My Week on TV! (23/06-29/06)

This week followed many finales so we only had two shows. Luckily for us, they are probably the best of their respective seasons. There will be spoilers.

2. Halt and Catch Fire: "Close to the Metal" (Seasons 1 Episode 4)

If last episode only hinted that Donna is just the best, this episode here confirms it and how. Cameron has apparently put her back-up discs close to her music and after a vacuum cleaner is plugged in, her whole BIOS coding is lost. The only person who knows how to do something other than yell pointlessly at Cameron is Donna, who risks her job but ends up saving the day and impressing a reporter who was considering writing about Cardiff. But, she's too smart to stop at that and putting two and two together (using her knowledge as a housewife too) she realises that it was Joe who had orchestrated everything to look good for the reporter. This was the most exhilarating episode of the first six, fast-paced but easy to follow, putting things at stake and showing fully developed characters. If the show keeps this up, it is going to be a hell of a ride.

MVP: Kerry Bishé with whom I am deeply in love already.

1. Penny Dreadful: "Possession" (Season 1 Episode 7)

It would have been very easy for Halt and Catch Fire to be number one this week. But, Penny Dreadful upped its ante and gave us the best episode of its first season. A bottle episode, no less. After last week's sexytimes with Dorian, a demon has possessed Vanessa and the crew has to exorcise her to save her life. There. That's the plot. It could not be simpler and yet it works like a charm due, in no small part, to Green's wonderful performance. The dialogues are also great, pointing out at the existing relaationships between characters and how they are affected once the demon intervenes. It's also worth noting the restrain in the make-up and special effects. Even though Vanessa's being possessed is easily inferred visually, by not changing her physical aspect beyond recognition (à la Linda Blair in The Exorcist). It might take away a little of the fear it could cause by not recognising her (seriously, nothing is scarier than Linda Blair possessed in The Exorcist) but it makes up for it in allowing us to not forget the human behind the demon, how Vanessa's well-being is everyone's priority. In conclusion, a fucking great hour of television.

MVP: Eva Green with whom I have been in love for quite some time.

My Week in TV (09/06-15/06)

I am extremely late this week but that's what happens when you put off watching Orphan Black as much as humanly possible. Without further ado, this is the ranking of the Tv shows I watched a few weeks ago. Careful, there will be spoilers.

6. Orphan Black: "Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done" (Season 2 Episode 9)

I watched this episode and the last one back to back. I think that if I had watched this on its own I would have liked it even less because it is only set-up for the finale. Cosima is seriously dying, you guys, so Sarah and Siobhan make the very logical decision of asking an eight-year-old if she'd like to undergo surgery. She says yes because Kira is good, did you get that? Meanwhile Helena, is impregnated, learns the truth about her religious sestra's impregnation, puts a huge needle filled  with horse semen up the religious leader's ass, burns the farm down and runs away after freeing her religious sestra and her porny-faced lover. A busy couple of hours she has. Alison and Donnie have to dispose of Leekie's body but Vic and the hilariously-named Angela DeAngelis (as David put it, where is Professor Professorson?). And finally, for some reason, someone decided it would be a good idea to put the bad-ass Maria Doyle Kennedy in two braids. Two fucking braids that made her look like Lina Morgan. But don't despair, in the finale there will be Huisman and there will be dancing.

MVP: Tatiana Maslany as Helena keeps being pretty awesome.

5. Louie: "In the Woods Part 1" (Season 4 Episode 11)

Well, it happened. An episode of Louie that I did not like. I understand and appreciate the experimental approach to this season but I think these two episodes, and especially the first one, did not work very much. For once, the longer running time was duly noted and they did not feel as tight as other episodes. Also, the absence of Louie himself for so long was a bummer. This has nothing to do with the episodes themselves but with the beginning of the first part, I anticipated a couple of episodes dealing more directly with the relationship between Louie and Lily. And it's not like I hated them, the dynamics between young Louie and his two male influences in the episodes (teacher and dealer) are very interesting. But still...

MVP: Jeremy Renner as the shady dealer (aren't they all?). He is a really good actor and he should do more of this interesting stuff and less being brainwashed in Marvel.

