TVSquad

with Heroes being such a disapointment this season, I'm glad Life was around to keep me entertained.

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Life has kept me entertained all season -- right up until the last line of dialogue in this episode. I think the new story arc of Jack, Rachel, and Charlie is kind of far-fetched and silly. I was really surprised by how weak its premise was compared to the strength of the first story arc.

I was very wrong about Jack (I figured he's be a good guy).

I hope that's the last sub-plot involving huge, scary snakes. The climax, where the snake is approaching Bobby, gave me the willies.

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How about the scene directly after the crash where he's just standing over the bodies with a gun in his hand. That was quite a visual

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First off, I was sad to see the Grand National go....until Charlie's beater was t-boned. Then I was relieved that the producers did not decide to destroy such a legendary car. After a Continental GT and a Grand National, I'm curious as to what car Charlie will drive next (I don't count the beater and the standard issue Taurus.)

There really isn't much left to say about the show since I've used about every superlative before except to say that the producers are smart. They answered a few very big questions of who and why, but they have still left many unresolved. I would also concur that it gave enough closure to serve as a decent finale, but it definitely made you want to come back for more.

My only gripe would be the CGI snake (which looked terrible), but it served the purpose of getting the current and former partners together and provided exposition on why his former turned on him.

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Wow, what an episode (I keep saying that every week). This show is just awesome!!! Charlie as the sort of bad guy on the revenge this week was awesome. As talked above the scene involving charlie standing over the dead bodies was very well done. I would love a poster of that. I knew it when we first saw the girl that she was Rachel. I didn't understand though how she couldn't recognize uncle charlie?? Are all shows going on a break now, or is it just life? I really can't wait to whenever this show starts up again.

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Great episode, the darker Charlie has to come out and play more often, what a change in character.

My only gripe would be the crash/shooting. There is no way that street would remain empty that long. No one walking, no other cars, no one looking out windows, come on. Nice shot, but not realistic.

What's the life expectancy on Hollis? I really expected a different, darker reaction to the Jack call about Rachel. Jack told Charlie he had her, I expected Charlie to get that dark grim face and tell Jack he had his daughter(Dani)! That would have been a great ending!

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I found the new Crews to be totally in line with his character so far. Dropping the whole Zen approach to life and going after Hollis with revenge in his heart was his whole motivation from the beginning. His evidence wall is proof of that. 12 years in prison would be enough to galvanize any man to only one intent. He explained to Hollis what happened to him in prison. "The next six months. You don't want to know what happened then."

My problem with the story is how they plan to convict Hollis. Constance listened to Hollis spew the facts of the case, but I don't think that they will be able to use that in court. At least not a real court. And not without any corroborating evidence.

Maybe they plan to use Hollis to get to the conspiracy. But even then Hollis should be astute enough to know that they could not convict him.

I loved Titus Welliver's character in Deadwood. And I am certain that he will do justice to the character of Hollis. And I would love to see more of him on Life.

So now that's Titus Welliver and Robin Weigert from Deadwood. Anybody wanna take bets as to when they get Leon Rippy on the show? hehehe

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It would be fine with me if this was the series fimale. Not that I want to see it go; I've enjoyed nearly every minute this show has been on the air. But how long could they possibly keep up this stellar writing, and acting and directing while we're at it? My concern is that considering that Crews' investigation of his framing was such a major component of the show, how much longer can they stretch that out his search for The Truth until it begins to seem contrived?

Charlie's elimination of the two non-cop hitmen and the shot of him standing over their bodies sent chills up my spine. If for no other reason that this is the first time, 10 episodes in, that we've seen him use violence (other than the brief scuffle with that Samoan suspect, and that was fairly mild). Charlie was definitely on fire this episode. Throwing the tape out, running from the cops, changing vehicles during his evasion, that weird, focused little smile... creepy. Add that to the tension that kept building between Reese and Stark and there was no telling what was going to happen This episode.


Lastly, I have one comment and one question....
The comment: yeah, that snake was horrible! lol
The question: what is the importance of Jack taking Rachel Seybolt? The murderer is caught and has more or less confessed.

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I'm guessing the Rachel Seybolt girl is a case of Stockholm syndrome.

