With a Walking Dead episode titled “Four Walls and a Roof,” you have to wonder how long it will take before these four walls and a roof come crashing down on our survivors. With zombies.

But that scene happened last season, and this episode, one that I argue is as quietly great as any in the series, has more on its mind than zombies crashing in from the roof.

We begin with Gareth and his cannibal cohorts munching on Bob’s leg, but the scene is cleverly juxtaposed against a snarling pack of zombies just outside. Separated only by a thin plate of glass, Gareth gazes at the zombies as he chats with his food. The biggest difference between Gareth and his cannibals and the zombies is that Gareth can pontificate and philosophize. Zombies can only snarl.

“I’m being a human being here,” Gareth says to Bob. “I’m talking to you.”

That is, of course, before Bob so wonderfully reveals to his captors that, much as the Internet correctly guessed last week, he’d been bitten by a zombie in last week’s food bank raid. As he breaks down into gleeful mania, Bob keeps repeating “TAINTED MEAT! TAINTED MEAT!” Now, the next question (which the cannibals rightly pose) is what happens when a non-zombie eats flesh tainted by a zombie bite. Turns out, the show doesn’t give us a chance to find out.

Moving back to the church, we are presented with a moment of quiet. One of the nicer elements of this episode is the luscious cinematography offered in this scene. Backlit through stained glass windows and internally lit with candlelight, Rick’s interrogation of Gabriel and his past transgressions provided for a beautiful and harrowing moment. We often talk about the makeup and special effects of the show (which are obviously top notch), but I’d like to call out the camerawork too. The scene was a powerful one as Gabriel reveals through tears how he locked out his congregation at night, basically sentencing them to death at the hands of the zombies.

It is abruptly ended as the cannibals deposit Bob at the door of the church, attracting a handful of zombies. After dragging him into the church, the crew learns of Gareth’s actions and of Bob’s ultimate fate. Frustrated with inaction, Abraham demands they start working toward Washington, D.C., as he still intends on seeing Eugene work his mysterious cure. Because splitting up in The Walking Dead really works out for all, right?

Glenn, lately evolving into a real voice of reason, intervenes and prevails with logic, effectively buying 12 hours before Abraham splits the group.

As Bob slowly dies on a rectory sofa, beast mode Rick rouses the able-bodied survivors to stage an attack on Gareth’s camp. This scene, like much in the series, is balanced with a touching exchange between Sasha and Tyreese over forgiveness and revenge. Tyreese, tired of the never-ending violence, remains behind and is tasked by Sasha with stabbing Bob in the head when he dies.

Unfortunately for the peace-seeking Tyreese, Gareth and crew have decided to take the fight to the church just after Rick and crew have embarked on the school. This irony is amusingly visually conveyed by a long take held on the St. Sarah’s Episcopal Church sign with Rick and company exiting to the left and Gareth’s crowed entering from the right. The episode’s direction is particularly great for the series, really focusing on the art of filmmaking and suspense building over zombie gore.

After Judith’s cries reveal the small band of survivor’s location within the church, Rick and team, hidden in the shadows of the church, fire upon Gareth and the cannibals (great name for a rock band, by the way), killing a few and hitting Gareth in the hand. Gareth launches into something of a plea for his life, simultaneously attempting to justify his cannibalism and begging for his life. Rick’s having none of it and cuts Gareth down with a machete to the head. Glenn, Maggie, and Tyreese look on, horrified at the brutality Rick and Abraham employ. Michonne, however, has a moment after regaining her stolen sword.

Gabriel, rather innocently and naively, appears broken, telling Maggie and Glenn “This is the Lord’s house. Not just four walls and a roof.” It brings to the front an interesting dichotomy that the series visits every so often: should humans continue to put time and emotional investment into the relics of the now-gone world – in this case, faith and religion?

Bob and Sasha have one last touching moment where they discuss the good that comes from all of the bad surrounding them. The question, posed by Sasha, is never answered as Bob dies, and Tyreese stabs him in the head with as much compassion as one can muster in such situations. Side note, it’s a nice touch adding the wood carving of the Last Supper over Bob’s deathbed.

