Better Strain Than the First: Disjointed Season 1, Part 2

On January 12, Netflix finally released part 2 of season one of the Kathy Bates comedy Disjointed. Here's a look at what Season 1, Part 2 of Disjointed.

If you haven't heard about the series yet, you might not be alone, but if so, Disjointed is about Ruth Whitefeather, an advocate for legalized marijuana usage, who runs a LA marijuana store along with her son and young (as she calls it) "budtenders."

After getting busted by the DEA and taking all their weed, they got back a few months later and celebrated 420. Ruth decides to fight the system and help female empowerment. Meanwhile, Pete deals with being unable to grow the perfect marijuana. He goes through mental issues, from breaking up with "Mary Jane" to being friends with a Bio-nergetic machine.

Olivia's shitballs become a trendy item and get a famous marijuana business person to want to take her product to the top by also selling Olivia's pee (lemonade) or Olivia's vomit (spaghetti sauce). As Olivia took the deal, it caused friction between her and Travis.  Relationships grow between Jenny and Carter, and even Ruth finds some exceptional ones who teach how to use pot for the first time. And Dank and Dabby still find a way to make themselves the most innovative and dumbest group on the show.

Season 1, Part 2 greatly improved from what Part 1 showed storytelling-wise. The writing seemed intense and more structured than the part one. I figured that when the show came back, they would tackle losing the store for a while, but instead, they returned to the store months later and carried on with some side effects from the event.

The humor in the second part was sometimes hilarious, and some weren't. There are fewer commercials at times when watching, but out of some of them, Da Tacos and others, the one that mostly stood out was the NFL Ad about how marijuana helps them deal with side effects of the NFL. Strain of the Day was good at times, too.

Kathy Bates shines again and grows the character of Ruth pretty well from episode one to ten, and when it comes to episodes 18 to 20,  the chemistry between Peter Riegert as Walter and the shocking turn of why he couldn't date her, even after they've had some much fun in the previous episodes.

Along with Bates, Elizabeth Alderfer and Elizabeth Ho were good as well, not to mention that Besty Sodaro and Christ Redd, who plays Debby and Dank, got more screen time and just added more humor than the show could ever take. Aaron Moten and Tone Bell were good as well, and Nicole Sullivan and Michael Trucco were good as well. 

Overall, I give this part 2 of season one of Disjointed an 8/10.

You can catch the entire First Season of Disjointed on Netflix now.

One Long Challenge: Life in Pieces "Emergency Colonoscopy Driving Lunch"

With one mission that he has to do, it gets complicated when family comes around.

In this 30-minute episode, Matt and Colleen are trying to have a baby, and when Matt has an appointment at the sperm clinic, things get complicated for Matt. From one story to another, Matt receives a call from Heather, Greg, and even Tim to help them. Then the last story comes when, after doing the deed, his bag gets accidentally switched with another person's lunch bag and explodes with a blue dye. But at the end, when they are both at the clinic, Matt goes in to do his deed there but gets stopped when another person is still in there.

"Emergency Colonoscopy Driving Lunch" was one good whole story of perfect, hilarious scenarios of what could happen to Matt when a family member calls for help. With each of the stories, the one hilarious and memorable moment came when Matt had to help Greg out with their mom and dad, and Greg needed to finish the interview meeting that turned into that classic BBC interview of the analysis getting interrupted by his kids and wife and John finds Matt's lunch bag and stomps on it. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

You can catch Life In Pieces on Thursdays at 9:30/8:30 on CBS.

"Food Holes" The Good Place "Chapter 23: Best Self"

After tricking Shaun of thinking that the humans went to Mindy St. Clair's house, Eleanor and the gang try to leave for the real good place with a little detour they must face.

With all the fun twist and turns that this season has had, this episode seem to have anything like that but more of where we would think this might come to. When Eleanor and Michael making Shaun think the humans are in the middle place, Michael tries to have them wait a day for transport. But instead of waiting they want to go now, and Michael pulls off the Wizard of Oz transport with a twist of letting the good place detector let you pass.

