By LillyKatPTR Senior Staff Writer
I love Kenny Johnson.
I do.
He’s our bud here at PTR.
He warned us these last couple of episodes of Saving Grace were going to be pretty dark.
So what I’m about to say I say in the nicest possible way: I am not buying the whole Ham-downward-spiral-into-hell routine (which will leave us in a suspended state of wonder until new episodes return next March).
As in, enough.
Get over it.
Get suspended.
Put on leave.
Forced off the squad.
Something - anything - to get the whole slobbering sweaty mess of nothingness back into some semblance of a believable character.
I get that he’s lost his bro’.
I get he’s gone crazy about it.
But it's crossed over into the unrealistic as far as I'm concerned.
As in, no police department in this day and age – of lawsuits, ethics training, diversity training, code of conduct training, CYA (cover your arse) training so as to be all kosher with themselves and the public – would let one of their own spiral so obviously and unabashedly out of control whilst on the job. It would be a political nightmare. A lawsuit magnet. My own father, who is a captain on the fire department, has written up guys for less than 1/8th of what Ham is getting away with at this point, so I don't buy three weeks of putting himself, the squad, the department and the public at risk. It's ridiculous - no matter how much of a state of grieving he's in. I can suspend disbelief and grant creative license only up to a point.
And to think Grace was like this for three years after the death of her sister?
Where is the mandatory grief counseling? Time off? Bereavement leave?
Is this how they do things in Oklahoma City - wild child cops can do whatever, however, whenever until they just go way off the edge of the map?
This whole nonsense actually makes me appreciate Lilly Rush’s silent withdrawal into nothingness after the death of her mother on Cold Case. Or even when her partner, Scotty Valens, was drinking and bonking Lil’s sister as some sort of compensation for the loss of his own girlfriend - Lieutenant Stillman stepped in and told him to get his stuff together. It took a couple of eps, and a botched detail of assignment, but wow … no naked bar romps, no passing out in PPD. Yes, he had a temper – especially after his girlfriend's death – but nobody enabled him to continue the behavior. The squad, literally, kept bagging on him to stop.
Which brings me to my other issue at the moment: Grace’s enabling of Ham.
I am so sick of her saying, I’m here for you. Let’s go get trashed. Let’s go romp around. Whatever you need, blah, blah, blah.
WTF?
Seriously?
She isn’t helping with this codependent bull. All she’s doing is making it worse, which is why I loved Ham’s other bro’ telling her to go take a long walk off a short pier a few eps back.
Then again, this is Grace Hanadarko we’re talking about. Sex and alcohol seem to be her answer for everything. But wow, talking about the blind leading the blind. Ham is never going to clean up with her around. Rhetta seems to be the only one going, “Uh, you know .. Ham’s kinda messed up.”
Gee, ya’ think?
Which leads me to my third problem.
Where the frick is Angel Earl? Aside from getting his eye punched out by Ham?
A one-liner to Grace to have her restore Ham’s faith in God to get him … uh … back on track isn't going to cut it. And duh, I would think he'd know that by now.
With all that said, I actually cheered at the end of last night’s ep when Ham told Grace he wanted a different partner. At least one of them finally wised up. Ironic it’s the guy without the Angel offering the advice. And as much as Grace has progressed, she’s still way off the mark on getting her own stuff together, which is perhaps the whole other side to this Ham nightmare.
Or the constant reminder.
I’d love to talk about the case, but seriously, I couldn’t even focus on it with the Ham-out-of-control nonsense.
But I did really enjoy the introduction of Detective Butch Ada’s sister (who happens to have Down Syndrome), and his mom (high-powered politico who gives him as much stick about going to the University of Texas as the rest of the squad).
Needless to say, when Christina Ricci joins the cast as Grace’s new partner come March, I’m going to be psyched. I need a break from the Grace and Ham Codependent Show.
Ugh.
Nice way to cliff-hanger-us 'til the Spring, though.
New episodes of Saving Grace will return in March 2009. You can watch full episodes of the show anytime over on the show’s official Web site. You can also visit EmbraceYourGrace.com to share your stories of how you embrace your inner-Grace.
1 comment:
I agree with you, at least to a point, about the OCPD being less understanding about Ham’s actions in real life than they were in the show. My limited defense is, first, that on TV they don’t follow real procedures. Second, his captain is friends with Grace and she got use to Grace’s behavior long ago and Grace can act like Ham did with less excuse.
As to Ham’s being over the top I thought the same thing at first. Then I decided his actions are only partly grief at the loss of his brother and in large part just a reflection of his normal crazy behavior. In the best of times, he is only slightly more stable than Grace and this is not the best of times.
Grace is doing what she can, but given her own screwed up behavior she is, as you said, a poor grief counselor.
Earl is not Ham’s last chance angel; he is Grace’s (and some other people). I see his involvement with Ham, including asking Grace to help Ham reconnect with God, as really just a part of his working with Grace. Therefore he isn’t really helping Ham very much because it isn’t his job to or maybe he knows that Ham is still functioning better than Grace, as evidenced by his talk with Grace about needing a new partner.
Also, I am pretty sure the woman who plays Butch’s sister played Corky’s girlfriend on “Life Goes On”.
I didn’t know Christina Ricci was joining the show. That is good to hear. I liked her since she was Wednesday.
I didn’t realize we were Grace-less until next March. That is too long.
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