Your TV analysis for the week of April 26, 2015.

“HAM, GIRL!”

Welcome to The Breakdown. We have HBO’s Sunday line-up for those who like great comedy on top of great drama. We have more non-HBO comedies in the forms of Louie and Community (haaaammmm!). And we didn’t forget you superhero fans, as we have the breakdowns for this week’s The Flash and Arrow. There’s a large serving below for you all, all broken down into digestible chunks.

Additional breakdowns by Michael Spring and Max Mielecki

---

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

Game of Thrones: “High Sparrow”

by Michael Spring

Things are still quite slow in Season 5, but there’s plenty of promise of greatness to come. Cersei vs. Margaery is well and truly on now, and it could be a real cold war between the two queens. I’m most looking forward to seeing how Stannis gets on in his march on Winterfell, though. It’s up in the air whether the wildlings will follow him or not, and you’d also have to question how Jon will react if word reaches him of Sansa’s latest betrothal. Stannis is due to march within two weeks, but they are in the north, and as Jon reminded us all here: “Winter is coming.”

85/100 – Great

Silicon Valley: “Bad Money”

by Max Mielecki

It’s only after watching “Bad Money” that it becomes apparent that the season’s first two outings were more like extensions to the finale, with the Pied Piper team reveling in their success only to find out the road to being a successful startup isn’t so clear. With all the set-up out of the way, “Bad Money” feels like Season 2’s true beginning, with the foul-mouthed, boisterous investor Russ Hanneman saving the company at the last minute. Hanneman proves to be a great addition to show, not feeling like a re-skinned version of Peter Gregory but another crazy personality in Silicon Valley’s stable of the unstable. With Hanneman fanning the flames of a legal battle between Pied Piper and Hooli, “Bad Money” sets up what looks to be a season-long arc that shows the true potential of the show.

89/100 – Great

Veep: “Data”

by Montel Allen

TV’s best comedy trumped on this week with “Data.” After Selina gave a speech, she was soon notified that the information she used was derived from leaked data. A small town is in uproar and someone needs to fall for it. Throughout the episode is a hilarious search for a scapegoat, and it all flipped around in the end. After  Ben volunteered to take the blame and resign, a last minute twist put that weight on Dan. Given that Veep is a comedy, it doesn’t show us the dark side of this, but instead leaves us with an end tag of a desperate Dan looking for work. Catherine remains to be the butt of many jokes, where she hilariously is overlooked and stopped from progressing in any way. This week she wanted to run an anti-bullying campaign and is, ironically, bullied into not going forth with her plan. Veep is TV’s best comedy, but this season thus far has just been great; Veep has no trouble popping into superb territory. Let’s hope all of these White House shenanigans keep on entertaining.

82/100 – Great

Gotham: “The Anvil or the Hammer”

by Michael Spring

Time and time again Gotham has failed to capitalize on the promise of its strongest moments. “The Anvil or the Hammer” felt like another missed opportunity to take the show out of its well established comfort zone. Barbara was saved and the Ogre vanquished, but it doesn’t feel like these events will leave any sort of lasting effect on the show. Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe this will be the foundation of a great finale, but I’m not entirely hopeful at this stage. We’ll see if this Penguin-orchestrated gang war will do anything to change my mind.

60/100 – Okay

Community: “Intro to Recycled Cinema”

by Max Mielecki

Community delivered another fine entry into Season 6 this week with “Intro to Recycled Cinema.” This week saw Chang becoming a viral hit and the Greendale gang capitalizing on it by cutting old outtakes of Chang into a low-rent film ala the ’90s Fantastic Four. The moment to moment humor was great, and although the satire wasn’t quite always on point, seeing dedicated auteur Abed clashing with his visibly not-caring cast made for some great moments (Oh Garrett, you’re a national treasure.) While it wasn’t quite as bombastic as past spectacle episodes, “Intro the Recycled Cinema” had a great mix of humor, heart and constant references to actor Chris Pratt.

85/100 – Great

The Flash: “The Trap”

by Max Mielecki

“The Trap” feels kind of like the calm before the storm as the show approaches the final stretch. Barry’s suspicions are at an all-time high, and with Cisco and Caitlin on his side, they set a trap which will finally expose Wells once and for all. While there are a few moments that stretch suspension of disbelief, “The Trap” does a great job setting the stage for the final battle between Flash and Reverse-Flash, as Dr. Wells (or should we say Eobard Thawne now?) abandons the team and begins to initiate his endgame. Where “The Trap” really shines, though, is in the flashbacks to when Barry was in a coma following the lightning strike. The scenes of Joe West agonizing over his adopted son’s fate and Dr. Wells treating Barry at STAR Labs really shine a light on how all these characters truly see one another.

90/100 – Great

iZombie: “Maternity Liv”

by Michael Spring

iZombie continues to surprise me with every single episode. I freely admit that I thought it sounded like a really dumb idea for a show when I first heard it, but I’m happy to hold my hands up and say I was completely wrong. iZombie is fun and quirky show, with a solid cast portraying some very likable characters. The plot is moving along quite nicely now and Blaine’s plans are growing, but I’m a little more interested to see what comes of Ravi’s experiments on those rats next week.

85/100 – Great

Arrow: “Al Sah-him”

by Michael Spring

Arrow introduced a new, darker spin for our lead character this week, and it lead to some great conflict between the team. It remains to be seen whether Ollie’s action can ever be forgiven, but that point will be moot if he follows through with Ra’s’s plan to release the Alpha and Omega virus in Star City. Before all of that happens, though, there’s the small matter of Ollie’s upcoming marriage to Nyssa to deal with. Oh lord, imagine the angst party that’s going to take place between Ollie, Nyssa, Felicity and maybe even Laurel.

80/100 – Great

Supernatural: “Angel Heart”

by Michael Spring

The people who volunteer as vessels on Supernatural are often overlooked. “Angel Heart” finally brought Jimmy Novak’s story full circle and allowed him to be reunited with his wife in heaven. We all love Castiel, but his arrival on earth absolutely tore about the Novak family, so it’s good to finally lay all of that to rest. It’s also good to see that Supernatural is still able to come up with good new foes for the boys to fight, and I’m really hoping we haven’t seen the last Grigori angel. We may have gotten closure for Jimmy, but Claire still remains out and about in the world. Her bonding moments with Dean were well done, and her goodbye hug with Castiel was a sweet moment. She’s got herself an angel blade and some new knowledge, so it looks likely that she’ll be out there on her own, saving people and killing things.

80/100 – Great

Louie: “Bobby’s House”

by Max Mielecki

Multi-topic episodes made their triumphant return on Louie this week, as we saw the return of Louie’s brother Bobby and a Louie getting a beatdown from a particularly angry woman. It all slots together nicely though, and ends with a gender-swapped Louie and Pamel. It’s something that on any other show would be a stupid one-note gag. On Louie, however, C.K. is able to pull off not only the joke, but an emotional story connected to it that will also achieve the rare feat of affecting episodes to come.

85/100 – Great

Is ‘Veep’ the best comedy, or is ‘Louie’ more your speed? What other shows do you want to see in ‘The Breakdown’? Tweet us @YouNerded.

---

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