MIS-LABELED: EOTW

[Patcat]

Yes, I posted this as an EOTW before, but there were no responses. I thought I’d give it a second try. It’s definitely worth a discussion.

Will air July 24 at 3pm(EST) on WGN. First aired February 22, 2004. Episode 14 of Season Three

Written by Elizabeth Benjamin and Rene Balcer. Directed by Joyce Chopta

Guest Actors:
Daniel Sauli as Eric Dunlow/Brian
Terry O'Quinn as Gordon Buchanon
Stephen Bogardus as Clay Sherwood

Synopsis: The gruesome discovery of the chopped up body of a pharmaceutical salesman leads to many people with things to hide.

Ripped from the headlines:
The contaminated blood products element of the plot is based on several cases in the US and France where pharmaceutical companies supplied such products to the public, especially to hemophiliacs. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contaminated_haemophilia_blood_productsfor more info. I'm sure many of you are aware of some of the more infamous cases of hemophiliacs developing HIV and AIDS from blood products, including the Jay Brothers and Ryan White. For anyone with an interest in hemophilia or the difficulties of dealing with a child with a chronic medical condition, I highly recommend JOURNEY by Susan and Robert Massie. (Mr. Massie is a fine writer and historian who wrote NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRIA about the last Russian Czar among many fine books.) It details their son's struggles with hemophilia, and also provides a chilling look at the politics surrounding blood donation, the use of blood, and medical practices.

Quotes:

Eames (looking at the body in the suitcases): "Maybe this beats traveling economy."

Eames: "They have lovely fax cover sheets."

Deakins: "Thai doctor and an embassy attache. Throw in the girlfriends, and Sherwood's life is sounding like a Graham Greene novel."

Goren: "It's these meds. That's how the boy got it. Sherwood and his friends were selling contaminated meds." Eames: "Tell you what. Sherwood got off easy."

Buchanon: "Give me credit. I don't chase secretaries."

Eames: "It doesn't sound like Eric bats for one team." Goren: "It doesn't sound like Eric's Eric."

Caught wife (to Goren): "You ask the weirdest questions." Eames: "You have no idea."

Carver: "Any bets on which one the media will annoint the less evil?" Goren: "There's no such animal."

Queries:

I strongly recommend a look at Elena's comments on the original discussion of this episode.

Is this an episode that tries to do too much?

Is there a greater villain?

I like Gordon Buchanon. I like Terry O'Quinn's performance. I think Eames and Goren like him too. Having said that, is Buchanon in the enviable position of being able to afford to have ethics? What will happen to him?

Why hasn't Eric/Brian's fraud been discovered before now?

If Eric hadn't chopped up Sherwood's body and tried to send it back to Thailand, would he have been caught? What if he had dumped the body in the river? And if Eric/Brian hadn't mentioned the skin cancer tests, would Goren and Eames have discovered the discrepancy in the DNA?

Would Buchanon have cared if Eric occasionally had sex with women?
Is Eric gay?

How does this murder rate on the LOCI ways of dispatching humans?

Is Goren easier on women than men?

Comments:
An episode that initially left me feeling thinking it was rather middle of the road, but I find that I like more the more I see it. There's an excellent performance by Terry O'Quinn, a fine character actor who used his work in the exploitation film THE STEPFATHER (O'Quinn's performance elevates this movie into something more) as a springboard to more and better roles. Buchanon is not the most fully drawn character, but O'Quinn fills the sketch and makes the audience believe in the man's integrity and concern. On the other hand, while I can't fault Daniel Sauli's performance as Eric/Brian, I can't help but feel the part required an actor with more charisma.

There are some nice touches. We get to see Bobby with his jackknife and examining a body, and I love it when a LOCI episode uses New York City. There's a real sense of the city in winter in this episode, one that shooting somewhere else couldn't produce.

As someone noted in the original discussion, there are at least two mis-labelings--that of the blood product, and of Eric/Brian. There's also the theme of what is a greater evil? Is there such a thing? I don't believe this episode answers those questions; I'm not sure it wants to.

Offered for your comments and consideration,

Patcat

[Patcat]

Bump.

[meggyd]

Well, I'll bite. I really liked this episode, even though I did have to watch it twice to work the reason why he needed to get into the safe so badly! This was one scene that particularly stood out to me, where Goren and Eames are questioning the mother about her haemopheliac son in the hospital as she waits for him to finish his treatment, and she barely supresses tears as she tells them that he has mysteriously contracted aids. The dawning horror on both their faces as they realise, and we realise, what has happened was heartbreaking.

I too thought Eric/Brian should have been played like he had more charisma, more of the ability to charm, but I guess what they were going for was the ingratiating, nearly invisible person who can worm their way up through an institution without people really noticing. I was suprised he felt the need to pretend he was homosexual though, the way Buchanan was played it seemed he would have supported any kind of underdog.

Episodes like this really do make you question what goes on in the big corporations who have the money to keep most things hushed up - just how many things must go on that we don't know about but should?

The weakest thing I thought was the photograph of the sailing group which Eric/Brian had inserted himself into. He was so far removed from the main group I remember thinking that you didn't have to be a detective to see he wasn't really part of the team! Anyone would have seen it and questioned it. And the marrow eating thing grossed me out (Like Brian, I have a very uncultured palate, obviously).

[Patcat]

Thanks for biting!

I thought Eric/Brian was rather clumsily inserted in that photo. It seemed a heavy-handed attempt to tip the audience off.

Re. the sexuality question--I think that Eric/Brian thought the only way to connect to people was on a sexual level. It seemed to be the way he ingratiated himself to people.

Patcat

[Moonbeam]

Yeah, it was the first clue that Eric/Brian was an outsider.

[Patcat]

The little boy who contracted AIDS--Does he get lost in this story? How do you think he's doing? And did his family receive any compensation from the drug company?
Does Gordon Buchanon still have his job? Is he responsible for what happened?

Patcat

[DonnaJo]

Patcat, I do feel as if the whole plotline involving the little boy and his contracting AIDS from the tainted blood should have started much sooner in the episode and had more scenes and character development. That family and what they were going through was the heart of the storyline. All of the other characters were unsympathetic and dull (exception being the charismatic Buchanon).

That's probably why this episode always leaves me flat.

However, Goren is quite handsome throughout. ;D

[outerbankschick]

Mis-Labeled is one of my favorites from S3 - Ill Bred being my top pick. I'm not sure what it is about the story that grabs me. A little of this, a little of that...

Brian's absolute obtuseness when confronted with what he did. Whoa! He feels he is justified because Mailer and Johansen were "worse" than him somehow. And he totally believes it.

Terry O'Quinn was fabulous, as he always is. I loved the way he characterized Buchanan. He was an ethical man without being overly self-righteous.

And I agree with Goren in the end. There is no lesser evil here. Brian, Mailer, and Johansen are all equally reprehensible.

I love the scene where they question the woman who owns the watch. "You ask the weirdest questions..." LOL! An understatement if ever there was one.

This episode also has one of the most obvious moments where you can pick out the stand-in. That same scene in the woman's apartment, when Goren is standing up and holding his binder as he talks to her. The shots of his hands that are in the foreground as the camera is focusing on the woman absolutely announce "this in not Vincent - these are not his hands". LOL!

Same thing happens in Inert Dwarf, when Goren sits down in the wheelchair and then reaches back to switch on the alarm. Really hairy hand in that close-up. SO not Vincent's hand. Talk about obvious!