05.30 30 Rock
06.00 The Jury
07.00 Law And Order
08.00 House
12.00 Wings
30 Rock. Season 3, Episode 5. "Reunion" Another winner. The Liz high school reunion story is very funny and very clever. It confounds expectations, very nicely, when it reveals that Liz was the mean one at school. She didn't plan it that way, and she doesn't even remember it that way, but... she was mean to everyone and they hate her. Hilarious. Alec Baldwin pretty much steals the episode and it proves, once again, that the show works best when Liz and Jack are teamed up in the same plot.
The Jury. Episode 4. "Mail Order Mystery" When you tune in to watch The Jury, you are getting two stories in parallel. The story of the case-of-the-week, a typical murder mystery yarn with all the usual suspects, cops and lawyers. You also get the story of what happens in the jury room. This is a much more low-key storyline. But it always proves to be just as interesting as the flashbacks to the murder trial.
Marlyne Afflack and Jim Gaffigan are the two stand-outs among the jurors. They battle for most of the episode. In the twist-ending we learn that he was right all along, but she makes a much more convincing argument and is able to sway the jury. It makes for fascinating viewing.
Tom Atkins plays a man who may, or may not, have killed his mail-order bride. A lot of the jury deliberations are focused on whether or not he loved his wife, or whether she was just a companion that he bought. It's a thought-provoking story, and the ending - with the haunting music they always use in the final seconds when they reveal what really happened - is wonderful.
Law And Order. Season 18, Episode 18. "Excalibur" The show brings the eighteenth season to an ending with one of the strongest episodes ever. The case-of-the-week is good. A man murders his brother-in-law as a means towards getting back into the family business. He's also hiding a dirty little secret: he runs a prostitution ring on the side. And, in the second half of the story, this takes centre stage as Jack and the team discover that one of the clients is the governor (who has appeared on the show before as a political friend of Jack's). This is where the story heads into A+ territory, as we see Jack caught up in all sorts of political games as he tries to see justice done.
This is one of the episodes where the good guys lose. The killer pleads guilty, so that a trial is avoided, and it is implied that the governor will grant him early release after a few years. In the closing moments Jack and his team take stock of how all the witnesses are disappearing, or being taken care of, in sundry underhanded ways. It's a nice, dark, conspiracy-laden conclusion. I hope the show returns to the story of the Governor and gives Jack a chance to take him down.
House. Season 5, Episode 9. "Last Resort" The hostage-siege episode. With Hugh Laurie and Zeljko Ivanek in the same room (and a gun between them, too) you expect it to be a truly superb episode with great performances. Not so. It's actually a pretty weak, kinda dumb storyline. And all the acting honors go to Olivia Wilde who blows the two guys off the screen for the majority of the episode.
The patient is a jerk. And so is House. Watching them endanger everyone else in the room is pretty boring, once you realise that both of them are one-note characters in this little tale. I knew that House would eventually get the gun off the guy, and I knew that he would then give it back. It also made sense, early on, that the patient would continue to be a threat long after House did this, so that rendered most of the episode pointless.
Olivia Wilde, however, made the episode worth watching. Thirteen starts off not caring about her life and - by the end - she is pleading not to be killed. Wilde brings the character (and the audience) on a wonderful journey and is the only thing worth caring about in this mess of an episode.
Wings. Season 2, Episode 5. "" Kelly Connell guests as a guy who went to school with Joe and the gang and maintains that Joe was his best friend. Thing is: Joe doesn't remember him. Neither does anybody else. And the guy has shown up on Nantucket to get married and Joe is his Best Man. It's a slim idea, more sad than funny, and the laughs are thin on the ground. Lowell is the funniest character in the show and there is one nice twist when the stripper hired for the bachelor party remembers the guy that nobody else recalls. Nice. But not worth a half-hour of my time.
Highlight? Law And Order (the good guys lose)
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Mon, Dec 15, 08 - 30 Rock, Jury, Law & Order, House, Wings
