Grade 'Keep It Real'

How would you grade 'Keep It Real?'

  • A+

    Votes: 4 11.8%
  • A

    Votes: 6 17.6%
  • A-

    Votes: 3 8.8%
  • B+

    Votes: 6 17.6%
  • B

    Votes: 6 17.6%
  • B-

    Votes: 2 5.9%
  • C+

    Votes: 1 2.9%
  • C

    Votes: 1 2.9%
  • C-

    Votes: 2 5.9%
  • D+

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • D

    Votes: 2 5.9%
  • D-

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • F

    Votes: 1 2.9%

  • Total voters
    34
Liked it. A. I don't have many comments (Rangers' game's on :)), but I do want to point out one thing.

When puberty hits, Danny's 'stache is really gonna take off.

That's all. Good episode. Liked the story, but I missed the very beginning. Looking forward to this season.
 
i made notes. handy really as i was only half watching. and on a teeny weeny screen. anyway....

1: starting with the ramones - nice idea, shame that band were a bit crap.

2: lindsay & danny - REALLY!?! lindsay's "here come the titles" line was really pants as well.

3: mac coming back - nicely understated, no big song & dance, just business as usual. i liked that.

3b: i also liked how danny tried to get involved in the crime scene and was told to go away, but that mac, observant as ever, picked up on his difficulty adjusting to being on the street instead of in the lab.

4: sid teasing mac about his brief "escape" was brilliant, one of the best bits they've done in a very long time. it would've fit in nicely in seasons 1-4. can we have more of this please?! plus i love the idea of mac as a steve mcqueen type character :D

5: adam's window experiment was nice too - kind of goofy but that's ok. i liked the return to mac & adam's comedy double act too. again, more of this please!

6: jo was good generally - her interactions with adam were nice, and i LOVED how she handled the son's roommate at the end, that was great. also, was that the first time we've "met" her son? i think we've only seen her daughter before, right? or am i making that up?

7: re the counterfeit cash - i guess this is why the uk treasury had the foresight to make our notes (a) on different coloured paper and (b) of different sizes!! :guffaw::guffaw:

one little gripe about the punk thing - given that punk is a genre very very important to me i feel i have to get this off my chest - it's about the argument the 3 kids were having in the shop about who were the first punks. now, technically the girl was probably right, that it was the ramones who started at cbgb in 74 ish. i mean, for me it'll always always be the sex pistols (london, 76) but they, and more to the point their manager/creator malcolm mclaren were extremely heavily influenced by the ramones and cbgb in general - it's just that as far as i'm concerned punk wasn't a definitive movement before the pistols - they were the ones that crystallised it - but y'know that's an argument for a pub :D ...

i digress. anyway, the other kid was saying he thought it was the kinks and she agreed that he had a point but that really the first punks were the ramones - BUT the kinks were around in the 60s and therefore precede the ramones by a decade. so for her to say he was partially right to think of the kinks as the first punks but that actually it was the ramones kind of grated with me because (a) the kinks were first and (b) without the kinks there would be no ramones!

also i'm a tad defensive of the kinks - partly because they're one of my all time favourites (i like the ramones too but y'know, the kinks are more important to me), also because they're british and i have to wave our little flag sometimes and also because i helped shoot one of their videos once and get very excited to see them mentioned on a proper hollywood show like that :D

aaaanyway, little musical pernickety thing aside... this ep, overall, was ok. i definitely preferred it to the one last week - which although i can totally understand why they did it and i think of all people gary was the one to tackle it, misfired somehow. this wasn't a spectacular ep, but it wasn't too bad either, it had fun moments, a reasonably twisty turny case, some nice little interactions and so on.

so i'm giving it a B - an improvement on last week's score but i don't feel i want to score too highly til i see more of the season. but i'd also like to give the scene between sid and mac a big shiny A+
 
It was good.

About Tyler, we did meet him once before, when Ellie wanted to see her mom in last year's episode.

