Don't Doubt, Believe: This Is Us "The Game Plan" & "Career Days"

In the episode "The Game Plan" not only do we find out where is Jack but also the reason why football is important to the family too.

The Game Plan might be as simple of an episode to understand, it's just like a real football with tough challenges for each one in the story.

Kate wants to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football but Toby thinks it would be better that he tags along. She doesn't want that and wants to watch it alone, which for me is something I love to do too. But Toby doesn't stop, of course, and invites her to his football viewing party with his friend and that gave Kate a real discomfort. But after she leaves, Toby heads to her place to understand why she wants to watch the game by herself and it wasn't as creepy as she said it but it was plan as day to see. She watches football because of her dad, who's a Steelers fan.

And when Toby tells her that he would someday like to meet him, she brings him out in an urn. And later they, all three, watching the game together.

Both Randall and Kevin have some difficulties too as their game plan didn't go the way they wanted it. Randall and his wife to Kevin's hotel room for the night to have a night to themselves. She tells Randall that she is late and they go into the store together to get a pregnancy test. At first it didn't seem right to have another kid, but just as they were waiting for the test to come, they were at a place that maybe a son would be great. But the sad part was that she wasn't pregnant.

Kevin on the other hand, trying to get his storylines from his play down and watching his nieces. Instead of playing runway show with them, he had them, along with William, to read lines to help him in the play. Things got awkward for him when he had explain what death way. William talked him about doubting himself and later we got to see what the real Kevin does when he tries to express himself, pant an image.

Meanwhile, we get to see Rebecca and Jack in a state of one wanting kids and the other doesn't. It really turned their Super Bowl night to a real downer at times, but even though the Steelers won that game, the real victory was that they agreed to have children and started there at the bar, as Kate tells Toby how she was conceived.

In the episode "Career Days" when it's career day at Randall's children's school, the girls seems to want someone, like William or Kevin, that they can understand what they does.

Like in the previous episode, Kevin is having a bit of a hard time with the play. When rehearsing, there isn't a lot of emotion he throws out and Olivia shows him a way to deal with grief, going to a memorial. There he meets with the widow, Grace, and soon the two talk and learn about his father, who died but not much else. Later, Olivia and Kevin have a little memorial romance and by the next rehearsal Kevin uses not only his father's death of grief but the relationship that he and Olivia had too.

Kate's new job takes a bit of a turn when she had to take her boss's daughter to a party, who by the way acts like a total brat. Until she let her out of her car and made her walk to the party.  But the two kind of made up as Kate tells her that she understands where she's coming from as she was trying to look like her mother, even though they may seem like the complete opposite. Also we've learned that Kate and Rebecca haven't spoken in some time.

Randall is a weather trader, whatever the hell that is, and is going to tell what he does at the school's career day. The kids probably would rather have Kevin or William, who are both talented at what they do, but Randall wants to prove to them that he has a cool job and that was with singing about it while playing the piano.

But when you look back when he was nine, Jack was working from construction sites to working in an office filing papers trying to make more money, even though he has a plan of starting his own company. But anyway, Randall's teacher wanted to meet with his parents and it was more than just his grades. She thinks that Randall would be better at a gifted school, where kids dress up in suit and ties not to mention carrying briefcases. Of course, Jack wasn't into the idea, but after snooping around and brought Randall to his job, seeing that he's smart at one point and pretends not to be at another.

But Jack tells him that he doesn't want him to be like other kids that in fact he wants him to be who he wants to be. And later, Randall was taken to the school along with his dad. That explains why he likes to wear the suit and work in offices and he expresses that to his family and William about it and tells him that he decides to take piano lessons from a neighbor down the street and that there will be a recital too.

I thought that "The Game Plan" was an excellent episode, using football as the theme and not to mention life and death. I really thought that Hartley's performance was really good as he was trying to juggle the kids and his play not to mention the scene where he was trying to explain death and talking to William about his struggle. Also Metz too was really good.

For "Career Days" I thought there was a really good balance of humor and drama and a little bit of embarrassment humor as well. The embarrassment humor coming from when Randall's piano performance about what he does. Yeah at times I had to rock back and forth, look around and hope that it would be okay and it did. I have to say that Sterling Brown really shined in this episode. Not to mention Ventimiglia, Hartley and Montgomery too. Hartley's performance with Molly Hagan stood out so well it might have been one of the top three highlights of the episode.

