Post by tjara on Feb 5, 2009 5:45:14 GMT -5
Hello everyone...
Saw it for the first time yesterday. I don't know, I feel ambigious about the episode, and I can't even REALLY tell you why. There was lots to like... and yet I can't say I absolutely liked that ep.
First off, the bantering between Goren and Eames was lots of fun. VDO's love of magic definitely added to Goren, and I also like that they picked up on something that has been mentioned/shown before. It's not the first time that we hear/see that Goren has a thing for magic. I really like it when they pick up on such stuff and expand it. It was nice how playful Goren and Eames were - if there was annoyance on her part I didn't see it. Especially the part where Goren sneaked up on her with the pot full of cloths was fun. I also liked that it didn't take away from the story, but only added to it. It just fit in, it didn't seem as if they had "forced" scenes in the script.
The aria was good, nicely played and well scripted. But I never got over the feeling that something was missing. Goren is someone who either gets suspects to confess because he messes with their habits, or because he beats them with their own weapons. I know in a way they did in this ep, they were messing with Holiday, but somehow I felt like I was missing the "magic trick". I guess I'll need to rewatch, maybe I just didn't pick up on it. Yet I could see Goren act out some kind of "foresight" to catch Holiday, or pull of something similar to a card trick to get him. Like saying with the trick "not everything is as it seemed and I was able to fool you".
I credit them for really having "intent" in that episode, though. Aside from the contract, it was well established that no one liked Miles anymore, first mentioned by Carmine, then by Holiday. Even Theresa resented Miles for not giving Jake the credit she thought he deserved.
The bit about Goren playing the officer and Ross knowing what he was up to was lots of fun... I really give credit to VDO here, because of the way he played it. You can acutally see him snatching the key from the officers belt, and I think they did that on purpose. It was supposed to be just obvious enough to catch, because of course we all knew what Goren was up to. And I know he's left-handed, so that it's not really a surprise, but both times I've seen him doing magic tricks he does them with his left hand, so I wonder whether he's better at it with his left hand. (I guess it'd be normal if he were...) Sorry, as a "leftie" myself I can't help but notice these things...
Yet I wonder how Carmine got out - are we supposed to think he just went through the bullpen/hallway? Yet it was a nice way to tell that the "old drunk" was still good at his business and oft course the idea of a magician escaping from 1PP is just hilarious.
I wouldn't be worried about the catheter/IV for Miles Stone. One could clearly see a pipe running into the grave for the oxygen, so I guess it would easily be possible to hook up the IV/catheter to that. Also, Miles definitely left the coffin quite soon, and even though Theresa never clearly stated it, she could've taken care of the IV often enough. She lied about Holiday the first time, so maybe she lied about other stuff, too. Since Miles never stayed in the coffin in the earth for a long time, I don't think the IV & catheter were a problem. I also think that the grave was closed because Jake hoped no one would find out how the trick worked.
Yet I'm wondering - when exactly did Miles die? We saw him struggle on live TV, Jake told us later that that was an act (or at least was supposed to be one), but yet at that point they started digging him up. I guess the struggle we saw could've been the effect of the potassium chloride. But Goren later mentioned that he had been dead for about an hour, because he wasn't breathing anymore on life TV. Hmmm... Had Jake recorded the struggle and only replayed it on TV? But if so, how did he know that Miles was back in the coffin? (Obviously he didn't? Maybe he and Miles had agreed that he'd be struggling to signal he was back in the coffin and ready for the dig-up...)
I don't know, I'm still a little confused about this.
I guess Miles put up no struggle at all. Even Rogers was surprised by his state, so I guess Holiday managed to sneak in, mess with the IV, and leave. Jake had mentioned that he had to take care of Miles for the 31 days because he was so weak and even had wounds from laying down, so I guess Miles probably wasn't in a shape to even notice Holiday was there.
What I didn't like was Holiday mindreading Eames the way he did. Of course he had met them before and as a master profiler Holiday had probably picked up on their tension, so his "mindreading" worked. Even the lady (forget her name) from "Betrayed" mentioned the tension between G/E to Ross, so I guess while they are on the mend, it's still easy to detect.
But I think about this scene a lot more in terms of writing, and because of that I felt like at that point, the writers really were shoving the state of the G/E relationship down my throat. I didn't mind the mindreading itself, but would've liked more subtelty. Though I have to comment on both VDO's and KE acting in that scene, because they nicely went from taking a hit to recovering. Well done.
Enough rambling for now, I've more thinking to do about this ep
Oh, btw. see Houdini's grave here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini#Death
www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=509
I wonder whether they actually did shoot "on location".
