Let’s Talk Television: Story Beats!

I watch terrible television so you don’t have to.

New This Week

9-1-1: Lone Star (Tuesday, Hulu)

We catch up with the train pre-derailment to learn about the stakes and they are classic 9-1-1-verse aka over-the-top like whoa. Meet two orphaned brothers who promised their mother on her deathbed that they’d always take care of each other. The elder is in the hospital getting a heart transplant, the younger is driving to the hospital in his beat-up car having given up a scholarship to help his brother through the post-transplant recovery. The car fails just as big bro is being wheeled into surgery so lil bro jumps on a freight train passing by. Lil bro is sitting atop a train car when he gets the news that the surgery went well and his brother will be okay. He celebrates by hooting and hollering and yelling at a passing car that his brother’s gonna live! And then the train derails.

We also get to learn about the guy in the car, a hard-working dad who promises never to miss another of his daughter’s performances…right before his car is hit by a train car careening down a hill. This guy is rescued by the end of the episode, quite spectacularly by Mateo (Julian Works). So is the driver of the train, who was working alone when something happened that caused him to lose consciousness and lose control. We know the dad knows about the kid so I assume we pick up with him telling our heroes next week.

The episode ended with a giant explosion that may or may not have engulfed Marjan (Natacha Karam). I vote unequivocally NO as that would be the worst possible resolution to the “who gets to be the new lieutenant” conundrum. Owen (Rob Lowe) said no to Judd (Jim Parrack) by proxy when Wyatt (Jackson Pace) came to try and talk him into rehiring his dad, but he still didn’t decide between Paul (Brian Michael Smith) and Marjan, either, and his plan to let the numbers do it for him was foiled by their identical near-perfect test scores (also very 9-1-1-verse of them). I still think this season ends with everybody who wants to be in a leadership position in a leadership position but if Marjan dies I will have to stop watching.

In other news, Tammy (Gina Torres) proposed to her pastor boyfriend but she and her daughters need his ex-wife’s approval for them to get married. It’s in their custody agreement, which is bonkers.

Agatha All Along (Wednesday, Disney+)

First things first, the witches bury Mrs. Hart (Debra Jo Rupp) and, therefore, need a new Green Witch. They cast a summoning spell and get Rio (Audrey Plaza). Her psycho schtick is less annoying and more fun in this episode than in the first, and Agatha (Kathyrn Hahn) almost kisses her, so I’ll allow it. The main plot of the ep is trial number two: decursifying Alice (Ali Ahn) using her mom’s version of “The Ballad of the Witches Road” which is revealed to be a protection spell. This involves the whole crew playacting a band to sing the song and it’s great. My favorite bit is Liliana (Patti Lupone) playing a different instrument every time the camera shows her. But the most powerful bit is Alice’s impassioned piano playing and belting out the song.

They defeat the demon and succeed in the trial, but not before Teen (Joe Locke) is injured. Jennifer (Sasheer Zamata) saves him with a spell, which is big news for the bound witch. But it’s Agatha’s reaction to Teen’s plight that captures me. Put simply, she cares. He’s not just an interesting riddle; he matters to her. Teen thinks maybe he’s Agatha’s son, and in the last moment of the episode Rio, who shows some indication that she regrets whatever she did to Agatha to make them exes, interrupts the almost kiss to tell Agatha he isn’t, which suggests Agatha does, too. It’s all very tricksy to make the audience theorize. I hate this new normal but at least in this case it’s kind of a plot point.

Quick note this show is easily the most queer thing the MCU ever did, but until the almost kiss becomes a real kiss (and not a fake-out real kiss because Agatha and Rio are both super manipulative, an actual REAL real kiss) I’m not giving them flowers.

Chicago Med (Thursday, Peacock)

Just when you think a series has figured out pacing… Ha, ha, ha, jk—this series will never figure out pacing. But it’s notably bad in this episode. To wit: Mitch (Luke Mitchell) and Hannah (Jessy Schram), who were will-they-won’t-they all last year and then “on a break” last week until Mitch cornered Hannah in an elevator (so romantic, amirite?) and explained that he didn’t beat up Pawel, aka the series’ worst storyline—he just hid that his friend did from the police. Apparently, that confession was all Hannah needed because this week the break is off to the point they are getting it on in the bunks at work. I’ll be honest: if they were Doug and Carol on ER, or Elliot and Olivia on SVU twenty years ago, I would be extremely into it (if they were Elliot and Olivia on SVU this year it would probably be a sign of the apocalypse but I would be even more into it). But since they are Hannah (my fave on this show but that’s not saying much) and Mitch (a character that exists), I think this scene was made to taunt and/or haunt me. It also doesn’t matter because (pacing!) they are swinging back toward a break or break-up by the end of the episode.