With all three, Jason, Tahani and Eleanor passing, the one that don't make it was Chidi and after regrouping and talking about how Chidi is a good person. As they go again, this time it's Eleanor. But after the face the truth comes out from Michael once again, thinking that it might be another trick, but actually Michael was trying to buy time because he has no idea of how to get to the good place that in fact you had to be a good person on earth.

After Michael explains, Eleanor, who's disappointed, gets everyone to live it up like it was their last days with their own party of music, dancing and champagne. Tahani and Jason come to terms of their relationship, Chidi and Eleanor comes to their too and everyone celebrates Michael for being a good human being with gifts that really make humans stink. But soon, Michael gets a message from Shaun that he's coming back and going to find the humans and make soup out of them.

Michael comes up with what is a foolish but probably smart plan to get to the good place: having to go through the Bad Place and asked a court judge to grant them a pass to the good place. As Shaun sends Bad Janet to pick them up, Michael shuts her down and takes the train to the bad place and as they leave the good place goes out with piece by piece take away.

"Best Self" was nice episode that didn't give those twist and turns. Still funny at times and I think with he character remorse to each other was brilliant and really good growth for the characters. The performance from the cast members from Bell, Harper, Jamil, Carden, Jacinto and Danson had equal memorable moments and didn't out performed anyone. Danson did have one hilarious line about how humans kiss with their food holes and that's not how they are suppose to kiss. I don't know where this show is going, but I think that's literally the best thing the show has given us that if we don't know and they know it's for the best. So just like Eleanor and the gang I'm enjoying the ride to wherever they are going. Overall, I give this episode 8.5/10,

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

Chicago Med "Ties That Bind"

As one doctor still gets anxious with patients, another makes the difficult decision, and a patient learns why she couldn't have kids.

With what we saw last week with Robyn stealing a scarf at a store, it continues again, and this time, she was caught. But thanks to Conner's father, who happens to give some heartless advice to dump her, Conner takes Robyn back home and tries to take care of her situation. But to Robyn, Conner isn't getting what she's saying and turns to her father for help, leaving her to make the big decision in her life and her relationship.

While not getting the gun she hoped to have but instead pepper spray, Reese returns to work and treats what seems to be a schizophrenic. She was doing well enough and almost had to pull the spray when releasing the patient from restraints, thinking he might go after her, but she didn't. Soon, Ethan gets a patient who believes something is wrong with him, but the test shows nothing. He asks Reese to take a look, and when the guy gets upset and gets in front of her face, she pulls out the spray and attacks. Not only did Reese get a suspension, but if she hadn't sprayed the guy, Ethan wouldn't have found that the guy did have something wrong with him. 

Manning treats a patient who suffers from appendicitis, but the patient knows she had it taken out when she was a teen. But in that case, it wasn't, and Manning learned that she had a procedure done that would not get her pregnant, something that the state of North Carolina did years ago. After removing the appendicitis and getting treated for the infection, Manning tells the patient about what happened to her and gets the rest of the story from her mother.

The bromance grows between Halstead and Rhodes in this episode as they both treat a woman who's suffering some setback from IVF that leads her to a blood clot that needs to be surgically removed. Maggie finds a way to make the hospital money and get more nurses working with a new room for the paramedics called Pizza and TV in the hope of bringing in patients with extensive insurance and paying the big bucks. 

"Ties that Bind" is a fine episode that was intense at times and too much of that heartbreaking. The writing was excellent as it kept getting exciting and engaging as things built, and much to that, knowing what would happen to come from Reese's point of view. The performances from Mekia Cox, who's in her final appearance as Robyn Charlies for now, and Rachel DiPillo are unique. 

I very much enjoyed this episode. The storylines kept getting interesting and building to moments of shock and surprise. We knew at some point with Reese that something was going to happen that would lead her to get in trouble, and this is it.  But I don't think the leaving moment that we were told about this week. But I could be wrong. I loved the moment Dr. Charlie finally saw his messages about Reese, sat down with her, and comforted her.

Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.

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

Parson No Fly Zone This Is Us "The Fifth Wheel"

"This Is Us" returns from a it's holiday hiatus and returns with one of the most overwhelming emotional episodes of the season. But just one thing: Stay away from the Parson's No Fly Zone.

