Homicide Episode Guide: Bad Medicine

Written by David Simon; story by Tom Fontana and Julie Martin

Directed by Kenneth Fink

        Homicide is a very dark show. You can’t deal with death day in and day out and be happy about it. Murder is not fun. But few episodes of the series are as dark and depressing as ‘Bad Medicine’. Almost every character suffers some disappointment and most of our going through pain that will follow them for much of the season. We are witness to the true mortality of the narcotics business. Three killings that will never be solved go on the board.  And the musical pieces for the show just make the show seem truly disheartening. Yet, despite all this, the show as grimly fascinating and brilliant as ever.

        For starters Pembleton is trying to pass the firing exam even though he has been off his medicine and even though it is clear that he is still  just not ready to be back on the street. This becomes clear when Frank announces to Gee that his aim was true but he failed on the reloads because of his problem with the word ‘magazine’. Despite that, he all but begs his lieutenant to get him back on the job. But Giardello, loyal to Frank as he is, will not bend the rules this time.

        But then again Giardello has a much bigger problem to deal with. Kellerman is put under investigation by the FBI when he is accused by Matthew Roland (the high-level slumlord we briefly met in ‘Fire’ way back in season 4) of taking bribes while he was in Arson. Mike insists that he is innocent, but Homicide provides no independent verification of it. We are just asked to take his word for it. Kellerman, like Pembleton, is put on administrative duty which is bad enough but a scarlet letter is put on his chest. The whispering and gossiping about Mike has already begun, and it doesn’t help matters that his union lawyer advises him NOT to talk to anybody about it. The process that will eventually lead to the destruction of Mike Kellerman begins with this story and will forever change the detective from the smiling, cheerful man we met a year ago.

        All this and we haven’t even gone out on the street yet. As we see in the teaser, people are overdosing on heroin left and right. But because there obviously not murders, the detectives don’t give a shit--- until someone gets murdered. In this case, a minor drug-lord named Bo Jack Reed, who has been responsible for the overdoses by lacing his packages of heroin with Scopolamine. This is bad business, but what makes it worse is that he was doing this on purpose to try and drive a competitor out of the market. Bad idea, especially when the business rival is Luther Mahoney.

        The Mahoney saga begins in earnest with these murders. Adding to the mix is a new character, Narcotics detective Terri Stivers. Stivers will be the pipeline to the Mahoney organization for much of the next two years. It is clear that she has already got a history with Luther--- he has even given her his pager number. Working in concert with Meldrick Lewis, her interest right now is in getting the bad drugs off the street. Reed’s murder complicates things, and they get even more complicated when her informant, an addict named Vernon Troy, has his name on the arrest warrant for Mahoney.

 Unfortunately, they then send him back on the street to get a fix. Which is an example of bad planning when Luther ends up beating the wrap. Troy then disappears—only to turn up a day later with a bullet in his head. Troy is the first bystander in the drug war to get killed. He won’t be the last.

        All of these stories are dark and serious. Yet they are not the reason this episode stays in the memory for me.  The musical set pieces for Homicide are usually brilliant. In this episode, however, the singer is the gravelly voiced Tom Waits. If ever a man was meant to sing for this show, Waits is that man.  His rendition of ‘Cold, Cold Ground’, accompanied by the wailing of a lone harmonica, over the montage of Stivers and Lewis drowning their sorrows at the Waterfront, Munch and Howard discovering Vernon Troy’s body and Pembleton’s return home is one of the most brilliant combinations of music and scene that I have ever seen on television. Never has Homicide made it more clear that a policeman’s lot is not a happy one than in the last minutes of this episode.

        Some truly fine acting occurs in ‘Bad Medicine’. There is the usual high caliber work of Braugher, of course, as well as fine stuff by Diamond. Erik Todd Dellums makes his first impact as Luther. The smarminess and oiliness of his character really becomes clear, not the mention is underlying amusement with the charges that he is being faced with. In his scene with Stivers and Lewis, he does a combo flirtation/discussion which must be seen to be believed. Equally impressive is jittery/anxiety-prone Akili Prince’s work as the doomed Vernon Troy. Of all the drug-taking characters on Homicide

this is perhaps the most memorable one.

