Skin

The supporting characters are all still pretty shrill, stupid or cardboard, though Connor and Michaela have improved finally.

Interesting that you think Connor and Michaela have improved, as I think they are the ones who have been strangled the most by the post hiatus string of episodes, Wes and Laurel are the ones who seem to have a handle on things and seem to be the ones making smart choices, while Connor and Micheala continue to disintegrate, make poor choices which have led them all down more difficult roads and virtually telegraph their guilt with each passing episode to the very people who feel there is something to hide.

Marcia Gay Harden did wonders for my interest in this show. She and Viola play very well off each other. Plus I think it's helpful to the narrative to have a character on the outside who sees just how fucked up and amoral everyone else is.

I agree that she provides a worthwhile role, but I don't like the way that she is being written. It's clear there is animosity there, I wish they had just led with that over her trying to be fake nice, it wouldn't have changed the character's progression and arc in anyway and her focus would have been clearer off of jump street.

It's sad to see what Real World has come to they used to be a very inspirational show that taught people and introduced the audience to real social issues. Now it's mostly just used as a branding machine to launch more reality television trash, with no talent. I used to love Real World back when they had a message and something to say, but I would say since Vegas and San Diego they've had little to say to their audiences. This is one of the reasons I can't stand reality television, it's taking over and provides pretty much no value.

The Kevin/Patrick/Richie triangle feels obvious to me in that we know what is going to happen. Patrick is going to end up (re)starting things up with Richie for a couple of episodes, only for Kevin to last minute break things off with John for Patrick and come running to him. This will lead into another season (potentially series) finale where he is stuck between these same two guys again. It's as clear as day to me, all the indicators are there with Kevin, but the writers need time to mobilize the other half of this story, so they use this as a stop gap to (re)build Richie/Patrick back up for the other half of this triangle to play out along with a few one-off episodes to round out the season.

I'm kind of wondering if Looking is doing a disservice by having Patrick act as the center/lead of the show. He's not a bad lead necessarily, but the strong leaning focus on him kind of makes the other two leads feel like extras at times and the viewing audience can't actively invest more in the show for it. I honestly can't be bothered with Augustine even if he has more or less equaled out in terms of characterization, and Dom's storylines feel increasingly more empty -- the Peri Peri window thing has pretty much lost its steam because of the Kevin/Patrick focus which if I am being honest is a lot more interesting anyway.

The way Russel Tovey plays Kevin is so interesting, it's like he needs Patrick all the time. To see him, to kiss him, to be with him, but at the same time we only get these little pocket views and glimpses of him wih Patrick there, but still in a way it's very flattering of him that every time he sees Patrick he wants him. It's also kind of interesting to note one of the reasons Patrick ends things with Richie is because he doesn't foresee a future with him (he can't say he loves Richie), while one of the reasons he ends things with Kevin is because all he can see is a future with Kevin and he can no longer accept less than all of him. Richie kind of hints at this during their talk.

I think Kevin comes out of this smelling like roses from pretty much the second episode of the season onward. It was one thing when he wasn't with the kids 24/7, and he was at the alibi working and barking orders at Veronica, but she lost her battery for an argument once they had Kevin become Super Mom. Veronica just isn't happy, and there isn't anything that is wrong with what Kevin is doing. What Veronica is doing almost borders on child abuse, it would be one thing if they were showing signs of postpartum depression but she seems inherently selfish and almost angry that she is no longer the only thing in Kevin's world. I was waiting for Kevin to tell her that if she leaves him for checking on his children, that he wouldn't want her to be there when he comes back anyway. Ultimately Veronica wanted this, she wanted this enough for them to have sex with her mother in order to have a child, and she hasn't acclimated well at all.

