The Sentinel Season 2: An Unnervingly Detailed Episode Guide (Part 1, 2x01-2x11)
by ZelempaContents:
***** 2x01 Flight Jungle adventure episode! Jim gets the opportunity to give up his Sentinel status; Blair gets the opportunity to go on the anthropological expedition of lifetime.
*** 2x02 Out of the Past Jim and Blair protect a pop star and her daughter from a crazy stalker. Blair teaches Jim to dial it down.
** 2x03 Deep Water Jim is a suspect in a four-year-old murder case involving his ex-partner.
** 2x04 Reunion Simon goes to his high school reunion and ends up a murder suspect. It's up to Jim and Blair to save him instead of going kayaking.
** 2x05 Payback Cascade PD tries to mediate warring gangs; Jim flirts with an undercover agent.
*** 2x06 True Crime TV crew tags along as Jim and Blair investigate a rash of bank robberies.
*** 2x07 Iceman Blair and Jim protect a prostitute. Blair gets shot, kissed (neither by Jim).
**** 2x08 The Rig This is a surprisingly uninformative episode title considering it comes in a string of two episodes one of which is about an offshore oil rig, the other about a big rig. This is the former. Jim is at various times nude and covered in oil.
**** 2x09 Spare Parts This is the one about the big rig, secondarily. Primarily, it is about Blair's mom.
** 2x10 Second Chance Blair's old flame Maya returns to Cascade. In trouble, natch.
* 2x11 Black or White Gang investigates bombings of black churches. Taggart has shell-shock.
Second half of Season 2...
2x01 Flight
We don't open in the jungles of Peru but with Blair talking about them, telling Simon places to visit. Simon exposits that he's going to an anti-narcotics conference in Lima and that his son Daryl will accompany him, visiting educational sites while he's working, and then going on a fishing trip with him. "You're going to a country with all the cultural heritage of Peru and you're going fishing?" Blair demands. "He'll see the sights, then we'll go fishing," says Simon. Jim hits Blair on the head. Blair gives Jim a Look. They're such an old married couple. Blair is very pretty this episode, with lustrous, bouncy hair.
Okay, you hit me upside the head for no discernable reason, but I can't stay mad.
Peru. Grassy knoll. Simon and Daryl's helicopter has broken down. While they wait for it to be fixed, they have a Touching Father Son Moment. Daryl says fishing isn't what he wanted to do, it's what Simon wanted to do. Simon promises that they can spend their last two days doing whatever Daryl wants. He wants to hit the BEACH! They see the helicopter fly away. They're stranded! Then, just for good measure, the helicopter blows up!
Loft. Jim comes in and Blair is on the phone, excitedly thanking someone. He explains that it was not a girl he wants to bone as Jim surmised but a representative Eli Stoddard, "one of the world's greatest living anthropologists and just happens to be my mentor," asking him to join him on a study trip to Borneo.
JIM: Congratulations! You gonna do it?
BLAIR: I told him I'd have to think about it.
JIM: What's to think about? Go!
[Pause. Blair looks nonplussed, bordering on hurt.]
BLAIR: You really think I should?
JIM: Sure. You kidding me? A couple of weeks in Borneo sounds like a blast.
BLAIR: ...Jim... we're not talking like a couple of weeks here. I mean, this kind of study involves a major commitment of time.
[Jim looks wary.]
BLAIR: ... at least... a year.
JIM: A year!
[Blair nods; Jim blinks]
JIM: What about, uh... you know, o-our project? The S-sentinel thing?
BLAIR: Jim, I know, but... but this kind of opportunity...
JIM: Then you should do it.
[Jim walks away abruptly, gets a beer out of the fridge.]
BLAIR: Are you upset?
JIM: No.
Awww, he totally is. THEY BOTH ARE. SO SAD.
Go to Peru, apparently. We cut to them all packed for their trip. Jim doesn't want Blair to go: "The jungle is no place for you." Blair points out he's been to the jungle before, and Simon is his friend too. Jim grudgingly agrees to let him come, but "you do what I tell you, when I tell you. No questions asked." Blair: "So what else is new?" Ha.
Next scene: Simon and Daryl are captured by guerillas. (Yeah, yeah, sorry. It's clear how much more interested I am in the FEELINGS plot than the ACTION plot.)
Simon and Daryl are taken to the camp of some German logger called Karl Reischer. He's all polite, apologizing on behalf of his men, who "didn't understand [their] situation," and offering them hospitality. Well, this is nice.
Jim and Blair in a plane. The pilot doesn't want to land in some valley because it's crawling with guerillas. Jim convinces him to make one pass over it and he will jump. Blair puts on a parachute too, saying he's skydived with a friend before. Jim reminds him "it's the jungle out there," but Blair says "I'll take my chances." I was hoping they would share a parachute, but they don't. Unfortunately for Blair: "Jim! Jim! Jim, where you going? I don't know how to steer this! I've only jumped tandem!... Oh my god! Help me! I don't know how to do this! I was just kidding! Don't leave me!" Ohhhh, Blair. Jim yells instructions at him. It's concievable that Jim could hear Blair because of his super-senses, but there's no way Blair could hear Jim. Blair yells at Jim "Don't lose me! Come and get me, please!" as he lands in a tree.
Blair falls to the ground and does a little dance. Jim shows up and says it's time to move out. Blair: "Wait a minute, I got something in my pants." Jim (I swear to God): "How exciting." Blair unzips his pants and pulls out a tiny lizard. "Whoa! Oh my god! Did you see that thing? Look at him!" Aw, Blair thinks the lizard is great. Jim looks on with kind of a bemused, charmed expression. As he's watching Blair do up his pants, Jim zooms in on something over his shoulder: a panther in the jungle.
 |  | |
| Uhhh... | ||
 |  | |
| Ahhh. |
Karl Reischer dines with Simon and Daryl. Daryl PSAs about the evils of logging. Reischer points out that people say that, but they also don't want to give up paper, wood, or conveniences; besides, his company plants new trees, relocates animals, and doesn't disturb any native people because there aren't any in this area. That night, Daryl's sitting up when he hears something outside his tent. Peeking, he sees some Indians being led by soldiers. Daryl wakes up Simon and insists on leading him to find the Indians. Simon and Daryl sneak over to a trapdoor with boxes glued onto it (that's not suspicious at all); inside, they find Indians being made to make cocaine.
As they turn to go, they're caught by two soldiers. Simon quickly disarms one of the men and holds the gun on them. Daryl grabs a gun from his holster, and Simon exasperatedly takes it from him. Simon orders one of the soldiers to take them in a truck, telling the border guard a specific lie, and that Daryl will know if he's saying it right because he' a top Spanish student. Darly: "Como esta usted, amigo? Se habla espanol? Yeah." What a dork. The soldier seems to be following Simon's orders but, just after the gate, he makes a play for the gun, and there's a struggle. Soldiers start shooting left and right. Simon tries to drive away, but a missile hits the truck, sending it SPINNING INTO THE AIR AND EXPLODING. Cut to: overturned truck, Simon and Daryl crawling out, PERFECTLY OKAY. Whatever. Simon's stuck. He makes Daryl run for it without him.
HOW DID THEY SURVIVE THIS?
Jim's trying to find Simon and Daryl's trail, but his senses are "confused." Blair became really grubby between last scene and this. He goes into Guide mode, but Jim's impatient: "I just don't have time for this, man." "You got to work with me," Blair snaps. "Close your eyes." Jim sighs and does. "Okay. Now don't push it. Just let it happen." Hee hee. He's still not getting anything. Blair rubs a hand through his hair. (His own. Don't get that excited.) "I don't understand this, man. Uh, okay, um..."
This has never happened to me before...
Reischer questions Simon, who claims he's working with the DEA and there's backup coming. Reischer doesn't believe him, but wants the boy found to be sure.
Campfire. Blair's writing in his Very Secret Dreams and Aspirations Journal and looks over to ask about Jim's senses. They're not too good. Blair tries to come up with an explanation, and Jim just wants to go to bed. "Whatever, man," says Blair, hurt. Classic N/S debate.
"How are your senses doing, man?"
Jim wakes up a little while later. There's a blue filter, or blue lights on in the studio, or something. He sees the panther. He stands up and looks around for Blair. "Sandburg, Sandburg!" he calls. He walks through the jungle, still looking around. "Sandburg! Sandburg, where the hell are you?" The panther appears and jumps at him, knocking him down.
Jim snaps awake for real. He sees Blair curled up, asleep, a few feet away. He relaxes.
Cut to morning. Jim leads Blair through the jungle. He has a gun. Where did he get a giant gun? They crouch. "Looks like an Indian village," says Blair, brushing his fingertips against Jim's knee. "You stay here," says Jim, going on ahead. The village is abandoned. Suddenly, a blond woman comes out from behind something and slams Jim across the face with a hefty branch.
Blair's face comes into focus. "Jim!" Blair gently sits up him with a hand on the back of his neck. The woman apologizes. She thought Jim was a guerilla. As he inspects Jim's wound and helps him up, Blair explains that the woman is Kimberly Ash, a botanist. Kimberly says all the adults in the village were taken by soldiers and it's only her and the children left. Some children appear.
Jim sits on a rock by a river in a contemplative mood. Blair comes tripping down the rocks asking if Jim is okay. Jim angsts about losing his Sentinel abilities and says he never wanted them in the first place. He gets increasingly agitated, badmouthing the abilities, and Blair gets defensive. Finally Blair cries, "Damn it, Jim, tell me what's going on! I'm your PARTNER." Jim admits he's been seeing a panther. Blair calls it his "animal spirit" and tells him to "quit fighting it and see where it leads you." A child from the village appears and tells Jim a new boy has arrived.
Daryl! He hugs Jim. That's nice. Daryl draws a map of the enemy encampment for Jim and one of the little children comes up and asks Jim to bring back their parents.
Jim prepares for his mission, leaving Blair to protect the village with his gun, which he of course gives him because Jim is always giving Blair a gun. For his own protection, Jim takes a crossbow and paralysis-causing darts. All right then.
JIM: Hey, Chief. I'm glad you came.
BLAIR: Me too.
Running through the jungle, Jim has a vision. The panther morphs into a Chopec chieftain or whatever, who tells him he's been brought back to the jungle, the birthplace of his abilities, to make a choice: "You can go back the way you came and be an ordinary man, or you can go forward, but to do so will require your life and your soul. Are you prepared to make such a journey?" Jim sees himself at the edge of a cliff. "If I go forward, I'll die," he says. "Yes," agrees the chieftain. "Okay," says Jim. "I'm ready."
He finds himself back in the middle of the jungle, and can now hear voices. The village is in trouble! He runs back. As he's running, he just sort of develops a bandanna and face paint. Okay.
Jungle Jim: It just sort of happened.
Enemy encampment. Blair and Daryl tied up. Jim sneaks into the camp totally unstealthily, but nobody sees him anyway. He zeroes in on Blair's voice. Cut to inside the tent, where Blair cries in a really high voice, "Jim!" "Shh," says Jim. Blair exposits that the others are in the underground drug lab. Jim tells Daryl to "stay with Blair" and goes off to rescue the others while Daryl and Blair try to steal a truck. "I knew I should have taken auto shop," says Blair. Well, you have to admit, Blair, the cooking skills you learned in home ec have come in handy for various courtship rituals (cf. The Debt).
Anyway. Jim finds everyone down in the lab and leads them aboveground, where he somehow sets off a series of non-adjacent explosions. He herds everyone onto Blair and Daryl's truck. Daryl and Simon are reunited and hug. At the last moment, Jim rolls off the truck, to Blair's consternation, and runs back to hit Reischer with his sleepytime arrow. Reischer's holding a bazooka at the time and manages to blow himself up.
Cascade. Blair listens to a message from Eli Stoddard's office. Jim hands Blair a beer.
JIM: I guess you should call him back.
[Blair looks up at Jim; Jim drinks.]
BLAIR: Well actually I've already decided not to do it.
[Jim stares at Blair.]
BLAIR: This S-sentinel thing... Y'know, it's more than just a research project. [blinks] It's about friendship. [Jim continues to stare; Blair smiles] I just didn't get it before.
[A slow, crooked smile spreads over Jim's face. He swallows.]
JIM: Okay.
"It's about friendship. I just didn't get it before."
"Okay."
Bottom line: This episode rocks. Okay, cocaine guerilla plot is meh, but SO MANY FEELINGS! We hit all the major high notes: Sentinel mysticism; jungle adventures; spirit animals; science vs instinct; Jim/Blair "but what will become of US?" tension (which is totally the best kind of tension for them to have); and a loving, emotional, friendly resolution. It's about friendship, people. He just didn't get it before. They're home now, so let's enjoy it.
Welcome back, partner.
[comment on lj | top | reviews page | home]
2x02 Out of the Past
We open in a music video which would make me wonder if this is really the right show except when else am I in a 1990s time warp? Cut to the song playing over the radio of a crashed prison van. US marshals are slumped over the dash. Weston, a prisoner with longish blond hair, creeps out of the back, takes the keys, a gun, and a cigarette, and leaves, exploding the van as he goes.In his office, Simon briefs the boys on Weston--he's a psycho with a life sentence who's a "classic profile of a stalker"--in his cell, they found tons of defaced tons of pictures of Angie Ferris, the woman in the music video. Simon likes her; Blair says he digs it when the older generation gets into the new stuff, making Simon give him a look of KILL DEATH NOW.
To do: Kill Sandburg.
Jim and Blair go to Angie's apartment to warn and protect her. They're greeted by Pam, Angie's cute but entirely family resemblanceless daughter. Angie comes out and chews out Pam for letting people in; Jim explains that he's a cop and "this is Blair Sandburg." Heh, they always try to get by without explaining Blair. Angie has to ask if he's a cop too, and he says he's a consultant to the police. Well, he's got his explanation down pretty pithy.
Angie sends Pam away and Jim asks if she's ever met Ray Weston. She says no. Jim explains and offers the protection of the Cascade PD. Angie's not interested. Jim urges her to take it. She's still not interested. Lather, rinse, repeat, until Angie gets a telephone call. It's just one of her own songs. Jim hears it outside. He goes to the balcony and sees a cell phone and and album cover on the dash of a car. He gives Blair his giant cell phone: "Call for backup." Jim sends Angie and Pam into a bedroom and heads out all tough-guy-like with his gun.
The guard is dead in the elevator. Jim goes down the stairwell. Weston's waiting for him in the lobby, and surprises him; they get into a hand-to-hand fight, and Weston must be really strong, because he totally beats up the guy who once hung off the rails of a helicopter for, like, an hour. He pushes Jim through a conveniently-placed plate-glass window. It looks like Jim should be down for the count, but he picks himself up just after Weston escapes.
So that's Injury Set 1. Jim now has a bandage on his hand. Worried that Weston will come back, Jim and Blair try again to get Angie to accept police protection, but she wants to run far, far away from the place where the crazy man killed her security guard. Jim says if she goes elsewhere, "we can't protect you." "Like you protected us today?" Ooh, zing. Angie accuses the police of using her as bait to get Weston. Then for no particular reason that I can tell she decides to accept protection, as long as Jim, specifically, takes the job. That's odd, considering she thought he sucked a minute ago. I guess she must like-like him.
Weston goes to buy a gun, and shoots the clerk.
Blair entertains Pam with stories about how he almost got eaten by a crocodile on the Amazon. I think he's lying, but who knows with Blair. He's got his glasses on his head, which is kind of adorable. Pam complains about how her mom never lets her do anything as Angie brings in a plate of milk and cookies. Only Blair digs in.
Cookies?
Phone call. Weston. Angie keeps him on the line, saying nervously that she wants to meet up with him, while Jim calls the station on his cell to get a trace. It doesn't work, but Simon calls about a minute later with a lead: security tapes from the store where he shot the clerk plus witness reports of him checking into a nearby hotel. Jim decides to go help out with the bust, even though there's absolutely no reason he needs to do that and he's kind of committed to this protection gig, as Angie reminds him. Jim thinks this is more important since they could catch Weston and then Angie will be fine, plus, Blair is here! And if there's one thing we know about Blair it's that he's very good at avoiding getting kidnapped or held at gunpoint.
Hotel. Simon's there too. Man, this is the VIP bust. Just as Simon's about to open the door of the hotel room, Jim hears something. He pushes Simon out of the way just a gun rigged inside the door goes off.
Angie's. Blair's reading a book on the couch when Angie comes and asks Blair to help her decide which track to put on her new album. He's excited and agreeably puts on the giant headphones she gives him. Oh, Blair, can't you see a trap?
