![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Urgh...so much work to do...must get out of room...must take break...
Must dump these reviews here first. Then I'll go take a walk.
Right.
A final note...
The problem with writing huge chunks of meta is that it makes me want to write the fic I was meta-ing about right now omg. And this is a problem because, aside from my obvious workload, the "Julia" chapter of "Little Brothers" doesn't happen till Chapter 21 (ish) and I still have no means of canon-checking "Thrall".
I still do not understand the appeal of NaNoWriMo.
Must dump these reviews here first. Then I'll go take a walk.
Right.
-----
Points of Not Win this week:
-More Bad Science then I can comfortably let slide. First off, total eclipses don’t work that way. At all. The moon doesn’t move that fast; the dark doesn’t come on that quickly; it’s not over that fast. Also, since (as Calleigh noted) there’s only a total solar eclipse every 400 years or so, I can’t believe that everyone was so surprised by it. Scientists can predict to the day when a total eclipse will happen. It would have been in the papers. There would have been people lining up to see this thing.
Then again, these looked like your average Miami Airheads. They probably don’t read.
Second off, injecting yourself with hormones – human OR animal – will not alter your DNA. Nor will it give you animal characteristics. I mean, come ON. That’s comic-book science right there. You should know better.
In fact, if the animal hormones aren’t very close in shape to human hormones, injection would probably trigger an immune reaction and make you quite ill (but don’t quote me on that).
I could have dealt with it if the guy had been purchasing animal hormones because he thought they could give him wolf characteristics, and if they’d found an unusual concentration of the hormone in a blood sample or something. That might actually have been pleasantly kooky, and we haven’t had very many genuine crazies in Miami in a while. But the moment Natalia commented “OMG he’s got dog DNA!”, I gave up on this episode. It doesn’t. Effing. WORK LIKE THAT.
*scream*
-I hate the Miami-Dade Minority Report computer. I have no objection to the new tech, whatever her name is, but I loathe that computer with a fiery passion. It’s just too odd, too unrealistic, too flashy. I wish Miami didn’t feel the need to make a point of how implausible and glossy it is.
-Camera Stupidity reached an almost intolerable level this week. Not to mention there were way too many flashbacks to things that happened five minutes ago.
-Wow, Miami. Way to shove Alexx into the Black Female stereotype that you’ve managed to avoid for five seasons. *slap* That was freakin’ disgraceful. Though I guess it was high time you started stereotyping someone other than Hispanics.
I mean, I know I should be grateful that Alexx got to anything at all in this episode, but if more screentime means that she’s going to end up as an embarrassing racial stereotype, I’d almost rather we just give her those five minutes per week.
-And…another week in which Horatio does nothing but hang around the back of interrogation rooms. I seem to recall the writers promising that he’d be returning to lab work this season? Could we, you know, have some of that so he looks like he actually has a purpose here? Because even Action!Horatio (now with Action!Eric; collect them all!) could not make this up to me.
And a few Points of Win:
-Thank you, RS. Thank you so much. Now I cannot even look at Horatio’s all-black ensemble without wondering what he’s made Stetler wear today. The fact that one of this week’s guest stars was named David Lee (very close to David Lee Smith) really didn’t help.
Seriously, though, I have to thank you for fixing that idea in my head. Because this episode was made a little more tolerable by repeatedly imagining Stetler sulking somewhere in, I don’t know, a plaid shirt and a lime-green tie. Made me happy.
Stetler <pouting>: It HAD to be plaid, didn’t it.
Horatio: You brought this on yourself, Rick.
Stetler: I didn’t even think I owned anything plaid.
Horatio: *evil grin*
-Know what else made me happy? Ryan’s back. Yes, I know that the “Ryan gets fired” thing basically just fizzled out and died, but that means he’s back now, so I don’t care. And he’s still adorkable.
-Speaking of Ryan, THAT SCENE WHERE HE FINDS ALEXX OMG CANNOT STOP SQUEEING. Did you see him? Did you see the concern in his eyes? Did you hear his voice break when he tried to wake up Alexx? OMG. That scene was worth this entire stupid episode. It was love.
That’s it. Alexx is officially Ryan’s mommy. Nobody shall ever convince me otherwise.
-See “Points of Not Win”; although I was deeply ashamed of what the writers did to Alexx’s character here, at least she got screentime this week.
-My Miami!slash!OTP got some love this week! Hurrah!
