Redemption Part One: The Blacklist "Ruin"

In the winter premiere of The Blacklist, Liz seeks to peace but comes face to face with a challenge.

After the events in the fall finale, we find Liz living in the cabin in the woods with a dog, trying to seek peace and quiet. But when her dog, Kate, spots someone hurt outside of her cabin she brings him in and helps him. But when a storm is coming and trying to seek help, she gets visitors, who says that they're with the injured man, but really not.

Liz gets that feeling and tries to keep track of them and help the injured man out. That injured man tells her that he's not with them and soon tries to come up with a way to get help. With the transponder damaged and a ranger dead, she faces the challenge of taking them down.

As she takes the injured man out of the cabin, she takes out the men one by one until the leader, who happened to be chewing broken glass in ice throughout the episode, chases her throughout the woods to the ranger station and get soaked in chemicals. But when they come face to face again, Liz let that guy have with a flair gun, burning him to death.

She leaves the cabin and the woods like if she wasn't there: no finger prints or a photo ID. Hell, everyone in town only new her by her alias name. Soon, after Liz drops the injured guy at the hospital she splits and sees Red. She thanks him for not having her followed or protected and tell him that she's going to get revenge for Tom's death. 

"Ruin" might as down as one of the best episodes of the fifth season, or probably of all next to "Cape May." Megan Boone shines through this episode with a powerful performance that I think that is worthy of an Emmy nomination. You can see the physical emotions of this episode for the character as we see her getting back to physical shape and meeting with Tom's mother to take Agnus away in flashbacks. I hate to say that this was a redemption kind of episode but it really is but I would go as far as part one of her redemption process with getting Tom's killer as the final chapter in that story. Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

You can catch The Blacklist Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

Life and Risky Challenges: Chicago Med "Over Troubled Water"

When the pressure is on, the risk is the only thing you have a hold of, and in this case episode of Chicago Med, that's what our doctors face.

"Over Trouble Water" gives our characters risky situations from Dr. Manning and Dr. Choi treating an addicted mother who gave birth to a baby. Dr. Charles thinks it best for the baby to be away from the mother, but in this case, Manning believes that to feel better, the child should be comforted by his mother. Dr. Halstead faces the difficulty of treating a patient who wants no heroic measures, but her boyfriend thinks she can beat what she has, which turns into one emotional moment.

With Robyn gone, Rhodes goes out on the field along with Dr. Bekker to help a man who is trapped in a collapsed building. With the man bleeding out, Rhodes places a balloon in the artery to buy them some time. But when that time runs out, Rhodes and Bekker leave with no choice but to take part of the leg off. But Rhodes will learn a lesson from the patient. While Dr. Charles deals with the addicted mother, he also deals with having Dr. Reese be placed in a new department as he feels responsible for her actions, but Reese might have the last word about that.

This episode was a good hour of excitement on television. The stories were emotional at times and powerful. Watching these characters not only deal with situations that you would think they see every day but being that much more challenging was vital for storytelling. I thought the Manning-Choi-Charles story was perfect and a discussion-worthy story. Not to mention, Charles and Reese were good, and as much as I believe that Charles was thinking what was best for Reese, I'm with Reese that she shouldn't have left his program.

We also get to see our characters open up, with Dr. Choi opening up about his family to April, which he has hard talking about. He shows April a photo of his adopted sister, who has been a troubled child and hasn't spoken to her in over four years. And not to mention that #Manstead grows as after night upon night of sneaking out of Manning's house, Manning decides it is time for Halstead to stay all night. Maggie might have a second thought about Barry.

The writing was strong, and the performance from Donnell and the cast was terrific. Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.

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

Over that Hurdle: This Is Us "Clooney"

After last week's amazing hour of television, this week episode shows our favorite family getting over that hurdle.

"Clooney" is well written, well established episode that's full of (again) life lessons and character growth for our favorite family. The one motive for this episode "over the hurdle" is really best describe this episode as each member like Kevin getting over the hurdle of Miguel with his mother, Kate with her weight gain confession and helping a member of her group. Randall gets into searching what seems to be a long lost love of Williams when finding poems of his and coming to thinking of being the landlord of the building that he had stayed. Jack and his business. Not to mention the cat of William's Clooney, who we see taking a journey in the city til making his way to William, not to mention still alive and with a family in the same building.

