Let's Talk Television: Trying and failing to come up with a death that improved a show.

We've reached too much television.

New This Week

• White Lotus (Max)

• Alert: Missing Persons Unit (Hulu)

• FBI (Paramount+)

• FBI: Most Wanted (Paramount+)

• Chicago Med (Peacock)

• 9-1-1 (Hulu)

• Doctor Odyssey (Hulu)

• Elsbeth (Paramount+)

• Law & Order (Peacock)

• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Peacock)

• The Pitt (Max)

• NCIS: Sydney (Paramount+)

• Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc (Crunchyroll)

The Good

These are the episodes I recommend watching.

The Pitt

The Good: This episode is the come down after the rush of the last two and once again, the pacing of this series is so good. I still can’t wait to binge-watch (though it will take a full day to actually watch all 15 hours at once) but at this penultimate juncture, I can say the pacing works for weekly watching, too. And that’s exciting. Good pacing is HARD and if they’ve pulled off making both ways to watch work, well, give the show it’s Emmy, too.

Javadi (Shabana Azeez), in her role as The Pitt’s John Carter (med student era), asks two wide-eyed questions that I feel sum up the thesis of the season/show. The first is “Everybody seems to know what to do [in the crisis]. Is this kind of thing [a mass casualty trauma] normal?” As stated earlier, I love that they know what to do (competence is my kink). A nurse answers her that no, it’s not normal, but it’s important to be prepared for the worst (and I would like to tack on, “especially in America”). Later, Mateo (Jalen Thomas Brooks) tells her “What happened today is not normal but you were a rock star, Victoria.” confirming that he knows her name and that their little romcom remains the most adorable.

Javadi’s second question is stated when they catch the shooter, an unknown who died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head off-screen. “Do we know why he did it?” she asks, and Dana (Katherine LaNasa) answers “Does it matter?” That’s THE question. Because Robby (Noah Wyle) was right about David (recurring guest Jackson Kelly), the troubled kid who the cops took into custody as a suspect last hour/week, and who Cassie (Fiona Dourif) called the cops on earlier because he threatened schoolmates. Although not the shooter, David’s mother placed him on a 72-hour hold to force him to get help with his overwhelming emotions, and he takes it very badly. Robby makes Cassie handle it with him and she also takes it badly. Again, both Robby and Cassie are right and both Robby and Cassie are wrong.

The Rest: Langdon (Patrick Ball) and Santos (Isa Briones) have to work together and it’s awkward af. Mel (Taylor Deardon) breaks down a bit now the crisis has passed. A kid with measles pneumonitis is brought in with his little sister. Neither kid was vaccinated and their mother also refuses to allow a spinal tap to confirm the diagnosis so they can treat him. She straight-up googles side effects of the treatment (not side effects of the disease!) while Robby and the other doctors are explaining the gravity of her son’s condition to her and Robby loses it on her. He is SO DONE with today (just one hour left!). In the last minutes of the episode, Cassie is arrested for tampering with her ankle monitor.

The Ugly: I love that the shooter is a nonentity. I hate the anxiety that “TV these days” (or rather, “TV fans these days”) gives me about it, and I worry about the wrap-up of David’s storyline. I’m actually hoping for it not to wrap up.

Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc

Last year I kept Black Butler in the Also Watching category but it comes out weekly and it’s THE BEST so I have decided it gets to be promoted.

The Good: If you do not know Black Butler, and I acknowledge it is niche in comparison, all of it is available on Crunchyroll. Season one is the original story/set-up, season two is not canon so feel free to skip it, season three is devastating (I’m still not over it), and season four is brilliant. This is season five and I am so excited. The first episode is all exposition but it is gorgeous to look at as always and the credit sequences promise more greatness. There are other two ‘Book of’ parts (an OVA and a film) that take place between S3 and S4 and they are both delightful.

The Rest: It’s a half-hour show, which is not enough! Also, only the sub is out now for S5, which I’m fine with, but just so you know. The rest is dubbed, too. Fair warning, Black Butler is an animated supernatural horror-mystery series about a child and his demon butler. It is morally ambiguous and not for the faint-hearted.

The Ugly: Seriously, skip S2.