I’m serious, people. Just watch that scene at the end between Horatio and Ryan and try to convince me there aren’t slash undertones there. You won’t. Because there totally are. I mean, there’s the whole ‘quiet thanking’ thing going on, there’s doublespeak, there’s an Inexplicable Emo Moment from Horatio that Ryan was there to witness and I swear I thought for a minute he was just going to wander up and give his poor emo boss a hug.
I WIN.
-What was with the Inexplicable Emo Moment, though? Seriously, Horatio, where did all that sudden grimness come from? There was nothing particularly grim happening in this episode – even Alexx turned out fine. Or are you just upset that you missed your chance with Calleigh again are tragically without a love interest and thus are missing out on the warm fuzzies?
It’s all that black, hon. It’s doing bad things to your brain like giving you heatstroke. Switch back to your khaki suit/green shirt combo ASAP before the damage becomes permanent.
----------
I didn’t catch House, SVU, or CSI: NY, on account of the fact that I was werkin’. But between the two CSI Halloween episodes I had to choose from? This beat out “Sunblock” by a million damn miles.
A few token complaints before we get started: Warrick was not even on camera today, and except for one tiny scene apiece, neither were Grissom and Greg. However, since their absence meant we got to spend more time with Doc, SuperDave, and the lab rats – and since the case was much more intricate and interesting – I am actually sort of okay with it.
Come to think of it, this episode didn’t really feel like a single-case episode. It felt like half of a two-case episode, expanded to fill out an hour. And this was a good thing, because this case was strong enough that adding a second case would have detracted from it.
For some reason, it makes me happy on the inside that Dave was familiar with the horror studios’ oerve. He just got so excited about processing a crime scene at the studio. It was adorable.
Almost as adorable as his statement at the end, really – “What about the humanity? The pathos? This is her final performance!” – especially when contrasted with Doc’s clinical fascination. (“You can almost see her entire trachea!” Oh, Doc.) Both the Vegas MEs have this morbid touch to them that colors but doesn’t overwhelm their characters, and it was on very amusing display here.
The docs were almost as amazing, really, as the lab rats all gathered around to watch Wendy’s star turn in one of Repulsion’s horror films. Much like Doc in “Lab Rats”, this was a side to her that I didn’t see coming, and it’s always delightful when we get a little detail like that. Favorite bit:
Ronnie: It’s all just girls with big breasts running around getting chopped up.
Wendy: I don’t have big breasts. They’re more…average.
Hodges: And perfect.
Wendy: O___o
Hodges:…ly…adequate. Perfectly adequate.
Hee. Also, duly noted that when it’s Ronnie’s turn to star in her own personal horror film, her own cleavage is very much in view. I’m pretty sure they did that on purpose.
On that note, Ronnie didn’t drive me crazy this episode. Since this is a Halloween episode, we have to have something scary happen, and it makes more sense if said scary thing happens to Ronnie rather than, say, Catherine – considering how many crime scenes she’s seen, it’d take something extraordinary to really terrify Catherine. And I rather liked her reactions. Over the top? Maybe. But they worked in context. It’s better than having one of the more senior CSIs break character by being terrified.
Ronnie’s panic contrasted quite well with Catherine’s blasé attitude toward all the creepy stuff happening at the crime scene. Nothing about this place frightens her in the slightest, although some of it may weird her out just a tad. It’s a nice showcase of how different their personalities are, and just how new to all this Ronnie is.
Speaking of blasé, Brass’ reactions to the motormouth Zac (See? See? I can remember his name! That’s always a sign of a good case!) and the denizens of Repulsion Pictures are utterly priceless. He just refuses to be freaked out by anything anyone does, even when Zac rather distressingly drops his trousers in front of him. Really, whenever the unshockable Brass gets to interact with Vegas’ weirder populations, the result is worth watching. Remember “Happy Ending”?
Nick had a substantial presence in this episode, which always makes me joyful, but since he didn’t get to partake in all the haunted-house kookiness he didn’t leave as much of an impression. It would have been amusing to see how he reacted to the lost cell signal and the lightning storm.
Also, I loved the victims and suspects this week. They were bizarre but believable – the best kind of suspect for Vegas. Of note were the dwarf (who was in PotC!) flirting with Catherine, who I rather liked in spite of his slight sketchiness, and Zac himself, who should have been annoying but wasn’t, and managed to be somehow likable in an intensely sleazy way. (“I think the pain is keeping me from appreciating the irony.” Snerk.) Yes, it’s nice when cases involve ordinary people and ordinary motives, but it’s even better when the cases feature out-of-the-ordinary people who still feel real. It makes CSI: Vegas unique.
