Partnerships and Surprises: Blindspot "Upside Down Craft"/"Gunplay Ricochet"

"Upside Down Craft"

After last week's episode, this one was really one to laugh over.

When Jane and Weller arrest a financial tycoon, his lawyer says that his client was framed by an anonymous hacking group known as the Three Blind Mice. When we learn that Patterson and Rich Dotcom were the former members of the group, but there's a third member out there, Kathy, who has been causing the hacks.

When the FBI questions Kathy, Patterson works her magic and uses a backdoor in the app that she created to help prove Loewe is guilty or corporate sabotage. But soon Kathy realizes that Patterson and Rich were the other Mice and kidnaps them and tries to force them to perform criminal hacks. But Patterson manages to get a signal to Weller's team to rescue them.

Even thought Reade has suspicion that Patterson and Rich were the other members of the Mice, he didn't go forward in pursing them due to lack of evidence and suggest that Jane's new tattoos were to intended to reveal secrets the teams needs to keep hidden.

Later, Patterson continues to investigate the tattoo that Stuart was working on and found out that it was a linked to Van Gogh.

"Upside Down Craft" might be one of my favorite Patterson-Doctom episodes with their rich and comedic chemistry of characters. The episode holds up to be very good in storytelling and not to mention keep you engage to their story. Overall, I give this episode a 8/10.

"Gunplay Ricochet"

"Gunplay Ricochet" was another good hour of television that had not just one but a few very shocking reveals about Jane when they meet a man that they're going after and the most shocking news of all: Jane has a child. And questions begins to ask about how loyal can Reade be when Zapata sees  him with Secretary of State.

Overall, I give this episode a 8.5/10.

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

Welcome to The Bad Place: The Good Place "Chapter 4: Rhonda Diana, Jake and Trent"

As the gang gets to the Bad Place, they must pass as on of their own and get into the portal to see the judge. What could possibility go wrong, right?

As Eleanor, Michael and the gang headed to the Bad Place, Michael tells them the plan of how they'll go and get to the portal to see the judge. But they must wear disguises to look like one of them: Tahani as Rhonda, Eleanor as Diana, Jason as Jake Brotles and Chidi as Trent. As they get there, Michael places them in the museum of the first to go into the bad place so they could wait there while he go get the pins that will get them through the portal. Thinking that no one would be coming in there, think again as a celebration would happen soon and Eleanor and the gang would have to mingle.

Meanwhile, Michael meets with Shaun about his plans to go to the judge, but Shaun denies it and shows him what he has in store for the humans. Going to a board room with other board members, Shaun tells Michael that he send a team to go to middle place to get the humans but instead they find Mindy with Derek having fun. As Shaun finds out that the humans weren't there, Michael sneaks out with some of the board members jackets that has those pens.

As Michael runs back to Eleanor and the gang, they happen to see what the celebration was about: the success of the good place and the four robotic copies of themselves. And just as Michael gets to them, some of the people that recognized them and soon Shaun gets there as well. In a sticky situation, the one man saves them as Jason pulls one of his cocktails that he says works and used it to get away.

As they get to the portals, Michael gives three of the pens to Tahani, Jason and Chidi and as they all went in, Michael couldn't find a forth one. That was until Shaun was coming and decides to pull off the Trolley problem and gave Eleanor his pen and pushes her off into the portal.

"Rhonda, Diana, Jake and Trent" was a fun half hour episode that brought a lot of witty comedy of it's props of the Bad Place from iHop to Axe spray (don't try the new Transformers as it smells sweaty and confused) and not to mention the Bad Place museum. Watching the characters blend in with the folks of the bad place was a step up for Chidi, even though he hates to lie, he really just lied with the truth of what torches someone the best: books.

The episode still holds up to be good and still keeps you guessing thinking that they might all go through the portal. But when they do, a surprise and emotional move from Michael in sacrificing his own pen to give to Eleanor and stay behind.

What happens next? Eleanor seems to be the leader of the group now with the guidance of Janet. Will they move on or go back to save Michael? Will we see Michael again? Many questions to ask and just a couple of weeks left for the season.

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

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

The Thrill of the Hunt: The Blacklist "Abraham Stern (No. 100)"

Nothing like a milestone episode go hunting for a legendary treasure and give a throwback to a former blacklister.

When Red finds a famous penny that leads to a hidden treasure, he's over the moon for because well he loves a good mystery. But when he gets road sided by Abraham Stern, that penny is gone and Red gets the FBI to get it back. Unfortunately, there just to seem to be one more penny left for Stern to take and it's at a auction.

When Ressler and Samar get there to the auction, they were tipped that the penny might be counterfeit and gets placed in the police evidence lock room. With Stern gone, Red ask for Liz about how he could get something out of the evidence room and after she explains to him about it, she offered to go in there and plant some.