The hotel room is empty and Jim realizes that it was a trap. Back at Angie's he breaks down the door, scaring Blair. The police look around and find that Angie and Pam are missing. Blair apologizes profusely, but Jim seems pretty willing to chalk it up to experience. Blair deduces from the empty hangers in the closet that they packed and left rather than got snatched (but some people just have empty hangers, don't they?) and remembers that he saw the red light for the phone after Pam went to bed, so Angie must have been making a call. Jim says "I'll make a cop out of you yet." Blair gets Jim to use his sense of touch on pad by the phone instead of making a rubbing like normal detectives do. (Obviously he has not seen as much Ghostwriter as I have.) Jim finds an address.
Another "touching" scene!!! Get it???
Jim and Blair drive out to the address. Jim decides to scope out the premises while Blair waits by the car. "If you see anything, call me." "On what?" "Just call." Heh. By the house, Jim is sneaking around, jumping at shadows, when suddenly, he is shot!! Injury Set 2. Angie rushes out to help him. That's what you get for trespassing, Jim.
After the break, Angie is bandaging Jim's arm and apologizing. She thought she would be safer here at her manager's summer home. Jim says if he could find them, Weston could. Pam and Blair come in, and Pam asks if Blair is lying about the stories he has been telling her about people who eat placenta. I... okay. Jim says "Usually if Blair says something, it's true." Only through sheer luck, I assure you. (But I kid Blair.) Angie starts to organize sleeping arrangements for our intrepid heroes, saying there's one spare bedroom and she can get blankets for the couch, but Jim cuts her off, "We'll manage." Angie says she's glad they're here and exits. Blair asks if there's "something going on between you two." Pause. "No," says Jim lamely.
As Angie puts Pam to bed, Pam asks what's going on. Angie admits that Ray Weston escaped from jail and killed the security guard, and is after them. Pam: "I don't believe you!" Angie tells her not to tell the police that they know Ray. Jim overhears this with his super-senses, and ambushes Angie in the hall: "We need to talk. This time I want the truth."
Angie comes clean: Ray was her boyfriend, and he was really good with Pam. Eventually she came to realize he was crazy. Probably it was the time he held up a grocery store that tipped her off. She was guilty of aiding and abetting, but cut a deal with the police in exchange for testifying against him. She has told Pam that Ray went to jail, but not the details (that he's guilty of multiple murders or that she betrayed him). She says she lied to Jim and Blair to protect Pam.
Outside in a car, Weston calls Pam's beeper.
Later that night. Storm going on outside. Jim is wandering around. Blair comes out of the bedroom to ask if he's okay, and Jim says he's fine. "Talk to me," says Blair, and Jim admits his arm hurts--a lot. Blair hypothesizes that the intensity of the pain has to do with the fact that Jim's senses were on alert when he received the wound, and Jim's like, whatever, just make it stop. Blair goes into Guide mode and tells Jim to relax, breathe, etc. Blair tells him to picture something he can control, like a dial. To turn down how much he feels, he should picture turning down the dial. It works, like, immediately. Blair's amazed. "This is a major breakthrough!" Jim is also pleased but not so much surprised, which makes sense; as far as he's concerned, his guide did his job, as usual.
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| "Wow." |
Jim sends Blair back to bed while he "keep[s] an eye on things out here." Apparently that means snoozing on the couch while Pam creeps down to take the bullets out of his gun, per instructions from Weston on the phone.
Later. Jim wakes and sees Angie coming down the stairs. She gives him a new shirt to put on. So we get a moment of shirtless Jim. They flirt a bit as Angie apologizes for being untrusting and Jim agrees with her. Angie: "I've been taking care of myself for so long I don't know how to let anybody else in. I don't let people get close." Jim: "I know what you mean. Neither do I." JIM YOU LIAR. New rule: you aren't allowed to make any claims about your own oh-so-guarded lone-wolf status until at least thirty minutes have gone by since you last willingly remitted control of your very senses to another person. Does that sound fair? Let's say sixty minutes if it's someone with whom, in lieu of exceptional pain/watchdog duties, you would currently be sharing a bedroom, and possibly a bed. (The sleeping arrangements were never made entirely clear, but I calls 'em likes I sees 'em.)
Jim gets a call from Simon. Letters from Pam were found in Weston's cell. Jim and Angie go to ask Pam about this. She defends Weston, saying he wants them to be a family again, and Angie and Jim try to argue that he's done bad things. Pam yells "I don't believe you!" again and runs out of the room. She meets Weston at the bottom of the stairs. Lightning crashes as they hug and Weston looks sinister over her shoulder.
Blair wanders out with a candle all "What's going on?" and Weston pops out and slams him in the face, totally knocking him out. Ha. Pam is not too pleased with this, since she, like all right-thinking people, is fond of Blair. Jim and Angie come to confront Weston, and he takes Pam hostage, holding her at gunpoint. Jim threatens Weston with his own gun, but he's not afraid; Pam admits she removed the bullets. Just when things look bad, Blair pops up and attacks Weston, and immediately gets knocked back out. Ha ha. But it was enough of a distraction so that Jim could get Angie away from the scene. I guess they figured Weston didn't really want to kill Pam anyway.
Weston goes looking for them outside, where Jim attacks him, and they brawl in the rain for awhile. Weston ends up getting electrocuted by a giant, uh, electrical, tower, thing, which happens to be there. Pam apologizes to Angie who of course forgives her.
Cascade PD. Are we going to get a 30SwB? Sort of; Blair asks about Jim's arm and he says he's got his pain under control, and Blair's like, "Another chapter for my dissertation!" Thing must be getting pretty long. Blair has a butterfly bandage over his little cut, and Jim has a giant, ugly, gaping uncovered wound. Because he's tough.
Bandaids are for wusses. No offense.
Bottom Line: This is a solid, watchable episode. A major pitfall could have been an annoying kid, but I liked Pam. The introduction of the dial metaphor was a nice scene and a classic moment in Sentinel mythos, although I believe it features more prominently in the slash fiction that I read than in actual canon.
[comment on lj | top | reviews page | home]
2x03 Deep Water
Night. Gray-haired guy in car looks at briefcase full of money and asks the bills, "Who says you guys can't buy happiness?" Another car approaches; the sound of a gunshot.Title card reads "Four years later." Simon, Jim and Blair are watching an old car being dragged up from the bay. Simon thinks it belongs to Jack, a former cop. While Jim goes to investigate, Simon tells Blair to "cool it with the eyes" on Sheila, a red-haired officer from Internal Affairs. Jim finds a vanity plate reading "Jack's Toy" and smells something weird. He opens the trunk. Blair immediately turns away, so it must be a corpse. Sheila identifies the body as Philip Brackley, and asks Jim, "What's the body of the kidnap victim doing in the trunk of your ex-partner's car?" Simon tells Jim to "stop protecting him," and after Jim leaves in this sort of cold huff, Simon explains that Jim's ex-partner Jack Pendergrast (GOD THAT NAME IS LONG. Can I call him "Pendy"? On second thought, maybe I'll just call him "Jack.") was supposed to deliver ransom money for Phillip Brackley, but disappeared. IA assumes that he took the money, killed the kidnappers and victim, and ran. Jim thinks otherwise.
We flash back to Simon's office four years ago. 1992!Jim has a terrible moustache and is wearing a white baseball cap and a sleeveless plaid shirt. Oh, and a small gold hoop earring. In his left ear. Aw yeah. Anyway, Simon's bitching him out, and Jim's got this "whatever" face on, and whenever Simon turns his back, Jim bounces a ball. Also he says "sir" sarcastically. Man, 1992!Jim was like, the polar opposite of upright, straight-laced 1996+!Jim. I mean, yeah, I guess he's a rookie cop or whatever (sort of; he's just been promoted to Major Crimes from Vice), but he's ex-military; you wouldn't think he'd have a problem with authority and decorum. Also, why is he such an asshole?
Jim in 1992: YIKES.
Simon pairs Jim with a new partner: Jack Pendergrast. Jack's kind of an older, cool, big-brother type cop, real laid-back. He advises Jim to fix the attitude. Jim bumps into 1992!Sheila, spilling her coffee on her blouse, and when she complains, he leeringly suggests cold water, "or maybe some happy pills." MAN, 1992!Jim is an asshole. How does this fit into Jim's backstory exactly?
I mean: seriously: military for some undetermined number of years (probably quite a few). Gets stranded in Peru. Hangs out with the Chopec for awhile, palling around with Incacha and having super-senses. Presumably not an asshole at this time. Gets rescued (that was 5 years ago in the beginning of season 1, so we'll say six years ago). Comes home, goes to police academy, works on Vice for a year or two, BECOMES AN ASSHOLE, this, somehow manages to become not an asshole (or at least, not in the same way) in time to meet Blair in season 1. Is that really how it went down? I want answers!
Instead, I get Jack telling Jim to "lose the earring" because he "wouldn't want the bad guys to get the wrong impression" if Jim "know[s] what [he] mean[s]." Oh, yeah. Maybe that's why Jim's going through an identity crisis.
Anyway. Present-day, forensics garage. Sheila reveals that the gun found in the truck--the one that shot Phillip Brackley--was registered to Jim. She advises him to call a lawyer.
After Sheila leaves, Jim explains to Simon that he bought the gun for Jack as a birthday present, but never got around to changing the registration before Jack and the gun disappeared only a few days later. He did report the gun missing, which Blair thinks should clear him, but Jim and Simon say no go. They'll have to reopen the case. Simon still suspects Jack, and Jim defends him. Simon says he knows Jack taught Jim a lot, but Jim is a great cop because of what he's got "up here" (points to head) and "in here" (points to heart). In the background, Blair nods. Simon continues, "If I'm going to keep you on this case, you are going to have to maintain your objectivity." WHAT. JIM SHOULD SO NOT BE ON THIS CASE. HE IS A SUSPECT. Jim makes another coldly dramatic exit, and as Blair scurries off after him, Simon tells him to keep an eye on Jim.
Cut to Blair keeping both eyes on Jim as he rides in the passenger seat of the truck.
JIM: Will you cut that out?
BLAIR: What?
JIM (smiling): Those concerned glances--like somebody's lost puppy-dog.
Blair's lost puppy-dog look.
Jim and Blair talk to Phillip's mom, Monique. She tells them that Phillip's father died of an illness three months after Phillip disappeared, and bitches them out for not helping her at the time. Art Landis is there, and he tries to protect Monique from questioning. Monique can handle herself; she tosses our heroes to the curb. On the way out, they pass a Mysterious Stranger(TM)!!!!!!
Jim decides to go through Jack's storage locker for clues, but first he has to get the key from Emily Carson, Jack's red-headed ex-girlfriend. In a flashback, Jack tries to move into Emily's apartment, but she's like, what the hell, we're broken up, this deal is off. In the next flashback scene, Emily tells Jim that she doesn't love Jack while Jim indecisions, "...he's my partner." (1992! Jim, thinking: Hey, I'm attracted to this woman! Maybe I'm straight enough to abandon this weird San Francisco fun-loving jerk persona!)
Present day. Emily answers the door holding a little boy. Emily says Jim "look[s] good," and he certainly looks better than the last time she saw him. Emily introduces her baby, and Jim his. Blair says "Hey!" in this cute high talking-to-a-kid voice. Emily says her husband will be back soon, and she didn't tell him about any of this business, so she hopes Jim will get lost quickly. As she hands him the key, their hands touch just a little too long.
Storage locker. Jim pokes through Jack's stuff while Blair swings a baseball bat and asks "What's the story between you and Emily?" Jim denies there's a story (Blair doesn't believe him) and shows Blair Jack's datebook. The last entry is for "Dent." Blair suggests "Dentist."
Outside the door, someone sets a fire and stops the doorknob with a 2-by-4 (not that that would really hold it very effectively, particularly with a fire going on, but whatever). Jim quickly realizes what's going on and has Blair help him swing this heavy... thing, suspended on chains from the ceiling, through the door. They sort of step all over each other in a clumsy escape.
Jim is questioned by Sheila in front of an IA panel. She is not impressed with the "The storage locker just spontaneously caught fire! We were lucky to get out alive!" story. She also reports that Jack called Jim's apartment on the night he disappeared-- there's a record of a 22-second connection. Jim says he never spoke to Jack, and that Jack may have left a message, but Jim never got it. Sheila's like, yeah, right. She thinks he and Jack were in on the theft together and that Jim used his portion of the money to invest in real estate: he purchased the loft a month after Jack disappeared. Oh, so he OWNS the loft. That's how come Blair can live there rent-free. Anyway, Jim says lamely that he saved the money, and Sheila looks pretty triumphant. GASP! Was Jim and Blair's love nest purchased with DIRTY MONEY??
No. In Simon's office, Jim secretly confesses to Simon and Blair that the money was back military pay. The thing is, he was involved in covert ops, so there will be no record of the payment. The military would deny the whole thing. Blair says "That sucks!" and the Sci-Fi channel bleeps it, which is odd, since he says it on other episodes with no problem. Simon finally pulls Jim off the case, but conspicuously leaves behind his passcard to the forensics garage.
There, Jim feels the car, then takes Blair's hand and runs it over the spot. Blair doesn't feel anything unusual, because he doesn't have super-senses, Jim. Jim explains that feels little indentations which indicate to him that a gunshot blew out the window. Therefore, he concludes, Jack is dead.
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| Below, scenes from Jim's favorite movie. | ||
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Jim and Blair research records of unidentified bodies. Jim finds one promising candidate; his suspicion that it's Jack is confirmed when he reads that the body was missing its little toe. Cut to the Major Crimes hallway, where Simon reminisces about Jack's embarrassement w/r/t his missing toe: "He used to wear his socks all the time. Even used to shower in them, remember?" How does Simon know this? How does Simon know that Jim knows this? As they reach Simon's office, Simon tells Blair to wait outside, and then sadly breaks the news that Jim has to be suspended from duty. Jim has to turn over his shield and gun.
Restaurant. It kind of looks like this was shot in someone's refinished basement. Simon and Blair want to know where Jim was on the night in question, and he resists telling them, then admits he's protecting Emily Carson (Jack's ex-girlfriend). In a flashback, we see that Emily came over that night, Jim comforted her, they got drunk and slept together. Blair's all "I knew it!" Jim doesn't want to drag Emily into this after she took pains to keep her husband from knowing about it. Simon asks if Jim heard any of the phone message from the answering machine that night, and Jim says he only heard muffled sounds, wasn't paying attention, and when he went later to check, accidentally deleted the message without hearing it. (Apparently "it was one of those new digital machines that doesn't have a tape.") Then Jim basically forgot all about it, what with finding out Jack was gone and feeling guilty about Emily. Simon tries to absolve him of his past sins. He's so nice.
Loft. Blair brings Jim a plate of food. Jim's not hungry. He's bugged about the case. He wonders why the kidnappers killed Jack instead of just taking the money; he must have known who they were. Blair suggests Jack was trying to tell Jim in that phone message. "We'll never know," says Jim. "I think there's a way we can find out," says Blair.
Blair's theory is thus: "You see, four years ago you were unaware of your heightened senses, but they were there. I believe that you can reprocess your old memories and separate out everything else and just concentrate on the one sense that you want activated." As much as I love Blair, I feel that now is a good time to suggest that serious research on Jim's abilities should really be performed by a psychobiologist specializing in sensation and perception, not a well-meaning anthropologist. Look, Blair, if it doesn't make it past your attentional filter, it doesn't make it into your long term memory, period, end of story. Considering that and considering the hypnosis-like state Blair will now soothe Jim into for the purpose of recovering this alleged dormant information, anything Jim now "remembers" from that night will be a textbook example of false memory. But it will all turn out okay, because in the context of this show, Blair's crackpot theories are always right. That, or Jim is extremely suggestible (particularly when it comes to Blair) and they're both consistently lucky. But I guess pretty much everything, including most instances of sense use, can be explained that way, and then nothing wonderful can come of this story. All in all, I guess the failings of Blair's explanation of how memory works is a silly detail to get upset about, but it's what I know about, so consider it payback for all the times they messed up how police procedure, guns, and explosions work and I didn't say anything.
Let me repeat what's happening here because I glossed over it in the preceding rant and I don't think I've adequately represented the full weight of its vaguely discomforting eroticism. Blair is talking Jim into a trancelike state so that he can relive, in exhaustive, retroactive-sense-heightened detail, a past sexual experience, while Blair sits by watching attentively and murmuring encouraging words. After a few false starts, Jim allows himself to be overcome with the memory. Blair's monologue: "Close your eyes. Start to breathe. Concentrate. Nothing else exists except for that night with Emily... Come on, come on, come on. It's okay. I know it's hard, but it's... it's safe to remember. Now, breathe... Come on, man. Try it again, Jim. Concentrate. Now, don't give up. Just block out everything else except for that night. It's the only thing that exists."
Well, it and me. Now, think back, what was Emily doing? Where were her hands?
I know it's hard, but it's safe. It's safe to remember. When I say "the slash writes itself," I don't usually mean it literally, but I have it on good authority that whenever this scene is played, six new slash stories spontaneously form in the ether, independent of any author or physical media.
