wolfkin

As an episode of TV it's fine. I mostly liked the case. Will's trauma was interesting but non sequitturish. Kinda random and out of nowhere with no inspiration. But it was satisfying to watch him finally untangle. It is also interesting to see him try to approach the Angie question differently. I like them together. Today we solve a cold case while Will mentally processes a cold case and the APB solve a murder whose victim was killed because of a cold case and we have a returning character who is a headcase.

ACAB all the way down this episode:
Police Procedurals in Episodes 1-5: "DON'T Assume! Follow the evidence. Dig in and find out the truth. Don't guess at the evidence. Read it."

Police Procedurals in Season 2+: "DON'T! Assume! Hmm.. this is a male relative what if he was the killer? This paternal grandfather. He could have done it. To protect his legacy he doesn't have. What about this uncle? He could have done it to protect his secret molesting we have no evidence for. Hey what about this step mother she could have done it in a fit of jealousy she shows no signs of. What if the best friend did it because of thruple gone wrong despite no thruple existing."

Also for an episode where the GBI just assumes every one they talk to is the secret criminal. They somehow have the MOST REAL accused I've ever seen in 30 years of Television watching. GBI goes to a black man (Derek, ex-boyfriend) they accused of the crime when Lilly went missing originally. And this dude is the most hard core real character I've ever seen in a police procedural. Everything Derek says is quotable:

• It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that ya'll are fishing for someone to lock up (100% true. There's no evidence they just want to pressure a confession)
• I'm not helping you pin this one me like you tried to do the first time around (cop shows never go into this because it's counter programming but why SHOULD they expect cooperation from someone who is innocent being accused of being the killer. Law Enforcement has zero incentive to clear you of the crime and every incentive to get you locked up so they can "clear" the case. Faith saying "So what? No justice for Lilly?" actually kinda got me mad because what about justice for Derek? By definition everything he says will be used to make his life harder. Best to say nothing.)

Then he tells them to suck it and dips. We never see Derek again even though based on police procedural logic he's owed an apology. I love Derek. I kinda want to make Derek my avatar so I can explain who he is to people who ask. Police will give apologies for anyone who hrumphs loud enough but never to someone they wrongly accuse and threaten (though here they didn't threaten to be fair).

Will: "Derek's working hard to regain that prime suspect position"

By doing WHAT? They then proceed to make up stories like 5 year olds with toys to dream up what happened. I mean at least on Castle everyone would laugh at Richard Castle when he would do that.

Kinda make it ironic that Captain then says

"There's always a possibility it was the father. I really hope not."

I just watched a show video clip on social media where this dude "Folds under zero pressure" (Here's a YouTube version v=7xzdZfPTPrU). He's talking with a girl and he can't get out even half a sentence. He keeps stuttering even before she starts eyeing him. That's how people are in police procedurals. They get cuffs on you and they just start confessing every thing they've ever done the who, what, when, where and why. Nobody needs to even ask. Sixty percent of the time they aren't even miranda'd. The police are not your friends. They are not a source of forgiveness. Do not expect the police to even pass on your apologies. They are under no obligation. They don't like you. They will use everything you say against you to maximize your sentence because that gives the prosecutor another notch in their belt and the prosecutor is their friend for whatever reason. Prosecutor needs to maintain a 100% conviction rate because people (even people within the law) don't understand how the legal system works and they assume legally if you've been accused it's not because you look guilty. It's because you ARE guilty.

The lackluster episode. Nolan wants a baby. and honestly I couldn't care less. there's hilarious. two people interviewing babysitters drama. I don't understand what their plan was in the first place. if they're both interviewing the babysitters there's going to be someone they find who gets the babysitter? why wasn't this the first question they asked rather than the last but at least it didn't lead to unnecessary drama. the whole thing wrapped up in one episode with a reasonable accommodation.

