PTR Senior Staff Writer
Since I've been completely bowled over by real life this week, I'm dreadfully behind on recapping. Sooo, in the interest of time, space and the final frontier, I'm going to wrap it all up in this post ... and borrow a page from Editor-in-Chief TVFan's "The Good" / "The Bad" Bones write-ups.
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The CloserThe Good: Brenda Leigh Johnson has a history of protecting Sergeant David Gabriel. She also has a history of not taking lightly to other departments butting into her business - whether they have the right to or not. In this week's episode we got both. When Gabriel found himself in an odd mess of wrong place, wrong time, thought-I-saw-a-one-armed-man scenario, she clicked into her protective mode once again. And when Mary McDonnell's Capt. Sharon Raydor, head of the Force Investigation Division (FID), begins investigating Gabriel ... well, that went over like a lead balloon making for some FANTASTIC antagonistic chemistry between the two in-charge female characters. That said, I've always felt BJ's relationship dynamic with Gabriel was one of the show's strongest - there were a couple of eps las season ("Ruby") where Gabriel lost it, and it was only BJ who could really square him away. His botched relationship with Detective Daniels was also something BJ warned against, tried to steer him in the right direction. And yet, that leads us to ...
The Not-So-Good: ... not liking "repeat" kind of storylines whereby it feels as if I've seen it before. Unfortunately, this whole thing with BJ protecting Gabriel has a been there, done that kind of vibe to it. Now, using it as a way to introduce the Mary McDonnell character WAS good; I'm definitely looking forward to how that plays out given the talent contained therein. However, I didn't feel wowed. And ... can I just ask why Jon Tenney's Fritz Howard seems to have been reduced to being a house husband and cat babysitter? I guess that is going to change with next week's ep, but I find myself being a little less-than-impressed with his reduced screen time. Then again, that's just MHO.
New episodes of The Closer air Mondays at 9 p.m. on TNT. For the scoop on the series, head on over to the show's official site.
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Raising the BarThe Good: The case, which involved determining whether an attack by a group of African Americans on a gay man constituted a hate crime - even when said gay man had somewhat of a history provoking people into confrontation. I have to say I really wasn't sure how this was going to go; and, the fact that one African American man from the group WAS convicted even though he was not the one who actually assaulted the gay man had me thinking about our legal system in a way I normally don't. Then again, this show makes me do that quite a bit - which is a good thing. And ... can I just say Judge Farnsworth rocks? He's so neurotically brilliant that I forget there even is a Judge Trudy Kessler. I have to say his interactions with Jerry are far more interesting to watch - almost like a chess match vs. a bullying contest (which seems to be Kessler's MO). Button anyone?
The Not-So-Good: None.
New episodes of Raising the Bar air Mondays at 10 p.m. on TNT. For the scoop on the series, head on over to the show's official site
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Deadliest Catch
Good Juju: The Wizard's Captain Keith finally caught a break this week, stumbling upon some serious crab and getting back to doing what he does best: fishing. Given the last two weeks of PTSD, it seemed he was due for some good juju. How long it will last will be anyone's guess. However, note to Keith: don't ever do that tarp nonsense again.
Bad Juju: Last week, I wondered what the odds were for the Cornelia Marie to actually make it into St. Paul before being frozen in place by the fast approaching ice pack. Turns out they DID make it, but not before Captain Phil blows an engine ramming the ship THROUGH the ice pack TO make it so as not to spoil his entire load of crab. After five days of being frozen into the docks AND $67,000 in repairs, that circulation pipe leak from last week seems like child's play now, eh? I'm not sure this is the Cornelia Marie's year, and I kinda agree with Phil that it seems the ship is being held together by band aids and crazy glue. Just me?
Did You See My Gear?: The Northwestern's Captain Sig finally lost his gamble fishing so close to the ice pack. As in, it moved in quicker than expected and almost swallowed his gear. I don't even know how they managed to salvage the pots - when the buoys are barely visible, dragged three miles from position. Not to mention having to make sure the hook line doesn't snag on the ice when they DO retrieve the pots. Seriously, these guys pull off what seem to be the most miraculous things to us, the average viewer, but of which for them is just a normal day at the office.
