Starring:
Anne Bobby as Off. Vicki Quinn
Barbara Bosson as Mayor Louise Plank
Vondie Curtis-Hall as Det. Warren Osborne
Ronny Cox as Chief Roger Kendrick
David Gianopoulos as Off. Andy Campo
Larry Joshua as Capt. John Hollander
James McDaniel as Off. Franklin Rose
Ron McLarty as Ralph Ruskin
Mick Murray as Det. Joseph Gaines
Peter Onorati as Det. Vincent LaRusso
Jeffrey Alan Chandler as Ray Rodbart
Teri Austin as Trish Vaughn
Dennis Lipscomb as Sidney Weitz
Written by: William M. Finkelstein and Stephen Bochco and Toni Graphia and John Romano
Directed by: Michael M. Robin
Who comes up with these damned titles? I’ve complained about them before, but they really kind of help to cheapen the mood of the episode, as this one actually has a couple of bombs to drop. They’re not all entirely unexpected, but I have to say this has by far been the best episode yet, and with only one episode to go, it will be interesting to see how they all pan out (and answering my question from the previous review, it would appear that they do tie up all the main storylines).
In the first one, LaRusso is being treated to a birthday party at a bar, which of course comes with a stripper! He sings a song about how he’s becoming a “household name” when all he wants to do is be left alone. It’s a jazzy number, but it doesn’t really work all that well; probably because seeing a “tough-as-nails” guy like LaRusso singing a song just seems so counter to his character. It doesn’t matter how much he winces or what kinds of faces he makes, his whole allure just goes down the drain.
But there are more pressing matters at hand for LaRusso in this episode, and for the latest, we will be taking you to the coutroom. A weapons expert testifies that it would, in fact, be possible for a man with his hands cuffed behind his back to get his hands on a weapon and pull the trigger. Despite prosecuting attorney Phalen’s (CCH Pounder) protests to the contrary, the judge allows the expert to prove his statements to the jury. The expert, with his hands cuffed behind him, is facing a man with free hands, while two guns sit on a table within reach from both. Sure enough, the weapons expert draws his weapon first and even has time to aim, thus winning a perceived point for LaRusso’s side.
In the next bit, Captain Hollander takes the stand, with Weitz out to prove that the Captain more or less coerced the witnesses to testify against LaRusso because of a personal vendetta against him. I mean, all that is essentially true, and once again Weitz does a good job of presenting the facts. He does get into trouble for rambling on a couple times, which also happened in the last one, but for the most part he hits all the right notes. I am pretty impressed with the balance in the testimony…for the most part, none of the witnesses are made to look like bumbling idiots, so it’s sometimes hard to tell whose points are hitting the jury harder at any given time, which really makes it feel pretty realistic. It also helps that, both wisely and curiously, there are no songs sung in the courtroom. Gee, is it a coincidence that the best part of the show so far is music-free?
Next, LaRusso himself testifies, where he sticks to his story that he acted in self-defense, then has to withstand Phalen’s cross examination. Her biggest point hinges on why his partner, Donnie Potts, would testify that LaRusso flat-out murdered Tyrone Powers if it wasn’t true. LaRusso counters that he can’t know for sure, because he’s not Potts, but that he believes Potts was scared, which plays into Weitz’s earlier argument against Hollander. Phalen gets the last word here, insinuating that he pulled the trigger because he knew he could lie his way out, so we’ll see what sticks with the jury. Both sides state their closing arguments and all that’s left to do is wait for the verdict.
In a rather unexpected and bizarre setup, LaRusso tells his attorney, Trish, who he had a fling with in an earlier episode, that he wants to get her pregnant in case they find him guilty and he’s put away for a substantial amount of time. He wants to know that there’s an extension of him on the outside, while he wastes away. Oddly, she agrees, though we’re thankfully spared the sight of the baby’s conception.
Apparently, all the witnesses have testified and we’re just waiting on the verdict. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous leading up to this…I had a feeling that I knew which way it was going to go, but there was no way that I could be sure. The biggest misstep of this whole part, though, is taking a peak into the jury deliberation, where they’re arguing their cases, with the general consensus seeming to be that he is guilty. Leave it to a black woman from the very same streets Tyrone was raised on to sing a song about how she believes there’s reasonable doubt, because people like Tyrone are everywhere out there and don’t deserve respect. I really wish they would have left this part out, because after seeing this generic “12 Angry Men” scenario, I was pretty sure what way it was going to go. It would have been a lot more effective had they left it out.
The verdict is in! And LaRusso is….