The two biggest stories this episode are the police story about A babysitter disappearing and then the personal story about Lucy and Tim breaking up. that second story is of course further broken down into two parts. there's the emotional fallout and the fact that I made I made a I made a reservation Lucy now needs a roommate while being emotionally devastated.

now this breakup felt weird. first of all, Lucy and Tim are a perfectly fine couple. heck, I'll go ahead and say it. I like them as a couple. more importantly, while the events that led to their breakup are meritas, The emotional Arc wasn't there. so it feels like it came out of left field. well, not entirely left field but it doesn't feel earned is I guess the best way I could put it. they don't really need to break up and then everything that happens in this episode with them coming to a new resolution State also feels just weird. Tim has to deal with a psychologist who says she's not there to judge him but is then there to judge him while also butting in on police affairs as not a policewoman. it's just a silly silly presentation. then Lucy has to do the same thing but because she didn't do anything wrong she doesn't have to do it with a psychologist. she does it with the commander which also feels silly. slightly less silly but still silly

oh snap, The equalizers trying to get it wet. I mean I understand protest being scary. I get that. I understand if that's too much for you to want to go to a protest because you don't want to go through all that. but you couldn't stay for the arts and craft part? You couldn't help make some signs and then leave? punk behavior right there.

This episode felt a little too expository. I kind of feel like for all the protest discussion. maybe they could have had a protest consultant the way they always have police consultants to make sure everyone holds their gun correctly. maybe when you're going into a protest you learn a little bit about what you're going against. understand what kettling is and how to get out. understand what to do when you get separated and how to prevent yourself from getting separated in the first place. maybe learn how to understand what the exit pathways are so that you can find your way out quickly. there are basic protest protocols that maybe this show could have talked about more than just how much you want to protest.

I don't know how I feel about the equalizer being in a love triangle, actually I do know and I'm not a fan but she has a man and she does not need her ex-Man hopping in here. because Dante was being weird when he found out about the husband helping out on a medical case. that was a weird call to be upset about that because she's clearly not with this dude and they're clearly not in a relationship. only for the show to end up with them being in a relationship. this is weird.

I do think MEL is behaving weirdly. It feels like maybe we're going for an artificial general intelligence storyline. and I hate that almost as much as I hate having to use the phrase artificial general intelligence. It's very clear the system is behaving in a way that's unexpected but I thought they would talk about it in the end and they didn't. so this is going to be our end of season. big bad maybe?

Less than 25% of the way through the episode. We have a classic example of what in my opinion is how to do an episode of Elizabeth poorly. I realize this is no longer a legal show now that we're not the good wife. This is now a police procedure. But Elizabeth as a character is still a lawyer. She's a lawyer who due to her (coded autistic) brain notices things.

This is a great hook. It's a reasonable ask for the viewer to buy into your world. But then when you do stuff like this episode, it completely falls apart. I'm even willing to tolerate seeing the murder. How why? And when happened before Elizabeth even shows up. Generally speaking, I like a little mystery to my mystery show, but that isn't necessarily the problem here. The problem is that Blair Underwood who is wasted here, is a killer who talks like no one else has ever talked before in life. Immediately he starts phrasing things as if everyone knows he killed the victim. As if he's on trial defending himself. When no one knows he's even involved. But because he talks in the dumbest most guilty defense way possible, Elizabeth is somehow the only one to catch on. This isn't exactly what I was looking for when I expected her to notice things. Other episodes have been better than this. I don't think any have been worse

A merely okay case this week. The narrative I think got pulled away from by the B and C plots. For a ... and yeah I'll say it, pandering episode at least it was done mostly well. IMO the most frustrating part of the episode (again for me) was so minor it's really not a big deal. I think Clara's little brother Micah being gay felt excessive. It's a community so conservative they don't educate women and the one male character affected is a boy who made a joke with a girl and that means he's gay. A kid who is eight years old grew up around the "cult" but enraptured when he finds out that big normal Lawrence married a man. But it does tie in effectively to the plot on both a narrative and thematic level and in a way that doesn't feel overly forced. And certainly I've ignored bigger coincidences so again it's not a big deal.

Would that Quantum Leap's pandering episode had been that effective and half as subtle. Heck The Rookie's BLM episode could have come down to this level.