Finally, since Daryl and Carol took off last episode to find Beth, the survivors split up again, half the team taking the church bus to Washington, D.C., and the other half, including Rick, remaining behind. To pass the time (and to maintain sanity by continuing rituals of the old world), Tyreese and Rick dig graves for the recently dead. Later that same night, Gabriel and Michonne share a moment in the moonlight as he reveals how plagued he continues to be by the cries of those he locked out of the church. When Michonne confesses that the sounds won’t ever stop, they are started by a sound in the woods: Daryl returning to the church followed by an unseen entity. The next episode appears dedicated to the mystery of Beth’s supposed kidnapping, so it’s unknown as to who has followed Daryl to the church.

While all Walking Dead episodes are at least adequately directed, it’s rare that I finish one admiring the behind the camera work, but this episode delivered on literally every front. Given the subject matter will effectively keep the series out of the running for any major Emmy awards, those of us who are fans must continue to sing the praises of this quietly great show.

Well, it’s as quietly great as any show that sees nearly 20 million viewers each week can be. The rewards here are ratings and money, but it does deserve more legitimacy than it’s received.

I hope there’s a very satisfying payoff to the “Obelisk” MacGuffin that’s been driving the plot for the first few episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season two because I gotta tell you: it’s beginning to wear on me pretty fast.

I understand that HYDRA division leader Daniel Whitehall wants to use the Obelisk’s power and weaponize it for some nefarious reason. I also understand that S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to keep it out of their hands, natch. However, the biggest question at hand revolves around the writers’ expectations of the audience’s patience. We only know that the Obelisk causes death to anyone not worthy of wielding it (kind of a murderous Mjolnir), and it contains the same strange alien language that Agents Garrett and Coulson have carved into a bizarre stretch of material. Also, even though it’s 7-plus months away, I have to assume that the writers would conclude this plot in time to do a crossover event that will lead up to Avengers: Age of Ultron in May 2015.

I think the answer is to have Raina (Ruth Negga) join the fray and make demands to Coulson. In case you’ve forgotten, Agent Simmons infiltrated HYDRA by order of the Director in Episode 3. Her cover is now at risk because Raina tipped off HYDRA that they have a mole in their midst. Coulson is faced with an ultimatum: hand over Skye to Raina, or she will alert HYDRA of Simmons’s presence in the organization.

Coulson’s choice and its ramifications were hands down the best part of the episode, partly due to Coulson’s coolness under pressure and partly due to the HYDRA lab escape sequence. I should also mention that Adrianne Palicki, best known for her infamous short-lived turn as Wonder Woman in the NBC pilot that never made it to air, plays Bobbi Morse (aka Mockingbird in the comics). She makes an excellent ace in the hole for Coulson if Simmons’s identity was ever compromised as she is posing as a ruthless HYDRA interrogator.

The other major plot point of the episode revolved around sorting out the mystery of Skye (Chloe Bennet). Not only did we discover Skye wasn’t her real name, but we were finally given a few answers about her true parentage. However, the revelations came just before her unnamed father (Kyle MacLachlan) skips town, leaving a bloody mess of two bodies with slit throats in his wake. He’s a “Doctor” of sorts, more black market underground and less legal practice. He’s using Raina to help track down his daughter in exchange for an unveiling of the secrets in the “Obelisk”.

This big lead for Skye ends up being a dead end, leaving her with only the knowledge that her father is a ruthless murderer. Yawn. Knowing the creators, there has to be more to the “Doctor.” I hope. They’ve done something similar before with the secrets of Coulson’s resurrection last season, and now they’re repeating the same shtick again here. I don’t have a problem with that, but I’d prefer the episode serve as a stand-alone entity rather than banking on future revelations, particularly when last week’s episode was the most fun to date.

Despite giving Negga more to do in this episode and the well choreographed escape sequence, this week’s episode just feels very much of a same song and dance. We’ve become all too accustomed to the mysteries, wrapped in enigmas, shrouded in secrets. This episode was by no means bad, but at this point we should be getting some hints as to what the “Obelisk” is, its connection with the mysterious alien handwriting, and Skye’s place in all of this. Instead, we’re given the same race against time narrative and dangling plot threads that frustrate more than they tantalize.

Jim Carrey returned to Saturday Night Live for the third time in his career to plug Dumb and Dumber To, the long-delayed sequel to 1994’s Dumb and Dumber. As an added bonus, he’s hosting the Halloween show, which has historically produced one of SNL’s better shows of the season.

However, last night’s outing was something of a mixed bag: the first half-hour generally a laugh-free zone, but the post-Weekend Update activity skyrocketing in terms of inspired comic mania.

