Tag Archives: season

Castle – Season 3 (TVR00003) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 14 2020

Overview

This is the season when Castle hits its stride. Beckett and Castle are in a good place after the first couple of episodes; they’re in their groove and they’re even making progress on the conspiracy that claimed Beckett’s mother.

Episodes That I Liked

For me, almost every episode hits the mark this season. For 16 of the 24 eps, I rate them four stars or higher. E01 starts off solid with Castle as a potential suspect, particularly as he’s back in town and not calling. We move on to psychics (E02), steam-punk (E04), extra bodies in coffins (E05), strippers (E07), the X-Files (E09), an actress wanting to be Nikki Heat (E11), magic (E12), terrorist threats (E16 and E17), dead jurors (E19), and Beverly Hills (E22).

But the four stand-out episodes are a little bit different. We have the Triple-X K killer, with twists and turns galore (E06). Then a ho-hum mystery (a subway lightbulb changer gets killed) but expertly done (E08). And E24 is a huge reveal on the conspiracy around Beckett’s mother’s murder and how it all ties in. Yet I think my favourite one of the season is a softer one about speak-easies, pubs, and a modern take on an old mystery (E10).

Episodes That Were Watchable

Two episodes really just “walk it in” at the mid-point for quality. E03 deals with an old partner of Beckett’s and E13 “almost” has a reveal for the conspiracy.

Episodes That I Didn’t Like

So here’s the weird part. After a huge batch of awesome EPs, there are a full 6 that are yawners, all in the second half of the season. We have lottery winners (E14); an old school chum of Castle’s (E15); soap operas (E18); pizza wars (E20); swimmers and steroids (E21); and a beauty pageant murder (E23). Bad plotting, obvious suspects, and not very interesting dialogue.

List of Episodes from Season 3

EP #EPISODEREVIEWRATING
S03E01A Deadly AffairCastle’s back, and standing over a dead body? Kinky🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E02He’s Dead, She’s DeadCastle’s right — the psychic didn’t see it coming🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E03Under the GunBeckett’s old partner comes back around, but not on the job🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S03E04PunkedSteam-punk, revolvers, and a death in the park🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E05Anatomy of a MurderExtra body in a casket, jail breaks, and drug dealers🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E063XKTwists and turns, turns and twists…and then another twist🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸
S03E07Almost FamousStripper in cop uniform leads to business fraud🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E08Murder Most FowlHow many lightbulb changers does it take to witness a murder?🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸
S03E09Close Encounters of the Murderous KindThe truth is out there, and MIB too🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E10Last CallA speak-easy beckons, along with a modern day mystery🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E11Nikki HeatWannabe Nikki actress does Beckett better than Beckett🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E12Poof! You’re DeadAbracadabra, jackass, and the hunt for magic is on🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E13KnockdownRaglan is about to talk, and then he gets whacked🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S03E14Lucky StiffA lottery winner with a guilty conscience? Yawn🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S03E15Final NailNever trust old school chums🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S03E16SetupSyrian cabdriver mystery goes radioactive? Call in Homeland🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E17CountdownSurvive a freezer, let’s try aiming for a dirty bomb🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E18One Life to LoseDeath on a soap opera? Usually it’s not permanent🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S03E19Law & MurderDead juror? No end of suspects and intrigue🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E20Slice of DeathPizza wars? Not terrific, or authentic, or even interesting🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S03E21Dead PoolSwimmers and steroids? It isn’t rocket science🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S03E22To Love and Die in L.A.Beverly Hills Cop, Beckett style🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S03E23Pretty DeadBeauty pageant murder? Blackmail? Definitely not pretty🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S03E24KnockoutHitman Lockwood escapes, Beckett makes progress finding 3rd cop🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The Bottom Line

Beckett and Castle are in the groove

Castle – Season 2 (TVR00002) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
March 14 2020

Overview

Season 2 starts with Beckett and Castle on the outs, as she’s pissed at him for looking into her mother’s case at the end of season 1. By the end of Season 2, Castle is starting to give up the romantic chase, just as Beckett starts to think she likes it.