        For all the darkness in the show, there are some light moments. Most of them are tied to Brodie. The videographer opts to move out of Munch’s apartment (something in Munch’s medicine cabinet scared him off) and he moves in with Bayliss. We get a rare look at him off the-job as we see him in a large purple bathrobe watching Mighty Mouse. It’s pretty obvious this isn’t going to work out for long

But ‘Bad Medicine’ is otherwise a very dark episode. Not just because of the OD’s, the three killings, or the music. The two snakes that will end up swallowing Mike Kellerman’s career appear in the episode and when they are finished, the entire squad will be shaken forever. For that reason, you can’t help but look at this episode with a sense of dread.
My score: 4.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: My Struggle II

Teleplay by Chris Carter; Story by Dr. Anne Simon & Dr. Margaret Pearson

and Chris Carter

Even when the X-Files was running on all cylinders, the season-ending episodes always left a lot to be desired. Part of this was a problem with the mythology in general which, as has been relayed time and time again, promised to bring big, world-shifting changes, but remained stuck in the same familiar patterns season after season. When we finally got the possibility that the conspiracy would be unveiled and an alien invasion would come back in Season 6, it turned out to be more exposition than actual action. When we were finally told the fate of Mulder's sister, it had been protracted for so long it came as anticlimax. So naturally, when we get to the end of the X-Files revival, one that seems to promise something all-encompassing, its easy to assume that it would just be more of the same. And My Struggle II certainly starts out that way - we get a two-minute segment of ponderous voiceover, this time from Scully instead of Mulder, looking at her end of the mythology. And look, there's the credit swap at the end of the tease  'This Is The End' instead of 'The Truth is Out There'.

But very quickly, it becomes clear that this isn't business as usual. Part of it has to do with the fact that Mulder and Scully are kept apart until the end of the episode, but most of it is because, for the first time in the entire history of the series, we are getting what we are promised. Perhaps we should be a little annoyed that Tad O'Malley is back without a word of explanation as to how or where he's been,  but unlike the premiere where he just seemed like a gimmick, this time he serves a purpose. The apocalypse has been something the series has only hinted at, even when the Syndicate was meeting. Now, we actually get the sensation that something truly epic in scope is happening, and as the episode progresses, O'Malley's pronouncements stop seeming like the rants of a typical pundit, and really seem like the world is ending. Joel McHale gives a corrosive performance as he realizes that his announcements really are the stuff of Armageddon, he actually becomes quieter and quieter.

Admittedly, a lot of the science that goes on within the story seems a little more like doublespeak than usual, but this probably is more Carter's responsibility than anyone else. By now, the average X-phile has heard so much science connected with the series that when he actually gets real scientist to provide the backdrop for it, we can't help but tune it out anyway.. What makes My Struggle II work, and work far more effectively than any mythology than any the series did in very long time, is that it takes the story of the end of the world, and humanizes it more than it has. This may not be entirely of Carter's doing, though.  When Millennium, Carter's next project eventually fell under the auspices of Glen Morgan & James Wong, they ended its second season - very likely thinking the series was going to be canceled - by bringing about an apocalypse very much like the one that is unfolding here. They took a mythology they had been building up, and basically tore it all down to bring about something far more banal and deadly. It was frightening and unnerving, and featured images and performances that have rarely been seen before - or since - on TV.

One gets a certain feeling that this is what is happening here, and makes all of the usual X-Files shifts even more realistic than usual. There's the fact that we have the betrayal of a certain X-philes character - this time we learn that Agent Reyes has been working for the CSM for the last several years - but because for the first time in the series history, we see that character make the choice to do it, it has a power that the betrayals of Krycek or Fowley ever did. The sequences with Annabeth Gish have a resonance because she's a character we came to trust over her brief tenure on the X-Files. The Cigarette-Smoking Man returns in all his bloody glory - but this time, we actually see him recovering from death, and he manages to look simultaneously a great villain and incredibly pathetic. The confrontations of Mulder and the Smoking Man are so much of the series that they ended up losing their power by Season 5, but now for the first time, Cancer Man does have all the power, and the fact Mulder spends their entire meeting bloody from a previous fight, and then near collapse from the virus that is spreading throughout the world gives William B. Davis to gloat with a genuine sense of victory. Its aided by the fact that Mulder doesn't walk away, exactly, from this

