FTW vs. WTF: The TV Week in Review (Dec. 7–13)

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And while you wait for us to process your order, here's what we liked and didn't like about the last seven days in television.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't finished watching this week's new episodes (of Sons of Anarchy, Nashville, S.H.I.E.L.D., etc.), we suggest that you hold off on reading this story until you do.

FTW:

Homeland turns in an all-time great episode, and is suddenly awesome again

The only thing we know for sure about Homeland is that nothing is for sure. Showtime's roller coaster of a drama hit yet another apex this week with a supremely thrilling and bloody hour that spotlighted Rupert Friend's heroic Peter Quinn (and Max!) and set the stage for the last two episodes of the season. Could it all end in disaster? Absolutely. But is the show must-watch television for the first time in two years? Oh yeah.

FTW:

The Librarians premieres with an excess of awesomeness

Based on the TV movies of the same name (minus the S), TNT's The Librarians debuted with style—srsly, Noah Wyle's wardrobe rivaled the Doctor's—and swag. Magic is real and nerds are the only hope we have. It's been done before but we're not sure it's ever been done this well; we're looking forward to good things!

FTW:

Obama issues The Decree on The Colbert Report

The sitting president took some time off from being the leader of the free world to stop by The Colbert Report while the show was in Washington D.C., and he kicked off his visit by taking over The Word. Except he changed its name to The Decree and proved why he's going to have a long career in comedy once his term as POTUS is over.

FTW:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reveals Skye's true identity

The series has been on something of a hot streak as of late, and it experienced yet another rebirth when Skye's true identity—the Marvel character Daisy Johnson—was revealed in the fall finale. But that's not all "What They Become" had to offer! The episode also brought the Inhumans to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is the first time the show has ever introduced something of this magnitude. We'll have to wait and see how all of this plays out—the Inhumans movie isn't scheduled for release until 2018, after all—but if you bailed on S.H.I.E.L.D. early due to its lack of superpowers, now might be a good time to catch up.

FTW:

Sons of Anarchy's series finale wasn't ALL silly

For all of our grumbles about the way Jax Teller and Sons of Anarchy went out, the series did get a few things right, like Wendy and Nero taking the boys to Norco to start over, Chibs moving to the head of the SAMCRO table, T.O. being voted in and breaking the color barrier, and of course, Tig freaking out one last time about dolls after a car chase through a factory full of the things.

FTW:

An epic blindside puts a little pep in Survivor's step

Former college football player Jon had been strutting around the beach like he owned the place, but his transparent attempts to procure goodwill by giving away rewards and chattering on and on about what he planned to do in the final tribal council finally caught up to him as the cunning Natalie wrangled everyone together to boot Mr. America with a delicious sucker punch. With Jon out of the game (with an idol no less), the second edition of Blood Vs. Water is now Natalie's game to win, and she probably deserves it.

FTW:

Arrow upholds tradition in its fall finale

"Remove your shirt. This is custom." The motto of The CW, everybody!

FTW:

American Horror Story proves that two heads are better than one

Freak Show is still far from perfect, but this week's double dose of two-headed scenes—Dandy's deranged puppet show and Bette and Dot's emotional heart-to-heart—was a season highlight.

FTW:

Black-ish gets racist even though black people can't be racist (according to Andre)

What happens when Andre campaigns to be the new company Santa Claus so he can break the color barrier, but the boss gives the job to a Mexican woman? RACISM! Hilarious racism. Also, the kids' autotuned Christmas carol was pretty adorable.

FTW:

Grimm finally invites Wu to the party

WU KNOWS ABOUT WESEN AND HE'S PISSED AND HE'S DRUNK AND MARYANN IS SO EXCITED.

FTWTF:

The Leo-related ups and downs of Chasing Life's Christmas special

The episode soothed our frayed nerves when it revealed what Leo said in that voicemail in the fall finale—he was going to go through with the surgery!—buuuuttttttt then proceeded to end on yet another cliffhanger when he flatlined on the operating table. Um, excuse us!? Our hearts are not strong enough for these extreme emotional variances, show.

