I watch terrible television so you don’t have to.
A Note About Renewals
To recap:
- NCIS: Sydney – renewed
- CSI: Vegas – canceled
- Death and Other Details – canceled
- FBI – renewed
- FBI: Most Wanted – renewed
- Alert Missing Persons Unit – TBD
- Law & Order – renewed
- Law & Order: SVU – renewed
- Law & Order: Organized Crime – moving to Peacock (unofficial confirmation)
- Elsbeth – renewed
- So Help Me Todd – canceled
- 9-1-1 – renewed
I’ve sort of checked out of CSI and Todd. I will keep watching but I’m not going to include them. I’m also skipping Alert and 9-1-1 this week because I haven’t had time to watch them yet. My recaps will be quick and dirty this week and next due to work, travel, and current events. But I hope to post additional new content soon, too.
New This Week (or Last)
FBI (Wednesday, Paramount+)
(Last Week) A pregnant woman, a surrogate, is kidnapped by a religious cult led by her estranged father in order to cleanse her. The compound is under ATF surveillance and they don’t want to blow the op so Isobel (Alana de la Garza) sends in the three-person strike force of Maggie (Missy Peregrym), OA (Zeeko Zaki), and Scola (John Boyd). It goes sideways and they have to storm the place anyway and in the meantime, Maggie is shot at. Her vest saves her from injury but she’s rattled, especially now she’s the guardian of a little girl who already lost her mother. Maggie does not ask for time off, but OA tells Isobel she needs it. In summary, Maggie is Going Through It (again) and I love that OA recognizes that not covering for her is being a good partner, too.
FBI: Most Wanted (Wednesday, Paramount+)
(Last Week) One of my favorite episodes of The Good Wife is season two’s “Nine Hours”, wherein Lockhart-Gardner scrambles to stay an execution, and this episode reminds me of it. Remy (Dylan McDermott) and team stumble onto the death row case when a federal judge, his wife, and clerk are murdered. Turns out the case was botched, the man is innocent, so the FBI team up with his lawyer Abby (Susan Misner) to find the real killer. Then Remy and Abby hook up. Also Hannah (Keisha Castle-Hughes) hits it off with a US Marshall (Michael Raymond-James) on her plane ride home.
“Nine Hours” is better, but “Bonne Terre” is solid.
Law & Order (Friday, Peacock)
This episode was . . . good? It centered on Lt. Dixon (Camryn Manheim) who we learn is fluent in sign language because she has a deaf son, Patrick (James Caverly). Patrick is a teacher and one of his students, Alex (Alone Jane Robbins), lies on the stand to cover for her father, who shot who he thought was an intruder but was actually the owner of the apartment they were squatting in. When Dixon learns the truth she tells Nolan (Hugh Dancy) and he backs out of a plea deal; the dad is found guilty and the little girl sobs in Patrick’s arms. It’s formulaic but the episode works because of the focus and the cast.
First, the victim and his family are portrayed negatively while the killer and his daughter are incredibly sympathetic. The victim was the hapless addict son of a very wealthy real estate magnate who pretends to be a philanthropist but in reality hates poor people and wants to kick them out of the city. He’s also besties with DA Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) and believes that means the legal system should work for him. The killer lost his wife to cancer, the medical bills bankrupted him, he and his young deaf daughter, whose care is also expensive, were evicted and living in their car until it was impounded after a complaint by the victim, which led to them squatting in the victim’s empty penthouse of the victim’s family’s empty apartment building. The victim is less awful than his father but the dad thought he was an intruder. If the dad legally lived in the apartment, he would not be prosecuted for the shooting.
Second, the cast comprises good actors who elevate the story when they get to do something. There’s a scene between Dixon and Riley (Reid Scott) that is better than anything either of them got to do this whole season. It’s similar to all the scenes between Nolan and Sam (Odelya Halevi), with Riley, like Nolan, on the side of law and order and Dixon, like Sam, arguing for context. But where Nolan and Sam have gotten monotonous, because Nolan is unyielding and it’s exhausting to hear the same argument every week and see no movement, Riley comes out as ride or die for Dixon whatever she chooses to do. It sold their entire relationship to me, a relationship that prior to this consisted of a vague reference to knowing each other. I suddenly care more about both characters, and their relationship to each other. Actual magic!
