Ringer: It's Gonna Kill Me, But I'll Do It (1.4)

One of the promises made by the writers prior to the series premiere was that mysteries wouldn't unfold at a glacial pace, and that answers will be given at a speed which would satisfy the viewer. Sometimes this formula can backfire a little, like in the busy pilot and its abundance of illogical plot twists. But what the show did here was throw everything up in the air, setting in motion events that will obviously create shock-waves throughout the entire series. Being so soon into the show's existence, it's pretty exciting.

Charmed: Trial by Magic (4.11)

There's a huge sense of 'what's the point?' in regards to this episode. Phoebe's adventures as a jury member were promising, and it could have allowed for some interesting attempts to prove the validity of her outlandish claims if she were to, say, experiment with low-level 'magic', or try and convince the jury of the possibility of the defendant being innocent. Instead, we get an elaborate 'summoning the murder victim' scene, and everything getting undone in the end via some convenient memory dust. It's a really patronizing story.

Charmed: A Paige from the Past (4.10)

This isn't the greatest of episodes, though it does at least explore Paige's history, made into typical TV movie hoodoo via an ugly car wreck that killed her adoptive parents. Rose McGowan does fine with the material here, in particular in her attempts to depict that sense of trying to tell your parents how much you love them, even when they don't want to hear it. Paige was a huge pain-in-the-butt as a teen, a whiny brat who skipped class and smoked cigarettes. It's not great characterization (very Angsty Teen 101), but Rose makes the story work.

Angel: Expecting (1.12)

Expecting works far better as a character piece than as a Rosemary's Baby-style 'evil pregnancy' story. In some ways it works as a sequel to Rm w/a Vu, evolving Cordelia's character, bringing back Phantom Dennis and allowing some discussion of where Cordelia is going as a person. Likewise, just as in Rm w/a Vu, Cordelia immediately assumes that she is being punished, a deserving karmic side-effect of her high school cruelty and her casually vacuous behavior. It again reflects her growth as a character, and Charisma Carpenter is wonderful in the scenes where Cordelia really feels as if her life has come to a standstill.

Buffy: A New Man (4.12)

To commit to this episode, you need to excuse some of the script's more contrived elements. While Giles has been on the periphery of things this year, his treatment by the Scoobies doesn't entirely make sense. Buffy in particular is pretty obnoxious here with her ignorant statements about how superior and 'grown-up' Maggie Walsh is, and later telling Willow that she'll run to Maggie with news about the majicks going haywire. Can you be any more insensitive, Buff?

Angel: Somnambulist (1.11)

Undoubtedly the strongest episode so far, Somnambulist utilizes Angelus' history, fuses it with standalone elements (a serial killer on the loose), and sets out to actually 'say' something. It's the first Angel episode which feels truly confident about what its doing, depicting the twisted relationship between a vampire and his sire, made even more complicated by the sire's soul. Angel and Penn had a ton of chemistry together, a pre-fame Jeremy Renner reliably disturbing as a vamp with even less conscience than normal, who sadistically enjoys the thrill of the chase and enjoys making a spectacle out of his killings.

Buffy: Doomed (4.11)

As an episode, this doesn't hold together well at all. It tries to do far too many different things with little cohesive link between them all, spinning off into directions which generally aren't that spectacular anyway. At its heart is the aftermath of Buffy and Riley's exposure to one another, Buffy unsure about starting a relationship with somebody who isn't entirely normal, and Riley uncomfortable with suddenly discovering his love interest puts herself in extremely dangerous situations on a daily basis. While this is a natural development for their courtship, their dialogue-heavy scenes together drag on for what seems like forever, talking in circles and generally getting nowhere. Of course, that was probably the point, but the dialogue felt unusually flat for this show.

The X-Files: Alpha (6.16)

This was a dog of an episode. I think this one should have been taken out and shot. This puppy needs to be put down. Ahem. Alpha is pretty terrible from just about every perspective. Casting, story, characterization, dialogue. It's all awful. At least it's bad from the get-go, though. So you don't spend fifteen minutes thinking "Hey! This could be great", only to be disappointed later on. Seriously, why would somebody open up a giant cage holding a mysterious animal that is clearly angry and twitchy? When will folks in sci-fi shows learn that cargo ships never carry anything remotely positive and non-evil?