So. Sanguine Love.
Well, I'm certainly not gonna be among those who will like it just cos Carmine wrote it.
Nor I am likely to credit him solely on aspects I would count as a win for the people often overlooked, the art dept, dop, camera and lx, sound, scoring, visuals and post, all stood out to me. Carmine, who either lucked into or was gifted with Noberto Barba for his ep, gets his due along with his director for the good that was there, but he's not the only one. The rest get theirs too. Wish there was more good to go around.
Good: Style, visuals, music
Lacking: Content.
It was indeed a pretty picture. How many words it might be worth, well, beyond me to guess.
I liked a winter episode for New York.
I liked the b/w and photography motif, the palette, the muted colors punctuated here and there with splashes, the shots and visual points of view. (I think Wardrobe musta been delighted Estelle's boots got such attention in the opening minutes
). I thought that it was a nice touch that the mug shot at the end of Keith was also b/w (wif accompanying sound punctuation).
I liked the use of photography to introduce the victim, and the lapse photography motif right thru to the discovery of the body. I liked that Sid was used to introduce the Cult and the issue of pseudovampirism into the realm of a New York City homicide investigation. I liked that Sheldon got some decent screentime in an episode that wasn't written to highlight him. I personally appreciated the omission of Lindsay from another episode. I very much missed Adam. What can I say
. (Perhaps with having Carmine double up on duties, budget-minded kieblers nudged at having this be one of the shows Buckley and Belknap didn't appear in...?)
I think the scoring was very well done, and a nice change.
I thought it amusing that I'd done so well to avoid recent exposure to wampiric drek, and yet, an hour I was gonna sit down to was gonna be Sanguine. I was further amused in my oversaturation to be bombarded with commercials, regardless of channel, for the upcoming Wolfman pic.
I liked that Carmine seemed to take a step back and look at the whole of the show and the talented chess pieces he had at his disposal (not talking just actors here folks). It was an ep of NY, with characters and background filling their roles as detectives and lab personnel in an investigation. It looked a busy lab occupied with many things, with our focus on this one particular case. I think the episode also had solid guest actors, though neither they nor our own main roster were obliged to stretch much. Well. Beyond portraying believing in Sanguine convictions; portraying skepticism of them not so hard methinks.
I liked the casting of the father, I thought the actor playing Keith was very good, that the material for both was best early on and waned; I liked the guy playing the concierge; wish Carlo Rota had more to work with.
I do think the show made a concerted effort to make Vance a Worthy Adversary, but even with the gravitas, the careful, slow, deliberate crafting and revelation of the Sanguine, he didn't have substance, and I suppose I never bought him for a herring, red or otherwise. The tattooist didn't even qualify for consideration :lol:
I liked that, for the first half of the episode at least, we were spared the usual fx on zooms and processing and cuts and inserts. They did reappear later, but the first half had a very paced, near-serene, and stylized quality that worked well. All layers were fused. Even a scene with no music or fx at all, just the words (and a few wee mallets).
I think the ep did well where dialog and character interaction were concerned.
The doorman made me smile. Sid made me smile. Sheldon getting "here you go, doctor," and receiving a folder while in Mac's office, made me go "aw," and smile. Sheldon snapping "hey - my man..." made me laugh. The tattooist asking Flack and Sheldon if they were gonna get NYPD tattoos was fun.
The scenes of Mac and Sid were solid, very good and fun. Sid's "...don't give me that look..." made me smile. Mac's "don't waste my time" to Christenson Sr. fit well. The fact that there was a sanguine family named Christenson was vaguely and briefly interesting I suppose.
Flack's "you're not gonna bite me are you" was good, (and yes, made me smile), and while fun, Mac's "you are deeply disturbed, I'll give you that," was perhaps spoiled for me, literally
, but also came in a scene that was posturing both men and trying very hard to be Pivotal Point in the episode.
Carmine clearly knows the people he's writing, NYPD or tattooists or what have you. I thought he wrote for their positions well. Mac's involvement is what it should have been and also didn't overstep it, Flack and Sheldon had some screentime together in ways that worked well and was believable (and fun).
Similarly Danny and Flack, though I think the show should be careful in blandly relying on that dynamic; in some instances, the writers start to come across as trying to be cute, where the DF dynamic has always the most solid when it's effortless and unimposed. Carmine did pretty well here, but theirs wasn't a stand out scene for me as for others. Danny and Stella had a few quick scenes, good but essentially keeping things moving, etc. Sid and Mac had some good scenes together too.
Carmine was far less successful in creating a juicy story (so to speak). It was all just a bit ...thin. And even. Little sense of pursuit, no gravity to it, being a homicide detective seemed very sedate in this episode. If I thought it to comment on the daily grind of the NYPD I'd be happier for it. I think the bait and switch of developing the Sanguine aspect of the victim's life and keeping up statistics with the partner/spouse being the perpetrator was a less than terribly clever Twizt. Nor was it a mallet-free episode.
It was, for the most part, a linear story, with a focus on clarity, and did have a certain visual and auditory precision and elegance and ambiance, but the substance didn't benefit in the same way. If Keep It Simple Stupid was a motto, they managed, but I think they coulda pushed just a little bit more.
I think the nature of Estelle's killing by Keith seemed rather odd element, one somehow didn't fit the other, it just fit the plot device; there were also some ankh and ear issues. I also had Keith pegged. So I wasn't surprised they (finally) returned to him (forensically of course, franchise mandate and all, wouldn't do just to look at a piccie). But hey, it all sure did enable a nice opening sequence, the premise, and the opportunity to have vampires in Gotham...
Overall rather humdrum, another case, and even the investigation of a pseudo-vampiric cult couldn't infuse it with a sense of energy, or even suggest that someone could be on the edge of getting away with murder. The focus was on the puzzle, which was lacking.
In one sense, this is the opposite of how I'd have guessed a current CSI:NY episode involving Vampires might typically be portrayed, and I suppose I'm somewhat happy for that... :lol:
One of the best tips to come out of the episode was to ensure that your tattooist isn't also a Wampire. Unless you count that as a good thing of course.
So. Overall. Low key and deliberate is one thing, but even in dealing with the undead it might be nice to feel there's a pulse...
Call it slightly above average. Bonus points for visual style and scoring, which is what I'll remember of it most, dinged for thin content, vampires notwithstanding.
B- or a C+. Hmmm. C+.