New episodes of Deadliest Catch air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Discovery Channel. Visit the official Deadliest Catch Web site for the latest on the captains and crews of the Northwestern, Cornelia Marie, Time Bandit, Wizard, Early Dawn and North American and the new boat, the Incentive. You can also catch up with Deadliest Catch folks on Twitter: fvnw_erin / CaptPhilHarris / northwesternpat / NorthwesternPR / captjohnathan / northwesternsig / DeadliestCatch (which is actually the Cornelia Marie) / DiscoveryChPR.
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Saving Grace
The Good: Grace seemed to pull a Brenda Leigh Johnson this week in that she kind of went pseudo-undercover in an alcoholics anonymous group (irony?) to find the killer of one of the group members seeing as no members talk about each other or what is discussed in group OUTSIDE of group. Soooo, she befriends one gal, a former sponsor, does a pretty good impression of being a fall down drunk (not a stretch for Grace), and manages to fool said woman into confessing who did what. She also seemed to have no qualms about letting the woman GET DRUNK to tell her this. Hmmmm. I kind of thought it was genius, but probably bordering on unethical. Like, something BJ would do. And ... how about Rhetta? Awww. So bummed she's got to sell her farm. Still one of the best relationship dynamics on the show is Grace and Rhetta, not to mention the ever blossoming partnership between Earl and Grace.
The Not-So-Good: Ham's obsession - make that addiction - to Grace, which thankfully is only being spoken about and NOT acted upon of late given Grace has got other things on her mind. Seriously. Get a life, Ham. Sitting, staring at your phone, hoping she's going to call makes you look like a goob. And this is Grace Hanadarko - she isn't going to be settling down with you any time soon. I've really come to kind of loathe this relationship (gee, you couldn't tell, right?), especially as Grace seems to have turned such a big corner in accepting her role alongside Earl. Ham seems like yesterday's news, and I'm afraid Kenny Johnson is playing it too much on one note for me. Half the time I think the character is drunk, when in fact, he's just slurring his speech around as if he WERE drunk. And the smothering/stalking thing has got.to.go. They need to write in another girlfriend for him or something.
New episodes of Saving Grace air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on TNT. 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.
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Royal Pains
The Good: Let's just call it everything. Again. I am consistently enjoying nearly every aspect of this show. And can I just get another Amen to the aerials?!?!?!?! The shots are just spectacular. Anyhoooo, it was good to get to see Divya get out on her own (as it were) and handle some things without Hank's supervision. Seriously, she is the BEST thing to happen to him. And she can tell Evan to stick it where the sun don't shine (thank.God.). So can Boris (let's get an Amen for Campbell Scott who is just so quietly powerful in his role). The main patient this week was interesting, having what I'll call and almost-stroke where she lost her memory and had to be administered to in a short period of time to avoid permanent damage. Again, Hank to the rescue, which for me, doesn't play overly cheesy. I even liked the throw back to the fact that he was having to deal with the fact his now defunct wedding date arrived. He confessed to Jill - who seems to have had her own failed engagement.
The Not-So-Good: Evan. Seriously, shut.the.frak.up. This is no disrespect to Paulo Costanzo, but I'm starting to have Trust Me flashbacks whereby Tom Cavnagh's Conner would just ramble on ridiculously - bordering on mumbling - to the point of overkill. We get Evan is supposed to be annoying, pushy, press Hank's buttons, possibly get everyone in trouble by his cockiness. But every other scene? It's starting to detract from the other characters, who for me, have become far more interesting. Evan seems almost like a cartoon at times. My advice would be to dial it down.
New episodes of Royal Pains air Thursdays at 10 p.m. on USA Network. You can join other fans on Facebook; follow Royal Pains on Twitter, or visit the official Royal Pains Web site for the scoop on the series!
7 comments:
The Closer:
I really want BJ taken down a peg or dozen. Mary McDonnell has my vote to do it.
Also her statement that the guy who was shot would get a lesser punishment as a state’s witness misses the bigger point. He will be acquitted because they have no admissible evidence against him. All they have are his self-incriminating statements… and they aren’t admissible since she got them by questioning him without his attorney and after she lured the attorney and/or parents away. Everything she got from him is illegally obtained and she has no case.
I agree that reducing Fritz to a cat nanny is a waste of his talents.
Raising the Bar:
Never watch it.
Deadliest Catch:
Never watch it.
