Felt like a filler ep. I was ambivalent about it before I saw it and am pretty indifferent to it now.
It was wholly predictable. Pegged Neville was protecting one of his kids. Pegged the daughter as the doc on scene. Pegged Kathering Donovan as the one hiring the hitman. Pegged that she was the one who anonymously requested the files. I mean, there wasn't even any pretense of a shell game in this one, no obfuscation in this ep. No other cases. No other suspects. No nuthin. Were we not supposed to figure this out or did they just not care? I mean, leaking it to the net certainly didn't give a damned thing away :lol: not even the name of the kid, for those who care. BTW, isn't there an old song about Lydia the tattoed lady? An this is what Lindsay wants to name her daughter, after the spiel she gave us while losing it? :lol: Self fulfilling prophecy...? Kidding, folks, kidding. Lydia and Lucy are nice names. (Though I can't help thinking of my aunt, who has a cat named Lucy... :lol
If an ep's gonna be so directly forseeable, then it's gotta have something in it's realization to elevate it, and nothing else really did. It was just a straight up, even, no frills, mono-plot, analog WYSIWYG ep. No surprises. Lite. Zero Calories. Tastes great? Call it less filling instead. Another ep where my mind wandered. Like to the Telus marsupials buying the rights to use Teddybears STHLM to hock phones and service. Ack. Hadda happen sooner or later I guess.
We got a whole lottta casual Mac in this one, taking his first day off !Ever. Guess that doesn't trump a baby for Biggest Event of the Year, though he gets points for Least Likely, even if he still worked. I gotta say I did like the scene between him and Don. I couldn't help thinking Gary should do more books on disc or narrations or something, he's got such a unique voice. Heard tell of an article somewhere where Vanessa Ferlito said she often got distracted in her lines cos she got caught up in listening to Gary :lol:
Another ep where Sheldon and Danny seem like buds now. And I guess Mac and Don bonded over the Rangers game. It is nice to see them mixing interactions, but also nice to see Don calling Danny at the end of the ep. Sid didn't get much airtime, but the scene with Mac was fun, he's just always good. Adam got a fair bit of screen time, is always entertaining. Stella had little to do for the first half, more later on, and some heavier moments in the flashback. As for Lindsay, well, back to what I said in spoilers and elsewhere. For me there's a perpetual frission between what I think the writers intend to be funny etc with Lindsay and Anna's performances; they're never seamless. Felt the same tonight. *shrugs*
The flashback sequences had a nice treatment and coloring, etc. I eventually clued into observing that in the flashbacks Mac was wearing a dark jacket over a burgundy shirt; in the ep's present, Stella was wearing a dark jacket over a burgundy top. Dunno if that was significantly designed or if someone in wardrobe's just having a little fun. At least, I
think I saw that ... Imma more than a lil tired... :lol:
Dutton and Winningham were both good. While the ep was bland and predictable, what I did like was how it was resolved in the end, I like that the mother wasn't defiant, wasn't denying, was just struggling with the weight of grief. The scene between her and Mac was well done. Not unexpected that Mac would share his story of Claire with her, in light of him saying what brought him there was compassion. There was yet an odd parallel with Prey though, where Sheldon told Odessa the evidence was circumstantial. Mac all but told Katherine he had really only bits and pieces, but enough to rope together a case to prosecute her. I guess the writers opted for a no harm no foul way out here for both characters.
My favourite line in the ep did come in that scene though, Katherine saying something like "...I'm so ashamed that I let this consume me, ...I was so afraid that if I stop thinking about her I might forget..." That did hit very close to home, and was the first time anything in the ep moved me at all.
There was an interesting contrast in the scene with Mac and Neville. The truth didn't scare Neville so much as the Odds of what would happen if he came forward with it, because "we're not always so forgiving." Compassion was renamed common sense by Mac in that one, in his assurances no DA would pursue a case. It could be said that Maris being a hospital doctor is a way of 'paying it forward' instead of paying back, in context of a greater good. I think the only thing that may have truly caught me off guard in this ep was Mac,
...apologizing :lol: For anything at all. Was less impressive the more he explained to Neville, but still.
There was a nice visual transition from Stella in the interrogation room with Maris to Mac watching on the other side. No other comment here really. Just a nice sequence, and the lighting was gorgeous. I like the way they've been using and filming the interrogation room this season.
As for the baby. The periodic phone calls and the visits by various team members were fine. I don't really think sitting thru a labor scene was worth my time. Indeed it wasn't, I was doing dishes . My soap at least has a point.
Wasn't surprised Big Mac was made teh Godfather. Gotta say Mac holding the kid was cute, but it totally struck me being more than a little bit of Gary peeking thru there :lol:
All in all a low key ep, or mebbe I'm just tired and inured to the stuff that was a little more over the top. Did feel like anonymous filler. If I'd put off responding to this ep at all I'm pretty sure a lot of it would be forgotten by the time I get back here again.
C. Par for the season.