Deola’s Corner: Another Week Of TV (Edition 2)

FOREWORD: So I was thinking of shaking things up this week. Instead of recapping/reviewing Scream Queens, Scandal, HTGAWM, and Empire every week like I have done, I would instead pick just one TV show episode that I consider to be the best of that week and review it, and then talk about other things that have happened in the land of TV during the week.

If you have any suggestions, I am open to hearing them. Just drop them below in the comments. Again if you haven’t SEEN the episodes this week, and you detest spoilers, then I suggest you leave while you can. If you haven’t and you don’t mind spoilers, well, feel free to enjoy. If you have seen the episodes, then by all means read on and lets ki-ki.

REVIEW OF THE WEEK: HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER – S02E03 (It’s Called The Octopus)

Yeah, predictable, I know. But in my opinion, this series is currently the best show on TV.

I called it last week, didn’t I? LOL. Me and my other half were laughing about it when we saw the reveal. Of course, the murderous twins are boinking, even though murderous sibling number one says he was just “comforting” murderous sibling number two. (Yeah…if you say so) So I wasn’t shocked about that. I could smell their chemistry miles away.

Now, having got that out of the way, this episode was all about sex (hmmm, maybe that’s why I enjoyed this episode so much). However, underneath all the sex, it was actually very similar to the case in the show’s pilot episode. Woman (Tanya) falls for married man, then uses her knowledge of his medical history to kill him, and Annalise gets her off by presenting the wife as a suspect, thus introducing reasonable doubt.

It was more fun than that episode, because, well, sex is fun and I absolutely loved the way the writers and the editors interwove the interview of Tanya’s clients. It was funny as hell, and that construction worker with the hotdog? GOLD! LOL. Oh, and apparently the victim’s favourite position was “the Octopus”. Seriously, what is that? No, seriously! Let me know in the comments.

Levi is still trouble. It turns out he is Rebecca’s foster-brother. But he isn’t Eggs though, that would turn out to be Rebecca. ‘Eggs’ was apparently a nickname, thus her texting Levi: “Eggs 911.” He and puppy-face and later on, to my surprise, Nate look to be teaming up to find out what exactly happened to Rebecca.

I still can’t get over how much Connor has grown as a character. He and Oliver really give me the feels every week. It’s lovely to see his development as a character. That is how you get a character to change believably. (Are y’all listening, Empire and Jamal?)

Annalise has never been a character with a moral compass. She isn’t a good person, and I wouldn’t say she is a bad one either, which is what makes her so unpredictable. She is also quite unlikeable, but somehow, there are times, due to Viola Davis’s portrayal and the writing, that we still empathize with and even like her. The way she tore that poor, innocent woman to shreds on the stand, in front of her kids no less, was ruthless. But once again, she was just doing her job.

Oh, and it looks like we might be getting some character development on the Asher front. It would seem that State Prosecutor Sinclair has something on our adorable douche-face, and it doesn’t bode well for him. It does make me wonder though; we know Madam Prosecutor dies in the future and for two seasons, Asher has been the Andre Lyon of this show; you know, that one character that is there but is always an outsider. I wonder if Madam Prosecutor pushed him too far, causing him to snap and off her. Just a theory…

Now onto that flash-forward scene: this time, we see Nate is involved somehow. Now from what I understood, he takes the job that Annalise got him, but he isn’t a detective, because he was wearing a uniform. Also he doesn’t arrest the Keating Four when he sees them, neither does he look suspicious about anything. Instead, he looked to be helping them out. They also looked relieved to see him, which makes me believe that he somehow found out about them killing Sam, knows that Annalise is protecting them, and he is also doing the same thing for some reason. Just another theory…

Also my prime suspect for Annalise’s shooting is Levi. He suspects Annalise for Rebecca’s “murder”, so he is the most logical suspect. As for Madam Prosecutor, my money is on Asher. It’s about time he joined the Murderous Four and got his hands bloody.

Once again, this was another great hour of television and it was a really enjoyable episode overall.

