Greek | “All Children…Grow Up”

Photo Credit: ew.com

Greek isn’t necessarily known for its subtlety. This half of the season has focused strongly on the idea of “change” and how those involved in the show’s various relationships react to it — do they embrace it and look ahead, or reject it and stay put in the present? The season finale, “All Children…Grow Up,” was no exception, as it focused on Spring Break (a vacation from real life), which had  elements of fear (which keeps you from doing things you’re not ready for) and even Peter Pan (the only exception to the rule stated in the episode’s title). But even though the thematic stuff can at times veer into melodrama territory, what usually works so well with Greek is its ability to ground the issues in characters and situations that make them feel real, serious, and worth caring about, and that’s just what this episode did. So let’s get started — after the jump.

24 | Jack Bauer to see his last hour

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

Well, after much speculation, including rumors that NBC would rescue the show, FOX has officially canceled 24. The long-running show, which led the way after its premiere in 2001 in revitalizing the FOX network , will air its final episode on the fitting date of May 24, capping off an 8-season run that also included the 2-hour 24: Redemption movie.

Cougar Town | “Turn This Car Around”

Photo Credit: ABC (via tvfanatic.com)

When I originally started this blog, my plan was to do weekly recaps/reviews of Cougar Town and Greek because they are two shows that, (a) with limited time, I want to stay caught up on since I probably won’t pick them up on DVD, and (b) are less frequently reviewed by the major blogs I read. Cougar Town write-ups have slipped by me thus far, but I have a little bit of time now and figured I’d jot down some thoughts on “Turn This Car Around.” So let’s get started — after the jump.

Greek | “The First Last”

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

After a stretch of Greek episodes focused heavily on the various relationship problems of the main characters (Cappie & Casey, Rusty & Catherine/Dana, Evan & Rebecca), “The First Last” was a nice break from that, returning to the brighter side of the CRU Greek system in an episode reminiscent of the show’s earlier years. Yes, the relationship drama was still present, but more so with the characters who usually aren’t usually front-and-center, and it took a back seat to the ΩΧ/ΚΤ rivalry that will surely come to a head in next week’s finale. So let’s get started — after the jump.

Greek | “Camp Buy Me Love”

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

After weeks of back and forth tension between various couples on Greek, it seems like we finally (maybe) got some closure with “Camp Buy Me Love.” Casey realized that she and Cappie weren’t going to work outside of the college environment, Rusty chose Dana over Catherine, and with Calvin’s help, Evan got back the necklace he had given Rebecca so that he could move on (but then he saw the ticket stub on her mirror, so I’m not sure this one’s completely over yet). Compared to the last few episodes, it was much heavier dramatically, but it worked for the most part, except for an increasingly annoying Rusty. So let’s get started — after the jump.

Greek | “The Big Easy Does It”

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

So this Greek review is coming quite late, but I figured I’d write up some quick thoughts to catch up before moving on to the newest episode. “The Big Easy Does It” saw a lot of backward momentum on the relationship front, which, really is what this show is all about (well, relationships and parties). Two couples that had just recently officially started — Evan/Rebecca and Rusty/Catherine — seemingly came to an end, and Casey and Cappie also kept from moving forward when he told her he wasn’t ready to plan for the future or graduate.

It was a strange mix of both indecision and decisiveness being the cause of these roadblocks. Rebecca, unwilling commit to Evan and admit she cares about him, and Cappie, unable to commit to a major and take the future seriously, both ended up letting down their partners, who knew exactly what they wanted. On the other hand, though, Catherine knowing she definitely wanted to have sex with Rusty led him to break things off with her.

In any case, it was still a fun episode centered around Mardi Gras. Several of the characters could have acted smarter and kept themselves from regressing back into old habits (just pick a major Cappie!), but the rest of it was entertaining enough to keep those problems from taking over.

Some other quick thoughts and favorite lines after the jump.

Greek | “Your Friends and Neighbors”

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

Did anyone notice any prominent themes in this week’s Greek? I certainly didn’t, and if there were any, they were certainly subtle…

Oh wait! Nearly every story line beat us over the head with the “growing up is hard to do” trope, and then, just in case we didn’t get it, hammered it in a little more. It’s not that it wasn’t effective, it just seemed at times — like when Tom gave his wrap-up speech to Cappie — to be a little too much. Overall, though, “Your Friends and Neighbors” saw development in most of the current plots and had a lot of Beaver (short for The Beaver), which always makes an episode funnier. So let’s get started — after the jump.

Greek | “Love, Actually, Possible, Maybe… Or Not”

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

Ah Valentine’s Day, the commercial holiday of all holidays (as Rusty and Ashleigh’s “hip” professor reminded us). Although it was a little behind schedule, Greek focused on the special occasion in this week’s “Love, Actually, Possible, Maybe… Or Not,” an episode which finally gave screen time to all its regular cast members and even most of the current recurring players. Fittingly, there was development on all major relationship fronts, with Cupid’s arrow even striking up a new romance, and, as always, some great and not-so-great pop culture references. So let’s get started — after the jump.

Greek renewed!

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

What great timing! After my quasi-inaugural blog post on Greek‘s latest episode, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that ABC Family has renewed the series for a fourth season of 10 more episodes, slated to start later this year.

The show is ABC Family’s longest-running original series, and it recently premiered to 1.03 million viewers for part two of season three. Some fans were worried about its prospects (see: savegreek.com), but considering the most recent premiere posted some big gains in the key demos, as THR noted, it isn’t a big surprise that Greek will be back.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the current season plays out, though, since it seems to be heading toward graduation for several of the key characters. Maybe the timeline will slow down and season four will be plotted as the final 10 episodes? Or maybe, as I conjectured in one of my episode reviews, the graduates will move on to grad school at CRU, thus keeping intact the fictional universe?

Greek | “The Tortoise and the Hair”

Photo Credit: fanpop.com

“The Tortoise and the Hair” was the fourth episode of the second chapter of the third season of Greek and… sorry, that’s just too many numbers.

Let’s just say I know I’m jumping in a little late on the individual episode reviews, especially since the series is reportedly in danger of cancellation, but I’ve watched the series from the beginning and for reasons explained in my previous post thought now would be as good a time as any to start. So let’s get started — after the jump.