Review: O-Mouth to Smoke Alarm Bundle (Graceland)

All my shipping thoughts have been taken out of my reviews. ;)

O-Mouth (Aired July 11th)
Shhh, let's pretend I remember everything about this episode...

But seriously, I think this was the episode when Mike starts his spiral toward recklessness (sorry if that's an unpopular opinion, but Mike is one of my least favorite characters on this show). Also, Abby. Ugh. Anyway, the Briggs, Charlie, and Whistler scenes were really great. They were what stood out in this episode. There's so much that I love about Charlie, and I loved seeing her so vulnerable at the end of the episode.
(Also, the whole Briggs/Charlie almost-sex scene was quite entertaining to say the least, especially since they tricked Johnny.)

Hair of the Dog (Aired July 18th)
If I ever talk about this episode, the first thing I'll say that Vanessa and Manny deserve ALL THE AWARDS for their performance in this episode. Honestly, I think that's why I loved the episode so much. Again, seeing Charlie so vulnerable was not only important but just so well done. Seeing the repercussions of everything that happened near the end of O-Mouth was so crucial and was handled perfectly (it also set up the rest of the season so well). I think it was Vanessa at her finest, so to speak. And then the way she interacts with Johnny? *dies of perfection* Honestly, that's what I remember most from this episode. It totally outshined the Mike and/or Bello scenes. (And Abby is still just such an ugh character.) Finally, the Mike and Johnny scene later in the episode is also a highlight.

This was one of my personal favorites from S1 (also the one I consider the best episode)

Goodbye High (Aired July 25th)
You know who stood out in this episode? JAKES. And I am so glad that he had this episode to shine. This revealed so much about him and about the person that he is. His back-story broke my heart, but I could imagine it being exactly like that. And then the way he uses his experience to give Mike advice? Perfect. I really wish Jakes was a more prominent person on the show, but this made up for some of it. As for the rest of the episode? A lot of the same things I had to say for the previous two. Mike continues to spiral towards recklessness (sorry not sorry), and Abby is still just as bland and ugh (maybe I'll go into this one day, as well as why even though I LOVE Graceland, after the initial love of it wore away, there are so many flaws that are hard to see past at times).

Bagman (Aired August 8th)
I think this is where the true downward spiral began head-on for this show. I already wasn't a fan of Briggs and Mike. After this episode in particular (although it started in the previous few episodes), I was left really not liking either of them. There are times, of course, when something makes me hate them a bit less, but gahh! Also, I'm so glad Abby's FINALLY gone. And I think this is the turning point episode for Charlie. For anyone that follows the information about Graceland, you'll have some idea about what's in store for Charlie in the finale, and I think this is where they truly set it up (although the whole heroin thing before was part of it).
All in all, this didn't leave a big impression on me other than that I really don't like Briggs anymore.

Smoke Alarm (Aired August 15th)
*cries over this episode*
With the exception of a few important and well done scenes, this episode was just so lacking, particularly given everything that led up to it. It wasn't boring per say, but it was so predictable. This is truly the weakest episode of the season so far, at least in my opinion. Yeah, the end was of course another cliffhanger, but I didn't think it had the same effect as the previous ones (more on the cliffhangers in some other post). I still love all the Charlie and Johnny scenes, but this episode was just not as well done as the others were. I don't think it was because of the writing or anything but more because of the directions the characters were already headed towards and the plot and just how disappointing and empty it felt after all the episodes before it.