I feel like we're really throwing Allison to the wolves narratively which is odd because she was one of my favorite characters. Lawrence is mostly fine for a third-tier character. I could care less about his gay existential crisis label rejection nonsense. I just don't see it as fitting his character. Which is why his monologue about not being gay felt confusing. That type of crisis I don't expect out of that gay character. I expect a different type of gay crisis. Looks like Margaret gets along well enough in the office when the story's plot doesn't literally revolve around her having to fire everyone. I hope there's a plan for plan for her an Allison. Because the characters certainly don't have a plan and both of them are just floating till the next plot point. Even Todd has a plan and goals. Stupid and silly and laughable as they are at least he's moving towards something.

Somewhat interesting case. I know people don't like Michael but the "Oh he's a Dad so he doesn't know how to get his kids ready in the morning and it's so goofy and wacky the girl-child will go to school wearing a hat" routine is just kinda ridiculous. To the point where it really should have been lampshaded. We've seen this literal scene beat for beat like 180 times. Down to the hat. Down to the "Uh.. uh I don't have lunch so take some money". Down to the female not mom coming in and the kids ignoring dad to greet her and then leave. It's like they pulled this scene from Fisher-Price My First Screenplay book.

I think it's gross that she went to mental rehab and didn't tell anyone but her sister. I mean I was setup for the she wants a divorce and feels guilty about sticking with a man she doesn't love. Drop him and live your life I get that. But she went to a medical facility and just ghosted on her entire family. That's stupid. Lucky the police weren't called in to track you down. There's no reason not to leave instructions for the sister to let them know what happened. All it does is just stretch out how long I thought she left him to start divorcing him.

Aunt Nancy: Sneering My sister is going through something serious she doesn't understand herself. Last thing she needs is you swooping in trying to have a hero moment

As a reminder his "hero moment" was being willing to have taken Gina his wife to the mental hospital himself. I'm not saying the dude desperate to not divorce his wife doesn't have problems. But this ain't it. He has no idea what's going on. His kids don't know what's going on. I mean honestly all things considered he took that news that she didn't want to be around him like. a. champ. He didn't fight it. He accepted it. He's literally "best case scenario"-ing right now. And then there's Nancy who the show is trying to tell us is in the morally superior position but saying things like this

Michael: [And so you're saying] It's way better to keep me and her kids in the dark thinking that something bad happened to her?
Aunt Nancy: Sneering This is bad.
Michael: You know what I mean Nancy

And again, Michael's right. Because in no way was he denigrating the struggle she's going through. He's been supportive since he found out (which was like 10 seconds ago). His only problem was that she disappeared and everyone refused to tell him why? What IS he supposed to tell the kids when she just doesn't show up for breakfast? Aunt Nancy is too busy tone policing him to consider reality. People get sick. People you depend on get sick and that's life but it'd be nice to know they got sick and not just have them disappear like they got murdered because those are two different types of reactions you're going to get.

I don't know where they get these killers. You find a guy who has murdered 8 people and was literally on his way to do number 9 and heaven forbid they get framed for RICO. They will take that personally. They will wait 20-30-45 years if necessary but they will NEVER let it go... but why? I mean this isn't the burgler who gets framed by murder. This isn't the white collar criminal who gets framed for treason. This isn't the massage prostitute accused of child touching. This is a bad dude who does bad things who got setup for bad things. Even his father is like "I know my son he doesn't do drugs". Yeah but your son IS a rapist serial killer. I'm not sure what mileage he plans to get out of the 'at least he doesn't do drugs' stance. Nothing in his plan makes sense either. He wants to get at Director Wagner but he does it stumbling into killing someone and lucking out that she took the blame. Happening to have stolen her keys ages ago... and then leaving the murder weapon in a basket.

That's almost as stupid as all the cops rooting for Dir Wagner and yet them seeing their statutory requirements of holding her gun and her bad as a personal offense.

ACAB

And there it is... ACAB comes for all the cop shows eventually. We're bring it back because this was egregious. In the ACAB corner I'll highlight all the ways the show tries to make cops look better than they are. This is not normally a reflection on the show or it's quality.