I do wonder if we will see Danny back in the lab because I would have thought Mac would have to hire someone else to take Danny's spot.

Glad to see Mac back and best part was when he saw Adam climbing through the window and the other Adam parts were really good. Seemed like the Adam parts helped the show a bit.
 
As for D/L "lunch" moment. I am not aware of cop life but really, what kept her from going to lunch? People get lunch breaks when they work and it wasn't like Mac was standing behind her shoulder saying, "You better stay or I'll beat you." Wonder what kind of hours real cops have as for lunch break and such. Idk it frustrated me rather than being a cute moment.
Well it wasn't as if they didn't make it look like she was busy in that scene. She was on the phone in the beginning, running between computer data bases, then she picked up what looked to be a fax that had just came through(or it could have been a computer printout), then she took another phone call after that. With all that activity going on it would have seemed weird to me if she had have just up and left with the thinking of "I will get back to all this later on"--especially given it had something to do with the current case they were working on.
 
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^I agree. I didn't find it that unusual to be too busy at work for lunch (been there, done that--and I definitely don't do anything as important as solve crimes!). I thought it was an effective way for the writers to show how Danny's promotion has brought a change in DL's daily interaction. It communicated the point, while not consuming the whole episode. It felt very natural to me. I'm a big fan of Danny and Lindsay and I think they were perfect in that scene--their conversation about the suspect reminded me of season 2 old school days, but their progression of the conversation into missing lunch, and the physical contact served to show how their relationship has progressed from those days. Just a great moment for me to watch.

So far I am excited by this season because in the premier and in this episode, I have thoroughly enjoyed the character interaction among the main cast. I am really appreciating the balance between plot driven and character driven story lines.
 
Even though I was disappointed with a few things about it, I did really enjoy the episode. We all knew Mac would be back at the lab eventually, but they made it seem like it would take him a little bit longer than 30 seconds into this episode before he cancelled his retirement. Regardless, I'm very glad he's back in charge, exactly where he should be. Hopefully we'll get to see a little bit of the Mac he was 10 years ago, before 9/11. I'm not naive enough to think he'll be back to those days completely, but a joke and smile every now and then would be nice.

I thought the Danny and Lindsay bits were a great filler and precursor to what’s ahead. The joking around at the beginning of the episode was a nice glimpse into what they’re like when they’re together. It shows they can have fun with each other, and he played along nicely. The second scene, when they were in the lab, really helped show how much had changed in their day to day lives and it’s not always going to be easy to just drop what you’re doing for lunch. Speaking of lunch, will these two ever be able to eat?

The subplot with Jo and Tyler was interesting to me. It wasn’t much, but didn’t need to be much either. It just reminded us that they all have lives outside of what their jobs are. It makes them seem more normal, if you ask me. And Jo and Adam really played well off of each other.

I can’t wait for next week’s episode. We’re off to a great start for season 8 so far.
 
The part about the D/L lunch thing, I was thinking that in a way Lindsay was busy and maybe Mac asked her to check on the bills that had been popping up. She can't very well say, 'okay Danny, let's go to lunch' then Mac finds out that Lindsay didn't do her job.
 
Decent episode. The demonstration Lindsay did with the money was kind of neat.

My one complaint is that I wish they'd stop giving D/L those goofy lines like her saying "my husband might get jealous" type of stuff when she's actually talking to her husband. It's weird. It was kind of cute the first time, but they give them those kinds of lines too many times and now they're just getting old LOL.

I did like the other D/L scenes though. Then "arguing" about who said Mac would be back was cute. I loved it when Lindsay said the suspect had bought a lot of Addidas sports suits and Danny said, "Who is this guy, Run DMC?" :guffaw: And the "lunch-jacking" comment was funny too.

Loved Adam/Jo's scenes. "you broke the mom code" hehe. And he put that juvi record on her desk for her. At least I assume it was him as I think he's the only one she told about the mysterious roommate.