Why? So glad you asked. The police have a witness who puts Mitch at the scene of Pawel’s beatdown so he’s dragged in front of an inquiry at work. It was Mitch’s friend, Sully (Daniel Doer), who beat up Pawel, but Sully has cancer and a new baby so Mitch doesn’t want to out him. Hannah convinces him to talk to Sully, thinking he wouldn’t want Mitch to lose his MD license but when he does he finds out Sully’s cancer is terminal. Sully was allegedly in remission last week so this is a big deal and a big blow and Mitch chooses to throw his career away and admit to an assault he didn’t do to save his dying friend from living his last months in prison instead of with his infant. But after a pregnant schizophrenic woman experiencing psychosis because she’s off her meds that Hannah failed to force into care is in an accident that nearly kills her and her baby, Hannah decides that coercive care is ok and tells Sully the truth about Mitch’s situation which results in Sully admitting to the crime (that he did commit) before Mitch can do it. The episode ends with Mitch confronting Hannah, fallout TBD.

I do like that Hannah knows full well that Mitch will be angry and I hope she doesn’t try to justify it as much as explain that she was looking out for his best interests because he wasn’t. And I hope Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) apologizes to Mitch and Daniel (Oliver Platt) for holding Mitch’s institutionalization as a minor against them both because I’m big mad about it.

9-1-1 (Friday, Hulu)

We spend most of the episode on the plane with Athena (Angela Bassett) as she rallies the passengers to treat each other’s injuries and tries to fly the aircraft after the pilot is sucked out and the copilot goes unconscious. It’s season eight of a crime procedural, and the formula is well-known, so there are few surprises, if any. The kid who knows everything there is to know about planes is the one to help Athena fly it. The first class two passengers who start out snarking at each other are thrown together during the accident and sparks fly. The murderer who broke bb Athena’s heart when he killed her fiancé (also the reason Athena is on the plane) is proven helpful when he is able to make a prison shiv to help save a young athlete’s leg-and-life. And stuck-on-a-TV-set-with-an-insufferable-actor Bobby (Peter Krause) misses Athena’s and Buck’s (Oliver Stark) calls but figures out she’s involved in the crisis in the air the instant he hears about it because Bobby and Athena are THE Bobby and Athena. And then he races to the airport in the TV firetruck (cleverly it’s the 119) because of course he does. See you next week for the resolution!

tldr; all the story beats are incredibly predictable but they are also the reason anyone, including me, watches this show in the first place.

Doctor Odyssey (Friday, Hulu)

YES, the show went right to its Love Boat origins with ‘Singles Week’ and notable guest stars. This week’s maladies are a) syphilis that a self-proclaimed man whore who attends Singles Week every year (recognizable guest Chord Overstreet) gives a whole swath of patients, b) Broken Heart Syndrome that affects the Captain (Don Johnson) when he clicks with a passenger (special guest Shania Twain) one year after his wife died, c) various bruises, scratches, and concussions when a man’s wife, mistress, and side-piece get into it in the hot tub (not sure why these four are on the singles cruise unless they are looking for a side-side piece?), d) overuse of diuretics that results in syncope on a passenger Tristan (Sean Teale) has a thing with, and e) dehydration and sun stroke on a woman found adrift at sea. Whew!

The captain’s romance is very sweet. He lost the love of his life, and she’s feeling used up, but they come together for a little romantic adventure on the open sea. The important relationship, however, is the one between Max (Joshua Jackson), Avery (Philippa Soo), and Tristan. As you may recall, last week, Max and Avery kissed in front of Tristan. This week Tristan and Avery kiss in front of Max, though they are unaware he’s there. I demand that next week Tristan and Max kiss in front of Avery. It’s not completely impossible given the two men have chemistry that does not read fully platonic bros and this is a Ryan Murphy show that takes place on a sexy cruise ship.

Avery also has a moment with the XO Spencer (Marcus Emanuel Mitchell) that stood out to me at least.

