Orbert

I thought they said "Someone you know will die!" At first I figured it would be Nick, then when Wesley was unconscious on the couch, with the pills and alcohol both prominently placed, I figured that was it. Nope. Actually, nobody we knew died. I don't now whether to be disappointed that they lied to us, or disappointed that I fell for it. Things don't look good for Lucy right now, but she has a good TO; she'll be back and smiling when they resume in February, just as Bradford barely blinked when he was "supposed" to die. Oh well.

After Dex and Naomi had reached something of an understanding, I was reminded of the title of the episode, "The Other Woman". To Naomi, Dex was the other woman, the one who broke up her marriage. But Naomi finally admitted that she wasn't mad at Dex, she was mad at herself. Then at the end, I chuckled because Dex ended up in bed with Liz, and became the other woman in Grey and Liz's relationship. And I thought "Ha ha, the shoe is on the other foot!" but actually no, it's the same thing. Dex is again "the other woman". Unless it turns out that they didn't sleep together, they just slept together.

Been busy with family this week, so I finally watched this episode today. Bleah. Not fun, no feelgood, no happy. The writing has been all over the place this season. I rarely bother checking out writing credits of individual episodes (and this show is no exception), but I always figured that if it's not literally one person writing every episode, then at least there is someone at a higher level overseeing things, okaying the scripts and larger story/character arcs, keeping everything together. I feel like we're getting a bunch of stories and ideas from a team of writers with some half-decent stories and ideas, but there's no unifying force. The characters seem to act "out of character" half the time, which if you think about it, makes no sense. We just thought we knew them, but surprise, they're really like this instead. And next week, they'll be different again because someone else wrote the next episode. Did we even know about Paul before this episode? I honestly don't remember anything about him. And since I don't remember, I have to figure that they intentionally never mentioned him because they hadn't yet figured out what the situation there was going to be. We knew Cara was moving back in with Susan and Liv. I hadn't even considered that Liv's father was even in the picture. Divorced, separated, dead, I had no idea, because I'd never though about it. Oh, so he's here, but he's Tom Everett Scott, so he's probably only in this one episode. Ugh, I hate being right. He wasn't a character; he was a plot point. Someone else created to cause drama. Two stunt casts this week! Rev. Elias was William Sadler, "Death" from the Bill and Ted movies. With hair, and somehow less likeable than Death himself. Probably doesn't even play bass, either.

I think Audrey was mad at both of them and just deleted the messages without listening to them after a while. So when they actually tried to contact her to let her know that her father was dying, she never got that message. Even years later, if she saw a message from Madeline, she might still say "Nope, still mad" and delete it. It's a trope. So father passed and she never got to see him again or say goodbye, and in her mind that's Madeline's fault. Or if she really thought about it fairly, it's her own fault, since Madeline did try to contact her, but it's easier to just be mad at "the other woman".

I liked the "just collaboration" between Tookie and Bobby. Two characters who needed a bit more development, and they did it together and I thought it was well done. Fiona was a mess. Dex said that it wouldn't work because she (Dex) isn't the same person she was 10 years ago, but Fiona is. And if she's basically the same as she was 10 years ago, that helps explain why Dex was so off-balance around her. Whatever she felt 10 years ago, at least part of that came back and hit her, hard. I felt the chemistry from Dex, but the actress playing Fiona just wasn't good enough to really convey much more than ditz and confusion, so it was one-sided. But whatever; Fiona was really just there as a plot device and to help with Dex's character background. Dex was awesome taking out Clint, the stalker/non-stalker. I didn't care for the slo-mo as she disarmed him and the knife dropped, but it was very short and the move itself was expertly done, so I guess it was okay. I figured the manager Nick had something to do with it, but using a guy who clearly has some kind of issues was a twist I didn't expect. At least Clint wasn't actually evil and Fiona wasn't actually in any danger. Clint really did think he was supposed to be protecting her, which is what the creepy photo was all about. He was showing Fiona how he was keeping an eye on her and she was safe. Ewww. Lots of pairing up this episode, in various ways. Tookie and Bobby, Dex and Hoffman, Dex and Fiona, Grey and Liz, even Hoffman's brief interaction with Kara (Detective Lee) seemed to point at something, maybe. Just an observation. I'm still not sure what Ansel's deal was with dropping things. Obviously it was on purpose, but at first I thought maybe Grey had told him to do it, for some reason. When Grey told Ansel later that the cutlery might have been going too far, and they laughed about it, I took that as confirmation of some kind of pre-arrangement that Ansel took too far, just because he's Ansel. But it makes much more sense that Ansel was acting out, and the laugh was to let Ansel know that there's no hard feelings. But wouldn't the dozens of shattered glasses be a bigger deal than the cutlery? You can just wash the cutlery; those glasses are casualties. Edit: Oh yeah, the mix tape. Until music started playing during one of the scenes, I didn't even think about it. I did kind of like it, even though it was kinda dumb. So... both. I mean, that was the whole point, right? Sentient mix tape providing the appropriate soundtrack for whatever's happening in the car. Good for a laugh, though I can see why it would take some people out of the moment. But we haven't had scenes with Dex in the car recently, so no mix tape.