Episodes That I Liked

Two episodes rock the season, Sucker Punch (E13) about the Irish mob, hitmen and Beckett’s mother, and A Deadly Game (E24) involving spy games, aka a variation on Gotcha. However, there are nine other episodes that are pretty solid — E05 where Castle might get to write a Bond novel; E08 for an old case of Montgomery’s; E10 where a dead man had two near-wives, or did he; E11 as a brilliant story of a man with amnesia, and the way his life works on the softer side; E12 with a wedding murder and gasp the bride is Castle’s ex; E14 with a cool idea of a squatter who stays in empty homes while people are away; E17 and E18 where a serial killer is playing with Nikki Heat and the FBI; and E20 about late-night talk shows.

Episodes That Were Watchable

Nine episodes were watchable, but nothing exciting…E01 has someone stealing their dead body; E02 rips off Hitchcock with criss-cross storylines; E04 is initially interesting with a grifter being killed while pretending to be at the North Pole; E06 checks in for Hallowe’en with the wannabe vampire set; E07 about a rock star balladeer that Alexis loves; E09 with a mystery pimp and call girls; E16 returns to the sex industry focused on bondage for graduate students; E21 added Detective Demming to the mix; and E22 for Kitchen Wars.

Episodes That I Didn’t Like

Overall, four episodes were yawners. E03 strutted for Fashion Week, but it was all retread stuff; E15 introduced a dead baseball player with obvious back stories; E19 had a death by mummy but with a huge obvious cameo; and E23 had Castle and Demming dueling to be master detective (soul-crushing).

List of Episodes from Season 2

EP #EPISODEREVIEWRATING
S02E01Deep in DeathFiremen find cats in trees; Beckett finds dead bodies🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E02Double DownDouble the murder, double the fun, even if it rips off Hitchcock🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E03Inventing the GirlFashion week, and lame plot is to die for🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S02E04Fool Me Once…A grifter at the North Pole? Joke about ice and Eskimos?🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E05When the Bough BreaksSwapping babies or swap Beckett for Bond?🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E06Vampire WeekendVamps, vixens, and vagabonds…must be Hallowe’en🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E07Famous Last WordsIf you listen to the lyrics, she’ll tell you the motive🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E08Kill the MessengerMontgomery has an old case, and a family of rich suspects🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E09Love Me DeadMystery pimps, lovely call girls, and Alexis with a secret🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E10One Man’s TreasureMeeting your fiancés wife at his body in the morgue…awkward🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E11Fifth BulletAmnesiac, art forgeries, and second chances🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E12A Rose for EverafterWedding day murder, and the bride is Castle’s big love🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E13Sucker PunchIrish mob, hitman, and Beckett’s mother’s murder🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸
S02E14Third ManGentleman squatter leaves trail of bodies to dumb waiter🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E15Suicide SqueezeDead baseball player and Cuban politics…yawn🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S02E16Mistress Always Spanks TwiceBondage and grad studies? Sounds redundant🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E17Tick, Tick, Tick…Serial killer is teasing Nikki Heat, so the FBI helps🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E18Boom!Beckett loses her apt, which makes her ready to explode🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E19Wrapped Up in DeathDeath by mummy, but the cameos are a giveaway🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S02E20Late ShaftLate night ratings can be murder…and they are🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S02E21Den of ThievesDemming shows up to romance Kate and annoy Rick🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E22Food to Die ForKitchen wars? Keep knives away from family🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S02E23OverkillCastle vs. Demming, in detective showdown…soul-crushing to watch🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S02E24A Deadly GameSpy games…Castle’s last case or will Beckett go to the Hampton’s?🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The Bottom Line

If you play hard-to-get too long, people might stop chasing.

Castle – Season 1 (TVR00001) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
March 13 2020

Overview

Richard Castle is a successful best-selling author, twice married and twice divorced, living in a spacious Manhattan condo with the single actress mother (Martha) who raised him and a bright teenage daughter (Alexis). He has money, toys, and rotating women, but he’s bored. So bored in fact that he has killed off his best-selling character, Derrick Storm, a rogue prone to danger. Castle’s looking for something new.

Enter Kate Beckett, a strong forceful female homicide detective. A serial killer is committing murders and staging them to look like kills from Castle’s books, so while she doesn’t think that he’s likely involved, she has to interview him anyway. He’s all play, she’s all business.

Murders based on his books? Castle is hooked, and it doesn’t hurt that Beckett is also hot. He convinces the mayor to let him work the case as a consultant/advisor, much to Beckett’s dismay, and the game is afoot. Castle helps solve the case, and Castle convinces the Mayor to let the successful partnership continue so Castle can do research.