Let's break down all the stupid nonsense in this episode. It starts from the fact that someone so high up is accused of killing someone on the skimpiest of evidence. Oh she ran into the house and there was someone dead. She must have killed them. What??? I don't understand all factors involved why she was given the task to go into the front door by herself while Will and Faith went round the back. If anything Will or Faith should have taken the front door solo and the other take Amanda with them to go out the back. She's a target so bad they both want to protect her, until it's time to face actual danger then she's fine on her own? It's an example of how the writing in this scene is so awful. I literally didn't understand what was happening until I realized this was just the most complicated insane way to setup Director Amanda Wagner for crime she didn't commit. That doesn't even take into consideration that in the narrative of the show this whole murder was just a setup from the jump. How did this week's guest star plan to have her accused of murder when he couldn't know she would be left alone. But she was alone for 2 minutes MAXIMUM and that's a huge stretch. Even with editing no way it was more than one minute but even if you call it two the idea that everyone just assumed she slammed this man dead in two minutes is just insane. Plus she would have had to secret away the murder weapon which was a very heavy blunt object. Something we saw the man throw in his truck and something Wagner never had time to hide. I honestly expected Will to point that out and this episode to take a different direction. Just like Wagner going in alone I was just confused why everyone thought she killed a man in like 20 seconds until later I realized oh wait this whole episode is going to be about what if everyone thought she killed a man.

Then we have the APD investigation of GBI. This is the central premise of the whole show they have to do it "By the book" or... what? Have you seen a cop shooting in real life? They shot Tamir Rice from three feet away on camera and it got ruled justifiable. The idea that people would take this circumstantial case so seriously remains laughable. It's the sort of thing a police consultant on set would suggest. Because they always suggest it. This "By the book" episode just shows how hard cops have it. How they can't just DO THE WORK because "By the book" is stopping them and interfering with their ability to do the job. In real life, one cop team investigating another cop team is like asking a Lion to stop a Tiger from eating a rabbit. It's like asking a MGTOW and MRA to stop a PUA from hitting on a drunk girl. They literally are not capable of seeing what's wrong. It's a lose lose concept because if they do block Trent from the case it's just show how all the cop police are bad. If they don't block Trent it shows that cop police are pointless. You don't get points for going the second route Will Trent. It's literally just as bad. Honestly it just makes the storyline more confusing. The cop police (Angie and Michael) casually sidestep the entire purpose of a "By the Book" investigation by letting Will and Faith do literally whatever they want throughout the case. When Jenna Elfman's Captain Reynolds demands everyone not validate this case based on emotion but on hard evidence untainted by emotional ties. It's a respectable stance (once you swallow the hard hard pill that she's accused of murder) and Angie and Michael just poop all over it by completely ignoring her. Kinda disrespectful of law and order for the "good guys". But it's fine because they're the "good guys". Again this gets you the viewer used to the idea that cops should have the ability to do what they want

Will: Why are you impeding my-- this-- whoever's investigation
Reynolds: I'm am looking for facts and to maintain departmental oversight so that this case doesn't go to heck
I would like to point out that the "impeding" is Reynolds questioning evidence just as circumstantial as the case against Amanda. Oh a man ran from the house where someone was killed and cop is taking the blame but they're too honorable to assume the man was related to the case. Where are these cops? In real life we've seen cops approach someone at the wrong address looking for dark skinned dudes harassing light skinned dudes. Asking for Jason and arresting Derrick. Looking at suspect pictures with bald men and hassling dreadlocked brothers. But sure here the cops are asking "Did you see him exit the house? Then it's probably just a random "run away from cop"-er. :shakes fist impotently: If only Will was allowed to run this case and didn't have to follow oversight then he'd get the real criminals. Curse you oversight.

Then the APD interview someone who implicates Director Wagner and they basically cringe when he says her name. They were like: "eww sir could you just not say you think she did it. We're here to accuse your son. Focus on him please."