And for the first time on this series, we get a very real scope of everything to  break down, something that not even Millennium managed to accomplish. Set in a hospital, where more and more patients begin to appear, where the doctors and eventually Agent Einstein fall ill. The messages from Tad O'Malley become more and more fractured, which is somehow even more terrifying - the Internet beginning to collapse may be something that is truly appalling. And the final moments, when Agent Scully tries to get the vaccine she's designed to Mulder and Agent Miller, while all around her, D.C. collapses, looks more frightening than something even The Walking Dead tried. Even if you wonder, why the hell they didn't bother to do any of this when the series was on the air, or for either film, you can't complain that much, because the images are hard to ignore. The final moment, when an alien spaceship finally hovers over Scully is something unparalleled for this series.

So what's the problem with the episode? Basically, the fact that we now know that another Season has been renewed. When Millennium was renewed for a third season, with a different showrunner, the writers handled the apocalypse of the second season, by basically trying to pretend it didn't happen. (Morgan & Wong later claimed that they had a plan for a third season that involved going forward from that scenario, but I found it very difficult to trust any writer who comes from that kind of background). It basically undid the series going forward, and the show basically collapsed. One can't help but think given the X-Files history that its very likely that Carter and colleagues will try to walk back a lot of what they did, no matter how powerful the images were. And even if they do go forward from this point on - how can they move forward? The greatest strength of The X-Files would, more often then not, tend to be from its standalone episodes rather than its mythology. How do you go back to chasing Flukemen and liver-eating mutants when the world's under threat of global collapse? I know that lots of series since the X-Files went off the air manage to adjust to series changing revelations very easily, but this series has always managed to remain in stasis, even when it was at its peak. Its hard to imagine it changing even now.

The X-Files has managed, even its relatively brief tenth season, that there still are new stories and approaches to be taken. That seems to justify its being brought out off hibernation. Whether or not that will play will in a future season - that may be something not even Mulder and Scully can say for sure.

To be continued in 2018...

My score: 4.5 stars.

The Deuce Review

David Simon has been the Golden Age of TV's social conscience, and he was at his best when the city of Baltimore acted as his muse: in Homicide, he demonstrated the messiness of the police infrastructure, and in his crown jewel The Wire, he used a police investigation to demonstrate the failures of the War on Drugs, the end of the working class, and the end of the American Dream. When he tried to do to New Orleans in Treme what he did for Baltimore, he mostly failed: much of what the series was about seemed to be a reassembling of Simon's former actors and writers with no underlying message.

Simon has since regrouped by looking backwards: in Show Me A Hero, he took the real life story of 1970s public housing battles in Yonkers, and told a stunning story about race relations. Now, in his most recent work, The Deuce, one could make the argument that this something of a reassembly project as well - he's working again with frequent collaborators Richard Price and George Pelecanos, and has chosen 1971 New York as his canvas. But there is something far more inventive and imaginative here - and not just, for the first time in his HBO career, he has name actors involved in the project.

Ostensibly, the lead of The Deuce is James Franco, who is cast in a dual role as Frank and Vincent, twin brothers trying to find a living in the darkened district of NYC. Frank is the more working class brother, trying to survive as a bartender; Vincent is a gambler who has managed to work up debts throughout the five boroughs. Frank is now trying to pay off Vincent's debts, and somehow find a life for himself, which has led to him getting involved with the mob in operating a bar of his own in Times Square.