Saw it for the first time yesterday. I don't know, I feel ambigious about the episode, and I can't even REALLY tell you why. There was lots to like... and yet I can't say I absolutely liked that ep.
First off, the bantering between Goren and Eames was lots of fun. VDO's love of magic definitely added to Goren, and I also like that they picked up on something that has been mentioned/shown before. It's not the first time that we hear/see that Goren has a thing for magic. I really like it when they pick up on such stuff and expand it. It was nice how playful Goren and Eames were - if there was annoyance on her part I didn't see it. Especially the part where Goren sneaked up on her with the pot full of cloths was fun. I also liked that it didn't take away from the story, but only added to it. It just fit in, it didn't seem as if they had "forced" scenes in the script.
The aria was good, nicely played and well scripted. But I never got over the feeling that something was missing. Goren is someone who either gets suspects to confess because he messes with their habits, or because he beats them with their own weapons. I know in a way they did in this ep, they were messing with Holiday, but somehow I felt like I was missing the "magic trick". I guess I'll need to rewatch, maybe I just didn't pick up on it. Yet I could see Goren act out some kind of "foresight" to catch Holiday, or pull of something similar to a card trick to get him. Like saying with the trick "not everything is as it seemed and I was able to fool you".
I credit them for really having "intent" in that episode, though. Aside from the contract, it was well established that no one liked Miles anymore, first mentioned by Carmine, then by Holiday. Even Theresa resented Miles for not giving Jake the credit she thought he deserved.
The bit about Goren playing the officer and Ross knowing what he was up to was lots of fun... I really give credit to VDO here, because of the way he played it. You can acutally see him snatching the key from the officers belt, and I think they did that on purpose. It was supposed to be just obvious enough to catch, because of course we all knew what Goren was up to. And I know he's left-handed, so that it's not really a surprise, but both times I've seen him doing magic tricks he does them with his left hand, so I wonder whether he's better at it with his left hand. (I guess it'd be normal if he were...) Sorry, as a "leftie" myself I can't help but notice these things...
Yet I wonder how Carmine got out - are we supposed to think he just went through the bullpen/hallway? Yet it was a nice way to tell that the "old drunk" was still good at his business and oft course the idea of a magician escaping from 1PP is just hilarious.
I wouldn't be worried about the catheter/IV for Miles Stone. One could clearly see a pipe running into the grave for the oxygen, so I guess it would easily be possible to hook up the IV/catheter to that. Also, Miles definitely left the coffin quite soon, and even though Theresa never clearly stated it, she could've taken care of the IV often enough. She lied about Holiday the first time, so maybe she lied about other stuff, too. Since Miles never stayed in the coffin in the earth for a long time, I don't think the IV & catheter were a problem. I also think that the grave was closed because Jake hoped no one would find out how the trick worked.
Yet I'm wondering - when exactly did Miles die? We saw him struggle on live TV, Jake told us later that that was an act (or at least was supposed to be one), but yet at that point they started digging him up. I guess the struggle we saw could've been the effect of the potassium chloride. But Goren later mentioned that he had been dead for about an hour, because he wasn't breathing anymore on life TV. Hmmm... Had Jake recorded the struggle and only replayed it on TV? But if so, how did he know that Miles was back in the coffin? (Obviously he didn't? Maybe he and Miles had agreed that he'd be struggling to signal he was back in the coffin and ready for the dig-up...)
I don't know, I'm still a little confused about this.
I guess Miles put up no struggle at all. Even Rogers was surprised by his state, so I guess Holiday managed to sneak in, mess with the IV, and leave. Jake had mentioned that he had to take care of Miles for the 31 days because he was so weak and even had wounds from laying down, so I guess Miles probably wasn't in a shape to even notice Holiday was there.
What I didn't like was Holiday mindreading Eames the way he did. Of course he had met them before and as a master profiler Holiday had probably picked up on their tension, so his "mindreading" worked. Even the lady (forget her name) from "Betrayed" mentioned the tension between G/E to Ross, so I guess while they are on the mend, it's still easy to detect.
But I think about this scene a lot more in terms of writing, and because of that I felt like at that point, the writers really were shoving the state of the G/E relationship down my throat. I didn't mind the mindreading itself, but would've liked more subtelty. Though I have to comment on both VDO's and KE acting in that scene, because they nicely went from taking a hit to recovering. Well done.
Enough rambling for now, I've more thinking to do about this ep
Oh, btw. see Houdini's grave here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini#Death
www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=509
I wonder whether they actually did shoot "on location".