Life: "Trapdoor" 12/17 - Grading & Discussion

[Aragorn]

Spoiler: Trapdoor

The team investigates the murder of three Russians that are linked to the Russian mobster Roman Nevikov and Crews also thinks that he is linked to his own case. Meanwhile, Crews shoots an intruder who turns out to be someone he knows and Reese falls back into old habits.

 

[DontFeedPhil]

All I know is that Cromartie looks like he is in this episode. As a Sarah Cronner Conicles Fan Ill be watching for that alone...

 

[witchie]

Excellent! This was S1 good.

Let me count the goodness.

1) The mystery. Front and center and integral to the story.
2) We finally get to meet Charlie's dad.
3) The Russian!
4) Ted!
5) Dani! Oh, thank you...she's back! Issues! Drinking! Heart to heart with Charlie.

Small Veronica Mars reunion for Jessy Schramm & Tessa Thompson.

One huge complaint...February?! Are you kidding me?

 

[firehawk12]

What's with these January breaks anyway? I mean, makes sense to premiere around sweeps but jeez.
Anyhow, I was half expecting them to end with him being shot... the last couple of scenes after that were a nice touch.

 

[Aragorn]

Is Life going on hiatus or will they be showing reruns? Remember back in the day where you'd have old episodes airing until the new ones come on? All of CBS's crime dramas are like that. I wonder how much having a show just vanish without a trace before returning hurts the viewership... i.e. Jericho.

So was Cromartie setting up humans for The Matrix to feed on after Judgment Day?

At first I thought Geoffrey Pierson was too young to be playing the father, but it turns out there is a 20 year age gap.

 

[James Cole]

Very nice episode. Liked the first season feel to it.

As to why it isn't returning till February. A couple theories:

The February sweeps month is being pushed back till March because of the digital switchover. And of instead of showing reruns, NBC is showing reality crap. Unfortunately there is a strong chance Life season 2 will never be re-ran, so catch it while you can.

NBC also maxed out on their original episodes of Life by double running them early in the season. Right now they're probably filming the 14th episode of the season according to the casting call sheets on spoilertv (tonight was #11, so they need some time to catch up).

 

[firehawk12]

Oh yeah, there's the switchover in the US. Are they expecting February to be a dead month as people struggle to find new TVs or converter boxes?

 

[James Cole]

Oh yeah, there's the switchover in the US. Are they expecting February to be a dead month as people struggle to find new TVs or converter boxes?

About 85-90% of the population are on cable or satellite, so it shouldn't be too much of an impact. Just a pain for the government and tv stations that will have to deal with the public. Unfortunately the people that are the least tuned into about technology, the elderly and poor, are most likely to be impacted. You also have people who refuse to believe it will really happen. Probably the best thing for the government and broadcasting to do is accept that some people won't do anything until their tv goes dark. The California tv market I live in is said to be the "least prepared" in the country, and even then only 17% of the population are at risk of losing tv.

Another problem is that the digital transmitters don't match completely the analog coverage area and people on the edge of urban areas may lose their tv even if they have a new tv or converter box. Instead of using the digital format (DVB) that most of the world (plus US satellite and cable companies!) use, the US went with a custom one that has this problem.

Oh, some unfortunate Life news:

Despite having a strong lead in from the Muppet special:

At 9 p.m. CBS took the lead with a 3.9 for “Criminal Minds,” while ABC moved to second with a 2.3 for “Private Practice.” Univision was third with a 1.8 for “Fuego en la Sangre,” NBC fourth with a 1.7 for “Life,” Fox fifth with a 1.4 for a repeat of “Bones” and CW sixth with a 0.6 for “Stylista.”

Among households, CBS led the night with a 7.7 average overnight rating and a 13 share. NBC was second at 4.0/7, ABC third at 3.7/6, Fox fourth at 3.5/6, Univision fifth at 2.1/3 and CW sixth at 1.3/2. CBS was first for the night among 18-49s with a 3.2 average overnight rating and a 9 share. NBC was second at 2.0/6, ABC and Fox tied for third at 1.8/5, Univision fifth at 1.5/4 and CW sixth at 0.7/2.

Luckily NBC doesn't have enough shows in the pipeline to cancel Life early. Life has ten episodes to go, which should finish airing in early to mid April.

More on last night's ratings

 

[firehawk12]

I can't imagine that Muppets would be a good lead in to a crime show though.

 

[Nociod]

Voted excellent.

However I thought it was a bit too big of a coinsidence that Crews took Dani to the murder museum before they became suspects.. It wasn't until after they spilled the details to the press they became suspects..

But other than that, it was a good episode. Nice to see that Charlie sent someone to protect Ted in jail, and didn't expect him getting shot! Although this will probably resolve as fast as the other cliffhanger they did where the guy smashed the car window... Well, maybe not resolve fast to us due to the long wait, but story-wise

 

[Nociod]

Ah damn, I watched two Life episodes right after each other, and apparently mixed up in the descriptions

Still excellent though.

Question: What did Roman plan to do with his slaves in the basement?

 

[Roger Wilco]

I liked the episode, although it bothered me, that I knew why Roman killed the engineer much more quickly than Crews did.
Him getting shot, I didn't expect; but there's not much suspense there either, since Crews is the show, he has to survive.

Question: What did Roman plan to do with his slaves in the basement?

I don't think they are slaves; can't quite put my finger on it, but it just didn't look like it imo.

The two guy next to Pavel's girlfriend look like cops, don't they?

 

[Aragorn]

Him getting shot, I didn't expect; but there's not much suspense there either, since Crews is the show, he has to survive.

You can kill Crews. Then Ted devotes his life to vigilante justice.

 

[witchie]

I liked the episode, although it bothered me, that I knew why Roman killed the engineer much more quickly than Crews did.
Him getting shot, I didn't expect; but there's not much suspense there either, since Crews is the show, he has to survive.

Question: What did Roman plan to do with his slaves in the basement?

I don't think they are slaves; can't quite put my finger on it, but it just didn't look like it imo.

The two guy next to Pavel's girlfriend look like cops, don't they?

Those are the cops that were guarding her. Not sure why he didn't kill all of them unless he was waiting for the heat to die down.

 

[Nociod]

They are of course the two cops assigned to protect pavels girlfriend , but why not simply kill them?, I wonder what his plan for them was?

Then again, this is a guy who enjoys putting people into dog cages. I'm thinking he was going to use the women as sex slaves, and make the men into gladiators fighting to the death. I'm sure he knew all the right people who would pay for something like that.