Franco is very good, reminding us that before he went off the deep end in too many independent projects, he was actually a decent actor. But he is no more the lead in The Deuce than Jimmy McNulty was in The Wire.  The main story being told is a level that Simon and his group mostly stayed away from: prostitution. The series is about the interlocking relationships between whores and their pimps. There is the possibility of heading into the same kind of clichés that Robert Townsend once satirized in Hollywood Shuffle - many of the pimps are African American.  But Simon is much too subtle a hand to draw so darkly. One of the more encouraging stories in between a pimp and a woman from Minnesota named Arlene. There's clearly a game of seduction here, but Arlene is no wide eyed innocent. Indeed, much of the work between involves some of the best stories about the relationship of pimps and prostitutes since the other golden age drama, Deadwood. (They even gather together at dawn in the same restaurant, relaxing from the nights work)

There are a lot of good actors in this series, some of whom are playing from earlier tropes. Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. , the doomed D'Angelo in The Wire, now plays a policeman who can't understand why New York is changing so many of its approaches to crimes. Chris Bauer plays a cousin of Frank and Vincent in construction, and one could definitely see an earlier version of Frank Sobotka here. And Michael Rispoli,  the first choice to play Tony Soprano, plays a mobster in a real attempt to go legit, though choosing a Lindsay for President campaign probably isn't his best move. But by far, the biggest treat for this series is Maggie Gyllenhaal as Candy, a prostitute determined to make a career without a man.

Gyllenhaal has always been one of the most brilliant actresses in the independent film circle, but its only since she turned to TV that she has found her medium. Candy is a woman who has turned her son over to her mother, and is determined not to be stuck in the world forever. She then moves slowly into the industry of adult entertainment, and is now moving into the ultimate subject of the series - the birth of the pornographic film trade. Gyllenhaal is unlike almost every prostitute portrayed in any media, and this may be the role of a lifetime for her.

The Deuce isn't a perfect show, yet. There are still too many characters that haven't paid off yet - there's a college dropout whose role in the series is still unclear, as well as journalist trying to get stories on prostitutes that's dangling. But for the first time in awhile, I feel that Simon and staff are involved in a project that is both socially relevant and brilliantly entertaining. (They'll also have more time to unfold their narrative: The Deuce was recently renewed for its second season.) The fact that I, as a New Yorker, know the ultimate fate of everybody involved in this trade doesn't change anything. Capitalism triumphing overall is a common message of Simon's. That doesn't mean it won't be fun to get there. Maybe Simon will finally have a project that the Emmys can't ignore for once.

My score: 4.5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Prison Riot

Written by Tom Fontana; Story by Tom Fontana and Henry Bromell\

Directed by Kenneth Fink

As I have mentioned in other writings I am reluctant to ever refer to anything as ‘the best episode’ or ‘the worst episode’. Other publications are less reluctant.  So in July of 1997 when TV Guide published a list of ‘the 100 best episodes of television ever’ I was very skeptical of some of the choice they made. I had doubts about their choices for shows like The X-Files  or Law & Order. But the episode that really caused my eyebrows to raise was their selection of ‘Prison Riot’ as the choice for Homicide.

    Now I’m not saying this isn’t a very good episode but the best ever? I’m not even sure if it was the best episode of season 5.  One would think episodes like’ Three Men and Adena’ or ‘Every Mother’s Son’ would have a much greater claim to the title. (In fact if the editors had waited six months I’m almost positive they would have picked ‘The Subway’ instead, which really does have a legitimate claim to being one of the all time greats) For a show that produced many, many remarkable moments it is odd that the editors would have focused on this one.

That’s not to say that ‘Prison Riot’ isn’t a great episode because it does show some brilliant ideas and some very startling character portrayals. For one thing it has a daring idea--- to revisit the fates and lives of several criminals that the detectives have put into jail over the past year. As we see in the opening sequence, James Douglas (one of the murderers in ‘Autofocus) kills wife-killer Claude Vetter (from ‘Requiem for Adena) because he banged into him at the cafeteria. This sets up a fight which leads to a riot, and when its over James lies dead too.

When the squad (sans Pembleton) goes to investigate the riot, nobody (especially Munch) is particularly eager to solve this killing. Gee tells the detectives to fill in the paperwork and then come back home. He, like everyone else, doesn’t give a damn who killed James Douglas.  However Bayliss (the primary on the case) wants to solve it. Part of this is because during the investigation, he becomes convinced that Elijah Sanborn, a lifer for the murder of the drug-dealer who killed his wife, saw the murder and wants to tell him. He learns that Sanborn’s son, Kingston (barely a baby when his father went to prison) is under arrest for robbery. So, in one of his more ruthless acts, he manipulates both the state attorney and the mans family to get Sanborn to tell what he’s seen in exchange for reduced time for Kingston.

