill him, but kills the other guy behind him on the floor.

With Tom and Liz severely injured, Red and Dembe rush them to the hospital with the help of Cooper and the FBI escorting them there. Just before they get to the hospital, Tom and Liz try to tell one another to stay alive and make sure that Agnus remembers her. As the rush in the ER, both in the same room, Liz is put on a tube and gets her head drilled of fear of a brain bleed while they try to get Tom's heart going and fixing up his wounds, but in the end....Tom dies.

We jump to with Red reading off a lovely verse from the bible and gets shocked when Liz wakes up. She asked how long she's been under and Red informs her that it's been 10 months and the next question was about Tom and he tells her that he'd died. And we see Tom's body in the morgue with Cooper as witness being put in the cooler in spite that he is really gone.   

This episode was a freight train of emotions and such memorable moments that it still as I'm writing this had me choking up. I had a feeling Tom was going die, he did open the flood gates to trouble, but did it for the all the right reasons, love and the truth for Liz. I thought that performance between Spader and Eggold was solid and special watching these two in their character moments of the past and present. Even Jonny Coyne's performance of Ian Garvey was thrilling as well. Boone's Liz carries a lot of the emotional scenes through part of the episode til it was between Liz and Tom at the end. The writing was so strong, the directing captured so many great moments from the character's prospective. Even the song choices were should I say memorable and yet very emotional as well.

As for what will happen in the second half of the season, I think Liz is going to probably have a tough time getting back to business. Hell, I can't wait to see how Ian is going to use the bones and DNA results against Red. I do think and I'm saying that I think that maybe those bones are those of Liz's mother.

Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

You can catch The Blacklist when it returns Wednesday, January 3rd at 8/7c on NBC.