The tough thing about the series finale of Lucifer is that we hate it, but we don't hate it. We leave our celestial characters, for the most part, grown and changed in an organic and positive way. Maze is finally her own person, Amenadiel has balanced humanity and divinity, Lucifer has devoted himself to helping others. Our humans are doing ok too. The bones are there, but the mechanism to get there sucks. Still, Lucifer is a fun and rewatchable show, mostly silly, sometimes touching, overall an enjoyable experience.

On this week's podcast, we're discussing Maze and Eve's wedding and Linda's new book. The first man shows up to put a wrench in the ladies' plans, but he's dispatched with ease. Ella reveals her knowledge to team celestial in a move that really, genuinely feels earned. Not earned? Literally every storyline with Rory. We don't WANT to dislike this character, but there is just nothing there. Give her likes! Dislikes! Relationships! Anything for us as viewers to hang on to. 

We've made it to the end of Fringe season 2, and it is a jam-packed ride from start to finish. Olivia has finally Had It and is heading to the other universe to save Peter from certain doom, and if she has to sacrifice a couple of childhood friends on the way, well so be it. We also get to spend some time with the Alt!Fringe team, who are on the whole a more jovial and less damaged crew. Of course, this is Fringe, so it all goes to hell and poor Olivia is left holding the bag. We'll see you all in six weeks for more Fringe, 'cause in two weeks we're back to Lucifer!

Veronica Mars is back, baby! And she is all words, no pictures. In this special edition of Must Be Tuesday, Alli and Mary delve into the first Veronica Mars novel, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line. Taking place immediately post-movie, we have Veronica going full idiot and attempting to take on some cartel bros, finding out that her mom has moved on, reconciling with Keith, and hanging with Wallace and Mac. Don't worry, she solves the case in the end. Grab a drink like the party-goers of Neptune and listen in. Cheers!

Well, Dollhouse officially ends on a weirdly paced, confusing extension of season one's "Epitaph One". After a significant amount of ranting (apologies to those who enjoy this ep), Alli and Mary determine that this bookend could have been skipped entirely, for a much more satisfying conclusion to a show that took a good look at consent, morality and the culture of money and excess. We are on to our month-long break, and will then be back with more Veronica Mars and iZombie! Cheers!

This week we finish up the present day Dollhouse plotlines before jumping into the ~future~ next week. There is some high-impact storytelling going on here, and a solid effort to wrap up the show for fans. Still... there is less than no room to breathe, and the episodes and characters suffer. Ultimately, Dollhouse realizes its potential more than Firefly ever did, but viewers are left with emotional whiplash to achieve it. At least Paul is roasted many times over! Cheers.

Don't let the title fool you, we really did love these eps. In the first ep, we yadda-yadda some new tech, but get to spend some time with Victor and Sierra, so it's worth it. Adelle drinks our podcast into the dirt, but comes out the other side as fierce as ever. In the next ep, we finally get to the much-touted attic, which is almost as fun and trippy as Buffy's Restless except... just a bit less than you would hope. Still, we have a good time up until the end when we're again threatened by the dreaded Caroline. RIP Echo as the most important character in the show! We'll miss you girl.

The train that is Dollhouse season 2 has surpassed high speed and is now hurtling unsafely toward the end. These episodes could each be 3-4 easily, but the episodes manage to entertain despite their density. We discuss Adelle's loose morals, Ballard's mainsplain-y attitude and Alpha's flashy style. Never leave, Alpha! 

We bring special guest Stevo on this week to talk about Dollhouse's "The Left Hand" or, as we call it, "The Victor Show." Do other important things happen in this episode? Of course. Echo leaves to go on a personal growth journey, Topher cold clocks a cute girl, Adelle is a boss bitch and Rossum's senator gambit pays off in spades. More importantly, though, Victor is imprinted as Topher and we're all graced with probably the peak performance in this whole show, if not all of Joss Whedon's works. Don't @ us, it's amazing!! Grab a beer and appreciate the gift of Victor as Topher. Cheers!

Major trigger warning for the discussion on the first episode, Belonging. We finally get Sierra's full backstory, and it is a doozy of terrible and horrific experiences that continue to the present day. Topher gets a minute amount of "redemption" but as usual it comes at the expense of poor Sierra, who really can't catch a break. In episode two, we get into the politics of Rossum and how they're trying to take down our LA dollhouse. Ballard takes off and Echo is kidnapped by River from Firefly.  