I forgot to ask. What was the deal with Gideon's house? They kept saying that that's the house from the very first case, the one that started it all, but I don't remember the house or the signficance of it. And they went there, but they'd apparently never been there before. What role did the house play in the first episode?

It's Jaya. She really doesn't want to get married, not now. Jaya's parents thought they should get married now that Rakesh is such a big-shot and things will be great. But Jaya and Rakesh were kinda freaked out by that because they themselves hadn't really thought that far ahead. In time, they might have come to that, or not. Jaya is also very career-driven and is doing quite well herself. But mostly, I think they got scared and that's how they decided that the fake break-up and then getting together on the down-low was a good idea, when anyone could have told them it was a stupid idea. Rakesh's solution was to propose. Get everything out in the open. We get married, but it's *our* idea, not yours. The problem is that Jaya had been telling him for days to just back off, trust her, let this day pass and we'll regroup, and he couldn't do that. Because he loved her. Out of all that, the thing that bugged me the most was Rakesh saying "Don't do this." Exactly the same words that Arthur said to Trish only minutes earlier. "Don't do this." Okay, we're supposed to see the parallel, we get it. But please, give the viewers a little credit. More than anything, Audrey wanted to see her father paint the place that meant so much to her. That's why she created the AI program, to paint in the style of her father. She fed it dozens of his paintings (or maybe it was hundreds). I finally got that; I'm not sure if we knew that that was what was going on with AI painting program, but I missed it. Anyway, I thought I was a genious when I figured that out, but before I could celebrate, it turns out a four-year-old kid could do it. He's five now, and you should see what he can do now! But the closure with Audrey and August's mom (can't remember her name) was good. That was indeed a genuine Season One feel-good ending. Since Jaya broke up with Rakesh, I knew Trish would be there, because "Don't do this" was going to work once and fail the other time. That's why they shouldn't have used the exact same words. I mean, I'm glad Trish came back, but in a way I didn't think losing both Trish and Jaya would have been such a bad thing, either. There are a lot of secondary characters on this show, and significant others of secondary characters are basically only there to provide drama for the "real" secondary characters (the dad, the best friend). Does that make them tertiary characters? Between them and the fact that any character from a previous episode can return, that's a lot of characters to juggle. I wouldn't mind them streamlining things to focus more on just Miles and Cara and the main point of the show.

I thought the CIA guy told Steve that he (Steve) basically had no choice but to go down and get her. If she stays, she'll end up dead one way or another, and with another agent confirmed dead, they can't protect her from the impending shitstorm, plus they think she did it anyway. The CIA was gonna take her out if the cartel didn't. The only option was for Steve to go down there alone. It was seriously convoluted, but I thought the gist of it was that Steve HAD to do it, so that's what he did. Yeah, he basically got her killed, but I was with him as far as going on the mission, even if it was basically suicide and he had no plan. He didn't think he had a choice. All he could do was tell the others to stay away because they'd probably end up dead, too, thus the order not to try and find him.

I don't think we're supposed to think about that, just be happy and get our feel-goods because everything turned out okay and not worry too much (or at all) about what could have gone wrong.

