Midnight Caller 1.7 A hurried and contrived ending, but still a...

Midnight Caller 1.7

A hurried and contrived ending, but still a good episode.

• This one loses it’s way at the end. Everything happens too fast. The father-son moment doesn’t ring true and neither does the killer just stepping forward and confessing. Indeed, the motive for the killing is highly dubious. Even the script/dialogue doesn’t really explain it.
• But before we get to that final scene, there is a heck of a lot to enjoy.
  
• The story is good. The murder and the kidnapping are really just background action to the real drama: Jack using his show to go up against a powerful newspaper publisher who is trying to bury a story about his son’s arrest.
• Mykelti Williamson returns for his second of three season one appearances, and his character gets a lot of screentime which opens the story up. By using Deacon we get to see inside the newspaper, and get another perspective on the feud.
  
• The issues raised are genuinely thought-provoking. The idea that the newspaper would begin to ruin the reputation of the murdered woman is particularly good.
  
• Jack’s character traits/flaws are well documented here. Going after the man who just offered him a lucrative job says a lot about the guy. His willingness to shoot his mouth off, without knowing all the facts, also says a lot about him.
  
• Seven episodes in and, with scripts like this, the show has really established itself as wanting to tell intelligent stories.
  
• It’s also a show that looks great. The various night scenes, in offices and bars, etc. More than any other show this one really convinces you that the settings are real and that the hour is very late indeed.
  

8/10

Midnight Caller 1.6

Joe Spano is superb in this highly-acclaimed and justifiably famous episode. Pitch perfect in many ways. Difficult to watch. 10/10

Damn, Midnight Caller is SO GOOD.

Damn, Midnight Caller is SO GOOD.

Midnight Caller 1.5

• Trapping Jack in a bank hostage situation seems like such a lazy way to start a story, but it rapidly becomes a type of episode unique to this show. An episode with something to say.


• The guest performances from Matt Clark and Will Bledsoe are excellent.


• The juxtaposition between the actual event and the TV news portrayal is a bit too heavy handed to be fully successful, but the intent is so meaningful and sincere that it does a lot to make up for the shortcomings in the execution.


• Jack is perfectly in character here: butting in and generally being a nuisance.


• The closing monologue is particularly strong here. And Gary Cole is flawless in his delivery. You really feel that you are watching a special type of television storytelling here.

9/10

Midnight Caller 1.4

• Strong performance from the terrific Patti D’Arbanville .


• This is the first episode where Jack is basically a private eye, and the radio show aspect of his life is pushed the background.


• Those radio show scenes, however, are very good.


• There are some great Jack/Devon scenes in this episode.


• Jack and Jordan sleeping together is a bit of cliche, but the show handles it very well in later scenes.


• The assassin is the episodes sole weak spot. His attempts on Jordan’s life are all rather badly carried out, and are structed so that Jack can appear very heroic. Instead, they just make the assassin seem like an idiot. He can kill basically anyone, and kills several people up close and personal. But when it comes to Jordan his attacks are vague and ineffective.


• Aside from D’Arbanville, the highlight of the episode is Jack talking about his dead partner. Gary Cole is fantastic in those scenes.

8/10

Midnight Caller 1.2

Ed O’Neill, Yvette Nipar . Gripping thriller, with a couple of genuine twists at the end. Superb.

Jack’s strengths and flaws as a person/radio host are put on display here, and used to create lots of conflict with Zymak and others. In this, and in scenes with Devon, the show draws attention to flaws inherent in it’s own concept and deftly turns them into talking points, which makes the show more intelligent and interesting. 10/10

Midnight Caller 1.1

Moody, stylish, clever and sad. This is one of my all-time favourite pilots. Gary Cole and Wendy Kilbourne are given some great material and they both rise to the occasion. The story actually resolves/explains very little. It just throws many balls in the air and leaves them there. Successfully establishing a tone for the world these character inhabit. Jack is flawed, but (thanks to Cole) incredibly likeable. And cool. He’s a cool guy. 10/10