I didn't like this episode. I didn't hate this episode. But I found little in it to tip the balance from utterly lacklustre to anything favourable. Mac was very apt last night: (a mind is a terrible thing to waste/) "So is my time."
Felt like a FrankenEppie. Cobbled together specifically to accomodate and begin the incorporation of Anna's pregnancy into the series. And the bolts in the neck showed. Pregnant small town teen, kicked out, and yet her parents are supposedly sympathetic people, so much so that Danny cracks and opens up to them, in light of Lindsay's pregnancy, at the mere question, "you got any kids, detective?" / "Well, lemme tell ya. Back in tha day, I used ta be a ball player. I used to have balls. I coulda been a contenda. Ohh wait. No, sorry. Um. See, it all started when I met this girl with a fishing rod and a knife..."
Pregnant teen tumbles down some stairs, they cut her open, take the baby, stash the body in the trunk. Dump the car. That's never been done before. Then, ooh, twist, the teen was actually gonna give up the baby, carry it for an infertile couple, and a doctor was gonna help set it up. But then girl changes her mind. WTF. Was this eppie a leftover from the writer's strike? :wtf: Oh, and hey. What a perfect scenario wherein Lindsay can reveal she's pregnant. Lots of added gravitas and coat-tail coasting profundity available. And Danny will be telling the whole story. Wahoo. :vulcan:
OK, so Danny's gutted in his own way and spilling to Grandma and Grandpa. Talking in great detail about the investigation? Cause detectives do that all the time. Basically he served the purpose of explaining what's apparently been going on between DL in order to accomodate the Shift of the season.
Apathy. Case was re-tred level stuff. I felt no real sympathy for Lindsay, except perhaps for the general notion of an unexpected pregnancy. Felt no real empathy for Danny aside from the same, despite his narration and p.o.v. Felt no real satisfaction from how the introduction of the pregnancy was handled. Was not in the least mollified that we're gonna hafta sit thru more of this gack from time to time as the season progresses.
It started out as an interesting premise, Danny talking about his past to anonymous listeners (gesturing alot. Christ but I think Carmine's hands got more screentime than the mother-to-be). It didn't stay interesting. I'd love to say Carmine did what he could with it, but I can't really. (If he did, it wasn't up to standards I've come to expect, or perhaps take for granted). I think both the material and, in a rare instance, the performance were kinda flat, and without levels. Curiosity about who he was talking to, why, and where, supplanted anything he was saying after a round or two. All those curiosities answered certainly didn't improve my opinions of the episode. Mostly I found myself really wanting to shake Danny outta whatever PTB haze he was obliged to be under. Not a great night for Danny or Carmine. Just wasn't.
Moreover, Carmine seemingly all but made to be TPTB's apologist speakerbox here for DL, Lindsay, and Danny, was one of the most Gibbs-Headslap worthy things I've sat thru of late. Musta been a bitter pill. No amount of spin from TPTB extolling the magnifantastiwonderawesomeosity of a CSI Baby can mask the lasting impact it could really have on the series, if only IMO. TPTB, your bolts are showing.
The annunciation? Clinic: Lindsay, runs. Danny, chases. (He chases and catches perps running hell bent but cant' catch the fly-fishin bowie knife wielding Montana? Oops). Lockerroom: Ultrasound. Dude comes in to take off his lab coat, triggering the obligatory discretionary pause in the Loving & Honest accusatory revelation. Lindsay. Runs. Again. Danny. Chases. Again. And then Lindsay turns from Danny to the facial reconstruction and recognizes the woman? That she had felt a sudden kinship and connection with at the clinic and exchanged numbers? Who was murdered and gutted? "I'm pregnant. I know you, Danny. I expect nothing. We should get back to work. Hot case. Jane Inna Box. Hey. Who dat. I think I know her." You. Have got. To. Be. Kidding.
So what was good? Redeeming elements were found in everyone else. Stella had some fun moments. "Let me see if I've got any change" was good. BTW, that was an uh Interesting painting in her office behind her. Was that always there? Nice to see little snippets like that, given her past appreciation for the arts, dancing, and now greek archeology and history. Huh.
Adam being bashful is cute. Adam being sweet on Stella is cute. Would love to see him get more time. His interaction with Stella is always fun, moreso last ep than this one, but his interaction with everyone else is also fun. Spread the Rosco love around more, I says.
