ProWrap – Week of November 13th, 2016

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ProWrap consists of quick reviews of the television shows we don’t cover with full reviews or podcast episodes during the week.

Secrets and Lies – S2E7 – “The Statement” | Sundays at 9pm | ABC

I’m totally convinced the writers just threw all the dirty secrets they could imagine at the wall… and everything stuck. Patrick stole $12 million from the company, Amanda had sex with Neil, Neil is back at work after coming clean to Eric (Neil’s in love with Amanda), and Melody is running an escort service (that Danny’s missing daughter is mixed up in). Oh, and their dad may have cancer and lied about it.

At this point, I’m not even sure I care about who killed Kate. I’m just curious to see how lowdown and scandalous the show is going to get before we find out. Grade: B ~ ProFan Nina 

Elementary – S5E6 – “Ill Tidings” | Sundays at 10pm | CBS

We all love elaborately crafted intrigue set in peculiar locations with characters that muddle in the grey, exhibiting questionable motives and eager to hide the skeletons in the closet. Clearly, or else Elementary wouldn’t be nearly a third into its fifth season. However, in Holmes and Watson’s latest sojourn into mystery, the stage and players engaged therein were straight up overkill.

The first death in “Ill Tidings” occurred in a trendy restaurant after the head chef takes a header during service. Soon after, Sherlock learns patrons from the night before all died, sharing the general symptoms of being snake bitten. While discovering their importance in global internet security and concurrently, the US stock exchange, Joan and Sherlock initially believed it to be a preemptive strike before a massive cyber-attack on the economy.

Nope. It was just about silly art.

Not even the mildly amusing b plot about Detective Bell’s crush on a DA could deflect the sheer madness the culprits of the art heist went through in order to snag a couple paintings in the lobby of the Stock Exchange. If the multiple murders weren’t bad enough, the suspects weren’t even that great at covering up their tracks. In fact, they turned on one another and left even more clues! “Ill Tidings” was a weird, messy episode overall; although Jonny Lee Miller managed to draw viewers in with Holmes’ growing humanity. Emotions are beginning to get the better of him and for the first time in his thoroughly organized life, his relationship with Fiona (Betty Gilpin) has made him question if love is indeed a critical element for a fulfilling life. Grade: C ~ ProFan Rex

This Is Us – S1E7 – “The Best Washing Machine in the Whole World” | Tuesdays at 10pm | NBC

It’s always been clear that Toby isn’t as serious as Kate when it comes to losing weight. Kate struggles to stay on her diet only to lose a pound (and a quarter!) after a few weeks, yet watches as Toby sheds the weight easily despite bingeing on junk food. He finally admits that he’s done; he’ll eat well when with her, but he’s going to eat as he pleases on his own. He’s so firm on this decision that Kate agrees, yet allows him to eat a decadent dessert after their sensible dinner. And you can totally see she resents him for it. She deals with it by eating powdered donuts in her car. The relationship cannot continue this way, and the sad part is that it doesn’t feel like either of them are wrong. The first step needs to be Kate being honest about how important weight loss is to her, and what she needs from Toby in order to stay committed. And then he needs to decide if he can do it.

Randall’s wife, Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson), is the unsung hero of this show. She doesn’t hesitate to put her foot down when need be, and she’s extremely accommodating with Randall’s recent family issues. Beth’s probably the most realest, honest person on the show. That’s why the events in “Washing Machine” have put her in such a difficult position. While Randall and Kevin have a guys’ night out, Beth spends time with William. After a few pot brownies she made to help him with chemo effects, William lets it slip that he met with Rebecca when Randall was an infant. He begs her not to tell Randall. William is worried about damaging the relationship his son has with the woman who raised him, but Beth has very real and understandable concerns about what keeping the secret could do to her marriage.

Randall’s bond with Rebecca is real and we learn via flashbacks to his time in high school playing football against Kevin’s team that their connection was the main cause of Kevin’s nasty attitude towards Randall while they were growing up. He’s only able to admit this to Randall after the two have an awkward dinner out, which ends with them rolling around (I’m not calling that fighting) on the street. Kevin felt he never got attention, because Rebecca was so concerned with making Randall feel not just wanted and loved, but special. When he admits this, Randall also reveals he was aware of the special treatment and ate it up because the one person he wanted to give him affection (Kevin) didn’t. These scenes were equal parts heartbreaking and funny. Kudos to all involved with ellicting these conflicting emeotions with this superb writing and acting. Grade: A+ ~ ProFan Nina

American Horror Story 6 – S6E10 – “Chapter 10” | Wednesdays at 10pm | FX

American Horror Story kept the theme of its sixth under wraps right up until the season premiere aired. After months of disturbing promos, we learned the season would be a show within a show. Through dramatic reenactments, a reality show covered a couple’s time in a haunted home in the south. Then it became about the second season of that show, which brought back the “real life” people and the actors who portrayed them, all so they could spend three terror-filled nights in the real haunted house… for the show, of course. Then it became about a reality show dissected the troubled life of the lone survivor of those events. THEN it became about a ghost hunting reality show.

As a whole, this season could have focused on the toxicity in reality TV and the internet, and/or what people are willing to do to go viral. That would have been fine. Unfortunately it touched on all of those things, but in the last few episodes of the season it forgot to be scary. Grade: C ~ ProFan Nina 

Star Wars Rebels – S3E7 – “Iron Squadron” | Saturdays at 8:30pm | Disney XD

It’s bad enough that Ezra continues to defy orders and get his pals in Phoenix Squadron in more trouble than they should, but in this week’s installment of Rebels, they double down with an exceedingly frustrating kid who believes himself a one-man army against the whole of the Empire.

The Ghost is assigned to assist in the evacuation of Mykapo, the home planet of Phoenix Squadron’s Commander Sato (Keone Young). Before the operation could get underway, Hera, Sabine and Ezra become acquainted with Iron Squadron – a run-down Corellian light freighter piloted by a trio of most egotistical teens in the entire galaxy. They did an admirable job defending Mykapo against a few TIE squadrons and transports, but the worse is yet to come with Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) systematically annexing planets with Rebel ties.

Although dealing with Ezra and his equally obstinate peers was a bit of grueling endeavor for what’s typically an exciting half hour, “Iron Squadron” was able to feature every lead (where has Zeb been for most of this season?) and inject some humor in a mostly droll episode thanks to Chopper and Iron Squadron’s rival droid, R3. If anything, the final moments of “Iron Squadron” signified that Rebels is gearing up for Thrawn’s masterpiece of a plan. Hopefully it’ll be executed sooner rather than later as the current lull in the Rebel Alliance’s effort has become more of a chore to watch than a must-see event. Grade: C- ~ ProFan Rex

You can read full reviews of the shows we covered last week below:

Pitch, The Blacklist, Supernatural, The Walking Dead, Z Nation,The Exorcist, Quantico, The Flash, Gotham, Lucifer, Supergirl, Westworld, Queen Sugar, Jane the Virgin, Arrow, The Vampire Diaries