TVSquad

(S01E07) This had to be the first point in the season where the writers for this show just said, "What the hell? Let's go nuts." So they did. People got whacked. Children went missing and there was a guy who thought he was a werewolf.

Martinez (to the wolf guy): "So, uh, what do you like to be called? Mr. Wolf?"

The wolf guy would be Lou (hence the title). He's a bum who seems to think he's a werewolf and he uses it as an excuse to get locked up for the night (hey, it's a bed). What had me excited about it was who played the wolf guy: Dan Hedaya! He's one of my favorite character actors. Check out his IMDb page because he's been in a ton of stuff. This had to have been a crowning achievement for him though because he was actually credited as "Lou the Werewolf."

All these crazy casting moves got me wondering though, especially after someone else I recognized showed up: Zach Grenier. Most will recognize him as the Reverend Andy Cramed from Deadwood, another David Milch show. Well surprise, he uses the same casting director. So I suppose it only makes sense that you might see some of the same actors in each of the shows. Also interesting? Grenier guested in a second episode of Blue during the seventh season and he played a detective named Lou Simpkins. Perhaps some kind of nod this episode's name? Wow, I am a huge nerd, aren't I?

Alright, moving on. I found it interesting that the first episode of the season to deal with a child's death was also the first one to introduce Sipowicz's teenage son, Andy Jr. Until this point, I didn't realize that Sipowicz had any family at all. But I love that he immediately tried to get involved with his son's life after years of them not speaking. It's almost as if he felt some kind of guilt regarding that boy who was found strangled.

I'm officially sick of the Laura/Giardella storyline. Thank God he got whacked though because it's a pointless storyline. For as good as this show is, it's frustrating that part of each episode has been devoted to this whole mess. Maybe it'll somehow tie into the Licalsi/Moreno thing, which would redeem it somewhat.

Back to the whole random guest star thing, since that's been my kick with every post I've written so far, I wonder if there's some kind of came you could make out of it. Something similar to "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?" Isn't there some way we could connect celebrities through guest-starring roles on NYPD Blue? Someone want to get on this?