Your TV analysis for the week of March 29, 2015.

“BUFFED FLOORS: BEAUTIFUL, BUT AT WHAT COST?”

Note: The following breakdowns go into detail about their episodes. SPOILER ALERT!

Welcome to the third Breakdown, where we take the week’s TV highlights and break them down into brief, digestible chunks. Right off the bat you may be wondering, “Hey, where’s The Walking Dead?” Well, none of us are caught up on the show, and we’re idiots for it. What we do have is Community, The Flash and Arrow as usual, New Girl and more. With Daredevil coming up and Game of Thrones making it feel as if time is going in reverse, The Breakdown should see less quiet weeks soon.

ICYMI: We also broke down the entire first season of Netflix’s new original series, Bloodline.

Additional breakdowns by Michael Spring and Max Mielecki

---

Community: “Queer Studies & Advanced Waxing”

by Max Mielecki

The show’s latest entry into its fabled sixth season, “Queer Studies & Advanced Waxing,” feels like vintage Community, with the Dean using his hilariously ambiguous sexuality to join the school board, and Chang joining a stage adaptation of the Karate Kid. While the various plots of this episode don’t quite slot together as well as in past episodes, strong performances from the cast (and Rafi himself, guest star Jason Mantzoukas) gave the show its classic feel. With the Dean coming out as “2/7 of what he actually is,” it makes Community truly feel like Community.

85/100 – Great

The Flash: “Tricksters”

by Max Mielecki

“Tricksters” proved to be a masterful example of how to do an episode of The Flash right. Mark Hamill was memorable and imposing as the Trickster, and the B-story proved to be a great look into the secret history of Harrison Wells. That’s to say nothing of the episode’s fantastic action sequences, including a high-speed battle between Flash and Reverse-Flash, and Flash disarming a bomb straight out of the movie Speed. Let’s all hope the Trickster returns to Central City soon, because even with the show’s already high bar, “Tricksters” managed to raise it once again.

95/100 – Superb

New Girl: “The Right Thing”

by Montel Allen

New Girl returned from its spring break with “The Right Thing.” This episode did so many things right in standard New Girl fashion. A guy Jess was dating suddenly passed away due to a motorcycle accident—he slipped on the floor of a motorcycle dealership. This gave birth to great lines from Winston like, “Buffed floors: beautiful, but at what cost?” Jess decided to go to Pete’s funeral where she met his girlfriend. This led to cliche comedy bits such as impulse lying, but it was still very entertaining no doubt. The other part of this episode took place with Nick and Schmidt and Schmidt’s mom. Max Greenfield sells every scene he’s in. I thought it was genius to do an interrogation setup for something so asinine as getting names for thank you cards for a bar mitzvah that happened decades ago. Winston may have a budding relation with Aly, played by Nasim Pedrad, but I have a feeling it’ll just be another mini-plot just passing through. New Girl turned in a great half-hour of laughter this week, and it even had a little plot progression.

83/100 – Great

Justified: “Fugitive Number One”

by Michael Spring

I couldn’t possibly think of a better way for Justified to be heading into the final few episode. With Art on his tail, Rogue Raylan is out to get Ava and Boyd. Boyd is in pursuit of his money and his ex-girl, with every cop in the county out looking for him. Avery Markham just wants to kill everyone and take his money back. We’ve had a few months of preparation for a heist that was doomed to fail, and we now find ourselves facing a madcap race to the finish where pretty much everyone is in danger. I’m going to leave my final predictions for now, but I will say that there’s far too much foreshadowing of a duel between Raylan and Boon to just ignore it. This close to the finish, you have to wonder could Raylan be about to come up against a quicker draw than his own.

95/100 – Superb

Arrow: “Public Enemy”

by Michael Spring

“Public Enemy” proved to be exactly what Arrow has been looking for recently. In the space of an hour, the whole show has been shaken up and the stakes are at an all-time high for most of the characters. While the Ray material wasn’t great, Team Arrow’s flight from the GCPD made this episode exciting from start to finish. Roy’s declaration was a great way to end the episode, but I can’t see that stopping Lance’s vendetta against the Arrow. A couple of lackluster moments aside, it looks like we’re fully back on track for the rest of the season.

88/100 – Great

Supernatural: “Inside Man”

by Michael Spring

A return to form for Crowley, along with the return of the beloved Bobby have provided fresh impetus for Supernatural’s tenth season. More than anything, I was just happy to see Sam finally taking charge of matters again. Sam has had very little to do all season other than trying to help Dean through all of the mayhem, so it was great to see him take the initiative and hatch a plan with Castiel. Crowley kicking Rowena to the curb was similarly satisfying. The highlight of the episode was undoubtedly Bobby’s return, and it would be fantastic if they could find some way of working him back into the story. With how pissed those angels looked at the end, I have a feeling we’ll get to see everyone’s favorite grumpy hunter again some day.

90/100 – Superb

How much did you enjoy Mark Hamill’s Trickster? What other shows would you like to see us breakdown? Tweet us @YouNerded or let us know in the comments.

---

That’s it for this week. Be sure to return every Saturday for your weekly TV breakdown.