Jim remembers the message. Blair's like "You're kidding." He's always so surprised when his plans work, as well he should be. In the recovered memory message, Jack says he's about to meet the kidnappers, wants Jim to back him up, and met with Sanford Dent this morning. Jim suddenly remembers Sanford Dent, Brackley's lawyer; he was the MYSTERIOUS STRANGER whom Jim didn't recognize, because his hair's gone gray. Whatever Jack found out that got him killed, he learned from Dent. Jim and Blair go to find him.
Dent isn't home, but Jim finds brake fluid on his drive. Oh no, he has no brakes! Chase time! Following the trail of brake fluid, Jim finds the out-of-control car and tries to help it slow down, to not much avail. It ends up careening into a ditch. Jim and Blair get out and head for the ditch. As Blair tries to go forward, Jim grabs him. He can't hear a heartbeat.
But evidently he would like to feel one.
After the commercial break, Jim calls Simon. He found Dent's briefcase, which contained two wills of Mr. Brackley's. The one from before Phillip's disappearance left everything to him, and the one after left everything to his wife Monique, but only if Phillip remained missing for seven years. We cut to Monique's office where Jim is apparently telling the same story. He accuses Monique of killing Jack because he was one of the only ones who knew about the will. I'm not too clear on what the deal is here--was the second will a fake? Or had she presented another fake will at the time of Brackley's death which left everything to her? Whatever. Luckily for Jim, Monique confesses to killing Jack and Phillip (HER OWN SON. Or stepson. Anyway, not cool) and implicates her accomplice Art Landis. Art appears in time to attempt to shoot Monique; Jim throws her to the ground, saving her. He gives his handcuffs to Blair, tells him to call for backup, and runs off after Art. Chase sequence. Art ends up flailing around in some water and Jim saves him. I think that's the way on-foot chases generally end on this show.
They're finally having an official funeral for Jack. Blair's there but not Jim. Sheila tells Blair to tell Jim she's sorry. Up on a hill somewhere, Emily finds Jim watching the funeral. They wonder what would have happened if they'd never done the evil deed.
Hey, wait, CAROLYN! How does Carolyn fit into Jim's backstory? I don't think he would have slept with Emily while he was married. Even when he was a jerk. So--in the four years between then and now, he got married, got divorced, and fell into a more or less amicable friendship with his ex. Did Carolyn live at the loft? Maybe Jim leased it or something and then just moved back in after the divorce. I wonder what he used Blair's room for before Blair moved in. Also, when he did he stop being an asshole? Jim's backstory makes no sense.
Bottom Line: Despite several inexplicably intense Jim/Blair moments, this episode is largely unenjoyable.
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2x04 Reunion
The truck is trundling down a country highway. Simon's in shotgun, and Blair's in the backseat looking at Simon's yearbook and reading out his quote in a funny voice: "If not us, who? If not now, when?" They're taking Simon to his 20-year high school reunion. Jim won't let Simon smoke in the car, and Simon can't order him because "we're off duty, sir." Simon tells him not to call him "sir," then. "Yes, sir," says Jim. I kind of love Jim. Simon talks about Peggy, a girl he liked back in high school. Blair finds her picture and declares her a "babe." Of course Blair thinks she's good-looking, she has his hair.And now here is grown-up Peggy driving along. She is being followed. She stops by the side of the road to make a phone call, and is nearly run down by the pursuing car. She has to climb over her car to get out of its way. She ends up avoiding the car by flattening herself underneath a truck, which seems like kind of a bad idea to me, but gets the job done. Hey, whatever, man, it worked for Jim and Blair in the pilot.
Heroes arrive at the hotel. Simon begs them to come in and join him for a drink before they continue on the kayaking trip they are taking together. I--I mean, I know Jim and Blair love to live, work, and relax together, but I'm still always surprised when they take joint vacations (see also Vow of Silence). Boys never want a break from each other! They're more soulmatey than most soulmates. Anyway, Jim and Blair tease Simon a little, then go in.
Simon chats amiably with the hotel manager, his old boss, who is a nice guy. The only name we get for him is "Billy." We also meet Sherriff Becker, a former classmate of Simon's, who is friendly but betrays a small-time-cop chip on his shoulder. After Becker walks off, they all spot Peggy, and Jim and Blair chorus, "The one that got away!" Blair likes the unison so much he chimes in on the end of Jim's next line, "Maybe we should stick around in case you need some back-up." He's a little out of sync that time, though. Simon declines the offer, to my dismay, and Jim and Blair frolic off chatting about their fun vacation plans. Oh, no, is this going to be a Simon episode? I like Simon, but... Jim! Blair! Can't we go with them? No? No fun stress-free kayaking episode?
Apparently not. Hotel bar. Peggy's conversation with the bartender reveals she's planning to meet up with Kerry Lance, the woman she was trying to call earlier. Hot date? Simon greets her, and she seems surprised but not unpleased to see him. She says she's meeting someone, and hides upon the entrance of a man who she identifies as Art Sturges, the owner of Canyon Lake, the company she works for. She gets up to leave, and Simon wants to know what's going on, but she says "Not here."
They get a room. Peggy is nervous and starts to change her mind about coming. Simon asks if she's mixed up in something illegal. Her answer: "No. Yes. I don't know. I'm doing something important." Okay. Before she can elaborate further, Simon gets a call saying there's an urgent fax for him from the Cascade PD downstairs. He tries to get it sent up, but they give him some excuse. He tells Peggy not to go anywhere and leaves. I'm telling you right now that this will end badly.
Of course when he gets downstairs Billy has never heard of any fax. And when Simon gets back to his hotel room, Peggy's not there. Simon pulls out a gun and goes to look in the bathroom, but the door opens in his face, knocking him out.
Simon wakes up to find his room ransacked and Becker and his deputies checking it out. They heard gunshots. Simon identifies his gun. After looking in the bathroom, Becker flips out and shows Simon what's there: Peggy's body. Saw that one coming.
Becker cuffs Simon to a chair and beats him up a bit until Simon breaks the chair. Brawl. Simon escapes but gets shot in the leg in the process. Becker radios for backup.
Monsieur, le mayor, you'll wear a different cha-ain.
Yay! Jim and Blair. They're looking at a map, trying to figure out how lost they are. Blair was supposed to be navigating. Some guide. (Sorry Blair! You are an excellent EMOTIONAL guide.) Jim gets a call from Simon, summing up his difficulties (shot in the leg, suspected for murder, can't escape hotel because of twisted and multitudinous deputies) and asking Jim and Blair to come back and meet him in a room that's being remodeled. Jim: "We're on our way." Yay! Reunion!
Simon makes his way to the room, dodging bullets, tricking an officer into thinking he got off an elevator at one floor when instead he crawled up to the next floor through the shaft, and stealing a master keyring. That ought to come in useful later.
Jim and Blair arrive at the hotel and are immediately questioned by Becker. Blair manages to sound suspicious even when he is saying perfectly true things ("It's the funniest thing. We were going in the wrong direction. I mean, totally off the mark...") Jim asks what's going on, and they claim not to have heard from Simon. Becker informs them about the murder and says he'll be keeping his eye on them. So now they're under close surveillance. "Now what?" Blair asks Jim. "Follow me," says Jim. And his big plan to escape the tailing deputy is...
A ridiculous Scooby-Doo-style popping-in-and-out-of-various-doors-along-a-hallway sequence. I decide to go and lie down for awhile.
When I get up, Jim and Blair are meeting up from opposite doors and running off together. Reunion! It's a theme! A symbol? A motif.
One of Becker's deputies confronts him for using the arrest as an excuse to take out his personal issues with Simon, and suggests that Simon might be innocent. So Becker shoots him. You know, just in case we were in any doubt about who to root for here. Becker radios that Simon Banks has just shot an officer with his own gun.
Jim and Blair have made it to Simon's room and Jim is bandaging the wound. Blair whispers that they need to get Simon help before he bleeds to death, and Simon's like, I'm right here. Simon tells them that Peggy Anderson was waiting for Kerry Lance and that Dave Becker was talking to Art Sturges, and Jim makes Blair write down all these names, cause he can't remember them either. Jim decides to take a look at the crime scene and sends Blair to look for medical supplies. JIM acquires MASTER KEYS!
While Jim checks out Simon's room, finding a button from the killer's clothes, the deputies track down Simon from the trail of blood he carelessly left everywhere. By the time they make it to the room, though, Simon's managed to hide in the air vents.
Jim and Blair meet back up outside the hotel where the dead deputy's body is being carried out to an ambulance. Jim listens to Becker's conversation and hears that Simon is now being accused of cop-killing, and they know he's somewhere in the air ducts. Jim gets a call from Billy, who has Jim's number as an emergency number for Simon, and who is with Kerry Lance. He thinks she should talk to Jim.
Okay, now we find out the McGuffin. Kerry is a reporter. She tells Jim and Blair that Peggy had some information about shady dealings at the Canyon Lake Paper company--birth-defect toxins being dumped in the local water supply, etc.--and she was going to bring some documents before she was killed. She also ran a check on Becker and found out he's also employed part-time as a security consultant by Canyon Lake. Blair perks up, "Security consultant? Isn't that a conflict of interest?" Because "employed part-time," "consultant," and "conflict of interest" are concepts near and dear to Blair's heart.
Becker orders an evacuation of the building. Jim says "He's turning up the heat," and apparently means it literally--they're trying to make the air ducts unendurable. Outside, Jim overhears Becker promising Sturges he'll find the incriminating documents; Jim also sees a missing button on Becker's clothes. Jim give Blair the phone and tells him to call the FBI, which for him speed-dial 4, while he goes in to rescue Simon. Man, taking notes, making phone calls. What is Blair, his secretary?
Billy gets Jim a deputy uniform. Somehow.
I AM THE LAW AND THE LAW IS NOT MOCKED.
Meanwhile, outside, Blair sneaks into the ambulance to gather medical supplies, and uses his normal-person hearing to overhear the bad guys plotting to burn down the hotel. In his distress, Blair murmurs "Oh, god," rolls his head against the wall in a vaguely Herbal Essences kind of way, and calls Jim to warn him.
And my thoughts fly apart. Can this man be believed?
With much difficulty, Jim tries to help Simon walk out of the hotel. Blair tries to get in and help, but is prevented by an officer. Luckily, Billy eventually comes to the rescue and helps Jim with Simon.
And if you fall as Lucifer fell, you fall in flame!
In the traditional post-climax wrap-up, Simon's cigar breaks, and Jim and Blair laugh at him meanly. Jim sarcastically calls the broken cigar "attractive." Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, you guys.
You are the Sentinel, silent and sure, keeping watch in the night.
Bottom Line: Um... it's a good episode if you like Simon. I'm glad it ended up having a lot more Jim and Blair than it threatened to have (none), but I'm not sure this is one I'll really be sitting down to rewatch.
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Payback
Bikers shoot a bunch of Japanese clubgoers. Oh right, the Yakuza episode.At the crime scene the next day, an older officer, Hurley of the Gang Unit, teases Jim about having a partner, a circumstance Jim explains by saying "the captain's keeping me on a short leash." Now that is a boldfaced lie. Letting Jim have Blair is like the prime example of Simon's long-leashedness. Jim and Hurley watch surveillance tapes (Jim admires a motorcycle on it, identifying it as a Harley something-or-other with original thing-a-ma-doodle), and figure out that the perp was Race Peters of the Void, a gang of bikers who "worship the ghost of Sid Vicious" as Jim says, making Blair grin in a my-partner-is-so-funny! kind of way.
The police find tattoos on the body which mark him as a member of the Yakuza (Japanese mafia). Blair asks why he's missing a finger, and Jim explains that Yakuza soldiers who dishonor their boss have to offer a part of their body. Simon: "I like that. Take a note of that, Sandburg." Blair: "Duly noted." What part of Blair does Simon want? Jim, Hurley and Simon figure the Yakuza and the Void are fighting over meth-selling rights. Jim: "If they start a gang war this whole city's going to explode."
Reports of gunshots. Another crime scene. More dead Void and Yakuza. Simon decides to settle it "like they do in the mideast," with a summit.
So now we're at a summit. The Yakuza leader Kenji Kadama, and some guy from the Void are there, as well as Kadama's lawyer, Akiko Keno. Jim is mediating. All right. Hurley, Simon and Blair are sort of standing around. Peters and Kadama yell at each other, with Kadama calling one of the Void men a "piece of DRECK." Whoa, there, buddy. Akiko says some businesslike things and the cops say vaguely threatening things but it's really not clear what this meeting accomplishes except to introduce Jim and Akiko, who have a slightly flirty vibe after the meeting as Akiko accuses Jim of not approving of her, or rather, of her choice to work for a bad guy. She's right, he doesn't. Also after the meeting, the Void leader's brother falls down dead. Poison! I call blowfish poison, since this is a JAPANESE-THEMED episode.
At the police department, Jim tells Simon that the cup the dead Void guy drank from had traces of strychnine and Akiko's were the only set of prints besides his. They decide to bring her in for questioning.
In the truck, Blair is looking morose. Jim--well--I'll just--look, here's the scene.
JIM: All right, I'll bite. What's up?
BLAIR: Nothing.
JIM: Nothing?
BLAIR: Well, all right, there is something. I mean, we work together every day, right? I'm staying at your place, and still you're like this enigma.
JIM: Enigma?
BLAIR: Yeah, an enigma.
JIM: What do you mean?
BLAIR: What do I mean. That thing with the bikes today, the Harleys. You're an expert.
JIM: I was into bikes in high school.
BLAIR: Why didn't you tell me?
JIM: You never asked. I thought this was supposed to be a academic relationship; next thing I know, you're gonna want the pin number to my ATM.
BLAIR: 3840. Your parents' birthdates, remember?
JIM: My point exactly!
Enigma!
JIM: A man's got to have little privacy, okay? I mean, just a little bit.
BLAIR: Look, man, if I'm ever going to construct a valid sensory profile of you, I'm going to need everything, the whole mosaic.
JIM: What did you just say?
BLAIR: I need to know everything.
JIM: Everything.
BLAIR: Yeah. (whipping out a tape recorder) From the moment your mother had the c-section.
JIM: I'll have to give you a rain check on that. Here's the club.
Ha ha. Nice. Okay, back to plot land. Jim calls Akiko to set up a meeting. While trailing her in case she skips town. But Jim tells Blair he doesn't think she will because he doesn't think she did it, and also he knows by "instinct" that she hates Kadama. Meanwhile, about 100 feet away, Akiko raises her voice to Kadama, who demands that she apologize. By kissing him. Blair sees the kiss and declares Jim a poor judge of women.
Jim and Blair drive after the limo carrying Akiko and Kadama, then Akiko gets out and Jim follows her on foot. Back in the truck, Blair sees the limo take off with a biker in pursuit. He tries to call Jim, but Jim, tracking Akiko, turns of hiss phone. "OK, Blair, make a decision," he tells himself. "Oh, God." He climbs into the driver's seat and joins the chase.
Akiko gets into a car and Jim calls Blair, who tells him where he is. Jim tells him to "stay back--way back--and call for backup." Then he takes a tow truck, citing "police emergency." Does that really work? Jim chases Akiko, and ends up jumping onto a ferry, so we can add that to the list of vehicles Jim's jumped onto. When he accosts Akiko, he finds himself surrounded by guns pointed at his face. A man steps forward identifying himself as an FBI agent. Akiko is one of them! Undercover!
The FBI guys don't care about Jim's case, prioritizing taking down Kadama's hierarchy from the inside over cracking down on the Void's meth business. Jim still disapproves of Akiko, asking, "Since when does working undercover include sleeping with your mark?" She can't win! not even by turning out to be law enforcement! risking her life for the GOOD OF ALL. Oh well, one day Jim too will learn the joys of undercover sex. Akiko defends herself, "Bed is the one place where I can control him." Urrrgh. Akiko says Jim is "good," since nobody ever figured out her cover before, and the FBI guy warns Jim to tell no one.
Jim makes it to the docks where the police are fishing a bike out of the water. It belongs to Race Peters, a Void bigwig, but there was no body. Blair is all keyed up. "I'm finally getting some insight as to why you guys do this stuff. I mean, the adrenaline rush. My endorphins are SPIKING!" Blair loves a natural high. He asks what happened with Akiko, and Jim stammers that he lost her. "So, let me understand this. First, your research assistant is involved in a high-speed chase," Simon begins, and Blair makes a pained face and corrects Simon, "Actually, it's teaching fellow now."
You have to transfer into Sandburg's section for Anthro 150. Class is always cancelled on account of crimefighting.
At the next crime scene, Jim is just checking out a shoe print when they get ANOTHER call. A bomb went off in some place that was housing a lot of C4. (The C4 didn't go up, but it got stolen.)
