Schmidt Presents "Tinfinity"

New Girl, S02E18

Schmidt and Nick celebrated their tenth roommate anniversary with an elaborate party.  Nick wanted to be part of the planning, but Schmidt only pretended to give up some of his control.  Jess was determined to stop thinking about Nick's lips and frustrated about not knowing what he was thinking, so she latched onto a "real man" who was more open about his feelings.  Cece was disappointed at how casually her marriage proposal came about with Shivrang.

It's just like Schmidt to throw a party that most people would mistake as a celebration for lovers rather than friends.  It's sort of cute that he values his friendship with Nick so much that he would want to make a big deal out of each year that they've spent together.  I'm a little surprised that their friends were down with it, though--I'd be questioning why two grown men who aren't together need to throw a party that wasn't just about drinking and dancing (or hooking up with random girls).   But people seemed to have no problem doing things like taking pictures in the Nick and Schmidt photo cutouts (super weird, even if it was for a married couple).

I guess the best thing about the party was Nick's contribution of a purchased porta-potty.  I might understand someone who often holds outside parties wanting to have one on hand, but not someone like Nick who probably doesn't even have a place to put that after the party is over with.  If it were of good quality, I guess he could rent it out to other people, but it was disgusting to look at from the outside--I couldn't imagine even washing my hands in there.  It's so like Nick to buy the one that was meant for the garbage and be so proud of it that he was trying to bully people into using it.  I really like when he was trying to get Sanders to use it and gave him the ultimatum of using it or leaving the party.  Sanders left without a second thought.  You would think people literally running away from his porta-potty would give him a sign that he made a really dumb and filthy purchase.

I liked that Jess is so obsessed with Nick's lips, but would rather run from that problem than do something about it (like kiss Nick some more to get it out of her system).  Her solution was to flirt aggressively with Jax (which might have been partially because she wanted to screw with Winston a bit), who seemed to be exactly what she wanted--a man who could tell her straight up if he liked her or not.  It was interesting both that Jax turned out to be exactly what she didn't want, and that Nick was acting a little jealous of Jax.  Although Jess didn't get to kiss someone who could erase her memory of Nick, Jax turned out to be a significant guy in the scheme of things.  He proved that Jess probably does like Nick's "grumpy mystery" better than a guy who declares that he is going to marry and put a baby in her in less than a few days or knowing her.  I liked when Nick, trying to hide that he didn't like Jess with Jax, asked her if she truly wanted a guy who was open like that.  I liked that moment as much as I liked when he was staring at Jess and Jax at the bar with concern.  Jess didn't get the cure she needed to stop thinking about Nick's lips, so she ran off in the night after being offered a bottle he had drank from.  It'd be nice if all the guys she tries to get involved with put her right back where she started with Nick.

Before Jess met Jax, she met some random guys and had a good line with the second one we saw:

[Guy #2] Microchips be gettin' smaller.  They be like blueberry size.  So you could put 'em in your cereal, girl.

[Jess] I don't get your thing.

 No wonder she ran to the first "normal" guy that she ran into after that.  What in the world was that guy talking about?

I've decided that I like Shivrang, even though he kept using the expression "do this thing" to refer to getting married.  The first time he said it I felt like it was such a passive way to refer to marriage, but then again, they are having an arranged marriage.  I don't mind that, but it would be nice if they made it seem less like going to get a mole removed and more about joining their lives together.  Anyway, when he got on the stage and proposed to Cece with all of the toast sequence stuff going on (can't believe that Schmidt wanted that romantic display going on during his speech), I thought that was really sweet.  He asked her again if she wanted to "do this thing," but by then it sounded just right and less mechinical.  I'm glad that things worked out for Cece, but I am a little sad that Schmidt had to see that at his "Tinfinity" event.  Shivrang stole his moment in two senses--he ruined his big speech and he ruined his chance to propose to Cece in a big flashy way.  You can't blame Shivrang for that, though.  I'm a little in the middle right now whether I want Shivrang to suceed or if I want Schmidt to make a comeback. Schmidt's heart is in the right place, but he can't get it together.  Shivrang may not be beating Cece over the head with the romance stick, but he's a good guy with no drama.  Can''t be mad at her for going either way.