Law & Order

The Good: The victim is a 12-year-old girl pushed off a high line by her mother, which is horrific. The mom pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, specifically postpartum psychosis (see Mental Illness Sidebar for more). She’d sought treatment but her controlling husband wouldn’t allow it so Nolan (Hugh Dancy) and Sam (Odelya Halevi) decide to go after him for negligent homicide. Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) thinks that’s problematic but Sam convinces him that the mother needs help and the husband is the danger to society. The defense is basically “My wife isn’t crazy, she’s evil.” (the husband is a real piece of work) and the only way to prove he knew she needed help is to put their ten-year-old daughter on the stand, which would compound her already compounded trauma. Nolan calls her in an attempt to get the dad to blink but he doesn’t and instead, Nolan does—he calls off her testimony and without it, the husband is found Not Guilty. I love that Nolan lost, and I love why, and I love both Sam’s and Baxter’s wordless reactions.

The Rest: We get two scenes between Riley (Reid Scott) and his daughter (recurring guest Justine Colan) and they add to the main plot pretty organically! Jalen (Mehcad Brooks, but he did not appear) is out sick so Brady (Maura Tierney) is on the streets again.

The Ugly: The husband is a Navy Seal and he lost his mother to suicide, which he blames on the medication she was on. The episode does not delve into either of these facts enough for me.

The Bad

Bad equates to “I don’t have much to say about this.

9-1-1

Hen (Aisha Hinds) helps a man who feels invisible by telling him she feels invisible, too, because everyone forgot her birthday, and they have to take space in the world. He takes her advice too far by taking a bus hostage, but she talks him down. Meanwhile in Texas, Eddie (Ryan Guzman) finally stops allowing his parents to run over him and steps up to be Chris’s Dad and bring him home (I cried actually). I hope this means they will both return to Los Angeles soon?

Doctor Odyssey

Rosie (recurring guest Jacqueline Toboni) has been sober for five years and has her own AA group on board the ship. She thinks Tristan (Sean Teale) might have a drinking problem and offers her help but he chooses to give up drinking to prove her wrong. Instead, he goes through withdrawal, and while Avery (Philippa Soo) and Max (Joshua Jackson) take care of him, he admits his father was an alcoholic. They agree to help with whatever he needs and he joins Rosie’s AA group. I love this plot for Rosie but Tristan’s drinking problem came out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, Max treats a young man whose depression and/or antidepressants caused him to ejaculate randomly and Avery befriends a tightly wound young woman with too much iron in her blood. They end up having a meet-cute in the hot tub. Max also treats three co-eds who want to have a foursome with Dr. DILF and who have various problems due to drugs laced with fentanyl (Max is also affected by it), and scuba-diving with an unknown heart condition. The team save them and they continue to sexualize Max.

FBI

Maggie (Missy Pergrym) is undercover with eco-terrorists (I think I’ve seen this film before) when her identity is revealed. She is able to reason with the leader of the group, whom she made friends with and whom she knows isn’t a killer, but two of the others go rogue, try to burn Maggie alive, and plan to kill thousands of innocents to make their point. Scola (John Boyd) and Dani (Emily Alabi), another UC agent whose identity was compromised and I assume his new partner, find the bomb, while Maggie and OA (Zeeko Zaki) take out the rogue eco-terrorists.

What’s important is that OA saves Maggie from the fire and carries her out of it and that the episode ends with them having a moment in the elevator in which OA tells her, “When you go undercover you’re either looking for something or hiding from something, I just want to know you’re okay.” I am extremely normal about all of this.

FBI: Most Wanted

A well-fed victim mentality results in an orderly stealing poison from the hospital he works at and dispensing it randomly to get the city to pay him a ransom. His son figures out he’s the villain and initially helps but ultimately tells his dad that he can’t be a part of all the murdering (good). Unfortunately, the FBI tracks the kid to find the dad and then shoots him down in front of him. Jason runs with the remaining poison and plans to drop it into a water tower but Ray (Edwin Hodge) pulls a Remy (Dylan McDermott) and talks him down. The kid gives up his bottle and Ray pulls him into a hug (great).

Meanwhile, Remy and his girlfriend are going strong and he bought a bar for them to fix up and start something together. He is so leaving and it’s okay because the team doesn’t need him anymore.

