Deola’s Corner: Another Week Of TV (Edition 5)

DISCLAIMER: The following article contains spoilers from TV Shows of the past week. So if you haven’t SEEN the episodes of the week, and you detest spoilers, then I suggest you leave while you can. If you haven’t and you don’t mind spoilers, feel free to enjoy. If you have seen the episodes, then by all means read on and lets ki-ki.

So the World Series happened to be on this week, and so a couple of TV Shows, especially the ones on FOX, didn’t air any episodes this week. That meant no Empire or Scream Queens this week. For some reason, there wasn’t any Modern Family or Grey’s Anatomy either. Thankfully, there was HTGAWM and Scandal and a cocktail of other shows available to ensure that the absentees weren’t too missed.

Speaking of HTGAWM…

REVIEW OF THE WEEK: How To Get Away With Murder – S02E06 (Two Birds, One Millstone)

Flash Forward: We open with Annalise still flat-lining as she is being rushed through the hallways of the hospital. In comes Frank (Ta-da! He finally shows up at the flash-forwards; does this mean he wasn’t at the murder mansion that night? Hmmm), and he is chewing all the scenery available and leaving no leftovers. He is yelling, “IS SHE OKAY? TELL ME WHAT’S HAPPENING! DON’T LET HER DIE!” And I immediately feel as if someone doth protest too much. Well, it turns out it was all an act for the cameras, because he calmly walks to his car, gets in and of course someone has to be in the backseat. And who do we have? Murder Sibling Number 2 of course!

Flashback to two weeks earlier, and we get Laurel and Frank still being too hot for TV. Frank leaves to go shower and Laurel of course rummages through his things, as one does after many bouts of sex with their lover, right? Obviously Laurel has been bitten by the Wes paranoia bug. And as I am thinking about that, Frank comes out of the shower, all wet and shirtless, and I automatically lose my train of thought.

Cut to Connor and Oliver being cute as usual. Oliver hands Connor a list of the “bad things he could have done” and this serious, serious talk somehow ends up in them hooking up. #TrueLove #RelationshipGoals. Sigh. They are so happy; that should last.

The Murderous 4 are in class being paranoid as usual (sigh); they are acting like such amateurs. This isn’t your first murder, people. ACT PROFESSIONAL, JEEZ!

After having shown Asher the videotape from last week, Annalise finally gets Douche-face to change his mind and not testify. He tells her about Trotter Lake and she says she’d take care of it. I wonder what the Trotter Lake thing could be. Hmmm.

Annalise though doesn’t tell Bonnie how or why Asher changed his mind, which brings me to think that perhaps that little girl in the video wasn’t Bonnie after all. Just a thought. Anyhow, we get Asher talking to the Murderous 4 and what he says here makes me chuckle. He says, “Sorry I had to go all Jason Bourne on you guys, but your head will literally ka-plode if you knew about all the stuff that went on in this house.” LOL! See this one oh, you haven’t been in the game five minutes and you already think you are the main G.

Annalise does handle the Asher situation by going to soon-to-be-dead prosecutor and basically just yells ‘Witness tampering! Intimidation! Overzealous Law breaker! Jealousy! Egomania! RACISM!’ And just like that, Madam Prosecutor caves. Um, okay? After all that drama, that’s what it takes for you to give in? Colour me disappointed.

We get a case of the week in this episode though. It’s about this transgender woman (played by Alexandria Billings) who killed her husband. But don’t worry though; it was self defense, or so she says. This was a case that had the potential to be very interesting, but unfortunately there was only so much time they could give to the case, considering every other thing that was going on in the episode. PS: What is it with Annalise’s clients all going berserk at the wrong time? There was Crazy Mean Girl that went crazy in court two episodes ago. Then Murderous Sister last week. And now Professor Hartford going off on the detective on her case right at the crime scene: “I killed him because he was gonna kill me first. Don’t you dare use who I am against me or you’ll be next!” Someone slap some duck tape on her clients, biko.

Anyhow it’s obvious that she was guilty as fuck and that she had staged the crime scene (but only because she was scared of being found guilty and going to prison, as happened to Cece McDonald who was sent to men’s prison). So to get her off, Annalise gives the DA evidence of Asher’s dad’s instances of corruption on the bench, starting with the David Alan case from last season!

