Life In Pieces "Parents Ancestry Coupon Chaperone"

From trying to keep calm for their parents to learning that coupons aren't great as gifts to that, DNA testing sucks. Life in Pieces makes another good episode this week.

There were a lot of hits and only a miss in this week's discussion episode of Life in Pieces. Jen's Parents visiting for a while gets Jen and Greg to tag team so none of them would go wild. But it turns out that the tag caused them to stay a while longer because they think that their marriage is in jeopardy.

While learning about a family story, Joan and Sophie do a family DNA testing. They know that the family member that Joan considers to have the most incredible love story ever told happens to be a sham when a great uncle married her niece when she was a baby, who happens to be the person she was talking about, which was probably one of the funniest stories in the episode.

Matt gives Colleen her birthday gift of coupons for what he could do to help her. But instead of complaining about them, she puts them to good use and gives Matt the total runaround of chores. The episode ends with Matt learning that coupons are the worst birthday gift, and Colleen gives Joan her coupon for Matt to do the dishes in a French maid outfit.

The last story might have been missed in this episode, but it was still funny. At Sam's poem night at school, Tim and Heather try to give her space while Heather reunites with a high school crush who's playing. Tim gets jealous, Heather is upset, and the two act like total teens and seek advice from Sam and her date. But Tim makes her move and wins her over, and dances the night away very awkwardly.

"Parents Ancestry Coupon Chaperone" was another well-written and well-performed, mostly Dianne Wiest, whose Joan stole the episode in the family history and the coupon used on Matt. Colin Hanks and Zoe Lister-Jones were funny, as usual. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

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

Date Night: A.P. Bio " Dating Toledoans"

When it gets tiresome traveling back and forth from Toronto to New York City for dating,  Jack decides to try Toronto for a change and learns about who matters first: friends or a girlfriend.

After a date night turned bad for Jack, he realized that traveling from Toronto to NYC is just too difficult to do, so with the help of the teachers he's taken his dating search to Toronto. After the first night, it didn't work to well with what he was selling, but when it came on the second time, he meets with someone that's up his alley. But he turns her down after making fun of his friends, the teachers, about how stupid they look, which they were just having fun. Jack goes back to them with four shots and began a night of fun.

In the meantime, Principle Durbin gets jealous over how Helen was hilarious during the school announcements and tries to punish her by acting mean stricken towards her. But when she finally confronted him about it and pulled off an amazing soap opera moment that had everyone watching in their classrooms.

"Dating Toledoans" was another hilarious episode with good character development. I couldn't get enough of Paula Pell's Helen when she did the announcements for the first time, not to mention her and Patton Oswalt doing that soap opera style apology that the school watched. But mostly I loved the interactive between Jack and his students when discussing about having a relationship and having a crush on someone. The writing was good and the performances was good as well from Allisyn Ahsley Arm, Jacob Houston and Sari Arambulo, Oswalt and Pell. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch A. P. Bio Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.

Being In Two Places at Once: The Blacklist "Mr. Raleigh Sinclair III (No. "

Things take a turn in this episode of  The Blacklist.

When Red helps the team steer on an asset that helps someone who's wants to kill his wife because of cheating. The asset helps the man by finding an airtight alibi for him. The team and Red hunt the man down together but on separate terms but Red finds Sinclair first and takes him to chat about a deal to work for him. But the FBI get the guy who was caught trying to kill his wife/girlfriend in the parking deck.

Meanwhile, with Liz coming back to the FBI, she needed to talk to the FBI therapist. But this one was a challenge as she tested her mind about her revenge on Tom's death. But Liz broke through and told her what she is and will always be: a mother, an agent and a widow. But the most interesting and the highlight of the episode comes to Liz and Red having a therapy session as daughter and father.

But Liz catches the officer that's been sneaked in her apartment last week and comes to agreement to work together on the case with her and the FBI, which I find really creepy and worrisome thinking that this could be a setup for Ian's team to take the advantage. But this is the Blacklist and we all would have to think beyond what we see.

This was another good episode. The writing was good and the performance was still at it's level. Overall, I give the episode a 8/10.