Of course, Liz would help her father no matter what, but in this case she's got a bit of road detour when she killed the man that knows who killed Tom. After cleaning up his apartment, the police get there and see the place clean and as they looked around they found a blooded cloth in the sink trash disposal. So with Red's penny at the evidence along with that bloody towel, Liz goes in there with backup in this case with Glenn.

As Glenn and Liz get there, Glenn suffers a heart attack and Liz goes in there and grabs not only the penny but the towel too. As soon as Red gets the penny, Red meets with Stern and talk about story behind the mystery. Stern tells him about how his father never had everything but when he died he left him with four pennies to find a treasure because he didn't want Stern to be like him. So after talks and gave a split deal, they learn about the pennies and that it gives a map to a place in Denver and a message that leads to the highest security banks in the world. 

As Red gets his team to help Stern, they go in but Stern has other plans with his money and places Red back in the truck. But if you know Red, he never gives up or should I say always has a plan B in place when his team comes in and gets the vacuum to suck up a vent that apparently leads to where Stern's money is placed and when they started grabbing, the vacuum machine turns on and sucks all the money to Red's van.

As soon as things were getting close to done, Red calls Cooper about that Stern is at the National Bank and tells him that he doesn't feel that he should go along with him. But as Red says "I know you always get your man." And they did.

As for Liz, she not only sneaks in the Police evidence lock up but also sneaks in the FBI files and grabs a file of one of the most deadliest blacklisters of all, The Stewmaker. She uses what the Stewmaker did to his victims and used it on the man that she killed. As his body was decomposing, she finds a plastic eye in the drain that has a message or something in it.

When she meets up with Red at a pawn shop, Red gives the only penny left and turned it in for what is Winston Churchill's hat. But the one thing they talked about was Liz pretty much going rouge to find Tom's killer and she asked him for help. Red responded with a yes and a new storyline begins for the rest of the fifth season it looks like.

"Abraham Stern" was, for it to be the 100th episode of The Blacklist, literally one to remember among shows that reach this milestone. It had just the mixture of what The Blacklist is all about with humor and thrilling drama and not to mention the twist of course. Near the end of the episode when Liz and Red talked about how she was handling with one of the men who helped killed Tom, Red talking to her about how dangerous it is. It seems that from that point we come to the opposite of where these two characters were in the pilot. The Red and Cooper scenes were amazing and so funny while the chemistry between Nathan Lane and James Spader was just undeniable and so good. Looks like the fun begins for the rest of the season.

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

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

Good Guy, Bad Guy, Good Guy: he Blacklist "The Informant (No. 118)"

It seems that Ressler's troubles are finally catching up to him in this episode.

When a gas attack killed many people at a gathering, Red seems that The Informant is the one that's behind it and gets the FBI team, without Liz, to search for him. Ressler and Samar catches with a suspect that when they catch him, Ressler gets the call from the real Informant and tells him to let the guy go or word of what he did to the National Security Adviser will be revealed.

Of course, Ressler plays to him but stops when Red calls him and wants to talk to him about it. Red had known for a while that Ressler was apart of the informant, hell he didn't think it would last this long. Ressler and Red work together and meet with the judge that happen to get the informant out of trouble and blame someone else. There she tells Red and Ressler and agreed to talk but quickly jumps off out the building, killing herself.

Ressler meets with The Informant in public along with his family and tries to arrest him, but quickly chases him til Red gives the guy a door to the chest. Ressler arrested The Informant and decides to take the consequences of what he did to the NSA, but apparently the Informant died in a car crash fire on the way to prison, thanks to Red.

Ressler and Red chat for a while about what went down and Ressler steals a bottle of whisky, I would believe for what he just went through.

In the meantime, Liz has been a real busybody when it comes to search for the man that was in the room when her and Tom were almost killed. She gets to one guy, who happens to be holding money and gets him to take her to his boss. Now the guy that she meets is the one who happen to be dancing and mashing stuff during that fall finale episode (just to remind you all).

As Liz talks to the guy and demands answers to her questions, the guy attacks her again. But this time, she kills him as he falls into a glass metal coffee table.

"The Informant" was a really good comeback story after the Liz episode the week before. Finally we get a Ressler episode and this one I really did enjoy as he tries to break and fix what he calls a crime. But everyone breaks the rules at some point in their lives,, Cooper, Liz and yes even Red. There were a lot of good moments, mostly between Ressler and Red. Overall, I give this episode a 8/10.

You can catch The Blacklist as they celebrate they're 100th episode Wednesday, Jan. 17th at 8/7c on NBC.

DON'T MISS IT!!

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.