Law & Order (Friday, Peacock)

I was excited to watch this episode because it introduces Jessica Brady, played by Maura Tierney, aka ER’s Abby Lockhart. But I was surprised to find that it also did well by Sam Maroun (Odelya Halevi). The murdered was a DA, one Sam knew, if not well, but more significantly, the murderer was her boyfriend, whom she was trying to leave. Sam spends the rest of the episode aggressively angry. When the police find evidence of the domestic violence the perp hangs himself but Sam argues to bring charges against his friend, the man who covered up the DV and accompanied him to the murder. They find a witness, an Uber driver, but he recants when paid and Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) orders Nolan (Hugh Dancy) to drop the case. Sam storms away and Nolan reveals that her sister was beaten to death 12 years ago and the killer got away with it.

Now, the episode doesn’t evade the tried and true trope of “Nick and Nolan mansplain the law to Sam” that dominated all of last season. We only learn about Sam’s sister because Nick questioned her emotional stability. And Nolan races to her rescue when she decides to bully the witness into testifying, a disbarrable offense. In fairness to Nick, this was after she shouted that it didn’t matter that they couldn’t prove the case because they knew he was guilty and she’d spent the whole case on tenterhooks and in fairness to Nolan, she really did need him. Still, it was two men talking about a woman being too emotional for her own good behind her back, which is gross.

But the end scene with Nolan racing to save her from a mistake was so effective I ship them now, and I am mad about it. He knows exactly where she went and why, proving they truly have a close relationship. She tells him to stay out of it to save his career, just like he was there to save hers. And it ends with a hug in the middle of the street, her falling into his arms and his hand in her hair, and dammit I cried!

The Sam and Nolan show took over my heart so much that Brady and company faded into the background despite my excitement. The most I can say is that the height difference between Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) and Riley (Reid Scott), and Brady is DELIGHTFUL. Also, the episode started with Baxter on a right-wing newscast promising to go after bad guys to the fullest extent of the law even though he’s a Democrat which is as topical as it is cringe (i.e. very on both counts).

Law & Order: SVU (Friday, Peacock)

Speaking of topical and cringe! There are three victims— of assault, rape, and murder. They were roommates and they’d hooked up all together right before the attack. At first, SVU suspects the fourth roommate, who was set up to look guilty to the audience as well but plot twist (that literally anyone who is still watching this show knew was coming)! It was the murder victim’s study partner who had an unreciprocated crush and installed a camera in her bedroom. It looks like the creeper will get away with it based solely on campus kids hating cops but SVU finds a video testimonial of the victim saying she’s looking forward to telling the perp “no”. Literally, that’s what the video says, and it was recorded the day before the murder. Is Carisi (Peter Scanavino) a good DA or is he just on SVU?

The problem with the whole “campus kids hate cops” plot point is that NYC campus kids have extremely good reasons to hate cops. I’m also pretty sure that there would be some “believe women” counter-protesters outside the courthouse because even though victims’ rights orgs also hate cops (mainly because of all the DV they perpetuate and cover up) they had a lot of evidence that the kid on trial was in fact guilty of rape, murder, and being an entitled incel creep. Like, a women’s empowerment group plays a pivotal part but they aren’t standing up for one of their own who was murdered? Boo to that.

We also meet new junior detective Kate Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez), who is the commissioner’s daughter and decided to become a cop after she watched police heroes running towards the towers on 9/11 2001. Okay, Dick Wolf.

Also Watching

I watched the VP debate and hated every minute. I also watched the first two episodes of Brilliant Minds and liked it enough that it could show up in these rundowns soon.

Mental Illness Sidebar

As briefly mentioned, Goodwin found out that Mitch was a patient of Daniel’s when he was a kid, and she gets mad at Daniel for not telling her. This is TERRIBLE but probably realistic.

The plot line about the schizophrenic mother is interesting. It’s suggested that her medication worked so well that her husband never noticed any signs, even knowing she was diagnosed. And that’s mainly why she’s not locked up and allowed to sign herself out despite showing signs of delusions and hallucinations. This is proven to be the wrong call (at least from the show’s perspective) almost immediately as she doesn’t even get home before she has another psychotic break and runs into traffic. I’m not convinced the show meant to provide a nuanced version of this story but they kind of did in that it asks more questions than it answers. And that is very true to schizophrenia in general.

Ship of the Week

Gonna give it to the Max-Avery-Tristan triangle because I want to manifest it being a real triangle. And because Mitch/Hannah is boring, the Tammy/Pastor roadblock is stupid, Bobby/Athena will be more shippy next week, and Agatha/Rio is trying to trick me.

Show of the Week

Well, Agatha All Along is the new Organized Crime in that it’s simply playing with better cards in hand. But for real, Law & Order was almost actually good this week.

What are YOU watching?