This was a good episode. Somehow the party became more about Nick taking a stand with a gross porta-potty he bought than having a good time.  Jess tried to run away from Nick's lips to another, but found that a guy who is too open is just as bad as a guy who is a little closed up like Nick.  Cece was sort of swept off her feet when Shivrang redid his proposal to her, and the slightly odd friendship anniversary party turned to an engagement party of some sorts.  I don't know if Cece will really go ahead and walk down the aisle for Shivrang, but it's just as likely that she will as it is that Schmidt will win her back somehow.

Why Are Those Even Together?

 The Cleveland Show, S04E10

 Cleveland got his parents tickets to a George Clinton and P-Funk All Stars concert after Freight Train failed to show up to the special anniversary dinner Cookie arranged.  Feeling neglected by her husband,  Cookie suddenly ran off with George Clinton shortly after meeting him on the stage.  Freight Train tried to hide his feelings about that by declaring her dead to him.  Junior also lost the floor model he had used to play "office," so he faked his way into a job at a real office.

I don't know how many times we can see a story about FT and Cookie before it's just been overdone (it's about there for me already).  FT has been screwing around on Cookie for years, and she always takes him back.  Granted, this time it looked like Cookie was living a pretty sweet life with George Clinton, but I think even after a while she would have gotten bored with it and wanted her neglectful husband back.  FT, despite him going to the trouble of making a funk band to win Cookie back, is never going to change.  So he broke up with some (I know he couldn't have possibly called all of his women) of his cheating partners--we all know that next time we see him, he'll be back to his old tricks.  He just wouldn't be FT, otherwise.  So watching the story I was just waiting for it to be over, so FT could go back to treating his wife like crap again.  Waste of a story.

There were a few parts that I liked, though.  One was just that we got to hear George Clinton's music.  It has been so long since I've heard it.  It gave me a nice nostalgic feeling.  I wished they could have used more of it throughout.

I also liked some lines.  The first was when Freight Train was trying to report to the police that Cookie had been kidnapped, and they doubted that someone who wasn't that great like FT hadn't driven her away:

[Freight Train] Come on, Cleveland.  Once again, police are no help to a black man.
[Cop] We are both black, sir.
[Freight Train] All cops are white on the inside!

I liked this line because it's a good example of someone playing the race card when it's not valid at all.  I sort of like when people do that jokingly, as in this story, but not if they are for real.  Then they just sound ignorant.

The last line I liked was when Cleveland was telling FT to go win his woman back and kept talking about the cheeseburger he was going to eat.  He kept changing his mind about how he was going to eat it until he finally decided:

And I'm going to have a cheeseburger.  And you know what, no tomatoes.  Actually, avocado.  That's a good fat.  Like me.

 In Junior's story, there wasn't much that I particularly liked.  It was just weird that he managed to slip into an office, unhired, and got promoted for a job he didn't even know about.  This was evident when he first got to the office, stapled a file and then shredded it for no reason.  Junior's just lucky that his chunky frame makes him look older than he does. 

Oh, and it was really stupid of him to pay for Roberta to be his wife.  Roberta is such a waste of space most of the time, and she proved that by going off on Junior at the picnic.  And really, what was the point of her doing that?  If she had agreed to help Junior and got paid, why did she need to embarrass him and risk jeopardizing his fake job?  I really wished he had used that fist to punch her across the face.  Rallo was okay.  He just needed a swing and he was cool.  Haha.

