Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
05.00 Better Off Ted
05.30 The Good Wife
06.30 Hunter
07.30 Barney Miller
02.00 Space: 1999
Better Off Ted. Season 2, Episode 5. "The Great Repression" Sexual Harassment.
Lots of goodness here. As usual it's very funny, and - as usual - it's a dead-on satire on the corporate world. Andrea Anders has some great scenes in this one, running around sexually harassing everyone in sight. Delightful.
The Good Wife. Episode 11. "Infamy" Two cases: TV guy & a divorce.
Part of the fun of watching The Good Wife is sitting down and wondering what form this week's episode will take. No two episodes are structured the same, and this one is yet another deviation. Alicia takes more of a back seat than ever before, and all of the regulars get quality screentime. Will and Diane, who were ignored at the start of the season, are front and center for a lot of this episode. And it makes the show a better show, even though Alicia is still the character we care about most, because "The Good Wife" of the title isn't the only strong/interesting character on display. Will fascinates me. I like him, but I don't trust him.
This show always reminds me of The Guardian, but this one was even more like The Guardian than usual with Alicia being pulled off one case (one that meant a lot to her) and placed on another. Even worse, for Alicia, she wasn't needed on the other one. Not really. She was there for who she was, as a bargaining tool. And a very useful one, as it turned out. Great to see Zach Grenier and Jessica Hecht on the show, by the way, as they are two of my favourite performers. It was an interesting storyline. Firstly, on it's own merits, it was an interesting tale of a marriage coming to an end. Then, as part of the show's overall story arc, it was full of nuggets of interest. Finally, it was interesting to see Alicia being completely impotent in a storyline. She, as a person, really contributed nothing. She was being used by everybody at the table. Yet, much to our delight, she basically came away as the only winner.
All along I've loved the way this show has used Alicia's kids. Making them privy to information that Alicia does not have, and making them part of the conspiracy. This episode sets in motion the events that will bring that to an end, I fear. Alicia has been told that stuff has been posted to her apartment. She's asked one question about it. But I'm sure that that will not be the end of it.
Titus Welliver and Chris Noth get great screentime together in this one.
Hunter. Season 3, Episode 8. "Love, Hate and Sporty James" Witness to a killing.
Not much Hunter/McCall in this one, but Sporty carries the tale pretty well, there's a quick appearance from Jack Bannon and the story is very good.
It's one of those stories that Hunter does really, really well where the character behave in interesting ways and propel the events in unexpected ways. It's also an episode where we know more than our heroes, but they do a damn fine job of putting the pieces together.
When Sporty James (who is a semi-regular on the show) follows some hoods into an alley way he witnesses a murder and decides to make some money off the back of it. This says a lot about Sport and, indeed, a lot the world that he inhabits. As events unfold, we get to meet his girlfriend and a friend of his, trying to help his buddy by keeping his location a secret. It's an interesting world they inhabit, where everybody knows everybody and everybody knows somebody who is connected - somehow - to the world of crime. McCall even gets some good lines about it, as she drives around town, wondering who all these people are, where they come from and where they disappear back to?
Where indeed? One, at least, dies in the course of this story. Sporty sends his lady into the lair of the bad guy to make a deal for him and, next morning, her battered body is found in an alleyway. Nice work from Garrett Morris here, as Hunter and McCall take him the bad news of what's happened. Most of the time Sporty comes across as a one-dimensional supporting character but, in this tale, we really do get an insight into what makes him tick. The script doesn't judge him, just lays him bare. Flaws and all. He's greedy and selfish, doesn't really have much of a moral center, and his irresponsibility leads to the death of a woman. In the end of the tale, Hunter and McCall are sidelined and Sporty gets to go one-on-one with the mastermind bedhind everything. Usually 80s cop shows use moments like this as an excuse to have the hero show up and be the voice of morality that allows the wounded one to make the 'right choice' and lower their weapon before taking a lift. Not on Hunter. Here, as soon as Sporty gets the upper hand he shoots and kills the man who's been ordering deaths all along. The script allows just the right amount of weight afterwards, as Sporty thinks about what he has just done.
But he gets away with it. And, it is strongly implied, he gets away with a million dollars of the bad guy's money, too.
Barney Miller. Season 2, Episode 6. "The Arsonist"
Solid, unspectacular episode. Much is made of Wojo being late, from being out on a date, but nothing ever comes of it. Fish is depressed over his years on the police force. Much is made of that, too, but none of it goes anywhere. It just is.
One thing the episode does really well is paint a picture of the city. A store owner appears a couple of times and, we are told, his store is regularly robbed and vandalised. It's the price he pays for living/trading in New York City.
Space: 1999 Episode 10. "Alpha Child"
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Better Off Ted, The Good Wife, Hunter, Barney Miller, Space: 1999