For a show that really seemed to learn and grow in season one, Dollhouse has completely committed to plot regression here in the beginning of season two. We speculate for a bit about why that might be. It's a weird thing to say about a show's main character, but is there simply too much Echo? As the second episode features Victor heavily, we're forced think that that may just be the issue. Luckily, Victor-as-Kiki saves an episode that seems to have an unnecessary and likely not purposeful "boys will be boys" vibe. Not cute, fellas. Bring on the beer!

Remember last week when we worried that some of the tension would leave the show post-Epitaph One? Well, not to be all "we thought so" but, well... This week's Dollhouse brings us an episode completely devoid of any meaningful forward progress for the two ostensible leads of the show, Paul and Echo. Luckily, Topher and Whiskey do the emotional heavy lifting, and it's just enough meaty moral questioning to keep the viewer interested. Unfortunately, Whiskey and her interesting plot leave us at the end of the ep. Pour one out for our aptly-named girl! 

This week we have Finale Part II: Epitaph One. We discuss the risk Joss Whedon took with the episode; its ambitious, and it certainly commits to its dystopian premise. Unfortunately, perhaps due to budget, the episode falls a bit short of its potential. What it succeeds at, however, is pushing Dollhouse's usual moral questions: what is immortality? If you have a brilliant idea, can you pursue it no matter the cost? What do we owe to each other? Oh wait, that's The Good Place. Grab a drink and philosophize with us. Cheers!

First up this week, we're getting high with Walter and listening to him work out his issue through noir steampunk narrative. Brown Betty is a beautiful and fun episode, but in terms of plot and character development nothing much changes. We discuss once again the specialty episode gold standard that is Once More With Feeling. Next, Peter solos a case with Martha Plimpton, basically spewing is crazy all over her and then accidentally solving it. Most importantly, though, we meet Mr. Secretary: Walternate.

This week we've got Dollhouse's season finale (not counting bonus semi-finale Epitaph One, which will be next week). All of our storylines coalesce at last, with Ballard finally finding relevance... unfortunately, it's as "the guy who brought a murderer in". Oops! Sadly, he is still the best investigator the Dollhouse has... EMBARRASSING. The sheer stupidity of upper management gets a real spotlight in this ep. We also get some Alpha/Echo action, as Echo ascends to, well, not much yet. 

This week we have a bit of taco bell chat prior to our in depth discussion of two episodes with major implications for the rest of the show. We debate the concept of living forever-- is it really immortality if it's just a copy of you? Meanwhile, Topher makes Sierra into a best buddy in a plot that we suspect was supposed to be sweet, but instead comes off as entitled and skeezy. Ballard provides the bridge between the two episodes: he breaks it off with Mellie and then breaks into the dollhouse with surprise guest Alpha! Joss Whedon continues his love of reusing actors with Firefly's Alan Tudyk. He's awesome. 

Alli and Mary get back to our roots and discuss some Packers drama (RIP Packers season #nopackno). After that, we chat two pretty great episodes of Dollhouse. Adelle and dollhouse management have gotten to the "winging it" stage of running a giant shady business and basically just brainstorm some ideas for how to cure the dolls of personality. It's a great episode, but the idea totally fails. In the next episode, Topher gets to continue his catchphrase: "It's not my fault!" as everyone learns that there's a mole. Echo pretty much catches the him all by herself (Bye Dominic!) bc the staff is incompetent. Some real Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Watcher vibes here, y'all!

Boom!! We are finally into the meat of Dollhouse: what is identity? who lives in the body of the doll? who gets to consent, and when? Ballard runs into Patton Oswalt; Echo wakes up more and more, and we learn that there is a spy working through her; and, most importantly, we get a bunch of victor and sierra, to go with a wonderful Topher/Adelle drugged up teamup. The first episode has, yet again, a discussion of rape due to the nature of the first episode: trigger warning there!

As we hope will be the case with the whole season, Dollhouse begins its incline to a truly great show. This week contains discussions of the importance of internal continuity, whether Topher even knows what the fuck he's doing and an extensive chat about man reactions. An 11am beer gets us through the last of Ballard's truly uninteresting plots: spoiler alert, he finally becomes relevant next week. Cheers!

The nice thing about Dollhouse compared particularly to Buffy and Veronica Mars (not enough data on Firefly), is that we're getting the mediocre episodes out of the way right at the top. That being said, we do have to push through a couple of episode-of-the-week snoozers. We get to see Echo as action-girl and Echo as back up singer. Unbelievably, Ballard's plotline devolves into a more pointless spiral than could be expected. Luckily, there are sprinklings of the great Dollhouse to come, and we could not be more excited for that. Cheers!