On to the Gallaghers, why does it feel like no one is parenting these children? I get that ultimately Fiona, Ian and Lip were more responsible teens more or less that kept the house going but it feels like Fiona doesn't have a handle on anything anymore and that is just not what we have seen in the past. Debbie and Carl are running her roughshod over there these days and she just seems irresponsible. Carl drug dealing in and of itself is not cute, yes we have seen Lip, Ian and Kevin drug deal more or less but it always felt it was in a safer environment with friends who wouldn't get too deep. They certainly weren't on drug corners and everything. They weren't interacting with thugs who can and will kill Carl if he doesn't produce and deliver on sales quotas. Debbie is terrifying and she's more or less left unchecked, and it seems as if Fiona is struggling to actually discipline her and it's terrible -- specifically Fiona's earlier dalliance this season seems to be encouraging her to make bad, unhealthy and impulsive decisions. Unfortunately Lip and Ian are no longer a stable presence in her life so they can't adequately temper her with advice like they usually did.

Onto the adults more or less: Sammi continues to find new ways to humiliate herself with each passing episode, she has no self respect it's hard to actually feel bad for her. I'm glad that Lip is going back to school, he seems to have realized way too late that south side is a trigger that is going to make him relapse and will put his entire future at risk. None of what he has been doing has been good for him and there is too much at home to hold him back. I have a feeling that gun will come back to haunt him, and he might end up being expelled from school or lose his scholarships to his school which would be devastating but honestly well deserved considering the fact that he doesn't seem to understand the opportunities he is being given to make his life better. He is literally being given everything on a silver platter. I'm freakin' ecstatic that Jimmy is back in town, maybe Fiona will stop acting like a goddamn pod person now, she honestly hasn't been the same since Jimmy left and she has squandered herself and fucked over herself and everyone around her since he left. Season 4 was pretty much all about how she imploded without him there, and she is not doing a grand job since he's been away. Maybe he can screw her sane again. Sad but true.

Also these things happened:

Shameless is so funny for doing this, confirming Ian's penis size and yet still limiting his screen time to a little over 5 minutes. I question if Cameron is even going to be on this show for much longer? He is getting pretty big recognition for movie roles (The Giver) and also landing stints on other television shows (Gotham) which he has filmed along with Shameless, and I just get the feeling he is preparing to leave when the timing lines up for him. Shameless probably doesn't have too many more seasons left in it, I think. Dexter and Weeds only went for 8 and those were big headlining shows. I wonder if they are ever going to write Ian out? I mean they basically did in season 4, but still. He is one part of the biggest pairing this show has, and this show needs everything it has going for it. I would be sad to see Cameron go, because he is a good actor who is able to give nuanced performances. Is it bad that I still think Ivegeny is in better hands even with a bipolar Ian than he is with his birth mother and father?

I don't really get what Mickey was expecting here, he turned a blind eye to so many things and let it progress this far, and didn't really think of the consequences. Also the cheating thing is kind of weird? Did they ever talk about being exclusive? I guess one can assume since Mickey is so heavily closeted that it should be so, but it wasn't too long ago that he was playing hose with Svetlana, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that they never had this conversation. Also Ian was just going this so they could have money. I get that they are saying Ian is hypersexual, but this is something I don't think was very well fleshed out or understood in their relationship this season, so I can't tell if they had an unspoken agreement or if Mickey just kind of assumed. But we can tell from this episode that Mickey feel's Ian was cheating on him, and reacts as such so I don't even know what to call this.

I think it would have been better if Lynn just told Dom that he wasn't ready for a real relationship that's what it comes down to.

I think it's clear that Patrick wants to be the center of attention, and this kind of shows the crux of the problem with Kevin. Kevin can't give Patrick that focus, so Richie is that band aid. Someone who will focus only on him, exclusively when he isn't in a Kevin time share. Kevin is afraid of being alone more or less.

Augustine has the weakest storyline this season, but this is more or less because he is the least defined character of the trio.

On an unrelated note HBO has renewed Girls and Together but haven't renewed this.

