By John Keegan and Henry Tran

We are now in the middle section of a three-part trilogy of episodes to end this series. Judging a middle section of such a trilogy (whether it be movies or something else) is a notoriously difficult thing to do. If "Say Hello to My Little Friend" was the kickoff to Michael's pursuit of what happened in the accident, then this episode serves as the escalation to those events.

By John Keegan and Edmund Boys

As the season finale of “Once Upon A Time” swirled around me, I kept being reminded of Paint-by-Numbers. Those simulations of creativity that, if slavishly followed, may produce a copy of a masterpiece, but one devoid of the original’s style, verve, and soul. The show hit major plot points, paid off long-simmering threads, but too much of it left me cold and unsatisfied.

By John Keegan

While "Touch" is still too self-indulgent for its own good, and I don't see myself watching it after the end of the first season (unless the season finale changes things dramatically), this is the second episode in a row that worked for me. One big reason is the tighter focus of the writing; this episode, like the previous installment, has only two plot threads. This forces the writers to make the connections more logical.

By John Keegan and Paul Pearson

It was always going to be tough to top last episode's fantastic installment, but "BrotherFae of the Wolves" doesn't seem to be trying that hard. This Dyson-centric episode should've been a perfect opportunity to explore the angst and the shift in status quo that this character has gone through over the past few episodes, and yet it's glossed over in favour of weak plots that recall the lesser aspects of other genre shows.

By John Keegan and Edmund Boys

When a show starts hitting its stride, you surrender yourself to the narrative, confident that wherever the writers choose to take you will be entertaining, compelling, and satisfying. At one time in television history, it was rare for a show to achieve this in its freshman season. But, in recent years, as producers have been given more freedom, especially on cable, the phenomenon of the show fully-formed at birth has sprung onto our screens. While I’ve always felt the auteur theory is an insult to the collaborative nature of filming stories, there is no doubt that the singular visions of Matthew Weiner or Vince Gilligan shape “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.”

By John Keegan

Savonarola takes the center stage as a major adversary to Rodrigo Borgia in this episode, and it is some of the most gripping material yet. Savonarola subscribes to a brand of religiosity that borders on the sadistic, as various followers are prompted to scourge themselves publicly, while others are pressed into religious vocation. Given the state of Italy at the time, of course, one might have indeed felt that the time of repentance was at hand.

By John Keegan

I've been very critical of "Touch", which I find to be a very poorly written show masking its lack of consistency behind its premise. Nothing I've seen so far has changed that opinion; however, I must admit that when the writers actually pay attention and make all the story elements intersect in logical ways, it makes for a less cloying episode.

By John Keegan and Henry Tran

I've been accused in the past of judging Betty Francis too harshly on a couple of episodes on this show. I take that criticism to heart and as such, I've tried to look at Betty's character objectively. She makes her return here after the events of "Tea Leaves" and I'm still unsure of her place in the whole narrative.

By John Keegan and Gregg Wright

"Body swapping episode". The mere thought of the concept sends shivers down my spine. And these are not shivers of excitement, but of dread. Often, I wonder if there's been some sort of edict set down by the gods of television, decreeing that all sci-fi shows must, at some point, do a body-swap episode. It's one of the most popularly-utilized tropes in sci-fi television, but not only am I sick and tired of it, I'm not convinced that it ever really worked. Maybe there are rare exceptions were uncannily good acting results in a truly convincing body-swap, but in almost every case, it's impossible to see the exercise as anything other than the actors mimicking each other, to the best of their abilities. Suspension of disbelief just isn't there.

By John Keegan

Many of my annoyances with "Grimm" have centered around the too-obvious construction of the season arc. Relatively early in the season, it was clear that the writers were going to toss up artificial barriers to ensure that Hank and Juliette didn't suspect the existence of the Wesen until the season finale. This has led, especially in Juliette's case, to some character assassination, as some have termed it.