Overall, I give "The Game Plan" a 8.5/10 and "Career Days" a 9.5/10.

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

They Did It! They Finally Did It!!

It's been a over 12 hours of getting some sleep and think over the event that just happen last night/this morning. The only thing that comes to my mind when thinking about it over and over is....they did it! They finally did it!

The Chicago Cubs are the 2016 World Series Champions!! It still hasn't stuck in just yet. It's hard to believe that this day has finally come to us Cub fans. As everyone knows its been 108 years since their last win and 71 years since they appeared in a World Series.

This season was one hell of a ride, as the Cubs really took over the National League Central division throughout the regular season. The playoffs seemed to be the unscripted of what a real reality show looks like as just when you think they're about out, they claw and fight their way back, against the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers and yes down 3-1 against the Cleveland Indians fought back and won it.

Hell, last night's game was literally the best game I've ever seen period. Kyle Hendricks was pitching near his best, just given up one run. Maddon takes him out in thr 4th and beings in Jon Lester, who had a rocky start but calmed things down in the next few innings. Then Aroldis Chapman comes in and struggles after throwing in Game 5 in 2 2/3 innings and Game 6 too. The Indians were only down two and Rajai Davis comes up and hits a bomber out to tie the game.

After getting out of a bad inning, going into the ninth inning, no one scored runs and headed into extra innings. But just as the 10th inning was about to start, it was delayed due to rain for only 17 minutes. It was those 17 minutes that got the Cubs hit the reset button and got pumped up from Jason Hayward.

Cubs got 2 more runs thanks to Zorbist (the MVP of the series) and Montero. Coming into the bottom of the ninth, Carl Edwards Jr. was set to close it out and with getting two outs, the third was difficult for him to get but Madden brings out Montgomery to finish and finish as it a ground ball to Bryant throwing it to Rizzo for the game winning out.


So many emotions that was bottling up throughout this season was finally let out. And let me tell you, I haven't cried of happiness in a long, long time. Hugging my grandmother, who's been a Cubs fan and got me to be one too, in a family that's divided between Cubs and Cardinals (my grandfather).

We both hugged and cried as I said "they finally did it. We got to see them win it." After wiping the tears away we sang along with the fans that we could hear on television singing "Go Cubs Go."


Now the once lovable losers are now they're the champions of the world!! It still hasn't sunk in yet. But in time it will. The only thing that still comes to my mind is "They did it! They finally did it."

NBC Orders More Time for Timless

Looks like NBC has given Timeless more time.

TVLine has learned that the time-travel drama's first season has been extended to 16 episodes.

We're thrilled to be ordering additional episodes so that we can run the final six hours of the season in a row with no pre-emptions after the new year. Our hats are off to Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan for producing one of the most ambitious new shows anywhere on television," Jennifer Salke, president of NBC Entertainment said in a statement.

Also the network has set a premiere date for Taken, the series adaptation of the Liam Neeson action films. It'll premiere on Monday, Feb. 27th at 10/9c following the spring premiere of The Voice.

NBC has called Taken a "modern-day prequel to the blockbuster feature film franchise that that depicts how (Neeson's character) Bryan Mills developed and sharpened his particular set of skills."
Clive Standen (Vikings) will play Mills, Alex Cary (Homeland) and Luc Besson are among the show's executive prodcers as Cary will also serve as showrunner.

"Monday nights are critical to our success," NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt said in a statement. "And we're going strong into the rest of the season with the return of The Voice in February followed by the premiere of Taken, along with additional episodes of our great new series Timeless. We're very happy to welcome Gwen Stefani back to The Voice, along with Blake, Adam and our new coach Alicia Keys. And Taken is a thrilling new series inspired by the hit movie franchise by updated in a very clever way."

Plants and Tech: The Blacklist "Gaia" & "The Lindquist Concern"

In the episode "Gaia," the next blacklist turns out to be a brother nature for the environment, plus Tom makes a bad call when it comes to getting his child.

This episode had me twisting an turning just a bit. The task force goes after an Eco-terrorist who has a connection to Kirk. He takes on those that pollute the air and harm those that have been effected, like his son for insistence. But when he tries to take down a nuclear planet, he's ride there gets diverted by Aram and crash.

But that gave Red help looking for Gaia's wife and son, who happens to know Kirk's doctor. He offered them help in exchange for the doctor. During that scene when they're in the dinner, Red shows his softer and charming side when it comes to give a sweet child ice cream.