Third crime scene. Jim and Blair crouch on opposite sides of a circular hole. Jim figures out the bomb was set from the inside, so whoever did it knew the security code but set the bomb in order to make it look like an outside job. Jim finds another shoe print like the one at the last crime scene.
Jim meets with Akiko. He ran Race Peters's prints and found nothing, so he figures he's also an undercover agents, and wants Akiko to confirm. Akiko responds with a non-sequitur about how much blowfish poison Kadama consumes. Jim tells her the shoe print he found was from a kind of shoe cops wear, and what with the inside job evidence and all, he suspects Akiko's FBI boss of orchestrating the whole gang war for payback against both parties. He tells Akiko to come out from her cover and save herself. She says she has to stay in.
Jim cells his own desk, where Blair answers. Jim tells Blair and Simon to meet him at Hurley's locker with bolt cutters. There, he explains that Hurley wears cop shoes, knew the access codes, and could have poisoned the cup at the summit. It's not proof, but it's probable cause to search the locker. Inside, Jim finds the shoes that match the print, and Blair finds a video with a note reading "Sorry, Jimmy."
On the tape, Hurley says he never had a family except his sister and niece, and he holds up a photo to illustrate their existence. Recently he responded to a call about a dead runaway who had been a Yakuza prostitute and a Void meth consumer. He holds up a photo of the body in her hotel room and identifies her as his niece. He says his "last gift to the department" will be going to the site of the inevitable explosion to "keep damage down." Jim and Blair figure out the location of the hotel room from the letters outside the window in the photograph, and they roll.
Hotel. Hurley has a detonator for the C4. Jim and Blair arrive and Jim tries to talk Hurley out of setting off the explosion, telling him, "You killed an FBI agent and you're about to kill another." After Jim de-undercovers Akiko, Hurley sees a Void guy pull a gun on her, and throws himself heroically in front of the bullets. In so doing, he drops the detonator, and Blair throws himself heroically out to catch it.
Wrap-up. Jim: "Nice catch, Chief. You saved a lot of lives." Blair: "Except for one. I don't know how you guys get used to this stuff, man." Yes, it's all fun and high speed chases until a tortured cop redeems himself for his sins by taking a bullet in a vital organ. We end with Jim and Babe of the Week in a secluded corner or alley type thing. Akiko says she's going back undercover to continue trying to take down Kadama. She and Jim kiss. This seems like a bad idea. The alley isn't that secluded. Jim: "This isn't over." Akiko: "It hasn't even begun." But it is over, and it never will begin, because Jim. Never. CALLS. (sends pointed, burning glances at the phone)
Kiss, dismiss, thank you, miss!
Bottom Line: They threw me a bone with the "I need to know EVERYTHING" conversation, but overall I'm not a big fan of this episode. I have a lot of issues every time they try to do an episode about Another Culture.
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2x06 True Crime
A team of bank robbers expertly carry out their job. Later, Simon shows Jim and Blair the scene, saying the robbers got away with over two million dollars. Blair is impressed: "You know what I could do with two million dollars? The studies..." Jim: "The mind boggles, Chief." These robbers have been pulling remarkably well-timed and well-researched jobs all over town.As the police exit the bank, they're mobbed by reporters. Jim pushes his way through, responding to questions by snapping, "You know damn well Cascade P.D. is doing everything it can to catch these guys, which we will do if you can stop tripping over your tongues and trying to create a panic. Thank you!" Blair laughs, "Very diplomatic." As they make their way to the truck, a girl reporter takes the camera from her Australian cameraman and focuses it on Jim, saying the camera loves him. Even if he, as the cameraman points out, doesn't love it.
CPD. Blair comes in all happy, and Jim gets him to admit it's because of some girl called Emily. Simon comes in to tell Jim he's in charge of the bank case and that he's going to have to be filmed for True Crime, a police reality show. Jim's like no way, and Blair's like "What if he zones?" but Simon says the orders come above. "Let's just deal with this, all right?" he says, putting a hand on Jim's shoulder before he walks off. Jim looks at Blair, who shrugs. I don't think Jim will probably zone. We haven't seen one all season.
Wendy Hawthorne, Girl Reporter (okay, producer, but whatever), and her cameraman, Connor, meet Jim and Blair. Wendy tries to win Jim over, saying she agrees with him about reporters and she wants to do a real day-in-the-life type documentary about him. He's like, just stay out of my way. Wendy offers to let them go over the bank security tapes with the state-of-the-art equipment in her van, which is already affecting the verisimilitude of the documentary, but whatever. Jim consents and soon sees something on the tape, but gets them to zoom in order not to draw undue attention to his abilities. By the way, both Jim's sense of sight and Wendy's playback equipment are so good, they can significantly improve on the quality of the original tape. The bank robber is wearing a Mickey Mantle watch. Blair, who for the purposes of this episode is interested in sports memorabilia, identifies it as a limited edition collectible which should be easy to trace.
Jim reports to Simon that they called around sports stores and finally found a report of a guy matching the description of the bank robber, who bought the watch and ordered a mantle jersey. His friends called him "Mick." Jim and Blair's plan is to put Blair undercover as a store clerk and wait for the guy to pick up his jersey. Blair explains that some enthusiasts follow a certain player, while others like a certain year--for him, 1961. So. You know. If you ever want to get Blair a present. Simon doesn't like the idea of putting Blair undercover, but Jim and Blair push for it. Simon grudgingly Elizabeth Weirs his approval.
Loft. Early morning. Jim is in bed when he hears noises out in the hall. He gets up, pulling his gun from under his pillow, and creeps down to Blair's bedroom where he claps a hand over Blair's mouth. FYI, this is the best way to wake someone if you want minimal noise and maximal frightening them.
Good morning sunshine.
Tonight on True Crime - hot cops hang out in their undies! (beat) Together.
Blair goes to work in the sports store while Jim, Wendy and Connor watch him on surveillance cam from the van. Wendy tries to get Jim to care about his appearance more; Jim says "I'm a cop, not a debutante." So what was with the coming-out party, Detective? Wendy says that this coverage could Jim's career a boost; Jim says his career is doing fine. Wendy: "is it me you hate or what I do for a living?" Jim: "Is there a difference?" Oh Jim. You are so ISTJ.
Mick (who is one of the guys from The Shield) comes in for his jersey. Blair pushes the other clerk aside, making a "drinky drinky" motion to Mick. He hits panic button under the counter and then chats with Mick a bit about the merchandise. Jim tells Wendy and Connor to stay where they are and heads in. Of course Wendy follows, and Mick flips when he sees cameras out the window of the store. He does what every criminal on this show does when cornered: opens random fire regardless of whether or not that is even remotely a good idea. The store clerk gets grazed in the arm, and Blair uses the priceless jersey to stop the bleeding. After ascertaining that Blair is okay, Jim runs out of the store after Mick, with Wendy and Connor hot on his heels. They get some great footage of Jim tackling Mick to the ground and cuffing him. As backup arrives to take away the bad guy, Jim yells at the camera crew, telling them to take a hike. In the confusion, Connor picks up Mick's abandoned cell phone.
Jim tries to question Mick, but he's uncooperative. Amongst Mick's stuff, Blair finds some notes on what collectibles to buy written on the back of a deposit slip from a bank, probably the next one the group meant to hit. Of course, the heist will be off since Mick's been captured. Unlessss...
Wendy bursts into the bullpen, all mad because Jim tried to get her filming rights revoked. She calls him an "arrogant, insecure, misogynist jerk!" Strong words. I'm not sure where she gets "misogynist" from; it's pretty clear to me that he was only less rude to Connor than Wendy because Connor didn't bug him directly. Anyway, Jim surprises everyone with a calm and pretty apology. Wendy accepts, and Jim says he needs a favor. "Of course you do," says Wendy.
Loft. Jim comes in with some info from the FBI--turns out these guys have done bank heists in other towns. Each time, they rob three banks and then disappear. Blair has dug up some info on Wendy. She was fired from her big-time network news job for manipulating a story. Jim admits he has asked her to do just that.
Super Research Blair and his Nancy Drew investigative glasses are on the case.
Criminal Hideout! One of them is Lorne from SGA. They don't know what happened to Mick. They get a call from Mick's cell phone, but when they answer, Connor's on the other end muttering "Uh, sorry, wrong numbeh," all Australian-like. The news comes on; Wendy's voiceover says it's not known what happened to the shooter in the sports store incident and unconfirmed rumors suggest he's been fatally wounded. Since when does the True Crime producer get segments on the news? The robbers decide to go ahead with the heist.
Outside the bank. The police have been staking it out, and now the robbers are there. They've already expertly taken out the alarm. Simon: "This has got to be an inside job." Blair: "They can't all be inside jobs, can they?" Wendy and Connor are filming, and they're upset when Jim makes them stay well back. For some reason which isn't really clear, possibly just to shake things up and make it more exciting, Connor calls the robbers on Mick's cell phone and leaves it open on the hood of the car so the criminals inside can hear everything the police are saying. Jim, listening to the criminals inside, is confused by the "weird echo effect." As the police move forward, the criminals suddenly set off a bunch of explosions, injuring at least one officer. Jim shouts at them to fall back and calls for a medic.
Jim gets his traditional upper arm injury bandaged by a medic and discusses the criminals with Simon--he's thinking they're ex-military. Jim and Blair have their traditional in-the-truck, Jim-in-profile, Blair-looking-at-him conversation. Jim: "It's my operation. It's my fault." Blair: "Don't do this to yourself, man." Blair asks about the echo, and he and Jim figure out that it must have been a phone. Jim remembers Wendy having a cell phone.
CPD. Wendy is upset that her van is being searched. Jim and Simon accuse her of using the phone to juice up the story, and she denies it.
Jim questions Mick about the whereabouts of his crew, using his senses as a lie detector. Mick lies that they're gone, so Jim figures they're still around. He uses the cell phone to call them, trying to get a trace, but it doesn't work, as usual.
The criminals break into the station holding cell area thing, kidnap Mick, and kill him. Jim and Blair and Simon are all like, Well, NOW WHAT. Simon asks if Jim thinks they'll hit another bank, and Jim says no. "Well, that's something!" says Blair cheerily. Simon glares. Blair's smile fades. "It's not enough, of course. Not nearly enough, Captain. ...Sorry."
Wendy confronts Jim in the hall. Blair gets lost, though I'm not sure if he's thinking "Leave Jim alone with pretty girl!" or "Leave Jim alone with angry lady!" She says she didn't do it. She talks about her Big Mistake years ago, and Jim looks bored. She says she will never cross the line again. Except that she did earlier this episode because Jim was nice to her and then asked her to.
Loft. Blair plays Jim the tape of his phone call to the criminals and tells him to separate out the different sounds.
Also, separate your different legs.
Wendy confronts Connor, whom she's figured out did the cell phone prank. Connor says he was just "looking for an edge." "That edge cuts both ways," says Wendy. Connor begs Wendy not to turn him in, and gives her some bits of paper he found with the phone. Wendy finds an address.
Jim and Blair sit in their living room looking at the surveillance tapes again. They have one of those awesome figuring-it-out-together scenes, where they both increasingly excitedly contribute to a theory about how the heists work: three of the five guys in the team get jobs as bank guards in three different banks; they learn the bank's routines; they hit all three banks, then they continue to work there for awhile to deflect suspicion. Then they all leave and start again in a new town. "Pretty damn smart," comments Jim. Blair: "Who's that, us or them?" Jim: "Both!"
We are smart!
Wendy and Connor go to the address on the receipt. They're met by one of the criminals, who Tazers them.
Jim and Blair truck over to the address, which I guess they got from the bank's employee records or something. They're surprised to find the True Crime van there. They park and creep out toward the warehouse. Jim tells Blair to stay behind him, and "don't try and turn hero on me." "Me? You must be joking," says Blair. I don't know if he's trying to be sarcastic or not. I think not? Anyway, the boys climb up an elaborate series of pipes into an open window. Jim hears his squeaky metal sound (it's from the air conditioner) and some voices talking about weapons. He has Blair call for backup and they continue forward. Blair takes Jim's "stay behind me" to heart and keeps bumping into him whenever he stops.
JIM: Now, keep your head down and stick with me.
BLAIR (beginning to duck, then shrugging in a "that is not useful advice" sort of way): Thanks Jim.
JIM: That way I can keep my eye on you.
BLAIR: Thanks, Jim.
Wendy and Connor tied up. Criminals threaten them. Wendy keeps her cool. Jim arrives on the scene just as Lorne is about to shoot her. Nice timing as usual. Gunfight. Jim and Blair duck behind various cardboard boxes (NOT GOOD COVER, you guys.) Blair pops out periodically, once to throw a baseball at one of the bad guys and then grin delightedly, and once to check himself for bullet holes. Jim has a climactic gunfight with an escaping bad guy where he's on foot and the guy is in a Jeep, and he still wins. Using good old fashioned PUNCH IN THE FACE technology.
Wrap-up. Wendy comes to the police department and greets "Detective Ellison and Mr. Sandburg." Blair insists on being called "Blair." Wendy gives Jim all the footage she shot of him, "boxer shorts included," which Jim says is "very nice," although it's not clear whether it's supposed to be just a copy of the tape or the originals. Wendy says she got an offer from a news station in New York, but she decided to take a reporting job in Cascade instead. Oh, god. Why do we have to hear that she's sticking around like it's good news, when we'll never hear from her again anyway? She makes a date with Jim, then thanks Blair and kisses him on the cheek. "Oh. Thank you," says Blair. "For saving my life," she adds, kissing Jim on the cheek. "It's what we do," says Jim. We end with Blair and Jim joking and laughing into the fade-out.
Bottom Line: Thumbs up on this one. Even leaving aside the bonus that is the hot shh-Blair-come-with-me scene, it's a solid episode with minimal irritants (Wendy is all right, I guess; anyway, the guys' reactions to her are good) and a number of different, cute Blair comic relief moments.
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2x07 Iceman
A girl at a bar meets up with a German guy (named Klaus, natch, but we'll call him "Iceman" because that's his SUPER SECRET TERRORIST NAME, because it reminds me pleasantly of Val Kilmer, and because otherwise we will forget why this episode is called "Iceman," since it's only mentioned once). They go to a hotel room. Iceman freaks out the prostitute (we'll call her Amber, cause that's her name) by not wanting to have sex at all, but instead showing her a picture of his brother and asking where he is. He's a regular of Amber's, but she doesn't know how to contact him--he always contacts her. Iceman gives Amber his phone number. All the while, they're being secretly filmed by Amber's pimp. When Iceman notices the camera, he flips out, knocking Amber to the ground and shooting the pimp.Simon, Jim and Blair check out the crime scene. Simon mentions the name of the strip club the pimp managed, and Blair recognizes it. Jim and Simon stare. "I go past there on my way to school," Blair explains, making a "going-past" gesture and accompanying "fwoosh" noise. "Just past it." Jim finds Amber's earring and Encyclopedia Browns that the killer must have knocked down the girl and then gone to check on the stiff, providing her an opportunity of escape.
Jim and Blair go to check out the strip club, and Jim big-brothers Blair a little.
JIM: Are you sure you're ready for this, Chief?
BLAIR: You think I've never been in a strip club before?
JIM: This is a little more than just a strip club. [Ed. note: It isn't.]
BLAIR: I was in Malaysia once, and I spent a month with this tribe that believed that sex was a religious ritual and had be to performed six times every, uh... [staring at a girl's butt, breaking into laughter] Oh. My. God!
Blair gets some amusing if heterosexual comic relief in the strip club. As Jim introduces himself to one of the strippers, Blair's gaze keeps wandering over to the dancers. Jim informs the girl that her boss is dead, and asks her to let them see his records. The stripper finally relents and Jim has to drag Blair, gaze still fixed on unseen fine-lookin' ladies, away by the ear. We cut to the pimp's office, where Blair sits at the computer with Jim leaning behind him. Workin' girl goes back to work, and Blair watches her go until Jim pushes his grinning face back to the computer with his fist. "Right, right, right," says Blair amiably.
Codemonkey like pretty girl.
Rainier campus. Jim approaches Amber and tries to question her, accusing her of blackmail and murder accomplicing. She's defensive, saying sure she's done escort work to pay for school, but she doesn't know what he's talking about, and she's late for class. Blair runs after her to do his Dr. Watson calm-down-the-witness-after-the-detective-tramples-their-feelings thing. He tells Amber that if she saw a murder, she could be in danger. Amber again denies seeing anything.
Iceman waits in Amber's apartment with a silenced gun and a pack of chewing gum. Amber returns but fortunately sees her roommate's dead body through the door before she gets into the killer's sights. She runs back outside. Iceman gets a chance to shoot her through the window, but doesn't.
