4:09 - "Inert Dwarf" 2004-11-21

[js]

Really great episode! Talk about being led down the garden path. I was all set for the 2nd wife to be the bad one, especially with that neck-rubbing scene that the going-off-duty nurse observed. No previews for a new ep next week, so I guess we are into the holiday reruns. That's good if it gives VDO time to fully get back on his feet. I guess LOCI will probably film a few more eps before the break, but hope that won't become a problem.

I recall Balcer saying that he first looks at the "ripped from the headlines" events, starts with one of them, and then takes the story line in a totally different direction. He did it tonight. Watching the episode again will certainly bring out more details.


An aside: Orvelle Reddenbocker (sp) just advertised that we should eat his popcorn while we watch Law and Order. Hmmm!!

js

[Observer2]

Well, they got me.

About halfway through I stopped wondering how they were going to tie this one in to this season’s theme. It was obvious they were going to – it was too close to home not to. But about halfway through I got so caught up in trying to figure out what was really going on that I forgot all about it.

So they arrest the guy, and then Eames opens her mouth, and WHAM! Right between the eyes.

And the kicker is, it was perfect. No manufactured Aesop’s sound bite, and no stretching things to get her to say something on-theme. It made perfect sense.

Ouch.

[Enthralled]

Yes, seems like they have gotten back to telling a good story - without so much obvious focus on Goren - except of course, for Eames' wonderful last line

I did think Silver Lining was more entertaining, but tonight was what we have come to expect from LOCI - twists and turns, keeps you guessing! Too bad we won't see any new epi for a while - guess we will have to wait for '05 and hope that VDO returns to work!

[darmok]

I watched the last line a second time to take it all in. The way Eames glanced at Goren made it clear that she wasn't just talking about Manotti. And it definitely fit the "lonely" theme of this season. I wonder why Eames said that. It seems kind of mean, but I doubt she said it to be mean. Although, I don't know what he can change about being a genius. At some point, you are who you are.

[Patcat]

I think the really great LOCI episodes are the ones that dig under Goren's skin. That said, this was certainly a solid episode, with lots of turns and twists and great plays on our expectations and sympathies (the genius is a victim, the genius is a nice guy, oh no he isn't!) Another great bit of casting with Austin Pendleton, who was splendid as the physicist. And a great early shot looking down at the scene near Penn Station.

Patcat

[Techguy]

Wow. A CI episode that has as its core (no pun intended) no less than string theory. The theory of everything. Quantum mechanics vs. general relativity. Who could ask for anything more?

Here we have Dr. Manotti, an apparent inert (noble) gas bag unable to react out of his special chair, not even to turn off the alarm. Or so it seems. When, in fact, he is more like a dwarf star, a dead sun that has depleted its nuclear material, leaving only a hot core. How appropriate.

Manotti's plan to accomplish what Einstein could not in the last 30 years of the latter's life basically burned itself out, leaving Manotti with a face-saving solution that involved murder and conspiracy to frame his current wife. No doubt fed by the hot core of his own ego, as well as extreme anger and bitterness for having spent his own emotional nuclear material in order to achieve the unachievable.

And what a treat to watch Detectives Goren and Eames unravel Manotti's string of lies and false leads until the truth of everything that really happened is revealed.

I think I might have to dig up my college physics text book that's somewhere in the garage. Then again, I'm pretty sure it's quite obsolete. The theory of everything indeed.

[Observer2]

Techguy,

For more up-to-date info on string theory/M-theory you might want to check out:

www.sukidog.com/jpierre/strings/links.htm

It has a great list of links to informational websites, some of which are even comprehensible.

And if you’re a serious theorist, they have a link – which I haven’t even tried to look at – that they describe as, “All the latest results in string theory and high energy physics appear here first! This is the backbone for cutting edge research in the field. (CAUTION: This is not a recreational web site! The preprints that appear here are very technical.)”<br>
So there’s something for everyone.

[Metella]

not a recreational website! SNORT

It is if you are a full flown geek. I did such details in a biological site.

I was also lead down that garden path .... thinking the murder & bruises had nothting to do with all the scientific work - that it would pan out to be "elder abuse" which is a common happening for older folks being taken care of, & geez, mostly family members are the abusers. Shame on them.