But it wasn't all good, Kirk gives Liz a chance to see her daughter, but Tom thinks he can get her back with his own team. That turned out to be a bad idea and Liz paid a bad price for that even though she didn't know that Tom was going to do it.

Not to mention, that Dr. Kaplan was rescued by some stranger, who tries to help her. It seemed so strange at first, but at the end of the episode, it turns out that she's his prisoner.


In the episode, "The Lindquist Concern" this episode was interesting and creepy all at once.

When Red gets Liz and the task force to track down a criminal who targets young inventors with million dollar worthy inventions. He may seem slow and stupid at his workplace, but he's a smart and very intelligent to get away as he seeks whats own to him.

When the FBI caught up to him, he takes his employees in another room as hostages. Samar comes and tries to reason with him but wouldn't do it and he takes a bullet to the chest.

Meanwhile, Red and Liz track down Kirk with the help from his doctor. Red wants Liz to stay back when they go after him at the meet his doctor would be at. When left behind some of Red's crew, Red heads with the doctor to the area to get ready. But Tom went on a tip from Ressler about a guy who knows Kirk and got information.

When Tom called Liz he tells her where Kirk was at, in Russia. Totally different from where Red and Dembe are at and Liz calls to warn them but it was too late as Kirk's car, which came in, blows up. Only a few injuries, Red thanked Liz for her last attempted call.

With only a few more episodes left before the fall finale, I feel they're gonna get Liz's baby sooner, probably in tonight's episode. I just have that feeling.

Both episodes were really good. I thought the blacklist Gaia was really good but the other guy in last week's episode was okay, creepy but okay.

Overall, I give "Gaia" a 8.5/10 and "The Lindquist Concern" a 7.5/10.

You can catch The Blacklist Thursday nights at 10/9c on NBC.

Ill and Gamble: Chicago Med "Brother's Keeper" & "Extreme Measures"

In the episode "Brother's Keeper," the hospital takes on an epidemic when two patients come in with the same condition. Choi and Rhodes take on a patient whose son is ready to let him go but not the patient's girlfriend.

This episode might be a bit overdramatic in its promo, but it was an excellent episode to start. First, I can't forget to mention that there was a TV icon on the show. Daniel J. Travanti, Captain Frank Furillo from Hill Street Blues, had a guest spot as Dr. Choi and Rhodes' patient, who comes in with confusion and needs surgery to remove a tumor. But his son tells them he doesn't want any heroic measures.

But when Choi's patient had difficulty breathing, he heard him say save me and got Rhodes to take him to surgery. Surgery was a success, but when Choi told him about his girlfriend being strong, he made a remark and told him that she was just a gravedigger.

Meanwhile, Halstead and Manning dealing with their patients suffering from the same conditions, which has them thinking of an outbreak of a super bug. Goodwin calls on Dr. Charles's daughter, the newest member of the epidemiology department. Things got scary when Manning's cancer patient wasn't breathing, but finding a blockage in her throat, she got in there and pushed out the puss. It turns out that the cause of this illness was an instrument used on them a couple of weeks ago.

Dr. Charles and Reese handle a case of a boy who resists against male doctors and wants to leave the hospital. Reese talks to him and seems to calm down just a bit. Soon, "his mother" comes, and Reese doesn't think he's comfortable with her. Trying to get him to stay, Reese gets a chest x-ray on him and finds a chip in his chest. Charlies believes that he's part of a drug ring and that the "mother" is his pimp. But he left before they could do anything, but that won't be the last time she'll see him.

In the episode, Extreme Measures," Halstead, Shore, April, and Noah are at a marathon, but someone gets hit by a van. It leaves Halstead in a challenging situation of how to treat him.

When April and Noah are helping at the local marathon, they get pulled into someone who just got hit by a van. No ambulance could get there in time, and Halstead and Shore were a couple of feet away. So Noah tries to perform a chest tube but does it successfully, but not to the approval of Halstead when he gets there.

The four of them try to figure out how to keep him alive. It led Halstead to take a risk that even Rhodes was questioning. When they brought him in, the patient went to surgery, but after, Halstead wasn't sure that this guy would make it. After a while, the patient woke up but couldn't move his legs, which got Halstead upset until Rhodes asked the patient to wiggle his toes, and he did. That leads him to an underwhelming moment.