Chicago Med

Archer’s (Steven Weber) day starts with learning his ex-wife died on a bender. Then he’s put in charge for the day because Lenox (Sarah Ramos) took it off to stay with a patient she couldn’t save, dying alone in the ER. As per always there are too many plots: Hannah (Jessy Schram) treats a pregnant woman with cancer, Frost (Darren Barnet) is frosting Maggie ( Marlyne Barrett) out because they disagree if he was a rape victim, the nursing shortage continues and Archer tells Maggie to be a union leader. Archer’s main patient is a little boy who got a heart transplant and thinks the heart is rejecting him because he’s the reason his parents are splitting up, SO, Archer tracks down the mother of the donor and brings her in to talk to the kid. It’s a convoluted plot but a very effective scene.

More importantly, we finally get Lenox’s backstory. Her mother died of Prion disease and her father killed himself three hours later. Lenox was nineteen so she adopted her little brother (meaning there’s a good reason why I relate to Lenox! We have this in common!). Both Lenox and her brother chose not to get tested for the deadly hereditary disease but I assume Archer will convince her to, soon.

Most importantly, there’s a lot of great Archer and Hannah content that culminates in a fight up on the roof and Hannah storming away only to show up at his apartment after shift and I lose my mind!!!!!!!!!! (OTP for real, I don’t care).

Elsbeth

The perp is a declutter-er who is secretly a hoarder of things and kills her husband because she’s jealous in her throuple. Detective Edwards (recurring guest Micaela Diamond) is also polyamorous, and we get a couple of nice scenes with her and Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce); he’s initially confused and judgmental but apologizes and the third in the perp/victim throuple finds a new throuple in the coffee shop, which is also nice. In other love news, Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) Facetimes with her Irish bf, Angus. Kaya’s (Carra Peterson) boyfriend, Cameron (recurring guest Sullivan Jones), puts together a birthday extravaganza, and Teddy (Ben Levi Ross) and his boyfriend are staying together.

The best part for me is that Elsbeth initially inserts herself into birthday planning as a full partner but ultimately lets Cameron take on the task by himself. She understands letting go of Kaya to her new job or her other significant others doesn’t mean losing their friendship. A good message!

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

In this follow-up to the hostage situation involving Carisi (Peter Scanavino), the accomplice to rape and murder (whom Carisi convinced to turn on his friend by lying) is put on trial. The rape victim, Tess (guest Paige Herschell), goes missing a couple of times, but when she’s convinced to give testimony it’s heartbreaking. Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) and the other victim, Elizabeth (guest Tori Khalil), do okay, too, but Carisi loses his temper. Rollins (recurring guest Kelli Giddish) finds a prisoner willing to testify against what the defendant said while incarcerated and he’s found guilty on all charges except the rape. It’s a solid if not exceptional episode.

A few things. One, Tess is briefly hospitalized after an overdose and Velasco chooses to stay at the hospital to protect her because he was at the deli and will never forget her scream. GAH, I love him. Two, the Brooklyn ADA (guest Stacey Farber) who tries the case puts up with so much from Carisi and his loved ones and she takes it so well. Three, Amanda breaks down during witness prep because she could have lost her husband and I love her, too. Finally, despite the not-guilty verdict for her rape, Tess hugs Carisi and thanks him and they all agree she’s gonna be okay and it’s really heartwarming.

NCIS: Sydney

Blue (Mavournee Hazel) chose her name from a song by Nova (guest Mel Jarnson), a pop star being held hostage by her father who killed Nova’s girlfriend when he found out they were trying to run away together (but he was aiming for Nova herself? Idk, it’s unclear). The important thing to know is Blue saves her, and we learn that Blue grew up with an abusive father.

The Ugly

Don’t bother.

White Lotus

The Good: This episode is hilarious. Rick's (Walton Goggins) and Frank’s (Sam Rockwell) shenanigans with Sritala (Lek Patravadi) and her husband Jim (Scott Glenn) are hilarious. Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) giving Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) mindfulness lessons is hilarious (she is into him and mad about it). Laurie (Carrie Coon) beds a Russian but he sells her a sob story about his mother and then his wife/girlfriend shows up and slaps Laurie and it is SO FUNNY.

The Bad: Gary/Greg (Jon Gries) wants to bribe Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) and Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) thinks she should take the money. Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) knows that Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius) and crew are the criminals. Lochlan (Sam Nivola) tells Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) he wants to join the monastery too and she freaks out (WTF is this family?). Tim (Jason Isaacs) is dissociating and daydreaming of being a family annihilator, but the gun is gone.