Of course the shooter was highly predictable. I knew it would be Jake Busey's character as soon as it showed him. Like Jo said his confidence was too high.

Is the actor who played Tyler in this episode the same one that played him before? He kind of looks different than I remembered lol.

And OMG continuity with the plaque at the end of the episode. :)

Oh and Flack telling the shooter he should invest in some nail polish remover before he gets to where he's going was great.
 
The part about the D/L lunch thing, I was thinking that in a way Lindsay was busy and maybe Mac asked her to check on the bills that had been popping up. She can't very well say, 'okay Danny, let's go to lunch' then Mac finds out that Lindsay didn't do her job.

Even if she didn't do her job I'm sure Mac would be more concerned that she was able to have lunch with her boo than about the lab getting the case solved. ;)
 
Ok so seems like most of the responses say she shouldn't have taken a lunch break but I still think it was more obnoxious for her to say no when it was easier for her to take a break than Danny. But I freely admit that I don't plan to be a work my fingers to the bone once I get an office job. I want my lunch break and they can just deal.
 
Ok so seems like most of the responses say she shouldn't have taken a lunch break but I still think it was more obnoxious for her to say no when it was easier for her to take a break than Danny. But I freely admit that I don't plan to be a work my fingers to the bone once I get an office job. I want my lunch break and they can just deal.

But then she could have called Adam or Sheldon to stand in for her so she could take a break.

How often have we seen them and Mac take a lunch?
 
Finally got to see this one too.

Not a memorable episode. In thinking thru it, it's already hard to recall. There wasn't a whole lot I overtly disliked, but there was a lot of stuff I thought I'd like more. I'm having difficulty trying to figure out why I don't feel inclined to grade it higher. It just... didn't make much of an impact. Call it one that felt left on the page.

Call it a B- or so.

I was amused by the show introducing a debate on the origins of Punk. It got another point for starting with a Ramones cover, even if the cover wasn't that great.

The punk aspect should have been great but "punk" & "princess" don't belong in the same descriptive; the counterfeit aspect shoulda been more complex, but that crime, within the mix of murder & guest character material/focus, felt like a bit of an afterthought.

Put that together and I guess my impression of the ep was that it was kinda Counterfeit Punk.

There was a lot of focus and weight that the case characters had to carry to make this a really noteworthy ep, and they just didn't have the oomph, IMO. Not bad at all, they just didn't make me feel for them in a way that woulda made such focus grab and hold my attention, or empathy.

The two buddies, the immediately smitten punk girlfriend, all that came across as lite personal connections. I wanted to either worry more or wonder more after the guy still missing. That whole trio shoulda felt deeper, less superficial, given the ep rested squarely upon them to draw people in and give a damn. The case was interesting, but again not intriguing or complex enough to carry the ep if ya didn't give a damn about who it happened to.

The team material, outside the case, is really the only thing that kept me watching.

Mac & Sid win for the best sequence of the night and the season, so far :D. By far by far by far.

Jo/Adam were fun, and easily a very close second place :p. I wanted to like Jo/Sheldon more, but wasn't feeling it. I'd love to say Flack had some good moments, cos he always does, but dang if I can recall what any of them were at this point. Mac/Jo had a nice bit at the end.

Jo/Tyler was again "nice," but I guess I was wondering if something more ominous was in store where the mysterious roommate was concerned, and was a bit disappointed that the issue was street art, and then later, gender. A sealed juvie record and the twizt of her being a !Female, well, I guess that's about all one can expect from CBS these days :p. Meh.

Danny at the top of the ep detailing the scene beyond his current job satisfaction was fun, and his best moment of the ep. I was wondering how NY were going to incorporate Messer as a sergeant and working outside the labs. The premiere may have given me hope that wasn't warranted. It sorta feels like like NY essentially won't incorporate Danny, save for DL nonsense, until his big storyline happens, and they find a way to bring him back into the labs. ...Meh. 10%. Just hope his arc is good.