The other plot thread of the episode involved the Keating 5 finding another suspect in the Hapstall case – which they did. Apparently racist aunt gave a child of hers up for adoption, and how did they find this out? Through Oliver’s hacking superpowers of course. Well, so that means the motive of this elusive adopted son would be that seeing as his aunt, uncle, and mother are all dead and cousins in prison for murdering them, he’d be the only one left to inherit the family fortune.

Wes still has a case of the paranoid blues, and it’s getting worse. So Laurel tells him to confront Frank with his suspicions, which he does, and Frank tells him and Laurel that the money in the suitcase in the storage locker was hush money to keep Rebecca quiet. Wes still doesn’t seem to buy it though. Annalise goes to see him and brings up his mother’s suicide (hopefully this puts that weird ass theory of Annalise being his mother to bed, or does it?) as the root of his distrust of people around him. She says she doesn’t know where Rebecca is and she swears she is telling the truth (while still lying her ass off of course; this just goes to show that Annalise will handle anyone anyhow). She isn’t out of Wes’ building when she calls Frank to ask whether Rebecca’s body has been “taken care of”. Cold, Anna. Very cold.

Flash-forward: We see Frank carry a body over his shoulder. We see that it’s Murder Sibling Number 2 in her PJs with some blood on it. And she looks dead. He drops the body in the woods and takes off. Cut to a cop finding the body, and Bam! Murderous Sister wakes up!

Other Tidbits:

• It must be such a thrill for these actors to be in intense scenes with Viola Davis. This week was Wes in a really intense scene with Annalise, and Alfred Enoch was really good. Viola seems to elevate their acting game. Good stuff.
• What does Frank’s dramatic plea at the beginning of the episode mean? Isn’t he loyal to Annalise anymore? If he is, what was the point of the show he put on for the cameras?
• Murderous Sister was in her PJs and had blood on her. Not as much as Bonnie had on her last episode, just a splash. So perhaps she was nearby when Annalise got shot? And when Murderous Brother asks Michaela in Episode 4’s flash-forward, “How is she?”, perhaps he was referring to his sister?
• Michaela has been undressing Murderous Brother with her eyes for quite a while now, and it’s only a matter of time before they hookup.
• Asher’s father basically disowns him in this episode. Douche-face’s naivety though. Like Annalise said, it’s time he grew up. All the other kids have.
• Speaking of Asher, I knew Trotter Lake was gonna be bad, but gang rape? Ayayai! I don’t wanna jump to conclusions, but this isn’t looking good.
• Frank taking Laurel to see his family was pretty cool. If they are his family, that is, because Frank can make up a fake family. Just saying. (Looks like the Wes paranoid bug has stung me a bit)
• Nate’s wife passed away (or rather, he helped her pass away), and part of the episode saw Annalise going to his place to ‘console’ him, and like I said before, Viola Davis has a way of elevating her scene partners’ performances, because Billy Brown was really good in those scenes. Annalise can’t seem to win with both the men in her life (Wes and Nate, that is).
• And finally, Oliver keeps digging and finds the identity of the Secret baby. He’s a 26-year-old white male named Philip Jesep, and he happens to live TWO miles from the murder mansion. Oliver didn’t stop there though; he hacks into Philip’s computer, and as he and Connor are conversing, we see that creepy Secret baby has done some sort of reverse hack and is WATCHING THEM THROUGH OLLIE’S WEBCAM! I know this is TV land and nothing good lasts forever and bad things happen, but biko please, leave these two alone, especially Ollie! He is too precious to be harmed. *choked sob*

Favorite Quote in Episode: “I don’t care about making Annalise happy. I care about making sure you don’t get in trouble for all this crap that we do.” – Connor (to Oliver)

[Michaela: “Did your mother drop you on your head as a baby? Because we get it, your sad little girlfriend flaked out on you.”

[Wes: “You mean, got killed?”

[Michaela: “No, that’s the tall tale your little weenie brain made up. So do whatever you can do to silence the lambs or I will serial kill you!”] – Michaela (to Wes)

“Right now, I have to go handle a bitch.” – Annalise (to Frank, in reference to the ADA )

“Everything wrong about our lives is about you.” – Michaela (to Wes)

Rating: 7/10. The case of the week had potential but fell rather flat. We are two episodes away from finding out who shot Annalise and the intensity is getting dialed up. Good episode. Famke Janssen as Eve returns next week; should be a good one.

PS: When exactly are we going to find out what Sam Keating had on Frank that was so huge, he was able to get him to murder Lila in last season?