The Ugly: Gaitok and Mook (Lalisa Manobal) finally have their date. He admits that he’s not going to be promoted to bodyguard and doesn’t want to be, and she’s immediately disappointed. Creator Mike White went on Andrew Sullivan’s podcast to discuss “Sam Rockwell’s autogynephilic role” amongst other Ugly things (I apologize for the link to Twitter but I refuse to link to Sullivan). I feel better about not liking this season.

Alert: Missing Persons Unit

The Ugly: When the show returned last week, Dania Ramirez was not in the key art on Hulu, so I was worried but the first episode was normal. Then this week all the Nikki scenes were clearly using a body double, so at 13:43 minutes into the episode, I looked up if Nikki made it out and confirmed that no, Nikki died and Ramirez is out. According to the press, it’s because the love triangle was played out so they needed something new (gross) that would shake things up and find ways to deepen our understanding of the characters (cheap). When has killing off a main character improved a show?

The Good: New Chief Bill Houston is played by Malcolm Jamal Warner!

The Bad: Charlie (recurring guest Ian Tracey) put out the hit on Nikki because she was going to turn him in to the FBI. TPTB claim this was set up from Charlie’s introduction but they are lying. When Jay (Scott Caan) finds Nikki dead he tries to keep Mike (Ryan Broussard) from seeing the body by hugging him. It is a very effective scene of emotional fallout but THE AUDACITY. The episode ends with a voice-over eulogy by Kemi (Adeola Role), which is nice, and Nikki’s goodbye letter gives a shout-out to her two husbands (SIGH) and at least remembers that Sydney (her and Jay’s daughter) exists.

Also Watching

Top Chef and Leverage Redemption (in anticipation of the new season).

I also watched Inception and you can look forward to my post on it for Mental Health in the Movies!

Mental Illness Sidebar

I am once again surprised by how tight this season of OG Law & Order is. Postpartum psychosis is a difficult disease to understand and they could have sensationalized it or oversimplified it but instead, they provided as nuanced an examination of it as they could in forty-something minutes of a crime procedural. Sam’s impassioned pleas for leniency for the mother and culpability for the husband a) were great and b) built on the episodes dealing with abusive relationships earlier in the season. I loved Sam when she was just the concept of a character but she’s more now and it’s so good! I understand all of her anger and frustration on display in this episode because I know where it comes from and who she is both outside of and within it. And Nolan does too!

From the NIH:

Childbirth is considered a major physical, emotional, and social stressor in a woman’s life. Following days to weeks after childbirth, most women experience some mental disturbance like mood swings and mild depression (also known as post-baby blues), but a few can also suffer from PTSD, major depression, or even full-blown psychosis.[1][2] This change in maternal behavior and thought process is due to several bio-psycho-social factors. There are physical and hormonal changes, lack of sleep and exhaustion, and the beginning of a new role and commitment in caring for a newborn, which is both physically and emotionally challenging. Postpartum psychosis is the severest form of mental illness in that category characterized by extreme confusion, loss of touch with reality, paranoia, delusions, disorganized thought process, and hallucinations.[3] It affects around one to two per one thousand females of childbearing age and usually happens immediately within days to the first six weeks after birth. Although rare, it is considered a psychiatric emergency that warrants immediate medical and psychiatric attention and hospitalization if the risk of suicide or filicide exists.

Childbirth is romanticized, especially in this post-Roe hell we live in. But childbirth fundamentally changes a woman’s body and mind and we need to talk about it in those terms. Postpartum psychosis is a medical emergency. It’s very rare it’s real.

I’m Sam+ in that I also want to help the dad deal with his anger and other maladaptive coping skills. I hate him, but we should at least try (especially since he got off and is now the sole parent to two little girls).

Ship of the Week

In Thailand, I’m mad at Mook. In the middle of the ocean, Max, Avery, and Tristan are a good trio but not a good throuple (yet). In England, the child witch and the child detective might have a thing. In Philadelphia, welp! I guess Jay and Nik are not endgame after all. In Pittsburgh, Javadi’s crush on Mateo is so cute.

In NYC, Maggie and OA have my heart but so do Nolan and Sam, and Rollisi have my heart forever.

Show of the Week

The Pitt.

What are YOU watching?