As for DL. Again Meh. If I look at the scenes as if they were just words on a page, again I see the potential there for a fun moment or three. Didn't feel it between them; found the scenes onerous.

(As for all this discussion about DL & lunchbreaks and who shoulda done what to accommodate whom, I'm admittedly lost :lol:. Beyond recognizing that this goes back to the sad panda spoiler of DL woes :p. IMO, honestly, this was certainly not the most difficult element to reconcile, although it was certainly a moment that was among the most difficult to remember :lol:).

There were some nice visuals. The detail within the counterfeit revelation sequence with Lindsay and Mac had some nice close ups, especially in printing (not the slo mo ink mist, but the actual printing), and the sound here worked really well. Was rolling my eyes a bit at Lindsay seemingly being the default for material like this. Adam had the tee-shirt/window bit, which was ok, but perhaps they coulda had Hawkes do this one or something.

Lindsay getting DL & case-cracking demonstrations as a continued default have worn exhaustingly thin. Neither are depicted with enough charm or warmth, or at least not consistently so, to have me entertained in having to sit thru them. Felt formulaic, and another sign of an ep that had had some promise of sidestepping the mold, but pretty much relied upon it instead, and the surrounding material wasn't strong enough to make it a memorable ride. Break teh habit and go back to flying by the seat of your pants, NY. Pants indeed.

Loved the idea of a music shop and tattoo shop featuring as well, were some of the ep's better moments, and I guess those were the scenes where Flack won for me, but again, ...not enough of them. 'Two grand for Flipper' was good :lol:. The scene with the comment tossed out about "if I hafta hear Sweet Home Alabama one more time..." and Jo/Flack responses were fun :p.

Had hoped Busey might get more to do. I guess it's hard not to telegraph an ep's likely outcome with guest casting sometimes, and I guess the restraint here was a way of trying to avoid that, and an attempt to circumvent having over many red herrings/tertiary characters, making the unravelling of the mystery relatively uncluttered.

But again, the crux of buddies/punk lover/scammedjammedup guitar shop owner strangely wasn't punchy enough to make an impact. Punk & music make ya feel. Should grab you inside. - ...The discussion of music felt somewhat sterile, and the characters telling the story didn't make me feel a great deal for them. A case engages your curiosity - ...This one was only vaguely interesting in an idle way. This was decidedly not a rock n' roll ep, so to speak, in a way that matched the content. This unfortunate contrast, this lack of a more visceral intensity, given punk music and murder, may be one reason that I didn't warm to this episode as much as I was wanting to.

The ending was odd as well. A bit stuttered, not fluid. Jo meeting Tyler and the roommate was ok. Mac with the suspect, shoulda ended with "I'm trying to sympathize here, but can't," or whatever that line was, and not bothered with the malleted addendum of "leave the innocent people out of it." Why, NY do you insist on that sort of wrap up. Not needed. Let it speak for itself, and stop overly narrarating with the characters.

I want S8 to change things up a bit for the characters. Jo breaking the "mom code" was a bit of that, Mac trying to sympathize was a bit of that. Reverting back to a cardboard cut out for a moralizing fade-to-black ending is NY falling upon old habits for convenient framing.

TPTB: Stop. Bloody stop. Put the f*cking mallets down. 18 eps will go by inna flash. Don't waste the time. As yet, your cases and stories are still generally such that we, the meager viewers, are easily able to keep up with. I do not look to NY & CBS or any show for The World As It Should Be. Just tell the story and let us hang out for the ride, taking from it what we will.

A cheez teaser is expected. At least NY doesn't have "yyyyyyyeeeeAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhh" as the rimshot. But given that style of intro is not gonna likely to go away, then make the endings tighter - but less form fitting, yes? (Makes sense to me, anyways :lol:)

Given the option between shiny glitz uber club rich kid type eps & a mediocre Counterfeit Punk as a pseudo rendition of a Common People ep, I'll definitely take the latter. But. Another Lite week for NY. Pick it up kids. Wif only 18 eps on order (so far), I want more for the time spent.

