TV.com

show: Alias

episode: Search and Rescue

The Bottom Line: "Superb"

At the start of season 4, I swore off ALIAS upon learning that my favourite character, Irina, had apparently been killed. But as the season progressed, and we found out that Lena Olin had agreed to come back for a few episodes, the action got too good to pass up.

This is one of my favourite episodes of the entire series, never mind S4. Everything crackles - the rescue of Irina, the scenes on the plane, Yelena's endgame, even Vaughn and Chase are great. And oh, when Jack and Irina finally get to talk. There are no words for how great Victor and Lena's chemistry is.

I wish I had more coherent things to say - Jack and Irina are very much my OTP and watching them be thrown apart by crap writing in the series finale destroyed any respect I had for JJ Abrams. I just love this ep because it's a prime example of what can happen when a fantastic cast gets to work with an equally fabulous guest star. A personal favourite.

show: House

episode: Autopsy

The Bottom Line: "Superb"

This is one of my favourite House episodes ever. It's only not a 10 because it does turn a bit didactic. But really. This episode teaches and asks you questions in a way that you don't know you're learning, and that's impressive - I, for one, don't watch network TV for morals. The entire cast is on fire, especially Robert Sean Leonard (Wilson) and Jesse Spencer (Chase). This is especially a wonderful episode for Chase because we start to see just how compassionate he is with kids in trouble - so often everyone sees him as nothing but ambitious, or slimy, even. Chase has a very pronounced soft spot. And he had wonderful chemistry with the little girl - at the very end when Andie is leaving the hospital, and Chase hugs her? I lost it. It wasn't House that made me sniffle. It was Chase and the way we were shown he isn't beyond redemption. I think that was a big theme of this episode, and it's a big theme of this show as a whole.

show: Alias

episode: All the Time in the World (2)

The Bottom Line: "Bad"

I was a rabid ALIAS watcher for a lot of years. I stopped watching at the beginning of S5 when they murdered Vaughn. Even if he came back, it wasn't the same without him. However, I figured I'd better tune in for the series finale. God, what a nightmare. They simply tried to do too much - I appreciated the resolving of the Rambaldi question, and I thought Ron Rifkin's performance was absolutely inspired. It's the only reason I rated this as high as I did. But wasting the talents of people like Mia Maestro and David Anders - yeesh. Both could have made their parts in the finale amazing and they simply had nothing to work with. I'm angriest, however, about the fate of the Spyparents. Jack and Irina were my favourite characters on the show, for their chemistry, their past and everything they shared. They were reduced to an impotent ideologue and an over-the-top Cold War villain in this episode, and I was furious. Irina in particular - she's far too complex a character to give in to simple power methods! She's too brilliant to think that she can just hijack nuclear armaments without any consequence whatsoever! And the fact that they died with no closure of any kind - Sydney didn't even tell her mother about her father - that hurt the most. Just overall? J.J. Abrams clearly has no respect for his fans when he pulls things like this. It's a cheap, crass way to end a fantastic show. I'd have been happier if the show had ended after four seasons - at least they'd have gone out on top.

show: Grey's Anatomy

The Bottom Line: "Fair"

I tried to like this show. I did. The premise is great. The cast is acclaimed and I like a lot of them, especially Sandra Oh. Also, being a huge Supernatural fan, I watched to see what Jeffrey Dean Morgan could do when faced with slightly more earthly problems. :) I'm not trying to trash talk anyone or anything personally, but I'm not feeling it. The dialogue is very wooden. The premise is solid, and yet I don't know. I wasn't feeling for any of the characters. I had high hopes for the relationship between Izzy and Denny, and yet I just got put off by Izzy. I understand she was trying to save the man she loved in doing what she did, but it got to be over the top. Even Jeffrey Dean Morgan couldn't save that storyline for me.

Between the off-set fighting and the wooden dialogue, I'll give Seattle Grace a pass. It reads like a soap opera in prime time, and that's perfectly fine - it's just definitely not my cup of tea.