There's more church/state violation at Director Wagner's place and then we have cat and mouse with the real killer. And then complaining about procedure by "the good guys". Oh you have to wait for a warrant? That's so unfair. Maybe cops should have special ad-hoc post gratum warrants they can apply for afterwards so they don't have to wait? I mean it sounds laughable now but give it 10 more years of cop shows like this and a clever name and just the right amount of sympathetic victim or maybe just 10 billion from the right conservative billionaire and it'll happen. I mean technically it already happens. Cops backdate warrants and just lie. Who needs legal methodology when you can just cheat openly? After all you are the referee and you get to investigate yourself. You probably didn't cross any lines according to yourself so it's fine. Heck who needs all that when cops can just pretend they hear a baby crying and suddenly it's exigent circumstances. Heck if you follow bad cop news you know they don't even need to hear a baby crying. They'll make up whatever and call it exigent circumstances. A toaster pops and suddenly that's exigent circumstances. Who is going to question it? Internal Affairs? You mean other cops. Which is my point about this whole episode.

At this point we're just half way through the episode.

Then we get the backstory. Let's talk about what the backstory means and how the characters receive it. Because EVERYONE literally everyone without exception looks at Director Wagner with DISGUST when they find out what she did. She framed someone for a crime they didn't commit. Every one who finds out look at this like it's the most noxious nose twisting thing they've ever seen.

It's so weird considering the story. Which is that she was literally almost raped as a lesbian black female cop in the 90s. A demo so rare even her FAMILY told her not to bother telling anyone what happened and her family was in charge of the department. A reality so dark she immediately understood and didn't question it. Dude we can BARELY get a rape conviction 25+ years later. Imagine how hard it was in 95. But she got the information and setup a case anyway. It flopped so she framed him for something else.

Now keep in mind throughout this narrative it's never questioned that he deserved it. It's never suggested that it was unfair for him to get setup for dealing and note rape/murder. It's never suggested maybe he could have turned his life around if someone gave him a chance. He's the devil who got punished for slapping you with is left hand when in reality he slapped you with the right. And with that context the disgust that comes off Will Trent is disorienting. It doesn't make sense. There's a phrase in English that goes

.. and not a jury in the world would convict me

It's a reference to the concept of jury nullification. In the US the Jury is allowed to rule on the case for any reason. The purpose of the trial is to present the evidence and the argument and the corresponding laws for their consideration but at the end of the day the jury goes into their deliberation room and they get to decide. They don't have to follow the law. They can look at a case with compassion. They can look at a beaten women and find her innocent of murder in slicing off the dick of the husband who trapped her in a violent marriage. They can look at a mother who fired a warning shot at a dangerous ex boyfriend and find her innocent of all charges even though warning shots are literally against legal statute. The point at the end is that Director Wagner's situation here the quintessential example of a case where she could never get convicted. Who in the right mind would look at the evil and dangerous devil criminal and say Wagner should be found guilty. No one. ESPECIALLY not cops. ESPECIALLY not family and that's what Will is. Family.

Will: Yet you still sleep at night?
Wagner: I sleep knowing I kept him from raping any other women.

Again the dialog wants you to look at Will and say he's right but no. He's not. This whole segment is about copaganda and how police abuse their power to get justice in their eyes and STILL I'm saying Wagner was 100% right with no questions.

There's a conversation between Faith and Angie. It doesn't make any sense unless you have the most extreme copaganda glasses on. Why is Angie apologetic to Faith? She's been letting Faith literally do anything she wanted on this case. She brought a literal apology apple to open the conversation. Faith aside from the scuffle with unnamed cop #4 has been the literal voice of reason even in this episode. All this to say "Come cross the chinese firewall again today".

Speaking of apologies it's Will's turn to apologize and that went over like a YouTuber apology. He totally pulled a "Sorry if you were offended". Because he didn't apologize and then doubled down on the "How could you?" this time with puppy eyes. Again Director Wagner is 100% correct. None of these people will ever walk in her shoes. Saying you're not like other men doesn't make it any less true. Then the most hilarious scene where SWAT comes in to accuse a black women in jogging clothes of waving a semi-automatic gun at children in the park. Their description is "a women waving a semi-auto at children" so you attack the black women who clearly doesn't have a gun or anywhere to hide the gun? So pop quiz hot shot.. who called in the SWAT? It wasn't the devil criminal because she was hiding at Will's. I'm willing to maybe cede that she went to her same running path that she goes to every day.. which is stupid. And even then WHY? He's dedicated his life to framing her not just getting her killed by her own people.

