Issue # 5, 6-12 July 2008

Posted by AJ in TV Rewind.

Show: Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Episode: “Kissinger” (7×15)
You Can Watch It: Sundays at 9pm on USA

This week’s episode of CI encapsulated one of my worst nightmares: baby Einsteins. Three-year-olds taking Chinese language classes. Parents paying higher tuition for one year of preschool than all four years of college. The vomit on the bib—that’d be mine. Goren and Eames investigated the murders of several parents; all with children applying for admission to the same prestigious preschool (why is there such a thing?) Well, this “gateway to the Ivy Leagues” turned out to be more like a gateway to hell. Between the pressure of ensuring a youngster’s future and the demands of a beyond neurotic mother-in-law, one stay-at-home rich wife decided to take things into her own hands by targeting parents who were seemingly keeping her toddler from getting into Harvard. And the best way to apprehend such a crook is to pretend her backwoods roots are meaningless, tell her that no one needs a college education to get ahead in Richtown, USA anymore, all while gaining her trust and tricking her into believing you are her best friend. And then signing off the whole episode with a seemingly benign observation that cuts right to the soul of anyone within earshot (“They had kids, too.”). Yeah, that’d be Goren. Eames was babysitting. In the hallway.

Conclusion:
Score for awesome takedowns: Goren = infinity. Eames = -1. You know, for that time she tried to arrest Goren, but he was really undercover and she just wasn’t in on it.

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Show: In Plain Sight
Episode: “High-Priced Spread” (1×06)
You Can Watch It: Sundays at 10pm on USA

After learning about the stock market on Criminal Intent , USA viewers made a quick switch to learning about gambling while watching this week’s In Plain Sight . And we also got to see Mary cry. While getting reacquainted with her first WITSEC case—a pair of brothers who testified against a Detroit bookie—Mary found herself confronted with her daddy issues. Scott and Chris were Mary’s first assignment once she became a US Marshall. And even though they’d been in the program for over five years, Mary just can’t seem to stay away (plus, Scott is her mechanic and the only one in the entire city of Albuquerque who will work on her junk pile of a car). Because of Mary’s familiarity with the sickness that comes from a gambling addiction, it doesn’t take her long to figure out that basketball star Chris has gotten in over his head with local bookies. She also realizes that it’s up to her to get Scott to realize he needs to get Chris help instead of enabling his addiction. After Mary takes Scott to a Gamblers’ Anonymous meeting, we quickly realize that the issue hits a lot closer to home than just Mary’s sympathy for the Worley brothers. Mary’s own father disappeared (walked out on, was kidnapped and murdered?) when she was just seven years old after years of putting her family through hell because of his gambling. Of course, Mary saves the day and get Chris out of debt and nabs the bookie in question all while repairing the relationship between the brothers before there is anymore damage done because of gambling. But at the end of the episode, Mary is up at the podium sharing her pain and quite a few tears at the Gam Anon meeting. And you know what? Somebody told me this episode wasn’t a good one and it wasn’t worth watching. Seems to me like the writers are embracing something that goes beyond a simply crime show formula where it’s a new case each week. It’s called character development, people, and it’s going really well so far. Oh, and in subplot news, Marshall got reacquainted with an old case of his own—a headcase that is. He banged one of his college TAs and quickly realized she was a little too…adventurous for his liking.

Conclusions:
Marshall’s pathetic attempts to deny his sexual attraction and intense love for Mary are comical. And I want to hug Mary. I also want to be able to pull off Aviator shades like Mary.

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