4. Halt and Catch Fire: "FUD" (Season 1 Episode 2)

I liked this episode just fine but I was not very invested in it. "Something legal" happened that required the three leads to work on the "something computer" separately and they scream and they fight and they finally have a breakthrough when they decide to build a laptop. This sounds like I did not enjoy the episode but I actually did, although I guess it was more an enjoyment of the moment with all the actors and the hope that I still could understand the plot than an enjoyment for a later recap.

MVP: Lee Pace as Joe. He really sold the weird scene where he opens his shirt and shows his scars.

3. Louie: "In the Woods Part 2" (Season 4 Episode 12)

I should probably give this couple of episodes another chance because by the end of the second part I had warmed to it much more. I guess the whole thing makes more sense after you see it all, as it should be. I really liked how they played the escalation of the scales problem (am I funny yet?) and how the story was not sugarcoated at all. Also, the resolution with Louie learning to communicate a bit better with his daughter was a bit obvious but worked perfectly. And there was F. Murray Abraham, which never hurts.

MVP: This one goes to Skipp Sudduth as Mr. Hoffman in the role that (given the surname) was probably intended for Phillip Seymour. He is really good in the part and had a very easy, believable chemistry with young Louie.

2. Game of Thrones: "The Watchers on the Wall" (Season 4 Episode 9)

I was fully prepared to hate this episode. A whole hour up at the Wall? Why don't you kill me now? And then, something happened. Something like Neil Marshall is an amazing director. And the episode was so cool. I absolutely loath most of the characters that appeared in it (Sam, die, please). The main exceptions being Jon "puppy eyes" Snow and his bearded friend who died (sad face) on the fight with the giant. Yes, this episode had giants and mammooths and I liked it! But what can I do? Marshall knows how to direct action. He took a space so uninteresting as the wall (it's a wall. It separates two parts of the world. That's it) and divided it in several smaller spaces where the battle was happening and it was gorgeous, very easy to follow and breathtaking. So, a very nice surprise of an episode, indeed.

MVP: The kid who kills the fake Emma Stone, obviously.

1. Penny Dreadful: "Closer Than Sisters" (Season 1 Episode 5)

I am enjoying Penny Dreadful a whole lot more than I had anticipated. I love how it's like no other Tv show; it follows the beat of its own drum. It wants to introduce half the main characters in the second episode? It does so. It wants to keep secrets for twice as long as any other show would do? It does so? And this week, it wanted to spend its forty minutes providing backstory for the most interesting character, and so it did. And in an epistolar episode, no less. And it was glorious. Thanks, in no small part, to the amazingness that is Eva Green. She plays the young Vanessa with such innocence and joy that it is a pleasure to watch  her and it is a blow for us too when she discovers that her mother and Malcolm were having an affair. She becomes jaded and her powers start growing also thanks to the devil (in Malcolm's guise) who visits her at the asylum where she is. It might sound like a pointless exercise in filling out the voids but it was a truly great episode that captured perfectly the tone of the show.

MVP: Eva Green, again, quite obviously.

My Week in TV: 28/04-04/05

This is my ranking for the TV shows I watched last week (tread carefully, spoilers abound):

11. Bad Teacher: "Daddy Issues" (Season 1 Episode 2)

                                     

It is sad that the titular character in a tv show about a "sexy, foul-mouthed divorcée who becomes a teacher to find her next husband" (according to Imdb), she has already learned two lessons in two episodes. A good sitcom can do the learning thing right such as Parks and Rec and an inoffensive sitcom can get away with the no-learning thing (Friends or Happy Endings). Why then, is Bad Teacher so bad at this? Ari Graynor is again, quite good but with such a stale script not a lot of good can come up. The secondary storyline about online dating was not only tremendously outdated but also poorly executed. Some of the actors are quite bad (I'm looking at you, Charlotte York-MacDougal-Goldenblatt) but I like some others like the student teacher whose name I'm unaware of. Still, this pretty much sucks.

MVP: Ari Graynor, but she deserves better.

10. The Simpsons: "What To Expect When Bart's Expecting" (Season 25 Episode 19)

Speaking of dated storylines, in this week's The Simpsons we have a gay horse. Will & Grace did that like fifteen years ago. And it was funnier. The first part of the episode was better with the enthusiatic art teacher and Bart's first steps in voodoo. But in general this just feels uninspired. The show is going to have at least another season but I'm not sure it's such a great idea.

MVP: The couch gag, really beautiful and witty.

