Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 11 "The Gloves Come Off"

Tom's Take:

 This was an amazing episode of Survivor. There were moves, counter moves, and I ultimately didn't know who was going to be eliminated when we made our way to the final Tribal Council.

Five Drinks Into TV: How I Met Your Mother Final Season Episode 11 "Bedtime Stories"

Tom's Take:

I ended up kind of liking this episode, but it was fairly mediocre overall. I guess the rhyming shtick was fine? It was cute I guess. Not amazing, but it was cute. And it was nice to get some flashbacks.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 10 "The Big Bad Wolf"

Tom's Take:

 So does that make Tyson, Rose Tyler?

What a bizarre episode. Ciera voted out her Mom. Wow. Just wow. It wasn't a good game move, but I can see why she did it. She wants to solidify her role in the final five alliance, and set the stage for her to make it to the end, although I don't think she'll win. I think she'll be there though.

Five Drinks Into TV: How I Met Your Mother Final Season Episode 10 "Mom and Dad"

Tom's Take:

Not a terrible episode, there were two good jokes, but overall I'm not really digging where How I Met Your Mother is right now. I just think we need more momentum for the story to give this season some edge and drive.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 9 "My Brother's Keeper"

Tom's Take:

A by the numbers episode, but thankfully the producers combined both eliminations into one episode. And it was a fun one. The alliance stayed strong although it also showed cracks, and it is clear that Monica Culpepper is not a very good player.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: How I Met Your Mother Final Season Episode 9 "Platonish"

Tom's Review:

Here's our flashback episode just as I predicted. With very little time spent in the present, this one is all about the love triangle of Ted, Robin, and Barney and how Ted missed his chance where he could have hooked up with Robin. Instead he let Barney seize his thunder.

Oh an also we learned that Barney has met the Mother in the past. Which was cool, and I was happy to see. I hope they hang out more in the present, although I no longer thing Barney will be the character who spends the most time with her.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 8 "Skin of My Teeth"

Tom's Take:

What a great merge. Even though this Tribal Council's result was completely predictable, I feel like we're in for a great game. There are so many different factions brewing, and in this episode they came together to overthrow the King in Aras and break apart the couple's alliance. Now the question is how this "alliance" will break apart going forward.

Five Drinks Into TV: How I Met Your Mother Final Season Episode 8 "The Lighthouse"

Tom's Take

In what was otherwise a subpar episode, "The Lighthouse" delivered a fastforward that was truly wonderful. We got to see Ted propose to the mother!

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 7 "Swoop In For the Kill"

Tom's Take:

Another fun episode that served as great set up for next week where we'll see a merge, and then the war between Tyson's Five and the Aras-Tina-Katie-Vytas foursome. The key players going forward in this merge will be Monica and whoever comes back from Redemption Island in determining how this will all shake out.

Five Drinks Into TV: How I Met Your Mother Final Season Episode 7 "No Questions Asked"

Tom's Take:

A solid episode that finally brought us to the Marshall and Lily conflict, although I am shocked that Marshall still hasn't arrived at the hotel.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 6 "One-Man Wrecking Ball"

Tom's Take:

An amazing episode

Five Drinks Into TV: How I Met Your Mother Final Season Episode 6 "Knight Vision"

Tom's Take:

Another pretty forgettable episode.  The whole episode was built on an Indiana Jones reference, which I didn't find all that funny. I did enjoy some of Ted with the sad girl, and Robin and Barney, but a lot of it fell flat.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 5 "The Dead Can Still Talk"

Tom's Take:

Not a great episode, although I'm glad Galang finally lost a challenge, so we could see what was going on in the tribe. Meanwhile Tadhana had an uplifting episode, as each of the Tadhana survivors is now a fairly well established character that we can root for going forward.

Five Drinks Into TV: The Final Season of How I Met Your Mother Episode 5 "The Poker Game"

Tom's Take:

The fifth episode of the final season of How I Met Your Mother was a good one. It was funny and also had some genuine heart, as Robin is annoyed by Barney seemingly more loyal to his family than to her. That's a real issue and it was handled well. Meanwhile Ted, Lily, and Marshall had a great sideplot. Overall, just a really great episode.

Five Drinks Into TV: You should check out House of Cards

Tom's Take:

Another great series, that has finally converted me to the ways of Netflix. I think it started stronger than it ended to be honest, but I'm still really into this show and looking forward to a season two.

Although don't watch this series if you're on a diet. You will want to eat ribs.

If you're into good acting, politics, intrigue, or a dark anti-hero, then you should check out House of Cards.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 4 "One Armed Dude and Three Moms"

Tom's Take:

Wow. Another great tribal council after Tadhana loses yet another challenge, and the Locker Room Alliance fell apart this episode. It was really incredible to watch, and I think Caleb made the right move by taking out Brad who was considering blindsiding him already.

Five Drinks Into TV: How I Met Your Mother The Final Season Episode 4 "Broken Code"

Tom's Take:

Huh. So Barney and Ted confronted Ted's feelings for Robin in what turned out to be another pretty forgettable episode. I was kind of disappointed by it, especially since the Ted/Barney confrontation was something I thought would be a major plot point this season, and instead it sort of dropped the ball.

Five Drinks Into Reality TV: Survivor Season 27 Episode 3 "Opening Pandora's Box"

Tom's Take:

Our third episode of Blood vs. Water was a good one. The Locker Room Alliance turned on each other! Brad got called out! Colton quit! And once again the Blood twist played out with great drama as the brothers faced off in a physical showdown with quite a bit of history behind it. And is it just me or, did Vytas get a super sympathetic edit from this? He's playing a good game, and he's getting an awesome edit. I'm feeling more and confident in my new winner pick.

Five Drinks Into TV: The Americans Premiere Season Review

Tom's Take:

So obviously I'm way late to this party, but I just got caught up on the first season of The Americans, and wow do we have a winner. This clever spy thriller has an amazing premise. The leads are Soviet Spies. And they're sympathetic. Even more surprising is the reveal that this show isn't really a spy thriller at all but rather a meditation on marriage, and a will they/won't they type love story between our two leads, despite the fact that they're already married. Phillip and Elizabeth  Jennings, or actually Mishca and Nadezhda, are an interesting couple that really intrigued me and kept me coming back all season long to see what would happen with them even when the spy thriller parts of the show fell short for me. I highly recommend everyone check this series out.

Five Drinks Into TV: How I Met Your Mother Final Season Episode 3 "Last Time In New York"

Tom's Take:

Our third episode of How I Met Your Mother was pleasant but ultimately a pretty forgettable episode. So what worked, and what seemed like it was trying too hard?