As the opening narration reveals, every writer has his muse, and Castle thinks he’s found his in Beckett. He even bases a new character on her — Nikki Heat. A strong forceful female homicide detective who works with a roguish mystery writer to solve cases. With a small difference — in his books, the two are lovers, which Castle wants to replicate with Beckett. But, as I said, she’s all business.

Episodes That I Liked

The season premiere of the short 10-episode season was the best of the bunch. It established Castle as the bored playboy looking for meaning and Beckett as the uber-serious detective in need of some enjoyment in her often-dark life. After that, prep school punks (E03), political intrigue with the city council (E04), home invasions (E07), a link to an old eco-terrorism case (E08), and a child kidnapping (E09) are no match for Beckett and Castle, with Beckett grudgingly beginning to accept that Castle has something to offer besides annoying her.

Episodes That Were Watchable

Episode 5 deals with a dead girl, found frozen but thawing, and while her story is interesting, the real contribution is you get to hear Beckett’s origin story (how her mother was killed in an alley, nobody caught for the crime). It should have been awesome, it should have been riveting. But except for a couple of decent scenes, the episode was rather ho-hum. The last episode of the season looks at a dead surgeon and the mob, but again, except for a final scene or two near the end dealing with Beckett’s mother’s murder, the episode is rather lacklustre.

Episodes That I Didn’t Like

Both episodes 2 and 6 are mostly odd…a dead nanny with a weird motive that comes out of nowhere and voodoo killings that have nothing to do with voodoo. Plus some overwhelming backstory with Castle’s ex-wife that is excruciating. They are definitely the weakest two episodes of the season.

List of Episodes from Season 1

EP #TitleReviewRating
S01E01Flowers for Your GraveCastle wants new, and Beckett is certainly that🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸
S01E02Nanny McDeadNanny dead, and no butler to blame🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S01E03Hedge Fund HomeboysThere’s no honour among adolescent wanna-bes🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S01E04Hell Hath No FuryPolitics? Hookers? Murder? Just another day in NYC🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S01E05A Chill Goes Through Her VeinsEvery story has a beginning, even Beckett’s🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪
S01E06Always Buy RetailVoodoo rituals and whirlwind Meredith? Both blow into town🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪
S01E07Home is Where the Heart StopsJewelry thieves, violence, and ball gowns🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S01E08GhostsEco-terrorism, ghostwriters, and poker showdowns…I’m all in🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S01E09Little Girl LostChild kidnapping, an ex-bf, and a stuffed bunny🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪
S01E10A Death in the FamilySend one hitman after another…oh, about your mother🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The Bottom Line

Beckett brings the serious, Castle makes it fun

Preview of new TV shows for 2019-20

The PolyBlog
September 15 2019

It’s time for the new TV season, and so it’s time for my annual fall preview and predictions.

September:

  • ADDED: 04: Pennyworth (Showcase) — Backstory for Alfred the butler from Batman. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 12: The I-Land (Netflix) — Lost wannabe. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 13: Unbelievable (Netflix) — Rape victim recants after repeatedly telling her story. PREDICTION: n/a, mini-series, will likely win awards but unclear if it will bring anything new to well-trod tale;
  • 13: Undone (Amazon) — Trippy animation. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • ADDED: 18: Northern Rescue (CBC) — Family loses mother, returns to dad`s home life and takes over search and rescue. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 19: First Wives Club (BET+) — Same premise, but with black women. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 19: Bigger (BET+) — Is there more to life. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • ADDED: 19: The Family Man (Amazon) – NIA worker deals with home life. PREDICTION: Cancellation.
  • 23: Bob (Hearts) Abishola (CBS) — White patient falls for Nigerian nurse. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 23: Prodigal Son (Fox) — Profiler helping solve cases. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 23: All Rise (CBS) — Sounds like Judging Amy. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 23: Bluff City Law (NBC) — Hyped out the wazoo, Jimmy Smits and a law firm with his daughter. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 24: Mixed-ish (ABC) — Ex-cult members start school. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 24: Emergence (ABC) — Mysterious event, amnesiac child. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 24: Bless This Mess (ABC) — Simplicity in Nebraska. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 25: Stumptown (ABC) — Cobie Smulders as a PI. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 26: The Unicorn (CBS) — Father starting to date. Yawn. Except it’s Walter Goggins. Hmm. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 26: Evil (CBS) — Supernatural or psychological explanations for evil. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 26: Carol’s Second Act (CBS) — New divorcee in medicine. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 26: Sunnyside (NBC) — New councilman, new immigrants. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • EDIT: 26: Poldark (PBS) — 1700s soldier returns to British home and tries to reintegrate. PREDICTION: Renewal; Not a new show;
  • 26: Perfect Harmony (NBC) — Choir comedy, small town. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 27: The Politician (Netflix) — Each season will follow an election, starting with high-school. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 29: Godfather of Harlem (EPIX) — Crime boss returns to old neighborhood, which has new gangs running it. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 29: Bless The Harts (Fox) — Animated Southern family and Jesus. PREDICTION: Cancellation.

