Television! Brought to you this week by three different reviewers, some of whom had similar takes on the same show and some of whom disagreed to slight (and slightly less slight degrees)! I would write more, but man, I am sort of exhausted! And sort of wish I could curl up with some DVDs right now, instead of other things. So how about I pretend I’m doing that and you guys talk about what you thought of shows this week in the comments. Deal?

Scott

Damages: “The Next One’s Gonna Go in Your Throat”
*SPOILERS OMG* It’s probable that we saw the final episode of Damages last week, and I’m OK with that. The Hitchcock and Lynch influences that elevated the first season to such creepy, nerve-wracking greatness never really repeated themselves in the flailing, confusing Season 2 or the back-to-business but rarely great Season 3. Season 1 unraveled a fairly simple mystery with an endlessly appealing atmosphere; Seasons 2 and 3 gave us labyrinthine capers with the feel of a late-era episode of The Practice. Given how much the middle of this season sagged, though, I was surprised that a large part of this season/probably series finale was pretty gripping. Most of the action focused on the machinations of the great Martin Short’s Leonard Winstone, a con man with lofty aspirations whose Hannibal Lecter-esque escape to an island paradise was a great exit for the show’s most fascinating character since Art Frobisher and Ray Fiske. Speaking of which, both of them returned this week, with Frobisher finally going down for murder while talking his problems out with Ghost Fiske. Frobisher’s a great character who still doesn’t belong outside of Season 1, but it’s always great to see Ted Danson on TV (though I preferred his appearance as Little Danson Man on Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! this week). Also, Tom died, with Tate Donovan giving the performance of his career before being ignominiously drowned in a toilet. I would like to take this opportunity to ask the world to please drag me out of the bathroom if you ever find my corpse face down in a toilet.

Breaking Bad: “Sunset”
*AGAIN WITH THE SPOILERS* Jesus, this is seriously the best show on TV right now by a mile. Anybody who complains about their shows not going anywhere week after week needs to see how Breaking Bad is handling things. This is the kind of show where the season’s big bad decides he wants to kill the protagonist one week and is standing in his bedroom with an axe the next week with about a quarter of the episode left to go. Halfway through this episode, Walt finds himself in a evidence-infested RV with his DEA brother-in-law Hank prying the door off with a freakin’ crowbar. Seriously, how will this resolve itself? Then, everything is flipped on us again as the predator becomes the prey, when Walt’s actions, which have already directly killed his partner’s girlfriend and indirectly killed an entire plane full of people, may end up killing his own brother-in-law…because he saved Walt’s life last year. This is getting my nerves all addled just writing about it.

Zoe

Community: “Contemporary American Poultry”
Confession time: I have never seen the The Godfather , Goodfellas or any classic mafia/mob movie, really. It’s a glaring hole in my film repertoire and you’d think it would have made this episode torture for me. But since I’m not actually huge fan of full of references/re-dos of things that I just happen to be familiar with, it worked out beautifully. I got to enjoy a premise that I understood through the power of every parody of mob movies ever without feeling like I knew what was coming. Am I arguing ignorance is bliss when it comes to references? Maybe. In the case of Community, at least, it seems to work out in your favor.

30 Rock: “Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter” and “Khonani”
Hey! An alright episode of 30 Rock! One that touches on one of my bugbears (affirmative action) in such a way that annoys me and I still manage to enjoy it! Alright! As in solidly ok! I mean, for me, there’s no debate between Elizabeth Smart and Julianne Moore for me–it’s the former all the way, as the Nancy Donovan character has grated me since day one. The sooner they ditch her, the happier I will be.

Boy, I’m not sounding very positive for an episode I liked, am I? I guess the larger point is: this wasn’t the greatest episode to ever appear on TV, but it was pleasant and nice and involved Twofer, which I am also a fan of. Moreover, there was brief Dot Com and Griz appearance, the bizarre Jherim/Jenna bits (which were hilarious), and generally a feeling of goodwill. I’m not going to pretend I’m not still riding the “slightly critical of 30 Rock train”, but this episode went well.