9. Glee: "The Back-Up Plan" (Season 5 Episode 18)

And we have yet another Oscar winner in Glee. Shirley Maclaine plays a wealthy producer who wants to make a star out of Blaine. Suck it, Kurt! Also, how in earth do you choose a One Direction song to perform in front of someone who once did peyote with Joe Kennedy? Maclaine is not bad in the part but it is a little sad to see her slumming this hard. Meanwhile Mercedes decides to plagiarize the trailer for Begin Again and records music out of the stiffness of a studio. She wants Santana to duet with her on her album but Warwick thinks that having her completely unknown high school classmate as a hook might not be the best idea. And still it is ridiculous because Santana is the best so I'm conflicted because of Glee. Rachel meets the Dean of Greendale to test for a TV show for which she is woefully unprepared. But because she is Rachel, they are going to develop a show around her no matter what. Wouldn't it be cool if the show was called Glee and all of the characters played themselves and everything got so meta that Abed would explode? Well, Abed exploding would not be cool, because I like him. But we don't have to worry, I'm sure the idea for the show will be terrible and uninteresting.

MVP: Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez. Period.

8. Modern Family: "Sleeper" (Season 5 Episode 21)

This was not a great episode but I like Mitchell's storyline with everyone ignoring and forgetting him. Phil's antics get too much on my nerves to be enjoyable and Cam was even more irritating than usual. Gloria trying to put color on her baby  was quite weird. As was Jay entering Stella in a dog contest. And how many more times can they do the thing where a character is talking about something and it's phrased in such a way that it sounds as if they have just discovered gay sex. Are we homophobic yet? Nevertheless, Ed O'Neill sells it well but come on, enough is enough.

MVP: Jesse Tyler Ferguson who is quite funny playing the victim.

7. Orphan Black: "Mingling its Own Nature with It" (Season 2 Episode 3)

Even though this week was less crazy and the clones were apart from each other, I really liked this episode. Sarah takes Kira to her father (Daario from GoT and quite yummy, truth be told) and ends up the episode trying to kill Rachel's lapdog in a cliffhangery fashion. Helena is hilarious interacting with the religious freaks. Cosima is still boring but at least she discovers there was another (nine already?) clone but she is dead already due to the clone disease. And finally Alison is a mess. Her musical is opening and she is going to the valley of the dolls so hard that she actually falls off the stage. I would really like for all the clones to get together and kick-ass but as long as they keep the stories this interesting I'm cool with it.

MVP: Tatiana Maslany playing Alison but also Helena.

6. New Girl: "Dance" (Season 3 Episode 22)

New Girl is a weird show. Sometimes it just doesn't come quite together but when it works, it works. And this episode worked a lot. I loved Jess's enthusiasm with the dance and the whodunnit with shark-girl and also Jess and Coach being friends. I really enjoyed Cece trying to make her past look cool by sounding bad. I would love to share a salad with Nick. I liked Winston trying to prove he does not suck all the sexual tension out of every situation and succeeding since he has a Bieber-effect on prepubescent girls. I even tolerated Schmidt. Go figure...

MVP: Hanna Simone as Cece was very funny but I wish we could see her boyfriend again.

5. Galerías Velvet: "La Visita" (Season 1 Episode 11)

Well, you can start forgetting about that Nicole Kidman movie opening Cannes because Grace Kelly has already arrived and she is in Velvet. Nevermind that the actress looks or sounds nothing like the princess of Monaco, those are just pesky details. Especially because I want Raúl's collection to succeed and if that involves royal shenanigans, so be it. Luckily, Don Emilio is all right and he is not going to die although Patricia is so good in his job that he should be sick a while. Meanwhile, Luisa finds out she is pregnant. Is it her husband's or the dead-client-that-blackmailed-her-into-sleeping-with-him's? We also have two will they or won't they couples. First, Rita and Pedro which I hope end up together and then, Doña Blanca and Maximiliano, who I also wish end up pairing up. Clara dabbles in the modelling world with disastrous and hilarious results and Ana is given an opportunity to start designing her own dresses. But the most important storyline is the one concerning Alberto and Cristina. She asks him (in a wonderful naive version of Truth or Dare) why he moved to London. He says that it was because of a girl his father did not approve of and he lights up talking about her while Cristina looks in horror.

