It finally happened, Internet friends! All my favorite television programs back on the air, and almost all good episodes! As always, I have some gripes, but after a long winter of incomplete television-viewing weeks, last week was a breath of a fruitful Spring programming schedules. Let’s dive in, shall we?

How I Met Your Mother was, as usual, decent enough, but this time a bit sloppy. In last week’s installment, we zoomed forward to the future in which The Mother and Ted were back at the Inn telling each other stories. The Mother realized she’d heard all Ted’s stories, and for some reason it was epically sad for them (the writing was a bit forced, dramatically). The flashbacks, however, were funny. Lily and Robin were at odds about how chill Robin was mere hours before her wedding, we finally met the Marshall equivalent in The Wedding Bride (Narshall?), and Barney obsessed over which suit to wear for the wedding. Again, some bits were humorous, but overall the execution was sloppy. And then Robin’s mother showed up? A weird reveal for a kinda throwaway episode.

In last week’s New Girl, Abby Day continued to wreak havoc, this time on Nick and Jess’ relationship. Jess witnessed Abby all over Schmidt, and that made her question her and Nick’s connection. Logical move? They moved in together (still in the loft), and that drove the two crazy (predictably). Of course, there were some awesome moments, like the revelation of Nick’s pajama choice (dude has a “long shirt”), and Schmidt renting Abby a storefront for very, very questionable and dangerous homemade jewelry. Coach has become a very sassy girlfriend to Cece, and that was uncomfortable but comic to watch. The finale to the Abby arc, though, was probably the weakest of the three episodes featuring Jess’ insane older sister. Still a solid installment, but the previous two were tighter written and more fun.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was actually pretty good, even with my crazy high expectations. Last week, Coulson and his team had to deal with a dying Skye and a captive Ian Quinn (mad drama). So, logically, they went on a quest to uncover more about Coulson’s revival, hoping to utilize the same technology and pharmacology on Skye. On the way, a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent appeared to help, and the group infiltrated the secret base in which Coulson got his mind all meddled with. Toward the end of the episode, Coulson caught site of the word T.A.H.I.T.I. and a bunch of tubes that led to half a carcass of a scary blue dude (maybe a Frost Giant? No idea). So, yeah, a fast-paced, action-packed episode with of course more mysteries than clues. And a preview to this week’s installment, a battle between the fierce ladies of Asgard. Bravo, Whedon, for fulfilling my expectations and promising even more.

Community was practically written for me. Last week, an app developer visited Greendale to beta test Meowmeowbeenz, a social rating app. Naturally, the campus turned into a Metropolis-esque, dystopian nightmare in which the highly ranked live lavishly (as permitted by on-campus living) and the lower ranked are destined for grey jumpsuits and menial sadness. We finally got to see Shirley and Jeff go head to head in a battle of pure manipulation and Britta lead a finally successful revolt against the system (until school hours ended). A hilarious and socially conscious lampoon-fest, last week’s Community was wildly impressive and featured some awesome cameos, including Tim and Eric (from Tim and Eric Awesome Show Good Job!). Dan Harmon continues to set himself incredibly high standards for the writing of Community, and with each episode I am more and more giddy that he is back at the wheel. I rate this episode five Meowmeowbeenz!

To finish off the week, Elementary (top image) was pretty ok. In the episode, Sherlock and Joan had to get to the bottom of a kidnapping/framing, complete with a scientific conundrum surrounding the impossibility of identical ears (who knew a box of severed ears could be used that well?). At the same time, Lestrade began to bottom out, and tried to get back on his detecting feet by catching a mugger (small potatoes, but so is Lestrade, kinda). All in all, a solid installment, the best moments being between Joan and Lestrade–Joan got to show off her badass side to get rid of Sherlock’s first apprentice. At this juncture, I’d really like to start seeing more from this show, as I’ve come to notice that really, really dramatic awesomeness only really occurs with Jamie Moriarty or cases with high body counts. It’s time Elementary picked up narrative momentum and the characters got put back in real danger.

Without a doubt, a great week of television. Here’s to this current week. Whedon, you have some explaining to do.