I didn't really like this episode.  I don't need to see any more stories about FT upsetting Cookie and then managing to win her back for some reason.  In reality, it would be a much better story if they both just agreed to stop acting like the worst couple in the world (or divorced).  Unfortunately, the side story about Junior was also lacking.  It didn't really add anything to the episode beyond stressing the fact that fantasy and reality are one in the same for Junior.  It was a little interesting, but nowhere near funny.

Don't Make Max A Fifth Wheel

Happy Endings, S03E06

Alex and Jane's father was celebrating his 20th anniversary of his mattress store with a party, and Jane wanted to entertain her father with the perfect joke.  Alex asked Dave not to come to the party, but he came after Penny's suggestion with no knowledge that Alex hadn't told her parents that they were back together.  Max began to feel lonely because of Penny's new relationship with Pete and tried to replace Penny with someone similar to her.

It's always funny to me to see someone who doesn't like Brad.  Jane's dad was particularly hard to reach, simply annoyed with Brad for saying "parties, right?"  It's not even a matter of them having little to talk about--it's just that Brad could probably say anything and his father-in-law would just stare at him, unamused.  I loved that.  I even loved when Brad, so desperate to end the unease between the two of them, stole Jane's painstakingly constructed joke for her father.  It sucked that he stole her work of art, but at least Brad had finally broken the wall between him and her dad.  I couldn't blame him for that.  He's probably been sweating for years.

And even though Jane had to go with plan B, she still managed to get her dad to laugh at her by knocking herself out.  It was a win-win.  Brad got to connect with his father-in-law, and Jane got her father to laugh.  For the two of them, they had a really successful evening.

I didn't care about Dave and Alex's problem until Alex's dad kept talking to Dave about how much money he put into the ceremony that didn't happen.  I mean, he was not trying to be very subtle about how the wedding had hurt him in the pocket.  That was sort of funny.  Still, if in the end Dave hadn't gotten in front of the whole party and announced that he and Alex were dating again I wouldn't have been upset.  It's very much an insignificant thing to me whether Alex tells her parents about her and Dave or not.  If the two of them are going to be doing more things like eating corn like a typewriter, I'm ready to see them split again.

I sort of expected that Penny and Pete wouldn't be split by the next episode, but I also didn't care if I was wrong about that.  I suppose I've gotten like Max and don't have much confidence that Penny will hold onto a guy, so what's the point in liking (or disliking) her flavor of the week?  It's just amazing that she had a really good thing going and she ruined it by writing down Pete's flaws, which she had previously said she wasn't going to do.  You would think that's something someone would do after you breakup, not when you're still in the honeymoon phase of your relationship.  Pete's wrong about Penny being "a little" crazy.  She's full-blown on.

I felt bad for Max, who literally kept getting pushed to the side by all of his friends in couples.  I was sort of proud of him for no winning Penny back by getting between her and Pete.  That seemed like the first thing he would try.  Instead, he got a Penny-like girl named Nicole (or "Nickel" as he tried to call her) to befriend.  It's too bad Penny was too wrapped up in being a "love guru" that she didn't even notice he was trying to make her jealous at all.  In fact, Nicole ended up getting hooked up with Pete's brother right away!  I would have thought Nicole's appearance was a waste then, but at the very end of the episode there was this great scene where Nicole surprises Max in his apartment and he had no idea she was right behind him the whole time.  Although she was acting like a psycho and Max had screamed at the sight of her, I loved his response afterward:

Oh, my God.  You're insane.  And I love it and I want to party with you forever!

I loved how he hugged that crazy girl!  But is Nicole going to stick around?  Or was that just for an extra laugh (much needed one)?  After all, Max did get Pete and Penny back together (nice of him even if I wasn't desperate for Pete and Penny to stay together), so he doesn't have his best bud around to hang with.  Nicole seems nuts, but I'm open to her joining the crew if she can multiple the craziness of Max.  He's been pretty tame lately and I want him to get back to crazy schemes like that ghetto stove he made.  That was genius.

