(S01E07) Wow.
I mean, wow. When this week's episode of Life began I thought it was going to be your standard 'hate crime' type of show full of people expressing stereotypical opinions about those who are different from them. Then, I realized that this was Life and it wasn't going to be like that at all. Especially as one turn lead to a twist, which lead to a video game, which lead to drug money, which lead to a son who only wanted his mother's love.
Wow.
Granted there wasn't much in the way of character development -- although there was one doozy of a development in the 'Conspiracy' (which is what I'm going to call it from now on) -- but it didn't matter, because what was going on was go good. Hell, even Ted's little vignette worked out well this week. That's saying something coming from the president of the 'I Don't Like Ted' club. Add to that a really nice soundtrack (and if anyone knows the songs aired on this week's show please don't hesitate to speak up) and you just had a kick-tushy program.
Let's begin with this week's crime. I do love episodes that feature an all-night criminal investigations. In fact, one of my favorite episodes of Law & Order: SVU was a kidnap case that spanned nearly two days. I enjoy these types of cases because it gives the detectives a raw edge that you may not see during their normal duties. We saw that a bit this week as the investigation crept into early hours of the next day and Charlie really needed one of the techno-wonks at the precinct to look carefully into some spreadsheets found embedded within a video game.
Speaking about that video game...the scene where the sister of the kidnap victim played through all of the levels of Prince of Persia to access the secret spreadsheets was just great. The looks on all of the precinct employees who piled into the room to watch her showed a good bit of emotion. Then, when the spreadsheets started to appear everyone was dumbfounded. Even Reese, who doesn't seem to dumbfound too easily, was shown with her mouth agape when the spreadsheets appeared.
If there was any further character development this episode it was with Reese. Not only did we find out that she spoke Persian, but that she has a bit of a sore spot when it comes to the Bank of Los Angeles robbery (or, is it the Los Angeles Bank? I get confused). This chink in Dani's armor actually encouraged Crews to look up a Reese in connection to the bank heist. Turns out that Reese's father was the head of the S.W.A.T team during that time. This means that Detective Reese is now connected with the 'Conspiracy' where previously she was just up on the wall without any links.
Charlie, while subtle, worked his magic this week. He met a potential soulmate (which will now never pan out) whose son turned out to be one of the people who shot the original two victims at a gas station food mart. From her meeting he was able to glean that all her son wanted was her love and affection. It turns out that her mother's love was meant for the kidnap victim instead. I was a bit confused about this since she had a romantic relationship with the kidnap victim. Did her son want that as well or just the love a mother gives her son? Either way, Crews picked it up and was able to determine the next step that the kidnapper would take.
My final thoughts are on Ted and Olivia. First, let me say that I hope the producers of Life were not coaxed by the network to put Charlie's interest in a solar farm in for their 'Green Week' promotion. That would just stink. Saying that, I thought the scenes between Ted and Olivia were quite sweet. And, even though Olivia now knows that Ted is hot for her there wasn't any resolution as to whether she was going to reciprocate those feelings one day (even though she is going to marry Crews' father). I did find it ironic that Ted ran out of gas and had trouble with his cell phone in a place that was gathering solar energy for consumption for other users.
Next week -- Carl Ames is found dead. Guess who's the prime suspect?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-08-2007 @ 9:14AM
VP said...
No doubt about it, one of the best episodes of the season. I just hope NBC gives this show a chance. I am really confused about the ending though. The owner of the gas station was she involved with that Amir or did just like him as a ambitious kid or whatever. I couldn't tell.
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11-08-2007 @ 9:17AM
Bebop said...
I thought it was pretty cool they were playing Prince of Persia since fanboys used to speculate that if there as a movie made that actress who plays Reese here would make a great Farah, the princess in that game.
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11-08-2007 @ 9:41AM
Adam said...
I've liked the Ted character all season, but tonights episode changed my feelings. First, Crews gave him a second shot at life and how does Ted repay him, by going after his fathers fiancee. Also, seeing Adam Arkin next to Christina Hendricks is a bit like seeing a train wreck. Ted's love interest should be roughly on the same level as he is, not in the stratosphere. But, any show w/ Sarah Shahi and Christina Hendricks can't be canceled, so I'm ultimately ok w/ the producers making that choice. Am I the only one who was dumbfounded during the whole Prince of Persia angle? That didn't really work for me.
But, I love the fact that now Charlie is the tech guru (mobile video device, keyboard sabotage & subsequent computer infiltration, console findiner, solar dreaming), and I really thought that he was gonna get the gas station owner in the end. I guess he was just 20 years older than her taste. This may have been one of the weaker episodes in my eyes, but it still was better than most shows, and compared to the lead-in Bionic, this was a masterwork.
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11-08-2007 @ 9:38AM
Ari said...
first of all Olivia is so hot, Joan from mad men if you're in the know, i love her.
Second, i thought a lot of the writing was really weak at times and awkward when not meant to be. lets be real- a girl is worried sick about her brother who may have a bullet in her head and is playing prince of persia having a great time? just so absurd.
I did love that dani and her dad are getting involved in the conspiracy which i guess was inevitable but great nonetheless.
overall it was ok, but i thought with all the developments that took place this should have been a better episode.
