Life: "Evil... and His Brother Ziggy" 12/3 - Grading & Discussion

[Aragorn]

Spoiler: Evil... and His Brother Ziggy

A sheriff's deputy is found dead on an Indian reservation, Crews and Reese are in the middle of a turf war between Tribal police and the county sheriff's department. The team learns that the victim was not well-liked on the reservation. Meanwhile, Crews attends a fundraiser thrown by Mickey Rayborn, one of Crews suspect involved in the conspiracy against him.

 

[Super Grover]

I want to see more of naked Reese.

 

[witchie]

Why is Dani involved with that douche? I don't understand this relationship at all. It's icky like the Lieutenant's swarmy mug.

I was distracted. Was the deputy the girl's father? Or was her mother white and that made her non-Native American?

I enjoyed the side stories. I liked the Native American deputy. The dinner scene was cute. Ted blurting out his feelings for Olivia. Rachel calling out Crews. And the best, "white people".

 

[Aragorn]

Okay. This is weird. I voted on the poll and when I clicked on the button it took me to THIS THREAD in Misc. From 2004!!!!

More naked Reese is a good thing. If you rent The L Word, you can see some Sarah Shahi girl-girl action.

Although you have to give some props also to Malaya Rivera Drew (possibly best known for her recurring role on ER):

 

[Sakrysta]

All I've watched is the teaser, and already my brain is screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! It's just so gross!!! It doesn't fit last year's Dani at all! They have ZERO chemistry. I hate these writers. *pouts*

I may get back to the rest of the episode eventually. Right now I'm too ticked and too busy.

 

[Mistral]

I felt the continuity police were missing this ep-who was Anna? Who were her parents? If I still have to ask after the ep-something is wrong.

But naked Reese had me sooo distracted I may have missed something. More naked Reese please!

 

[Aragorn]

I'm not sure what you're asking. Anna's father lied about them being Native Americans.

 

[gh4chiefs]

The resolution to the previous episode's "kidnapping" at the end was extremely lame.

I don't know if it's because I know this show's days are numbered or what, but I'm finding my interest waning. It might also be because of the Dani-Lt thing. That relationship is so stupid and unbelievable that it just ruins this show, IMHO.

 

[Sakrysta]

It just seems like all the charm of the first season has disappeared. They have hugely cheapened Dani's character this season, and I'm not just talking about Tidwell. Tidwell is more of a symptom than the problem. Dani is nothing more than a sex symbol now, and I'm embarrased for the actress as a result. Last year she was complex, complicated, both vulnerable and strong. The character has devolved into bait to attract horny teenagers to the show.

The conspiracy/frame story line has gone nearly nowhere, and certainly nowhere interesting. What happened to the conspiracy wall? Just because he found the killer doesn't mean all the progress he made last year is now irrelevant.

The show is still keeping my interest, but I'm sad to see the things that hooked me on this show just draining away. That said, I laughed out loud when Ted declared his love for Olivia over dinner. That whole scene was capped nicely by that admission. Rachel is a dull cliché, but Ted still delivers when they let him.

 

[Aragorn]

The William Atherton character is part of the conspiracy. It's possible he wants to spill his guts to Crews, based on that cliffhanger.

 

[Sakrysta]

Oh, I know they're throwing a bone at the conspiracy each week, but there's nothing compelling in that story line at all. Charlie doesn't seem as engaged, as driven, as he was last season when he was pushing to find Rachel and the real killer.

 

[witchie]

It just seems like all the charm of the first season has disappeared. They have hugely cheapened Dani's character this season, and I'm not just talking about Tidwell. Tidwell is more of a symptom than the problem. Dani is nothing more than a sex symbol now, and I'm embarrased for the actress as a result. Last year she was complex, complicated, both vulnerable and strong. The character has devolved into bait to attact horny teenagers to the show.

I hate what they've done to Dani. She was so awesomely complex last season. This thing with Tidwell...well, I've said before that it's made me love her a lot less. The only way to redeem this sorry storyline is to make Tidwell part of the conspiracy. Since I doubt that's what's happening, I'm really disappointed in the writers.

The conspiracy/frame story line has gone nearly nowhere, and certainly nowhere interesting. What happened to the conspiracy wall? Just because he found the killer doesn't mean all the progress he made last year is now irrelevant.

The conspiracy storyline is a slow drip. They resolved it too quickly last season. I understand why. The show was on the bubble.