I guess I didn't hate this episode.  I didn't think it was very funny, but the party for Alex and Jane's dad was sort of interesting.  I might start to become interested in Penny's life again now that she has a stable boyfriend.  I'm so used to her being a single mess that perhaps her bad traits might be toned down with a good man at her side.  Or maybe Pete will turn out to be a bit of a weirdo, thus making their relationship a little more meant to be.  I just wish that Max would find someone soon.  Even if it's entertaining for him to seek replacements, I'm sure it's dangerous for him to go around and find any more Nicoles around town.

Raj, The Third Wheel

Big Bang Theory, S06E01

Amy and Sheldon went on their anniversary dinner, but were joined by Raj to Amy's dismay.  Leonard wanted to hang out with Penny to discuss their relationship, but were also joined by Raj to Leonard's dismay.  Howard couldn't decide whether to please his mother or his wife, so he lied to both of them about whether he was moving out of his mother's house.

The worst story, of course, was Leonard and Penny.  Leonard is so transparent about wanting to talk about things that it was sad.  I was really glad when a drunk Raj came along and killed their little date.  I especially liked how he told them how it was with their stupid back and forth relationship.  I hadn't noticed, though, that Penny had never admitted that she loved Leonard.  I actually did want her to look him in the eyes and tell him as such.  Even if I don't want them back together, I would like her to admit she's hung up on him as much as he is on her.  Seriously, will the two of them just stop?  Either they move on for real or they get back together already.

Raj's best intrusion, of course, was when he was at Sheldon's date that Sheldon had "outsourced" him for.  My God, Sheldon takes being a bad boyfriend to such new levels each time.  And as delusional as Amy is about Sheldon (who would latch her ovaries on him if he proposed to her during sex--ha), I feel bad that she cannot get any real emotions out of that robot.  I mean, we wouldn't expect Sheldon to really emote, and yet I still want him to because I am a girl and I feel like a girlfriend should at least sometimes feel special when she's around her supposed boyfriend.  But I can't blame her for accepting Sheldon's quote from Spiderman as a meaningful expression of his love.  You take what you can get from Sheldon.

Speaking of him, he was quite funny when he said that the only sea creature he would want to be eaten by is a Krakken.  I had to agree with his reason because the last thing you would hear would be "Release the Krakken!" which is pretty damn cool.  I used to have an inside joke about that with some of my co-workers, so it was a random, but welcome reference.

Howard's story was kind of funny too because you can't really go wrong with him being bugged by his mother in space.  I mean, her son is doing something that only a handful of qualified people get to do and she's on his case about silly things like moving out of the house and such.  There is no place on earth or outside of earth that Howard can go to escape his smothering mother.  But it was a dick move of him to lie to Bernadette when I can't imagine how difficult it is for her being a newlywed without her husband, but living with his crazy-ass mother.  For that, Howard should be doing every single thing he can do to make her happy.  But he'll pay for it later.  What I really liked, though, was how Dimitri was kind of putting his own two-cents about the situation.  In a place like that there can be no privacy, so you can't blame the guy for being in Howard's business.  And I welcome the intrusion because he's a funny guy.

Finally, there was that scene where Raj and Stewart where kind of having a little moment together while listening to Latin music and drinking coffee liquor.  What??  Then, despite that Raj felt like things were getting weird, he invited Stewart out to hang sometime.  I didn't expect that after Raj quickly decided he needed to leave in the first place.  Huh.  Although, I'm not sure if it's because he doesn't have Howard to fall back on (or his other friends) and just wants someone available to do things with.  And when you think about it, Raj and Howard's relationship has always been a little bordering on a romantic relationship.  However, when Stewart commented that he could do worse by "hanging" with Raj, I felt like if Raj were to be interested in Stewart as more than a friend, Raj could do better!  I definitely think that Raj would be much more successful if he ended up being a gay man.  But I wouldn't want to see him do that with Stewart.  Eww.

