['Chuck' - 'Chuck Versus the Muuurder'] 'Chuck' is never short on pop culture references, and tonight was no exception. Unfortunately, those references tend to work best when they are made either through dialogue or character choices, not plot reenactments. So while 'Clue' is one of my all-time favorite movies, I'm not sure I needed to see 'Chuck Versus the Muuurder' turn into a Castle-centric, ...

['Chuck' – 'Chuck Versus the A-Team'] I have a complicated relationship with continuity. I wrote as much here a week ago, and it flooded through my mind a lot while watching tonight's 'Chuck,' This episode did a lot of things right, but it had to drive a fleet of Sierras through one of the biggest plot holes that the show has ever come up with in order to achieve those not-so-small ...

The last episode of 'Fringe' was a crucial one in the show's run. 'Subject 13' took a long look at one of the more pivotal weeks in the overall story, one involving crucial meetings both in Our World, Over There, and especially between the two of them. But while it sparked the imagination of millions of viewers, it also brought about many furrowed brows, with fans trying to reconcile what the ...

['The Cape' – 'Razer'] I come not here to bury 'The Cape,' though by all accounts what we saw tonight was the last episode of the series that will ever air. What started out as an unencumbered show that promised a relatively light and colorful approach to the superhero genre ended with an episode that featured gang violence, torture, and at least two characters with significant mental ...

'Chuck Versus the First Bank of Evil' How you feel about the back end of this fourth season of 'Chuck' all depends on how much you like having it center around the moral dilemmas of a character that we only met last week. Introducing new characters into 'Chuck' has often led to an infusion of new energy, but to date these characters have existed either to complement our main ones or to ...

['Nikita' – 'Echoes'] Different shows have different areas of expertise. No surprise there. Nothing inflammatory or revelatory about that statement. 'Nikita' does some things well, others less so. But one thing it does EXTREMELY well? Produce in-season cliffhangers that make you ready for the next episode to drop as soon as possible. Just like December's finale 'All the Way,' tonight's ...

['The Cape' – 'The Lich, Part 2'] At this point, 'The Cape' has gone so far over the top that its weird storytelling almost works. Emphasis on "almost," but since the show's previous superpower was "boring the audience into submission," I'll take the freakiness of this new brand of show. 'The Lich, Part 2' had all of the ambiance of the first part last week, and if it didn't quite have ...

['Chuck' – 'Chuck versus the Masquerade'] I'm usually a fan of the titles that 'Chuck' gives to its episodes. But 'Chuck versus the Masquerade' barely hinted at what this episode was really about. Perhaps 'Chuck versus the Third Wheel' might have been more appropriate, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek way. A more accurate title? 'Chuck versus the Incredibly Heavy Lifting,' a title that ...

['Nikita' – 'Alexandra'] Over the course of the few episode that have aired since Alex left the confines of Division, I've been waiting patiently, and then anxiously, for 'Nikita' as a show to grow up. It's teased out elements from other shows on The CW, elements that might be fine for 'Hellcats' or 'One Tree Hill,' but feel out of place here. Luckily, 'Alexandra' righted that ship with ...

['The Cape' – 'The Lich, Part 1'] OK, now that's more like it. 'The Cape' hasn't exactly been Emmy-caliber in its early goings, but 'The Lich, Part 1' was the strongest episode to date. I realize the bar for this show hasn't exactly been set terribly high, but in terms of overall mood, it was at times as hypnotic as the psychotropic drug at the heart of this initial hour of a planned ...