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

Cooking and Making: The Blacklist "The Cook"/The Invisible Hand"

"The Cook (No. 56)"

As Liz continues to search for Tom's killers, she gets help from Red, which leads to the service from one of the most innovative tech guys he knows, a kid. As the kid hacks into the eye, it has information and triggers a GPS of their location. Red gets everyone out, including Liz, who wants to take them on, but he wouldn't let that happen.

Liz thinks that Red is helping because he wants to hide something. Of course, he denies it but then later tells her that the suitcase contains a secret that he must keep secret. But if Liz will help him, she will know that secret.

Meantime, the task force is looking for the Cook, a Blacklister who happens to kill people by setting arson fires in homes.  They get help from a known arsonist, who's up for early release. With his help, the clues led to someone they had no idea, someone who worked in the Catholic church. As soon as they head off to the latest victim's house, instead of killing his victim, he kills himself by setting himself on fire.

"The Cook (No. 56)" was an excellent episode. I thought the storyline of Red and Liz was good and developed very well. I can't understand how Red doesn't know Star Wars and such. And not to mention, given the kid's mother's four pet spiders, the number four means death. Oops! Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

"The Invisible Hand (No. 63)"

The FBI gets help from Reddington to take on the group known as The Invisible Hand, who targets and buries them alive in a known abandoned chemical planet. When they capture the leader, one of the members, Reddingtot, talks to him about the whereabouts of a man known as The Toy Maker. The Toy Maker has helped with the man who killed Tom, let alone helped build that glass eye.

Meanwhile, Liz goes after a man Tom was hunting before he died, who turns out to be her grandfather. Butt she doesn't know that still, and he plays her pretty well.

But Red gets a tip about who the man that killed Tom is and might be part of an avastste group of federal or state cops. Pretty much on the money when it came to that when that detective breaks into Liz's apartment and calls his boss about that Liz isn't backing off the case. The man who happens to work for Ian Garvey is a U.S. Marshall.

"The Invisible Hand" is another well-written and best-directed episode. I couldn't get enough of the shots from the field that kept creepy at the time and unique simultaneously—I got to credit Andrew McCarty for directing the episode. Also, the episode kept me excited and left me shocked at the end to see that Ian is a U.S. Marshall. And not to mention the Liz and Red scene with Toy Maker and Liz threatening him not to call her sweetheart. Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.

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

Riding the Intense of High Drama: Chicago PD Season 5 episodes 10- 15)

Season 5 of Chicago PD has been nothing but a rush of intense entertainment.

When the show returned in January the show picked up from it's fall finale of Ruzek trying to fix what he had done with his deal with Woods, who been trying to get Voight caught and fired. But Voight and Al figured out before even Adam could even come forward to Voight. But when Voight learns about it, he had Ruzek go along with Woods as if what happen here never happen so they could grab more information.

Ruzek gets put into a corner and keeps on doing business with Woods. But it's doesn't seem to be the end as the body of the man who killed Voight's son has been found at a construction site. Woods, with his cheesy grin, talks to Voight and given him updates of the process. Voight, in the meantime, can only do what he can to keep him and Erin, who moved the body there, away from being the suspects.

Meanwhile, Halstead's keeps his undercover job as his relationship with Camilla grows. But when someone gets killed, who happens to be an undercover agent, outside of the bar, Halstead tries to do everything he can to keep her away from trouble. Voight and Upton isn't too pleased about it (you think?) and forces him to get her to confess about what had happen to an undercover agent. But she gives a name and not only takes him down but Camilla down as well and it wasn't too pretty for Jay to do so, let alone apologizes as well.

Atwater gets kidnapped when he was checking on someone and is assume to be another drug salesman. But while being held up, he's with a man that even hates Atwater as it's the father of the son that he shot years ago. But after trying to talk about it, the two worked together to get out and does but Atwater comes close of getting killed.

Burgess not only deals with professional issues when Antonio gets close to a visiting detective that turns out to be a mother on revenge on a drug lord, who killed her son.  But also personally when her and the team take on a rape and murder case that hits close to home.

So far this season has been amazing and intense to watch with such great writing in developing these characters. The performances from the cast have been a home run with performances from Jesse Lee Soffer to Marina Squerciati and LaRoyce Hawkins. The Halstead storyline this season has been an emotionally wild ride to watch as he's dealing with personal issues that really dived into his professional.

So far I give this part of the season a 8.5/10.