MVP: Manuela Velasco as Cristina, not only for that last daunting look but also for her line reading "We have to be one hundred per cent honest".

4. Grey's Anatomy: "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (Season 10 Episode 22)

Apart from the ovbiously fake Zurich backgrounds, this episode was awesome, it was even named after a Taylor Swift song. I was more than a little wary when I learnt that Burke was guest-starring. I never really liked the character and these kind of stunts never pay off. But thankfully, I was wrong. It was worth it just to hear Cristina tell him that he doesn't want him. Even if that's not what he meant either. She is married to medicine, to cardio and now, to growing hearts in jars. I really don't want Sandra Oh to leave. She is in my top 4 favorite characters (Meredith, Callie and Addison complete the quartet) and she has been so good through everything. I loved the silly little plot with Callizona, I just love them when they're happy. And Jackson and April story was somehow tied up if only because he is the best man ever. I wonder which resident they're kicking out. But, you know, not too much. And I'm not sure I like Derek's sister sticking any longer. But we shall see.

MVP: Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey, nailing both the lighter stuff ("His mama took your eyebrows") and the heavier things (Her "You're Leaving" pretty much killed me).

3. Game of Thrones: "Oathkeeper" (Season 4 Episode 4)

I think I say this every week but I'm really scared about Daenerys. I don't want the former slaves to revolt against her. She is so cool. She fights injustice with justice. Duffy can keep mercy, thank you very much. I also wonder why so many important characters have died and Sam is still alive? He is insufferable. And I dislike the White Walkers too. We don't need zombies everywhere, especially if the CGI is going to be this poor. Over at King's Landing we find out that Lady O. had something to do with Joffrey dying. I don't like that she is willing to let Tyrion carry the blame. Tyrion rules. Over at Sitcom Spinoff Alert, Brienne and Pod go away from the capital to look for Sansa and keep Jamie's honor. This is going to be so much fun!

MVP: Let's give this one to Emilia Clarke who is always strong and I suspect she is going to be forgotten at the Emmys.

2. Mad Men: "Field Trip" (Season 7 Episode 3)

Betty is back! And she's being catty about a bra-less teacher, drinking cow milk and being generally terrible to her adoring son. God, I've missed her. Over in L.A. Megan seems to be going crazy and Don flies out to be with her. He ends up spilling the beans about losing the job and she calls it quits. I really hope we haven't seen the last of Megan. I love the character and Jessica Paré. After returning to New York, Don asks Roger for his job back and Roger tells him to go to the office on Monday. Roger does not let everybody know and we suffer one of the most painful scenes in ever. Don arrives at SCP and he doesn't belong. A very hateful person is occupying his office, the creative nobodies treat him like an equal and everything is terrible. In the last scene of the episode, the partners meet and a very cold Joan lists all the requirements for Don to get the job back (I love Hendricks here!). Surprisingly (for me, at least), Don says yes! He is back! Everyone is back!

MVP: January Jones as Betty. She is perfect at capturing the duality of the Betty that believes she wants to be a perfect mother and the Betty who actually does not give a fuck about the smallish people living under her roof.

1. Hannibal: "Naka-Choko" (Season 2 Episode 10)

If a couple of years ago you'd have told me that a TV show based on a character done to death was going to be the best thing since sliced bread I would not have believed you. And alas, here we are, and shit is getting real. In happy and completely bonkers and unexpected news, Will has embraced his killer instinct and is helped by Hannibal to create a work of art with a dead body. In sadder news, Will is real crazy and kills Freddie. I liked her! Sad face. But still, if her death only serves the purpose of Hannibal playfully saying to Will in the kitchen: "You slice the ginger", it will have been worth it. Michael Pitt appears and he is amazing as yet another crazy person (those abound, both in this show and in his filmography) who is training pigs to devour her sister. Said sister (whom I already love) has sex with Will while Hannibal and Alana are going at it and we get this scene where the latter two and Will are having a threesome. As my boyfriend said, it was the two men who should have kissed to drive the message home but I guess that was too much. Vincenzo Natali, never go.

MVP: Dancy and Mikkelsen. They are (short of Jon Hamm) giving the best performances by leading actors in a drama series and they are not going to be nominated at the Emmys. That is simply unfair. They are superb and their (quite homoerotic) chemistry is palpable.

