Staff Television Critic: Lisa Fernandes, formerly of Firefox.org, has been watching television for all of her thirty-plus years, and critiquing it for the past seven. When she's not writing, she can be found in the wilds of the Northeastern United States.
While in the middle of solving a high-profile mafia-related case, Holt and Jake contract a case of the mumps and decide to be quarantined together. They think they’ll have the energy to find Joey Girabaldi while the illness runs its course but must ultimately battle a concerned Amy and the rigors of high fevers and huge goiters to get results. Incoherent and lost In their own illness-ridden minds, time seems to be running out…
Iris and Liz try to revamp the Cortez into a proper tourist spot, only to meet resistance from their murderous ghost residents (you’d….think they would have gotten that part taken care of before reopening) - mostly from Sally and Will, who has discovered the joy of murder for plot reasons. Iris and Liz struggle for something to solve the problem and …
Claire tries to encourage the ducklings to move out of the house – by caging them up and releasing them in the public pond while Phil is off seeing Alex at college. She, Luke and Haley soon realize how much the ducklings mean to Phil – and to them – and frantically try to figure out which of the ducks are actually theirs and sneak the fowl back into the …
Bev volunteers to take part in Hands across America in the hope of impressing Barry and Erica – and in trying to capture a tiny fragment of the joy the Kemps have recently experienced while appearing on the front of their local paper, hoping to get a picture with her own kids on the front page. Bev ends up finagling her way from volunteer to head of the …
Jake and Charles go up against Charles’ controlling ex-wife Eleanor when Charles considers taking things to the next level with his sweet-natured girlfriend Genevieve – IE by having a baby with her, even though he’s sterile due to an on-the-job accident. It seems he froze a stockpile of sperm beforehand – but his fluids are the property of his wife thanks to a bad contract, and it turns out…
In “Aww Hell, The King,” Richard and Galavant return to Richard’s kingdom only to discover that his castle has been torn down, he’s been presumed dead, and in the interim the entire kingdom has discovered proto-democracy. Richard isn’t having any of that, and experiences a crisis of faith in his managerial abilities until Galavant’s belief in true love forces him to make a stand. Meanwhile, Isabella deals with heartbreak over her apparent breakup with…
While Adam and Barry try to launch their own rap supergroup, Bev deals with envy over the Kemps’ new kitchen. Annoyed by the dingy tiles and brown interior of her own domicile, she demands a remodel and finds herself bumping up against Murray’s tendency to be set in his ways and resistant to new ideas. When Bev points this out he tries to follow her request that he be more spontaneous…
With Donovan officially dead and Elizabeth MIA after their guns a’blazin’ murder spree of justice, Liz and Iris continue their plot to take over the Hotel Cortez, which includes trying to keep Ramona Royale happy (a condition that’s ensured by an unexpected guest appearance by a character from an earlier season) and taking care that Donovan’s spirit doesn’t remain trapped in the domicile forever. Iris says an impassioned goodbye to her son while Liz strikes a bargain with Ramona to finish off Elizabeth once and for all.
Jake and Amy run into Peralta’s ultimate quarry, Doug Judy, the Pontiac Bandit, while on their first couple’s vacation on a cruise ship. The two-some quickly find themselves distracted from their romantic goals and Amy’s itemized, laminated itinerary falls by the wayside. It turns out that Judy’s been hiding out as the ship’s entertainer, and Jake is stymied when he…
Adam and Emmy compete to become part of a famous Nickelodeon game show when auditions hit their school; their friendship suffers a schism when Adam decides Pops is his big ticket to getting into the competition and picks partnership with him over one with Emmy. While Adam’s disqualified due to Pops’ feebleness in the trials, Emmy seems a sure lock to make the airwaves – until she…