Then Wagner finally caves and goes tell everyone what she did but Will responds that "You don't have to do this". What the character stance? He's been pushing her to take responsibility since the moment he found out and when she does he balks? So cops should ideally feel bad but not actually be forced out of the job because their mistakes and cheats are for the greater good. Cops know who their local dealers are if they're planting evidence it's probably better for everyone anyway.

Even as I review it, the situation is just so gross with Faith as it was with Will. Director Wagner it talking to her daughter about having dinner and talking it out

Faith: You know, I was halfway home when it dawned on me that I misspelled something on a witness statement. So I came back. That's how important this work is to me, the integrity of the work.

LIES. This whole episode she's been trampling all over the integrity of the work by doing a case against ethical procedure and direct orders. She has the nerve to suggest that she's now forced to keep a secret that's against her ethics against her will while at the same time complaining that she was never told a secret that was against her ethics. What is the logic here? You really have to pick ONE lane and stick with it. You can't literally complain about both sides of the coin landing up. I promise you if Wagner went to give her "I did it" speech anyway Faith would be the first person in front of Will telling her she didn't have to. All this over a dude so evil he literally came back 30 years later to kill her after almost raping and murdering her the first time in a situation that once again Faith will never understand not being a lesbian, not being a rare sight, not having been overpowered solo by a serial killer not having lived in the 95. At this point the show reminds me that Faith isn't Wagner's literal daughter and I'm too lazy to go through this and remove those references. Whatever. Maybe later.

And the final point about ACAB here is that this is a show that heavily features APD the Atlanta Police Department. This is a department that's currently using as much copaganda as possible to justify murdering protesters who want to stop Cop City a multi billion dollar money pit that's going to train cops to kill innocent people. In natural forest park. I like Will Trent as a character and lord knows I'm still gaga for Christensen but ACAB moments in this show are especially dangerous in the current climate which is saying something considering the white watching of the LAPD that happens on The Rookie. The cops in the APD have shot protestors in the back and gotten away with it, like they took the wrong coffee order. They'll do it again if they haven't already.

Stop Cop City.
https://stopcop.city/

So security means basically nothing right? Because our hero is ripping through them like they're toddlers. I suppose we're meant to chalk that up to his father's forest training.

I don't care too much about the person he's locating and that's becoming a pattern. I suppose it's part and parcel since the episode structure means we don't know the person until he's found them. Marginal improvement on the first episode. Maybe. Ehh honestly it's structured better because we don't have to do all the intro stuff but the actual tracking is less interesting because he's found right away and this is about escape not tracking.

The convenient full volume surveillance system is as equally hilarious as our tracker taking down two security guards at once with guns. Who leaves audio at such full volume a passerby would think someone was literally inside. i mean why was it playing when no one was there? And if someone WAS there why was it so loud? Honestly that entire room doesn't seem to make any sense. Why is this random house surveilling people? It's supposed to be "Rebecca's house" where the insurance is sent to but why would Rebecca not live on the compound? She appears to live on the compound she doesn't appear to have special exit privileges so why is this house there and playing audio at house party levels.

Okay. I'll give it this. Whatever my gripes with the series as a whole, it ended well. Let's talk about episodes 7 and 8. The final pairing.

Episode 7 starts with "Infidelity" and ends with the third strike and a separation between Jane and John. Michaela Coel has what is probably the best line of the series. Which is a shame because unlike say the best line in Ted Lasso it has nothing to do with the show. It's a throwaway line about how "We're not bonding you have a gun on me". It's brilliant. In a world where no one seems to care about telling anyone they are a spy, it makes it very confusing to care about things like when spies take people hostage. Oh sure this time she turned out to be a spy as well but in the next episode the same thing happens but not. The show very clearly doesn't have any conception of what a spy is. To the point where they get missions and pretend they have to keep a secret but then they ... don't. Ever. pretend or keep secrets. This was a solid episode where I liked the interplay between them because they had something to do while keeping up that interplay. Sort of like how YouTubers hold microphones no matter what type or style or situation because they need to do something with their hands. This show needs to do something with it's background plot or the interplay between the leads just feels weird and pointless.

