Post by Patcat on Nov 19, 2010 9:00:36 GMT -5
Will air November 22 at 8pm(EST) on MyNetwork. First aired November 15, 2007. The seventh episode of Season Seven.
Written by Jerome Hairston and Warren Leight. Directed by Ken Girotti.
Guest Actors:
Peter Coyote as Lionel Shill (Mr. Coyote is a social and political activist, but as an actor he’s probably best known for playing the guy with the keys in E.T.)
Pablo Schneider as T.J. Hawkins (Mr. Schneider was in THE UNBLINKING EYE. He’s the half brother of Liev Schreiber, and received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in 2009).
Fisher Stevens as Gareth Sage (Mr. Stevens played the Howard Stern like DJ in SEMI-DETACHED)
Synopsis: Eames and Goren investigate the murder of a gifted young writer.
Ripped from the headlines: Lionel Shill could be several authors. His mentoring of a supposed ex-con is somewhat like Norman Mailer, although in Mailer’s case the ex-con was a real life murderer who stabbed a young man to death after the prisoner was released on parole. I see more than a touch of J.D. Salinger about Shill. T.J. Hawkins and his false memoir are much like James Frey’s A MILLION LITTLE PIECES. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Frey
Quotes:
Detective: “Somebody outside wants a word.” Eames: “Family?” Detective: “Don’t know, but you’re Major Case. You tell me.”
Eames: “I found Gareth Sage stories all over a message board devoted to bad bosses.” Ross: “You just happened to be looking there?”
Eames: “She might not be single. SCARFACE DVD, men’s hoodies…”
Girl: “He was really black.” Goren: “You mean like obsidian?”
Shill: “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was personal.”
Queries:
Is Ross a bad boss? Is he paranoid? Does he ever get to a point where he “gets” Bobby?
Why didn’t Alex and Bobby react stronger to Gareth Sage?
Was Goren too violent with Shill? Is Goren too close to, or even crossing, the edge in this episode? Why? Because of Gage? Is Alex worried about Bobby? Is Bobby using Shill as a replacement for Gage and/or Brady?
Is Goren’s treatment of Shill any worse than his treatment of past offenders?
Does Shill deserve any of our sympathy? TJ?
Will TJ write a memoir about his time in prison?
How much time will TJ serve? Shill?
How did Shill convince TJ to kill Keira?
Does Keira get lost in this story?
Will Keira’s book ever get published?
Comments:
A fair amount of people didn’t like this episode when it first aired. I liked it, and I still like it on reflection. I think it’s Bobby’s treatment of Shill and T.J. that caused the most trouble, and I admit I don’t like seeing Bobby act in a violent way, especially since some of it seems motivated by Bobby’s anger and unresolved feelings. But I argue that it would be more unlikely and perhaps more troubling if Bobby wasn’t feeling anger over what had happened to him. And Shill is not a nice man. As for T.J., it appears that Bobby isn’t doing anything unusual in trying to get the young man to react. I thought the acting in this episode excellent, especially Peter Coyote as Shill and Pablo Schreiber as T.J.
I found myself thinking about this episode as I read Stephen King’s book ON WRITING this week. I can’t come up with anything profound to write about this, but there was some connection. I couldn’t help but think Keira and T.J. would’ve been much better off if Mr. King were their mentor rather than Mr. Shill
As always, for your consideration, comments, and catcalls.
Patcat
Written by Jerome Hairston and Warren Leight. Directed by Ken Girotti.
Guest Actors:
Peter Coyote as Lionel Shill (Mr. Coyote is a social and political activist, but as an actor he’s probably best known for playing the guy with the keys in E.T.)
Pablo Schneider as T.J. Hawkins (Mr. Schneider was in THE UNBLINKING EYE. He’s the half brother of Liev Schreiber, and received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in 2009).
Fisher Stevens as Gareth Sage (Mr. Stevens played the Howard Stern like DJ in SEMI-DETACHED)
Synopsis: Eames and Goren investigate the murder of a gifted young writer.
Ripped from the headlines: Lionel Shill could be several authors. His mentoring of a supposed ex-con is somewhat like Norman Mailer, although in Mailer’s case the ex-con was a real life murderer who stabbed a young man to death after the prisoner was released on parole. I see more than a touch of J.D. Salinger about Shill. T.J. Hawkins and his false memoir are much like James Frey’s A MILLION LITTLE PIECES. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Frey
Quotes:
Detective: “Somebody outside wants a word.” Eames: “Family?” Detective: “Don’t know, but you’re Major Case. You tell me.”
Eames: “I found Gareth Sage stories all over a message board devoted to bad bosses.” Ross: “You just happened to be looking there?”
Eames: “She might not be single. SCARFACE DVD, men’s hoodies…”
Girl: “He was really black.” Goren: “You mean like obsidian?”
Shill: “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was personal.”
Queries:
Is Ross a bad boss? Is he paranoid? Does he ever get to a point where he “gets” Bobby?
Why didn’t Alex and Bobby react stronger to Gareth Sage?
Was Goren too violent with Shill? Is Goren too close to, or even crossing, the edge in this episode? Why? Because of Gage? Is Alex worried about Bobby? Is Bobby using Shill as a replacement for Gage and/or Brady?
Is Goren’s treatment of Shill any worse than his treatment of past offenders?
Does Shill deserve any of our sympathy? TJ?
Will TJ write a memoir about his time in prison?
How much time will TJ serve? Shill?
How did Shill convince TJ to kill Keira?
Does Keira get lost in this story?
Will Keira’s book ever get published?
Comments:
A fair amount of people didn’t like this episode when it first aired. I liked it, and I still like it on reflection. I think it’s Bobby’s treatment of Shill and T.J. that caused the most trouble, and I admit I don’t like seeing Bobby act in a violent way, especially since some of it seems motivated by Bobby’s anger and unresolved feelings. But I argue that it would be more unlikely and perhaps more troubling if Bobby wasn’t feeling anger over what had happened to him. And Shill is not a nice man. As for T.J., it appears that Bobby isn’t doing anything unusual in trying to get the young man to react. I thought the acting in this episode excellent, especially Peter Coyote as Shill and Pablo Schreiber as T.J.
I found myself thinking about this episode as I read Stephen King’s book ON WRITING this week. I can’t come up with anything profound to write about this, but there was some connection. I couldn’t help but think Keira and T.J. would’ve been much better off if Mr. King were their mentor rather than Mr. Shill
As always, for your consideration, comments, and catcalls.
Patcat