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House M.D.: No Reason (2006)
Yet another "what is real" TV episode
I HATE shows which fall back on the old unreliable narrator trope. Sometimes, when done well it can add some suspense to a scene, but this was not a well handled episode.
"It was all in your head", "when was anything real", "how can we tell if what we feel, see, and touch is actually there", episodes which buld their entire structure around this kind of overdone shlock don't feel like a suspenseful masterpiece but a slap on the face by taking the implicit trust the viewer gives to the creators to suspend their disbelief and immerse themselves into the shows world and plot.
The moment house told cuddy his leg didn't hurt, I knew something was up since it went against the whole establishment of the world reality. Then when cuddy just bursts out the reason the leg was better, it didn't feel like something she would know or do. Then when Wilson was confronted about it and he also knew about it, like they had planned for it, I wondered "why were they planning on doing the procedure on house if he wasn't shot".
Too many logical inconsistencies, too many red herrings, and your show comes off as poorly written, and overly pretentious.
House M.D.: House vs. God (2006)
Faith healers are hypocrisy incarnate.
This show often shows the 2 sides of rational found in naturalism and the irrationality of faith in a magic sky daddy, some show stray a little too close to validating the collective mental disorder which is organized religion, or turn out to be thinly-veil fundamentalist propaganda. This episode didn't fall into the trappings of other early 2000s medical mystery shows like bones where they have Canon episodes where the answers come from unexplain sources. House found the cause of this child's mental problems, yet the influence of his nut case father, who was ready to let his kid die from fever, before openly admitting its all a sham, will keep feeding the boy's delusions.
Criminal Minds: Truth or Dare (2019)
Byllshit confession
Jennifer's confession of love to Reid under duress feels very poorly planned. It's like the writers just needed some little nugget of information fans have speculated on and fantasized about for years to draw old fans back, seeing as the writing and overall quality of the show has taken a nosedive in the last 5 seasons.
It's not well set up or well executed, as this reveal was not foreshadowed at all, as all the times Jennifer was worried for read, it was always in the context of a close friend. Once it is revealed, even the villain doesn't believe it. If the in-universe characters don't believe this confession, how can the viewer believe it.
Criminal Minds: Night Lights (2019)
Completely illogical leaps in logic.
So many pieces of information which the team "deduces" during the runtime of the show are entirely inane.
"This must be the same killer, both victims had duct tape in the same place." "This victim was a doctor, who used aversion therapy, the killer must be an ex-patient." "This case file is about a child who was afraid of the dark, if the parents of the child continued the therapy after the doctor stopped it and made the child blind, it would have made them become a killer."
None of these assumptions had a modicum of actual reason backing them up. This exposition fueled by speculation is a thinly veiled way for the writers to tell a story, without actually showing it develop organically.
Criminal Minds: Twenty Seven (2018)
Badly delivered message
The message of the killers, about the inequality baked into the systems of government and of police/first responder priorities is a very real and pertinent message. But to have that message delivered by a pair of brothers driven to murder by the death of their brothers is a terrible way to convey this message. Viewing this episode through different lenses, different perspectives, give different subcontexts to the episode. I am sure, that through the eyes of the certains people who have a bias to discriminate or dismiss the black experience this is just more fuel in the fire of prejudice. This show, on its best days I'd thinly veiled, pro-cip propaganda, don't let it become white supremacist propaganda as well.
Criminal Minds (2005)
A show left alive for too long.
The old addage of "die a hero or live long enough to become a villain" applies to this show. Early season where it's finding it's footing are a little rough, with some terrible plots and character portrayals which perpetuate stigmas towards the mentally ill and disenfranchised. After it finds its groove the golden age of seasons 2 to 6 hold strong. They improve the character dynamics, introduce some strong plots and have generally good villains.
Then the decline starts, it's slow at first, propaganda here and there, terrible plot holes and some truly awful writing in some episodes but overall still a strong show. But by season 11, the cracks are undeniable. Each season, the show devolves into trope-y trash, introducing illogical plots, character assassinations, and some rehashing of story lines where were already done by this show. By the time season 13 rears it's ugly head, all fluffy snow-like goodwill the early seasons gained has melted away revealing the proverbial dog turds of episodes like "reed's fun time in mexico" and "Reed the human sacrifice."
If you are going to watch this show, or are watching it actively, do yourself a favor, stop after season 10.
Criminal Minds: Miasma (2018)
Loose cannons fired over sharks
The writing of this show steadily declined after season 9 in my opinion (well it worsen in season 8 but become unavoidable in season 9) and its began spiraling out of control in season 11. Now we have an actual conversation where someone proclaims "they're loose cannons". Do the writers have any self respect left?
Gone are the day of actually interesting commentary on the psychology of modern day life and the occasional good representation of mental health issues, and now we are left with a recycled plot line of "big bad bureaucrat trying to break up the team" along side another one dimensional villain with an unrealistic motive.
Bones: The Strike in the Chord (2016)
If I wanted to watch a boring singing show I'd watch glee
The many boring music scenes detract from the plot, just like all the "hidden" car and tech ads. Additionally, many plot points are so trope-y I felt like I was watching an isekai anime.
Bones: The Murder of the Meninist (2016)
The writers turned hodgins into a PAB
The writers committed character assassination on the best character in the show. They've made badly written, hatable interns/secondary characters before (like the insufferable daisy and turning Owen's main character trait to being a condescending asshat) but the main cast has always been well written. No way in hell would hodgins treat Angela this way, even going through trauma induced depression. The seemingly instant 180 in his personality is put there to turn him into a mid season villain/problem to solve until they pull some medical bs like "a ground breaking technique to transplant healthy spinal tissue to repair broken nerves." Or some such BS.
Bones: The Teacher in the Books (2015)
#insufferable
The Twitter propaganda in this episode was incredibly annoying, Shoehorneb into the plot just for publicity for the company. It added no Character growth or plot relevance.
Bones: The Psychic in the Soup (2015)
Even more psychic BS
Cindy Lauper is one of the worst elements of the show. This episode is another example of hack writing that goes against established world building. Although it's not as bad the skull poverty episode. Silver linings huh.
Bones: The Ghost in the Machine (2012)
Skip it. It isn't worth your time.
The premise of "you are seeing what the ghost of the kid sees" was absolutely awful. The writing in the first 5 minutes made me just skip the entire episode.
Bones: The Don't in the Do (2012)
Really dumb stinger
Such a stupid reveal at the end. How did no one, not a single person, see or smell the scalped head of hair on the wig mount at all. Bones has some good writing at times, but just as often it's got some truly stupid scenes.
Bones: The Prisoner in the Pipe (2012)
Horrible writing to push a Christian narrative
They made bones the dumbest possible woman for this episode, making her stubborn enough to storm a crowded prison lunchroom. They made the ever rational bones ignore every precaution to put her into a barn to parallel the supposed birth of Christ.