My Week in TV: 21/04 to 27/04

Here is my (very belated) ranking of the TV episodes I watched last week. I'm happy to say that I actually enjoyed all the episodes I watched. (beware spoilers):

11. Modern Family: "Australia" (Season 5 Episode 20)

The three not-so-modern families were back and it was not a brilliant episode but it was not a terrible one, either. Claire and Jay's work story was uninspired, Cam and Mitchell's was so revealing of their awful personalities, Phil and Gloria's was quite ridiculous but not as much as Manny and Luke's. This show should be called Pettiness and Boobs. So, the best story was the one with Hayley, Alex and Lily (it didn't hurt that the first surfer was really very hot and not just a normal guy playing the part of a hot guy with pitiful results).

MVP: Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily. She's only six but she could be the next (or maybe the next one) Aubrey Plaza.

10. Bad Teacher: "Pilot" (Season 1 Episode 1)

I fell in love with Ari Graynor when I saw For a Good Time Call, and when I read that she was headlining the Bad Teacher show I knew that at least, I'd watch the pilot. And yes, it was nothing new, in fact it was quite a lot of old stuff but she is so charismatic that I'm going to give the show a chance.

MVP: Ari Graynor, of course.

9. Orphan Black: "Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion" (Season 2 Episode 2)

Not a lot happened in this episode, although it is a huge relief to find out that Mrs. S is not evil... or is she? Cosima and her new lab did not seem very compelling but at least it looks that she is still a little wary of Dr. Leekie (what a name!). I think that if one of the clones is going to be a traitor is obviously going to be Cosima and I'm not going to like her if she is. Alison is still the most interesting clone and (see MVP) Maslany's more nuanced performance. And I just want Helena to join forces with the other clones and be the funny sidekick she can be.

MVP: Maslany playing Alison although Maria Doyle Kennedy as Mrs. S is always golden.

8. Glee: "Opening Night" (Season 5 Episode 17)

                                       

Santana is back! My boyfriend was just telling me about rumours that she is being demoted in the next season and I hope it's just gossip because she is the best thing in the show. This was a quite nice episode, even if basically only Rachel was allowed to sing. Sue's fling, while completely weird and seemingly pointless (is this really why she is moving to NYC if she does?) was helped by a wonderful and game Jane Lynch. And there was not a lot more going on, I liked this episode Tina (there is a new one in each of the episodes she appears in, she changes on demand) and even Kurt was somehow tolerable. Not a classic but one of the best episodes this season.

MVP: Jane Lynch, for reminding us why she deserved that first season Emmy.

7. Parks and Recreation: "Moving Up, Part 1" (Season 6 Episode 21)

This was a great finale but I preferred the second part in Pawnee rather than this one on San Francisco. Leslie met Michelle Obama! Ben and Andy trying to get wifi for Pawnee was really funny, (they could be the new Toledo) especially the end, being solved with the Cones of Dunshire. If that game existed we'd have it by now.

MVP: Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, meeting the FLOTUS and being her awesome self.

6. Grey's Anatomy: "Change of Heart" (Season 10 Episode 21)

There's only three episodes left in this season and so far, there hasn't been a fire, a flood or a famine so I'm starting to get worried. In this episode, we learn that Cristina was robbed and that she should have been the Harper Avery recipient. Nevertheless she is more worried with those pesky dying kids. One of the sisters doesn't make it but I'm more involved in the bubble-boy case. His mother does not want to put her kid at risk and Miranda is not very happy about it. Meanwhile, in sitcom territory, Meredith and Derek consider enslaving his sister but she proves useless. And the biggest news of the episode... Jackson and April are pregnant!

MVP: I think I'm going to go with Sarah Drew as April Kepner. It is a character I generally dislike but Drew is quite good at humanising her so she doesn't just look like a Jesus-freak.

5. Galerías Velvet: "Los Restos del Naufragio" (Season 1 Episode 10)

Hello there, Miguel Ángel... This episode was so tense with the store empty because people are too narrow-minded to buy Raúl de la Riva's designs (which, admittedly, I'm not to fond of, myself). Everyone working in the galleries is getting nervous but Cristina (because she is an angel) saves the day by having her friends place orders for the dresses. Manolito is going away and Rita and Pedro kiss (not because they're happy the kid is leaving). And, what else? Oh, yeah, Luisa may be a murderer... God, I love this show so much. The episode ended with Don Emilio having some kind of attack but I have already seen episode 11 so I'm not too worried.