October:

  • 01: Sorry For Your Loss (FB) — Wife after sudden death of husband. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 02: Almost Family (Fox) — Father used own sperm at fertility clinic, now 100 siblings. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 04: Raising Dion (Netflix) — Son has superpowers. PREDICTION: n/a, mini-series;
  • 06: Batwoman (CW) — Bruce has a cousin. PREDICTION: Renewal;
  • EDIT: 06: Get Shorty (EPIX) — TV version of gangster becoming producer. PREDICTION: Cancellation;  Not a new show;
  • 09: Nancy Drew (CW) — New sleuth, new cases. PREDICTION: Renewal;
  • 09: The Oval (BET+) — West Wing-ish. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 11: Modern Love (Amazon) — Anthology about various forms of love. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 15: Treadstone (USA) — Every year, someone wants to tell a story of a one-man super soldier, and every year, they fail. This one at least comes in with the Bourne legacy. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 16: Limetown (FB) — Missing neuroscience community members. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 18: Looking for Alaska (Hulu) — Eight episodes at a boarding school, falling in love, and dealing with loss. PREDICTION: n/a, seems like a mini-series, not sure it’ll be worth watching;
  • 18: Living With Yourself (Netflix) — Paul Rudd in comedy about becoming a better version of yourself through some sort of cloning procedure. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 20: Watchmen (HBO) — Future with outlawed super heroes. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 24: Daybreak (Netflix) — Dystopian high school? Gangs of 4Hers? Really? PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 27: Mrs. Fletcher (HBO) — Empty nester single mom…sounds like Gilmore Girls, except she had a son. PREDICTION: Cancellation;

November:

  • 01: The Morning Show (Apple) — Anchor women fight for top spot. PREDICTION: Cancellation;
  • 04: His Dark Materials (HBO) — Fantasy world of daemons, polar bears, and witches. PREDICTION: Renewal.
  • 12: The Mandalorian (Disney+) — Series set in the Star Wars universe post-Return of the Jedi (i.e., between episodes 6 and 7) and while I am not certain huge numbers will tune in for a weekly show, they have the canon from the SW universe that is pretty rich and easy to build upon. And if from time to time they need to drop in a Jedi or two, far be it from me to doubt the ways of the Force. PREDICTION: Renewal for at least a second season;
  • 15: Dollface (Hulu) — Post-break-up, woman tries to get back together with her friends. PREDICTION: Cancellation;

December:

  • 06: Reprisal (Hulu) — Woman left for dead wants revenge. PREDICTION: Cancellation.

Other shows I’ll be watching from returns:

  • Sept 6, Titans (DC Universe);
  • Sept 23, Bull (CBS);
  • Sept 24, NCIS (CBS);
  • Sept 24, New Amsterdam (NBC);
  • Sept 26, A Million Little Things (ABC);
  • Sept 27, Blue Bloods (CBS);
  • Sept 27, Magnum P.I. (CBS);
  • Sept 27, God Friended Me (CBS);
  • Sept 29, The Rookie (ABC);
  • Oct 2, SWAT (CBS);
  • Oct 2, The Blacklist (NBC);
  • Oct 6, Supergirl (CW);
  • Oct 7, Black Lightning (CW);
  • Oct 7, All American (CW);
  • Oct 8, The Flash (CW);
  • Oct 10, Legacies (CW);
  • Oct 15, Arrow (CW);
  • Nov 1, Jack Ryan (Amazon);

So, looks like 42 new shows to consider, of which I’m predicting only 5 renewals. That is too much of a bloodbath though, curious to see which ones actually make it. I’m only really interested in Prodigal Son (profiler), Emergence (supernatural), Poldark (1700s), Batwoman, Nancy Drew, Treadstone, The Mandalorian, and Reprisal.