Episode 8 Our finale of course is going to have a lot of big moments. You have your requisite dramatic irony as two character try to kill each other for the crime of trying to kill each other a crime neither committed. It goes on for way way way too long as an audience member but it's balanced well with all the action. It comes to a nice conclusion fight scene wise. We find out who was really pulling their strings as well as who was pulling THEIR strings. And then we have an excellent cliffhanger ending. Once again we have a spy taking someone to extreme levels of violence but this time it's not a spy posing as a civy it's an actual civy. In a show that played this sort of thing for laughs that could be funny but this show has a mise that's fairly serious but doesn't make sense. You can't do that. As a counter example I just watched Jason Statham's Beekeeper recently. That's a movie that's ostensibly about getting revenge on tech support scammers from someone who has never actually seen a tech support scam. What I actually think happened is because of the complexities of the optics and racism they needed to modify the villains so they made them into wall street traders. Which is fine because this is a fairly goofy movie. Contrast that to MMS where everything about it is goofy (Title, Concept, Synopsis, even the poster) except the actual episodes themselves. Those are played far too straight to take with humor. So when the FBI gets a case that involves oval office members and they tell the Secret Service to put it aside? I can take that in a movie where some dude gets strapped to a car and driven off a bridge. But when you hold a gun to a Sotheby's agent and threaten to kill them except "nah it's ok". That's a little harder to take. It's a good episode. Top 3 of the series even, but almost all of the good is due to finale shenanigans. Not literally all but almost all.

I'm perfectly willing to watch a second season. I naively believe now that we have a lot of the awkwardness out of the way there's no way the second season is going to have the same problems that plagued the first. We'll have a more focused story because there's not a lot of story floating. We have direct questions that need to be answered now. I actually need to rewatch the whole thing because I think there's a lot of ending interstitial I might have missed. The one in episode 7 foreshadows some of the discussion about Hihi in episode 8.

Okay so let's talk about episodes 5 and 6.

Ron Pearlmen was an utter delight. I can't not say that. He always is. Just is. Even here in this lackluster role. That said the second half of the season is a noticeable upswing. I really like even this episode and what it's doing character-wise. Plot-wise it was nonsense but it's not like it's going anywhere anyway at least now I'm starting to enjoy the ride. The interplay between our leads is interesting even if the again the fact that they are spies is not. What I find fascinating is that there's more narrative flow and consistency in the titles and descriptions than there is in the show. It's like they prepared the show with the titles and synopsis long before they started filming. Because this

Couples Therapy (Naked & Afraid) - Oh, John. Oh, Jane. Our pair have been oh so bad at sharing and caring. Time to call in help -- John and Jane, get ready for: COUPLES THERAPY, what a gas!

Is an entire different level than what even this episode is. This is fun and goofy and comical in a way that not even at it's best the show is. Maybe on a scene by scene basis you might find something worthy of the type of gassing in the title/synopsis but most of it is very different. It's lazier, more laid back, less invested. Which to say yet again I don't put on Maya and Donald. They're solid but the writing and directing just don't care. It's weird to look at this show and say "Well at least True Lies the TV Show tried." I mean the True Lies show bombed like 70-80% of it's run time but at least they were going for something. The jokes were sometimes dumb but they came (a little too) consistently.

As for episode 6? Well honestly it's my favorite episode so far. It's fun in a way that few episodes have been until now. Holy snap it just occurred to me. Part of it is the missing intrigue. As I've said before this is a show with zero guile. I mean they're spies but spies in this world is a gig job. Anyone signs up anyone gets in and the AI runs you like an uber app. It's dumb and boring and uninteresting. But here... here they have to lie. They have to explain translate and keep things up in front of a therapist who, imo, Sarah Paulson made utterly adorable "Yeah! Whatever DID happen to Mya?" I died. She was hilarious. It's amazing how just getting the formula right finally lets everything shine. The spycraft is minimized but it doesn't matter because I'm having a ball watching Maya and Donald rehash their relationship. A relationship I actually care about this episode. "The therapist episode" shows the potential of this series.

