TV Report Card: Week of January 30, 2011

Here is this week's TV Report Card:

Monday
Chuck: "Chuck vs. The Push Mix"

The would-be Season 4 (series?) finale of Chuck did a good job at wrapping up some plotlines, but it wasn't on par with the great season enders this show has produced. All of the Chuck/Frost/Volkoff moments were spot on with the exception of a few silly moments (robo-spiders, Morgan doing his best Entrapment impression). The Baby Awesome B-plot was just there to remind us that Ellie and Devon were expecting, but at least Clara was born in Sacred Heart. I felt that the Volkoff arc came to a somewhat satisfying conclusion, although it was way too rushed. Luckily, we're in store for the return of Timothy Dalton during the back-11, so we still have something to look forward to.

GRADE: B

Greek: "Home Coming and Going"

After last week's awesome "All About Beav", Greek gave viewers a jam-packed episode that worked for the most part. The highlights of "Home Coming and Going" included Heath and Calvin coming clean with one another, Spitter and Spidey's mission to steal A&M's mascot, and Cappie realizing that the real world can be just as fun as college. In all three plotlines there was some amount of growth going on, but unfortunately Casey and Ashleigh continued to be stuck in senior year. Yes, Casey's dealing with being a law student, but she's being held back by living at ZBZ and by Ashleigh's mere presence. The fact that these two refuse to fully move on makes their stories frustrating and annoying. Grow up already! Don't even get me started on Ashleigh's potential tryst with Casey's law professor. In spite of the insufferable Casey/Ashleigh drama, "Home Coming and Going" was a decent episode, but there was no way it could top "Beav".

GRADE: C+

Tuesday
White Collar: "What Happens in Burma"

At first, "What Happens in Burma" started out of a typical Case of the Week episode and it put the backstories on hold, but that quickly changed as we got a peek at how Neal's father has impacted him. The case itself was pretty interesting as it dealt with an American being held in Burma (or Myanmar) because he's being accused of smuggling a ruby. It was nice seeing the team just work a case that didn't involve the music box or Kate. I could've done without the clichéd daddy issues that Neal has, and the gratuitous fangirl baiting (Neal without his shirt), but these are minor quibbles. "What Happens in Burma" was by no means a great episode of White Collar, but it was a good non-mythology ep that also shed some light on our characters.

GRADE: B

Wednesday
Cougar Town: "Cry to Me"

Many fans feel that Cougar Town can really put on a great holiday themed episode, so the Valentine's Day outing should have been a good one, and for the most part it was. I've never hidden my dislike for Jules, but she was beyond unlikeable this week as she went out of her way to make Grayson cry by bringing up his dead father, and of course it was all out of selfish reasons. Fortunately, all of the other stories (pretty much anything involving Bobby and/or Laurie) made up for Jules' horrible behavior, which made "Cry to Me" mildly entertaining.

GRADE: C+

Friday Night Lights: "Texas Whatever"

Maybe it's because I've put this show on a pedestal, but I was expecting more from the penultimate episode of Friday Night Lights. "Texas Whatever" wasn't a bad episode per se, but it wasn't really a satisfying one either. The show did start tying up some loose ends; the Panthers will survive and Eric has an open invitation to head back to DHS to coach up Vince, Luke may have a life outside of Dillion, and Tim's starting to heal thanks to Tyra. The rest of the episode either relied too heavily on unneeded cameos or tired plot points. Does Matt really need to be back? What was the point of Tyra coming back besides kicking Tim's behind and then bedding him? Unfortunately, it was the Taylors who ended up with the most contrived story of the night as they fought over staying in Texas or moving to Philly. Of course, Tami had to remind Eric how many times she's uprooted her life for his job, which was a valid point but it reminded me too much of Home Improvement. Since I still cannot buy her job offer to begin with, their fight felt forced. I guess I just wanted a finale that didn't revolve around a big, life altering decision and inevitable move.

GRADE: C+

Thursday
Community: "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"

The pop-culture heavy episodes of Community and be hit or miss. For every classic like "Modern Warfare", we get a miss like "Basic Rocket Science", so I was a little unsure about "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons". Fortunately, "D&D" was more like the former than the latter with its genuinely funny moments (Hector the Well-Endowed) and some interesting character moments (Jeff's motivation for helping Neil). Unfortunately, Pierce's evil bastard routine was too much and it will be hard to redeem him as a character, but I'm sure the writers will come up with some weak excuse to keep him around.

GRADE: B-

The Vampire Diaries: "Daddy Issues"

I was totally prepared to hate this week's TVD based on its title alone. Much like White Collar, I'm tired of every character having issues based on their parents because it's such an overused excuse for motivation. So I was surprised by how much I liked "Daddy Issues" especially after I tuned out all of Elena's tired moping. Stefan and Damon taking on Jules' pack of werewolves to save Caroline was so intense, and the fallout of her abduction was so bittersweet, that I couldn't help but get caught up in the episode. Heck, even the fight choreography mildly impressed me since we get so little of it from this show. I was just glad that we got some wonderful Stefan/Caroline moments. I'm such a sucker when it comes to those two.

GRADE: B+

Nikita: "Coup De Grace"

"Coup De Grace" was pretty much your standard Mission of the Week episode of Nikita. The only real difference between this one and previous missions was the fact that Alex was an active agent. Of course Nikita showed up to thwart Division's plan to assassinate the Prince of Georgia. There was some good action, but "Coup De Grace" really didn't push the larger story forward until the end when Michael started to realize that Alex may be Nikita's mole. I"m more interested in the ramifications of what went down during "Coup De Grace" than the actual episode.

GRADE: B-

30 Rock: "¡Qué Sorpresa"

On paper, none of this week's 30 Rock should have worked because the storylines were so over the top. Thankfully, Tina Fey and company were funny enough to bring everything together. Tina pretending to be pregnant to help out Jack and Avery could have worn thin fairly quickly, but Fey's commitment to the bit saved it. Jack's transition to a Kabletown owned NBC was also worth a couple of laughs. The only plot thread that didn't quite work was the Tracy/Jenna jealousy non-sense. You'd think they'd grow a tiny bit after four and a half seasons, but they're just as self-centered as ever. This week's 30 Rock wasn't as good as the past two episodes, but still worth a lot of laughs.

GRADE: B-

Friday
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena: "Paterfamilias"

Another show, and another story about daddy issues. This time around we got to see the person that has had the most impact on Batiatus as a person and as a lanista. While seeing how Titus treated his son wasn't surprising, of course he was belittling based on how Batiatus talked about him, but watching them interact was still compelling. Also, the fallout of last week's peep show continued as Lucretia had to decide on how to entertain another voyeur, and it's moments like these where the excess of Spartacus can be disheartening but still powerful. Plus, we got to see fan-favorites like Crixus and Doctore finally start down the paths towards where we first met them. All in all, a pretty good episode of Gods of the Arena.

GRADE: B

NOTES: No Parks and Recreation this week because while I thought it was funny, I didn't have too much to say about it. I might end up leaving P&R off the Report Card for good because I think most of my write-ups would end up being the same: funny episode, but still don't know what the big deal is. Also, I haven't seen this week's Supernatural because I thought The CW was going to re-air The Vampire Diaries and Nikita again.