More work on the essay this morning. I hope to have it whipped into shape after another day or two. It has a lot going on, discussing a novel and three movies, and I want to keep it under 4-5000 words. The issue of the magazine it will be in should be a popular one.
The third episode of Justified started off a little lack-luster, primarily because it involved Raylan so little. That dumb-ass Dewey Crowe was never my favorite character, but I did like his scene in the store where he was looking to buy a ski mask. “Who’re you? The ski mask police?” he asks, when the owner gives him grief. His idea to try to impersonate Raylan was about as creative as his little mind could possibly get. He probably thought it was the smartest thing ever. Doyle seemed more of a hick this episode then when we first met him, but he left no doubt in our minds as to what lengths he’s willing to go to for the family. And Dickie seemed less bright, too, then in his first appearance. I guess it’s going to take some time to get a handle on these characters. But the star of the episode was Walton Goggins. “What does a guy have to do to drink in peace and quiet?” he mutters after the umpteenth interruption at his favorite watering hole. This time, when the guy from the mine (Kyle) tried to get him fired up about some big deal, Boyd got bigger. He’s not a big guy, but when he stood up, it was perfectly obvious who the more dangerous man was. A smart Kyle would have turned and walked away. Boyd seemed to suck all the light out of the room. Wow, what a performance. It really does seem like he just wants to be left alone, but people (including Raylan) won’t.
Fun little zombie episode of CSI. Catherine came up with a new description for the guys who were supposed to be dead but got up and walked away when no one was looking: D.O.AWOL. Howard Hessman was a blast as the discredited researcher who wanted to reanimate dead people. Gave some insight into what would have happened if Dr. Johnny Fever had gotten a real Ph. D. In a way, his character reminded me a bit of Walter from Fringe, and there was even a passing reference to fringe science.
The Mentalist was excellent this week. There was a murder (unsolved) and a surprising turn of events (unresolved), and it was a thrill a minute, from the obligatory cold opening followed by the “36 hours earlier” catch up. When we see Hightower with a gun to Patrick’s head, everything suddenly makes sense, though the way they tried to prolong the suspense by referring to her as “the suspect” and “the target” was a little irritating. We all saw the previews.
What a brilliant way to resolve the incineration of the cop killer without involving any of the regular CBI agents, I thought. But at the back of my mind I had to think: this reeks of a Patrick Jane con to smoke out the real culprit. Turns out I was half right: the evidence starts to mount on Hightower, but she convinces Patrick that she’s not guilty. Duct taping the gun to her hand and his neck was a stroke of utter brilliance. It amped up the threat to Patrick (Hightower recognized Cho as the one most likely to try something) but it also let Patrick bluff the security guard into thinking she was still in the vehicle.
We also got to see a lot more of La Roche. I loved Patrick’s description of him: “We’re all just pots in his kitchen and he’s the sous chef waiting for one of us to boil over.” He’s a bulldog on the job (“Nice project board,” Hightower says. “Bet you won a few science fairs.” He grunts and leans in, doing his best Robert Goran imitation. “I won all of them.”) but at the home he dresses in oversized yellow shirts (like Nero Wolfe), collects Hummel figures and has a “fluffy white dog.” The exchange between Patrick and La Roche here was great: “I didn’t picture you living in an actual house.” La Roche frowns. “Where did you think I lived?” And, the inspiration for today’s image: “In a burrow on a riverbank, something like that.” For the briefest of moments, I thought we were being led to believe that La Roche was the culprit, but that makes no sense. He wasn’t at CBI at the time. But what does one make of the William Blake-quoting chief? That was weird.
The scene I enjoyed the most, though, was the one where Patrick visited the fingerprint guy in the basement. The way he described his job, that’s exactly what the local CSI people told us a few weeks ago. “I’m not David Caruso,” he says, which is also pretty much what the local CSI people told us. Another great exchange was the one where Rigsby and Cho caught the guys in the van behind the warehouse. Rigsby said something in what sounded to me like passable Spanish. The men don’t respond. “Maybe they don’t speak Spanish,” Rigsby says. “Maybe you don’t,” Cho deadpans. The gag with Rigsby and the guy with the thick accent at the beginning didn’t work quite so well.
New vocabulary words arising from this week’s lesson: Mentalized: Describes the process whereby Patrick scrutinizes you like Sherlock Holmes and arrives at certain conclusions. LaRoched: Describes the feeling of guilt someone has after being interrogated by the bulldog, even if the person isn’t guilty.