And tonight's the epic 100th episode milestone but also the #OneChicago crossover with Chicago Fire.

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

The Madness in March: Chicago Med "Foile A Deux"

A questionable act of a patient, a father's weird reunion with her daughter and a moment that was slowly building has finally taken off.

When Ethan and April were playing around in his apartment, Ethan gets a call of someone getting stabbed in the stomach in his own apartment. The stabber is of course hurt too and freaking out and its put into question with Dr. Charles when he looks into her mental state. When her friend comes to visit, she gives a strange vibe and says things from having her check and who would drive her to work kind of thing.

Dr. Charles tries to show Jay Halstead that the patient wasn't the one who did it but her so called "friend" and tried to prove it by questioning her. He calls it "Folie A Deux" which stands for "two madness" or when someone's mental state convinces another person of the same mental state like she thinks the guy that she stabbed is a killer.

In the meantime, Natalie treats an infant that presents with whooping cough and goes through all the channels to help the kid survive, even though the baby isn't yet immune yet. But Natalie learns that the baby caught the illness from her son, who isn't vaccinated and gets a word with the husband and father about it. 

Noah treats a patient, who shows signs of a heart attack and gets the approval from the Troll, but when Rhodes and Bekker treat the patient it's a total different story. When Bekker and Rhodes take the patient to surgery, they see that the patient has a bad aortic dissection that requires to chill the patient in order to fix and save.

Bekker was pissed that Noah didn't see it and it really didn't make him feel better, but some guild lines from Rhodes did help. Later, both Rhodes and Bekker accommodated each other with how great of work they did with that patient. But they get word from Latham that he'll be hand picking his team to separate conjoint twins.  And soon after the news, the two talked a bit more and the moment came when they finally kissed.

With Dr. Charles taking care of his patient, he gets a visit from another person, who thought needed help and medication.  But it turns out the patient is actually the father of Dr. Sarah Reese, who wants to connect with her. Soon, Reese gets a letter from her dad, who hasn't seen him in 20 years, that he's in town and wants to see her, she does meet with him and is taking a chance with him. But I'm with Charles as things don't seem right at all with this as he tells him things that even Charles can't say to Reese about.

"Folie A Deux" was another great hour of television of character development, strong writing and kept it really interesting for the whole hour. I don't get too tired of watching Natalie stand up for vaccinations for kids and watching her call the husband/father/brother-in-law an idiot was something cool and such a Halstead move. The stabbing patient case was such an interesting one to watch through this episode and learning about a mental disorder that I've never heard of and not to mention Reese and her father. I thought that Reese's father would be somewhat kind of different but didn't expect a professor as all, but with the stuff he's pulling and saying to Charles, I question it 110 percent. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Chicago Med when it returns in two week (due to the series premiere of Rise next week) on NBC.

All in The Family: This Is Us "This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life"

This week's episode was another emotionally powerful episode of a child's view from birth to where she is now.

"This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life" was written as a beautiful and powerful view point of one child of Deja from birth, growing up with a mother and grandmother and dealing with the foster care system to even meeting with the Randall's family. Trying to keep hope that her mother, Shauna, would get better and stay on the right track. But when Shauna gets Deja back and comes home along with her new friend that happen to cause more trouble as time goes on that would leave her do that gun charges that really wasn't her gun at all.

You see where she picks up the attitude just a bit when she first comes into Randall's home from a friend in the foster system. But not to mention took one advice by heart that if she's in a home with a bed, she hangs on to it tightly.

As the episode progress, we come back to the present after Randall and Beth found Deja and Shauna sleeping in their car. They take them in, fixed them dinner and watched a movie along, but as all of this was happening Shauna was watching Deja on how happy she was being around Randall's family as if she belongs here. Once Deja goes to her room, Shauna talks with Beth about her life and daughter and decided that it was best for her to stay here and her to go leaving Deja in Randall and Beth's hands.

I thought this episode was so beautifully written and the performance from Lyric Ross as Deja was amazingly and emotionally engaging. I thought that the during certain scenes like the births and such was so interesting and in a way that Deja is like a real part of the Pearsons. The final scene with Shauna leaving was tear-jerking moment of the episode, along with many others. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch the season finale of This Is Us next Tuesday at 9/8c followed by the series premiere of Rise at 10/9c on NBC.