Haven't been able to comment before now, and it's interesting to see what still stands out about the episode days later.
B. Ever so grudgingly. And only because of Kathleen Munroe.
Seems lots of people liked this ep. Me not so much. I liked parts. I wanted to like more. Disappointed. The main case felt purely incidental to absolutely everything else, and the Everything Else lacked focus and unity.
I thought the opening was great, loved it, and the shot pulling out from the barge with Stella was just a great sequence. I also liked that New York featured strongly in the episode. Happy when it really feels like the show's world is anchored in NY. The usual stock and cut shots tend to blur into being taken for granted. But this started with a scene and premise that was new and not seen before.
The case quickly became very meh & mundane, and took a back seat. It certainly wasn't strong enough to be a solid surrounding framework to encompass everything else TPTB packed in. The resolution of the case was uncomfortably skincrawly, and all I could think was poor Mac/Gary, having to keep a straight face and a sincere, even expression while reassuring the woman, "no, not at all." Um, sorry, but yes, creepy. Hugely. There's good acting for you, pulling that off.
The episode actually felt more like a series of scenes to set up things we will see more of down the road. Flack's sister. Flack an' Angell. Stella and the ongoing Greek odyssey. Adam being Adam and integral to how the labs function to solve cases, no matter what TPTB throw at him to keep cases quirky and interesting.
I think the star of this episode was Kathleen Munroe as Samantha Flack. I'm finding that in eps pre-5.09 I'm having to give kudos to TPTB much more than I expected. They've had some solid shows this season. Well, til now really. But they not only created a great character to help flesh out Flack a little more, (and that in itself is overdue and a great thing), but they recognized how good the actor is and how well she and Eddie click as struggling siblings on screen, and boosted her involvment to be more recurring than originally planned.
I think Eddie was great, but he really had the harder straight role, playing to his sister's downward spiral. I think Samantha is a gift role for a recurring actor. I think the role is good for the show too. The show's had characters for love interests and internal office conflicts, but they haven't had anyone quite like this. Not even Louie really compares. Reed sorta. Samantha's a very well developed character for a recurring one, and ultimately not dependent even on Don to have a background story of her own. And I do think that strength and depth to her character are a great complement for Don to play off of too. I hope we will see more of Samantha and Don.
I think the thing with Stella and the Rat etc, was a nod to profile and continuity about the Greek coins and Diplo-immunatic Scar Dude, and keeping the denoument episode from being a complete left field revisitation. Makes little sense to send a Rat to a detective as a warning unless the Fisherman took more from the body, or somehow left a record of something else he came across or witnessed, for example. Who knows. What I'd be willing to accept is that it's a personal case for Stella that she works on back burner, and that it was mostly a way to set up Stella for Breaking da Rulez and running counter to how she's previously been portrayed. We'll see how the TPTB Continuity Keiblers knit this together, and why they bothered to have it here. Felt like a scene soley devoted to stringing this along until the next big Encounter for Stella. At least a possum didn't throw her down a set of stairs or something. Still, I liked the Rat Fisherman, and in a way I'm glad he's not just been forgotten. Mmmm. Ratmail. The guy shoulda sent the pizza too. He wouldna had to pay for the delivery.
As for Don and Angell.... (BTW what the hell is her name? Jessica? Jennifer?) well... just uh, ......dammit. *Sigh* Wtf was that? :vulcan: Whatever I thought I would have been happy to see develop between Flack and Angell, that final scene was odd, perplexing and vaguely unsatisfying. What a throwaway afterthought of a moment there. Yes, perhaps it was to suggest they've been an item for some time now and the interaction we're gonna see with them has skipped over prelims. But with their previous chemistry in mind, their prelims coulda been good. Skip right to a rather oddly placed afterthought of a snog instead. There are a whole slew of deliberate decisions made and people involved to stage a scene like that, and all I could do was go :wtf: eh...wha? um, why?
No relationship should upstage an ep or the show. And no, this scene didn't. It didn't take away from the scene with Samantha in her meeting. It didn't take away from Don brooding and embarking in the pedestrian equivalent of Danny riding emocycle thru city streets. But it definitely did stick out. Another odd disjointed moment in a very fragmented episode. I hope that whatever else is written for them is not so indifferently tossed out.
I like Angell. She was always independent and snarky enough in her own right. Fit with the spirit of NY and the show. Fit with the precinct side of things along with Flack. From that scene in the squad car of Flack busting his game out on her, I also thought these two had chemistry, and I don't mind them being together. One regular character, one recurring. Good balance. But I hope she also continues to get some separate material more along the stronger lines of last week's episode, and will continue to be used as a secondary detective character even while they're together, and not just seconded to a romance. Mind you, there was little that was romantic about that scene. Maybe we won't hafta worry about sacharine so much with these two. I hope for that too. Sadly little present in that scene that sparked as much as previously either though.
Oo.
Adam smoking root veggies. Another great moment between him and Stella. (Why bother with a rat in a box when you can have moments like this instead?) Nothing like putting your 'erb of choice in a ...spent cartridge casing (?!) and then that in a root pipe. Cos, ya know. That's how I shop for all my produce. How can GSR enhance this flavour & experience? And doesn't everyone travel with cartridge casings in their pockets along with loose change to indulge? :vulcan: That's a new one on me. I wanna know what TPTB were smoking when this came up... :lol:
:shifty:
Still no sign of Danny's glasses. Maybe Horatio pilfered them, wanted to look smarter. But Danny managed to hide his sunglasses at least. Puts Horatio beyond suspicion I suppose. Maybe TPTB pilfered them. Wanted to look smarter??? Kidding, kidding.
They must have just wanted to try and soften the blow when they gave Carmine the script for 5.09. Soft and
blurry. Take the edge off the whole thing. ....Seriously TPTB, call Props. Please? They got glasses.
Lookit Lil Lindsay gettin' the all the screen time and even the Mental Percolation steady-cam Swirl montage. Meh. Evs. She wasn't atrocious this week, but memorable only because they gave her so much screen time, not for standing out by anything she did with it. Sheldon will stick in my memory far longer for two simple words than she will despite all the time she got.
Um, Hawkes? Midnight ...Schnack?? Methinks Sheldon's been into da scooby snacks. Or perhaps smoked a few in a turnip bong.
Would also explain his lack of focus and playing with the skull puzzle pieces while Sid da Man was trying to talk. Doesn't everyone love Sid's stories? But no, the Creepy Place was reserved for the guests this week, so he didn't get too much to do, and Hawkes' focus wandered.
The whole episode lacked focus. Some great moments. But they were moments. The whole was not greater than... yada. Ya know.