Andy Campo only gets about thirty seconds of screen time here, and it’s simply to announce that he has a new partner. And of course, she’s hot. And of course his former partner, Vicki Quinn, sees her and is jealous. But Vicki has way more pressing issues than Campo’s new colleague: she has started marriage counseling with Ralph. The first session doesn’t go too well, with Vicki admitting that she is sexually attracted to Andy, yet maintaining that nothing ever happened. This doesn’t sit well with Ralph, who storms out; when Vicki accuses him of running away from his problems, he tells her that if he stays, he would get physical with her. Ouch.
The next session doesn’t go any better, and that’s where the second-biggest bombshell is dropped, because Ralph announces that he doesn’t want to go through any of this. Yes, that’s right, he wants a divorce! On the one hand, I’m not very surprised, because I assumed the endgame of this plotline was always to get Campo and Quinn together, and with one episode left, there just isn’t any time for them to try to work anything out. But on the other hand, for him to give up so easily is a little bizarre, especially since there is no way he’ll be able to ever land anyone as attractive as Vicki. Wow.
Chief Kendrick, as usual, has the dumbest story of the episode: His assistant, Ozzie, prepares a statement for him to address the media in regards to his perceived racism. The Chief refuses to do it, instead opting to show up during a drug sweep in a poor, African-American neighborhood to show the “blacks” that he’s willing to get his hands dirty, too. He blows his cover because he’s an idiot, inviting all the poor passersby to come take a look at all the drugs and weapons they found and are taking off the street. By calling attention to the scene, he also is calling direct attention to himself, and a couple people in the crowd call him out for being a racist. Nervous, he flees.
This leads to a stupid nightmare he has in which his assistant Ozzie, who is black, tries him for “racial prejudice” in a courtroom made up entirely of African-Americans. They immediately find him guilty, at which point they all start chanting “Hang him!” before breaking out into song. They lead him up to the gallows and flip the switch, at which point he wakes up. Turns out, he was taking a nap in his office. Anyway, he has a heart-to-heart with Ozzie, who feels like he’s not racist toward blacks so much as he just doesn’t understand them.
As I said earlier, this is far and away the best episode of the series so far. With only one episode left, unless the final one is the greatest hour of television in history, this show is still going to go down as a misfire, and a justified cancellation, but at the very least it seems to be going out on an upward trajectory, something I had pretty much written off earlier in the series. The songs here are pretty tolerable, save for a weird little section involving undercover hookers who sing about capturing bad guys, and then later, a man that’s caught soliciting one singing about how all he wants is attention and tenderness, that’s every bit as cringe-worthy as it sounds. But as I said earlier, the decision to leave songs out of the courtroom make those scenes as engrossing as anything this show has ever done. In the grand scheme of things, that might just be a small victory, but I’m sure it’ll take anything it can get.
EPISODE RATING: 6.5/10
Who comes up with these damned titles? I’ve complained about them before, but they really kind of help to cheapen the mood of the episode, as this one actually has a couple of bombs to drop. They’re not all entirely unexpected, but I have to say this has by far been the best episode yet, and with only one episode to go, it will be interesting to see how they all pan out (and answering my question from the previous review, it would appear that they do tie up all the main storylines).
In the first one, LaRusso is being treated to a birthday party at a bar, which of course comes with a stripper! He sings a song about how he’s becoming a “household name” when all he wants to do is be left alone. It’s a jazzy number, but it doesn’t really work all that well; probably because seeing a “tough-as-nails” guy like LaRusso singing a song just seems so counter to his character. It doesn’t matter how much he winces or what kinds of faces he makes, his whole allure just goes down the drain.
"TO LIVE AND DIE A COP"
But there are more pressing matters at hand for LaRusso in this episode, and for the latest, we will be taking you to the coutroom. A weapons expert testifies that it would, in fact, be possible for a man with his hands cuffed behind his back to get his hands on a weapon and pull the trigger. Despite prosecuting attorney Phalen’s (CCH Pounder) protests to the contrary, the judge allows the expert to prove his statements to the jury. The expert, with his hands cuffed behind him, is facing a man with free hands, while two guns sit on a table within reach from both. Sure enough, the weapons expert draws his weapon first and even has time to aim, thus winning a perceived point for LaRusso’s side.
In the next bit, Captain Hollander takes the stand, with Weitz out to prove that the Captain more or less coerced the witnesses to testify against LaRusso because of a personal vendetta against him. I mean, all that is essentially true, and once again Weitz does a good job of presenting the facts. He does get into trouble for rambling on a couple times, which also happened in the last one, but for the most part he hits all the right notes. I am pretty impressed with the balance in the testimony…for the most part, none of the witnesses are made to look like bumbling idiots, so it’s sometimes hard to tell whose points are hitting the jury harder at any given time, which really makes it feel pretty realistic. It also helps that, both wisely and curiously, there are no songs sung in the courtroom. Gee, is it a coincidence that the best part of the show so far is music-free?
