Danielg342

Let's start with the positives. First, nothing says "this is a small town" more than an entire bar getting excited about the imminent hatching of some eagle eggs in the woods. For fans of SimCity, that sure reminded me a lot of Dullsville and their paint drying event, so I was happy to see the show really lean in to a storyline like this and give the episode some much needed levity. It was just great, all of it. Secondly, good to see Vince be protective of Bode with regards to Camden and set Bode's mind straight. I might have appreciated Bode being a bit more assertive and tell Camden, "you always told me to trust my instincts and that may mean going against orders, so, sometimes, I'll disobey you", but at least the show is recognizing Camden may not be the best influence for Bode. Thirdly, Levin Rambin was great again as Audrey and she should be in the main cast next year. That, or she gets her own show. How many more times can she hit it out of the park before the producers realize what she's worth? Lastly, nice to see the show remember that Eve's a lesbian and we get a bit of light shed on her previous loves. Seemed like she even rekindled that old flame and, while I might have appreciated a kiss (9-1-1: Lonestar did it, why not Fire Country?), I'll take what I can get. Oh, and one small one- as much as "Bodiella" gets on my nerves, at least Bode was right to call out Gabriella and tell her he's tired of waiting. If only he could get that assertive elsewhere in his life. That's about it for the positives. I can't really say there were a whole lot of truly bad negatives, but a lot of the episode's events felt very contrived. Honestly, we had the perfect episode where you have a situation where the crew had to make some hard choices and, as in real life, you're going to wind up with something that is merely "the best possible case" and isn't ideal. ...but...baby eagles. Gotta save them, even if you've got to contrive the events to make it all work. Perhaps the show wants to wait for the fall finale before doing something "really big" and finally have Bode's "instincts" screw up an incident so bad that he'll hit a major snag in his comeback. Perhaps the show also wanted to wait for the right moment, too, to really ignite the Leone vs. Camden feud regarding training Bode and have that feud blow up spectacularly in an episode, setting up a future arc. I get that. However, if so, why not use this story- which was tailor made for such scenarios- for that moment and use another story for this airing? Or, since too many people would be upset about baby eagles dying, don't put the eagles in the episode's main plot and have something else be that proverbial "rock and a hard place"? Of course, the episode's main problem was really that everything felt very forced and hardly anything really flowed. The only moment that really felt like it had some kind of authenticity was Manny's fight with Cole, but even those two acted like overgrown schoolchildren. "You took what was rightfully mine." Really Cole? Maybe the real takeaway is that we may finally see Bode face some real consequences for his hero antics, which is one thing the show has shied away from too much. Certainly the feud between the Leones and Camden is developing a real, um, slow burn and I'm actually looking forward to how it ignites. Of course, knowing this show, it'll just blow up in their faces. Again.

I think we need to call this season- or at least the fall half of this season- the "M. Night Shyamalan Season", because the writing this season sure loves its twists. It seems like every episode we're getting this season contains several episodes mashed together, with the episode starting with one premise before veering off into several different ones and leaving the original premise behind. There's nothing in principle saying that kind of writing can't work- it just hasn't worked at all for S.W.A.T. this season at all. Tonight, we got what appeared to be a story about a man with a vendetta against abortion clinics only for it to veer, halfway through, to a story about a man losing his kids and his wife, with the abortion workers only flimsily connected to him. So, the UnSub's wife is preparing to leave him along with his kids, so he kills her and, in further retaliation, happens to also kill two abortion clinic workers just because they happened to take the same self-defence class as the UnSub's wife. Huh? Like Tan, said, "help me make it make sense." You got me. It seemed like the only reason why the abortion subplot was written in was so that we could have some "drama" between Deacon and Gamble, with Gamble getting a teachable moment about not letting her beliefs get in the way of her duties. Great lesson...but did we need to waste half an episode with a story we weren't going to use just to get there? Speaking of Gamble, I've been singing the praises of the acting of her portrayer, Annie Illonzeh. I still think Illonzeh is doing a good job, but tonight's effort where she tried to talk to the UnSub felt off. Now, I'm not sure if I can fault the effort of Illonzeh, since the story said she was attempting the task for the first time so it would make sense for Illonzeh to portray Gamble as tentative and unconvincing, but it doesn't mean the performance achieved the standard it was supposed to achieve. Because, ironically, Illonzeh wasn't convincing that Gamble was unconvincing. If that makes sense. As for the episode's other subplot...if you want to talk being between a rock and a hard place, meet Zoe Powell and her dealings with her biological son, Thomas. I'm sure there will be plenty of debate about whether Thomas' adoptive parents were right, whether Hondo was right in his advice and/or Powell was right in her ultimate actions, but I felt like the situation at the end was handled poorly. I mean...Zoe...you got your biological son knocking on your door late at night having been kicked out of his own house. Whatever you may feel about Thomas' ambitions and whether or not it's right to step on Thomas' adoptive parents' toes...at least let Tommy stay the night or for a few days until you can sit everyone down and come to some kind of agreement. I guess that would mean the writers would have to write another scene in this storyline and they just don't feel up to it...which I get...but... They sure threw Zoe under the bus, and that's a poor way to handle her character. Of course, these writers cutting corners in Zoe's storyline is par for the course for this season, so, while I'm disappointed, I'm sure not surprised.