Simon, Jim and Blair check out the crime scene, AGAIN. Jim notices a minty smell. Blair worries about Amber, and Jim gives Blair some grief about like-liking her, and Blair says he doesn't. Blair seems more uncomfortable with her profession than Jim is. You always think Blair is going to be the cool one because he's all treehugging and progressive, but he more than once has seemed to have weirdly conservative attitudes about sex. A case could definitely be made that he'd be the one having the hetero freakout. If, you know, you wanted to write a Jim/Blair hetero freakout story.
Loft. Blair is bringing home groceries like a nice little housewife when Amber shows up at the door. She didn't know where else to turn.
Blair sits on the table facing Amber on the couch and listens to her story. She says she wasn't part of the video blackmail scheme. She is really afraid the murderer is after her now that he has killed her roommate. Blair comforts her, "You came to the right place." He offers to make her a sandwich while she cleans up in the bathroom. What a sweetie.
Of course Jim comes home and launches into the middle of a conversation about what he's been doing (following up on his minty-smell lead, which led him to a nicotine gum wrapper, which led him to a fingerprint). Blair tries to tell him about Amber, but gets caught up in what he's saying. Just when Jim gets to the exciting part, he's like "Why am I smelling perfume here? ...You're supposed to be doing police work and you're dilly-dallying around with some girl?!" Oh Jim, you of all people should know that sometimes those two are one and the same. Amber comes out, and Blair explains, "She came to us for help. Well... to me, actually." Blair gets Jim to finish his story, and he shows them a photo he got from a CIA friend: the suspect is international terrorist Klaus Zeller aka Iceman. Amber says that's not the same guy, and Jim figures he's had his appearance altered, which puts Amber in even more danger for knowing what he looks like now. Amber recognizes the other man in the photo as "Hank," her regular, the brother Iceman was seeking.
Jim and Blair take Amber back to her apartment to retrieve her beeper, in case Hank tries to contact her. This goes down without incident. On the way back, Amber explains that Hank was always really nice to her, and Jim tries to evade a tail with fancy driving. "Okay kids, hang on." "I hate when he does this," frets Blair. Car chase, Amber falls against Blair a lot, and Jim stops just shy of trying to outrun a train, making Blair breathe a relieved "Thanks."
CPD. Jim tells Simon that he learned from his CIA friend that Hank is not actually Iceman's brother but Hans Gruenwald, a Dutch terrorist-service-broker-middleman, who faked his own death and made off with millions, some of which was Iceman's. So now Iceman's after him. That's the ostensible plot. Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? I will attempt not to go into any further detail.
Jim and Blair protect Amber in the loft. Jim gives her rules, like stay away from the windows, no bright colors, be with one of us at all times. She feels like prisoner. Blair reminds her it's only until they catch the Iceman. Jim gets called away and reminds Blair to "keep it professional." "Right," says Blair, turning to go. "Hey, hey," says Jim, grabbing his arm. "I mean in the cop way." Ha ha. Asshole.
Alone with Blair, Amber says she's giving up prostitution. Blair's like, "That's great!" Amber talks about how she wanted to go to med school and to Rome, but she didn't have the money, and then she found out a way to make it. Blair: "I don't judge." Amber: "Sure you do." He really does. Blair thinks she can put herself through med school without--you know. Amber gets kind of fed up with him and goes to bed.
Next morning. Jim, Amber and Blair around the table, drinking coffee. Jim figures out that Iceman had a chance to get the beeper and didn't, which means he needs Amber to set up the appointment. He's probably watching, waiting for her to do so. So he has Amber trick Iceman by pretending to call Hank from a pay phone at the university, and conspicuously set up an appointment in the hotel.
Cut to the hotel, where Amber meets with a bearded man in a hat and dark glasses. The man is so short that it can only be Blair. Jim watches them walk off together and radios for backup. In the elevator, Amber tells Blair that the beard looks good on him.
Euh... it looks okay.
Blair and Amber saunter to the room arm-in-arm. Blair wonders if Iceman will show; Amber wonders if Jim will. In the room, Blair's just taking off his sunglasses when Iceman bursts in with a gun, shoves Amber onto the bed, and rips off Blair's beard. Blair makes a face of "ruh-roh!" Iceman knocks him down and shoots him twice.
In the stairwell, Jim hears the silenced shots and goes wide-eyed. But not as wide-eyed as you'd think. DON'T WORRY HE JUST KNOWS SOMETHING WE DON'T. If you guessed "bullet-proof vest," you are correct, sir. Jim radios with the news of shots fired.
Jim sneaks up to the room and whips his gun around. No bad guys. He kneels by Blair's still body, listens to his heart, murmurs "Sandburg," opens his jacket--two bullets lodged in the Kevlar. Jim looks really worried now and he cries "Sandburg! Sandburg!", slapping Blair's face in that gentle wake-up wake-up way.
"Sandburg!"
Also, this: we cut to Jim wrapping a bandage around Blair's bare torso. Blair: "Ow, ow, I can't breathe." Jim, shortly: "It's gotta be tight." Hooray for hurt/comfort only not so much comfort as curt, calm, vaguely amused medical competence. I love how quickly Jim relaxes once it's clear Blair's okay--it makes his tender devastation whenever Blair is in real trouble that much more powerful. Okay, so, Jim and Blair are talking about the plot during this scene. I should probably recap that, too.
You think you love this scene. When I was little I used to love the Return of the King cartoon, which opens with a scene of Sam going to rescue a beat-up Frodo from orc-infested tower, and ever since I've had a soft spot in my heart for injured, barechested, hobbitlike men. I just thought you should know.
Okay, so. Blair wants to find Amber; he thinks Hank may have called by now, and their best bet for finding Amber is to figure out where she would arrange to meet up with him. (Hasn't Iceman taken her? But of course he'll let her go on the date, since he wants to find Hank.) Jim and Blair figure that Amber will know they're looking for her, and will therefore take Hank somewhere they know about. The only place she knows they know about besides the hotel is the strip club. (Does she know they know about the strip club? I guess Blair must have filled her in on the investigation that led them to her.) Blair starts to put his t-shirt back on, and while there's still bare back left, Jim gives him a little slap. "Ow!"
Strip club. Amber waits at a table. We see Iceman has a gun trained on her from another table. Hank enters, and Amber greets him. Hank gives Amber an envelope, saying he wants her to have it, and it's the only unselfish thing he's ever done. Maybe Amber will get med school out of this after all! She's put it away by the time Iceman comes up and demands that Hank give him his money back. Hank's only concern in the exchange seems to be Amber's safety, and he finally distracts Iceman with a new use for a tea-table and tells Amber to run. Iceman shoots Hank. Jim arrives and runs after Iceman, but Iceman escapes. Crying, Amber holds a dying Hank; just before he dies, he slips a key into her pocket. Blair comes up behind Amber and holds her.
Loft. Jim and Blair are still protecting Amber. Simon arrives and tells Jim that the Feds are taking over the case, including taking custody of Amber. Jim and Blair don't want to give her up (Blair says it will mess up her school, like, being barricaded up in the loft doesn't?), but recognize it's out of their hands. Amber picks this moment to announce she's decided to give up on her med school dream and continue being a prostitute, which upsets Blair so much he has to take a walk. Amber finds the key in her pocket and shows it to Jim. It has a four-leaf clover keychain, and, according to Jim, it smells like talcum powder. Jim puts it down to take a call: the FBI. They want Amber now. When Jim hangs up and turns, Amber and the key are gone. Because it's not like Jim has super senses or anything.
Jim and Blair are very cute in the next scene, where Blair, bespectacled, sits on the couch looking up different places the key might have come from in the phone book, and Jim looks over his shoulder and brainstorms.
JIM: Maybe there's some significance to that four-leaf clover.
BLAIR: Right. Like some type of Irish organization. You know, like a social club.
JIM: What would a guy named Hans Gruenwald be doing in an Irish social club?
BLAIR: Jim, I'm just thinking out loud here, okay?
Brainstorming session
Jim brings up the talcum powder, and Blair rattles off places that might use it (including "baby shop." What?) "It's got have numbered lockers." Blair lists intensely: "Uh, sporting arena! Race track! ... Country club!" That's it! Jim comes round and sits on the arm and turns the pages in Blair's lap. They find an ad for a country club with a four-leaf clover logo. Success. I love when the boys put their heads together.
Country club locker room. A witness tells them Amber has already been and gone, leaving with a briefcase. Blair knows where she went.
Airport. Flight to Rome. The attendant tells them Amber's booked, but never showed up. Turns out she booked herself on about a dozen different flights, which is actually a really good idea if you have infinite money and want to evade being captured by a team of only two men. So, file that trick away in case you are ever in that situation. Jim and Blair don't know what to do next, but Jim gets a call on his cell phone: Amber. She apologizes, saying she's at the airport but she doesn't really want to run away. Jim asks where exactly she is, but before she can answer, she's captured by the Iceman.
Jim and Blair run around aimlessly until Blair Guides Jim into isolating the smells to find the nicotine gum. Jim finally finds them, and gives Blair his phone to call for backup while he himself runs into danger. Drink! Jim fights with Iceman on some luggage conveyer belts. Eventually he manages to disarm him. We win again!
Wrap-up. CPD. Amber gave up prostitution AND the dirty money, and she's applied for a grant to help with her studies. I bet she doesn't get it. Jim pretends to hear Simon calling to leave Blair alone with Amber. Great. Amber asks if Blair "would consider going out with someone--well, someone with a past." "I don't know." Blair raises his eyebrows. "I'd have to think about it." But he's smiling. "Think about this," she says, and kisses him. She walks off looking all proud of herself for having used her professional kissing skills to totally wow a potential date. Blair grins and looks duly wowed.
I ended an earlier recap with a scene of Jim kissing a Babe of the Week, so, for fairness, here's one of Blair. If I tell you that in that cap Jim is facing the opposite direction and that his face is roughly in the position that Amber's face is in now, it is only an OBSERVATION. It is not a SUGGESTION.
Bottom Line: Any episode with a good Blair-is-hurt, Jim-is-afraid, Jim-bandages-Blair sequence is a strong one in my book.
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2x08 The Rig
Offshort oil rig establishing shot. Inside, a guy with some kind of vaguely British accent answers the phone, has a lover's spat with whoever's on the other end ("You know how I feel. So, contact the authorities and let them handle it! Look, I've got a job to do.") He goes into a pressure tank to get some kind of readings, and someone outside locks him in, securing the door with a wrench. The pressure dial climbs; guy's attempt to turn it down from inside is fruitless; he bleeds from the nose and ears; classy Titanic-style hand-on-glass-and-slide-down.Loft. Jim's in the living room, tidying up, when Blair comes home. Jim bitches at him for leaving his papers and tribal masks everywhere. "That's how I work. I go back and forth between things when the muse strikes," says Blair. I can relate to that. (Expect to see these recaps discontinue without warning at any time!) Jim tells Blair to keep his mess in his own room; Blair accuses him of being territorial and whines about Jim's excessive rules, most of which seem to have to do with the noise level, which makes sense considering. Jim has also color-coded the leftovers. This seems odd considering they're always making each other dinner. Besides, I doubt Blair buys his own food. Anyway, the phone rings, and they both reach but Jim gets it as usual. It's Simon.
Cascade PD. I think I just ate a bug. That's not relevant to the recap, I just thought you should know. That raspberry seemed unusually crunchy and proteiny. Okay, so Simon briefs Jim and Blair about the murder on the rig. "Wouldn't that be the coast guard's jurisdiction?" asks Jim. Good point. What about that, Simon? "Normally, but there are a few questions here that they need some answers to." Not that he's going to say what those questions are or anything. In other words, "Normally, but shut up!" The rig is owned by Cyclops Oil, who will return as the bad guys in 3x01 Warriors. Also, there is a storm coming. I think that's all the exposition we need. Jim asks apprehensively how far out the rig is. "Forty, fifty miles." Blair declares this information "nutty." What? What do you mean?
Chopper. Jim and Blair are in the bright-orange life-jacket type suits they'll have to wear every time they're outside for the rest of the episode. Blair looks excitedly out at the ocean. Jim does not look thrilled. "I love this stuff," Blair chatters. "It's an adventure!" Blair does love adventures. "Men against the sea!" "Just men, huh?" asks the pilot, pulling off her cap to reveal long hair. Long hair! Why she must be a woman! She gives them a You Sexist Pigs look. Oh man, reading the transcript I can see that the Sci-Fi channel has cut a potentially slashy exchange, where the pilot tells Blair to strap in his "tight little butt," calling him "lambchop," and Jim asks him if he needs any help, repeating the endearment. This is also the first time the pilot calls Jim "beefstick." She does that later on in the episode and it's weirder if you don't get this establishing moment.
Okay, they make it to the rig. We get about half a minute of boring chopping landing footage, which the Sci-Fi channel has elected not to cut. Before they go inside, Jim stares at the water for a moment; Blair asks him what's up, and he says nothing. Which of course means "something" in Jimspeak.
In the mess hall, the men are gathered looking surly and dystopian. Blair huddles up to Jim and says in a low voice, "Maybe there's some kind of protocol involved here. There are certain tribes in the Amazon where newcomers actually have to strip down--" "I'm Detective Ellison," Jim announces, cutting him off. Nice try, Blair.
Don't worry, it's coming. You know that old joke: "If you don't like Jim with his clothes on... Wait a minute!"
Jim and Blair walk down the hall, discussing how unwelcome they feel. "We're invading their territory, Jim," Blair explains. "These guys work out here for weeks at a time. They develop their own society." Jim thinks it's more than that. They inspect the pressure tank. Something on the hatch makes Jim's fingers feel tingly, but Blair doesn't feel it. Jim climbs in. No! Don't do that! Blair joins him. NO, Blair! Jim explains all the safety measures that make it unlikely that this guy died in accidentally. He comes out while Blair stays in the doorway. COME OUT OF THE PRESSURE TANK BLAIR. He does! All is well. Jim finds a wrench with two markings on it which correspond the places where it was shoved into the hatch-unscrewy-wheel. (I am good at technical terminology!) "I think we just blew that accident theory right out of the water."
Jim goes to the comm room to radio for backup. The pilot is there talking to the radio tech, and she informs Jim that the storm is moving in and they're completely cut off.
Night. Windy. Jim and Blair appear to be helping the pilot bolt down the chopper so it doesn't get blown off the hangar in the storm. Jim wanders to the rail and stares out nervously at the ocean, then abruptly walks inside. Blair follows and asks what's wrong. They share a private moment where Jim admits "I've never told you this--hell, I've never told anybody this, but I've always had this thing about open water." "What, like a phobia?" Jim nods. It's starting to get to him. Blair tells him to "take it easy" and seems to be about to do his Guide thing when the pilot interrupts, offering them a cup of coffee.
Does being the first person you ever told about your phobia rate a quick hand round your waist? Yes? No? Yes?
Pilot's "operations room." Blair is impressed with her book collection (Love in the Time of Cholera, Gravity's Rainbow and The Painted Bird). "If you have some time," says Blair, as Jim pokes around the pilot's equipment in the background, "we should get together and talk books over coffee." Count me out, if those are the books. (BURN ON PYNCHON!) She'd like that. Jim wants to move out and do some investigatin'. For some reason he has no problem talking about the case in front of the pilot. I guess her highbrow taste in literature clears her of suspicion. (That and her claim that she was on a supply run when the murder happened, I guess.) Then Jim smells smoke. He finds and puts out the fire, then finds solvent. "This was arson. Someone wanted to destroy these divers' suits."
Walking and wondering about the fire with Blair and the pilot, Jim spots a guy he recognizes--some ex-con he helped put away. The ex-con maintains he's on the up and up these days, but Jim's not so sure. Pilot gets a walkie-talkie call from the tech. Simon's trying to reach Jim. In the radio room, the tech reports the call can't come through because the antenna's disconnected. Jim says he'll check it out.
Outside, it's pouring. Jim and Blair come out in their little orange suits. Blair yells at Jim not to look at the ocean. We see some big clippers cutting a wire. As Jim and Blair approach the antenna tower thing, it comes crashing down on Blair. "SANDBURG!" yells Jim, rushing to Blair's side. He hefts the antenna off Blair and props up his unconscious body. Oh, Blair. You will have permanent brain damage one of these days. (Will?) Jim tries to put his little hood back on his head.
"Hang in there, buddy!"
Infirmary. Blair awake on a bed, blinking into the medic's eye flashlight, fixed up with customary butterfly bandages. "You had me worried, there, Chief." Blair asks what happened, and the pilot says the cable snapped. Jim holds up a sample of it he took for dramatic purposes and says "This didn't snap. This has been cut." Jim asks if there's another radio, and the pilot takes him to the chopper, but the radio's been destroyed. Jim talks to the foreman, complaining that "someone's trying to kill my partner and me!" and ordering him to shut down the rig. Foreman refuses. Back in the pilot's operation room, she suggests that Jim and Blair just stop investigating until more cops can come, but Jim wants to keep going while the trail is fresh. But, "you stay put, Chief. You took a nasty one to the head and I want you to lay low. And that's an order." Blair tells him to take a radio so they can maintain their constant communication.
