About Last Night…BONES, CASTLE, HOSTAGES, and More

TV is back! Which is exclamation point-excitement worthy, and also probably enough to make your DVR weep a little.

Let’s get down to business and just talk about what went down…

BONES: As much fun as the undercover aspect of the episode was — and it was — I really, really appreciated that the show followed through on the threads from last week’s premiere: Booth and Brennan aren’t tragically sad, but they also aren’t 100% in sync; Angela and Booth definitely aren’t great. And honestly, what surprised me the most about “The Cheat in the Retreat” was the weight and emotion that was brought to the non-case/non-Booth and Brennan storyline with Cam’s ID theft. I was a bit surprised she was so fiercely independent that she wouldn’t let anyone help, but the moment when she broke down with Angela broke my heart a little bit. Also very interesting that the storyline was absolutely not wrapped up in terms of who did that to Cam…

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: There were some great moments in the premiere, and some moments I absolutely rolled my eyes at, but nothing in either episode came close to making feel what I felt when we got the Ted/Mother juxtaposition of a single Ted in present time. It’s one thing to meet the Mother, to see her interact with Lily, to hear Narrator!Ted’s commentary on her, but to actually see her with Ted…it brought tears to my eyes, something I totally didn’t see coming. I hope moments like that are peppered throughout the season.

THE VOICE: Really, really, really great talent so far in season 5. So far, no one has made it through where I questioned the sanity of the coaches. I think a few of the singers made the wrong call in the coach department, but that could always end up changing with the steal element of the Battle Round. Which singers have your attention so far? For me, it’s going to be hard for anyone to top Matthew Schuler.

SLEEPY HOLLOW: This was actually the only episode of the night I didn’t have a screener of, and with any first season show, there’s always a concern about what the quality of episode 2 will be. I was delighted/relieved to see that SH kept up the crazy in an appropriate way. The show remained smart, funny, creepy as heck, and we dove a little deeper into the central mythology and learned more about Abbie. I genuinely can’t wait to see what comes next.

MOM: As I alluded to earlier, the best moment in the pilot — for me — was the AA scene when Christy talked about her issues. But given how broad the show is, it stuck out, and I don’t know how they can really make that work in the show. I’ll give the show another couple of episodes, but it’s one of the comedies I’m least likely to stick with this year.

CASTLE: It’s been so long that we weren’t able to talk about what happened in the CASTLE premiere that being freely able to speak about it now feels strange! Beckett said yes! To both things! The full proposal scene made me feel better about the engagement in general, though I’m glad that Beckett voiced that she thought Castle was going to break up with her. As for the new work arrangement, I really loved what Lisa Edelstein’s McCord brought to the mix. If there was a way to clone Stana Katic, I would love to see McCord and Beckett solving cases in D.C. for 100 episodes.

Weirdly enough, I also loved the ending (where it was revealed Castle was poisoned and we got a TBC)…traditionally, cliffhangers that hang on whether the main/title character lives or dies makes me roll my eyes, but I fully appreciated not knowing that was coming and the surprise of it. So bring on the next part of the episode!

HOSTAGES: I. Love. It. I went into the pilot (months ago) wondering how they were going to stretch out the series to be anything beyond a movie plot. I loved that Ellen bought herself and her family two weeks by giving the president a blood-thinner so he couldn’t be operated on — it didn’t take back all the power, but it took back enough. I have so many questions about where this is going, and I’m excited to see it play out.

THE BLACKLIST: I. Love. It. (Part 2) I think part of the appeal of this will absolutely be where you fall on the James Spader scale of enjoyment, and as someone who tends to enjoy him, I loved how wickedly self-assured Red was. One of the things I didn’t see coming in the pilot was Liz’s husband being some sort of mysterious figure (I assumed they’d more go down the path of killing him off rather soon so ti would throw her further off balance), but that just can’t go anywhere good (for Liz). I’m hoping the big mysterious tie between Red and Liz isn’t that she’s his daughter, because it feels like the show should be just saying that if it’s the case, but we’ll see. I loved the pilot, but I’m very curious how the intensity will hold up on a case-by-case basis.

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So, what did you watch last night?

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