REVIEW: SCANDAL – S05E06 (Get Out Of Jail, Free)

Scandal was also quite good this week. This week was basically a ‘Let’s see who can shade Fitzgerald Grant best’ episode. An episode about putting Fitz in his place; no wonder I enjoyed it so much. I’ll be picking my top 5 favorite moments from the episode:

MELLIE VS FITZ: Seriously, basically everyone was in on the Fitz takedown this week, and they were all enjoyable. But Mellie’s was particularly delicious. Fitz is really something, isn’t he? I mean, he is finally getting what he wants, Mellie is signing the divorce papers, he gets to be with Olivia, and he just couldn’t help but throw a comment like “There’s nothing left for you take” out there. And he keeps bringing up those dead jurors. Umm, ‘West Angola’, Fitz. Enough said. But Mellie replies so well that I was left with my jaw on the floor when she was done.

She says: “Every imaginative scenario, they’re all in with you, Fitz.

Don’t you get it?

You are the common denominator here!

You are the root cause of everything!

I would still have my dignity if it wasn’t for you!

I would still have my career if it wasn’t for you!

Those jurors would still be alive if it wasn’t for you!

I would have gotten to see Jerry, attend his senior prom if it wasn’t for you.

I wouldn’t have had to bury my baby if it wasn’t for you.

I wouldn’t even have had kids

I wouldn’t have married you

I wouldn’t have forced myself to stomach you and your disgusting father lying on top of me

I would have had something, been something, done something…

I wouldn’t have wasted twenty years, propping you up, making you feel okay about your pathetic mediocrity, petting you and applauding you

My life would have meant something…if it wasn’t for you.

Good bye, Fitz.”

Now, one can argue that Fitz didn’t ask for any of the sacrifices that Mellie has made for him, and they would be right. But guess what, she made them anyway. And so, the least he can do is appreciate her for what she has done. You see the thing is, Fitz has never loved Mellie. This was an arranged marriage, and he has never been happy with his father for that. So he takes all those feelings and vents them on Mellie and is constantly treating her unfairly. Mellie herself is no saint, she is a power-hungry monster who wants power and is not apologetic about it. But guess what, she was also forced into this marriage. Instead of constantly whining about it though, she has tried to make it work every single time, she has always had his back, always done what was best for Fitz and his presidency. Does she do that because she stands to gain something from his tenure? Hell yes! But she is always a willing member of this team of theirs, and she plays her part, even though she goes overboard at times.

The sad thing though is that she actually fell in love with Fitz, and is constantly hurt when she realizes over and over again that he’ll never love her. I think at some point, she was ready to deal with that, but the thing is, not only does Fitz not love her, he also doesn’t care for or respect her. I mean, in the previous episode, they agreed not to hurt each other, and what does Fitz do next? He goes to Olivia’s house and takes her out in front of the whole world. The lack of respect is galling, and he says she has taken everything from him? LOL! The nerve! Why does Olivia love Fitz so much again? Maybe it’s cause they are both selfish people. (See next point for clarification)

JAKE HANGING UP ON OLIVIA TWICE!!: I so enjoyed this! I get that Olivia and Jake are friends now, but how selfish does she have to be to keep doing what she’s been doing? This is a man who so clearly loves you, and who you have left for your other lover. This man also happens to be friends with that your lover, and yet when you and your lover have issues, it’s Jake that is the first person you call. What happened to Abby? I mean, if you can’t talk to Huck or Quinn, at least you can talk to Abby. Does she not see that she is obviously hurting Jake, or is she so selfish that she doesn’t care? Me doth think it’s the latter. Good for you, Jake. Stand up for yourself!

DRUNK DAVID ROSEN AND SUSAN ROSS: These two should hang out more often. And they should preferably be drunk while doing so. I have always loved the Susan Ross character; she is such a breath of fresh air! And she legitimately seems like the only actual good person in DC on this show.

OLIVIA VS MELLIE: Clap for yourself, Bellamy Young and Kerry Washington. These two are another pairing I always enjoy, and this episode was no different. There were two different showdowns, one at the beginning of the episode and the other at the end, and they were both glorious. Olivia finding out the real reason Fitz kicked Mellie out of the White House and Mellie finding out the man she met last season, the man behind the massacre of those jurors, Damascus Bainbridge, is actually Eli Pope, who happens to be Olivia’s father, who happens to be the man that killed her son. That’s a lot to take in, and these two actresses really brought their A game to this scene.

