Okay you guys, so, this week was pretty ok, not as good as I originally hoped, but still a solid week of my favorite TV addictions. Remember when I said that my expectations were raised to an unnatural level? Yeah, that boyish hope has been dashed a teensy bit, but some of the trust in these TV jerkbags remains. Let’s get right down to it, shall we?

How I Met Your Mother. That damn show. Last week was an affront to the viewing public, with far too much Clint screen time (I hope a bear ate him). This week’s installment was a bit better, but what should have been a very poignant bit of the story turned out to feel like filler schlock. In an entire episode flashback (come on, writers), we saw how Barney’s obsession with fulfilling challenges (most of them involving ladies) led him to meeting The Mother, and how said woman (name still unknown!) divined his implicit depression and convinced him to plan The Robin, the last play in the playbook. Even for HIMYM this was a stretch, but at least we got to see Cristin Milioti again. The real drawback of the episode? More Ted/Robin drama. Oh my god HIMYM we are completely over what seems to be a horribly invincible plotline.

At least New Girl was charmingly awesome. In failing to get her students a field trip to the beach, Jess brought her newfound activism on a Chinese restaurant handing out menus door to door (save the environment and the whales!). So, a lot of silliness in a Chinese restaurant. There was also a subplot about Coach (he’s still there) trying to train Nick (he’s still more of a dumpling guy) that converged with the whole Jess “I want to achieve my dreams” main storyline, but whatever because Schmidt had a private dance moment that made the episode. He’s the real star.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a bit size piece worse than the previous episode, most because it didn’t have anyone jumping out of a plane or having their brain explode. Coulson brought the gang back to The Hub, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters, and debacles over clearance levels got Skye all mad and Coulson unable to deal with his agency’s secrecy. It was a learning episode. Also, Simmons shot a dude with the night-night pistol and it was humorous. Joss Whedon likes to distract his viewers with cute character stuff while keeping all the big secrets to himself; luckily, his form is finally working and the show is coming into its own, so even though I still don’t expect complete greatness, the surprises Whedon has in store will be worth the wait.

And oh man I love Elementary. Rhys Ifans’ Mycroft is an amazing foil to Jonny Lee Miller’s Sherlock; watching their relationship is a welcome change to the expected controversy between Holmes and Watson we see every week. Also, not mentioning Mycroft and Joan’s affair was a strong move (we don’t care and neither should Sherlock). The mystery of the episode was pretty sweet too, involving a dying technology billionaire, the death of his mysterious daughter, and some medical terminology that ultimately let Watson do the heavy lifting in the case. All in all, a solid installment, but one that wouldn’t have been as incredible if not for the final scene, in which Mycroft, having tried to convince his brother to return to London using his father’s wrath, called another person, distinctly not his father, revealing the seed of a plan to extract Sherlock from New York City. Finally we get a continuing plotline in the second story (Moriarty better be even hotter now). Not my favorite week in television, but at least the more fantasy-based stuff has some good episodes on the way I believe.