Rambling TV: Thoughts on Sherlock, The Walking Dead + more.

Sherlock - episode 3.3: This Last Vow

*You know, for being together in real life Freeman and Abbington have zero chemistry together. I was getting kind of annoyed throughout when you could read every confusing emotion on Freeman's face, and Abbington's had nothing.

*Sherlock during the final stand off in this episode reminded me a lot of Nucky Thompson in the season 2 finale in Boardwalk Empire. He might as well have said Nucky's lines. "You don't know me, you never did. I'm not seeking forgiveness."

*If I were Watson, I would've flat out asked Sherlock what the sex was like. That answer could be fascinating.

*Mycroft was kind of the MVP in this episode for me. 

No new True Detective this week, due to the holiday. (Super Bowl Sunday, which ended up being one of the worst games I've ever seen) Or maybe I was just too distracted by the sudden death of the great Philip Seymour Hoffman.

I haven't been this broken up over an actor death since Heath Ledger. PSH was truly a master at this craft, and he always gave standout performances, even if the movie itself wasn't that great. It's hard for me to pick a favorite performance of his, he was great in so many. For some reason, The Master keeps coming to mind first. Maybe because it's the most recent I have seen, but he was tremendous in that movie. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, especially his girlfriend and their young children who now have to grow up without a father. Tragic. 

The Walking Dead comes back next week. As you know, I was not impressed with the first half of season 4. At all. Here are a few things I hope season 4B addresses.

1) This awful Carol is a killer arc needs to end. It's no spoiler that Carol will return in 4B, but this story line has been so out of left field that I just want it to be over. I'm torn, I don't think Carol is the actual killer (I think she could be covering for Lizzie or Carl) because it doesn't fit with her character. Then again, TWD writers are not smart enough to pull off anything else. They will just have her be the killer and follow the theme of "we can come back from what we've done" and get some sort of redemption - hopefully that does not involve her death. Then we just have to pretend that this wasn't completely out of character for her in the first place.

2) Lose the stand alone episodes. It's already confirmed that Sunday's episode will only feature Rick, Carl, and a little of Michonne. While all of those characters are interesting, I hope TWD focus more on its ensemble and stops with these types of episodes. With the exception of 'Clear' all of these episodes focusing on only one or two characters without checking in on everything else have been the weakest. I'm more looking forward to episode 4.10 over 4.9, even though Rick is one of my favorite characters. (Yes, I know. I'm still a little pissed off at him.)

3) You don't have to kill a major character in EVERY 1/2 season. The most shocking thing season 4B could do in my eyes is NOT kill off one of their major characters. They risk being repetitive. We already lost Hershel in 4A, that was enough. Right now, I think Beth could be on the chopping block because she's being featured so much in their promos. (and she's never featured) I don't give a damn about Beth either way, but it would be more shocking if she lived at this point. As I said before, I don't want them to kill Carol either. That would just scream Andrea 2.0 to me, and we all know how bad that ended.

4) More scenes of the females on this show interacting. Has anyone else noticed that TWD RARELY has scenes like this together? When Maggie so blindly agreed with Rick's decision in episode 4.5, I was annoyed. Then I remembered that Carol and Maggie have never even had a scene together. The last good 'women' scene was in season 1 by the pond with Carol, Andrea, Amy, and Jacqui. That little glimpse we got of Michonne and Beth this season was good, but other than that, the women are either with the men, or if it's just a few women, they're still talking about men. Can we just have the women be women and not need the men to do everything? Give me some Carol/Michonne scenes. I bet they could have a lot in common if they bonded.

5) Ease up on the manpain. This show loves their manpain. I'm hoping they don't send Rick off to crazy town again.

6) Stop making Daryl invincible. Daryl was interesting when we found out he suffered horrific child abuse and learned to trust his new family. (Mostly with the help of Carol) but I saw none of that Daryl this season.  Just a Daryl that got a bunch of unbelievable kills. (Bullets go through the bus, but not the empty file cabinet. What? And speaking of Daryl, one way to make it better is..

7) Make 'Caryl' cannon. Me personally, I think it already is. I think Carol and Daryl have a deep relationship with each other. It might not be sexual or physical, but it's there. However many will continue to deny this until they see them kiss or hug or something. Let that happen, we all know Daryl wasn't pleased with Rick's decision to banish Carol. They will need a defining moment when they meet again.

And now I'm still depressed after writing all of this.