Thurs, Jan 24th, 2008
07:30 Seinfeld
08:00 NCIS
09:00 House
10:00 Cupid
Seinfeld. Season 8, Episode 14. Laughs are few and far between in this lacklustre episode. Kramer sells Peterman all of his stories for $750 dollars which seems odd instead of funny. George finds a kid who reminds him of himself but, again, nothing particularly funny emerges from the idea. Jerry is crazy about a girl, but everyone else dislikes her. Good central idea. Lacklustre execution.
NCIS. Season 4, Episode 7. There is a wonderful scene in this episode where Ziva rushes forward to disarm a bomb, Gibbs tells the team to run for cover and... nobody moves. They just stay right by her. It's an understated moment. Nobody comments on it. It's not reflected in the dialogue or the acting. The camera angle switches for a split second to show everyone huddled around Ziva and then it switches back and... it's back to business as usual. It's one of my favourite things about NCIS: the central characters come across as a bunch of close friends who will do anything for one another.
Even aside from this stand-out moment, it's an especially enjoyable episode. Susanna Thompson appears as an Army Office working closely with Gibbs on the case-of-the-week. The sparks fly. And part of the fun is watching the rest of the NCIS family react to Gibbs liking somebody.
Speaking of liking somebody: this episode highlights two new sides to Tony. First off: we witness him off-duty with his girlfriend (Scottie Thompson) and apparently in love!! This comes as a shock to the viewer and is absolutely delightful. Secondly: Tony takes an interest in the well-being of the son of the victim and takes some time off-book to spend time with the kid and convince him to continue his college education. There's a wonderful exchange about this between Gibbs and Tony which, like most of the really cool things in this episode, is very understated. Blink and you've missed it.
Finally, the bad-guy gets away at the end. I love when that happens. It's gonna be fun when Gibbs eventually catches him.
House. Episode 6 (the third episode filmed) is about a schizophrenic woman being looked after by her teenage son. And it is as close as House ever gets to a weak episode, I suppose. The story is still strong, I suppose, and the mystery is as compelling as any of the medical mysteries every are, but the problem lies with House himself. He seems too nice. Too genuinely interested in the personal well-being of the patient. And too willing to believe in the goodness of human nature. Something he normally scorns and (eventually) disproves. when he behaves like he does in this episode he starts to look like every other TV Doctor and that is something that House most certainly isn't!
Cupid. Episode 6. This is the only episode of Cupid I had never seen. I missed getting it on tape during the original run, and had to procure it years later from a fan source. Even then, I didn't watch the darn thing. I saved it up. I had intended to watch it over Christmas, but I didn't have enough time so it would up here instead.
Wow.
Written by Rob Thomas himself, this is surely one of the best episodes. It's called "Meat Market" and - in it - the gang of regular characters go to a night club and meet various people, having various romantic adventures. Each of the guys has a different kind of night and each of the stories told is wonderful in its own way. Kate Walsh is a stand-out guest and we get to see a new side to Trevor as he puts romance on the back-burner for once and helps a lost teen make some important decisions about leaving Chicago and going home to her parents.
Also worth noting: Joe Flanigan joins the cast a new love interest for Claire and the final scene (showing Trevor's pain/sadness) is very touching.
Highlight? NCIS
Seinfeld, NCIS, House, Cupid