This was a pretty good episode, the best being the Sheldon and Amy date.  But I'd like to see Raj do more than be a third wheel for the rest of the season, even if it means that Stewart is going to be his new best friend.  I'd like less of the Penny and Leonard stories--how much longer can we watch them bounce back and forth?  And Howard really is going to have to stay in space because Bernadette is going to kill him.  He needs to come to his senses real quick and realize that he'd be a fool to ruin his marriage before it has barely even started.

Nick Battles For Monroe's Life

Grimm, S01E12

Well, I didn't think last Friday's Grimm would be as exciting as the last episode, but it wasn't too bad.  Nick and Hank discover a gladiator-type arena in an abandoned warehouse after a couple is found murdered in their house.  It turns out that these death fights are between the creatures.  I thought that would be a little more thrilling, but it was only interesting in the sense that it was an unusual situation.

Before I get into the arena stuff, it was revealed in this episode that Nick and Juliette were celebrating their 3rd anniversary.  After they have an "inspiring" conversation about what their special dinner would be, Juliette finds an engagement ring in Nick's sock drawer.  Is he an idiot?  If you're not doing your own laundry, you should think of a much more creative place to hide it.  I mean he is a detective, you'd think that he'd have experience with finding things and knowing which spots were the best for doing so.  Juliette was really touched by finding it, but after Nick misses their dinner, she takes the ring again and seems to be having second thoughts.  I understand that he missed an important day, but he's a cop.  How is it that she hasn't understood yet that he will miss things because of his job?  I mean, isn't she a doctor?  Surely she has missed some important days as well.  I thought that was a little petty of her.

The parole officer of their main suspect, Demetri, is the leader of these fights and surprisingly is an acquaintance of the captain.  We keep getting some of his shady background, but we don't know what it means yet.  This guy even called the captain "highness," and it's not clear whether he was being sarcastic or not.  The best thing about this secret connection between the two was that the captain told him to put an end to it, and the guy basically told him to screw off.  So the captain goes to confession to alert some kind of secret, creature assassin he has.  I loved how the captain showed up in the end, after nick had put a stop to the gladiator business, and had the guy killed.  So what in the hell is his connection to other creatures??  Obviously he has some "friends" in that realm and has relation to reapers.  This episode only made me confused about the mystery surrounding him.  I'm going to need them to hurry up clear that mystery before it gets any bigger.

My favorite thing about the episode was that Monroe got captured by the wranglers of the fights and was thrown into the arena against his peaceful will.  He was pretty adorable trying to convince his captors to let him go because he wasn't the kind of Blutbad that they were hoping for.  He's a pretty easy-going guy to help out Nick like that and not curse his name for what had happened to him.  Luckily, Nick gave a damn about Monroe and came to his rescue.  Now, I find it hard to believe he was able to get all the way up to the leader and put a gun to his head before anyone was the wiser.  Nick is not that slick!  But whatever.  It was almost sweet that Nick, who is a pathetic fighter, wanted to take Monroe's place in the arena and fight the creature with relic weapons and shields.  I found it harder to believe that Nick barely got messed up from his fight.  What the hell??  I wanted to see him a little more bloody.  I mean, it's not like he has any superpowers, as far as we know.  Lame.

It was funny that Monroe, once Nick's backup arrived, got his ass out of there before he was arrested along with the rest of them.  What?  They had the place surrounded.  Then again, the leader of the fights got away too, so I guess it's plausible.  I couldn't imagine that Nick could save him from police investigation.

One last thing that bothered me was that Nick told Hank that Monroe gave them the lead to when and where the fights were going down that night.  Hank didn't really question that Nick was getting information from Monroe.  That should be more suspicious!  God, they make Hank seem like such a moron.

There was a good bit of action in this episode, but I could have less of that and more information about the characters.  Or at least have them not so stupid.  I'm looking forward to Juliette breaking up with Nick or him possibly letting her in on his secret.  One day his battle with creatures will probably consume him, so he's gonna have to bring her into his world soon or let her go.