Sat, Mar 15th, 2008
06:00 Back To You
09:30 Hunter
Back To You. Episode 8. Another winning episode. The gang from WURG head to a funeral where - of course - misunderstandings abound. Meanwhile Chuck opts to spend some time with his daughter. Not that she knows who he is. Both storylines generate lots of laughs and this episode gives everyone - even the kid - a chance to shine.
Hunter. Season 3, Episode 3. Superb. One of the best-ever episodes. Hunter and McCall arrive at a murder scene to find two men: Ray Wise as the victim's soon-to-be ex-husband, and Kristoffer Tabori as the victim's client. As the story unfolds, these two are the only suspects and things are greatly complicated when McCall becomes romantically involved with the ex-husband. Is he falling in love with her, or is he simply playing her?
"Hunter" takes a standard cop-show premise (regular dates a suspect) and turns it into the best example I have ever seen of the story. By keeping things simple and low key, the writers make everything more honest and believable. With nothing to distract the viewer, it comes down to one thing: either Alex is guilty or he's not. And with Ray Wise's fantastic performance the audience is never sure what to believe.
Unlike the previous episode (where Hunter's behaviour seemed out of character) his callous attitude towards Alex and Dee Dee in this story makes perfect sense. Hunter doesn't like the guy and it never occurs to him to give his partner a shoulder to cry during her times of pain. His instruction to "Get your clothes on!" indicates his mindset about these kind of cop-suspect liasons: it's sex, not love.
The ending is wonderful. There are no over-the-top dramatics. Every word is played very real and very honest and it's very sweet and sad. Critics who think that "Hunter" is all about car chases and shoot-outs obviously haven't seen further than the first season and are missing out on great stories like this one. A+
Back To You, Hunter