And the less said about “Khonani”, the better. Let’s just say that explicit references are the worst thing I was talking about above? Yea.

House: “Knight Fall”
I was having serious, well-founded reservations about House before the season started. They haven’t really gone away, either. But I guess what has gone away is my will to care. House is clearly in the downward slide, so why fight? I’m just finding ways to enjoy what I can. And luckily, the show seems to be playing to people like me, cutting out nearly all of the boring patient stuff in favor of lots of cast interactions. And while I’m barely going to touch the New Team v. Old Team debate, I have to say: I really enjoyed New Team this week. Taub and Chase, the former always fun and the latter finally free of the shackles of the poorly written Cameron, are pretty much solidly enjoyable every week. And this week even my despised 13 made me laugh. I’m not sure what the magic was, exactly, but boy, I hope they keep it up.

Dennis

Damages: “The Next One’s Gonna Go in Your Throat”
Last I checked, talks had broken down to bring Damages back for a fourth season, and I have to say, I’m OK with that. Don’t get me wrong, this season has been compelling (and more than made up for its painful sophomore year) and this season/probable series finale was great, but all the more reason to end a high note. Timothy Olyphant and Zeljko Ivanek came back (as Ellen’s in-the-know ex-boyfriend and the ghost of closeted gay lawyer Ray Fiske, respectively), Frobisher finally got sent off to jail (though was I the only one hoping Wes would pull the trigger on Arthur in the car?), everything Tobin-related was resolved, and we finally got more information on the death of Patty’s daughter. And if the show has always been about the fractured but strong bond between Ellen and Patty, then the final scene of Patty mourning the death of her right-hand man (among other deaths), as Ellen walks off into an unknown future, is the best end a Damages fan could ask for.

Glee: “The Power of Madonna”
If Glee inspired great crankiness in me last week, it at least made up with it with this episode. I’ve realized recently that I’ve only had two other episodes that I enjoyed to the point where I had to watch them again: the show’s Don’t Stop Believin pilot and its Kristin Chenoweth-filled installment “The Rhodes Not Taken,” which ended with an awesome rendition of Queen’s “Somebody to Love.” So, it’s no surprise that I’d enjoy this Madonna-themed episode, based on song catchiness alone. But at least the characters didn’t act like they were abducted by aliens too much either. Will and Emma decided to take it slow. People actually got a clue in a relatively short amount of time, when it came to Rachel secretly dating Jesse (even if his character still lacks an inch of depth). And even Kurt and Mercedes joining the Cheerios sort of made sense, after they taught Sue to vogue. Plus, we got yet more solid moments from Santana (deflowering Finn) and Brittany (who pointed out the fact that Will and Jesse look like they could be related). Keep up the good work Glee next week…for the return of Chenoweth!

The New Adventures of Old Christine: “I Love What You Do For Me”
Every week I mean to write about this show but don’t, which has as much to say for its erratically funny season, as it does my poor memory. But with Modern Family being blah last week and off this week, and the lame episode of Communityand two of 30 Rock (Julianne Moore and that heinous Boston accent? Still? And belated Leno/Conan jokes? Really?), it was either right about (groan) The Office (the Kevin/Cookie Monster gag marks the first time the show has made me laugh in a long time… and then the joke went on way longer than it needed to) or this. So Christine it is. I actually ended up watching this and a TBS rerun of Seinfeld back-to-back, and I was reminded just how well Julia Louis-Dreyfus has aged, and how good her comedy chops still are. The episode itself featured egregious Toyota product placement (good God, between the Cadillac on Damages and Nissan on Parenthood, can I watch one show that’s not also a car commercial?), but Eric McCormack and Dreyfus have good chemistry. So I hope CBS keeps him, her, and this perpetually on-the-bubble show around for another year.