Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
05.30 The Closer
06.30 Dexter
12.00 I Dream Of Jeannie
The Closer. Season 5, Episode 13. "The Life" Dead kid turns out to have been look-out for a gang rape.
Curiously uninvolving. The jump-cuts showing the victims bruises (at other times during the episode) seem a bit heavy-handed for this show. And they end up taking you out of the action.
Apart from that, it's a solid, but unremarkable, story. Logical detective work leads the team from person to person without surprises. Which is just fine.
The best bits, by bar, are all the little character moments.
Dexter. Season 4, Episode 11. "Hello, Dexter Morgan" Dexter frames someone else as Trinity, while Trinity's daughter makes her final play to please her daddy.
Superb ending, but - apart from that - this strong episode is not quite up to the amazing standard of the previous two.
The performances are amazing, with Courtney Ford and Jennifer Carpenter leading the charge, but some of the story elements fall into place too easily. Dexter's framing of the truck driver as Trinity is so, so easy and the resolution of the Angel/Maria storyline is likewise a bit too neat and quick.
Never mind... the ending is truly superb. Not since the Mayor appeared in the library on Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, have I been this impressed by the audacity of a bad guy.
I Dream Of Jeannie. Episode 3. "Guess What Happened on the Way to the Moon?" Tony and Roger in the desert.
A step up from the previous episode (it provokes laughter, more than once) but it's not close to the quality of the pilot.
Tony and Roger are on assignment in the desert, survival training. Jeannie keeps helping Tony, and ruining the training/experiment. And that's about it. Since they are out on location and a lot of dialogue is directed towards Tony's characterisation it actually feels more like a light adventure show than a comedy series. When Tony is on the receiving end of Jeannie's 'help' it always provokes amusement, but nothing else. As soon as Roger becomes a witness to something odd, the viewer cannot help but laugh out loud. Therein lies the show's successful formula: putting Larry Hagman into cover-up mode. Something he truly excels at.
Not much of that in this episode, so a below par outing.
Highlight? Dexter (ending)
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The Closer, Dexter, I Dream Of Jeannie