Now we look at episodes 3 and 4. IMO. It's still not working as a show. But episode 3 should have replaced episode 2. I actually see them as a couple in episode 3. They bond, they do things together. I get it. I still don't think they have the chemistry of other versions of this story but it's something. It was a really good episode.

Episode 4 represents everything I had about this show. Like what on earth am I watching? Like you guys are spies right? It feels like they twisted their blasé take on man women spy nonsense and made it even more blasé. Because what I'm seeing here is the spy gig economy. Da heck am I supposed to take from this "literally everyone named john smith is a spy" nonsense. I mean part of being a spy is keeping it a secret and that tension of keeping a secret is one of the biggest problems i have with this show. There's literally no secret keeping. They lie about what they do like they're onlyfans stars. They lie about how they met like they met on Tinder. There's no intrigue do it. No guile. It's all practically white lies. Episode 4 took that up even farther. Everyone is flashing the "Org" credit card? Why does the org have such an easily identifiable credit card in the first place? Don't you know you're supplying spies? When Other John showed up I thought maybe this would be a test from the org to see if they're keeping their spy lie a secret properly. When Jane mentioned how much John loves his mom I thought maybe she's going to accidentally reveal that John is still in contact with his mom and that would be the tension with them having to kill the others so it doesn't get back to the company.

Something somewhere to build up some plot and tension. But nah. Everything in this show is just so... casual. Even the blood baths and the shootouts are so casual. I didn't have high expectations for this show but I so very much was hoping to be proven wrong. But even looking at this as it's own show completely unrelated to any previous franchise. This is not the spy romance I would have been interested in and honestly I'm putting it down the writing. I have a handful of problems with the show but the writing is the anchor. The rest I might be able to work around but this just isn't (to use the vernacular of the youth dem) hitting.

I'm watching this in two episode batches. This first batch confirms everything I was worried about regarding this show. The tension in MMS is about spies who are lying to each other but are in a relationship with each other.

Now I didn't necessarily need the same old "our marriage is tired and boring until we revealed our sexy secrets to each other" storyline. It WAS effective in the movie and I'm super curious about the Scott Bakula series which I'm sure is going to be very interesting if I can track it down.

But that tension between them having to pretend for a living and pretend at home is kind the whole point. What we have instead is just spies who have to date for the mission (and presumably fall for each other). And in THAT setup... this isn't doing so hot. Again I like the actors but I don't like the chemistry between them. For my money drop Donald and get Maya someone she can work with and while I like Maya this isn't my pick of a role for her. It's just not the worst and she's slightly better and more interesting than Donald here. There's a little kiss kiss at the end of episode two and even that didn't really break the slow dreary uncompelling pace that doesn't seem to know what it is. We'll see if it ramps up.

Wait why would you drive so wrecklessly when you can't leave the car. Of course it would lead to road rage.

That hospital scene is a very different emotional dynamic. Very compelling simply because we never seen this. Our hero cops have to persuade someone to kill a narrative and the citizens are refusing because they understand the social dynamics and effective consequences. In any other cop show this would be focused on cops trying to take them down in spite of their status.

Another great interaction when the copper figures out the sting shouldn't go through and no one listens to him. It felt not full on The American.

An utterly nonsense opening but otherwise a great investigatory episode. Our protagonist Jack finds himself in genuine moral quagmires and makes difficult decisions. I'm honestly just impressed in the end. This show feels like it's "going there" in a way that procedures and fantasy shows just don't often do. Now this is dark. Making me care for someone and then watched them get destroyed. For no reason. No benefit. No cost analysis. Just because. A slow opening to a swiftly paced and compelling conclusion. Honestly this episode more than the previously is going to sell me on what's going on.