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11-08-2007 @ 10:08AM
Chuck said...
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who didn't get the video game scene. When it was done I looked at my wife and said something to the effect of how boring it was to watch other people play video games. I think they could have easily trimmed that scene down a lot.
That being said, though, I thought the rest oft he ep was great. I've liked Ted from the beginning, so maybe this is tainting that but I'm not sure how much of a betrayal Charlie would consider it, since he doesn't want the marriage to happen anyway, right? And, like said above, if Christina Hendricks is on the screen I'm pretty much not paying attention to anything else anyway, so who cares? :-)
does anyone know if it's possible to download an updated picture of the conspiracy web on Charlie's wall? I'd love to look at the whole thing myself and try to figure it out.
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11-08-2007 @ 10:20AM
tiff said...
Great episode as always, now I'm worried we won't see a resolution to the conspiracy due to the strike!
I love the way Crews seems to emote feelings with just a look in his eyes. This guy is amazing.
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11-08-2007 @ 10:49AM
Kevinc said...
I'll have to disagree with you on the music, it was jarring and annoying throughout. God I am so sick of characters breaking out in song on tv.
The video game scene went too long, but at least they used a real game, not like other shows who make one up. Seems to me the computer chick should have been able to get those spreadsheets without playing the game...(damn product placement!)
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11-08-2007 @ 12:28PM
Rob Nolen said...
The song at the beginning was LCD Soundsystem's Daft Punk is Playing at my House. I was really stoked on that, and it added to the experience.
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11-08-2007 @ 2:36PM
Doron Greene said...
I thought the video game scene went on for too long, and did it have to be prince of persia? just because the kids are persian? also I happen to own prince of persia for the gamecube and i dont remember giant "advance to level x" messages popping up.
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11-08-2007 @ 11:11AM
Ari said...
BTW another character from a beloved HBO show. Not just calamity Jane, rip, but also the computer guy is the lawyer who represents the Barksdale's in the Wire, i think Levy or something. (anyone who wants to see good tv needs to see the scene with Omar Little being cross examined by Levy in the Bird trial),
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11-08-2007 @ 11:18AM
tiff said...
I liked the first song in the gas station, but I agree it took me out of the scene because it's a dance song and kind of happy..
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
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11-08-2007 @ 8:31PM
rtms said...
That computer game scene was totally unnecessary, any decent computer techie, would have just ripped the hard drive out and hacked the files on the HD and found the files. Talk about blatant product placement. And what was with the sister? The whole time she looked as if she had a secret to tell, I kept expecting some big revelation from her. Bad acting from her all around.
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11-08-2007 @ 12:04PM
Bas said...
Adam #4 - I agree with Chuck #5: Crews' feeling about Ted & his father's fiance -- I thought his father stopped all contact with him when he went to prison. Maybe Crews secretly wants Ted to steal her away from his dad.
This episode was not the perfect plot, in my opinion, but I love this show. I really want to see some of Dani's family life.
Favorite line from tonight was the computer tech saying about his game skills: "I'm 30, I live with my mother, and I have a Captain Kirk costume in my closet."
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11-08-2007 @ 12:58PM
Ken said...
Can someone please tell me who played Mary Ann Farmer? The actress looks so familiar, but I can't remember her name, or where I've seen her before. It's driving me nuts.
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11-08-2007 @ 1:02PM
C C said...
It's official. With last night's stellar episode, Life has arrived as a force to be reckoned with on the tv landscape, and NBC would be foolish to abandon it despite the weak ratings.
Loved seeing Sarah Clarke again. She looks good as a blonde.
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11-08-2007 @ 1:10PM
Tim said...
I bailed on this show early in the season and am thinking I may have made a mistake....is this show worth going back to?
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11-08-2007 @ 1:11PM
C C said...
Ken-soory, didn't see your post. The actress is Sarah Clarke, best known for playing Nina Myers on 24.
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11-08-2007 @ 4:17PM
Ken said...
CC- Thanks. I knew it was someone really obvious to me. Maybe the blond hair is what threw me off.
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11-08-2007 @ 6:51PM
Derek said...
I'm not much of a computer geek, but I was pretty irritated when Crews poured the liquid on the keyboard and it caused the computer to malfunction. Come on, this is 2007. Also, I don't know how anyone could take the video game scene seriously. I was partly flabergasted by the sheer silliness, and partly humored. It was really over the top. That said I'll continue to watch the show for the stand out performances, but hopefully as the show goes on the writing will improve.
On the music side of things I did't recognize anything this week, but I did enjoy hearing Morphine an episode or two ago
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11-08-2007 @ 2:19PM
Brent McKee said...
"I thought it was pretty cool they were playing Prince of Persia since fanboys used to speculate that if there as a movie made that actress who plays Reese here would make a great Farah, the princess in that game."
Sarah Shahi, the actress who plays Dani Reese is a Persian Princess (well sort of). Her great-great-grandfather on her father's side was Fat'h Ali Shah Qajar, the second Shah (King) or Persia of the Qajar Dynasty. Now admittedly Fat'h Ali had over 150 wives, meaning that he presumably produced a lot of descendants but still ...
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