Alli and Mary discuss our feelings on the Dollhouse characters and actors (shoutout to Enver Gjokaj! sorry about my pronunciation my dude!), as well as what the differing goals of the writers/Joss Whedon and the network. Dollhouse's great strength is its grey morality, and how the characters react to the layered peel-back of corporate shadiness. Yet, Fox seemed to feel we were doing a sexy fun action time. We're pumped to discuss how that push and pull plays out over the course of the series. Also, Paul Ballard sucks. Don't @ us! Cheers.

Alli and Mary discuss Firefly's big comeback into popular culture, the much awaited, eagerly anticipated, loved-into-reality Serenity. Joss Whedon goes all out with the budget he never had on the show, which leads to one of the largest differences between show and movie: is Firefly a western with a hint of space, or futuristic sci-fi with a sprinkling of westerns? What you enjoy on that spectrum probably influences your feelings on the Big Damn Movie. For our part, we love it. ROBOTS, people. ROBOTS. We're pumped to hit you all next week with Dollhouse! Cheers!!

DISCLAIMER: we spend a large chunk of the opening (about 6 min to about 18 min) discussing the threat of rape/sexual assault in this episode/the series in general in depth. If this is not for you, skip ahead. There is some similar talk scattered lightly throughout the ep.

Anyway! We have reached the series finale, if one could call it that, of Joss Whedon's short-lived Firefly. MBT welcomes special guest Alex for what is certainly one of the best, if not the absolute best, episode produced by this show. It's trippy, it's creepy, and it plays to all of Whedon's strengths as a writer/director. If the show had to go out, this was the way to do it.

Alli and Mary lament what feels like a lot of repetition for a short show like Firefly: these episodes particularly suffer from two emotional funerals of one-off characters. Two funerals! In a row! Dear Joss Whedon, this isn't ER, we're not watching for that mad depressing drama dude. We also discuss how Firefly's character arcs are reminiscent of Buffy's season 6. Heart of Gold and The Message are an interesting contrast, the former is an excellent affecting episode, while the latter is a touch overwrought and melodramatic. Additionally, insanely sweaty sex scene. Tone it down, set sweat people. 

This week on Fringe, Walter's doing the hard work of being the first person to forgive him on "White Tulip" and Peter finally freaking finds out in "The Man From the Other Side". Poor oblivious Peter is truly living in his own world this week as Walter and Olivia clumsily "play it cool" with their life-altering news. We do get some dope time travel and truly excellent SFX, though, so for once the non-character moments truly shine for MBT!

17:20-17:45 MAJOR DOLLHOUSE SPOILERS.

This week Alli and Mary talk streaming services and bitch about Hulu's business model. Let us know your thoughts on the following: is Niska is supposed to play as Russian or German? What are your theories about what Book's backstory was supposed to be vs. the eventual comics? In the first episode, Wash takes a Xander-esque turn this week with a whiny snoozer of a storyline. Luckily, the rest of the ep is pretty fun. Then, Saffron returns for another heist. But more importantly: WHERE IS OUR FUTURISTIC TECH? OUR ROBOTS? OUR SOCIAL PROGRESS? Unbelievable. 

This week on Firefly, we get insight into everyone's first interaction with and impression of the good ship Serenity. Mal captains his little heart out and manages, despite all odds, to scare off a large group of killer scavengers. In Ariel we get the world's easiest heist, only put into danger by Jayne's Big Bad Betrayal of Simon and River. Don't worry, everyone's ok in the end. Subject for discussion this week: comparing Firefly's plot-heavy nature to Buffy and Veronica Mars' character-based concepts.

We get into the particulars of two A+ episodes of Joss Whedon's Firefly this week, which bring us questions such as: just how dim is Mal, exactly, when it comes to Inara's feelings for him? If the mudders are all slaves, how come they have great dental care? How deep is Shepard Book's commitment to being a Debbie Downer? Should Mary get a perm? That has less to do with Firefly, but it is a big question. 

This week we grab a martini and a beer to talk a couple of great Firefly episodes: Shindig and Safe. Inara gets the focus in the first episode, which brings up some issues with the concept of companions in the show: if they are so respected, why are customers always treating Inara like property? Then, in Safe, Simon and River are kidnapped by a town in need of a doctor which actually seems to work out ok until River outs herself as a weirdo and is nearly burned at the stake. So close!