Carrey’s opening monologue featured him dressed in costume as Helvis, Elvis in Hell. He broke out into an Elvis-tinged song that felt as out of place and, frankly, as out of time as a sequel to a 20-year-old movie that no one wanted.

But I digress…

Let me not bury the lead any further: the most accomplished sketch of the night came later in the show in that more active post-Weekend Update zone. In Halloween Party, Jim Carrey and Kate McKinnon both came to an office Halloween costume party dressed as the child dancer from Sia’s Chandelier video (look it up online before watching their take as it will enhance your appreciation). I was transfixed as the skit provided the loony perfection I’d hoped would fill this episode. Carrey and McKinnon leaped and twirled through the studio into the audience and across sets. This inspired madness, I suspect, will trend on Twitter and will be prominently featured in all recaps. It was the highlight of the night, hands down.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/halloween-party/2822131?onid=148621#vc148621=2

While that was the best of the night, it was hardly representative of the entire show. The cold open was, of course, a political sketch and, of course, DOA. This time, Jay Pharoah’s Obama designated an Ebola czar who had zero credentials other than serving under Vice President Joe Biden where he daily dealt with “foot in mouth disease.” I struggle with their political work as it hits as broadly and obviously as possible. This was no different.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/ebola-czar-cold-open/2822118?onid=148621#vc148621=1

The other great segment of the evening was a running joke. Jim Carrey took on Matthew McConaughey and his pointless and meandering Lincoln ads (that personally drive me insane). The segments were a spot-on capturing of the real ad’s pretentious dialogue and self-importance. The fake commercial recurred throughout the night, eventually with children in the backseat.

“You’re going five miles an hour,” a little girl says. “Not bad for a Lincoln,” McConaughey/Carrey replies.

Also funny was an Allstate variation where McConaughey/Carrey struck the Allstate insurance salesman while pontificating with a tie tied around his head.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/lincoln-ad/2822120?onid=148621#vc148621=1

In Carrey Family Reunion, Jim Carrey played himself attending a family reunion. Various cast members portrayed Carrey family members and captured Carrey’s biggest quirks and moments in film and television. Naturally, Taran Killam nailed it, as one would expect, but the whole skit seemed vaguely pointless – as if it only existed to remind everyone how funny we all thought Jim Carrey was long ago. One highlight: Jeff Daniels showed up in Dumb and Dumber garb, and I always welcome Bridges when he’s not appearing in The Newsroom.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/carrey-family-reunion/2822121?onid=148621#vc148621=1

Graveyard Song was a musical graveyard review interrupted by Paul and Phil, two dead guys completely void of all musical talent, played by Carrey and Killam. This skit was relatively brief, and its complete stupidity almost won me laugh. It’s the rare SNL skit where dragging the joke out might have elicited a few more laughs than the abbreviated version that aired.

The least said about the Weekend Update segment the best. The one bright spot was Vanessa Bayer, cutting through the pea-soup fog of empty-headed banality generated by co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che. She was at the desk to recap this season’s crop of television romantic comedies but ultimately fully represented all romantic comedy tropes as she professed her love for Michael Che. She was closely followed by Bobby Moynihan’s “Drunk Uncle” character, which a lot of people love.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-romantic-comedy-expert/2822126?onid=148621#vc148621=2

Cecily Strong headlined Secret Billionaire, a reality dating show parody where her goal was strictly to marry a wealthy man. Jim Carrey played Abbot, an elderly head of the Illuminati with a robot hand strong enough for crushing and soft enough for manual pleasure. This skit won me over thanks to Carrey’s bizarre monologues. This oddity was more of what I expected from Carrey given his penchant for “end of the show” humor.

I did find Ghost Chasers, a quick bit where Taran Killam plays head ghost researcher in an exploration of a potentially haunted house, to be somewhat daringly funny. The clever skit featured the newest permanent cast member Leslie Jones as skeptic Ronda Banks, an African-American woman afraid of everything. The writers and actors were brave enough to use African-American stereotypes as the source of humor. This one definitely needed to be longer.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/ghost-chasers/2822129?onid=148621#vc148621=1

There was also a Walking Dead-ish skit about a group of survivors ten days after the zombie apocalypse, but it didn’t amount to much given the ocean of possibilities for it. Carrey held his zombie-d son (Pete Davidson) on a leash and tried to continue nurturing him as he would a live child.