MVP: Asier Etxeandía as Raúl de la Riva. He plays nervous in a really funny way and (as my boyfriend said) his scenes with Aitana Sánchez Gijón are always a highlight.

4. Parks and Recreation: "Moving Up, Part 2" (Season 6 Episode 22)

I loved the San Francisco half, but the Unity Concert one was amazing, hitting that funny and emotional spot that the show manages to hit in the best episodes. Of course, I loved that Leslie gets to stay in Pawnee for the next season. Parks and Rec would not be the same thing anywhere but Pawnee. Where else would you find these people? I think one of the best things about this show is that most of the characters are so good in a moral sense that it is refreshing in this age of antiheroes. They love each other so much, they are always willing to help, to sacrifice and in a comedy. It feels really special and I cannot wait for season seven.

MVP: Mo Collins as Joan Callamezzo, letting us know what the Joan is.

3. Hannibal: "Shiizakana" (Season 2 Episode 9)

This was a very bloody and very scary episode. The animal-killer was great and really intriguing. I like this Margot character a lot and I loved her scenes with Will. Also, that ending was so great. This show is rapidly becoming one of my favorite shows ever.

MVP: Mark O'Brien as the very chilly Randall. Sadly, he's dead but happily, he's dead (he meant to kill Will!)

2. Game of Thrones: "Breaker of Chains" (Season 4 Episode 3)

                                       

Who likes Sam? Why is he still on the show? Why did he have two scenes in this episode? I really hate him and Gilly. And I'm not very invested in the storylines north of Winterfell. But that's the only complaint I can have about this show. I'm having a hard time thinking about this episode on its own because I have already seen the next one but I'll try. Arya and the Hound could headline a spin-off and I'd be there every week. The scene with Daario defeating the champion of Meereen was a lot of fun. Littlefinger kills the Fool and Sansa is going towards that crazy aunt of hers. And poor Tyrion is imprisoned although it's impossible that he killed Joffrey. Oh, and I still love Davos very much.

MVP: Emilia Clarke as the titular breaker of chains is very good in this episode.

1. Mad Men: "A Day's Work" (Season 7 Episode 2)

This episode was so perfect. Peggy mistakenly assumes that the flowers on her secretary's desk are for her from Ted. This storyline might have been sitcomy in any other TV show, but here, it tells us so much bout about Peggy and about her relationship with Shirley. By the way, Shirley and Dawn calling each other by their own name was too funny. Bert turns out to be a racist and Joan doesn't know what else to do or how to juggle all her duties at the agency. Luckily, her fairy godfather, Jim, tells her that she should go upstairs and be an account woman exclusively. This results in Dawn being the new Joan, and those are some very big shoes to fill. The story I liked best, tough was Don's and Sally's. She uses the funeral of a friend's mother to go shopping in New York and finds out that Don has been fired.

MVP: Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper. The producer or casting director who found an eight-year-old that would grow up to be this accomplished actress can be very proud. Her uncomfortable scene with Lou was amazing as her heart to heart with Don.

My week in TV!

First, a disclaimer, I am Spanish, so I see every TV show the day after it airs in the States. That's why last Sunday's episodes count as last week. To talk about TV I decided to rank the episodes in the week. So, here it goes, from worst to best. Obviously, Spoilers ahead.

8. The Simpsons: "Luca$" (Season 25 Episode 17)

A million years later, I'm still watching The Simpsons. It feels like comfort/junk food. The episodes have been generally weak this season but every one has a few funny moments. Nevertheless, they tend to have this gimmick that I hate in which all the stories in the episode (two usually) come together for the resolution.

From this one I remember Lisa's story about the competitive eater kid but it was not very remarkable.

MVP: The squirrel?

7. Glee: "Bash" (Season 5 Episode 15)

I have a weird relationship with Glee. I cannot wait to see the latest episode when it's aired but I very rarely like them. This was a very special episode in a very bad way. Kurt gets bashed and we learn a lesson about homophobia. I'm not saying TV should not deal with social issues but it should not be done in this crass and clumsy way. Artie has a couple of lines where he is literally reciting statistics. Riveting television, for sure. To find a silver lining, I really liked Lea Michele in this episode, she shines when Rachel is mean and petty. And I think that the Mercedes/Sam thing is ridiculous. Again, it would be interesting to see how a show deals with an interracial couple and what that means today but not if it means that what we get is this. And also, where the hell is Santana?