How did I do at predicting the 2018-19 TV season?

The PolyBlog
May 11 2019

Each year, I run my own internal personal fantasy TV pool, first guessing how new shows will do based solely on their description and premise, and then updating my prediction after watching the premiere. Now that most of the cancellations are known, I want to see how I did.

For six new ABC shows, one is still undecided/unannounced. For the other five, I got 3 right on description and 4 right after watching the premiere.

  • A Million Little Things (ABC) — cancellation + renewal –> RENEWED (0, 1 point);
  • Single Parents (ABC) — renewal + cancellation –> RENEWED (1, 0);
  • The Kids Are Alright (ABC) — renewal + cancellation –> CANCELLATION (0, 1);
  • The Rookie (ABC) — renewal + renewal –> RENEWED (1, 1);
  • The Fix (ABC) — cancellation + cancellaton –> CANCELLATION (1, 1);
  • Whiskey Cavalier (ABC) — cancellation + cancellation –> ?

For FOX, I thought they would keep one and I went with The Cool Kids. But it didn’t really go anywhere after the initial episode. Of the four new shows, I was right for 3 at the start and the same 3 after watching the premieres.

  • Rel (FOX) — cancellation + cancellation –> CANCELLATION (1, 1);
  • The Cool Kids (FOX) — renewal + renewal –> CANCELLATION (0, 0);
  • Proven Innocent (FOX) — cancellation + cancellation –> CANCELLATION (1, 1);
  • The Passage (FOX) — cancellation + cancellation –> CANCELLATION (1, 1);

For CBS, they had a lot of new shows, with eight predictions although we only know about seven so far. For those seven, I only got three right from the description, and that only goes up to four after watching the premieres. I thought Murphy Brown might go somewhere for nostalgia sake, but I didn’t like it and nobody else did either! I didn’t think God Friended Me would catch interest and it did. Mind you, I’m shocked for FBI getting renewed, along with the Neighborhood.

  • Magnum, PI (CBS) — cancellation + renewal –> RENEWED (0, 1);
  • Murphy Brown (CBS) — renewal + renewal –> CANCELLATION (0, 0);
  • God Friended Me (CBS) – cancellation + cancellation –> RENEWED (0, 0);
  • The Neighborhood (CBS) — cancellation + cancellation –> RENEWED (1, 1);
  • Happy Together (CBS) — cancellation + cancellation –> CANCELLATION (1, 1)
  • FBI (CBS) — cancellation + cancellation –> RENEWED (0, 0);
  • The Code (CBS) — renewal + renewal –> ?;
  • Fam (CBS) — cancellation + cancellation –> CANCELLATION (1, 1);

For NBC, the outcomes are only known for 3 so far, and on those, I got 1 right on description and 2 right after watching the premieres. Surprisingly, New Amsterdam caught on.

  • Manifest (NBC) — cancellation + renewal –> RENEWED (0, 1);
  • New Amsterdam (NBC) — cancellation + cancellation –> RENEWED (0, 0);
  • I Feel Bad (NBC) — cancellation + cancellation –> CANCELLATION (1, 1);
  • The Enemy Within (NBC) — cancellation + cancellation –> ?
  • Abby’s (NBC) — cancellation + cancellation –> ?
  • The Village (NBC) — cancellation + cancellation –> ?

CW shows are the hardest to predict given their joint ownership by two other networks so some stuff that might not otherwise continue gets renewed. So on initial predictions for the five new shows, I only got 1 right. After watching the premieres, that went up to 3 / 5.

  • All-American (CW) — cancellation + renewal –> RENEWED (0, 1);
  • Charmed (CW) — cancellation + cancellation –> RENEWED (0, 0);
  • Legacies (CW) — renewal + renewal –> RENEWED (1, 1);
  • Roswell, New Mexico (CW) –> cancellation + renewal –> RENEWED (0, 1);
  • In the Dark (CW) — cancellation + cancellation –> RENEWED (0, 0);

Overall, not so great:

  • ABC: 3, 4 / 5
  • FOX: 3, 3 / 4
  • CBS: 3, 4 / 7
  • NBC: 1, 2 / 3
  • CW: 1, 3 / 5
  • Total: 11, 14 / 24