DOA on TV

Monday

Manifest

The main mysteries connected with Flight 828 are in the background this week.  Ben meets his "replacement" in the hearts of Grace and Olive, a scraggly fellow named Danny.  Betrayal city, Olive gets caught shoplifting and calls Danny to break her out instead of her dad who has been working so hard to be her dad again.  Ouch.

Michaela is side-winded by her partner and ex-love Jared tricking some extra time with her on a stakeout so he can figure out what is going on with her.   She was soooo close to telling him everything when he said she'd end up in a psychiatric facility if she kept acting as she was.   Close call!   Zipped lips, I got nothing, la la.

Saanvi works with the stewardess from the aircraft to help a stowaway(! ) from Flight 828 find his old love, the stewardesses' nephew, in New York.  The NSA is right on their tail, looking for that stowaway.


Tuesday

This Is Us

A completely Jack-centric episode that shows his life over time, from his meeting up with his brother Nick in Vietnam, all the way back to Nick's birth in 1948.   Given the family's terrible life, the drunken, abusive father, it was a rough episode.  I think it would have been better spread out over the season.

It was promoted as the episode that shows how Jack became Jack, but I don't think it did at all. Nor did it give any real personality to his brother Nick.

The only good thing I took from the episode was that there was a time, way back at Nick's birth, when Jack's father was a good guy who didn't drink.   For a time.   Jack's grandfather visited the hospital, providing a mirror of what Jack's father would become.  Poor little Jack, his face when his grandfather came in.   Then to have his father turn into that man and worse.


The Flash

Yikes, I missed the first return episode Nora the previous week.   I want to like the girl, but I don't think I do.   She's a big fan girl of Barry's and is really just cold and dismissive to Iris, who I love, and who you don't treat that way, kid or not.

I think it would be awful to meet your child who's in their mid-late twenties and you missed all the dreaming of what they might be.  All those sweet baby moments and the wonderful years of childhood.

Barry apparently disappears forever, is the excuse, and she wanted to see him for herself.   That I can understand, but she's just not very nice.

Blocked was the episode of the week, with more Nora, and trying to train her in the speed force, trying to slow down her enthusiasm and thoughtlessness.

Enter a new villain called Cicada who makes cicada noises (really) while killing people.  Chirp, chirp, you're dead!

The interesting thing there is that he and Nora seem to know each other.



Wednesday

Survivor

They could call this the Twist Episode.

Bi who has torn her MCL (? ) voluntarily leaves the game so she doesn't injure it further and put her career in jeopardy.

Planned anyway, they say, was a split of the tribe into three new tribes.  The twist here is one person (Carl) got no tribe, and he'd go to Exile Island for now, then at Tribal he'd get the spot of whoever got popped.

While at Exile he found an intriguing new advantage in a coconut that will allow him to block immunity for a player who is going to play it at tribal.  So he needs to be sure the person has an Immunity Necklace, then has to vote against its use on his voting turn at tribal.   If he's wrong and none are played or a different person plays theirs, it's gone.


Not Cut Out For This Game:    Gabby

Tossed Opportunity In the Dumper With An All New Tribe and New Start:  Natalie

Favorite:  Christian

Most Likely to Go:    I could not decide between Gabby, Natalie and Elizabeth.   Shocker:  Natalia of Mean Girls International got the boot.   An understandable but stupid move that means the former David tribe members now have the voting numbers to control the vote in their tribe.


Thursday


The Good Place

Michael and Janet,  caught red handed with the inter-dimensional doorway, go ahead and explain everything to the four erstwhile unsaveable humans.

Eleanor, who is most on top of things with ideas to salvage the situation in every incarnation of their Good Place/Bad Place scenarios, decides that since they are busted and they can't even get points anymore to ever get to the Good Place, they'll use their time on earth to help others make it to the Good Place.  Kinda touching.

Chidi with no shirt on!  Holy moleans, Rocky.   


Murphy Brown

Murphy's station wants her to interview an extremist politico who wants to go head to head on her show.   The ratings will be great, but Murphy decides giving him airtime would be a mistake and she declines the interview.

He waylays her at Phil's bar and has the conversation he wanted to have.  I was all admiration for the way she handled it.  She told him exactly what she thought of him and his ideas, in calm voice, very smooth.  Off he went, steaming.

At home, her son is watching a video someone at the bar captured on their phone of the confrontation.



Friday

Van Helsing

Vanessa is in 1896 Hong Kong, trying to find out why the East India Company is involved with vampires and the B'ah Elder herself. 

The episode has rare light moments as Vanessa walks through the ancient streets, actually smiling as she takes it all in.   Seeing her in Victorian dress, and fussing uncomfortably with her pinned up hair, was such fun.

I loved the Governor's helpful wife, a Seward by birth.

Master Tsui, who tried to help Vanessa train to fight the B'ah in the short time they had was patient yet blunt with her.  She countered with withering remarks about Yoda and "wax on, wax off".

Lilly's husband, who seemed supportive in the previous episode, was completely different here, having no patience with any talk of vampires.  Until he was surrounded by them.



Sunday

Doctor Who     "Rosa"

The Tardis directs the Doctor and her companions to Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.   There are some mysterious signatures/readings that shouldn't exist until the far future in the town, so they decide to see what the cause is since the Tardis won't return them to Sheffield, England, their home.

The villain is some prisoner from the future who decides that the Montgomery Bus Boycott is where the timeline started to go bad.   He can't harm Rosa because of restraints in his brain, but he plans to force small changes that will undo the event.

The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz work to find Rosa's schedule, where she works, and what bus she'd be taking, so they can be there to make sure history isn't changed.

Rosa Parks as played by Vinette Robinson was so smart, dignified and elegant.  How could anyone stand up against such a lady?

I've liked Ryan's character from the start, and I loved that he got to meet Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King.   I think he's a really thoughtful young man, and his experiences on the Tardis are really going to shape him into a remarkable person.