But when Sanborn sees his son and daughter (neither of who has visited him in prison) and realizes that neither of them even care about him anymore, he confesses to the murder even though Bayliss is convinced he is lying.

Bayliss is convinced that Sanborn is looking for redemption but ultimately (in true Homicide fashion) Sanborn never gives up the murderer. The killer is revealed when Trevor Douglas (James’s cousin) is beaten into a coma by fellow inmate Tom Marans (the murderer of Erica Chilton way back in ‘Hate Crimes). Marans explains that Trevor killed his cousin over a pack of cigarettes and he tried to kill Trevor because he was James’s ‘wife’. The killing is down, and even though Marans will doubtless become a target by Trevor’s friends, the days work is done.

The show is one of Fontana’s best scripts, partly because it deals with several old plotlines from seasons past but also because it deals with prison life, a subject the show has never really explored. We get an idea of the claustrophobia, the brutality and how people’s lives are contorted and bent on ‘the inside. The subject would fascinate Fontana so much that a year later he would develop Oz , a  series for HBO centered entirely around life in a maximum security prison. Many of the ideas in ‘Prison Riot’ would appear in the show--- the oppressiveness of the prison, the separation of felons into cliques based on race and creed, the homosexuality that occurs when straight men are locked in a building with straight men for the rest of their lives, the long circle of endless death to avenge one crime after the other.  The most startling  character in the episode is Tom Marans, played by Dean Winters (who would go on to star in Oz) Marans was as an average person, a normal guy on the outside but since he went to jail a year ago, he has changed immeasurably. His hair is dyed, his body tattooed, he has begun smoking and twisted sex, and has become a stone cold killer. When Fontana created Oz, one of the major characters was Tobias Beecher, a middle-class man receiving a harsh punishment for   involuntary manslaughter in a DUI. One can see many of Beecher’s characteristics in Marans.

But as fascinating as this is, the most brilliant character is Sanborn, played by Charles Dutton, one of the great actors of our time. Known for his work in August Wilson’s plays, and  in movies such as Menace II Society and Mississippi Masala, Dutton would do some brilliant work on television, winning four Emmys for work both in front and behind the camera. (He directed the HBO miniseries, The Corner, based on another book by David Simon). Dutton lends enormous range with his anger and energy behind Sanborn. Elijah has been beaten and damaged by the system but remains a strong man and despite his absence from his family, a loving father. If it seems that Dutton is channeling something personal in this role, it’s because he is--- Dutton spent seven and a half years in a Baltimore prison for stabbing a man in a street fight. This is brilliant work and the fact that Dutton didn’t even get nominated  for an Emmy is just another reason why the judges were so narrow-minded against the show.

it takes a great actor to match scenes with Dutton, but in case we’ve missed it before, Kyle Secor is one such actor. No one else would care about a case like this or a man such as Sanborn but Tim Bayliss does. We also get a very good insight into Bayliss personally as he talks about his troubled relationship with his late father. It is clear that they had a lot of issues (though we are still a few episodes away from learning the biggest one) but we also know that he still cares for him despite everything.

Though Bayliss is at the center of this episode, we also get some good work from Reed Diamond as Kellerman. He seems more open, friendly and congenial to his fellow detectives--- which is moving because of what is about to hit him.  There is also a fascinating scene between Brodie and Pembleton about Frank’s halting in taking his meds, in which he (like the rest of us) realize we’ve underestimated the young man. And, though it’s very serious, we do have a few laughs, particularly when Kellerman, trying to substitute for Frank’s wisdom, offers to give Tim a hug.