BLAIR (over radio on Jim's belt): Jim, you there?
JIM (creeping around all stealth-macho, answers): Yeah, I'm here.
BLAIR (standing in operations room, grinning at the pilot): I was just checking to see if the radio worked.
JIM (exasperated): It does.
BLAIR: Jim y'know, I was thinking. Um...
JIM: I'm gonna have to call you back. (turns off radio)
Jim wanders around until he smells, and then night-vision-sees, a corpse. He sees someone running off and chases them. At one point, he pauses to radio Blair and fill him in, but the signal cuts out. Blair tells the pilot, "I gotta go find him," and runs off. Well, he wasn't laying low long. Jim gets knocked into a giant vat of oil.
Blair wanders around, periodically attempting to radio Jim. Jim must hear him coming, because he gurgles "Sandburg! Help!" but Blair doesn't hear. And Jim drowns. No, Blair finds his radio, and then sees him struggling in the oil. "Jim!" he cries, racing to the rail, where he hangs off and extends his hand. Yeah, he's going to pull up Jim with his brute strength. While Jim is covered in oil. Jim catches his hand a couple of times, but slips off. "Come on, Jim, don't just quit! JIM!" Blair beats on the side of the vat.
Never let go, Jim!
Cut to Jim towelling off after his Shower of Must Be Able to Touch Blair. He's narrating his chase adventure. Panning out we see Blair is standing against the open door, facing away as if to give Jim some slight semblance of privacy. Except that Jim promptly strolls out into the room, towelling off his midriff, and still talking. "That's why you need me to back you up," Blair says as he finishes his story of woe. Jim says he saw some lesions on the hands of the guy who pushed him into the oil which he thinks is a result of chemical weapons. He thinks someone's been storing chemical weapons on the rig and killing the people who find out about/get infected by it. More importantly, we have confirmed Jim nudity, people. Jim is taking the towel he was using to wipe off his arms and chest and wrapping it around his waist, meaning there wasn't one there before. Blair's been facing him for some time with no reaction to his nakedness; but then he's always been comfortable with Jim in any state of undress (since at least 1x08 Attraction). It's as if he's just so used to it that it doesn't even faze him.
"That's why you need me to back you up."
Anyway, just as Jim and Blair are figuring out their ridiculous leap of conclusions, the pilot strolls into the room, all "And I thought cops were supposed to be dumb!" Ah, the old Bad Guy Reveal and Confirm. She holds a gun in the boys' direction and radios to the foreman that she's got the cops. He tells her to bring them to the ready room. The pilot throws Jim some clothes and says "I got two brothers. Don't be shy." Jim gives her a withering stare, pulls off the towel around his waist, and hands it to a chagrined-looking Blair. Pilot takes a good gander at the goods and says "I gotta get off this rig and get me a boyfriend."
Like you've got.
Bad guys lead Blair and Jim off. Typical good-guy bad-guy conversation. On their way to whatever they're going to do to them, the lights go out, and ex-con guy sweeps in to the rescue! Jim also takes advantage of the situation to disarm the pilot. Good guys in control, Blair figures ex-con guy must have called the coast guard. He confirms. But then--oh no! More bad guys show up! Looks like the rig is divided pretty much evenly between good guys and bad guys, and the bad guys have the guns. So they're back in control. Foreman and Pilot lock the remaining good rig workers in one room and cuff Jim and Blair to pipes in another. Blair: "You don't have to do this you know." Pilot: "Give it all up and go straight for you? (pinches his cheek) You're cute, honey, but you're not that cute."
He is pretty cute though.
Left alone, Jim and Blair struggle in their handcuffs. Blair finds that the pipe he's cuffed to is leaking oil, and he goes over to slather it on his wrists. "Ow, ow, ow," he groans as he slides his hand out. Heh. Okay, the pain made that seem much more realistic. "Sandburg, let me have a little bit on my wrists." Oh, it is NOT realistic for Jim to escape the same way--he does not have tiny girlish hands at all! On the other hand, yes, Blair, do. Go rub oil on Jim. Mwa ha ha. All is going according to plan.
The bad guys are escaping to a ship in a life raft. Jim thinks if he can get to the ship, he can stop them. But he has to swim there! Blair offers to go, but Jim wants him to stay and try to radio the local coast guard. Blair: "You sure you want to do this?" Jim: "No." Luckily, Blair has a cunning Guide plan: Jim should try to use the zone-out factor to his advantage by focusing on the goal (the sight of the ship he's swimming to) and blocking out all other senses. I would think twice before encouraging my Sentinel to zone in the middle of open ocean, but that's just the way I was raised. Jim agrees to give it a shot and leaps into the water. Blair watches him swim away.
Blair's plan must work, because next thing we know Jim is at the ship, climbing up a ludicrously large chain. We get a lot of shots of his tightly-wetsuited butt as he creeps around. He overhears the pilot and foreman discussing the time bomb they set on the rig for a murder / faked suicide twofer. There's four minutes left. Jim rushes to the ship's radio room where he quickly incapacitates the tech and radios Blair, telling him to get off the rig immediately. Blair: "What about the rest of the crew?" Jim doesn't care, or rather, doesn't think there's enough time, but tells Blair all he knows about the bomb's location (it's in an oil drum). Blair goes to find it while Jim yells "Sandburg!" into the radio.
Blair looks for the bomb, can't find it. Pilot and foreman count down. Jim counts down on his watch. Blair finds it, pulls out a wire with one second to spare. He braces himself for the explosion, and when it doesn't happen, he sighs relief and falls backward onto the floor. Meanwhile, Jim makes it to a giant mounted machine gun and takes command of the enemy ship just as the coast guard copters arrive.
Wrap-up. Jim apologizes to ex-con guy. Blair comes up to Jim all excited: "So, you must be feeling pretty good about yourself! You did it!"
Does curing your phobia rate a hug?
JIM: Did what?
BLAIR: You conquered your fear of the water!
JIM: Oh yeah, I guess I did.
BLAIR: Yeah!
JIM: Guess now I'm ready for the really big challenge.
BLAIR: What's that?
JIM: Housebreaking you.
Jim lists a bunch of ridiculous new house rules for the apartment while Blair reacts with indignation as if he believes him. Cute scene. We fade out.
Bottom Line: Although the framing plot is "meh" / "huh?" as ever, this episode keeps it moving from one danger! Sandburg! JIM! crisis to another. Plus, gratuitous homoerotic nudity. I think this show understands its place in the world.
[comment on lj | top | reviews page | home]
2x09 Spare Parts
We open with a car chase right up front, which should save us some time later. Jim and Blair try to catch some car thieves who hijack expensive cars and haul them off in a big rig. They get the big rig driver, but the 'jackers get away.Simon and Jim plot how to best get information out of the captured trucker when Simon gets a phone call. As Jim and Blair converse earnestly in the background, Simon asks if this can wait, sounding annoyed, and then yells at Blair: "Sandburg! Do you know someone named Naomi?" He scolds that Blair should have his "lady friends" contact him at home (Blair does deserve this, since we know he gives out the station address to impress girls). Blair sheepishly takes the phone. "Mom!"
Jim and Blair discuss Naomi in the bullpen. Jim: "Don't you think she'd be happier at a hotel?" Blair: "No." Ha. Jim: "Come on. A couple of guys belching, throwing their underwear on the floor..." Oh, it's just a belch a minute at the loft, all right. And the minute they walk in the door, the underwear hits the floor. (Well. That might actually be true.) Honestly, Jim doesn't have a leg to stand on messy-bachelor-pad-wise. It's only last episode's tag he was talking about putting plastic covers on the furniture. Blair argues that Naomi is "very open, totally new age," and once shacked up with Timothy Leary. "In fact, I always thought he might've been..." "Your father?" Oh yes, they are having a Conversation About Real Issues! Blair says he had a lot of candidates to choose from, since every man seems to fall in love with her. Looks like this is the scene with the outtake where Richard makes Garrett crack up by taking his hand and swinging it back and forth between them as they walk down the hall.
Jim interrogates the trucker who very cooperatively informs him that his boss, Francine, is working for Bill Petrie, a big-deal mob boss type. Jim proposes to Simon a typical Jim plan, which is to nail Petrie by going undercover as the trucker's replacement. Jim assures Simon he can drive a rig, no problem.
Cut to Jim failing at driving a rig. Blair's in the cab with him, wearing a cute little green track jacket, and he starts giving Jim instructions. He once helped his uncle drive a rig cross-country.
BLAIR: You want me to take you through the basics again?
JIM (annoyed): No, I don't want you to run me through basics again! (Blair smiles.) I figured maybe I could tune into it with my hearing, you know, kinda tune into the gears a little bit and, and, listen to them mesh.
BLAIR: Yeah, no. It doesn't work that way, man.
HA. Ha ha ha. I think this is the first time one of them has actually had a crazy idea about the senses run up against a reality check.
"Yeah, no."
Jim gets a cell call and hands it over to Blair, who tells Naomi on the other end to just put her stuff in his room. Jim makes wild "no! no!" gestures, and Blair slaps his hand down while simultaneously chatting nicely with Naomi. "No, no, I don't think that's a such good idea, Mom, I mean it's Jim's place, he's got the furniture arranged the way he likes it." Jim (in gestures, loosely translated): "No! No!" Blair (in gestures, loosely translated): "Step off, bitch!" Nonverbal communication = adorable!
Jim and Blair come home to find a weird smell--Naomi's burning sage. "Oh! I forgot to tell her about your," Blair motions toward his nose, "Sensitive." SENSITIVE. Jim is so sensitive. I think that's my favorite thing about his superpower. Anyway, Naomi comes out of Blair's bedroom all angelic in a gauzy dress with the light streaming behind her. She's well-cast, I think--a very pretty, very young-looking woman with short red hair and something distinctly Blairlike about the face. "Look at this hair, it's so 60s, you look beautiful!" she gushes. You got that right, sister. Didn't Blair have the hair when she last saw him? Sure he did, it was six months ago, and we know what he looked like six months ago. Maybe she's surprised by it every time.
Madonna and Child
NAOMI: That's awful. How do you stay clean?
JIM: I shower.
NAOMI (gesturing): Oh no, I mean, how do you get rid of the negative energy?
JIM (imitating her gesture): I shower.
NAOMI: I hear that.
Naomi goes to the kitchen to fix Blair his favorite food (tongue, just in case you want to fix him a special birthday dinner) and Blair explains to Jim, "She's saying she's willing to accept what you say without judgement." He goes to help Naomi, but Jim calls him back to look at the living room. "Oh. Hey. You know, I actually kind of like the couch there," says Blair. Then, "I'll put it back when she's gone," he promises, giving Jim an affectionate pat on the stomach. You know what friends don't ever do? Give each other affectionate pats on the stomach. Just sayin'.
"I'm a vegetarian, unlike him," Naomi tells Jim as she cooks, "but it makes him happy!" Blair grins cutely at Jim. "Blair's been telling me all about the work you've been doing together for his research on local subcultures." Man, I wonder what he said. He's typically so enthusiastic about his work that he must have made up an elaborate fake project to talk about. She continues, "It's so ironic, I've spent so much time demonstrating against the tyranny of the pigs and now... Oh! I'm sorry. No offense intended." Jim: "I--hear that." Heh, nice one, Jim. Naomi's put out when she's told she can't ride along on Jim and Blair's next mission. "Is it dangerous?" "No, no, it's just research," Blair assures her, and Jim rescues him from having make up more excuses by putting his foot down: "Not this time."
Out in the hall, Jim does an unexpected about-face: "You know, Blair, Naomi's a very attractive woman. I never would have guessed it. She's so... young." All true, but... "That's my mom," Blair points out. Dude, it's totally his mom. Whatever Blair is to Jim--roommate, sidekick, colleague, best friend, boyfriend, police partner, domestic partner, researcher, other half of twained soul, mystic spirit guide etc etc--none of these relationships is remotely conducive to hitting on his mom. (Okay, I don't know if it's specifically written anywhere that you don't hit on your mystic spirit guide's mom, but it seems like it should be self-evident.) Especially when Jim has thus far expressed nothing but irritation toward her, and they clearly have very little in common. So where's this coming from, he just thinks she's hot? Well, that makes sense. She does look like Blair.
Note the large, kittenish eyes, round, chipmunkish face, and chagrined, left-out-sidekickish expression.
Jim and Blair head out to meet with Francine's carjacking posse. Naomi secretly follows them. Of course Blair immediately gets a gun held on him, because Jim was told to come alone and interpreted that to mean "bring your buddy!" "I always have someone watching my back," Jim explains. He soooo does. Francine makes him get in the truck and show her how he can drive. Naomi calls the police department on a pay phone (remember, she still thinks, or perhaps hopes, that they didn't expect to be in this much danger), but gets put on hold ("I'm letting this go. I'm letting this go. I'm letting this go. God, why can't they play decent music?!")
Of course Jim sucks at driving, and Francine's all set to tell him to take a hike, when Jim says, no, actually, Blair's the one who can drive! Crazy Gary, Francine's partner (everybody needs a partner!): "So what do we need you for?" Good question. "We're a team. Either you buy both of us or nothing," says Jim. Well, that line is going directly into my slavefic. Francine says they'll have to split the money, and Blair says "Equal shares or we don't do it." Done. As they walk off, Jim bitches, "You almost got us talked out of the case!" "That was the idea, man," says Blair. For once, Blair doesn't want to go undercover and have adventures (perhaps having his mother visit is making him feel cautious and responsible), and Jim cares more about the case than protecting him! Well, except for the part where he worked in a being-there-by-Blair's-side-at-all-times clause into the contract. As he does with every job.
Simon doesn't like the idea of sending in Blair to do undercover work. (He's gone undercover before, in True Crime, but this is admittedly a much more complicated and potentially volatile situation.) Blair doesn't want to go either: "This guy [presumably Crazy Gary] scares me." Jim tries to talk him into it: "I need you on this one!" Simon agrees with Jim that this is a tenuous one-shot chance, but "it's still your choice," he explains as Jim puts a comforting/manipulative arm around Blair's shoulders. Blair, walking away: "Good. I choose to live."
Later, Naomi bitches out the trio in Simon's office. "I saw a woman kidnap you at gunpoint!" Oh, yawn, Naomi. I've seen that like twenty times.
NAOMI: Clearly there's a lot more going on here than simple observing. Next thing I know you're gonna be parading around in a blue uniform and jackboots!
BLAIR: Well, you know what, Mom? If I do, that's my choice!
NAOMI: Well, make another choice!
Yes. This is a really good scene--I like the juxtaposition of Blair arguing against his doing more hardcore police work to Jim and Simon and then for it to Naomi. Plus, you know, coming out metaphor etc.
Simon jumps awesomely to Blair's defense, saying, "Technically Blair is still an observer, but he's become much more than that... I consider him part of the team." Give 'em an inch and they walk all over you, because when Naomi says Blair is "just not cut out for this kind of work," Blair blinks strickenly and looks to Simon for support. Simon sighs and continues his grudging pangyric. "I've gotten to know Blair over the past few months and though we don't always see eye to see, his enthusiasm is kind of--refreshing! (Reaction shot of Jim blinking, presumably in agreement.) And I trust him. Whether he decides to stay or go, I back him up 100 percent." Blair looks touched. "So what's it going to be?" asks Naomi. With a glance at Jim, Blair says he chooses to stay. Hurt, Naomi claims to hear that, and leaves. Blair calls after her, "Mo-om. Come on, detach with love!" One of 1,000 Jim-handing-Blair-his-little-jacket shots as Jim leaves, and Blair turns to Simon. "I just wanted to say..." Simon: "Please. The memory is already too painful." Instead of getting the hint, Blair tries to give Simon a hug and gets rebuffed. Heh. Add "intervene in an argument between the anthropology student and his mother" to the list of things Simon never signed on for when he agreed to let Jim have a partner-observer.
Jim and Blair at Bad Guy Garage. (When the walls fell!) Blair's surprised to learn that Jim doesn't plan to call for backup (Blair: "you know, sirens, flashing lights, whoo-oo-oo!")--he wants to get in deeper so he can bring down Petrie, so he's going to go ahead and help them hijack someone's car. During the heist, however, the frightened driver of the to-be-stolen vehicle goes into cardiac arrest, and Jim, the boy scout, insists on staying with him and calling an ambulance and giving him pills. Just when we think Francine is going to drive off without him, leaving Blair alone amongst the thieves, he dashes off at the last minute and jumps into her car. *Into*, not *onto*. Later, Crazy Gary complains, and Jim defends that he's in this for car theft, not murder, and he's not about to do life. Nice save, Jim. Francine agrees with him, blowing off Gary's concerns that there's something "not right about that guy."