This week Alli and Mary discuss Firefly's sad lack of robots, whether The Train Job works better as an opening episode and how much of a through line there is between the concept of browncoats and the confederacy. Both the Train Job and Bushwhacked explore Mal's character in depth: a guy who will break the law, but has a strict moral code; a captain who will do his own dirty work; a dude who knows how to get shit done. We also learn a bit more about reavers and the big bad alliance. Cheers!

Welcome to the new season of Must Be Tuesday! We're starting off Joss Whedon's Firefly with the exposition heavy pilot. We learn almost everything there is to know about the 'verse, the crew and the bad-guy alliance central government. If that wasn't enough, we're introduced to enough catchphrases and linguistic quirks to fill far more than the mere 14 episodes and one movie that make up Firefly's canon. Grab a beer and join us--cheers! 

This week we grab a Spotted Cow and discuss the long-awaited Veronica Mars movie, a project that led the way of Kickstarter and fan-backed revivals (see also: Arrested Development). The movie leaves us debating if Veronica is really better off back in Neptune and, honestly, if Neptune is better off with her in it. Overall, it's funny, engaging and well worth the wait. 

Next up for Must Be Tuesday: a short break, and we will be returning with Firefly, Dollhouse and iZombie! We're pumped and we hope you stick with us. Cheers!

In the blink of an eye, we've reached the end of (the TV version of) Veronica Mars. We're back season one-fighting form this week, with a vengeful and in over her head Veronica, a wrathful Logan, a morally dubious Keith and assorted Neptune regulars joining the fray and helping out. It's a bittersweet ending that sets up for a season four that never was, but you have to ask--if it had been like most of season three would it even be worth it?

We learn yet another valuable lesson in episode one, which oddly combines CW Relationship Drama (TM) and a mystery about child soldiers. Sooo, there's that. However, episode two snaps us right back into place with a Weevil-centric mystery that helps set up for the next season that never was. Join us to start enjoying Veronica Mars again right before it's snatched away. Cheers!

This week on Must Be Tuesday, we discuss the serious, interminable downturn in the episode quality post-Dean murder mystery. Guys, Paul Rudd shows up and these episodes STILL blow. All of our beloved characters are replaced by their pod-CW counterparts, full of angst, teen drama and handholding. It's a calmer, tamer, sweeter Veronica Mars. Bleh.

This week's we're watching Peter and Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver and... oof. "Peter" is a masterclass from John Noble, who succeeds in doing what should not be possible in the middle of two episodes revealing Walter's most heinous crimes: forcing the view to empathize with him. Meanwhile, in present day, poor Peter is truly baffled as to what the frick is going on with his little family as Olivia and Walter struggle in their own ways to do the right thing. When Fringe is good, it is truly excellent.

A couple of real season highlights in this week's episodes! We find Veronica finally behind bars, a payoff that was worth 2.5 seasons of wait. Logan also suddenly develops a likable personality? Then in episode two, it's all dean mystery all the time! Finally we get some solid (ish) detective work from Sheriff Mars and even a bit from V herself. A brief glimpse into the Veronica Mars of yore! 

FULL EP UP AND FIXED!! Sorry for the mix up  

Logan and Veronica break up again, for real, we swear, this time. Logan deals with that by hanging out with a heart-eyed kid, and Veronica deals with it by getting involved in a basketball murder mystery. Keith continues on in more interesting plots as he investigates the dean's murder. Also, Dick has an amusing runner of getting married and Veronica ends up in the clink.

Last chance to hit us up with your thoughts on our next show! We'd love to hear from you: mustbetuesdaypodcast@gmail.com or @mbtpodcast on twitter. Fringe? Gilmore Girls? iZombie? Firefly?

The Veronica/Logan merry-go-round continues its cycle this week, as they manage to get back together and screw it up in a single Must Be Tuesday podcast ep! A new record. For a long semi-philosophical discussion of the L/V relationship, see the last 30 min of the podcast ep.  In other, more fun news, Mac/Parker/V team up to find an escaped research monkey, Mac finds herself a new boytoy, and Keith finally gets a plotline in the dean murder case. Hurrah! Grab a drink and cheers to that.

Again, hit us up with any opinions on our next show! Fringe? Gilmore Girls? iZombie? 

We wrap up the first season one extended mystery: it was the guy who was creepy all along! And his friend, Mr. Need-For-The-Plot! Anyway, we load a sufficient amount of guilt onto Logan this week as he (rightly) breaks up with Veronica right before she's assaulted by his buddy. Logan and Veronica continue their quest to be the world's most relatable college couple, Team Friends does an amazing job helping V out at a party and... Patty Hearst shows up? Truly the strangest cameo appearance of all time, especially given her plot. 