The episode really dives deeper into the background of our characters with their life challenges. Each and everyone finds their over the hurdle moment. The writing of this episode might not be as strong as last week's episode but it still holds up as to a really good episode. The performance from the cast was amazing and no one out performed each other, but I would have to say the cat did steal my heart throughout the episode. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

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

They're Gonna Make it After All: Fresh Off the Boat "The Car Wash"

After Eddie tells Louis about how dirty his car is, Louis gets Jessica out and together wash the car. As Louis and Jessica wash the car, Jessica gets a phone call from Terry, the publisher for her book. Marvin sees what's going on and gives Louis some advice about the 15 year itch.

When Terry comes over to talk to Jessica, Louis tries his best to spark their relationship buy giving her a gift of an electric fly swatter. Even tried to set the mood one night and even tried to kidnapped Jessica at a parking lot but gets tasered.

After a car ride home from a cop, Louis figured it out and picked up Jessica to take her to her book reading. But they make a pit stop at a car wash and he tells her that he misses how they use to wash the car together and didn't see it for her perspective. After they make a couple of oldest couple still standing, they forgive and kiss while going through the car wash.

Meanwhile, Evan has moved to Emery's English class and they try to battle each other to see who's the favorite for Ms. Doris. After a while they blew it and was sent to detention til they figured out they belong there in the first place and helped the teacher there to clean up.

"The Car Wash" might be one of my favorite episodes of the season. The stories were really good and hilarious. The story between Louis and Jessica might be one of my favorites of them so far and that you can see why these two love each other. The Emery and Evan story was good too. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

You can catch Fresh Off the Boat Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on ABC. 

Rusty by Effective: Blindspot "Enemy Bag of Tricks"

Even with the old team back to work, things are a bit rusty.

"Enemy Bag of Tricks" is a really good episode and one that sets our characters up really well as the team gets a bit rusty with communication and mostly Weller thinking that he's still in command, but it's Reade's team.

When Reade and the team have to locate a black box that has the ability to disable a missile defense system is stolen from a crashed satellite. With the defenses down for the US, that could lead to a threat of a nuclear strike by North Korea.

But when Jane learns that one of the men that are working to get the black box happens to be something that she had worked with a while ago when she was on the run. That might cause some friction.

Meanwhile, Roman works his way and befriends a wealthy former solider, who he happens to kill and steal his identity. And it couldn't get any worst for Zapata if she was trying to get close to Reade again as she meets his girlfriend. But the chilling cliffhanger leaves us with Patterson finding her colleague Stuart (who I think was really good and both showed great chemistry) was found murdered in his apartment.

This was a really good episode that had the balance of humor and intense drama that had me interested from the beginning to the shocking moment at the end. I thought the cast played so well with each other as they go through some rusty moments with Weller taking command over Reade, even though he's the leader and learning about what Jane did while on the run was good too. The writing was so good in this episode. Overall, I give this episode a 8/10.

You can catch Blindspot Fridays at 8/7c on NBC.

Fresh Off The Boat "Big Baby"/"Lair Lair"

"Big Baby"

Honey's mother is coming and Louis tries not to go all out when he's on a cruise. 

With Honey's mother coming to visit, Honey ask Jessica to be the buffer during the baby class as her mother criticizes. But when Jessica sees the baby class, she thinks that it's pretty stupid on what they are teaching the new mothers, agreeing with Honey's mother.

Louis and Marvin take the cruise that Honey and Jessica won on Wheel of Fortune.  But when the trip goes south for Louis when he bets off all the cash that he brought, he goes all wild eating shrimp. Weird thing happens later when news that another woman has fallen off the ship and everyone must he back in their rooms accounted. Louis and Marvin come back early and with return cash due to the set back from the ship.

Meanwhile, a new girl has come to Eddie's new school and he thinks that she likes him. But when his friends think that she might just be into him because he's Asian and she has a thing for Asians. When he confronts the issue, she argues about that til she realizes and dumps him.

"Big Baby" was enjoyable and funny at times. Watching Jessica do her special powers over Honey's mother was pretty good until she caves in and agrees with her. Cheryl Hines was really good in this episode as Honey's mother. Louis and Eddie story was good too but sometimes it was forgettable. Overall, I give this episode a 7/10.

"Lair Lair"

"Lair Lair" was a good episode but it didn't have a lot to offer as it was just a plan episode that airs and soon you would forget what just happen. There were a few funny moments from Louis overstaying his welcome with friends and even confronting Jessica about it. 

Overall, I give this episode a 6/10.

You can catch Fresh Off The Boat Tuesdays at 8;30/7:30c on ABC. 

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.