For Love and Feelings: This Is Us "The Club"/"The Dinner and The Date"/"Sorry"

"The Club"

"The Club" was such a good episode from beginning to finish as it dives into the relationship of fathers and sons; but also relationships that ended with a not so much of a twist. After learning about Randall's new teacher that he admires, Jack tries to bond with him even more. Even Jack tries to bond with Randall as if it's just like when he was at the golf course with Rebecca's father but it's not. While Randall tries to get one of his bills passed; he offers a couple of councilmen to a game of golf, but while he's not so good, he learns enough to win their respect.

Toby feels unloved after the birth of their son and tries to get Kate out on a date night. But during their time together at a fancy hotel, things don't go so well and ended up watching TCM. As they call it a night, they return home and found their spark before their son returns home. Kevin tries to find a way to kill time after online stalking his ex-girlfriend, while at the gym he and Cassidy connect well and even picked a date with one of the employees. Kevins takes Donna out for lunch and while they headed back to his place, Cassidy is there. The two talk and we learn later that she didn't leave like we thought she did but instead slept with Kevin.

As I said this was a good episode, so funny moments and memorable moments. There was some good solid character development with Randall, Jack, and Toby. And the writing was solid too. Overall I give this episode an 8/10.

"The Dinner and The Date" 

They could have called this episode two dinners and a date.
After Jack invited Randall's teacher for dinner at his house, he soon becomes jealous of the two's relationship. But after a talk with Rebecca and soon Randall's teacher, Jack comes to terms and connects with Randall with a book that he is reading.

Meanwhile, after skipping one day of school, Deja pushes the limit to Beth and Randall as she spent the day with Malik. The families agreed to dinner and while it might not be the best first dinner at first; it got better as Deja comes clean about what really happened and both parents decide that they will be supervised when together at their house.

"The Dinner and the Date" was probably the best episode of the fall season so far. I just love Asante Blackk in this episode as he performed the hell out of his character Malik. I think that he'll get nominated for awards. While the performances from the rest of the cast were strong, the writing was as too. Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

 

 

"Sorry"

This episode is a precursor to what's to come.
Kevin is broken to what had happened in the previous episode, going to a bar and picking up a fight. Nicky and Cassidy pick him up and while it's a big day for Nicky, Kevin forgot and learned an upside. When Nicky tells the judge why he isn't sorry for what he had done; it's because if he hadn't had done that he wouldn't have bonded with Kevin or him making a new friend. Plus all three with being at the Thanksgiving dinner.

Kate has a hard time feeding baby Jack, but when she goes next door and helps with Gregory. He so happens to get baby Jack to eat, his first was guacamole. After that when Toby comes back from work it was like nothing had happened and he got to see Jack's first bite. 

As Beth watches over Deja and Malik, she notices that the two have their first argument. That argument happens to be that Deja wants to see her mother again and when she tells Beth she not only wants to see her but have her come over for Thanksgiving, which she and Randall will be happy. 
On the other side, we see the relationship of the R&R (Rebecca and Randall) and how after Jack died and Randall at college, he makes visits to help Rebecca out with stuff. When Rebecca was up for a job, he helped her get that too after he noticed that after her interview that he wanted to see more people. But in the present, when Randall invites Rebecca on a Philly Tour; something doesn't quite seem right with her from taking photos and even losing her phone. Miguel even mentions that she's been losing her phone for the past month and when Randall confronts Rebecca about it, we see a side of Rebecca, unlike any other time. She seems to be showing signs of Alzheimer's. 

"Sorry" was a powerful episode with the stories between Kevin/Cassidy/Nicky and Rebecca and Randall. There was so many emotions going into this episode at times; I even had to grab tissues during Rebecca, even when I figured that she might have early Alzheimer's. I can hardly wait to see what the fall finale will bring. Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

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

Bluff City Law Season 1: Why You Should Tune In

(Written Nov. of 2019)

There's one new show that I've been watching, and that is Bluff City Law and why you should tune in.

Wake up and Smell the Roses: The Good Place "Chapter 45: A Chip Driver Mystery"/Chapter 46: Help is Other People"

"Chapter 45: A Chip Driver Mystery"

The Good Place isn't just about being good over bad; but how you should never give up on something when trying to make things work. In this episode, Michael tells Bad Janet, who's in Janet's void, a story about what had happened in the last six months with their group and how much things seemed so doomed that really turned into a positive outcome.

It was basically how the group tries to get Brent to be apologetic after a book that he wrote was totally offensive to the group. But after what seemed to be a failed attempted, Eleanor and the group started coming up with another plan. That's when Michael tells Bad Janet that that's what they're doing coming up another plan after the other had failed because they don't give up. Soon instead of turning bad Janet into a marble, he lets her go and gives her a book to take back.

"A Chip Driver Mystery" was a good episode from start to finish. It was a good character development with some of the supportive characters from Brent and even John. There are still on the edge moments in this show when it comes to when John learns that Jason isn't a monk and Brent trying to apologies. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

"Chapter 46: Help Is Other People"

With only hours till the experiment is over, will Eleanor and gang make it? Here's a recap!

As the clock is clocking down to the end of the experiment; Eleanor and gang feel pretty good about how this all will end; that is until Simone has been putting the pieces together of what she really thinks is going on. When Tahani and Jason learn of this, she tries to blow the idea away until John blew Jason's cover of not being a monk. 

With only a few hours till the celebration; Eleanor and the team figure out a way to stall until the clock strikes midnight. They use Michael and his sad magic trick show and when bringing up Brent for a trick an earthquake comes and shallow him only hanging on. Eleanor and Michael get Chidi, Simone and John to stay to help Brent while they wait to see what happens next. Turns out only Chidi stayed with Brent while Simone and John left. 