Next we get a phone call between Francine and Petrie where he warns her to shut down her business before she gets caught, and she changes his mind by planning their biggest caper yet: they're going to steal The Lamborghini. You know. That one. We see that Jim and Blair are eavesdropping. Well, Jim is, at least. Blair's standing in front of him looking up at him expectantly. We get an unnecessarily lengthy shot of Jim and Blair walking to the truck and driving off. Gary follows them!!!
Loft. Jim's putting on his pants while on the phone with Simon. I... okay.
Nothing has ever been more gratuitous.
Knock at the door. When Jim answers, Gary and Francine stalk in with guns at the ready! Naomi tries to step in and smooth things over, and Gary says "Where does she fit in?" "I'm his mom," says Naomi. "Don't be flip with me, lady," Gary begins, so Jim flips him, taking his gun. He removes the cartridge. "He could have just killed you, Gary. What more proof do you need?" asks Francine. Jim to Gary: "What do you say we start fresh, Chief?" WAAAUUUUUGH!
And Naomi looks on, unaware that Jim has just called another man by her son's pet name.
The next day as Jim and Blair drive into work Blair gives Francine a little wave, and she waves back. I guess now that she's met his mom it's like they're friends. Blair says she's "not bad for a car thief," and Jim suggests he get to know her better. "Forget it," says Blair. "We've been down that road before, remember? I'm no good at that seduction stuff." Wh...when was this? Who did he try to seduce? I know Jim asked him to get close to Maya in 1x10 Love and Guns, but he was totally fine at that, I mean, they fell in love over the course of one day, what more do you want? Jim chuckles, "No one's asking you to compromise your high level of standards." Asshole.
Blair wanders in and keeps Francine company while she eats a sandwich. She's very open and nice to him, and seems interested. Blair makes up a story about how his father and grandfather were thieves, too. He asks why Francine's in this job, and she says she's an "adrenaline junkie." Sounds familiar. She takes a phone call in front of Blair the upshot of which is Petrie is coming to town tonight.
At Cascade PD, Jim tells Simon he figures Petrie will be in a hurry to unload the car, so all they need to do to get close to him is supply a buyer. Simon: "Who do these guys know besides you two?"
Jim and Blair kidnap Gary and throw him into a van where Naomi is waiting. She and Jim tag-team outline a deal for Gary to offer Petrie. Gary asks about Francine, and is pleased to learn that they're cutting her out. I guess they figured Gary would be easier to buffalo. Although Francine has been more gullible to date.
Loft. Naomi is getting ready to leave. Simon thanks her for her help; she offers to stay and be there for the arrest, but--as Blair shakes his head and Jim smiles indulgently--Simon assures her that won't be necessary. Naomi tells Blair she's proud of him. Simon looks away, pained, as they hug. "Be careful, okay?" says Naomi. "Of course, I will, Mom," says Blair, embarrassed. Jim says he hopes to see Naomi again soon and kisses her cheek while Blair stares. "That's my mom," he reminds. Naomi gazes fondly at Jim. "Aren't you lucky," smirks Jim creepily.
WHEN WILL YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THAT IS MY MOM.
Blair walks Naomi to her car. "Next time you come over, I'm not gonna let you hit on Jim, I'll tell you that much." Naomi squeals a denial. They're still having their playful argument ("Every guy!" "That's not true!") when Francine stops them, asking Blair why they didn't come to her with the deal. "Sorry, sweetie, it was my call," says Naomi. Francine pulls out a gun. "Now it's mine."
Jim gets worried when Blair doesn't show up to the bad guys' lair. Jim calls Simon who tells him to stall Gary. But Gary won't be stalled. Jim chases him. Francine takes Naomi and Blair to the docks where the Lamborghini is being delivered. Blair begs Francine to let Naomi go, but she won't. Gary and Petrie spot Francine and Naomi together. Thinking they're being double-crossed, they take off after the hot car. So we've got Francine and Naomi in the Lamborghini, Petrie in a limo, Jim in his truck, and Gary and Blair in rigs. Jim ends the chase by pulling his truck in front of Gary, totalling it (he jumps to safety first), shooting Petrie's tire, and standing in front of the Lamborghini, trusting Francine's basic decency not to run him down. She doesn't. Back-up arrives. As Jim is arresting Francine, Blair runs in and helps his mom out of the car. They hug.
Blair comes home to the loft. Candle lit on the table. Naomi's laughter drifts down from Jim's bedroom. I thought she was leaving? Blair calls "Mom? Jim?", pauses at the bottom of the stairs, then goes up. I called it, but it's still awesome when it comes to pass: Naomi is showing Jim photo albums of little Blair.
Bottom Line: It's great to learn more about our characters' pasts (when they make sense, unlike certain backstories who know who they are), and the parts of their lives that are not normally show on the show. Naomi's character, while occasionally charicatureish, is on the whole sympathetic and interesting, and I love the interaction between her and Blair. The interaction between her and Jim was a little iffy, but they saved it at the end by transforming their "sexual" "tension" into a prospective-in-laws vibe. I think knowing Naomi adds a lot to our understanding of Blair, and "Let's do an episode about Blair's mother!" was an inspired idea for an episode.
So, when are you two going to make me a grandma?
[comment on lj | top | reviews page | home]
2x10 Second Chance
Jim and Blair are spiffed up and walking way too close on the empty street (see fig. 1), discussing the cop retirement party they've just attended, when they see some thugs beating up a woman in front of their building. Jim rushes in to scare away the men while Blair helps the victim. "Are you okay? Take it easy." He sees her face. "Maya?!"
Fig. 1
The kettle whistles the song of Blair's broken heart. Blair gives Maya a cup of tea, telling her, "the Brazilian Indians, they use this to--but listen to me, telling you what people in South America like to do." Just because she's Chilean, Blair, it doesn't mean she knows everything about everyone on the entire continent. Getting off the phone with Simon, Jim asks if Maya knows who attacked her or why, and she says she doesn't, but then explains that she came to Cascade in search of her uncle Gustavo (the Only One She Really Trusts) after learning (somehow) that her father's cartel intended to kidnap her. So, I guess she does know. Blair promises she'll be safe there, and Jim, after a pause, insincerely agrees. Blair: "You can stay in my bed." Jim: (glares) Blair, mostly to Jim: "Alone, of course." Maya says the couch is fine.
Maya sleeps on the couch. Blair comes into the living room to pick up what appears to be a little book or a computer disk or something, pauses, and looks at her. As he's turning back to his room, Maya asks, "Am I that interesting?" Blair: "You always were." He wants to know if she still hates him. She asks, "For what?" What do you mean, for what? Your last words to him were "I love you too, and I hate you too." You're the one doing the hating here, you tell him. For what. Honestly. Blair recaps his sins against Maya (lying, using her for info). She says it's her father she hates, but volunteers that she's too confused for romance: "right now, I don't know how I feel about anything or anybody. I'm sorry." "Hey, there's nothing to be sorry about," says Poor Sad Blair, who always makes a mighty if transparent effort to take it well when girls he likes rebuff him.
At the PD, Simon tells Jim and Blair he's arranged a safehouse for Maya with two police protectors. Blair wants to be one of them. Simon refuses. "Why not?" Jim explains he's not a cop and he's personally involved. Blair snorts, "When has that ever stopped you?" Jim imitates his snort, and says lamely, "This, is-- not about me!" Jim and Blair continue bickering and Simon has to yell to get their attention and put his foot down--"Sandburg, you're out." Then there's a weird bit where Jim asks what kind of danish Simon is eating. Is this really the time? Also, can't he tell?
Jim introduces Maya to her protectors at the safehouse then stands by the door while Blair bids her farewell. He takes their standing around as his cue to leave, and Blair and Maya kiss quickly and awkwardly on the lips. "Don't say it, okay, Jim?" says Blair as he comes out. Jim maintains that he was just going to suggest breakfast.
Jim and Blair walk down a rainy street after a breakfast of Chinese food. Blair wants to talk about Feelings.
BLAIR: I know you're thinking-- she's got me using my heart and not my head, right?
JIM: Actually I'm thinking, "What does it mean when your fortune is blank?"
BLAIR: Whatever feelings I had for Maya in the past, they're just that, man. They are (gesturing emphatically) in the past.
JIM: Uh-huh.
BLAIR: You don't believe me?
JIM: I don't think you believe you.
I don't know if Jim would have used the word "heart."
Then two men come up behind them and stick guns in their sides and lead them off. I wish my conversations about Feelings would end like that.
And now we're in what appears to be a mad scientist's lab. Actually, it's some middle-aged Chilean businessman's ironsmithing workshop. He does the Cultured Bad Guy thing, interrupting his interrogation of Jim re: Maya's whereabouts in order to show him some finely-crafted ironsmithing workmanship on a trivet or something, and says, "Even something as hard as iron will bend like clay when fire is applied." He taps Blair on the chest: "Take that one." Oh yes, Blair is hard as iron. Cultured Bad Guy's burly goons lead a frightened-bunny Blair to a table where they hold his arms down and lift a welding torch toward his hands. "I'll ask again. Where is Maya Carasco?" Yes! I love when people read Jim well enough to threaten him with harm to the thing he loves most in the world. "You touch him, you're a dead man," says Jim evenly. Blair yells at him not to tell them anything. Nice going, Blair, you've tipped them off that you know.
This is not Blair's day.
Blair admits they know where Maya is--they're protecting her. Gustavo wants to see her. Blair looks at Jim. "She did say she wanted to see him." "We're not going to compromise her position." Gustavo pulls a blindfold out of his inside pocket. What an awesome guy.
Jim and Blair drive blindfolded Gustavo to the safehouse. Blair asks him about his relationship to Maya, and he gets pissy: "You Americans think everything is a talk show." As they get out of the car, Jim senses Danger. The door's been broken in. They run in. The cops are dead on the floor. "Oh my God," says Blair. "Maya!" He looks, but can't find her anywhere in the house. Gustavo identifes the killer as warlord Francisco Rivero.
Yolsaffbridge: What did he just say? "The bullet holes through the heads are his signature"?
Zelempa: Hands. Hands.
Yolsaffbridge: Oh. That's more reasonable. I was gonna say. You wanna be the guy who has bullet holes through the heads as his signature.
"I know what's going through your head, Chief," says Jim after the break, leaning against a police car outside next to a swallowing, emotional Blair, "but you're wrong. If you'd stayed with her you'd be dead too." Blair gives him a cold look. "That supposed to make me feel better?" Oooh. I know you're hurting, Blair, but be nice to your Partner. Simon gets a call on his cell and since it's a girl asking for Blair, he's annoyed as he hands it off. His expression changes when Blair cries, "Maya?!" Jim tries to set up a trace (unsuccessfully, as usual) while Blair talks to a crying, panicked Maya. He asks where she is, and before she can answer him, a handsome young warlord takes the phone. (It's Rivero, FYI.) If Blair doesn't follow his instructions, he'll kill the girl etc. He wants the access codes to Maya's father's Swiss bank account.
Since Rivero wants to make the exchange at noon and the banks don't open until 1 AM Cascade time, they decide to provide realistic-seeming but fake access codes. Gustavo comes up with believable fake passwords and he, Jim, and Blair go to the rendezvous point. Gustavo tells Jim how he's reformed in his old age, and Jim isn't convinced. Rivero shows up. First he wants to know which one is Sandburg, and when Blair raises his hand, he says, "You don't look like much." Heh. Maya must have built him up. Of Gustavo, he simply says, "Where did you dig up this old crook?" Rivero takes the codes but won't give up Maya until he checks if they work. After he leaves, Jim tries to follow the car from the sound of music playing on the radio, but it only leads him to an abandoned car: they changed vehicles.
Rivero returns to his yacht where Maya is reading a magazine on the couch. She stands up and kisses him. GASP! DOUBLE CROSSED! "We got the codes!" says Rivero, in English. And before you say "Maybe they're just translating it for us," typically this show uses subtitles for that. Surely they could have gotten actors who speak Spanish or could at least fake it well enough to fool me. Anyway. "That's wonderful," says Maya calmly. "You don't look very happy." "I don't like to lie to my friends," she explains. "I don't like to use them." BURN ON BLAIR. Rivero asks if she still has feelings for "him," and Maya says she doesn't.
Gustavo flips out about the police's inability to find Maya, then disappears. Simon finds out that Rivero's full name is Francisco Rivero Alcante--Gustavo's son. GASP! COUSINCEST! Also, DOUBLE CROSSED! Maybe. Blair overheard Gustavo talking to his men in Spanish about meeting at the Andes Cafe. So Blair knows Spanish, at least.
Sure enough, Jim and Blair find Gustavo at the cafe, chatting up a young woman. Jim says he's under arrest for aiding and abetting a felon. "When were you going to tell us Francisco's your son?" "Oh," says Gustavo. "That." He says he hates Francisco, he's his son in name only, and may he rot in hell. Jim wants to take him downtown anyway.
Outside the cafe, Gustavo explains that the woman he was talking to was a friend of Maya's and that he has just learned about the relationship between Francisco and Maya. "No way, that'd make them first cousins," says Blair. Because clearly that is the most important thing to be concerned about here. Gustavo carefully explains that Francisco and Maya are related to him by different wives. NO COUSINCEST AFTER ALL GUYS. FALSE ALARM. Gustavo suggests that Francisco and Maya are in this together as a way of getting back at Maya's father. He explains, "Francisco wanted Hector Carasco's money to strengthen his position in the cartel and Maya is very vulnerable. He probably told her he would give all the money to a good cause." Blair cannot believe so basely of his Dulcinea. He mutters, "I gotta," points vaguely behind him, and walks off down the street, where he is promptly accosted by Rivero and one of his goons.
Meanwhile, Gustavo's still blathering on to Jim, blah blah Maya's in danger, blah blah my son's murderous rage, and Jim's like, "Quiet!" Yeah, stuff it, old man! Jim's Internal Blair Danger Alarm tells him something is wrong.
Jim arrives on the scene with gun drawn. "Let him go!" Rivero asks if Jim's a good enough shot to kill him before he kills Blair, and Blair nods. I'm not sure if that's a Yeah he is! or a Do it Jim! "We all know about you and Maya," says Jim. "Then it's lucky we have another hostage," says Rivero. The corners of Jim's mouth tighten. Rivero has his goon put Blair in the car, and Rivero tells Jim to call with the real codes within four hours. We get a pathetic flash of Blair's face as the car drives away.
Please don't take my Sandburg away, just because you can!
Oh it's on now Rivero. You do not mess with The Relationship. Jim was meh about this case before but now he has PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT. And as we all know, that is what makes for great police work.
At the PD, Gustavo suggests they ask Maya's father for the codes. They just have to get in to talk to him in prison. Simon doesn't think they can trust Gustavo, and Jim agrees but says it's their only shot.
Yacht. Maya comes to see her little pet, tied to a pole. Blair says Rivero will kill him and Maya too; he's already killed the cops at the safehouse. Maya doesn't believe him. She runs out.
Prison. Gustavo is posing as a penologist (ha! ha!) who once guarded Carasco. They run his prints, saying they'll be done in half an hour. Jim mutters he hopes Gustavo doesn't have a record in the States. Gustavo admits there was some little trouble with the FBI.
Maya asks Rivero about the cops. He admits to killing them, saying it was necessary.
While the prints are pending at the prison (Peter Piper is preparing them), the warden agrees to let Gustavo speak to Carasco on a video phone thing. They begin to speak Spanish until the warden tells them to speak English for security reasons (See, THIS makes sense!) Their conversation:
CARASCO: How have you been?
GUSTAVO: Good. But my wife has not been well. You remember her. Maya?
CARASCO: Maya. Yes, I do. Is her condition... serious?
GUSTAVO: I have sent for some specialists. From Switzerland.
CARASCO: Switzerland?
GUSTAVO: Yes. But they are so expensive. It's almost as though you have to ransom back a person's health.
CARASCO (after a pause): I know several doctors in Santiago who are excellent.
GUSTAVO: That would be wonderful. What are their names?
And then he lists the code words. All right, the stuff about ransom was a little suspicious, but all in all a rather enjoyable attempt at espionage.
Jim driving (he's back in the blue SUV, since I guess the truck got totalled last time), on the phone with Rivero. He gives them the first part of the code, saying he'll give the rest when he gets the hostages. Gustavo can't breathe. Jim pulls over. Gustavo gets out of the car and stumbles around sickly. Jim comes over to help him, promising the call an ambulance, when Gustavo reaches round and grabs his gun from his above-the-butt holster. Another car pulls up--Gustavo's henchmen. Gustavo says this is between Rivero and him and he can't risk the police bungling it up, "not with Maya's life in the balance." Jim: "What about Sandburg's life?!" Oh Jim. Gustavo throws away Jim's car keys; one of the goons knocks Jim out.
Jim's vertical again when we come back from commercial, rubbing his head and looking around. He finds his keys. Jim is on the move!