Dr. Choi treats an elderly patient who hasn't taken all her medicine and appears malnourished, too. Choi tries to open up to her about it, but she tells him he's okay even though the test proves otherwise. It wasn't until her friend came in that Choi asked her about her friend and soon realized that she was not doing healthy money-wise and was trying to make a good impression from what her friend was showing her. Some friend, right?

Manning takes on an eight-year-old girl who's losing her hearing. The test shows that the girl has had old fractures, to which the mother says that it was from the child's father, who says that he'd died. It turns out that the mother lied about the father; he's still alive, but she says she believes that he abused her, and so she took her away from him. That also led to Manning performing another test, which showed she had a condition that caused the fractures. That put the girl's mother in a bad situation as Al and the CPD took her.

Overall, I enjoyed these episodes. Even though "Brother's Keeper" was a bit over-promoted, it was still a perfect hour of drama; Reese and patient were excellent.

"Extreme Measures" was one of my favorite episodes, as it pushed Halstead figuratively and emotionally to the limit of treating and saving the patient.

I've noticed that Choi has been getting exciting storylines with excellent guests.

The next episode will be a crossover event with Chicago PD as Reese's patient returns for help dangerously.

Overall, I give "Brother's Keeper" an 8.5/10 and "Extreme Measures" a 9/10.

You can catch Chicago Med Thursday nights at 9/8c on NBC.

The Lying and Dying: The Good Place "Chapter 7: The Eternal Shriek"

Michael announces that the problem going around the neighborhood was from him and that he'll retire. Eleanor and Chidi tries to figure out how to top Michael from retiring even if it does prevent a murdered...

Michael figures out that he's the one causing the problems in The Good Place and sees that the only way for it to stop was to get on a train and retire. Tahani throws him a retirement party, for which he seemed grateful but mostly bummed out.

Eleanor tells Chidi about how this happen and learned that Michael will be torched . Chidi tells her that she needs to confess about it, but she had a better idea and asked Janet the one awkward question, is there a way to shut her down. And in fact there is a kill switch but if used she will be murdered.

For Eleanor to stay and save was to do the unthinkable. Janet lead Eleanor and Chidi to where she can be shutdown. The two have a hard time pressing the button because of Janet's "human emotion for life." That's where she's pleading to not be killed.

But Jianyu shows up, because he was bored at the party. He sees the button and goes to press it until Chidi pushes him away and presses the button accidentally and Janet is dead. But not gone without a huge announcement from Janet herself in a world screen video of her announcing that shes been murder.

A funeral was in store at Michael's retirement, but we learn that Janet doesn't die, she shuts down and has to learn all over again everything in the universe. Michael announces he won't retire but will stay.
Chidi is nervous as a wreck and we see a flashback of him telling a lie to professor about his shoes and that grew to be unbearable for him to handle. It showed us why he doesn't like lying to others.

Just as Chidi was this close of spilling the beans, Eleanor steps up and tells Michael that the events have been caused by her as she's not suppose to be here.

This was so well performed and the writing was so good. D'Arcy Carden, who plays Janet, really stood out in this episode as she was hysterical during the pleading to Chidi and Eleanor scene and the rebooted version of Janet.

Also William Jackson Harper was great in this episode too. We got to see a little bit of his backstory from his wife to why he can't handle lying to anyone.

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch The Good Place Thursday nights at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.

Life in Pieces Returns Tonight

Tonight is the season premiere of last season's #1 new comedy, Life In Pieces. And if you haven't seen it, it's a must see family comedy.

Life in Pieces follows the chronicles of the lives of three generation of the Short family as they go do their daily lives in Los Angeles.Each episode is told in four short stories as it follows from the point of view of each character based on their own version of events.

The show has an incredible cast with Colin Hanks (Dexter), Betsy Brandt (The Michael J. Fox Show & Breaking Bad), Thomas Sadoski (The Newsroom), Zoe Lister-Jones (Whitney) along with James Brolin and Dianne Wiest.

The series is different than any other family comedy that's been on television. The writing is really good. And if you don't like one story, you can wait til the next story. It's like a sitcom channel suffer.

Where the show left off from last season, Greg quit his job (after we learned what he actually does) after creating the "CryTunes" baby monitor, but learns his wife, Jen, is pregnant with their second child. We find out that John and Joan have been divorced for 35 years and never told the kids. Matt gets back with Colleen after a bad blind date from Jen. He pops the question to Colleen in his parent's bathroom.

You can catch the season premiere of Life In Pieces tonight at 9:30/8:30c on CBS.