PS. Even more Sid plz :D

Adam must have been in college a long time for 12 roommates.

I sense a lot of impending 'too much D/L' remarks, but I wasn't terribly annoyed.
re. roomates: ...depends :p.

During various years of different studies, I certainly had a few. I had 5 roommates one year, and other years 2; 3 in a place where the apartment above was essentially an extension of our place, with four ppl living there (had a once innalifetime type double decker hallowe'en party that year, i sez goddamn :p:lol:), and sometimes as few as 1 other.

...I cannot tell you how happy I was the first year I finally lived solo :lol:

I really like Adam getting little moments like that add to his backstory too. I loooooove that he and Sid have all these rather mysterious allusions to quirky personal histories :p.

As for DL. Here I didn't feel an overload in volume of material so much as I didn't believe it. Zero chemistry. Words on a page unelevated. Sry.

i made notes. handy really as i was only half watching. and on a teeny weeny screen. anyway....
Ha. Ditto, save for screensize :p.

1: starting with the ramones - nice idea, shame that band were a bit crap.
Agree.

(And with apologies to whomever earlier suggested it was the Clash. Wasn't gonna call that out, but do hafta admit I winced when I read it :lol::p).

4: sid teasing mac about his brief "escape" was brilliant, one of the best bits they've done in a very long time. it would've fit in nicely in seasons 1-4. can we have more of this please?! plus i love the idea of mac as a steve mcqueen type character :D
Part of me can't believe that so few folk have commented on this scene :lol:. Was easily the best of the night for me.

Mac/McQueen isn't something that had occurred to me. Can sorta see it, yeah.

5: ....i liked the return to mac & adam's comedy double act too. again, more of this please!
Adam's scene was a bit goofy, and it mighta been fun to see Sheldon engaged in activities such as this scene, because it might thwart his polish more than an admission of partaking in street art in his youth, but do agree that the Mac/Adam comic duo was nice to see again.

7: re the counterfeit cash - i guess this is why the uk treasury had the foresight to make our notes (a) on different coloured paper and (b) of different sizes!! :guffaw::guffaw:
:lol:. You mean it wasn't random aesthetics?

Hard to argue. But if counterfeiting was really this easy, you'd think we'd be hearing of it more often :p.

one little gripe about the punk thing - given that punk is a genre very very important to me i feel i have to get this off my chest - it's about the argument the 3 kids were having in the shop about who were the first punks. now, technically the girl was probably right, that it was the ramones who started at cbgb in 74 ish. i mean, for me it'll always always be the sex pistols (london, 76) but they, and more to the point their manager/creator malcolm mclaren were extremely heavily influenced by the ramones and cbgb in general - it's just that as far as i'm concerned punk wasn't a definitive movement before the pistols - they were the ones that crystallised it - but y'know that's an argument for a pub :D ...
I'd be happy to argue this inna pub over a drink or three :lol: :p.

One might argue that once crystallized, and a 'movement," that it became less punk :p (if that makes sense).

(You helped shoot a vid? Excellent. Mebbe I'll enlist your help if I ever get about to doing one for Methyl, Ethyl & the Ketones... :p;) ).


I'm now thoroughly oversaturated with the word "ep" and all it's variants. Bleh :lol:.

*Clicky*
 
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Danny is a sergeant, means he's back to beat-cop hours. 5 on 2 off 5 on 3 off, eight hour shifts.....Random note/question: why does every tv cop work from the 12th Precinct?....
Thank you for this information. I was wondering how it was for real. This helps.
 
:lol: :lol: Jo and her sticky notes! she's definitely a refreshing character to the show, i bet she has them notes but still forget's what she has to do :lol: btw what does the goat thing say?
 
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