In Treatment: Week One (1.1 - 1.5)

Before I began watching In Treatment, I was fully aware that patience was the key ingredient to actually enjoying it. The show is literally characters sitting around talking. And, I may add, the first season is 43 episodes long. Now, that's a lot of talking. But with the DVDs in my hand, I think I have that patience, and with the promise of a collection of big-name stars and, of course, the fact that this is HBO, I'm sure it'll be pretty great.

The X-Files: Duane Barry (2.5)

I'm ordinarily not a fan of hostage-crisis episodes on TV shows. They're usually predictable, and almost always episodes designed to cut back on costs for a week. And while there is some predictability to the structure of this episode, there are enough end-of-the-act plot twists and some memorable performers to make it pretty great.

The X-Files: Sleepless (2.4)

By far the best moment of the episode for me was the really moving phone call between Mulder and Scully. There's once again some almost flirtatious banter, as they reminisce about the "old days", Scully expressing a certain amount of jealousy over Krycek, and Mulder's joking "I'm surprised I put up with you for so long". Aww, man. They're so made for each other.

Nip/Tuck: Mrs. Grubman (2.4)

The concept of growing older plays an important part in practically every Nip/Tuck episode, but it was particularly evident here, with Annie hitting early puberty, Julia accepting that she is getting older, and Kimber making herself look older through a spiraling coke addiction.

Nip/Tuck: Manya Mabika (2.3)

For somebody I'd only ever seen before on sitcoms, Aisha Tyler totally blew me away as Manya. She perfectly conveyed the sadness and abuse of female circumcision, and her story was not only beautifully written but also extremely inspiring. I loved that she only had an orgasm after pleasuring herself, and that it's not all about the woman being satisfied by the man.

The X-Files: Blood (2.3)

Unusual. There's a lot to like here, but there's something a little "off" about the whole thing, with a script that feels rushed, few insights into the bigger picture at work, and a storyline that travels in varying different directions. It's a mess of an episode, but still a pretty fun mess.

The X-Files: The Host (2.2)

Big ick. The first X-Files episode to feature a real, disturbing and ridiculously gross monster, The Host plays like one of those hokey old B-movies, with some truly vomit-inducing scenes (most of them involving flatworms, flatworms coming out of mouths, slithering out of corpses etc. etc.) but apart from a couple of suitably nasty moments, it's not a hugely successful episode.

The X-Files: Little Green Men (2.1)

Not a typical opener to a new season, but one that portrays Mulder in an entirely new (and arguably better) light. Little Green Men doesn't have the strongest of storylines at its center, but works wonders from a character perspective.