Miami and New York take note: please make your future Halloween episodes more like this. Thank you, that’ll be all.
----------
This one’s a bit shorter; I was running short on time.
You know, because they thought the divers were terrorists but they turned out to be treasure hunters, whereas in “The Deep” they thought the divers were treasure hunters but they turned out to be terrorists. It makes sense. Really. It does.
I think I can say with confidence that I’m liking this season of CI much, much better than last season. We haven’t quite returned to classic CI, but this season feels so much closer to the earlier episodes, which is definitely a good thing. Last season, I’d been worried that CI was going downhill, since not only was NBC trying to garner higher ratings by imitating the worst aspects of the CSI franchise (twitchy camera work among them), but character drama was being thrown in just for the hell of it (or so it seemed at the time). Worried as I was when the move to USA was announced, I think the switch was good for the show. Moving to a successful secondary network means that the pressure to whore the show for ratings has toned down, and we can, maybe, start getting back to the way CI used to be.
Granted, Barek and Wheeler > Falacci, but that might just be because she’s new. (And because she backsassed Rogers. You don’t do that.)
Ahem. What were we talking about? Right. This episode. Back to that. This was quite a solid episode, flavored with character development right near the end but mostly case-centric. The case had a lot of false starts and a lot of suspects with a lot of motive – generally a good way to start a case. And, true to any good CI episode, the guilty party and the motive weren’t what I expected – while I figured there had to be something sketchy about the salvaging company’s boss, I wouldn’t have pegged it as a family connection. Nice way to close up the case, even if it did feel like it came sort of out of nowhere. It let Bobby exercise his Infinite Knowledge Powers. :)
The one thing I didn’t really like about this case was the opener. I’ve never been a fan of the musical montage opener when it’s applied to CI. For me, the first few minutes of CI are meant to give us a peek at the suspects and the killer, even if we’re not sure who’s who or why they did it yet. I mean, they did that to some extent in this episode, but mostly we just saw the diving and heard the pretty music. It felt out-of-place. It felt too stylized.
Uh oh – I do believe the perp touched a nerve with Bobby one he started going on about family. See, this is how you handle Goren Family Drama, CI-folk – it’s subtle, and if you hadn’t been following along with the series you might think Bobby was just getting in Perp’s face because he was being a jackass, but those of us who know what Bobby’s family is like can see his reaction for what it is. It was a nice way to work that bit of characterization in, and I applaud you for not sledgehammering us with it.
After Alex’s comment in their last episode, I was a bit worried about her relationship with Bobby – her “it’s too late now” comment made me worry that some kind of conflict regarding her partnership with Bobby was about to come up, and that would make me sad because I thought we were past that. I’ll admit it – even as a non-shipper, I adore the Bobby-Alex relationship. I like their initial conflict, but I also like how they managed to work through it, and how attached to each other they seem to be now. And while I can see Alex occasionally resenting Bobby’s partnership or wondering what it’s done to her career, her comment at the end of their last episode seemed uncharacteristically bitter. And that scared me.
Happily, that seems to be ignored if not entirely forgotten here. Alex can see where Bobby’s conversation with Perp is going, and she’s quick to defuse the situation by reading Perp his rights – she knows that Bobby isn’t going to take well to Perp lecturing him about family ties. I guess, technically, she was just doing her job, but it seemed to me like she was almost coming to Bobby’s rescue there. Yay for Alex.
…I really want to write me some Bobby-Alex friendship CI fic now. I haven’t wanted that in a while. XD
-----A final note...
The problem with writing huge chunks of meta is that it makes me want to write the fic I was meta-ing about right now omg. And this is a problem because, aside from my obvious workload, the "Julia" chapter of "Little Brothers" doesn't happen till Chapter 21 (ish) and I still have no means of canon-checking "Thrall".
I still do not understand the appeal of NaNoWriMo.
(no subject)
you missed your chance with Calleigh againOMG YOU'VE CRACKED IT.
(no subject)
(no subject)
Vegas had me laughing hysterically with Catherine. But I get uber sad when I get no Snickers or Yo!bling moments.
And...did you notice the little Rogers/Ross moment in the beginning? Or was that just me?