Next, LaRusso himself testifies, where he sticks to his story that he acted in self-defense, then has to withstand Phalen’s cross examination. Her biggest point hinges on why his partner, Donnie Potts, would testify that LaRusso flat-out murdered Tyrone Powers if it wasn’t true. LaRusso counters that he can’t know for sure, because he’s not Potts, but that he believes Potts was scared, which plays into Weitz’s earlier argument against Hollander. Phalen gets the last word here, insinuating that he pulled the trigger because he knew he could lie his way out, so we’ll see what sticks with the jury. Both sides state their closing arguments and all that’s left to do is wait for the verdict.
In a rather unexpected and bizarre setup, LaRusso tells his attorney, Trish, who he had a fling with in an earlier episode, that he wants to get her pregnant in case they find him guilty and he’s put away for a substantial amount of time. He wants to know that there’s an extension of him on the outside, while he wastes away. Oddly, she agrees, though we’re thankfully spared the sight of the baby’s conception.
Apparently, all the witnesses have testified and we’re just waiting on the verdict. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous leading up to this…I had a feeling that I knew which way it was going to go, but there was no way that I could be sure. The biggest misstep of this whole part, though, is taking a peak into the jury deliberation, where they’re arguing their cases, with the general consensus seeming to be that he is guilty. Leave it to a black woman from the very same streets Tyrone was raised on to sing a song about how she believes there’s reasonable doubt, because people like Tyrone are everywhere out there and don’t deserve respect. I really wish they would have left this part out, because after seeing this generic “12 Angry Men” scenario, I was pretty sure what way it was going to go. It would have been a lot more effective had they left it out.
"JURY'S SONG"
The verdict is in! And LaRusso is….
Andy Campo only gets about thirty seconds of screen time here, and it’s simply to announce that he has a new partner. And of course, she’s hot. And of course his former partner, Vicki Quinn, sees her and is jealous. But Vicki has way more pressing issues than Campo’s new colleague: she has started marriage counseling with Ralph. The first session doesn’t go too well, with Vicki admitting that she is sexually attracted to Andy, yet maintaining that nothing ever happened. This doesn’t sit well with Ralph, who storms out; when Vicki accuses him of running away from his problems, he tells her that if he stays, he would get physical with her. Ouch.
The next session doesn’t go any better, and that’s where the second-biggest bombshell is dropped, because Ralph announces that he doesn’t want to go through any of this. Yes, that’s right, he wants a divorce! On the one hand, I’m not very surprised, because I assumed the endgame of this plotline was always to get Campo and Quinn together, and with one episode left, there just isn’t any time for them to try to work anything out. But on the other hand, for him to give up so easily is a little bizarre, especially since there is no way he’ll be able to ever land anyone as attractive as Vicki. Wow.
Chief Kendrick, as usual, has the dumbest story of the episode: His assistant, Ozzie, prepares a statement for him to address the media in regards to his perceived racism. The Chief refuses to do it, instead opting to show up during a drug sweep in a poor, African-American neighborhood to show the “blacks” that he’s willing to get his hands dirty, too. He blows his cover because he’s an idiot, inviting all the poor passersby to come take a look at all the drugs and weapons they found and are taking off the street. By calling attention to the scene, he also is calling direct attention to himself, and a couple people in the crowd call him out for being a racist. Nervous, he flees.
This leads to a stupid nightmare he has in which his assistant Ozzie, who is black, tries him for “racial prejudice” in a courtroom made up entirely of African-Americans. They immediately find him guilty, at which point they all start chanting “Hang him!” before breaking out into song. They lead him up to the gallows and flip the switch, at which point he wakes up. Turns out, he was taking a nap in his office. Anyway, he has a heart-to-heart with Ozzie, who feels like he’s not racist toward blacks so much as he just doesn’t understand them.
"YOUR NUMBER'S UP"
As I said earlier, this is far and away the best episode of the series so far. With only one episode left, unless the final one is the greatest hour of television in history, this show is still going to go down as a misfire, and a justified cancellation, but at the very least it seems to be going out on an upward trajectory, something I had pretty much written off earlier in the series. The songs here are pretty tolerable, save for a weird little section involving undercover hookers who sing about capturing bad guys, and then later, a man that’s caught soliciting one singing about how all he wants is attention and tenderness, that’s every bit as cringe-worthy as it sounds. But as I said earlier, the decision to leave songs out of the courtroom make those scenes as engrossing as anything this show has ever done. In the grand scheme of things, that might just be a small victory, but I’m sure it’ll take anything it can get.
EPISODE RATING: 6.5/10
NOTE: As expected, the release of the DVD has lead to full episodes being taken off YouTube, which, in my opinion, is a terrible call. But business is business, I suppose!
No comments:
Post a Comment