The show is still keeping my interest, but I'm sad to see the things that hooked me on this show just draining away. That said, I laughed out loud when Ted declared his love for Olivia over dinner. That whole scene was capped nicely by that admission. Rachel is a dull cliché, but Ted still delivers when they let him.

The dinner scene was great. "Indian food? I...picked up the closet menu."

 

[Sakrysta]

That opening scene with Dani & Tidwell - and she pulled out those scissors and started talking about his hair - I just wanted to scream. This is NOT the way I wanted him to get a haircut! And even after it, he still looks just as greasy and disgusting as he did before. "You can take the guy out of the trailer park, but..."

 

[Aragorn]

The dinner scene was great. "Indian food? I...picked up the closet menu."

Does it even matter that Indian food isn't Native American food, or is that part of the point?

 

[Sakrysta]

^It's part of the joke. It's like Ted had made an attempt to make her feel at home but in a completely ignorant way. OR it's like Ted was trying to make a bad pun by ordering "indian" food for the "indian" cop. Either way, it was funny because it was unintentional.

 

[TGTheodore]

I think (and I HOPE) that Dani is working the Lt. for a specific reason other than what most people think is going on.

If need be, though it'll cost her her badge, she can turn him in for sleeping with an officer under his command, so she now has leverage.

So many double entendres above, but I'm not going back to rewrite them.

--Ted

 

[Sakrysta]

^Judging on the quality of the rest of the season, I think you're giving the writers too much credit.

The conversation I'm imagining is this:
"Okay guys, we barely survived last season, so we got rid of all the writers who wanted to do creative, interesting character work, because that obviously wasn't working for us. So, any ideas of how to boost ratings?"
"Ooh! Let's drop the tough lieutenant chick and bring in a guy boss for Crews & Reese. And let's tone down any credibility Reese had as a strong cop, because we all know our demo is threatened by women in positions of authority and strength."
"Good idea! And hey, let's go one step farther! Let's make the new guy boss a kind of lowest common denominator, smarmy guy, then get Dani to start having sex with him! That way we not only encourage our male demo that they can get the hot chicks no matter their hygiene or behavior, but we also get to have Dani naked or nearly naked a lot more often!"
"What about Charlie? After all, he is supposed to be the lead character..."
"Oh, we can still have him say dopey zen things once in a while. But let's throw him in bed with his ex-wife! Sex - especially adultery - always gets people's attention!"
"That works. What about Rachel? Now that we've found her, what do we do with her?"
"Eh, who cares. If we need something to bug Charlie, we can have her rebel or act like a brat or something. Otherwise we can just ignore her. We had enough of her last season."
"Speaking of last season, what about the conspiracy to frame Charlie?"
"Huh?"

/rant

 

[witchie]

^Judging on the quality of the rest of the season, I think you're giving the writers too much credit.

The conversation I'm imagining is this:
"Okay guys, we barely survived last season, so we got rid of all the writers who wanted to do creative, interesting character work, because that obviously wasn't working for us. So, any ideas of how to boost ratings?"
"Ooh! Let's drop the tough lieutenant chick and bring in a guy boss for Crews & Reese. And let's tone down any credibility Reese had as a strong cop, because we all know our demo is threatened by women in positions of authority and strength."
"Good idea! And hey, let's go one step farther! Let's make the new guy boss a kind of lowest common denominator, smarmy guy, then get Dani to start having sex with him! That way we not only encourage our male demo that they can get the hot chicks no matter their hygiene or behavior, but we also get to have Dani naked or nearly naked a lot more often!"
"What about Charlie? After all, he is supposed to be the lead character..."
"Oh, we can still have him say dopey zen things once in a while. But let's throw him in bed with his ex-wife! Sex - especially adultery - always gets people's attention!"
"That works. What about Rachel? Now that we've found her, what do we do with her?"
"Eh, who cares. If we need something to bug Charlie, we can have her rebel or act like a brat or something. Otherwise we can just ignore her. We had enough of her last season."
"Speaking of last season, what about the conspiracy to frame Charlie?"
"Huh?"

/rant

Unfortunately, I can imagine that was how the conversation went. It's a shame because the show was special and unique last season.

 

[TGTheodore]

I get the feeling more than one scene was trimmed or completely cut in this one. A couple of story jumps were just too big.

But Adam Arkin did a good job directing it. Exteriors are always tougher than interiors, and a LOT of this one took place outdoors.

--Ted