Saving Grace:
I didn’t think Grace was believable at either the AA meeting or at her home.
>” I kind of thought it was genius, but probably bordering on unethical.”
I think Grace would have to look over her shoulder with a telescope to even see the border. I am more tolerant of her legal transgressions than BJ’s. I think this is partly because she isn’t smug about it and she seems to care about the feelings of others –something I am not sure BJ even knows exist and certainly doesn’t feel are important (and thus endith my BJ rants for this week).
I do like Grace’s persistence with her new charge. She even accepts the slow process in good form.
Ham is driving me crazy. He needs to get a life.
I really felt for Rhetta. I really like her character and her relationship with Grace.
I would like to see Grace’s brother the priest and see what his take is on Grace and Earl’s new project is.
Royal Pains:
The scenery is beautiful.
I am very happy that Divya had more to do. She is one of my favorite characters. I just wish it didn’t involve Evan, one of my least favorite characters on the show (and your comparison to Trust Me’s Connor is all to apt). I never saw them as a couple, and still don’t, but as soon as they started bickering outside the restaurant in the beginning I knew that was where the show was heading. Please, for the love of God, NO!
I have no spoilers, but I bet what we saw in Boris’s giant fish tank wasn’t a shark, but a large red herring. By that I mean, Boris is not up to something dastardly and/or evil. It is private, and maybe personal, but not sinister as it was portrayed.
And Jill is still extremely boring, whether or not she was married to Boris, and I see no attraction between her and Hank. (On the other hand, it is not as horrifying to watch as a Divya and Evan.)
Also this week’s main medical mystery wasn’t annoying like last week’s mystery about what was causing the boy’s symptoms and coma and that came across as a poor copy of House.
Royal Pains:
I liked the episode title: "TB Or Not TB" :-)
I don't mind the rambling. What increasingly annoys me, and this is on other shows too so I am not really singling out RP, is the talking over each other and one person talking and the other taking no notice scenes. Do people really do that? If you were trying to tell someone something really important, would you let them ramble on obliviously and let them wander off? No, you'd stop them and tell them.
You would think that Valentina (I was distracted at first because her name sounded so much like motorcycle racer Valentino "the GOAT" Rossi to me) would have understood that Evan was not good at Italian ("you're driving too fast") and would not talk at a mile-a-minute. This gave rise to a 3 people talking at once scene which got irritating real fast.
Jill got rid of the Saab? Did the production crew crash one of the two identical cars they had and they had to write in replacement? Environmentally speaking that's a massive backwards step? Is the change significant though? I know she said it was broken beyond repair but there was a reason she was running around in an old car.
I guess Jill's ex-husband has to be Boris. She was clearly reluctant to put a name to him so it must be someone Hank knows. It's not Evan or Divya, which only leaves Boris, or maybe Marshall Bryant (Andrew McCarthy) from the 2nd episode.
I must have missed something because I didn't understand the whole Valentina issue. Why did she run away? Why did her colleague try to cover for her? How is not attending a follow-up exam "defrauding the Health Department"? She had a reaction and was scared it might be bad for her continued employment, I get that. But the rest made little sense.
I didn't know that Hank was short for Henry! How does that work? I must have missed school the day they explained that one.
Generally I am enjoying the show though.
Looks like it is off next week, returning on the 9th July.
RichE.
Kathryn Morris UK
I am guessing the new Toyota (I think that's what it is) is a product placement.
The Valentina story details were a mess. The overall story line was okay, but how it was shown and the various parts made little sense.
Yes, it was a Toyota Prius.
I forgot to comment on the shark (liked the herring rouge comment by the way). I doubt it is just a throw away thing. Seems like a lot of work (the delivery pod thing, the basement tank set) for something to just be forgotten about. Though, of course, we know shows that quickly forget significant things...
RichE.
Kathryn Morris UK
I agree we will see the shark followed up on. I just doubt that it will turn out that Boris is committing a major crime, if it is illegal at all.
All the paying the shark deliverer extra for his "discretion" made it sound very shady. Boris mentioned a Katie and started to phone her when he heard Evan below him, do we know who that is?
Shame they messed up the projecting the of tank image for the high shot from behind Boris. It was the same image they used from the ground level, ruining the 3D effect.
RichE.
Kathryn Morris UK
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