(no subject)
*sigh* But then, I gave up on Miami's cases somewhere in Season 4. The characters are all that keep me watching now, just like you. Well, that and the opportunity to make snide commentary.
...You know, I didn't notice the Rogers/Ross thing the first time around, but now that you mention it I may have to find this episode and watch it again. :)
(no subject)
Ooh, meta! Yay!
Horatio: You brought this on yourself, Rick.
LMAO! Oh man, I would apologize for corrupting you, but this is too much fun. I just started laughing so hard that I actually had to leave the apartment to get it all out of my system before my roommate asked any questions.
I tried not to think about the Bad Science/Stupidity combo this week. The speed of the eclipse didn't even bother me so much as the way the poolgoers apparently didn't know what it WAS. They all seemed to think the world was ending. As for the canine DNA, I just kept giggling and thinking of the Animorphs.
The Minority Report computer (hee) bugs me more with each subsequent use. How awful would it be to work with a mouse and keyboard? Oh, and the tech operating it is named Sam. Am I the only one who thinks she's the greatest tech since Valera?
Did you hear his voice break when he tried to wake up Alexx? OMG.
SQUEE! Yes! That was so wonderful.
What was with the Inexplicable Emo Moment, though? Seriously, Horatio, where did all that sudden grimness come from?
I was asking myself the same question. He looked like he was informing Ryan that they'd have to hang him at sunrise.
-----------
It would have been amusing to see how he reacted to the lost cell signal and the lightning storm.
Well, see, that right there is something we could have used for the scare aspect, rather than handing the episode off to Ronnie (whom I hate so much that even though I only caught the second half of this episode, I have zero interest in finding a way to watch the beginning). I bet even Greg might have freaked out a little.
Loved Wendy in the horror flick, though. That was funny. And much better than what I was expecting after yelling at the previews about lab rats being out in the field again. Also, I am amused by the fact that Hodges is apparently drawn to people who disdain him.
Yes, it’s nice when cases involve ordinary people and ordinary motives, but it’s even better when the cases feature out-of-the-ordinary people who still feel real. It makes CSI: Vegas unique.
Well said.
Wish you'd seen CSI:NY; reactions are mixed but I thought it was the best of the bunch.
(no subject)
Ah, see, I was too busy being enraged at the Fast-Forward Eclipse to notice everyone's dumbstruck expressions the first time around, but now that you bring it up, yeah, everyone looked way to shocked that omg the sun is gone! I can't even imagine not knowing what that was.
*hastily banishes thoughts of a CSI-verse/Animorphs crossover*
You know what would have been entertaining? If the eclipse had lasted the entire episode, and the screen had gone black after the credits sequence. Totally, completely black - because all the flashlights would have mysteriously stopped working, too, on account of the Bad Mojo. Not only would we be spared Camera Crap, but it also would have been much creepier. And would probably have resulted in an amusing exchange or two.
Calleigh: Here, could you get this back to Trace for me?
Eric: I would if I could see where you were.
Calleigh: I'm on your left, Eric. Not that far left. Other way - follow my voice, Eric!
Eric: Screw this. I'm getting a match.
He looked like he was informing Ryan that they'd have to hang him at sunrise.
*bursts out laughing* Ah, yes. Such is the punishment for desertion.
-----
Hmm. I guess now that Ronnie wasn't asking a frillion questions whenever she was onscreen, I didn't mind her so much. However, I hadn't even considered Greg's potential reaction, and you're right, I think that would have been entertaining to watch. He certainly wouldn't have panicked to the extent Ronnie did, but I can see him being a little on edge at the end of that.
I shall probably catch CSI: NY online or on reruns at some point; I've heard both good and bad things about it, and I'd like the chance to make up my mind.
(no subject)
"her comment at the end of their last episode seemed uncharacteristically bitter. And that scared me.
Happily, that seems to be ignored if not entirely forgotten here."
Actually, that's what bothered me most about this week's CI. This actually was the first episode shot, but they mixed up the order. I found it hard to deal with knowing there wouldn't be a resolution to Alex's last line from Smile.
(no subject)
Ah, that'd explain a lot. I didn't know that the episodes were aired out of order, so I figured that, while Eames' comment would be adressed at some later point, it wasn't here because there were more pressing concerns and/or Eames was trying to be professional about it.
Not saying I'd mind all that much if that comment wasn't brought up again, though. I know I whine about continuity, but...but...but I don't like where that dialogue is going. :(