Via Paramount Press Express

Via Paramount Press Express

Artem Chigvintsev and Nikki Bella have finalized their divorce. Not a lot of details to share, but, of note, there will be no spousal support and the two of them dropped their restraining orders against each other. They also agreed to joint custody of their son, Matteo. The two of them decided to use mediation to settle their disputes, as they found the process "draining". Artem and Nikki are apparently still frosty with each other and they're working on their relationship, but they're glad they can move on. So yeah...make all that of what you will. Figured I'd provide an update considering the previous discussion.

That's the thing, though. I know mileage will vary on this, but I'm not sure the show has done enough to really show them as simply lustful for each other. Bode and Gabriella just seem to have sex at random points. Other times they look and act like they do with everyone else. Everyone on this show seem to be very cavalier about their relationships. The only real chemistry I see among any of the couples- potential or not- are the elder Leones. Everyone else just treats the others as if they're just there to fulfill whatever the plot needs for their relationship.

I feel the problem with "Bodiella" ties back to my earlier point about Bode- there has sure been a lot of talking about it but very little showing. I fail to see what Gabriella sees in Bode that would convince her to end her budding marriage to Diego. I also fail to see what Bode sees in Gabriella that makes him want to pine for her. The only thing I have seen from the two of them are a relationship between two friends where they sometimes shack up together. All their conversations have been cordial, except for the few moments of contrived dramatic tension that the writers awkwardly insert to make us think the two have some romantic tension between them. Heck, the show's done a far better job setting up the eventual tragedy of Jake losing Genevieve then the show has done creating any kind of issues between Bode and Gabriella. It's not like we've learned that, say, Gabriella is the only person who didn't see Bode as "just an inmate", or that Gabriella is the only person Bode feels he can talk to about his problems without judgement (or vice versa). The show has done very little to actually show us why the two of them feel any kind of connection with each other, let alone establish the kind of connection that suggests they are "the lovers of destiny". The writers seem to have thought that because Bode fixed Gabriella's car in the pilot and they have random sex that they've done enough to show their relationship has legs. They haven't- they haven't done near enough.

Thanks. I think what threw me off is that the Bay Area feels more distinct than the more northerly areas of California- i.e., Redding, Crescent Bay, Eureka, etc.- and even the Sacramento Valley. The Bay Area also felt like it has more ties to SoCal than the more northerly areas. I feel a similar disconnect where I live- in the Canadian province of Ontario. I get people who think places like Barrie, Sudbury and North Bay are "northern" even though they are closer to Toronto than more northerly places like Hearst, Kapuskasing and Timmins. Those places feel distinct from Toronto, for sure, but they're also more distinct than the other, more northerly, places. Of course, these are just musings of someone who's merely travelled to Cali and never lived there (despite my best intentions).

I feel like the show has painted itself in such a corner- particularly with Bode- that it has almost no choice but to go in this route. Bode has never faced true consequences for being "heroic" that a storyline where this happens is a practical necessity. The only problem is that it would regress Bode's progress and we've done that already by putting him back in jail. The only thing I can really agree on with myself is that the writers have made a total mess of things with their lead character. They may still play that beat. It may not be spoken at first but something tells me the "we're disowning you for becoming a firefighter" line is a smokescreen for the reason reason for the disownment.

What's also odd to me is that- it appears- the studio built a makeshift plane for their set, or at least parts of it. I'm not sure why they couldn't just build a whole plane and use that for the wide shot. It would look better than the cheesy painted over toy plane they did use. They did get free food. I'd take that. Though it is strange the show portrayed Edgewater as some kind of remote place. I've been to northern and rural California- within an hour's drive (at most) you can be at another city, or at least another place with motels/hotels, etc. Also- and Californians can correct me on this- is Edgewater really "NorCal"? Max Thieirot says he based Edgewater on his own hometown, Los Altos, which is south of the San Francisco Bay Area. I don't doubt Los Altos would have closer ties to the Giants than the Dodgers, but it looks to be in the southern geographical half of the state.

