The Americans 1.03

Gregory

Robert's body is found by the FBI, with some help from the operative within the Russian embassy who is now passing them information. They send out an alert and are able to match his picture to one from a Pennsylvania drivers license. Robert is the KGB operative who was killed in 1.01 (Pilot). The FBI sends a surveillance team to Philly and discover that he had a wife. This is where it really starts to get interesting.

The wife recently put an ad in a newspaper. It is a signal to Philip and Elizabeth which perplexes them because they know that Robert is dead. Elizabeth sends Gregory, a longtime associate of their's to Philadelphia to attempt contact with whomever left the message. He sees the FBI surveillance team and holds off on making contact.

There's another angle to this episode. Elizabeth and Philip are married, they have children together, they have been living together, they are a couple but up until the beginning of the series it has just been a job. In the first couple episodes there are hints that some sort of spark has been kindled between them.

That spark could develop into something warmer, hotter but there's something Elizabeth has been keeping from Philip: she's been seeing Gregory on the side for well over a decade. Gregory has been her confidant. Now she's having second thoughts about her relationship with Gregory and is starting to feel a bond with Philip that she never felt before. She tries to break it off with Gregory but it isn't that simple.

Gregory arranges for Joyce Ramirez, Robert's widow, and her baby to evade FBI surveillance. The are picked up and brought to a safe house. Robert told her very little other than what to do if he disappeared. She hands over a name and phone number which Robert gave to her to give to them. They try to decide what to do. Gregory doesn't make things any easier when he has a private chat with Philip and reveals his long term intimate relationship with Elizabeth.

FBI agents Beeman and Amador try to figure out what happened to Joyce Ramirez. They investigate the area where she disappeared. They puzzle over how the FBI team lost Ramirez. They spot some one following them around, one of Gregory's crew. They give chase but he eludes them.

Philip goes for a walk and catches wind of the fact that someone is tailing him. That someone turns out to be Claudia, General Zhukov's replacement. He tells her about Joyce and what she knows. Elizabeth and Philip end up bringing Joyce and the baby to Claudia who promises to relocate them to Cuba. Something didn't feel right about the hand off. Claudia was acting too sweet for a KGB handler. By the end of the episode my suspicions proved to be correct.

Philip calls and arranges a meeting with the person on the piece of paper that Joyce gave them. He brings money and in return gets what look like plans to machinery. Philip doesn't know what the plans are for but it seems logical that they are for Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) technology.

The episode ends with a tender moment between Philip and Elizabeth. She explains to him what Gregory has meant to her and that she tried to end it with him. She feels for Philip now what she felt for Gregory at the beginning of that relationship. She wants Philip now.

This show has yet to disappoint me. Not every moment works but I like the mix of character moments and plot developments. Damn good episode.

Star Trek: Enterprise 1.21

Detained

Captain Archer and Ensign Mayweather are captured and thrown in a Tandaran detention facility. All the other detainees in the facility are Suliban. Archer and Mayweather are suspicious of the Suliban but soon learn that they are ordinary citizens and not members of the Suliban Cabal. Colonel Grat, commander of the detention facility, tries to get information out of Captain Archer. He is aware that Archer has had interactions with the Suliban in the past.

The detention facility is just one of many that hold Suliban citizens. Part of the inspiration for this episode is the internment camps in which Japanese-Americans (including George Takei) were forced to live during World War II. The concept of viewing citizens of foreign origin as potential threats still resonates today.

The Enterprise is contacted by Colonel Grat and informed of the situation. They are directed to head for Tandar Prime and given directions. They are not told where Archer and Mayweather are being held. They figure out where the transmission is coming from and trace it back to the planet where the detention facility is found. They beam down a communicator to Captain Archer and start to makes plans to get him out of there.

Colonel Grat finds out about the communicator and has his men rough up both Archer and Mayweather. Lieutenant Reed beams down, disguised as a Suliban, and well armed. Archer, Mayweather, Reed, and the Suliban prisoners overwhelm the guards and escape. The Suliban take off in spare ships that are conveniently found nearby.

Colonel Grat is played by Dean Stockwell, Scott Bakula's costar on Quantum Leap. He carries around a small device that resembles Ziggy, the device that his character on Quantum Leap carried around. I didn't detect any other nods to Quantum Leap.

I like the mysterious manner in which the episode opens. The story slowly unfolds. Grat tries to play like he is on the side of the good guys. I like how this episode opens up the possibilities. The Suliban have been the bad guys up to this point. Everything is a little more gray now that it is revealed that not all Suliban are part of the Cabal or fighting against it.

This episode is not perfect but it like it. I think I would have liked it more if it had been a little more nuanced. The Tandarans aren't very sympathetic. The Suliban (in this episode) are victims who learn to overcome oppression. The painting here was in broad brush strokes. By itself this isn't much of an episode but as a part of a bigger picture I think it works well enough.

Star Wars: Clone Wars 3.08

Evil Plans

Anakin sends C-3PO and R2-D2 on a mission to get Jogan fruit for Padme's party. The droids are abducted by Cad Bane who is looking for the plans for the Senate building. He is working for Jabba the Hut. Bane extracts the information he needs and then wipes the droids' memories of the encounter. Bane returns to see Jabba who starts planning another mission for the mercenary.

