Late again
. Oh well.
3 episodes in, and I think the momentum of the season continues to be an improvement upon where it seemed to be stuck for the past few. Not a stellar episode, but a reasonably solid one. As last week, I don't think it will prove memorable, but it was an hour's entertainment that was pretty easy going down, and another step the right direction.
I put this ep as the first in the line up proposed in having Mac's judgement tested, yada. Was nice to see, but with that in mind, the premise of waggling the finger & the whole opening was so thoroughly arranged that it really came across as the tail wagging the dog.
Was a bit heavy handed, but it was also interesting, in working a prove/disprove scenario with known suspects and herrings, as opposed to a tracking/pursuit of unknowns type story. Withholding the introduction of the killer at all until later at least prevented one from ascertaining who he was within the first five minutes :lol:. I will credit the show for spreading the investigative material around and interspersing some good character & team moments within it, so that while it was Mac-centric in testing him, it was team based in how the ep moved forward. Added into that were a few scenes giving the victim and suspects voice as well. Was more multi-faceted than centric in both content and progression. I like.
NY's opening party mallets were heavier still fulfilling part of it's !Current & !SexyEtc. mandate. Their intros feel like veneers, like increasingly excessive shrink-wrapped packaging that one has to find their way thru before being able to get to the contents. I'd like to forward a green memo for TPTB"s consideration, that less is more, and significantly reduces Waste.
I suppose the juxtaposition of using a mix of Phil Collins in aiding & setting the tone in the opening was an additional resist for me, like wax & water :lol:. Phil Collins bringing brooding, violent portents & teh sexy...? :cardie::vulcan: erm, nooooo, not rly
. It wasn't ...ominous enough to counter the gloss of the party, remixed enuff to echo the Kewl of the occasion, wasn't moody or dark enough to match the crime. Dunno. Guess it's just my taste, but it didn't work in supporting nor contrasting for me.
More generally, NY's various processing montages, in labs and on scene, are also essentially forensic music videos, and are rather wearing thin in their relevancy, given the extended & frequent nature of the time spent on them. Sure, they're part of the procedure & formula, and necessary to a point in denoting evidence found and time lasped in collecting and processing, but they've really fallen into the same realm as Ubertech in a lotta ways. There's often little feel that there's even any pretense for having them there but to be Shiny, where even Expediting is just a bonus. This ep seemed rather blitzed with such sequences.
Back to the early goings. Right off the bat. DL. More freakin' DL. Three episodes into S7, 3 episodes wif DL. Seriously PTB. :censored:. Give it a f*cking rest. I was so happy to see Sheldon as a mollifying factor upon being presented with their arrival for on-scene processing... - until, of course, he was enlisted to further DL. Shuddering. And not what I wanted to be presented with while seriously jet-lagged and just hoping to sit back and relax. The commentary on kids and !Playful Insinuation on bedrooms was wince-worthy at best. Poor Sheldon. I'd rather work on the Outer Limits too, given such a choice
. When are they gonna gives ya something real to do. I suppose spending the rest of the ep analyzing dirt was actually a step up from feeding DL rimshots. That's rather sad in itself.
I was glad to see Sid. Less than enthralled to see the first Jo/Sid meeting I had been hoping for. Happier for Sid's later discussion with Mac, and loved the time taken for including the facial recognition/association tests. Perhaps NY is not only dabbling in CM's psychopathology and the Mentalist's observational techniques, but Lie To Me's angle as well
.
While the initial Jo/Sid moment was so disappointingly predictable, the follow up about his thoughts on Washington and traveling to testify before Congress on the college bowl system was typical but in a better way, using Sid's lateral quirkyness to twist on a So Where Are You From/Get To Know You type convo
. Like Mac and Hawkes, Jo could and should be a great straight foil for Sid's eccentricities, especially in just learning of them; she's also possessing a propensity for tweaking others on the nose, which will hopefully be a part of providing a different sort of interaction within the whole team, and one that could throw Sid himself for a loop, and not just cos she's "female." That moment didn't do much to illustrate either one; the Washington based exchange did. I prefer the moment derived of character, not of spoonfed schtick.
I enjoyed that the case wasn't solvable within the first five minutes. I enjoyed that there were consistent mentions within the course of the investigation about not just solving it but building a case usable by the DA. An earlier Mac/Jo scene did so regarding alibis, Sid/Mac did so regarding the finger wag and brain trauma. I like that court relevancy was important, which of course, relates back to Evidence and the franchise mantra. The two other suspects were also interesting as herrings, and also in the opportunities they provided the team with in interrogations. I liked that Why was important in contributing to What for each, and their motivations were not something I foresaw.
As for the team. Sheldon, again this week, had little to do, and I hope that changes in upcoming eps. He got to play with dirt. Oo ah. He got to feed DL lines. Bleh. He got to support Danny in disproving a convict's confession thru rust on a crowbar. Scintillating, though I'm glad they got a scene working together. Plz to have already written a wee bit something more and better for Sheldon which will hopefully air before oh, Xmas, mebbe.
Lindsay had stuff, complete to further cementing her as the default/formula character written to provide some last minute processing tidbit wot turns the tide of investigation. In this instance it was the link thru the broken glass (of all the shards on all the rooftops of the world...
) and where a convicted, but recently released rapist used to live with his family, against whom he harbored a grudge for turning him in. Notwithstanding that she still comes across as exciting to watch as furniture.
Danny does seem to be revisiting shadows of his old self. I don't know if I dare to let myself hope he may be reviving. He had a few fun moments with Jo, on the overheard rookie cop convo that provided the opportunity for perps in booking to plot an agenda. Most overtly, Danny and Flack had a stong buddy cop ep.