Irish was great. Tru dat. And lookin mighty fine all casual there. As usual got some good lines. Eh, spartacus? Mac had a fun moment too in the interrogation. He looked downright chipper didn't he. Looked good on him. :lol: Noticed last week they gave Sid a haircut at some point. He was great, and I'm glad to see he got more screen time, and more to contribute than a typical autopsy. Yay Sid. Yay Hawkes too . Earned his CSI pay there. The two were good working together. But geez, if I had to dig thru compacted scrap covered in decomp juice, I'da been wearing a mask or something. Not great for delivering lines I realize, but come on. Not even a comment? Some reference? Thirty years and 4000+ cases means you can't smell anything anymore I guess huh. Yum.
*wincing sigh* > ...Danny's nite-time emocycle montage thru Nu Yawk. If I wanted that sorta cheese I'd watch another variant in the franchise. Was this signifying the start of the Tough Kid Beginning To Change? Take Converse sneakers and a Harley. Add Danny and a pained expression. Rather, continue the pained expression, the same one he's worn for most of the episode, one that became mirrored by some viewers. Add a curious choice of helmet. Shoot lots of angles. Set it to music. Oooo. Aaa..ack. (Warning: yet another pending gratuitous reference to that cold case, the kidnapping of Messer's Pair, some readers may be offended. Again). I can only hope Danny was roaming the city streets looking for any sign of his balls. Or his glasses. Or both. What are they gonna take next? Louie? Gone. Poof. Vanished. Reuben? Gone. Rikki? Referred to at least. Doesn't look good for teh Cold Case, or the latest theft in his personal property, given how this eppie went.
Dear PTB. Do Not. Ever. Resort to such an emontage. Again. Please.
With a cast as talented as you have at your fingertips and in light of the mostly strong episodes aired earlier this season, an hour like The Box was a terrible thing to waste. Try thinking outside it again. The Box was aptly named. Call the kid Shrodinger. The show is the poor damned cat. I guess we'll hafta tune in weekly to see if the poor thing lives or dies by season's end.
Whaddaya do.
ETA:
C- on a downward slope, for being lacklustre and so completely run of the mill. Case was poor. DL was less than stellar. Seen thru Danny's eyes, Carmine couldn't pull it up much. Would have been worse if not for the rest of the cast.
Felt like a FrankenEppie. Cobbled together specifically to accomodate and begin the incorporation of Anna's pregnancy into the series. And the bolts in the neck showed. Pregnant small town teen, kicked out, and yet her parents are supposedly sympathetic people, so much so that Danny cracks and opens up to them, in light of Lindsay's pregnancy, at the mere question, "you got any kids, detective?" / "Well, lemme tell ya. Back in tha day, I used ta be a ball player. I used to have balls. I coulda been a contenda. Ohh wait. No, sorry. Um. See, it all started when I met this girl with a fishing rod and a knife..."
Pregnant teen tumbles down some stairs, they cut her open, take the baby, stash the body in the trunk. Dump the car. That's never been done before. Then, ooh, twist, the teen was actually gonna give up the baby, carry it for an infertile couple, and a doctor was gonna help set it up. But then girl changes her mind. WTF. Was this eppie a leftover from the writer's strike? :wtf: Oh, and hey. What a perfect scenario wherein Lindsay can reveal she's pregnant. Lots of added gravitas and coat-tail coasting profundity available. And Danny will be telling the whole story. Wahoo. :vulcan:
OK, so Danny's gutted in his own way and spilling to Grandma and Grandpa. Talking in great detail about the investigation? Cause detectives do that all the time. Basically he served the purpose of explaining what's apparently been going on between DL in order to accomodate the Shift of the season.
Apathy. Case was re-tred level stuff. I felt no real sympathy for Lindsay, except perhaps for the general notion of an unexpected pregnancy. Felt no real empathy for Danny aside from the same, despite his narration and p.o.v. Felt no real satisfaction from how the introduction of the pregnancy was handled. Was not in the least mollified that we're gonna hafta sit thru more of this gack from time to time as the season progresses.
