‘Girlfriends’ Guide’ Final Season, ‘Strange Angel,’ and ‘Alone’
A selective critical checklist of notable Thursday TV:
Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce (10/9c, Bravo): The dramedy about sexy exes enters its fifth and final season with more romance in the air, though as always complicated by everyone’s considerable personal baggage. This is a good opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the show, as the gal pals reflect on recent events while at a red carpet event. Abby (the terrific Lisa Edelstein) wants to take the next step with Coach Mike (James Lesure) and start the process of blending their families. And will Barbara (Retta) let her own ex, Leon (Aaron D. Spears) get in the way of her relationship with Darrell (Malcolm-Jamal Warner)?
Strange Angel (streaming on CBS All Access): Strange indeed. You’d never confuse Jack Parsons (Jack Reynor) with a typical CBS hero — which may be the point of this intriguing but slow-moving new original drama on the network’s premium streaming site. Inspired by Parsons’ true story, Angel tracks the obsessions of Parsons, who works by day at a chemical factory in 1930s Los Angeles and at night experiments with rocketry. (He would later be a co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.) Thanks to a new neighbor, played with creepy allure by Homeland’s much-missed Rupert Friend, Jack and wife Susan (Bella Heathcote) are introduced to the underground world of the occult, where Parsons becomes entranced by the cult religion Thelema and its exotic sex rituals. Something tells me we won’t see this become a subplot in future seasons of The Big Bang Theory.
Alone (10/9c, History): The survival series takes on a déjà vu quality in its fifth season, when 10 former participants return for yet another exotic challenge, hoping for a better outcome. These also-rans are dropped in Northern Mongolia, where subzero temps and feral wolves are just a few of the obstacles they’ll face as they vie for a cash prize of $500,000.
Inside Thursday TV: In its new time period, NBC’s Little Big Shots (8/7c) returns with a 6-year-old “American Ninja Warrior” hopeful — because why not? Host Steve Harvey also interacts with an 8-year-old voiceover artists and a young painter with mad brush skills… NBC’s summer sitcom Marlon (9/8c) opens a second season with back-to-back episodes, starting with a moral crisis when Marlon (Marlon Wayans) and Ashley (Essence Atkins) decide to let son Zack (Amir O’Neil) model for a kids’ athletic line — only to discover his shirt is altered with a slogan they find racist… Having watched older sister Maddie (Lennon Stella) grab the spotlight, now it’s Daphne’s (Maisy Stella) turn on CMT’s Nashville (9/8c) — although as usual there are strings attached. Notably, the fact that the villainous Brad (Jeffrey Nordling) is the one pulling the strings at the music competition providing Daphne’s star turn. Deacon (Charles Esten), as usual, is understandably concerned.
Conversation10 Comments
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R
Yeah, nothing new for me tonight, either.
So, about Reverie...... Have to admit it\'s not blowing me away. Even though last night\'s episode was meant to be playfully fun with armored cars and shoot-em-ups, etc. Watching it, I still miss Sarah Shahi as Shaw. A much better--and more interesting--character.
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G
I thought Reverie was entertaining last night , especially more so than the pilot. So far each successive episode seems to be improving . I\'ll stick with it.
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R
It may get more interesting now that her character (Mara) is getting into something dark, as hinted at with next week\'s episode. But the Story of the Week can easily get repetitive. Like a few years ago, a show called Flashpoint. (A Canadian show, but I think CBS or some other American network aired it too.) It was basically about a specialty police team that did hostage negotiations, among other things. Every time I watched, the same thing happened: Bad guy holds some people hostage, but in looking into his situation, the team learns that he\'s really not such a bad guy after all, just a normal person who has been forced to do what he\'s doing, or has been pushed to his limit, or perhaps some other somewhat mitigating factor. Same with Reverie: Mara has to go in and get the person out of Reverie, and to do that she has to learn his/her backstory and bring about the peaceful resolution. But we\'ll see what future episodes hold. There\'s nothing else on opposite for me to watch, so I\'ll probably stick with it.
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G
Yes, I agree the weekly focus of a new character trapped in the system can be monotonous. But we are only 3 episodes in so they might change up the format. So far it reminds me a bit of Fantasy Island. Every week a new character lives a fantasy life and by the end of the episode the characters are usually relieved to be back in reality.
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C
I\'m never relieved to be back in reality!
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G
That\'s why TV shows are an ideal escape.
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C
I\'m not sure I\'ll be watching anything new tonight not even Cloak & Dagger which didn\'t really excite me last week.
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G
I have Nashville tonight , but will have to catch it on DVR if it records on TV LAND . I agree with you about Cloak & Dagger. But I may give it a bit more time, it is summer (much lighter schedule) after all.
Reverie was quite good last night, the strongest episode so far. The previews for next week look very good as well. I guess I have a solid new summer show I can commit to.
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C
I didn\'t think much of it this week. In fact, I slept through it the first time and had to watch it on demand later. I agree that the previews looked more promising. I still haven\'t watched The Crossing.
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G
I think you will enjoy the two final episodes of The Crossing very much.
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