Gustavo talking to his goons. "Remember, all that matters is that Maya is safe." He cocks his pistol. BUT GUSTAVO, WHAT ABOUT SANDBURG?
What about Sandburg is that he's still tied to a pole in the boiler room or whatever. Maya comes in. "You were right about Francisco." She unties him and leads him out by the arm.
As they come out onto the deck they're immediately caught by Rivero, who leads Maya away at gunpoint while one of his henchman keeps a gun on Blair. Then we're treated to some weird techno music as actiony thinngs start happening, people preparing for battle. Gustavo arrives on the dock, and he and Rivero yell to each other, with Rivero telling him he's outmatched--he's had his goons knock out Gustavo's goons. Jim arrives on the scene to find Gustavo's goons' bodies and calls Simon, but the call is cut short when a Rivero goon finds him and starts shooting at him. Rivero tells Gustavo to give him the codes or he'll kill Maya. Instead, Gustavo starts brawling with the nearest Rivero goons. Not a great idea, really, but Francisco does shoot in Gustavo's direction rather than Maya's, and ends up killing one of his own men. Gunfire as Gustavo runs up the stairs of the yacht toward Rivero.
When the guy holding Blair looks over to see what's going on, Blair punches him in the face with a resounding "zapf"! Blair throws him into the wall--yeah, Blair!--but the guy eventually recovers himself, hits Blair in the stomach, and slams him in the face with the butt of the gun. Blair goes down with lips parted and blood trickling from his forehead. Ow. Jim arrives on the scene as Blair's attacker is fleeing, and shoots mercilessly to kill. Uh. Double ow? At any rate, you do not want to get on Jim's bad side. Jim runs up to Blair's still form and leans over him as the Rain of Drama and Emotion begins to fall.
Don't worry, it can hardly hurt him now.
Having verified that Blair is alive, Jim is free to go after Rivero, who is leading Maya away at gunpoint. Jim jumps off the boat (!!!), onto the dock, and gets into a hand-to-hand match with Rivero. Rivero actually delivers a flying kick, and Jim flips him. Rivero pulls out a little switchblade and does some fancypants sword-guy-Indiana-Jones-shot type moves. Jim roundhouse kicks him in the FACE. Don't know why I'm suddenly down with play-by-playing the fight here, since I usually just say "they fight and Jim wins." FYI, that's what happens here, as Rivero launches himself, yelling, at Jim, knife drawn, and Jim clotheslines him and cuffs him.
Wrap-up, by which words it should be clear to you know I mean "cut to some time later, when the scene is crawling with police cars and ambulances." Blair's up and about, though his hair's a little less poofy than usual, and guess what kind of insect his forehead bandage resembles. Simon asks if Jim knew Gustavo had an FBI record. Blair asks if there's anything they can do, since Gustavo helped them and is likeable. Simon's like--no. Gustavo and Maya share a moment, and then Blair walks off with Maya while Jim tells Gustavo about the coming Feds. "As long as Maya's safe, I don't mind a few years in prison. Besides, I could use the rest," says Gustavo. Some Feds come and take him away.
Blair breaks it to Maya that although she won't be arrested, but she will be deported and prevented from ever returning. "So we'll never see each other again?" Blair, smiling though near tears: "I don't know about that." Yeah, Blair's always spending a few months in various South American rainforests, or at least he was before Jim came along. She kisses him; he kisses her; they embrace.
"Take care of him, huh?" says Jim as the Feds drive Gustavo away. Blair kisses Maya on the cheek as she's led away by some...one. The guys meet up in the middle. "You okay, Chief?" "Yeah, I'll be fine." I can't hear what they're muttering as someone drives up, but according to the transcript it's:
BLAIR: It's just that... it hurts a little.
JIM: You'll get over it.
God, I love this show.
It hurts. You know, in my feelings.
Bottom Line: So... not so much with there being a second chance in this episode. I mean, it's not like Blair got to choose whether to go for Maya again or not and it's not like anything between them was really resolved. I guess they ended on more of a high note than before. Anyway, there was a fair amount of Blair's Broken-Hearted Sadness of Tender Emotion in this episode, but it could have been much more about that and less about the ransom/double-crossing whatever.
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2x11 Black or White
Gospel singers practice at a church. Storm outside. The lights flicker, but the minister tells them to keep going. Prowler outside. As the singers depart, the church explodes.Police department garage. Blair does that thing he always does where he kind of squashes himself against the doorframe to get through the door at the same time as Jim, as he tries to convince Jim to double-date with him since he accidentally overbooked. Apparently "Jessie" has a 158 IQ and legs "up to here" (Blair indicates about level with his collar bone). In other words, she's average height. OHH I SAID IT BLAIR IS SHORT.
Sci-Fi cut the rest of this scene, but I managed to get my hands on it anyway, so I'll recap it, even though I don't know if it would have made it onto my radar had it not been Forbidden Fruit. Jim surmises Jessie's the type to want to involve Blair in a "weird ceremonial body piercing ritual" (I guess he's still thinking about Blair's alleged nipple ring); he playfully backhands Blair on the cheek. Blair: "That's a bad thing? Come on!"
Come on, Jim, go on a date with me! Wait, that didn't come out right. Wait. Did it?
Oh, God. Investigating the explosion site, the police find evidence of some special explosion called Semtex and a note from some white supremacy group called AWC (Aryan Warriors Cla--I mean, Command). Looks like it's going to be one of the The Sentinel Takes On the Issues episode, taking the daring stance that white supremacy groups are bad. Some white guy called Larson is running field ops now that Taggart is "riding a desk."
A woman leads a protest of the department's handling of the case. Blair watches from Simon's office window. Simon and Jim explain that the protester, Candace, used to be a cop with the department, until she left a year ago to become an activist.
Taggart brings the news that Larson has "downloaded", or "pulled off the web", an "email from the Internet" full of AWC propoganda. Isn't that, like... kind of in his job description? To investigate the perps? Simon says "I know the last few months have been tough on you," but could Taggart take over the case from Larson? Taggart says, "I just can't."
Just when I'm wondering what the hell happened to Taggart, Blair hypothesizes that he's lost his nerve since almost getting blown up in "the Brackett bomb". It's probably mainly indicative of my seivelike mind and Jim/Blair one-track-ness that I don't even remember Taggart being in "Rogue," but even if I had I doubt I would have pegged that as a particularly nerve-threatening event: I mean, Jim and Blair are in situations like that all the time. It's kind of cool that someone's actually having a normal reaction to being in a high-stakes life-or-death situation. Jim tells Blair that Taggart dropped his therapy because he didn't want to seem weak, and I guess that's legitimate since whether or not he's going to therapy seems to be public information. Blair wonders if he should talk to Taggart, since he's been in and out of therapy his whole life. "Anxiety and panic attacks are a normal state of being for me!" Actually, he seems pretty laid back. I guess he has really excellent treatment because he never seems to have any lasting fallout from his weekly brushes with death (his own or his Sentinel's).
Jim doesn't think Blair talking to Taggart is a great idea and indeed the next scene we see is Taggart storming away from Blair saying "You do NOT know how I feel!" (EXCELLENT), while Jim says, "Joel, will you just listen to him for a second, huh?" It's great that Jim is totally on Blair's side now, in front of Taggart, at least. They can have their private disagreements but they put up a unified front. You know, for the kids. In the class. Anyway, Blair gets Taggart to listen to a story about an anthropology student he knew who froze up on a rope bridge in Nepal. The sherpa came up to him and said "This is not about you." And he made it across. And that student.... was Blair Sandburg. As Jim watches Blair and Taggart walk off together, Simon comes up and announces various pieces of evidence against Larson, including a history of knowledge of Semtex and a large cash deposit made into his bank account, which constitute grounds for a warrant.
At his home, Larson is told to "download the numbers" through a ridiculous chat program which employs what appears to be a giant swastika loading screen. Honestly, if I saw that over his shoulder, I'd probably just think he was playing an Indiana Jones adventure game. Larson prints out a page of about five numbers and then thoughtfully examines the blank back of the sheet. Outside, preparing to bust in, Jim tells Simon and Blair to sit tight while he tries the revolutionary method of Talking. At the door, Larson pretends to agree to talk to Jim, but then runs away. Jim runs after him, at one point Seeing him tuck the paper into his boot. Larson escapes on a motorboat, too far for Jim to jump to.
Next day. Candace leads protesters at the site of a second church bombing. While Jim is talking to Simon, Blair brings him some stuff to smell which confirms Semtex was used. Simon bitches at Jim for not catching Larson, and we get a reaction shot of Blair, because I guess Jim getting bitched out is more emotionally resonant for him? I'm reaching, here, there's not much to work with in this episode. Candace appraoches, and Jim offers to talk to her. Because, every scene in this episode, someone has to say "Let ME talk to...." Jim tells Candace that an agent from Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is coming to help them deal with the case, which Candace appreciates. Then Candace tells a story about how a preacher who had been good to her as a child was killed in a church explosion in Alabama. Jim says "I'm sorry. I didn't know," and leaves his hand on her arm too long. So it's not just Blair, then. He asks her to help them work the case as a cop, but she doesn't seem interested.
In the bullpen, Blair's working at his desk (or Jim's? I'm not actually clear on whether Blair has his own) when Henri Brown comes in and actually has a line, calling Blair "Hairboy" and offering to help with his too-many-girls problem. "But they might forget about you!" Jim comes in behind him, chuckling, and Blair says, like he's just had one put over on him, "Thanks a lot. Thanks, Jim." Jim roundaboutly tries to advise Blair on his love life:
JIM: There was this guy on the Ed Sullivan Show, he did this act with plates and sticks? He'd try and keep three or four of these plates spinning on these sticks, then add another plate, then add another stick. (Blair takes off his glasses in a "this is going to be a long story" kind of way, blinks interestedly up a Jim, and leans back in his chair with his head in his hand)
Go on, I'm listening.
BLAIR (nodding seriously, with apparent genuine appreciation for the advice): Yeah, I got you.
Okay, back to the plot. Candace calls. "I came back to the office to do some work. The phone rang and the voice at the other end said that if I hung up this thing [a time bomb at 5:32] would go off." I don't understand. She didn't notice the bomb until the phone rang? How is the bomb connected to the phone? Can't she just drop the receiver and run really fast? How did she call the police? And how do Jim, Blair and Taggart make it to the office quickly enough to spend all this time putting on radio headsets and using bomb-sniffing dogs and (on Jim's part) telling Blair to stay put and (on Blair's part) arguing "I can help him [Taggart] out here!" Oh, great. Guiding one guy isn't enough for you? Jim's concerned about Blair's safety as usual: "That place blows, you're going to end up in another zip code."
In Candace's office, Taggart freezes up, and Candace says "He's more scared than I am!" Jim: "This is not about you. Okay? You must cross that bridge." Oh-ho, take THAT, Blair! You wanna talk someone else through using their abilities, well, two can play at that game! The Sentinel has become the Guide! Jim and Candace have a little conversation about her cop history and we're still only at 1:30 on the bomb timer. So all this has only taken four minutes. Jeez. I think it took that long in SHOW time, and we cut directly from the bullpen to the street outside the office! Anyway, Jim finds a detonator and spots the bomber on a rooftop across the street, and realizes he's going to blow it no matter what they do, but he keeps talking about disarming the bomb for the benefit of the phone as he rushes everyone out of the office. When the bomber realizes what's going on he detonates, but they're already outside. Jim runs after the bomber but loses him, mainly because the bomber gets into a van and Jim is on foot.
Next day, Candace comes into the bullpen all take-charge and policey, wanting to be brought up to speed on the case, but Simon won't tell her anything, because it might end up on the evening news. She storms off, saying she'll talk to the ATF agent herself when he comes. Simon: "I thought you said you'd talk to her?" Jim: "I did. I didn't say I'd convince her." He looks back at Blair in the background all, See what I did there? I AM RECAPPING GLANCES. THAT IS HOW LITTLE JIM/BLAIR THERE IS IN THIS EPISODE.
What he didn't realize was that behind him, Blair had assumed the international "how you doin'" pose.
Oh, that's why there was a weird Significant Look at the end of that scene. Because it's supposed to lead into a little conversation between them, cut by Sci-Fi. According to the transcript:
BLAIR: Hey, Jim... you know, there was this guy on the Sullivan Show-- he did this thing with plates and sticks...
JIM: Don't you have some exams to grade or something?
Precious. Vaguely nonsensical, but precious. Okay, Simon, Taggart, and a cutely glasses-wearing Blair are looking at files in Simon's office. It's always nice but a little strange-feeling when they let Blair work without Jim. Oh, here he is, coming in with a file about some AWC member named Axel Soles, who is Larson's half-brother. From the picture we can see he is the bomber.
Soles pulls up outside a house in his Almond-Colored Van of Escaping from Jim. Larson gets in the van and makes him drive at gunpoint. They go to Soles's bomb workshop where Larson yells at Soles for blowing up churches. Soles informs him that he planted money in his account to make him look like a co-conspirator. A third guy, Randy, shows up. I miss Jim and Blair. Somebody shoots somebody, but we can't tell who.
At the PD, the latest info is: the detonator came from a demolition company, and one of the guys from Larson's old bomb unit is Randy Eccles, an ex-marine who owns a demo company. Jim and Blair drive there and just before they get out of the car Blair gives Jim this quick, inexplicable broad grin, like "We are investigating! We are having fun!"
Aren't we, Jim? Aren't we having fun investigating these church bombings?
Simon, Jim and Blair at a new crime scene--Larson's body has been fished out of the water. Jim retrieves the paper from his boot. Taggart says "That thing's waterlogged--you're not going to be able to see anything on that," and Simon significantly pulls him out so the Sentinel can be alone with his Guide. Jim squints at the paper, and Blair says, "Use your fingers." I bet he gets that a lot. He finds the letters and numbers and suggest they may be coordinates, like on a map.
Okay, so we get a meeting with the bad guys where it turns out the fact nobody's died in the church bombings is no coincidence, since Randy was in this to get demo business (free bricks! BRILLIANT PLAN) but Soles wants to turn it into a "skinhead vendetta" and Randy is not cool with it. He draws a gun on Soles but Soles disarms him and shoots him.
Jim explains Randy's scam to Simon, Taggart and Blair. It's a little more complicated than "free bricks," but not really. Then we see Soles trick the newly-arrived ATF agent into meeting with him by posing as an officer on the phone, and then beats him up and takes his creds and meets up with Candace posing as him. When we get back from the break, Soles has got Candace tied up with a bomb in a church.
Simon, Taggart, Jim and Blair at the crime scene of dead Randy. They figure out the next church-target, which is the one where Candace is, and roll.
Church. As usual, Jim tells Blair to stay put and he hangs around outside with Simon while Jim and Taggart creep into the church with manly guns drawn. Jim finds a bunch of Semtex under the altar and hears Candace trying to talk under her duct tape gag in the next room. He leads in Taggart, who describes the bomb over the radio. Blair encourages him ("We can get through this, man.") Jim adds his own competing/tag-team encouragement ("You can do this Joel") then runs off and climbs up some ladders with his cap on backwards while Blair continues to talk Taggart through the bomb disarming. Jim finds Soles (why didn't he just leave?) and he and Simon corner him in the choir balcony. Taggart disarms the bomb. Soles tries to detonate, but fails. Because Soles is so evil he has to die, he steps back, trips on a book, and falls over the rail to the sanctuary below. Pan up from his dead body to a stained-glass window of black Jesus. White supremacy is bad, people. And The Sentinel isn't afraid to take a hard line against it.
Wrap-up. Candace thanks Simon. Taggart shows Blair that his hand is "steady as a rock," and Blair pats him on the arm. Taggart asks if Blair wants to help him with something he has to do on the roof (ohhh yeah) and Blair says no because he has "this thing about heights." No, he doesn't. I have seen him enjoy too many chopper rides to believe that for a second. He admits his bridge-in-Nepal story was "an embellishment on the truth." Well, I believe that, for other reasons. He can't have been in every country.
JIM: You mean a lie, right? A lie.
BLAIR: No, lies, they hurt, man. This... embellishments, they help.
JIM: Kinda like the embellishments in your love life, huh?
BLAIR: No, no. I would call those more like romantic... obfuscations.
(Everybody laughs, enjoying Blair's antics.)
SIMON: I'd call it B.S.
BLAIR: Actually, no. Technically [ed. note: technically?], B.S. is, uh, a form of male bonding. (to the retreating backs of everyone but Jim, who have lost interest) It's a ritual, actually.
JIM: What happened to this thing called truth?
BLAIR: Oh, yeah, that. That's, uh... (shakes head earnestly) totally overrated.
Jim laughs as they get into the car, repeating, "Obfuscation."
Ha ha. "Obfuscation." Priceless.
Bottom Line: I'm glad that episode's over.
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