I think Eames comment was indeed a bap on Goren's head - she did side glance at him & I think it was to make a point that he needs to reach out and be more sociable. I think it sucks ... I say SUCKS ..... that the writers are going to wallow in this instead of getting him over it. I do agree with Observer here, that it was put in to tie the episodes of this season together with the "theme". Just the theme bites bird butt.

Casting & guest acting was great in this episode, I really enjoyed the nurse that left. I love that lilting accent/voice.

I have also found that the scientists I have worked with are just like that - either they have their heads so far up the Primary Researcher,s behind (can you say yes to everything!) or they are trolling for any opening to steal some thunder and show it as their own. Too smart & pampered for too long to act like decent and real people.

So - in conclusion - rocking episode.

[Techguy]

Observer, thanks for the string of string theory links. I have a few websites bookmarked, and have seen some programs on the subject on public TV. But it's great to have so many resources all in one place.

[LOCIfan]

The thing that was most clever about this episode to me was the point brought up by Observer. It wasn't until the end that I noticed the parallels between Goren and Manotti. But it did tie in perfectly and naturally.

I prefer an episode like Silver Lining, where the parallels between Goren and the bad guy are apparent to Goren himself, as well as the viewer, all the way through the episode. Those are the ones I like best. They add depth to the plot and the characters.

But this one was a nice, twisty plot and the ending packed a punch. Solid ep in my book.

[NikkiGreen]

So...at the gathering in the hotel room the evening before the murder...how did Dr. Manotti get away long enough from "anti-matter" to tamper with the coffee maker?

[Metella]

Nikki - not only that, but wasn't the coffee MAKER in the hotel room tampered with? OK - so this is the How I am not getting. He may be able to tottle about, but can he walk like normal? Even with no physical problems, if you constrain yourself to a wheelchair for so long your legs will become weak anyway and you will only tottle until you work at it for weeks.

AND ..... why the ruse with what was or was not in the notebook - that seems a weak case to me; how about a NannyCam set up in the room to catch him walking .... I am sure the NYPD has nefarious devices that can be a camera that can be put down somewhere to record an area.

Still liked it.

[Observer2]

The coffeemaker was in the bathroom. There was an implication in another scene that Manotti can manage the bathroom by himself, so going in and shutting the door was how he got the privacy to put the radioactive material in the water section of the coffeemaker.

I was puzzled at first about why the coffeemaker was in the bathroom – it’s not my first choice of a place to keep things I’m going to eat or drink. But then I figured that the victim was on limited funds, and did not get a fancy suite – no wet bar, kitchenette, etc. So the only source of water is in the bathroom, which makes it a convenient place to put the coffeemaker.

As for the notebook ruse, Metella, I’m not at all sure they could have gotten a judge to okay them hiding a camera in his home – I think that’s roughly the equivalent of a bug. But if I’d been the detectives, I’d have gone much more with fingerprints than with trying to show that he shouldn’t have known a particular paper was in there. Or at least a combination. But the detectives didn’t seem to be taking any care to preserve prints. Of course, the fact that the chair alarm had been turned off makes most of their point. And he did virtually make an admission to his daughter.

There were a couple of other things I meant to mention... I can only think right now of the issue of positive images of heavy women. I hope the folk who complained about that in reference to Eosphoros noticed the woman who supervised the nurses for the agency. She was a positive, incidental character who appeared competent and successful, and just happened to be heavy.

[Metella]

Right Observer, but how / why did Manotti have any access to that hotel room at all? How could he have snatched the room key card? How could he have gotten that much time away from Anti-Matter? (which nicknames I LOVED) So, yah, maybe in the close confines of the bathroom he could have used his arms for mucho support and moving around but THEN .....

how did he get the radio active stuff in the first place? That would have been a nice yellow brick road to skip down for the detectives, eh? Sure, in relation to his lab he may have been able to order it .... but there would have been a paper trail, no?

[Summerfield]

My $0.02. The hotel manager said there was a $400.00 room service bill. I would assume that Neminger had people up to his room for beer and chips. I assumed that Monotti was there. He could have accessed the coffee pot then. As far as the isotopes, Eames said that one could order it or it was available in laboratories and they don't track who purchases or uses it. Remember Deakins saying "don't these people read the new?" By working at a University with a lab, Monotti could have accessed the isotopes and given his reputation, no one would have questioned him. I know its a stretch, but we've learned to suspend belief from time to time while watching CI.