Okay, judging by the comments, I realise most of you will hate me for bumping this episode back up, but seeing as it's only just aired in the UK, I feel the need to rant/discuss.
First of all, Haskell's dead. Hooray!
So last week we have Ray acting like Superman, leaping round LA looking for Haskell/Gloria and this week we have Ray going Incredible Hulk chucking him off the stairs. I hope the writers continue to relate him to superheroes next season, preferably the Invisible Woman.
Okay seriously writers, enough about Ray you have half a dozen other excellent characters to develop.
My first thoughts after the credits began rolling were of frustration. WHY can't we just get rid of this damn storyline now, I don't want to see it EVER again, also it pretty much ruins my desire for a Sqweegel season 12 opener. What I do like is that it might set up some interesting team interaction, I don't think a lot of the team are going to be able to look at Ray the same way ever again.
At first I was annoyed because I thought everyone apart from Sara was pretty much condoning Ray's actions, but then again I look back and think that there have been plenty of episodes where they've acted in favour of clearing someone. Ultimately, they don't have the evidence to say it was done in murder and they don't go out of their way to say it was self-defence. So looking back, I'm fine with it. It was like your bog-standard investigation type murder, only the case was pretty dull and obvious.
The only thing which really ground my gears was Brass going OOC, but if that sets him up for a promising (hopefully non-Raskell oriented) storyline next season, so be it. (coughSqweegelcough) He's been notably absent for a lot of this season.
I liked Ecklie and Henry/Hodges being out in the field, but I'd have liked to have seen more lab scenes to be honest, and Haskell's backstory had little interest to me. Felt a bit 'meh' towards Gloria in hospital scenes, although I feel bad for her I'm happy she didn't die.
My favourite scene was probably the locker scene between Sara and Greg. I'm not a Sandle shipper (or any shipper really) but I think the two have excellent chemistry and that's something I'd like to see more of next season. I particularly liked how Sara stood up for the "go with the evidence" analogy.
All in all, it was a bit average to be honest. I didn't think it was awful but it was far too reminiscent of For Gedda for my liking, and I never really liked that episode. I think the main good things which came out of this episode was Haskell's death and a bit of tension between the team.
Here's to a Raskell-free Season 12.