Favourite Character in Episode: Asher. He was by far the most intriguing character this week. Whatever Madam Prosecutor has on him, I can’t wait to find out.

Favourite Quote: “I did not murder anyone with my vagina!” – Tanya (to Annalise)

“Do you want to keep your business or do you want to go to jail for being a negligent slut?” – Annalise (to Tanya)

“Alone, on very comfortable sheets.” – Annalise (to Tanya’s “How do you sleep at night?” question)

Favourite Scene: The Connor-Oliver sex scene, not because of the sex, but because we once again see how far Connor has come as a character and how much he truly cares for Oliver. On a show where no one has it together, it’s refreshing to see these two happy. But for how long, I have to wonder.

Rating: 8/10

RANDOM TV RANT OF THE WEEK: THE NOT-SO GOOD WIFE

So this Sunday brought the return of one of my favourite shows, The Good Wife. It was an okay premiere, but that’s not what this is about. This is about the drama behind the scenes of the show. In case you haven’t been following the behind-the-scenes drama, I’m here to give you a refresher and catch you up.

So the lead actress, the one who the show is named after, is Julianna Margulies (you may know her as Nurse Carol Hathaway from the popular medical series, ER). She plays a character called Alicia Florrick (below right), who is a lawyer. The drama is question is between her and a supporting actress on the show, Archie Panjabi, who plays – or played – a character called Kalinda Sharma (below left), an investigator. Based on their job descriptions, the characters tend to interact a lot and even developed quite a friendship that fans of the show adored. They had their thing, which was to go to a bar after work and drink and just talk.

Now as the seasons progressed, there were reports about the two actresses not getting along for quite some time. In the fourth season, there was a revelation that Kalinda had slept with Alicia’s husband, Peter Florrick, and so naturally, the two characters became estranged and their friendship suffered. The curious thing though is: that was the last season where these two characters would be seen in a scene together at the same time on screen ever. Now I understand that they might never be friends again, but it becomes weird when for two seasons, all these two characters do is talk to each other on the phone. It’s so weird that you could tell some scenes are written so as to prevent the two of them sharing the same screen.

Now as the sixth season started, it was announced that this would be Archie’s final season on the show. And so, long-time fans like myself hoped that Alicia and Archie would get to interact face-to-face before Archie left the show.

We got our wish (or so we thought), when it was announced that the season finale would feature the long-awaited farewell scene between them. And so we watched. Personally, at the time I was watching it, the scene felt off, the camera angles were weird, and they never showed the two both at the same time. It just looked off. Days after the episode aired, news got out that the actresses weren’t even in the same room when the scene was shot! They shot the scenes separately, hence the weird camera angles. (This would later popularly be referred to as the “Split screen scandal”).

As a long-time fan, I felt cheated, insulted even. Like, these two actresses that are paid hundreds of thousand dollars per episode couldn’t simply put their differences aside to shoot a five-minute scene!? Seriously?! If not for you, then for the fans of the show. The worst thing a show-runner can do is insult the viewers’ intelligence; and that was what the creators, Robert and Michelle King, did here.

When they were asked though, they kept dancing around the question, not giving any clear answers. But it’s obvious which actress has the most power here; Margulies is literally the entire show. There is no show without her. She also produces the show. Now Margulies can obviously refuse to shoot with Panjabi and the creators would have no choice but to play along. But Panjabi was just playing a supporting character, and as such, was quite dispensable. You see where I am going with this? No way Panjabi says, “No, I am not shooting with Julianna ever again”, and the creators will be like, “Yeah sure, whatever you want, Archie.” So it’s obvious who the petty one is here.

After the premiere on Sunday though, Margulies felt the need to talk about the “split screen scandal”. She said the scene was filmed that way due to scheduling conflicts (LOL), that Archie was already shooting her new show, The Fall (which airs on BBC), and as such they couldn’t be in the same room. She also went as far as to basically call us sexist for expecting her character and Panjabi to interact; she said, “There’s no animosity on my part. It’s a shame, because I wonder, if it was two men, when one finds out that he fucked his best friend’s wife, if it would get that same attention, you know what I mean?”