SALLY LANGSTON AND THE LIBERTY REPORT: I am so glad they managed to somehow keep Kate Burton’s Sally Langston around. After her stint as the VP ended, I was afraid that was the last we would see of her character. Thankfully they kept her around in the best way possible. Having her serve as a commentator to the juicy mess going on in the show is just awesome. She gets really good lines and she is still obviously a force to be reckoned with behind the desk of the Liberty Report.

Other Tidbits: Where was Elizabeth North in this episode? I expected her to cause havoc following Cyrus’ return, but I guess there was no time for that, seeing as the episode was already jam-packed. Although a mention would have been nice though.

I knew it wasn’t going to last and that it is only going to be a matter of time before Eli is out again in the world causing havoc. Shonda Rhimes just can’t seem to quit this character and the B6-13 storyline that comes with him.

Fitz proposes, and after thinking about it, Olivia says yes, and then decides not to go through with it at the last minute, and instead gets Mellie to free her dad so that she doesn’t have to testify, when getting married to Fitz would have offered the same solution. Let that sink in for a minute, people. Olivia Pope would rather free her murdering monster of father from prison than get married to Fitz. If that doesn’t tell you how unhealthy and doomed this relationship is, I don’t know what will.

Olivia sending the ring back to Fitz through Abby though. Tacky. So you can’t talk to Abby about the things going on in your life, but you can have her do your dirty work? Yep, sounds right to Selfish Olivia.

And then there is Mellie. You just find out that this is the man responsible for killing your son, and what’s the next logical step? Freeing him of course, so that Olivia will owe you one and can one day make you the POTUS. I told you guys she is a power-hungry monster.

Favorite Quotes: “The president’s behaviour is disgusting.” – Vice President Susan Ross (to David)

“You can’t prosecute a man for sleeping around. We’d have no presidents.” – Susan Ross (to David)

“They say when you have an affair, there’s two other people in bed with you.” – David Rosen (to Susan)

“I don’t know if you’d be a great president, but I know you wouldn’t be any worse than what we have now. At least, unlike the man who is currently occupying that job, you wouldn’t snag everyone around you in your zipper.” – David Rosen (to Susan)

“So are you ready, Susan Ross, to take your place as the second female President of the United States, because as we all know, my friends, I was the first.” – Sally Langston (on the Liberty Report )

Rating: 7/10

TOP 3 FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM TV THIS WEEK

1. Stevie McCord’s Growth (Madam Secretary): Part of the reason why I enjoy Madam Secretary so much is because of the family dynamics. Each kid is distinctly written and well portrayed, and their relationships with their parents are something that I think is very relatable. This week, Stevie who has so far been the black sheep of the family was embroiled in a scandal. Semi nude photos of her and her “boyfriend” (the President’s son) were threatened to be published, with more risqué ones to be released if needs weren’t met. What was interesting, apart from seeing her parents’ reaction to the scandal, was her reaction. She remained calm and was mature about it, realizing that she had indeed messed up. The Stevie from Season 1 would have gone all whiny and done something even rash. What won me over again was her reaction to the perpetrator and their conversation when he was apprehended. One particular thing she said struck me: “I just wanted to get to know you as a person, so I wouldn’t reduce you to one stupid thing that you did. See how that works?” Meaning if the perpetrator had thought of her as a person, instead of a means to a quick payout, he wouldn’t have done what he had done. I like this new Stevie. More of her please!
2. Being Mary Jane (Being Mary Jane): It’s really easy for some TV shows to get lost in the shuffle for me. I completely forgot that Being Mary Jane was to premiere last week and I had to catch up on all three episodes this week. Being Mary Jane is a really good show, and had it been on one of the “Big Four” networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, CW), it would have been more popular. I am going to skip past all the accident drama that happened in the first two episodes, as they weren’t exciting for me. For now, I am not feeling the storyline with Loretta Devine. The most exciting thing in those first two episodes was Mary Jane’s father punching David, and Mary Jane strutting back to work in that red number with Boss Ass Bitch playing in the background at the end of the second episode.