After being arrested and placed in a rehab center, Kevin and the family (mainly Kate, Rebecca and Randall)  talked into a therapy session about Kevin's addiction, where true feelings come out. Kevin comes out to Rebecca of how she favors Randall while Jack favors Kate growing up. Meanwhile, Miguel, Beth and Toby have their therapy session about living with the Parsons.

"The Fifth Wheel" comes in strong from start to finish with excellent writing. If you are have been watching this season, you could instantly understand the meaning of the title for the episode. The performances from the cast from Justin Hartley and Mandy Moore was outstanding with full emotional driven. Not to mention that Brown and Metz gave a great performance to, mostly coming during the therapy session that really stood out from the episode.

I'd very much enjoyed this episode from start to finished. The performances from Hartley and Moore deserve award nominations for this episode, with their performance from the therapy session to the end of the episode of why Kevin really doesn't get the love or extra attention that Kate and Randall gotten. The writing was outstanding that should be considered for award consideration.

Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

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

This Is Us "The 20's"/"The Most Disappointed Man"

"The 20's"

"The 20's" was a fun and emotional episode as well. Watching a lot of flashbacks of the ten year olds of Big Three trick or treating to learning about a death and then flashing forward to their twenties. Kevin, in his twenties, tries to steal a role from a roommate, Randall and Beth are soon to have a baby and a get a surprise for the first time parents.

Meanwhile, Rebecca, who signs up for Facebook, posts her first granddaughter photo, but gets a message from an old friend. Miguel messages her to see how she's been doing in the last eight years, probably since Jack's death or so.

Overall, I give this episode a 8.5/10.

"The Most Disappointed Man"

Just as Jack and Rebecca are about to adopted Randall, the judge somehow doesn't support it. But after Rebecca gives a convincing speech, the judges grants them the right to adoption. William, even though has been clean, pleads guilty on drug charges but when the judge visits him in jail, he offers to reduce his sentence and to get some help. But in return, William must keep the judge's promise, for which he did, until he gets news about his cancer diagnosis.

Randall takes Deja to visit her mother in prison, but the mother declines the visit. But when Randall visits, the mother tells him that she plans to take her daughter back.

While that was going on, Kevin and Sophie's relationship takes another dive and continues to drink and take abuse the pain meds again. And Toby and Kate tells Kevin about their pregnancy announcement and was consider to get married at city hall but decided to have a big one instead.

"The Most Disappointed Man" was another amazing episode that gripped with emotional storytelling. The performances from Mandy Moore and Ron Cephas Jones steal this episode by far from the other cast members, who also did an amazing job. The writing was strong. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

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

This Is Us "Still There" /"Brothers"

This Is Us just keeps getting better and better.

"Still There"

"Still There" is another amazing episode that shows really good character growth. Randall and Deja connect with what they have, which is anxiety and invites her to what helps him the best to deal with that running. Also standing up for her was a real moment for Deja to see how much Randall cares for her.

Meanwhile, after having knee surgery, Kevin continues on using pain meds, leading up for the character for a spiral. And Kate finds out that she's pregnant. Also we get to see how Rebecca stands up to her mother, calling her a racist and coming to terms on how right Rebecca is about Randall.

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

"Brothers"

With the announcement of Kate's pregnancy from Kate and Toby. Kevin drinks and tries to get more refiles of his pain meds. But with his involvement of Sophie's auction, it don't go well and makes a huge mess between them.

But the storyline has to be when Jack takes Kevin and Randall out camping and learning about his father dying at the same time. Jack may not want to say goodbye to him, but Rebecca made the effort to meet along with Kate as well. But later we see Jack looking at a photo of him along with others in the army. But it turns out that in Jack's childhood, we get to learn a shocking news that Jack has a brother, who makes an appearance when Jack awaits their father at a bar drinking.

"Brothers" is another great accomplishment episode that showed emotions, mostly into the fatherhood. It did struck a personal note for me to say the least. Milo's performance was amazing as he has always shown, along with Hartley and Brown's performance as well. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.


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