Maybe he invested in the company years ago, before its huge growth and subsequent stock price surge thanks to all the defense contracts. The stock would have been a fraction of the cost back then. They said he's sold it off and bought it back a few times over the years, but at that point it's just virtual money. The first time he sold it, he might've gotten 100x what he originally paid for it, and he's been playing with that money ever since. He was in a position to keep sending business that way, and no one ever put it together before now because it was through a shell company. Just a theory.

Wow, no one? We finally watched it last night. I suppose there's a question of whether or not it's "worth it" to watch a show once you know it's not being renewed. Any investment you have in the characters and stories, and any future investment, is wasted because you'll never see how the story ends. Or maybe it's because this show was okay but just not that good. I thought some of the premises were interesting, but most of the resolutions just weren't believeable or satisfying. Oh well. I liked General Howe. A career military woman of color and also a single mom? Pretty sure her life hasn't exactly been easy. General Ardmore of course was a dick, and once again Strait & Associates are able to beat him not by finding legal precedent or clever interpretation of existing but untested law, but by the bad guy doing something else bad and getting caught on that instead. Eight episodes and I think they're won at least three times by digging up dirt on someone/something.

Even though she was in the middle of a call, Nyla answered the phone because it was her lawyer. In fact, I laughed out loud because it didn't say his name on her screen, it just said "Lawyer". That way we'd know, because her asking about her daughter and custody and stuff would not have tipped us off, right? I think the idea was to show that her daughter is everything, so a call from the lawyer is important enough to answer even while at work. A misguided attempt to show how "good" her priorities are or something. The thing that bugged me -- and I know it's stupid -- was that her daughter is named Lila. Nyla and Lila. At least it's not spelled Lyla. I had a boss named Kevin once and his idiot son came to visit him at work and bother everyone. The kid's name was Devin. Kevin and Devin. Really, dude? (Yeah, I'm sure some people think that's cute. I admit that it's dumb to get hung up on that.)

I don't think we were given much about what Arthur and Trish were up to for a while. Mostly off camera, they apparently made plans for their new life together and obviously talked about some things, and apparently missed a few important things, too. We wondered what happened with the music store, and now we know that she loved it but sold it, but that's all. So without anything else to go on, all we can see is Trish having given up a lot for no reason we know of other than apparently wanting to be with Arthur literally 24/7. And since that was the plan, in her mind, she's pissed when Arthur backtracks on some decisions she thought they'd made together. They're both right and they're both wrong in some ways. But overall, I just don't think it's been written very well. All we get is the drama. Not a lot of feel-good coming from the Dad side of things these days. I wasn't sure about Austin. Pretty sure we were meant to not trust him, at least at first, but even by the end I had trouble with his... well, everything. The tough-guy persona, short sentences, gruff demeanor, how easy it is to think that there's probably something else going on. He always had Elena's best interests in mind, loved her, and clearly cared about Gabe as well. We never really saw anything to the contrary; it was all colored by that vaguely menacing vibe. But some guys are just like that. Maybe there's a message there about prejudging people. This week's "scene with more meaning to it than we see at first" (I'm still working on that) was Gabe on the steps of the halfway house. He wasn't just there to find the guy who attacked his mom; he was thinking about those bullies at school. The way he steeled himself up, he was ready to do what needed to be done. Maybe he's not ready yet to face the bullies, but he was not gonna let the guy who put his mom in the hospital off the hook. I'm not sure what he was going to do, and maybe he didn't know either, so it's best that they caught up to him in time.

That was my take as well. Bradford is one of most experienced and highly-regarded training officers, and he decided that regardless of what Grey said, Chen was not getting those short sleeves until he (Bradford) said so. Bradford was quite sure of himself, and Grey never questioned it. So while it may not seem "right" to us viewers, that's clearly how it works in this precinct.

I'm glad the team is back together, although it does seem a little dumb that they keep reminding us, out loud, that the team is back together. A little less realistic than usual, even for this show, to the point of stretching credibility. I guess they can't all be winners. Oddly (or maybe not), the thing that really stuck out for me was Arthur saying "Oh my God!" I've been around church folk all my life, and I've heard clergy swear before, but never actually take the Lord's name in vain. That's a Third Commandment Infraction right there. 15 yards and a loss of down.