Seems more and more likely that Tropical Storm Don, also known in yesterday’s post as the godfather, will hit the coast well south of us. The local weather prognosticators have doubts that we’ll see any rain from the system at all. A little tweak to the north would be much appreciated. However, we might get some rain today from another system (maybe from the remote outer bands?) so we won’t get away completely.
We’re up to the sixth episode of Season 1 of Dexter. The point where the guy everyone is sure is the Ice Truck Killer looks at Dexter for the first time and says, “Who the f*** are you?” One of the things I’ve always appreciated about the series is the way the writers ratchet up the tension. Dexter doesn’t have just one thing closing in on him at a time—he has several, all converging at the same rate.
This week was one of the funny episodes of The Closer that featured Flynn and Provenza. The last one, in all likelihood. Provenza has an opportunity to make some extra money doing serving papers on someone while off duty. He hasn’t strictly cleared this with the chief, yet, so it’s unauthorized. Flynn joins in, after uttering the show’s thematic statement: Anything that begins with you whispering ends with other people shouting. They con Buzz into joining the caper because they need someone who can track a cell phone. They lie to him about how much money they’re going to make, cutting him in for $200 instead of a share of $4000. Their subject is in a hotel: Alan Arkin with bad teeth. When they get back downstairs, Buzz notices that his tail light is broken. He decides to videotape it for evidence. Gunshots are heard and a body falls from the hotel, landing right on Buzz’s car.
“This is totally containable,” Provenza says…to Fritz, who happens upon the scene because the victim was awaiting sentencing for embezzling a ton of money from a pension fund. “I know what you’re thinking. What is a murder victim doing on Buzz’s car.” However, the medical examiner discovers a little physical detail that casts doubt on the victim being Hirschbaum. Turns out that an imposter was killed instead. Brenda plans to keep that fact quiet, which troubles both Fritz (the FBI has a policy against lying to the public) and Chief Pope. “You think it’s a good idea to have someone from the LAPD lie publicly?” he asks. Then he sees Commander Taylor on TV at a press conference. “Oh. Yeah. I can live with that.”
The supposed victim’s family is a piece of work. His fourth (and final, she claims) wife wants her stepdaughter to call her “Mom.” “I’m not calling you Mom. You sat behind me in eighth grade English.” Mom makes herself look suspicious by saying the same thing three times in exactly the same words. The daughter makes herself look suspicious by asking for her father’s death certificate.
When a clue to the real Hirschbaum’s location turns up, Brenda suspends Flynn and Provenza (and Buzz) so they can track him down before the FBI catch up with him. They “kidnap” him and take him to a hotel while they try to figure out how to make any of the money they were promised by the lawyer. With all the damage to Buzz’s car (plus a ripped suit), they’re operating heavily in the red. I thought it was funny that Alan Arkin’s character was reading the yellow pages while they concocted a plan. The artist’s sketches of the kidnapping suspects were pretty hilarious, too.
Hirschbaum offers them $100K each to serve the papers again and let him get away. Buzz, of course, is indignant, but Flynn and Provenza had a plan. Brenda is curious about the broken tail late and, when they retrace their steps from the night before, they discover that it was broken at the lawyer’s office so he could follow them at night more easily. The funniest part of the whole episode was the interrogation of the lawyer, who went to the best law school in the Caribbean. “I suppose all this makes me the criminal,” he says indignantly. “Well you did kill someone,” Brenda responds. “An actor!” he says, as if that makes everything all right. “Everything I’ve done up to now has been completely legal, except for the murder,” he says. Brenda tells him she’s not only arresting him for killing Hirschbaum’s stand-in, she’s doing it so that his clients will get better representation.
My favorite line of the show, though, which I’ll have to use some day, came after the lawyer said he didn’t mean to kill the stand-in. “Intent travels with the bullet,” she said. Great line.
