Star Trek: The Next Generation - 4x10 - The Loss

    The Enterprise gets caught in some weird space thing, which seems to cause Troi some problems, and she loses her empathic abilities.
    Troi is seriously one of the least likable characters on the Enterprise.  I didn't mind her at all when I was a kid.  I didn't find her attractive either, I didn't even consider that they might be using her as a sex symbol.  As an adult, when I watch TNG, I'm struck by how completely useless she is to the episodes.  She exists to reiterate the subtext that the audience is already aware of.  "He's hiding something."  "He's angry."  She's a waste of time and effort on the show.
    So it makes sense to give her an episode to develop her personality a little.  Except this episode just proves that she doesn't belong on the Enterprise at all.  She's startlingly unstable, and seriously unqualified as a counselor.
    After Troi loses her empathic abilities, she starts getting really… bitchy with everyone.  She gets offended for no reason.  The idea is that she feels like she's suddenly at a disability because she can't pick up on emotions anymore.  I can understand that the situation might be disagreeable to her, but it's hardly new.  There are many species that she has difficulty understanding, several life forms she can't read at all, and she deals with Data on a regular basis.  This isn't because she's upset on a personal level.  Her behavior is because she's a jerk.
    The other storyline, which involves some strange 2-dimensional space creatures having sucked the Enterprise into their field, is strange, but it also just doesn't seem to matter.  They bring the Enterprise to the brink of being sucked into a black hole, but it never feels like it matters.  Most of the story is dedicated to Troi, and she still isn't written well.
    And I seriously don't like Guinan much.  But usually I can just ignore her.  This time,  I couldn't stop staring at her lack of eyebrows.  And after a bit of research… it looks like Whoopi shaves her eyebrows.  Wow.

Ray Bradbury Theater - 3x05 - The Pedestrian

    In some sort of future (I think) where everyone remains inside all the time (at least at night?  They have jobs, and there are stairwells at their buildings, so there must be some need to go outside) a man persuades his friend to take a walk with him at night.
    The first half of the episode has the guy getting his friend, and then they wander around, looking at grass, dandelions, and so forth.  The second half has them getting caught by a helicopter, answering questions, and the main character getting taken away.  That's the end of the episode.
    It isn't much of a story.  Kind of a slice of life, and some world building, but nothing too interesting.

The Walking Dead - 2x01 - What Lies Ahead

    After leaving the CDC, everyone goes on a road trip to Fort Benning.  Sophia winds up getting lost in the woods, and everyone looks for her.
    I have a lot of concerns about this TV series.  After watching the first season during broadcast, I found that I liked the show much more when I watched it on Blu-ray.  With this season, I couldn't finish watching it during broadcast.  I've picked up the Blu-ray, and I'm hoping that it'll be better this time through, and compel me to finish watching the season.
    This episode was a real mix.  I love the first half of the episode.  Stopping on the road, letting the dead wander by, even the scene with T-Dog getting cut was really good.  Then, once Sophia gets lost, the episode starts to lose the edge it had.
    There's a long scene between Andrea and Dale, which exemplifies a lot of what I don't like about this show.  In the comic, both of these characters are excellent.  Some of my favorites.  In this, their personalities are just a mess.  Andrea is far more pushy, and…she's just not the same character.  Dale isn't the same either.  In this, he's much more weak-willed, and when he talks up, he's annoying.
    I liked the scene in the church, but then they have to give people monologues where they talk to God.  That seemed like a cheap shortcut to developing characters more fully.
    And the episode ends on a nice cliffhanger, with Carl getting shot.  This happens in the comic as well, and it's a pretty good device to introducing Herschel and his group.
    I often think that this episode represents what Darabont had started to achieve in his work on the second season, and it indicates that AMC made a massive mistake by letting him go.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - 4x11 - Data's Day

    Framed as Data sending a log of his day to a researcher, we see a few plots unfold from Data's perspective.  Miles O'Brien is getting married, but his wife is getting cold feet.  Data needs to learn to dance in preparation for the wedding.  A Vulcan ambassador is onboard, and is acting strange.
    This is lots of fun, like any Data-heavy episode.  It's giving the fans plenty of what they want - Data being puzzled by human behavior.
    The subplot with the Vulcan ambassador is a little strange.  I felt like it was needlessly complicated, and padded out a little more than it needed to be.
    It's lots of fun to see Data learning to tap dance.  Whenever the camera goes to the overhead view, it's pretty clear that we're seeing a double.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - 4x09 - Final Mission

    Picard, Wesley, and another guy wind up marooned on a desert planet when their shuttle malfunctions.  The Enterprise is delayed by their efforts to address a distress call that involves some radioactive garbage.
    This was pretty fun, although a little annoying with the number of inconvenient solutions.
    The Enterprise has a hard time using the tractor beam on this freighter of radioactive garbage, since the radioactivity is too high.  After trying, and failing with another solution, they use the tractor beam anyway, and deal with the radiation for as long as they can.
    Why not separate the ship?  Let Data handle the radioactivity, and then the rest of the ship can go off and look for Picard?
    The Picard/Wesley story is fairly enjoyable too.  The other guy is so awkwardly impulsive that it feels a little fake.  And the solution that Wesley comes up with is just ridiculous.  He punches a bunch of buttons on his tricorder, and suddenly, everything works out fine.  I think Star Trek episodes require a solution, not some hocus-pocus hand waving.
    The last bit of conversation between Wesley and Picard made me realize that I think they could have provided a good dynamic if they had been more casually friendly.  If Picard had taken more of a fatherly role, and joked around with him.  That probably would have made Wesley more palatable as well.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - 4x07 - Reunion

    The Enterprise picks up a Klingon ambassador, and Picard has to help decide who will become a new leader on the Klingon Council after a death.  After a bomb is detonated at a meeting, an investigation is in order.
    Another Worf-heavy episode.  I don't care too much for these ones.  I think I enjoy Worf in a comic relief role, I just don't feel as invested with him on a personal level.  This episode does a decent job though.
    Despite the summary I just gave, the most interesting element is that Alexander, Worf's son, is introduced.  At the conclusion of the episode, Alexander is sent to live with Worf's adoptive parents, which was an interesting choice.  Alexander comes to live on the Enterprise about a full season later.
    The other storyline is irrelevant to me.  I don't care much about Klingon politics, and their adherence to rituals seems pretty silly to me.

The Simpsons - 22x21 - 500 Keys

    After Maggie locks herself in the car, the family goes through a drawer filled with keys.  They each have a separate adventure.  Homer winds up piloting the Duff blimp.  Marge chases down a toy that wanders around town.  And Lisa finds a key to a strange room in the basement of the school.
    Another solidly good episode from the 22nd season.  Even Marge's storyline is fun, in a strange way.  Homer is plenty entertaining.  And Lisa's story is engaging, and really pretty good.  The only complaint I have is that her story seems like it should take up more than a single day.
    There are a few good gags with Chief Wiggum too, riding a blimp, as well as being unable to pick up things on the ground.