Jun
5
I’ve pretty much watched more hours of TV this week than I have in two or so weeks combined. I watched Criminal Intent on Sunday, SVU on Tuesday, Law & Order Wednesday, the Listener Thursday, and a NBC special Tuesday and Wednesday.
An episode of Criminal Intent came on Sunday, and I enjoyed it. I liked how Detective Nichols admitted that his parents fondled him a bit too much and led him to having an issue with a kind of self-centeredness. He said something like that, anyway. I felt Detective Wheeler was more involved in this episode, as well, which was nice to see. I don’t think she gets utilized enough; it’s nice to have a by-the-book detective with a quirky one, but the by-the-book detective, namely Wheeler, needs to have a bit more stage presence.
On Tuesday, I luckily caught the first part of a NBC special of the White House. It was very informative. I also realized that Rahm Emanuel is missing a finger. It’s unfortunate. I also found it funny when President Obama himself went out to buy the West Wing staff and Brian Williams burgers at Five Guys. Makes me kinda jealous. But either way, the second part of the special showed Wednesday night, and I found that pretty satisfying as well. I’m glad they have things like this to try to keep us as much in touch as possible.
I talk about the other two Law & Order shows and The Listener after the break. Note that there are some spoilers for the season finale ahead if you intend on watching it and haven’t yet.
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An hour later on Tuesday was the SVU season finale. They hyped this one up real good: someone wanting to get revenge on the squad, someone’s going to die at the end. Showing Stabler dragged across the floor with another guy on the ground, Benson being held up, and a shot of Judge Donnelly. While the episode was definitely suspenseful and kept me glued until the end, in hindsight (and especially after watching the original Law & Order season finale), I felt like they forced it. It almost stopped becoming a crime scene show and became the whole “is somebody gonna die now?” thing. The writers kept throwing things at us to make us wonder — Stabler and Fin getting attacked, the suspect’s lawyer getting gassed to death, Judge Donnelly sitting on a syringe in her home after telling everyone in the court to “take their meds” (sweet irony indeed). Maybe I’m just a little slow, but the connection between the suspect and the actual reason for all of the unit’s problems — the lab intern — baffles me. It made a decent amount of sense that the lab intern would be so infuriated after being treated like crap for so long. Benson’s end theatrical performance is simultaneously why I like her and why I don’t like SVU as much as the original sometimes. It’s a wee bit overdramatic.
I much preferred the original Law & Order’s season finale. A lot less overdramatic and it got Jack McCoy more involved than usual. He also has a very awesome speech while talking to the governor. Again, somewhat ironic concerning Michael Cutter’s action that led to the ousting of the governor. It was also awesome when after the governor said that he was promised he could keep his job by McCoy, Cutter says, “I’m not Jack McCoy”. Even if Sam Waterston is no longer playing the EADA role, he’s gotten a more than adequate replacement who he plays well with in the DA’s office. Hopefully, Sam Waterston stays on for season 20 along with the rest of the cast.
On Thursday, I watched the first two episodes of the Listener, NBC’s new show. It’s a very interesting concept: a man who can hear people’s thoughts and tries to help people based on what he learns from reading their minds. It’s a pretty big minefield to navigate: he can’t tell anyone how he happens to figure things out, and that he kept picking locks and sneaking around made me a little nervous, since he is just a paramedic. No gun or anything of that sort. But he always seems to get the job done, despite the skepticism he is first faced with. I think I’ll keep watching.
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