This past episode was the equivalent to elevator music. This wouldn't have been a bad throw away Christmas episode but seeing as the season is so short this filler episode could have been utilized better to fulfill greater plot needs.

I thought the fight between Richie and Auggie was as much about their cultural differences even if they were from the same culture as it was about Auggie thinking Patrick was slumming it. You know, representing the whole 'differences within same race' ideal. Thus, Auggie's apology for being so condescending to Richie back then in the latest episode. I could relate to both since I've had such debates on one hand and have waaaay too many people who want to dictate who their friends should date simply based on my skin color if not just my current (emphasis on current) pay rate.

For me, I like that the writers are keeping a very light thread out there for the Pat/Richie fans. But it seems clear to me that this season is all about Pat/Kevin. Which...I think is a good thing. Last season was all about Pat/Richie and what their problems would be if they got together. And now this season is about Pat/Kevin and what their problems will be. Good or bad, Pat will come out of it learning something. But it seems like by the time he does, Richie will probably be with someone else. So...what to do, what to do.

I could partly see this, as the writers were kind of driving home that Agustine was a rich, over privileged white boy, with no talent who was conveniently of latin descent at the end of the first season, at least according to Frank. But again this seems a bit esoteric and ill formed just as Richie's understanding of hispanic/latino pride was in the finale. I know they aren't meaning to do this, but it feels a bit like insert your stereotype and culture beliefs here for some characters and not accurately portraying them in the full text of the show. It feels like the audience is being told to fill in the blanks in some spaces where some further characterization or understanding could go a long way in figuring out what is happening with these characters. Is Richie feeling disrespected because Patrick was freaking out over having Richie meet his parents in person? Or is he more upset that he thinks Patrick is ashamed of him? It's not clear and the Richie character feels undefined even now in the second season, because he is still dealing with issues that came up in the first season.

Overall the Augustine/Richie relationship feels awkward. They had one interaction together and that was the end of it. It feels contrived to have them be "friends" now. I get that Richie is the good guy who is still a little hung up on Patrick, but the forced connection and friendship with Augustine feels very contrived and is basically bad plot driven writing.

I think the show is messing up by so blatantly end gaming Patrick and Richie. It feels like Patrick and Richie have been destined to be together since Looking Toward The Future and it's a detriment to the story telling because it's clear that they are incompatible people. Yes Patrick loves Richie's free spirit, and he seems to exoticize him but I don't see any real love there. It's clear that Patrick doesn't love Richie because he doesn't see Richie as being his ideal man, they are very different socionomically speaking and we can see that Patrick cares soo much about that stuff. Look at the way Patrick and his mother react to Kevin when she thinks that her son is dating him and how Patrick is basically internalizing "I wish" in that scene and then contrast how ashamed Patrick seems to be of Richie when he introduces him to his friend. All in all it just doesn't mesh. It's a sad situation because the actor who plays Kevin is clearly going to have other projects to choose from so he won't be on Looking long. But we see how much Patrick really wants a guy just like Kevin and he is going to get burned for it. Richie feels like a consolation prize at this point.

I don't really get why Agustin has to like Richie? Does anyone know why that is happening? It feels like forced story telling to have them be friends. Richie needs to be in Patrick's sphere for this "triangle" to work, but there is no real way to fit him in so they just picked Agustin to work him in there. I think the writers are trying too hard to be pro-Richie this season and to keep him relevant, as Patrick has all but driven passed him for Kevin.

I feel like the show is digressing where it should finally be coming all together. This passed episode made me like Wes more than I have ever liked him before, but at the cost of alienating pretty much all of the other characters. Pretty much everything before the murder has been character study, so I feel like we should be more invested in who we are seeing, but as it stands it almost feels like paint by number characterization to service plot needs. Almost like "we've shown you enough characterization to justify why they are going to do what they are going to do, now leave us alone, and let us do what we need to do to move these chess pieces in place."