I'm not going to say this was a stellar episode or one that was particularly well-crafted. It just had enough engaging and memorable moments that, in the sum of its parts, made for a solid and entertaining installment. I mean, many of the problems that plague this show still plagued this episode, like characters acting the way the writers want them too instead of organically (e.g. Jake "I'm going to be angry for no reason" Crawford). Plus, didn't the above shot scream "our special effects team repainted a toy airplane and planted in a toy field"? Yikes. Yet, despite all the inanity, there was something that made this episode fun. Sharon and Vince were at their bickering best. Eve and her brother actually seemed to have some familial chemistry. Jared Padalecki seemed to have a heck of a lot of fun playing Camden, even if his lines weren't really all that great. There was also quite a lot of hilarity to go around with the passengers, who made the chaos- and Gabriella's stress- more developed and bring it to the forefront. Especially the stoner dude and idiot photographer. They were especially fun. Oh, what a joy it was to see Leven Rambin on stage singing with Billy Burke. The cover of Miranda Lambert's "Vice" was prescient given the episode's subject matter. I'm not sure that Rambin has a Grammy inside of her but it's always great to see other sides of actors and actresses that they might not always get to show on screen. I want to close with something I noticed about this episode that I think the show has done too much from the start, and that's how often this episode spent talking about Bode. One of the main rules about writing is the principle "show, don't tell". Sometimes you don't have a choice, like in matters of expediency or you have a murder on a network TV show. Other times, it's really just the laziness of the writers. It's a lot of work to craft a scene or a series of scenes and episodes that can effectively portray what you want to portray, so it can be easier to skip all that and have the characters just talk about what you want to portray. "Easier" isn't always satisfying. With regards to Bode, I'm not necessarily stating that Bode's tendencies to go rogue and play hero have been all "tells" and not "shows", because we've seen it a lot. However, the show's characters talk a lot about Bode's tendencies making him reckless and dangerous, which we've never seen in action. Sure, Bode has done some things that have gotten him and others into trouble, but those were all actions that were just patently stupid, like stealing the Medic Alert necklace. What hasn't happened is an episode where Bode's hero instincts go sideways on him and he compromises part of- or even the whole- operation. Every time Bode has "gone against the book", Bode has been proven right. Not once has he been shown to be wrong. Perhaps Padalecki's character, Camden, is there to shed this light on the other characters who may start coming around on Bode and realize his hero instincts are a positive, not a detriment. Or, we're building to that great character-defining moment where Bode's hero instincts actually do go south on him in a major way, forcing Bode out of the Cadet program and making him have to work his way back into the program. Which could be a nice redemption arc, even though it would feel like Bode's caught in a storytelling loop and his character isn't really progressing. Still, otherwise...what would we have left with Bode? See, this eventually goes back to the bigger problem with Bode's characterization, in that so many of the details surrounding him have been told to us by the other characters and have not been shown. Bode's backstory is a great example of this. He might have one of the best backstories I've ever heard. The show even seemed to lean into it early in S1 by talking about the work Bode needs to do to regain the good graces of everyone he let down. ...but then the show abandoned that storyline...and they have not figured out anything to do with Bode ever since. That's a big problem, especially considering Bode is your lead character. Yes, it's great that the show has recognized this and Max Thieirot allows the other actors and actresses to take the spotlight when needed, and the show has done a decent job creating an environment where no one character is really needed to carry the torch on the show. However, Bode is still the central guy and the central force, and it's troubling that, halfway through S3, they haven't figured out, really, what to do with him. At this stage, blowing the Cadet program- while not exactly being very satisfying- might be the writers' only option. They can do that story right if they put the work in, but these writers aren't always the best at that. The ball is in their court now.

First, Matthew Kay gets: He's not even in the episode and he's immediately the best part of it. I didn't see that twist coming, but Matthew perfectly resolved the shoe storyline. Deacon raised him well, for sure. The rest of the episode gets: It was really all just...there. Especially the Deputy Chief, who's only purpose was to further a storyline that's really only going to be used just so the writers have an out in case S9 isn't happening. There was really no depth to the character, and the other characters hit us over the head with how we're supposed to see her. We get it. Mrs. Deputy Chief and husband to Mr. Incompetent Warden is The Big Bad. You made it loud and clear, and did everything you could to make it loud and clear short of her wearing a shirt that literally says "Big Bad" on it. Speaking of which, no Devin Gamble tonight, but the show handled her absence- and the lingering plot about Gamble's parking spot and her car- very well. A rushed resolution but a good one, still. As for the case itself...I didn't feel the show did enough to make me care about what was happening. Mr. DEA guy was just there to mope about his kidnapped partner and offered very little. The only real stakes were Tan and his budding relationship with Olivia Navarro, and they telegraphed how it would resolve by Tan being upset that the last thing he said to Olivia was how upset he was at her. They did make a nice attempt with Olivia actually being there to interview the cartel members to get answers for protesters killed in years past, but they glossed over the apparent fake kidnapping that Olivia was a part of to make that interview happen. I also wonder if they even needed to make that narrative choice at all. Of course, if they didn't...we wouldn't have had an episode. Which isn't a good sign. When the writers feel they can coast, they cut corners and cutting corners leads to things like this episode's flimsy plot and the flimsy characterization of the Deputy Chief. The show still has its moments but it's also opting to simply rest on its laurels- which is not a long term strategy.

Via Paramount Press Express.

Via Paramount Press Express.