It does also seem that Eddie Cahill is relishing getting back into the Flack of old, even if the hair is an odd and curious new twist on his style this season
. I think he again came out the better for the pairing, with his curbside dialogue and "I don't do Sewers" comments. Flack was also a more frequent presence throughout the whole of the ep, which was nice to see.
Beyond Jo & Mac's pursuits of the Son as mallet-fed suspect, Flack in talking to the girlfriend similarly played hardball. "I like to wait at least ...
six months before I attest to someone's homicidal tendencies..." was snarky and fun, and a bit sharp. The show seemed to be attempting to play a team-wide approach to the tone of the investigation. That the girlfriend called Flack a bitch was amusing, and while not on the same level, was not dissimilar to Mac getting whutfer from the mother; it was also a justifiable response by someone so squeezed. Mac's end comments on how suspects are treated echoed not just for Mac's error, but for Jo & Flack's interrogations as well. Manny and Owen were played quite differently, having agendas of their own to be unraveled, confessing rather than denying allegations.
As for Mac. It was a testing ep. The premise was overtly set up thru the nature of communication while questioning a near comatose victim, complete to Sheldon & Danny commenting on it. The story continued in keeping Billy in Mac's sights; he adamantly pursued a questionably identified suspect, even as other evidence eroded that likelihood. I think the story also relied somewhat on now well-known statistical likelihoods of attackers often knowing their victims, versus a more random and uber-coincidental assailant. That also tied into Paul and his parents, with the house as the Twizt.
Mrs. Travers justifiably tore Mac a new one and kicked him out of her hospital room. I also give credit that such a scene was written, and like that it was inserted mid-ep. Her certainty and also how it related to her condition and not just being a parent, his doubts, and being faced with the brutality survived, all provided an emotional counterpoint that Mac is rarely written. I also liked the scene with Sid suggesting a defense attorney would have a field day. Later, the scene with Jo wasn't just about her backstory but indicating that Jo herself would be a line in the sand should Mac not include his errors in the reports. This does bode well for Jo becoming someone who will test Mac and his tactics if she disagrees. Similar to an ep like Enough, I think this one put a human face to and personal stake in the case for Mac, while still keeping focus mainly on the case and not wholly on Mac.
Mac's interrogation scene with Paul was about on par with previous seasons' Soap Boxes, and as with Jo, I have this season preferred the quieter and more subtle scenes written for Mac. Billy was rather magnanimous in letting his and his girlfriend's treatment during the course of the investigation slide, though no lines had really been crossed, and the end was actually less saccharine and/or cheesy than I was expecting in resolution with Mac returning one more time to apologize.
The glass tossing story element was convenient as a link, fulfilling also NY's mandate for being !Kewl etc. but also !Forensic in the trace discovered, linking again to the real perp, Paul. I think I was most amused in the chase scene to see Paul making a move to the lift during his escape. A lift, even in rabbit mode, is not the zippiest mode of transport, up or down nor roadwise
. I couldn't help envisioning an Austin Powers-esque steamroller pursuit :lol:. Jetlagged. What can I say. That Paul climbed instead did somewhat buzzkill my bemusement, but did provide another Flack/Messer chase & dive.
Onto Adam. Lol, Adam. AJ got a gift of a scene in this ep, and smashed it, as always. I do think the writing was such it would have been difficult to not be funny, and I think the perp he was performing the pseudo polygraph on provided a great counterpoint, but it was hands down one of the most memorable and funniest moments in the ep. I love that they're finding innovative ways to use him.
Last, on Jo. I hope this third ep is an indication of the tone with which Jo will continue to be written. Aside from Sid's stunned moment, I think Jo was written with fewer mallets in this ep than the previous two. I liked that while the pseudo polygraph was her idea, and also the interaction it gave her with both Danny and Aaaaaadaaaam
, she was not presented as so Expert In Everything as to be the one performing it. Another point in NY's favor. They played it lateral to her psych & crime insight, to her learning and using the team in ways they haven't been prior, and again more to her humor. To which I say, yes please.
One of SW/Jo's best individual scenes for me was her early interrogation with Billy. "I've been a detective for a long time. This is as about as bad as it gets." & "I hate math. And now, cos of you, I hafta do math..." complete to her recounting aloud all the points therein, including the alleged assailant puking and changing clothes. I think that too was indicative not just of Jo's !Approach, but also her tone, and personality, and again, a bit of self-irony. I also think that SW created a really great moment of performance within the material provided. That's a scene I'd watch a few times over just to figure out how she put it all together. That's an example of why I'm glad she's now part of the show.
Jo's later snooping encounter with Mac was a far more script-led moment, and mostly back story exposition/revelation, but also a good scene. I appreciated that Jo actually hadn't quite so settled into things as one might have been led to believe, that she does have issues, trust and/or otherwise, is unintimidated by authority, has her own code to match Mac's, and will call him on stuff if she feels she needs to. I also appreciated that when she herself was called on having been caught snooping, that she didn't try to play it off, nor held a defiance about it, but instead was willing to have a dialogue, as was Mac, instead of getting his nose out of joint in being trespassed. That kind of interaction between Jo and Mac is also welcome.
All told, fewer things that stood out for the wrong reasons. That and jetlag had me grade this ep the B- realm.
Also, Jo and Mac are like the Queen and King of awesome eyebrows. :lol:
:lol::lol::lol:
. Nearly deserves a poster, that :lol:.
For some reason, the guy Adam was doing the fake Polygraph test reminded me of Biff from Back to the Future? When he freaked out, he even acted like him.
:lol:. Had the same association. I just felt like I so recognized the guy but couldn't place him. I spent a good portion of that scene trying not to be distracted by that and just enjoying Adam (who might just have borrowed Sheldon's glasses for the scene...)
:lol:
I, too, am curious if Sid is still married.
Add me to the list. I'm at least now wondering how many times he's been married.