They've also done a tremendous job in breaking down the tough demeanor of Annalise who is if not the focal point, a key power figure of the show. There is only a handful of episodes left and although it's a lock to be renewed I don't feel that anything worth of consequence is going to happen.

the show picks up with an interesting villain. Tommy Flanigan's character came ad went wayyyyyyy too soon. His arc should have carried the action for at least two or three more episodes.

No, I'm glad that the Malcolm Black stuff is over with, it wasn't very promising to begin with. David Clark's re-entrance was botched, the only milage that they could've gotten with that was the Victoria/Amanda mouse game angle, and even then there was a ticking time clock with that - viewers aren't going to stick around in this climate with stupid or infuriating writing just to drag things out, which we touched upon up thread a few weeks back.

The problem with this season is there has been so very little that has actually worked in regards to story. The new cop has completely failed by my account to provide fresh story opportunities, and now that David is alive, and he has reunited with Emily her story has pretty much been wrapped up so everything around the show has been decentralized. Killing Daniel has turned Victoria into a martyr which means you lose one of the most interesting and head strong villains of the entire series. There is no further investment in Victoria vs. Emily, which the show heavily built up for nearly 4 seasons. Nolan and his conquests have never been strong enough to withstand heavy focus or plot, so even though Louise is interesting, I don't believe she will hold her luster for very long. Jack loses his relevance with every passing episode, so on and so on for everyone else on the canvas.

I still think killing off Daniel was a poor move, some potential could have been mined there. I would say the only characters that have some potential to liven up the season are Margo's current story and Charlotte's possible re-entrance. Otherwise the show feels dead in the water.

After this last episode I have to wonder if Ian is the only Gallagher who is suffering from mental illness. Seriously, I am not noticing the difference between Ian's inability at dealing with the world through his bipolarity and the way Fiona, Frank and Lip's check out of the world and continue to [!@#$%^&*] up their lives with this bullshit. Do any of these people know how to function as adults? I am just beyond done. Fiona knows nothing about this man, she could be marrying a man who is in debt to his eyeballs, or have some unsavory past that could bring harm to her family? Seriously, what the actual [!@#$%^&*]? Honestly, it's so odd to have them all running wild doing frankly irresponsible and juvenile [!@#$%^&*] like they are 16 year olds or something. It's just ridiculous. Lip is probably going to wind up expelled from school, where is the Fiona we knew and loved from seasons 1-3? Why is Lip trying so hard to destroy his life, after he just saw how Fiona destroyed hers last season? They are exhibiting absolutely zero self control in their situation and it's like they don't know how to make things work. It's like once Carl and Debbie became teenagers, they all checked out and lost their damn minds. Frank continues to be disgusting and I question what utility he actually brings to the show. I was so annoyed with him threw out the entire episode. He's a damn fool and he deserves to lose everything his money, his family and his life. I hope one day his karma will hit him in the face.

Cameron Monaghan tweeted that it was both Joan and Emma's (Sheila and Mandy) last episode

Shame about Joan Cusak, she's had nothing to do for so long now but she is a stand out actress on the show who makes every scene she is in work (and one of the only actresses on the show that regularly gets nominated for her work). She really is a grounding influence and one of the only bearable thinks about Frank's stories. She's also one of the best and most likable supporting characters on the show. It's astounding to me how Frank is the least interesting part of the show, yet he still gets so much of the focus for such a deplorable character that is written as a goddamn cartoon. Macy isn't that great.

Mandy lost her purpose somewhere in the third season so I am less interested in her story. Her loss is needed to push Lip forward in his own story. It seems like there is less and less keeping him in Chicago, and he feels so isolated from the rest of his family that it almost feels like he and Ian are also on their way out.

I was so hard at the Mandy scenes. They wasted more time w/her and the abusive boyfriend (his name is Kenyatta? Good God). I'm glad she's left town but the idea that she left to be w/someone who abused her, all because Lip doesn't love her back is so disgusting and makes her look horrible.