We closed with Geoff’s Halloween Emporium, a Cecily Strong and Vanessa Bayer-led commercial for the title store – the owner of which was taken over by a demon. A typical gag involved Carrey, as the owner, projectile vomiting over the women as they advertise their line of sexy Hunger Games costumes.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/geoffs-halloween-emporium/2822133?onid=148621#vc148621=2

I enjoyed seeing more of the talented women of SNL in this last skit, but I have to ask one final question: what did Aidy Bryant do to the writers or, more importantly, Lorne Michaels? Yet again, she was barely present in the show, and it’s weaker for it.

Can someone remind me of the line that ended last week’s episode of How to Get Away with Murder? Oh, that’s right. “What’s your penis doing on a dead girl’s phone” is the line that rocked ABC’s Thursday night TGIT lineup, and it’s just the kind of line to set up the emotional fight between a married couple as well as raise the emotions for the rest of the action.

This week’s episode begins with a fight. Anna confronts Sam about his dong appearing on Lila Stanguard’s phone, and the two of them have an argument that can only solidify Viola Davis as an Emmy Award frontrunner.  Anna’s current case (involving a teenager shooting his abusive cop father) also revolves around the notion that picking a jury is based on emotions. Selecting the members of a jury is a scientific process it seems. Am I the only one who was kind of hoping for Liz Lemon to pop up in her Princess Leia costume?

As with earlier episodes, How to Get Away focuses on one of Annalise’s four main law students/potential murder suspects. Connor got to get it on to get some information, Michaela’s relationship with her fiancé was tested, and Wes’ relationship with Rebecca seems to develop with each passing entry. Laurel is the focus this week, and she doesn’t seem to care if her fellow students like her or not. Anna’s earlier comment that “it’s the quiet ones you have to look out for” hangs over this week’s episode, and she admits to Wes, Connor, and Michaela that she and Frank did sleep together. Screw the questions about Frank and Laurel’s escapades. My biggest question is why Laurel has a shirtless photo of Frank as his contact card?

Fighting against the police proves to be difficult with Anna’s latest case. Ryan (who is sporting some serious late 90’s Erik von Detten hair) shoots his cop father after witnessing years of abuse towards his mother, and Keating & Associates manages to maneuver around all of the prosecution’s attempts to make Ryan look like a sociopath. Laurel basically breaks the law by informing one of the jurors of jury nullification, and the case is declared a mistrial. Connor also supplies us with our weekly gay content by proving a juror on Humpr (seriously…) is biased towards Ryan’s case. Seriously, guys. I feel like I am learning a lot about law and order over here!

Nate admits to Anna that he lied about Sam’s whereabouts, and it’s revealed that he was fired when Bonnie went to grab Rebecca’s filmed confession. Anna sets up a fake psychological test between Sam and Rebecca to see if she knows anything about the affair between Lila and Sam. “She called him Mr. Darcy, like every other pathetic girl obsessed with Jane Austen,” she tells him. Sam seems to be in the clear, but Anna still doesn’t trust him. Meanwhile, we see the initial spark between Frank and Laurel, but then she goes back to his apartment and asks if she can definitely trust him. When he confirms this, she pulls the idol out of her bag…how many effing people know about this now?!??!

It doesn’t take long after for this relatively twistless episode to leave us wanting more. Wes discovers Rebecca’s apartment empty, but when he asks why she skipped bail, she tells him to look at the wallpaper in Anna’s office bathroom. The same wallpaper in Sam’s dick picture was taken in the same bathroom Rebecca used after her psych evaluation, and Wes is now aware that Sam might be involved with Lila’s murder.

Compared to last week’s penis-tastic episode, this was rather tame, but it did introduce us to a new game of Motive, Motive, Who’s Got the Motive? Anna discovers just how involved Sam was with Lila, and Bonnie overhears Sam and Anna’s fight and has a nice, resentful look on her face…but then who delivered the final blow to Sam?

I literally knew nothing about Showtime’s new drama The Affair going into it. In fact, if you are even slightly inclined to watch the drama, then stop reading this quick hit immediately and come back when you’re done. I’ll be waiting…

The Affair is a flat-out excellent drama. Save for its central conceit of telling the same story through the conflicting male and female perspectives, the show is remarkably simple and straightforward. It’s the most difficult kind of drama to pull off – a human drama without flash or fireworks… yet. It’s so accomplished, in fact, that I spent an hour scouring the Internet looking for the British show upon which it had to be based.

