What I’m Watching: Wilfred (Season Premiere)

Wilfred: Season 4, Episodes 1 and 2 “Amends” and “Consequences” (B+)

There’s no show as singularly offbeat, crude, and depressing as this one. As it enters its final season, which will air on brand-new network FXX, this show is still very much the same series it always is, albeit now permanently confined to miserable endings, no longer featuring Wilfred and Ryan getting high in the basement. Starting with Ryan’s dad still alive and Ryan’s brave choice of the job over Wilfred provided some misleading false hope, since his father was destined to die again, and, worse than that, was disappointed with Ryan when he did since Wilfred had e-mailed him a picture of the two of them riding in Ryan’s car. Meeting the three kids in the dog suits doing the visitation ritual was just peculiar, and I much more enjoyed Wilfred’s sob story about how he never got the chance to make amends with the post he used to lick. Episode two featured more of the traditional Wilfred-trying-to-sabotage-Ryan plotline, trying to break Jenna and Drew up so that she could be with Ryan. Drew as usual was an oaf, but a nice one, and his enthusiasm for camping made his subsequent fall and breakup seem less deserved. Ryan and Jenna are not destined to be together, mainly because Ryan has a closer bond with Wilfred than his owner, but I also think that this season is going to involve Ryan getting closer to the truth about what Wilfred is, interfacing with Harriet Sansom Harris’ gruff lawyer boss and trying to stay sane while doing it.

What I’m Watching: Nikita

Nikita: Season 3, Episode 4 “Consequences” (B)

It’s about time that Amanda resurfaced, though clearly she’s been biding her time and preparing for a major comeback. She sure caught Nikita off-guard in the cemetery, and putting a toxin inside one of her captured men to be released inside Division was a brutal move. It seemed somewhat odd that, following her video blast to all of Division, it was so easy for Birkhoff and Sonia to discover her location and send in a senior team to capture them. Ari and Amanda don’t seem to be getting along perfectly, and that partnership was crucial for Amanda’s return to power. Vowing to get revenge on Nikita while looking at pictures of her double-dating with Michael, Alex and Sean suggests that she’s going to be this season’s Percy, fighting her way back to the top and constantly being undermined by Nikita and her crew. Owen’s return was generally welcome, and he only reacted slightly better to the news of the changing of the guard at Division than those agents who didn’t come in alive. If Amanda and Nikita are fated to be nemeses, so are Owen and Anne, since Amanda’s loyal lapdog seems to really have it out for him. Alex is headed down a dangerous path back to addiction as Sean’s prodding for her to leave Division and lead a safer life has led her to aggressively take painkillers to stay in the game. Brainwashing is no longer a threat, but someone needs to realize that Alex is in trouble.

What I’m Watching: Boss

Boss: Season 2, Episode 8 “Consequences” (B+)

There isn’t one corner of this show that hasn’t been affected by people not being able to control their sexual impulses. It’s most startling in the case of Doyle, who had previously seemed like a fairly stable and solid person, who, upon realizing that Claire slept with Ben, punishes her in a rather explicit and disturbing fashion. Ian’s actions are especially deplorable given that Emma is likely his sister, and their floor sex was less disconcerting than the sight of an angry, beaten Darius watching them from right outside the house. Ian made his power play earlier than I might have expected, and he did seem devastated to have it seem real and then snatched away from him because Tom had other priorities. Tom running to the council room was a sure sign of defeat for the otherwise stable and newly cocky king, and McGantry’s alliance with Ross suggests that Tom has a big fight ahead of him. I loved that Walsh was so honest and unfriendly with Tom, and it’s great to see the gubernatorial race heating up, as Walsh begins to resent Kitty for failing to acknowledge her advances and Zajac’s bluntness wins him the hearts of many and reignites his campaign. Zajac did a great job to standing up both to his wife and to Tom ("The puppet is cutting his strings"), no small feat. Sam is closer than ever to the truth, but I’m worried he’s going to get himself hurt in Toronto while digging so obviously into Tom’s patient history there. Either way, Tom’s empire is starting to crumble down. His problems at home, namely his daughter’s complicity in his father-in-law’s turn for the worse, are sure not to help.