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re: the absense of eyewitnesses to the T-bone, some people could clearly be seen in the background when Charlie was still upside down... but it's remarkable how nobody went to his aid, and if they had noticed the 2 guys packing some heat, shouldn't they have been seen to be running away instead?

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I loved last night's show so much and whined when I heard no more new episodes until sometime in the new year. Boo.

I believe the Rachel storyline will just be a gateway to bigger things, not the next major arc. I'm beginning to believe that Jack is not the big fish in all of this. Charlie may have his eyes squarely on Jack but he may not see the forest for the trees.

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Another great episode. Reminds me of a BBC story arc where they put out 8-12 episodes and worry about coming up with new ideas only if they are worth being renewed. Don't have to worry about a lack of an ending either through renewal (Lost, etc.) or potential cancellation (Jericho, etc.).

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In terms of the future arc, there're still lots of avenues to explore: Charlie did spend 12 years in prison and there will be lots of grist for the mill just from that, even after the issue of the Conspiracy is finally resolved.

BTW, I think that Lt Davis is up the creek: she used to be Jack Reese's partner and had to dress him down (carefully) about the fact that Crews was no longer a suspect in the Ames' murder. She was aware that she needed to tread carefully when she mentioned to Jack that there were two men seen coming from the scene of Ames' murder and commented that she would "go after" whoever was connected to those two men. We now know those were Jack's men. Uh-oh!!

I agree that the whole thing with Rachel seems pretty odd: she was nine years old when her parents and brother were killed and you would think that, Stockholm Syndrome or no, she would recognize "Uncle Charlie." She kind of seems to want to know him when she asks, "I don't know you, do I?" But the fact is that she doesn't recognize him--Charlie not recognizing her is more understandable, objectively speaking, given how much children change as they mature. Also, his failure to recognize her serves a useful thematic purpose while it advances the plot: as the story goes on we learn that part of what Charlie has to work through is that he didn't always see things as they were twelve years ago. For example, he didn't know that his best friend was laundering money for Jack Reese; like everyone else, he didn't even really know that there was money to be laundered.

What really caught my interest in terms of future developments in the show is that, when Charlie calls the hospital looking for Rachel, he asks after a patient named "Hollis," but we know from Crews' conversation with Mark Rawls that Hollis has been living as "Reverend Orson Parker" for at least five years. Given that it's just a few seconds of the show, I thought perhaps this was just an error, but now I'm not so sure.

At this point in the time-line, Rachel's twenty-one, after all, so she would have been sixteen when Hollis became Parker. Presumably he had other aliases before then. Has Rachel been a Hollis all this time? How much does Rachel know about her "father" and his run from the law? She knows Charlie is a cop, but she doesn't ask him if he's come to take her father to jail; she asks him, "Do you want to kill my dad, too?" and then, trying to keep him from leaving, accuses him of having shot her.

It's possible she's got a bizarre and slightly scary need to be with her dad at all times but, given that we meet her after she's been gut-shot, I think that her protest at the tape being turned off and her request that Charlie turn it back on are understandable; it doesn't matter how old people get: there are still going to be times when most people just want their moms or dads.

In terms of the tape itself, though, I think it's very likely that she knew that he would one day have to go away. When Charlie turns the television back on for her, she says "I made this tape. I made it so that I could still watch him when he went away." She knew he would eventually have to go away.

She's not a child. She knows something, even though she may not know the specifics. She was there the day her family died, but Charlie's question on the wall was, "Did she see?" We know she saw the killer from her drawings, but those drawings emphasize the hair and mustache: the eyes are wrong. Without the eyes, I don't know that I would be able to connect Kyle Hollis' mugshot with "Reverend Orson Parker." So, she may remember the killer, but I don't know that she remembers Kyle Hollis as the killer.

The point is there're still lots of questions.

Did anyone else notice the "Hollis" patient reference? The nurse recognized the name, so that's how Rachel was checked in--because she's an adult, Rachel's information would be entered in records either from what she said or from her ID (or both). This is important, I believe. I also agree with Justin that Jack's not going to be the big fish: if he's all alone in this, having Rachel is not nearly enough.

What do you think?

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How creepy is Perky Charlie? My mom said, "has he gone insane?"

heh heh.

It's going to be a long few months until it comes back on the air, and even if it ends horribly? I'm still breaking out my wallet for the dvd.

Does anyone know if that music was by X?

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