With minutes to spare Eleanor and Michael pull off one more trick: admitting they are in the bad place. While leaving Chidi and Brent to think; they were hoping that Brent could pull off a hell mary that ended up not happening at the buzzer. 

"Help Is Other People" is a hilarious episode that really kind of gave us the perspective of what Michael was going through in the first and second season of the series. The pace and the development of the characters were brilliant as we just hope that Brent would pull off that one miracle moment of saying, "I'm sorry." Now with the experiment over what will happen now? Hell, what happened to Simone and John? Could Michael and Eleanor pull off a reset? Oh man, I can't wait to see where this will be going. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch The Good Place Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Renewed for Season 8

It looks like there will be more cases to solve at the Nine-Nine.

On Thursday, NBC has announced that Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been renewed for an eighth season. The seventh season premieres in an hour premiere on Thursday, Feb. 6th at 9/8c, before moving to its new timeslot on Feb. 13 at 8:30/7:30c.

Renewing the show ahead of its seventh season is a very good sign that this upcoming season will be very good. Also, it could also mean that they need a veteran show for next year with the newer shows not performing well. Whatever the reason, we get more Nine-Nine.

Entertainment and Love: All Rise: "Fool For Live"/"Uncommon Women and Mothers"

"Fool for Liv"

It's probably one of the most intense episodes of the season "Fool for Liv" felt like it had everything thrown into one episode with Lola taking on a high celebrity trial. But along with the trial, she sees one of the trickiest lawyers in the state, who uses every trick in the book to get this trial in his favor. After a couple of setbacks and a nice B&B stay with Sherri, Lola finally got her courtroom on track and got the convection too.

Meanwhile, Emily tries to get Mark to help her client with a plea that not only he complies with what he knows of the crimes his family had done but not to mention get him out of jail time after his grandmother said he's not protected there. After Emily gives a strong talk to Mark about family, he decides to give the kid a good plea deal that was fair.

I enjoyed this episode very much. It had some intense moments mainly between Lola and the tricky lawyer but heart and growth between Lola and Sherri and Mark and Emily. I thought hat Ruthie Ann Miles gave a nice performance that really stood out. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

"Uncommon Women and Mothers"

While this episode had some good moments, I felt that this episode didn't execute as well as it should have. When an earthquake hits the courthouse, not doing a whole lot in the episode we see Lola reuniting with her mother as she testifies in court for Mark and Emily for an arson case. That case ended pretty well after Lola's mother decided to give her testimony about the accused that ended up with a slap on the wrist.

Meanwhile, Sara and Sherri try to outdo each other as they think they could be better during an emergency situation. Also, Sherri might have a cop stalker who apparently doesn't know how to do the proper paperwork for a warrant.  This, of course, I felt that this was just humor which was quite good. 

While Lola was dealing with her mother, she was dealing with an issue with a cop that wanted a signed warrant to take down a resident that might have illegal guns. While Lola wanted more evidence to this claim but instead the cop goes over her head and gets the warrant signed by another person and was proven right that the residents in the house had a butt-load of guns.

"Uncommon Women and Mothers" was good with character development and story but some just didn't execute the way that I had hoped it would turn out. I would think that with the earthquake that they would be going through something but instead it was just a minor story that could have been something much bigger. The episode had good humor and some good back and forth moments mainly with Simone Missick and Michael Beach. Overall, I give this episode a 7.5/10.

You can catch All Rise Mondays at 9/8c on CBS.

Homeland Season 8 Teaser

The first teaser for the final season of television most critically acclaimed drama, Homeland. Could this be it or Carrie?

Here's the teaser:

The final season of Homeland begins Sunday, Feb. 9th on Showtime.

CBS Mid-season Schedule: Criminal Minds final season date, MacGyver returns, & FBI spinoff date

It looks to be a happy new year for the fans of Criminal Minds as CBS has announced on Monday their midseason schedule. 

The crime drama's 10 episode swan song will begin on Wednesday, Jan. 8th at 9/8c with a two-hour premiere and will eventually wrap up with a two-hour series finale on Feb. 19th. After that SEAL Team will return from a seven-week hiatus to reclaim its time slot.  

Also, the Eye Network has announced the launch dates for two freshman series, FBI: Most Wanted (Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 10/9c) and Tommy (Thursday, Feb 6th at 10/9c). Most Wanted, a spinoff of Dick Wolf's BI, centers on the Fugitive Task Force that tracks and captures notorious criminals on the bureau's Most Wanted list, while the latter stars Edie Falco as Abigail "Tommy" Thomas, a former high ranking NYPD officer who becomes Los Angeles' first female chief of police.

As for returning shows, MacGyver will open season four on Friday, Feb. 7th at 8/7c, pushing Hawaii Five-0 back an hour and benching Magnum P.I.'s second season run until MacGyver's full season concludes. And NCIS: New Orleans, which just bid adieu to an original cast member, is moving to Sundays at 10/9c beginning Feb. 16th after Madam Secretary's farewell season is over.

Here are dates of returning shows (Man with a Plan and Broke will be announced at a later date).

Tuesday, Jan. 7

10/9c: FBI: Most Wanted

Wednesday, Jan. 8

8/7c Undercover Boss Season 9 (Survivor Season 40 takes over Feb 12)

9/8c Criminal Minds final season (special two-hour premiere)

Wednesday, Jan. 15

10/9c S.W.A.T.

Thursday, Feb. 6

10/9c Tommy

Friday, Feb. 7

8/7c MacGyver 

9/8c Hawaii Five-0 (new time slot)

10/9c Blue Bloods

Sunday, Feb. 16

10/9c NCIS: New Orleans (new time)