FTWTF:

Nashville's fall finale literally had it all

This Christmas, Nashville was the gift that kept on giving. The fall finale gave us a successful wedding (JAVERY!!!!!!), a canceled wedding (Ruke), a possible death (Layla), a likely cancer diagnosis (WHYYYY DEACON WHYYY), a politician breaking up with a hooker (Teddy), a violent ex-husband (Sadie), and our personal favorite, the introduction of TV's patented finding-out-the-kid-your-deadbeat-ex-told-you-was-yours-is-actually-your-dead-brother's-because-your-ex-was-a-slut storyline (Gunnar). The only thing missing was another round of Juliette sneaking around all incognito on a Rascal scooter.

FTWTF:

Gracepoint ends in a familiar fashion, sort of

Despite attracting a generally indifferent response from viewers and critics, Fox's Gracepoint turned out to be a solid little show. Thursday's concluding episode of the Broadchurch remake hammered home the similar-yet-just-different-enough formula by altering the identity of Danny's killer, but keeping some of the context the same. Oddly enough, it set up would could be a pretty interesting and entirely divergent second season, but we all know that's very, very unlikely to happen.

WTF:

Discovery is even more of a joke after Eaten Alive

The heavily promoted special that teased viewers with a man in a snake-proof suit getting eaten alive by a giant anaconda ended up being a guy almost getting snacked on and then giving up. We get it. He didn't want to die. But if we've been promised that a dude will be EATEN ALIVE and it doesn't happen, well, duh, we're gonna feel robbed. But the biggest WTF of all is that, with Discovery's mermaid and Megalodon "documentaries" also staining its reputation, the network has gone from being a valuable edutainment channel to one of the most reviled networks on TV. Screw you, Discovery.

WTF:

Revenge kills off Daniel right after we start to like Daniel

Literally minutes after deciding that he was the master of his own destiny and that he wouldn't allow himself become his father, Daniel jumped in front of a couple bullets meant for Emily in Revenge's fall finale, saving her life but ending his own. The show had worked hard to redeem Daniel after he shot Emily during their honeymoon, and in the wake of him discovering her real identity, he even started to become a more interesting character as he finally saw who she really was. It's a shame that Daniel had to die while Charlotte was merely shipped off to rehab, even if he did go out a hero in the arms of someone he truly loved.

WTF:

The Newsroom implodes with an overwrought, offensive penultimate episode

Is it just us, or has the final season of The Newsroom continued to devolve with each episode? Sunday's effort has rightfully been skewered for its utterly lunkheaded and offensive "discussion" of rape victims, revenge, and the presumption of innocence, but the rest of the hour was nearly as bad for other reasons. Sorkin's bile for "citizen journalism" and "the internet" was hilariously apparent and privileged, to the point where a main character dropped dead in the middle of a debate about ethics.

WTF:

The Pretty Little Liars holiday special makes things awkward

For the first time in the show's history, Pretty Little Liars aired a Christmas episode rather than its usual Halloween offering, and the show decided to pack in four years' worth of yuletide ideas into a single episode: snowy vistas, A Christmas Carol-style ghosts (we miss you, Mona), and even a winter-themed masquerade ball. But what really stuck with us was the bit of fanservice at the end, when all the Significant Others (Caleb, Toby, Ezra, and Paige) decided to make a grand holiday gesture by stripping down to furry Santa boxers and nothing else (Paige wore a white tank top because modesty) and standing awkwardly on the Hastings' staircase. So the Liars were sitting there in their sweats, staring at their bare-chested English teacher and their best friends' boyfriends and girlfriend. Just watching them stand around half-naked. And then in the next scene, they were all fully clothed and making Christmas dinner, leaving us to wonder what happened in between. Did each couple retire to a separate boudoir? Did the Liars send the SOs back upstairs to change, laughing at their boldness? Is the Hastings' living room forever unclean? We'll never know. Also, Ezra really needs to find some friends his own age.

WTF:

Jax ruins the life of an innocent truck driver

Sons of Anarchy's series finale gave Jax Teller an outlaw's ending when he led the cops on a major chase and willingly slammed straight into an oncoming big rig driven by Michael Chiklis. Yes, of course we understand the parallels between Jax's death and his father's, but why did he have to traumatize an innocent guy who had nothing to do with anything? Now he has to live with the crunch of Jax's bones echoing through his head for the rest of his life. Poor Vic Mackey.

What's on YOUR list of TV loves and hates this week? The just-released SAG Awards and Golden Globes nominations? [Insert Sitcom Title Here]'s Christmas episode? The fall finales we didn't mention above? Share your own FTWs and WTFs in the comments!