It started out as an interesting premise, Danny talking about his past to anonymous listeners (gesturing alot. Christ but I think Carmine's hands got more screentime than the mother-to-be). It didn't stay interesting. I'd love to say Carmine did what he could with it, but I can't really. (If he did, it wasn't up to standards I've come to expect, or perhaps take for granted). I think both the material and, in a rare instance, the performance were kinda flat, and without levels. Curiosity about who he was talking to, why, and where, supplanted anything he was saying after a round or two. All those curiosities answered certainly didn't improve my opinions of the episode. Mostly I found myself really wanting to shake Danny outta whatever PTB haze he was obliged to be under. Not a great night for Danny or Carmine. Just wasn't.
Moreover, Carmine seemingly all but made to be TPTB's apologist speakerbox here for DL, Lindsay, and Danny, was one of the most Gibbs-Headslap worthy things I've sat thru of late. Musta been a bitter pill. No amount of spin from TPTB extolling the magnifantastiwonderawesomeosity of a CSI Baby can mask the lasting impact it could really have on the series, if only IMO. TPTB, your bolts are showing.
The annunciation? Clinic: Lindsay, runs. Danny, chases. (He chases and catches perps running hell bent but cant' catch the fly-fishin bowie knife wielding Montana? Oops). Lockerroom: Ultrasound. Dude comes in to take off his lab coat, triggering the obligatory discretionary pause in the Loving & Honest accusatory revelation. Lindsay. Runs. Again. Danny. Chases. Again. And then Lindsay turns from Danny to the facial reconstruction and recognizes the woman? That she had felt a sudden kinship and connection with at the clinic and exchanged numbers? Who was murdered and gutted? "I'm pregnant. I know you, Danny. I expect nothing. We should get back to work. Hot case. Jane Inna Box. Hey. Who dat. I think I know her." You. Have got. To. Be. Kidding.
So what was good? Redeeming elements were found in everyone else. Stella had some fun moments. "Let me see if I've got any change" was good. BTW, that was an uh Interesting painting in her office behind her. Was that always there? Nice to see little snippets like that, given her past appreciation for the arts, dancing, and now greek archeology and history. Huh.
Adam being bashful is cute. Adam being sweet on Stella is cute. Would love to see him get more time. His interaction with Stella is always fun, moreso last ep than this one, but his interaction with everyone else is also fun. Spread the Rosco love around more, I says.
Irish was great. Tru dat. And lookin mighty fine all casual there. As usual got some good lines. Eh, spartacus? Mac had a fun moment too in the interrogation. He looked downright chipper didn't he. Looked good on him. :lol: Noticed last week they gave Sid a haircut at some point. He was great, and I'm glad to see he got more screen time, and more to contribute than a typical autopsy. Yay Sid. Yay Hawkes too . Earned his CSI pay there. The two were good working together. But geez, if I had to dig thru compacted scrap covered in decomp juice, I'da been wearing a mask or something. Not great for delivering lines I realize, but come on. Not even a comment? Some reference? Thirty years and 4000+ cases means you can't smell anything anymore I guess huh. Yum.
*wincing sigh* > ...Danny's nite-time emocycle montage thru Nu Yawk. If I wanted that sorta cheese I'd watch another variant in the franchise. Was this signifying the start of the Tough Kid Beginning To Change? Take Converse sneakers and a Harley. Add Danny and a pained expression. Rather, continue the pained expression, the same one he's worn for most of the episode, one that became mirrored by some viewers. Add a curious choice of helmet. Shoot lots of angles. Set it to music. Oooo. Aaa..ack. (Warning: yet another pending gratuitous reference to that cold case, the kidnapping of Messer's Pair, some readers may be offended. Again). I can only hope Danny was roaming the city streets looking for any sign of his balls. Or his glasses. Or both. What are they gonna take next? Louie? Gone. Poof. Vanished. Reuben? Gone. Rikki? Referred to at least. Doesn't look good for teh Cold Case, or the latest theft in his personal property, given how this eppie went.
Dear PTB. Do Not. Ever. Resort to such an emontage. Again. Please.
With a cast as talented as you have at your fingertips and in light of the mostly strong episodes aired earlier this season, an hour like The Box was a terrible thing to waste. Try thinking outside it again. The Box was aptly named. Call the kid Shrodinger. The show is the poor damned cat. I guess we'll hafta tune in weekly to see if the poor thing lives or dies by season's end.
Whaddaya do.
ETA:
C- on a downward slope, for being lacklustre and so completely run of the mill. Case was poor. DL was less than stellar. Seen thru Danny's eyes, Carmine couldn't pull it up much. Would have been worse if not for the rest of the cast.
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