A couple of weeks ago, my wife asked me what I wanted my legacy to be. I tend not to be a deep thinker when it comes to future matters. Oh, that’s not to say that I don’t make plans and lists, but it’s all short term stuff. Ask me if I’m going to NECON next year and I’ll probably say “That’s long term planning.” I don’t chart out the future or make career goals. Look after the days and the years will take care of themselves, I figure.
My father left an observable legacy. At his funeral, on a cold, early January, Canadian winter day, the church was packed to the rafters. It took the wind out of my lungs to emerge from the back room and see how many people wanted to celebrate his life and mark his passing. He was generous with his time and talents, was deeply involved in the surrounding communities and rarely said no to a request for his time and energy. He served on committees, some of them for decades. People liked him, though he wasn’t gregarious for the most part. In thinking about this over the past twenty-four hours, I figure he left behind a big footprint. Mine will be nowhere near so large because I’m more stingy with my time and I’ve lived most of my adult life in a suburbia where you don’t even get to know your next door neighbors unless you’re outgoing, which I’m not.
It was the passing of David Thompson from Murder by the Book that got me thinking about this. He’s another guy who’s leaving behind a big footprint. The outpouring of shock and grief at his premature death has been profound. He touched a lot of people. In addition to his family and friends, all the customers from the store are going to miss him, as are the authors he brought in for signings.
As soon as I saw Courtney B. Vance on The Closer the other night and heard that his character was also a candidate for Chief, I figured the writing was on the wall for Brenda. I’m never impressed when characters on a show aren’t allowed to figure out something that is patently obvious to the audience. As soon as Brenda suspected that the original failed bombing was really meant for the fire department and that the perp wanted to lure out more firefighters to get them with the larger bomb, I knew what his plan was. Still, it took Brenda a while to figure it out, and she pretty much had to spell it out for the other Chief. I loved Tao’s reaction after he stopped the rolling cylinder (“Holy crap”) and the parking garage scene was good. I don’t know if Vance’s character will be back to meddle next season or not. The chief of police has been pretty much a non-entity in the series until now.
Rizzoli and Isles exhibited its best and worst in the season finale. The worst was its clunky obviousness. Show the faces of all the bad guys except one and immediately we know we’re going to see him again in different circumstances. Linger repeatedly on the fact that one character has a gun and no one else did. Linger again and again on the walkie talkie. Have the gun-toting character ask suspicious questions that no one else sees as suspicious in the context. Have the savant-like medical examiner freeze when asked to perform minor surgery on a living patient. And what was the deal with the tortoise? (As I joked elsewhere, if you show a tortoise in Act 1 it’s supposed to go off in Act 3, right?) And turn a powerful scene into some sort of mock ballet by shooting it in slow motion in case the viewers don’t get what’s happening. Lots of worsts. The best was the suspense built inside the station house after the bad guys arrived, and Rizzoli. Angie Harmon is carrying this show, basically. Her solution to the ending—didn’t I see Bruce Willis do that in a Die Hard movie? Too bad they decided to screw the scene up with slo-mo. Otherwise it was pretty potent stuff.
The two-hour finale of Covert Affairs was really just two independent episodes run back to back. I was scratching my head all through the first one, trying to figure out why the heck Vivian, the embassy employee, looked so familiar. Then I see that it was Anna Chlumsky from My Girl, all grown up. She was a little over the top, but it was a fun, light episode that also featured Augie playing the tour guide to a bunch of school kids at the Smithsonian to preserve Annie’s cover. The second episode was more down and dirty. We found out who the leak was, but given the actor’s tendency to play smarmy, oily characters it wasn’t a huge surprise. The switch with the GPS was clever, but I knew that the “biggest house” was going to be something other than what everyone thought it would be. Another cliff hanger ending. Bastards.
Tonight we get to find out who wins the $500,000 on Big Brother. Boy, they sure stretched it out. This past week must have been sheer misery for the three remaining contestants. No challenges, no games, nothing to do but sit around and wait and wait and wait. Torture. Survivor is back tonight, too. Old farts vs. the young pups. I know which side I’m rooting for already.
Housekeeping details:
- The Stephen King Illustrated Companion is on deep discount at Barnes & Noble’s website. Only $13.99. Buy two or more copies and shipping is free.
- I posted my review of The Whisperers by John Connolly the other day.