Also, we begin to discuss what we'll be watching next for the podcast, so please hit us up if you have any suggestions/thoughts!

Alli and Mary grab a Negroni and a beer respectively to chat this week's Veronica Mars episodes. Disappointment is the name of the game: we have a fake rape victim, Logan running off from a burning building, and Keith and Veronica's fave prof having affairs with a married woman. Of course, Veronica learns a Very Valuable Lesson about trusting the people who mean the most to you and also to forgive, but if I was a betting woman I'd say that's gonna stick as well as dried sticky tack. Cheers!

Veronica Mars experiences some CW-style growing pains for these two episodes, but we suppose not every ep can be a big winner. We chat one of the major season bummers: Veronica and Keith are not so great at their detective work anymore. Keith spends his time getting led around by the nose while Veronica's lot in life seems to be being inexplicably hated by everyone. Meanwhile, Logan is a hothead and Weevil is arrested AGAIN. Oh and Wallace sucks at school now, but don't expect us to care too much as the show sure doesn't. 

Trigger warning: this episode and those for the foreseeable future has frank discussion of rape. 

We have a couple of light-touch mysteries this week on Veronica Mars, which seems to be a bit of foreshadowing for how season three will play out. Veronica is back to her old tricks of making enemies, Weevil struggles to find work as an ex-con, Logan & Veronica negotiate an adult relationship, and there's a truly unfortunate plot regarding rape and feminism. Oh yeah, and Keith is there. Remember when he was important to the plot? 

We say goodbye to UPN and hello to the newborn CW network for Veronica Mars season 3! Alli and Mary grab a beer and talk our brand new characters (Buffy's Riley-equivalent Piz & poor peppy Parker), our old characters' new attitudes (puppy dog Logan and bratty Veronica), and dropped plotlines galore (bye Kendall!). Pour one out for Veronica's poor LeBaron, she is no more. Cheers!

It's Veronica Mars season two finale time here at Must Be Tuesday! We celebrate Mary's correct guess at the season big bad: Beaver "My Name is Cassidy" Casablancas. Lots of bad dudes get their comeuppance, with Duncan taking out Aaron Echolls, Keith arresting Woody, and Cassidy, well, taking out himself. It's non-stop movement as Veronica figures out the mystery about a third of the way in and it just ramps up from there. Weevil gets screwed, Wallace and Jackie exist, and Logan gets to play the hero. Cheers!

We have special guest Sarah on this week to help us talk about the penultimate episode of season two: Happy Go Lucky. We chat what a bummer it was that Veronica Mars and Buffy were underrated, Alli rants about Star Trek (sorry!) and what makes a person a Logan fan. Then we get into the show proper, where we discuss Aaron Echolls going free, Woody Goodman being a huge creepazoid and a fun Weevil/Mac/Beav school side-plot.

After a rather rote and distasteful Nazi episode, we finally, FINALLY get there. We've talked about it all season. At Last. It's Jacksonville! We finally get to the other side of the Olivia's Trauma coin this week, as we take a trip to the Florida Center  for Scientifically "Necessary" Child Abuse. Poor Olivia has to pull out all the repression stops this week, and that's before she gets the final blow of Peter's otherwordly glimmer. Things can always get worse!

Alli and Mary talk one of Veronica Mars' most quoted, classic episodes: season 2's Look Who's Stalking. We are all high school all the time here, folks--it's prom season! Before we can get to that, though, we have to be thoroughly skeeved by Woody Goodman as he and Gia are stalked by creepy-with-a-secret janitor Lucky. After that, we get alternaprom and Logan's big "I love you, Veronica" speech. Lives ruined, blood shed. Epic! 

Alli and Mary grab some beers and dig into the Veronica Mars bus crash mystery, which makes its triumphant return to the forefront of the show. Mary lays out her Big Bad theory, so listen in to see how close to the mark she got! After that, we discuss which characters have experienced the most growth (Weevil), the most stalling (Veronica), and the most backsliding (to an extent, both Logan and Wallace). But hey, at least Wallace and Logan get to bro out! 

This week on MBT, we discuss a couple episodes that return Veronica Mars back to the groove we were enjoying in the beginning of the season. Veronica solves a couple of cases, but more importantly Weevil is back and better than ever! Just in time, too, because Team Dude is lagging a bit this week, as Logan swings wildly from a boring, nonsensical devotion to good-girl Hannah right back into the literal arms of Veronica. Simultaneously, our best bro Wallace goes full teen boy, flirting all over the place and cheating on his gf.