Monday, January 5th, 2009
05.30 Z Rock
07.30 Raising The Bar
08.30 Law And Order
09.30 Crash
10.30 To Love And Die
01.00 Wings
Z Rock. "Episode 7" Pretty funny episode, as the guys split up for the afternoon to do various things: write a song, become a male model and study nursing.
The humour is gentle and flows easily over you. None of the characters are especially funny, but the situations they find themselves in succeed in raising a lot of laughs.
Raising The Bar. Episode 6. "Hang Time" Relentlessly downbeat episode. And all the better for it.
An innocent man takes a plea on a crime he did not commit, but nobody has been told that the 'witness' to his crime has died a natural death. Meanwhile, a couple who like to let their rage out find their marriage under unwelcome scutiny. By the end of it all, one innocent man is going to prison and another innocent man has committed suicide rather than spend seven years without the wife he loves.
Law And Order. Season 19, Episode 1. "Rumble" A mob brawl results in three deaths and McCoy opts to try them all as terrorists.
Superb opening episode to the 19th season. It has even more teamwork between the regular characters than normal, and even finds time for lots of character conflict.
On Law & Order?!
Strange but true (and wonderful). McCoy butts head with Lupo and Cutter. Lupo gets to walk away from McCoy but Cutter has to walk into courh and argue a case he does not believe in. Great stuff.
Crash. Episode 1. "Crash" Incidents in the lifes of many different people in many different locations.
Odd, chaotic piece of television. Think of it as Boomtown without the heart, or High Incident with lots of not-nice characters.
Except for the occasional reference to race there is nothing much to tie any of this together. So, as it jumps from person to person to person, it can be a bit jarring. It's quite a relief when, by the mid point, some of the characters we've seen before re-appear.
To Love And Die. Episode 1. Silly fun.
An adorable young woman tracks down the father she never knew and discovers that he is an assassin for hire. But, you know, a nice one.
It's all a bit silly and all, plus Shiri Appleby is adorable, so it's not exactly something to be taken very seriously. Yet, it doesn't quite manage to be as light as Burn Notice or In Plain Sight. It tries to be, yes, but it never quire reaches those heights. Shiri Appleby isn't miscast, exactly, but she's certainly cast against type. And sometimes it doesn't quite work.
When it does work, which is most of the time, the pilot is a lot of fun.
Wings. Season 2, Episode 6. "It's Not the Thought, It's the Gift" Brian and Joe compete to get the better gift for Helen's birthday.
Delightful, very funny, clever, sweet.
This is a great episode because - to drive the story - they don't have to create any false, or extraneous, elements. It's completely character driven. The whole episode revolves around the two brothers efforts to out do one another, and Joe's secret feelings for Helen. At several times during the episode we cut away to see film footage of the three characters as children. Playing at a birthday party of Helen's. This isn't just a gimmick, however. It gives everything that happens more depth and meaning. Some of the clips are quick and funny, but the ones at the start and the ending are somewhat sweet.
And the ending - where Helen sees something important in the old home movie - is clever. And very romantic.
Highlight? Law And Order (great regular characters)
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Z Rock, Raising The Bar, Law And Order, Crash, To Love And Die, Wings