There was nowhere left to go with Mandy. They could have finally given her a (real) run with Lip, but he was always more interested in other women over her so that was never in the cards for her it seemed. The character has had a very raw deal, but it is what it is.

I agree with a lot of people, Sammie and her loser son need to go away!!! They are so annoying and pointless now. The whole Debbie storyline with this dude and those loser high school friends of her since last season are also pointless and uninteresting. I never really cared for th Debbie character, she is better suited as a background character with a line here and there. I actually don't think she had sex, she is lying to everyone to make a point that she is a woman now.

I really hated that made Ian be like his mother, they should have made Debbie so they can ship her off.

I think Debbie is easily the most unlikable sibling of the set (next to Sammie which was a retcon in all ways). So many viewers seem to dislike her, I am not sure if it's meant to be intentional -- but if it is the writers are burying themselves because it is going to be much harder to sympathize with her later on should she ever be given a story where she is meant to be a protagonist. I think the only time I liked Debbie during the storyline in either the first or second season, where she supports Frank endlessly until he disappoints her and then she kicks him out of her room.

I really want to see where they are going to take the Ian storyline, it sure feels like he and Mickey have had a diminished role in this season. It feels like Lip and Ian both have had reduced airtime in favor of Carl and Debbie.

Hallisay is pretty, but his acting chops are one note. His characters on Client List, Mistresses and Revenge are all one dimensional. He doesn't have the depth, at least he hasn't shown it.

I completely forgot that I had seen him before when I watched the Client List last year. That says everything in regards to his on-screen presence, as I binged watched that show and was pretty obsessed with it last summer. I still can't believe Jennifer Love Hewitt torpedoed the show because she needed to be paired with her husband and not Colin.

EVC seems to be more of a cult following and hype than ever being in a popular show.

She's been on a lot of steady series to where she could be thought of as being a solid leading actress. Everwood, Brothers & Sisters and now Revenge that's a solid decade plus of being on screen. She reminds me a bit of Katie Holmes for some reason.

F!ck this show for killing off Daniel.

Seriously. This show cannot run on the fumes that is Jack/Amanda, outside of Aiden he was the only guy that she sparked with and could develop a captivating pairing with, the new cop isn't helping things either and if this was the trade-off, it is a poor one at best. Apparently the actor wanted out back in season 3 so maybe this was an early dismissal for him. My guess is that they are cleaning house earlier just in case they get canceled after this season.

I finally gave in and binged watched this from the first season till now and what a great little show!

That being said they completely buried it underneath a terrible pilot, so no wonder no one is watching it. I'm only watching the show for Kevtrick at this point though even if Ritchie and Patrick are endgame, which I think is more likely now seeing as the actor playing Kevin has his hands in multiple projects. The friendship between the guys is also quite nice, which is such a stark contrast to Girls where you wonder how they are even friends with each other.

I'm not sure if it's supposed to be tongue in cheek or if it's supposed to be taken at face value, but if it's the former I think it's a clear way to get the media off her back, and cash in on a trend that has turned her into a bit of a laughing stock in the media. I think her singles have been so-so, I enjoyed both WANEEGBT and IKYWT more then either of these for the most part, but she seems to be having more success with this album then she has with Red so far. I haven't even heard this record because she won't let it be accessed on Streaming sites.

Agreed, although I think Supernatural is mostly just running in place at this point in regards to story telling, they did a beautiful job with their 200th episode. I think this was one of the best and most enjoyable episodes of Supernatural since season 5. It completely hit the mark with what this show is truly about and why fans of this show still tune in.

Looked at the ratings and SPN along with Arrow are tied with second place for most viewers in the coveted 18-49 demo for The CW after Flash. This is clearly an important show to the CW. I don't know what they are going to do when it starts to wind down and ends. These shows can only do so much. The Vampire Dairies and Arrow have already started to decline in step with Supernatural and they are much younger shows, The Vampire Dairies has maybe one more season to go after this one, if that. They need to start planning for their next few seasons.