The third episode though was where the real drama happened. Lisa, MJ’s long time friend, committed suicide. Now there was something about the way this scene was shot. Lisa looked beautiful. She looked peaceful as she went about taking pill after pill. There was no melodrama about the scene, so it was quietly shocking and devastatingly sad. As always, each character reacts differently. Mary Jane takes the predictable route of “postponing her sadness”, you know, being occupied with things like planning the funeral instead of dealing with the tragedy at hand, which only meant a breakdown was inevitable. Her mother went the route of self pity, claiming “they killed Lisa”. What did rub me off the wrong way was MJ’s reaction to every single person, acting like she was the only one allowed to grieve. And that has always been my problem with Mary Jane; she has this sense of entitlement that reminds me of Fitzgerald Grant from Scandal. Hers is obviously not as chronic as Fitz (that nigga be crayzee), but it’s pretty close. Lisa’s parents may have deserved all that abrasiveness, but David didn’t, and her mother didn’t either. MJ’s over-the-top reaction to the David’s talk at the funeral was so cringe-worthy. As much as David is to blame for most likely stringing Lisa along (consciously or not), Mary Jane also shares a big part of that blame for the way she constantly talked to/treated Lisa. This is someone she claims to love (and knows is mentally ill), but for as long as I have watched this show, it seems that Mary Jane is always on Lisa’s head, trying to make her understand that she is better. Now Lisa ain’t no saint, but the least MJ could have done was accept some of that blame instead of pushing it unto everyone but herself. MJ even talks about breaking down after seeing some dress that Lisa had told her to buy. What I would have appreciated was seeing that scene instead of seeing MJ talking about it. I don’t know if Gabrielle Union doesn’t have the range (I doubt that) or something, but instead of having her talk about her “grief”, we should have been allowed to see it.

I also didn’t like that this episode and the funeral was all about what Mary “felt” was okay. Lisa dies and MJ still somehow manages to make it all about herself. Get your head outta your ass, biko!

In the end, she delivered a heartwarming eulogy, where she revealed that Lisa was molested from the time she was 9 till she was 16. It was obvious that Lisa lived in pain. This was a good episode; I think it would have been great if less time was spent on Mary Jane and more time on Lisa. And if they were going to spend time on MJ, then let it be that she is reeling from the fact that her last talk with Lisa was most likely what drove her to her decision.

Favourite Quotes: “I must have asked her a thousand times, how are you? I mean how are you, but I…I don’t know if I actually wanted to hear her truth. I don’t think any of us did.” – Mary Jane

“Just make sure you tell everyone that you love that you will love them, no matter how ugly their truth is. You’ll still love ‘em.” – Mary Jane

“I realized that I am liar. I’m a big liar and a good liar. We all are. We are all just pretending that we’re okay when we are really not. And you know, it’s not even like it’s enough for just us to lie, we really expect everyone else to lie too. It’s like we are all afraid that the whole world is gonna come falling down if we are honest with one another all of the time.” – Mary Jane

“Did you sleep with David? Yes or no? Now I know how you kids like to be technical so. Did his penis enter in any hole in your body?” – Helen Patterson (to Lisa)

“I am sitting here in this hospital waiting for my daughter to get out of surgery, and to learn that it’s because you couldn’t say no to one penis!” – Helen Patterson (to Lisa)

“You know what, that’s the problem, is that people see suicide as a weakness. It’s an illness.” – Kara Lynch

3. Paula’s Empowering Song (Crazy Ex Girlfriend): Crazy Ex Girlfriend is a new comedy musical on the CW. The show is decent ish and is charming enough to keep me interested so far. The songs are really good and are the strengths of the show. This week featured a rather hilarious “empowering” song titled Face Your Fears by Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin). It was very smart and the song has been stuck in my head all week. You guys can check it out on youtube. Cool Stuff.

PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK:

1. Bellamy Young (Scandal): Bellamy was everything as Mellie Grant this week. When she finds out that Eli Pope Olivia’s father was responsible for her son’s death, one could easily see the breakdown as it happened, the reopening of old wounds, and it must have felt like she was just finding out that her son was dead again. Her face-off with Olivia and her takedown of Fitz, Bellamy owned every scene. Emmy-worthy stuff!
2. Tim Daly (Madam Secretary): Tim Daly as Henry McCord was really good this week, His reaction when he found out that his daughter’s privacy had been violated was really cool. Choosing to be supportive instead of crucifying her, as he believed the public was going to do enough of that. His eventual blow-up on National TV at the anonymous caller who questioned his stance on morality by using his daughter’s recent scandal was also glorious to watch. Really good stuff from Tim Daly this week.

Oh, and for fans of Da Vinci’s Demons, the final season premiered last week. All the episodes must have leaked or something, because they are all available online. Also, Super-Girl, a new superhero TV show from Greg Berlanti (The Flash, Arrow), premiered this week. I’ll talk about that next week.

That’s it for the week, folks. Your turn, sound off!

Written by Deola