Once again I find myself underwhelmed by this show which has on occasion really excited me.

NewsRadio 3.04

Arcade

The sandwich machine in the lobby is replaced with Star Gate Defender, an arcade game. Dave has a past with Star Gate Defender. During high school he wasted lots of time playing it. He doesn't look back on those years fondly.

Bill is the only one who misses the sandwich machine.

Lisa is convinced that she is getting stupider. She talks Dave into taking the practice SAT with her.

Not excellent but fun enough for me to give this episode a thumbs up.

Young Justice 1.21

Image

A subset of the team is sent to the border region of Bialya and Qurac. The leader of Qurac has announced that he is going to abdicate and hand over control of the country to Queen Bee, the ruler of Bialya. Robin leads the mission and is accompanied by Miss Martian, Kid Flash, and Superboy. The team arrives in Qurac just in time to see Bialyan troops cross the border into Qurac. The young heroes rescue Sandra Stanyon, a veterinarian and former actress. She and her son almost get trampled by a pack of wildebeests. She bears a striking resemblance to Miss Martian, minus the green skin.

Miss Martian recognizes Ms. Stanyon because she modeled herself after her. She watched her TV show, Hello Megan! before she came to Earth. Miss Martian doesn't actually look like she has presented herself. That is just a form she has assumed. Her true form is revealed later in the episode when she battles Psimon. This is their second battle. The first occurred in 1.09 (Bereft) when the team woke up in Bialya and couldn't remember who they were or how they got there.

The guys (Robin, Superboy, Kid Flash) hang out with Garfield, Sandra's son, while Megan helps Ms. Stanyon repair the damage to her property. Gar immediately points out how strange it is that Miss Martian looks just like a younger version of her mother with green skin. He shows them a video of Hello Megan! which shocks them. The girl on the show looks just like Miss Martian and her boyfriend's name is Conner, just like Superboy.

They don't have much time to think about it when Bialyan troops attack. Garfield is injured. Miss Martian is able to give him a blood transfusion by mimicking type O negative blood. Garfield recovers. There doesn't seem to be any side effects to the transfusion. In the credits Garfield's last name is revealed Logan. Garfield Logan in the comic books is the secret identity of the green skinned Beast Boy (aka Changeling).

The heroes go to the capital of Qurac and rescue the leader who is being held prisoner. The villains have technology from Apokolips. Miss Martian battles Psimon who gets into her head, finds out what she really looks like and what her greatest fears are. Her teammates show up in the middle of the fight. She brain blasts them for fear that Psimon will show them what she really looks like. Later she tells them that it was Psimon that brain blasted them. Once her teammates have been knocked out Miss Martain defeats Psimon and with her teammates restores the situation in Qurac. Queen Bee shows up at the end of the episode and reveals that before Miss Martian brain blasted Psimon he shared Miss Martian's secrets. She uses that and an implied threat of violence against young Garfield to keep M'Gann from attacking her.

After the fighting is over the guys ask Miss Martian what she really looks like. I thought that was a rude question. If she wanted to share with them it's one thing but she shouldn't have been pressured by her teammates to reveal more about herself than she is comfortable sharing. She doesn't feel comfortable enough with them and just changes into a bald version of the form she currently holds.

This is one of those episodes that I recall being a major turning point. The big reveal is Miss Martian's real form. There have been little hints and clues dropped up to this point but this episode lays a lot of cards on the table. It is now clear that Miss Martian has a secret that she doesn't feel comfortable sharing with her teammates. It gives her something in common with Artemis who also has a secret: the real identity of her father and sister. This makes the show that much more interesting to me and it will have an impact on the rest of the season.

This isn't a perfect episode. I think it can be picked apart but I love the way it unfolds and the groundwork it lays for future developments.

Community 2.04

Basic Rocket Science

The study group accidentally gets locked in Greendale Community College's new space simulator. Dean Pelton wanted them to clean but they couldn't resist taking a look inside. Abed gets left behind as the space simulator gets towed. The others turn on themselves for a while until they realize that what they need to do is work together if they want to get the simulator back to campus.

Not bad, but also not so great. Dean Pelton had some of the best lines but there weren't that many of them. It felt like the episode rested a little too heavily on the shoulders of the simulator. There just wasn't enough in the way of meaningful character moments.

Master of None 2.02

Le Nozze

Arnold visits Dev in Italy. They go to a wedding. The bride is Arnold's ex-girlfriend. They were together for 11 years. Arnold loses his cool when he sees that the groom looks a lot like him. The episode ends with Dev returning to New York and getting a job as the host of cupcake battle TV show.

The bride was played by Ciara Renée who I last saw on the first season of Legends of Tomorrow playing Hawkwoman.

The title of the episode (according to IMDB) is a reference to an Italian movie, La Notte (1961).

Not a bad episode. There was some beautiful shots of towns and the countryside but the story itself didn't do a lot for me. The best moments were with Arnold when he was trying to work through his anger over his ex-girlfriend and her new boo.