Not so, folks. This 10-episode series is a true American original about adults in adult relationships. It’s kind of a miracle that way.

The Affair stars Dominic West (The Wire, Burton & Taylor) and Ruth Wilson (Saving Mr. Banks, The Lone Ranger) as a couple entangled in an extramarital relationship: he, the consummate family man and writer; she, a waitress struggling to overcome the recent death of her young child. We gradually discover that they are retelling their own version of the affair to a police detective during the investigation of a crime that has yet to reveal itself.

It’s this dual perspective that makes the series so intoxicating.

I’m hopelessly hooked watching each scene looking for the conflicting evidence in the two stories. I’m obsessing about things like how many jars of jam a man bought at a farmer’s market. Much like the current film The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, the devil is completely in the details. The viewer starts to evolve into a form of an armchair detective, putting together the clues that hopefully reveal the truth.

The direction and writing are both top-notch and, as I’ve mentioned, more elegant for their simplicity and straightforwardness. It’s the acting that really delivers the emotional impact of the story. The roles feel lived in and performed in a way only a season theater crew could. It helps that these aren’t name actors. I’ve seen them before in various television shows and films, but they don’t bring the kind of dramatic baggage that others may have to the roles.

West is uniformly solid in the role of the cheating husband, but from the two episodes I’ve seen, he hasn’t really been given as much meat to work with as Wilson. Her character varies more between the two perspectives, and, thus, she has the harder task. In “his” version, she is a seductive temptress (of course), carefree with her body and actions. In “her” version, she is a damaged soul: a woman wrecked by the death of her child and its impact on her failing marriage. ER vet Maura Tierney is also a standout as West’s wife.

So far, I love this show. I find myself reveling in the microscopic details and shifting vantage points. I love how the show portrays Wilson in such dramatically different lights: smoking pot and stripping in front of a mirror in one scene to making fresh-squeezed orange juice and riding her bicycle against a glowing sunrise in the other. The unknown truth behind the story keeps me very much enthralled, and, initially, I would also compare it to another favorite of mine: the film version of Gone Girl. That’s not giving anything away. It’s just an observation.

You can make up your own mind. Let me know when you do.

The Affair currently airs Sundays at 10pm EST on Showtime. The pilot episode is available via Showtime’s website and YouTube.

I love The Simpsons. I grew up with it. It’s a part of my DNA. Yet, much like an alcoholic family member, I avoided it when it fell on hard times. Granted, in its 26^th season, it has managed to reinvent itself for a new generation of Homerites. It has shifted its sense of humor to adapt to the current kid’s market, making it vital to today’s younger audience but alienating those, like me, who have quoted it nearly daily for the last 20-plus years.

When I heard that the show is celebrating its 25^th entry in the Treehouse of Horror series, I had to catch up just to get a sense of where it stood in comparison to the favorites from my childhood. Here’s my quick take on the episode’s vignettes.

School is Hell

Bart is sentenced to yet another detention where he discovers a desk filled covered with ancient text. Thanks to Lisa’s iRunes iPad app, the kids translate the text that instantly condemns them to Hell, which, ironically, looks just like a slightly more demonic version of Springfield elementary. The chief humor of this skit comes from the clever way this elementary school Hell so closely mirrors Springfield elementary with one major exception: Bart is the best student in the class, naturally. After returning to Earth through a portal in Mr. Burns’s office, Bart convinces his parents to enroll him in this Hell version of school where he makes straight A’s for the first time in his life. My favorite gag: the bumper sticker reading “My child is an honor student in Hell.” Classic material full of ingenious sight gags and a few memorable quotes here and there.

A Clockwork Yellow

This skit is obviously a movie parody of Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange starring Moe in the Roddy McDowell role. It started fairly weak until it evolved into a parody of several Kubrick’s films from Eyes Wide Shut to Barry Lyndon. This is catnip for Kubrick lovers. For me, it was mildly amusing, although the gags directly related to Eyes Wide Shut were spot-on and inspired.

The Others

The Simpsons home is haunted by old-school animation Simpsons. For various reasons, the live Simpsons family kill themselves to live with their ghost counterparts. Highlight: Groundskeeper Willie hauls the Simpsons kids’ bodies away saying “Thank you! Willie’s got stew for the winter!” Bonus: the long departed Dr. Marvin Monroe makes a return. The skit proved to be rather average, getting a lot of mileage out of the various versions of the Simpsons. One great sight gag: a “minionized’ version.