Thursday, November 12th, 2009
05.00 Royal Pains
06.00 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
06.30 NCIS
07.30 White Collar
Royal Pains. Episode 7. "Crazy Love" Is Boris sick? Is Divya going to marry Raj?
The show still has a case-of-the-week, but most of the time this week is taken up with advancing the ongoing storylines. A sign of a show that's in good health. The case of the week is quirky enough to keep us interested, but the show - in a very short time - has created such complex lives for it's main characters that we are just as engaged by what happens to them.
I warmed to Divya very slowly at the start, but I like her now and I care about what happens to her.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Season 4, Episode 10. "Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack" which scares her and Dennis into trying to get fit, while Charlie and Mac enter the corporate world.
Typical Always Sunny insanity. The stuff with Dee and Dennis shows us, once again, how completely selfish and self-centered these characters can be. Priceless.
Some of the stuff with Charlie and Mac went on too long, but it was still solid comedy.
NCIS. Season 6, Episode 4. "Heartland" Gibbs returns to his hometown: Stillwater.
Great episode. Solid case-of-the-week story. Couple of twists at the end that really worked and made the story satisfying. An example of the sort of thing NCIS does really well.
But, what really made this one special was the casting of Ralph Waite as Gibbs' father and the final minutes of the episode and what it meant for Gibbs' character.
All through the episode we had flashbacks, as our hero remembered the various things that had happened to him in town in the Summer of 1976 (the Summer he left for good). We got to see him getting in a couple of brawls and we got to see him noticing, but never speaking to, a beautiful young redhead.
In the final 30 seconds, as he driving out of town, he stops at a red light. And we see a final flashback and... learn so much about the character. We learn where "The Rules" come from, we learn why he is called "Gibbs", and not "Leroy", and we finally see his first meeting with Shannon and understand - fully - why this woman came to have such a big impact upon him and why he misses her so much and never got over the loss of her.
I love it because it is such a romantic story, and I love it because it is a prime example of the clever, subtle, storytelling the show can employ. A 30 second datadump of information that leaves you with a better understanding of the lead character is remarkable in a show that has clocked up 117 hours.
White Collar. Episode 3. "Book of Hours" Neal dates Callie Thorne to get a valuable book back.
Solid fun. Predictable, but enjoyable. The show seems to enjoy teasing viewers by trying to make us wonder if Neal is gonna turn rogue. It's a bit lame, to be honest, but it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the episodes.
Highlight? NCIS (final 30 seconds)
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Royal Pains, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, NCIS, White Collar
