9:08 - "Love On Ice" 2010-05-18

[Techguy]

Talk about being misled or my misinterpreting the episode title. I thought for sure this was to be about a winter sport, something along the lines of figure skating or, even better, HOCKEY. Mrs. T watched with me and was almost convinced--or perhaps it was her wish?--her favorite hockey player would make a cameo appearance.

Where was I? I got suddenly distracted, basically because I had this one figured out before the first commercial break. The widow O'Doyle protested too much, about how she had nothing to gain financially from her poor hubby's death. Plus ME Rodgers identified the murder weapon as a baseball bat, combined with the fact loser O'Doyle was buried with one. So the cat was out of the bag early, and I had to wait almost until the hour was up before the MCS detectives caught on.

Of course some juicy details had to be added, such as the Hard Guys (I totally ROFL at this group's name) had a sexual attraction for one in their group. One in particular, Dr. Silvestri, was so taken with the boy who drowned, he married his sister just so he could maintain a connection with his love object. No wonder he and the wife never had any children; Silvestri must have felt so much guilt over a perceived incestuous marriage by convenience, his performance must have suffered as a result. Dr. Freud would have had a field day with this one.

So to repeat, there were too many giveaways to the plot, and too many humorous--intented or not--asides that distracted me from the basic plot. Mrs. T was right after all. This episode would have been so much better if it was about a hockey player instead of ex-baseball player O'Doyle.

[Patcat]

Marrying the sister of the gay brother a character is attracted to is right out of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (g).
At first I thought Sylvestri was too placid a villain, but as the show went on and Sylvestri's evil became more evident, I thought he was a terrific villain.
I can't say that I had the widow pegged as the murderer as early as Techguy. I though O'Doyle's buddy from the minor leagues might have been involved. I did guess the secret the guys had and why. Sylvestri was sending out so many signals that he was in the closet that I wondered why his wife couldn't see them.
I liked this episode without feeling terribly involved with it, although I felt for O'Doyle, who seemed to be a decent guy.

Patcat

[DonnaJo]

Another very dark episode. I found the repeated scenes of the boy who was bullied into swimming in the frozen lake and drowning very disturbing. I guess that's the point, but I thought it was overdone.

When Nichols saw the photos of the "good looking boys"on the office wall who were the recipients of the Dean's award, he seemed to assume that the Dean was gay? Why? They didn't know about the dead brother of his wife yet. It was a stretch, since in most cases kids who receive preppy school awards are oftentimes good looking. Sadly, the way of that world.

All in all, it was entertaining. i didn't see it coming that the wife was the guilty party. I did like that Callas called it right in the beginning of the case. She's, by far, my favorite character this season.

[Patcat]

NBC will show this episode Saturday, July 17, at 9pm(EST)

Patcat