The Magicians: The Writing Room

“Life ain't fair. Why in the holy fuck should death be any different? Thinking you could change anything—it’s such an act of monumental ego.”

For a while, this episode seems like a fun time for everyone. Julia gets to try for redemption by helping someone out. Quentin and friends go on a tour of Plover’s house (author of the Fillory books) and Quentin spends the entire time fanboying. Everything is sweet and warmhearted, until it all becomes painful and scarring. So, it’s a typical episode of The Magicians.

Doctor Who: Demons of the Punjab

Yaz: "I always cry at weddings."

After weeks of somewhat aimless offerings, this week we have a story and it was powerful.

Supergirl: Parasite Lost

James: Maybe you can’t change people’s minds by slamming doors in their faces.

After the Russian-speaking Supergirl clone in the tag of the last episode, I expected Russian stuff. We didn’t get it, but I didn’t miss it. Instead we had press-related themes, which I found interesting. How do you win hearts and minds? Not by punching people, but by reaching out to them.

The Magicians: The Strangled Heart

“What we love can be as important to us as our lives.”

Over the course of this episode (or the past few episodes) most of the Brakebills characters lose something they love, something they find precious. “The Strangled Heart” deals with the aftermath of losing such things.

The Gifted: iMprint

"You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."

This was a surprisingly good episode with only one thing that held it back from actually being great. But if this is the quality of episodes that The Gifted has for the rest of the season, then I really need to stop watching them almost a week later.

Outlander: America the Beautiful

"It isn't wrong to be alive, Sassenach."

Let's have some whisky for our misplaced highlander friends. Droughtlander is over.

Star Trek Enterprise: Fortunate Son

Captain Keene: "Going it alone's all we've ever done. For some of us, that's the reason we're out here. A chance to prove ourselves."

By nature I love brevity: Oh look. The writers suddenly remembered that Travis exists. This episode went a long way to giving Travis interesting material. Unfortunately, it's not a great story, and it doesn't do enough for Travis.

Legends of Tomorrow: Dancing Queen

"My name’s not really Rayge. In fact, it’s nothing anger related."

Ah, we've reached the third episode of the season and its traditional 'structural adjustments to the basic show setup at the expense of this particular episode's plotline' plotline.

But, damn that was a clever and enjoyable final act.

Supernatural: Nightmare Logic

"This case obviously ain't a milk run."

I am loving Sam's arc this season. How interesting that it brought him in conflict with "new" Bobby.

The Good Place: The Worst Possible Use of Free Will

Eleanor: "Can you believe that my high school voted me most likely to die young and unaccomplished?"
Michael: "You did die young and unaccomplished."

Eleanor makes Michael show her scenes from various reboots in the after-life – especially the reboot in which she and Chidi fell in love.

The Magicians: The Mayakovsky Circumstance

Mayakovsky: “Why the fox? Why not mollusk or firefly? Why?”
Quentin: “The fox knows and I knew... everything I needed to survive was me and it's not just to survive, but to be happy. I was... happy.”
Mayakovsky: “The fox is in you now—both of you. Feed it.”

So this is the one where Quentin and Alice literally mate like foxes.

Farscape: Unrealized Reality

Crichton is sucked into a wormhole and quizzed by an alien who is disturbed by his ability to predict them.

"I am not Kirk, Spock, Luke, Buck, Flash, or Arthur frelling Dent! I am Dorothy Gale from Kansas!"