MVP: Lea Michele as Rachel.

6. Community: "Basic Story (1)" (Season 5 Episode 12)

This season is ending! Time flies when you have fun and this season has been a lot of fun. I don't like to inflate Dan Harmon's ego but he really knows how to handle these characters. I don't care much for Jitta/Breff but the ending with the Dean, Abed and Annie so excited about a treasure was golden. What is going to happen to this show? Is it going to have a sixth season? As of now, I'd say it deserves it.

MVP: Alison Brie as Annie, like always.

5. Parks and Recreation: "Flu Season 2" (Season 6 Episode 19)

Parks and Recreation is going to have a 7th season, for sure. I was a little skeptical about it but since the news of Leslie's pregnancy I feel optimistic about it. I thought the three stories in this episode were very good and allowed everyone to shine. April being obnoxious and Donna laughing because of it is the stuff that dreams are made of.

MVP: Adam Scott as Ben, who plays drunk hilariously.

4. Grey's Anatomy: "I'm Winning" (Season 10 Episode 19)

Grey's Anatomy is possibly one of the most maligned shows on TV right now, but the truth is that the show has kept its quality for ten years and that is not easy. Sure, the show has changed but it is for the good. We are at a place right now where all the couples are consolidated. Even if they have problems, it is never in the shape of a conventional love triangle (even if Grey's Anatomy also mastered those). And thanks to that, this season has had one of the most interesting storylines of the year. Meredith and Cristina falling out due to their different approaches to their careers. And just when we thought they had put that behind them, Meredith admits that she's jealous of her friend. Really, there are very few better characters than Meredith Grey and it is a shame that Ellen Pompeo has never been nominated for an Emmy. On top of everything we get the sweetest Callizona scene. Great episode.

MVP: Sara Ramirez as Callie, on that machine that told her she was depressed.

3. Galerías Velvet: "La decisión de Alberto" (Season 1 Episode 8)

Galerías Velvet is a Spanish show that tries to mix Mad Men with Grey's Anatomy while keeping some of our idiosincrasies (there are two characters yelling all the time, that's Spain for you) and I am surprised to say that I enjoy it a lot. The lead actress (Paula Echevarría, in the picture) is not exactly great but she has her moments but, in general, the cast is great, mixing older actors with younger ones. The story is very soapy but very entertaining. And as a bonus, Miguel Ángel Silvestre is shirtless sometimes.

MVP: Miriam Giovanelli as Patricia, standing up for herself and facing the consequences.

2. Game of Thrones: "Two Swords" (Season 4 Episode 1)

We're back in Westeros! This is the first Game of Thrones episode that I've watched when it aired. I binged the first three seasons after the Red Wedding happened and everything. And it's so good to see that the quality is still top-notch. I'm going to watch the second episode in a couple of hours and I am dying! Regarding the picture I fear for Daenerys. She is trusting too much her power over the dragons and over the slaves. I hope she's not setting herself for betrayal (I have not read the books and I like to pretend they don't exist, by the way). I loved to see Brienne, and Tywin and Olenna... As my boyfriend said, this is the show that has the best handle on its ensemble. Everyone gets their scenes and if you miss someone it's always for a reason.

MVP: Maisie Williams as Arya. That last scene was so cool and so scary at the same time.

1. Hannibal: "Yakimono" (Season 2 Episode 7)

And the best episode of the week award goes to... Hannibal! Seriously, how good is this show? Will is released from the hospital/jail, Chilton is accused of being the reaper and Hannibal and I just want to slap Alana. Madds Mikelsen is hot, but don't be blind, girl! Plus, Hugh Dancy is hotter. I don't think Chilton is dead, as I've read some places. The bullet goes in his cheek and maybe that's not lethal? Not sure, but I hope he's not dead, I like the character.

MVP: Anna Chlumsky as Miriam Lass.

And that's it! Remember, reading is boring, TV rules!

Happy Endings!

Inspired by The Film Experience's Mad Men at the Movies, I decided to do the same (that is, compiling movie references) with a different TV show: Happy Endings. The show, now unjustly cancelled started exactly three years ago today.

I'm really looking forward to dissecting every reference. It's going to be amahzing!