I’ve noticed an interesting,
recurring thread in recent TV seasons. We know that sometimes, shows are going
to air episodes that are better than usual. For reasons I’m not quite sure I
understand yet, it would seem that sometimes, an episode of a show in January
is going to surprise you by being spectacular and beyond quality entertainment.
Let’s delve into this, shall we?
The first time that I noticed
a truly exceptional episode as part of the January surprise, it was in the year
2017. You can even check when I did the Silver Globe Awards where two new
categories were added just for this one episode. The first season finale of The
Good Place was outstanding entertainment and was what made watching the series
worth keeping around for. It was called Michael’s Gambit. And if you do not
ever see any other episode of that show, then make sure that you at least see
that one as it was a much needed link into the show’s mythos.
2018 brought us two great
episodes of different shows. SVU’s first episode of the year, Gone Baby Gone,
was such a thrill ride from start to finish. It didn’t even matter if you
missed the previous episode that lead into it. You got to see such a great
missing person case involving major characters.
Another good episode that was
part of the January surprise was Sound and Fury, an episode of Madam Secretary.
You can read my blog post on the episode of the show in question and see about
what I had thought of that episode. I might have hated it at first, but then,
by the end of it, felt that it should be an episode preserved in the national
archives. It showed people standing up when they needed to in order to protect
the country and the world from dangers that one man can pose.
Recently, S.W.A.T. aired an
episode called School about preventing a mass shooting with flashbacks that
parallel to a previous mass shooting. It was something that has been done a lot
in TV shows, but the way that they did it was something that I don’t think
we’ve seen before (or, at least, I haven’t).
Something else I notice that
can be part of the January surprise is that a wonderful pilot might air on one
of the new shows. I noticed this with both Legends of Tomorrow and Allegiance.
I do wonder what other great pilots will be part of the January surprise.
Indeed, great series finales like Parenthood had aired at one point in January.
Well, that’s all for this
post. I hope to have more to write things, but I’m finding myself with less and
less time to do things like this or any other blog of mine. I hope that I don’t
have to do too many posts of this blog in the near future since I changed when
it was updated. Expect it at least once a month, but I will not know when yet.
Just know that it won’t conflict with any other blog for the moment.