Perhaps Shondra is waiting for the end of the season to reveal more of his backstory. The way she did with Derek in Grey's Anatomy.

Finally, an episode where the highlighted character is actually developed.. especially one that has gotten less focus. Not only did it shed more light on Asher, but default.. we got some focus on Paris Gellar.. oops I mean Bonnie's character as well as Laurel/Frank's character.

I actually think Wes is miscast and having him be the focus is what is preventing this show from being great. Unlike Olivia Pope, Annalise has moments of weakness but gets down to business right away.

I disagree with pretty much all of this. We knew Asher was a Daddy's boy from the get go. What did we learn about Paris that we didn't know beforehand? That she likes to bang the interns too? Laurel/Frank is more of the same -- that we got from previous episodes. She shouldn't be sleeping with any of them. Olivia is more capable then Annalise to be honest.

Looking at the demo it's holding steady with Two and a Half Men and Mom (which were both premieres). It's not killing it like The Big Bang Theory and Scandal are, but I wouldn't say tied for third is a horrible position to be in. If it slides down to the 1.9's and lower than I say we have a bit of a problem. Right now it's keeping well with the other shows.

The werewolf one.

Matt McGory was awesome as Asher tonight

Not sure what the hell this was, but whatever.

Why do people care about this? Honest question - I see that brought up a lot. I don't have a dog in that fight about network vs. cable standards. From an adult viewer's perspective, it's all just TV to me, and the rest is up to the network censors and bean counters to care about. I'd love to see network television push the envelope a lot more when it comes to sex in the same way that foreign TV does; how many times are we subjected to gruesome murders and bloody surgical scenes on shows like CSI or Grey's Anatomy?

I agree. I'm personally more freaked out over Derek Shepperd taking out half a brain on television, Moreover, I don't consider Conner's sex scenes any more overt than any of the others on television. Again it's not Queer As Folk.

I watched last Tuesday's episode live and it was the first time I watched this show live since maybe season 5/6. It was nice, but more or less still more of the same.

Can Emily/Amanda just snap Victoria's neck at this point? She might as well.

WTF can everyone just tell Clarke that Emily is Amanda?

Noland, Charlotte, Jack, Emily/Amanda herself, etc.

and the silly talk (was this author as worried about "unlikeable characters" when skeevy, melty-face Brian and his smirky brain dead twink Justin were [!@#$%^&*] all over Pittsburgh on QAF??), the whole thing gets away from itself. And the comments are even worse, comparing Connor to, of all characters, Deanna Troi as an example of characters who are just there for sexual purposes. Clearly people don't remember just how terrible her stories were for ages. Call me when Connor is unknowingly impregnated by aliens.

The moral positioning of Brian and Justin is very different from the positioning Connor received though, we have to take that into account if we want to pick apart his argument. For better or worse Brian and Justin were usually held in a sympathetic light in which the audiences were supposed to agree, side with and support them and they were more or less "good people" and were written as such. Connor is largely seen to be self serving, he hasn't shown much in the way of redemptive features outside of him maybe liking his pseudo asian boyfriend and feeling a tiny bit sorry for a office assistant for ending his life. We also have to add the fact that Connor is an accessory to a murder as well. None of this makes him very sympathetic. He isn't a gay character who is seen to have a lot of morality where as even Brian and Justin seemed to have some scruples and values. Is this really a point for contention? I don't think so, I really don't think it matters either way. It doesn't bother me, but maybe this is a point that should be discussed for people who find Connor's sex scenes unsavory, would it be better for viewers if Connor was nicer and more likable like Scotty Windel from Brothers and Sisters, or Will Truman from Will & Grace? Who knows.

All that can be quantitatively said about Connor is that he is the most sexually active individual of the group. Just like Connor is the dumb jock, Micheala is the prissy type a valedictorian and Laurel is the bookwarm with a heart of gold.