LOL. Sister Julianna, we don’t expect the two of your characters to go back to being chummy. What we do expect is that you guys work through that or learn to co-exist, seeing as you work in the SAME FIRM! Or even have any sort of interaction face to face. If during that time, y’all can speak on the phone, guess what, you can do it face to face too! It’s not asking too much. It’s the realistic thing. You know what isn’t realistic? That in the years (two-and-a-half seasons) since that rift between the characters, they don’t see each other face to face even once, and they are in the same city! And for most of that time working for the same firm. This wouldn’t be getting any attention if y’all had done the realistic thing.

So Sister Julianna, you don’t get to play the sexist card. And the fact you did is just classless.

Now I respect Archie Panjabi. She’s been quite a professional about this. She hasn’t bad-mouthed any of them, either Margulies or the creators. That is, until Margulies made it seem as if she was at fault for the “split screen scandal”, and Panjabi replied with the quickness on twitter. There she basically says: First off, her new show hadn’t even started shooting, and she was in New York then, ready to shoot her scene.

So there ya go. I know who I believe. I wouldn’t care about this whole mess if the show went on being stellar. But the quality of the show has suffered for it. Season 6 was a mess. Hopefully, Season 7 does better. It seems though like it’s off to an okay start.

And I am not saying anything in particular oh, but three series regulars have left the show. First was Josh Charles (Will Gardner, left in season 5), then Archie Panjabi (Kalinda Sharma, left season 6), and Mathew Goode (Finn Paulmar, left in season 6). Whether this has anything to do with Margulies’ attitude on set, who knows? Y’all just keep creating the drama both behind the scenes and in front of it, and I’ll be here sipping tea and watching you, Julianna Margu-LIES!

TOP 5 FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM TV THIS WEEK

1. HAKEEM’S DISS TRACK AT LEVITICUS (EMPIRE): This was the highlight of this week’s episode for me. The performance was incredible and the lyrics were fire.
2. MELLIE STANDING UP TO FITZ (SCANDAL): Mellie ditching Fitz at the very last moment was the highlight of what was another bland Scandal episode. The man has really sacrificed nothing for her, and while she may be a power-hungry monster, she has always been willing to put his needs ahead of hers. I am glad she finally woke up, realized how selfish he is and moved on.
3. ALL OF “QUANTICO”: So of all the crappy new shows this fall, the only one that seems to be watchable is Quantico. It’s like a Grey’s-Anatomy-meets-HTGAWM hybrid. It’s got the timey-whammy intrigue of HTGAWM, and the academy-like feel of Grey’s. It’s obviously not as good as either show, and the acting leaves a lot to be desired. But it has potential and the lead actress serves good hair.
4. HESTER AND CHESTER (SCREAM QUEENS): I want more of this pairing. They were comedy gold this week, in what was an awesome Scream Queens episode. The Hester’s “Attack my crack” line has been stuck in my head all week.
5. THE ALEX KAREV THEMED EPISODE (GREY’S ANATOMY): So I have never been a fan of the Alex Karev character. Never liked the way he treated George or spoke about him in his death. Basically he is too much of a douche, but he was allowed to shine this week, and we get to see how much the character has developed in 12 seasons, both as a doctor and as a person, and the results were pretty cool.

TV SHOW I THINK YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT: So every other week, I’ll be giving you guys suggestions of “lesser known” TV shows that I think you should check out. This week’s is a show called Faking It. Faking It is a high school romantic comedy. It is set in Hester High School, Austin, where being different is what makes you popular. The lead characters are two best friends, Amy and Karma, who fake being a lesbian couple so as to be popular. As the series progresses though, one of the girls falls for the other one, and realizes that she isn’t really faking it anymore.

FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Do you think you’re man enough to take me inside that house and attack my crack?” – Hester (To Chad): Scream Queens

My favourite quote from TV this week was Hester’s line. It was unexpected and for a lot of people, myself included, who had been complaining about seeing traces of Rachael Berry in Lea Michele’s portrayal of Hester, there was nothing Rachael Berry about that line.

Written by Deola