Plus Baxter continues to be an intriguing enigma. He proves not to be in the pocket of big real estate or powerful men who think they deserve more because they have more. He doesn’t allow friendship or politics to make his decisions, and he listens to his ADAs. He is definitely a political animal but I find myself liking it about him.
Law & Order: SVU (Friday, Peacock)
When it was announced that Kelli Giddish was leaving SVU I started a “Rollins Rewatch”. Amanda Rollins is the kind of character that I always fall for. She is written to the plot rather than a character arc or continuity. Thus her characterization is messy, eventually “too” messy and she is inevitably forced off the show. I wasn’t surprised that TPTB gave up on her, it happens to all my favorites, but I was angry (because lbr all of SVU is messy af).
So I am predisposed to love any episode that brings back Amanda, especially since they now characterize her as the smartest person in the room AND allow her to be domestic and adorable with her husband and children. It’s everything I want for her, which includes being still messy!
I don’t have much else to say here. After various revelations in Mariska’s press, I continue to be angry about everything happening behind the scenes wrt the aptly named Dick Wolf. I have a rant post in me so if you want to see it, encourage my rage.
Law & Order: Organized Crime (Friday, Peacock)
Moving to Peacock is a good move for this show, it has never been written for a broadcast Law & Order audience. It understands serialized plotting better than most, resulting in a tight story with interesting themes that are true to its characters.
Elliot (Christopher Meloni) meets Julian Emery aka Redcoat (Tom Payne), the big bad behind the drugs and guns he and Trisha (Rivera Reese) are investigating. Angus (Stephen Lang) tries to pay back his loan and break ties which Julian counter-offers with one last job and then hands over a file proving there’s an undercover agent in Angus’s operation. Angus prepares to kill Trisha, Elliot gets a message out to his team, Elliot and Trisha fight back against Angus and Tyler (Jonathan Holtzman), and ATF+NYPD arrive just in time to arrest them all. Trisha is saved, Elliot is no longer undercover, and Angus agrees to help the cops because they have his mom and he’s realized how off track he got. The button on the episode is Julian leaving in his private jet with Junior aka Joseph Stabler II (Michael Trotter).
In (related) family news, prior to leaving with Julian, Joe Jr. surprised big bro Randall (Dean Norris) at a bar to tell him to back off the investigation or someone (Randall, Elliot, or Bernie) would get killed. He also returns the signed baseball he stole from his mother for drug money saying he bought it back. Joey is clearly in deep and in over his head and being very Stabler about it all. When Randall tells Elliot about the meeting it causes a very furrowed brow that indicates Elliot is ALSO going to be very Stabler about it all. Finally, Eli (Nicky Torchia) has big news for his father and I am Here For It.
Ayanna (Danielle Moné Truitt) didn’t appear in the episode (1PP had to yell at her about Sam’s death off-screen) and I miss her but there was good stuff with Shah (Nicole Shahloub)— the two-line exchange with Bobby (Rick Gonzalez) was so good! The whole team is my favorite. Jet (Ainsley Sieger) and her anxiety over Stabler. Vargas (Tate Ellington) and his manic determination. All of it. Plus, Randall referring to Vargas as Kyle and Elliot not knowing who the hell he’s talking about is delightful. Once again there are great comedic bits sprinkled throughout a very tense episode.
Also Watching
I am still watching new episodes of Black Butler, Top Chef Wisconsin, and Star Trek: Discovery (as always find my thoughts about it at Antimatter Pod). I am also inexplicably rewatching The Newsroom.
Mental Illness Sidebar
“Bonne Terre” starts with Remy and his therapist talking about how lonely he is and at the end of the session he jokingly asks her out.
I want to highlight again that Isobel and OA not only worry about Maggie’s emotional health in the wake of everything going on with her, but they act on that worry. More of this, please.
Ship of the Week
Amanda and Sonny.
Song of the Week
I made a Spock x Christine vid off the new Taylor Swift album:
Show of the Week
FBI: Most Wanted last week, Organized Crime this week.
What are YOU watching?