‘Prison Riot’ is one of the most brilliantly shot episodes of the season and features three superb musical set pieces, which come together at the episodes end where Bayliss looks over the bay at sunset as ‘Down to Zero’ by Joan Armatrading plays in the background. It’s still one of the best moments in the show’s history. So even though ‘Prison Riot’ isn’t one of the greatest episodes ever or even the best episode of Homicide,  it’s still one of the most emotionally and dramatically wrenching episodes of the series and one that will not quickly fade from the memory.

My score: 5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Babylon

Written & Directed by Chris Carter

This is by far the most confused episode of the revival - mainly because it deals with a bunch of tropes that, even when the X-Files was in its primes, the show could never deal with particularly well. There's the fundamental fact that the series is finally dealing with the terrorist threat that the FBI has been fixated ever since Mulder and Scully left the Bureau, but the series never dealt particularly well merging the real world with paranormal themes. It's perhaps not that surprising that Carter does the best with some satiric posts - the two pundits trying to determine by shouting at the tops of their lungs what the terrorists were killing for, and the messed up nurse whose probably been listening way too long to too much of those same pundits.

Then there are the religious themes, which the X-Files seemed to delight in screwing up. Biblical prophecy is mixed with the idea of Islam fundamentalism, and there's a ton of religious imagery, with once again, Mulder refusing to admit that there's any real credence to it. The fact that he's at least willing to be a little more open after nearly twenty years of arguing against is a good sign, but its so drowned in philosophy that it barely emerges coherently.

And of course, there's the hallucination/trip that Mulder seems to take on 'magic mushrooms' that is even more hysterical than usual. There are some interesting elements to it, and its nice to see the Lone Gunmen do their cameo, but like all the dream sequences that Ten-Thirteen has brought us, you wonder what the point was.

All of this is surrounded by way to much Carter-speak to deal with. Usually, Carter had the good sense to safe this kind of dialogue for the alien conspiracy episodes; it may have reached the point where the average fan cringed when they came along, but at least you knew it was coming. Now, with only one episode left in this revival, I don't know, maybe Carter thought that it was time to throw in the kitchen sink, though again, I can't imagine that there were fans who missed it that much. I know I didn't.

All of this should make Babylon a complete misfire. And yet, somehow, it manages to pull itself beyond all this and entertain a fair amount of the time.  And what really saves the episode, of course, is the work of Robbie Amell as Agent Miller and Lauren Ambrose as Agent Einstein. It's made clear, right from the moment Scully welcomes the two into their office, that these two are obviously younger versions of the agents we've come to know and love. And given their rapid back and forth, their completely contrasting feelings towards the X-Files, and the way that they approach Scully and Mulder respectively, its very clear what Carter is doing. What makes it work is the fact that entire series run, neither Carter nor any of the other writers ever attempted to do this for the series - give Mulder and Scully an attempt to approach other agents considerably younger them as mentor/ subjects. (One almost wonders if Carter is writing this in self-reproach for how he handled Doggett and Reyes in the last two seasons. Speaking of which, where are Doggett and Reyes?)

It's also fairly daring of a  revival which has, even at its best, stuck far closer to convention, to try and split Mulder and Scully up for the majority of the episode. Scully's approach is more scientific, as to be expected, but there's a genuine humanity to it that she sees in her mother's death in the last episode, in the way that she approaches trying to talk to a terrorist who strapped on a suicide vest. There's a certain level of patience, too, that she demonstrates that we just haven't seen in Scully awhile, and it really works. Mulder's approach is far more off-center, and much of the comedy in the episode comes from the fact that Einstein will have nothing to do with any of it. What makes it even more remarkable is that when she gives in to Mulder, she takes an approach that I'm relatively certain not even Scully at her most skeptical would've tried.  It's these small details about Miller and Einstein that makes us realize that for all the obvious similarities, these are genuine characters in their own right. It's hard to imagine Mulder being able to come up with the solution that Miller does in the final moments.

That doesn't change the fact that Babylon is still very maddening. There are parts of it that are extremely funny, but most of them contrast very badly with the seriousness of the situation that we are supposed to be dealing with. The next terrorist plot is clearly imminent, but it gets so buried under so much of the cliches and paranormal trips that the stopping of the threat seems anti-climactic. There are so many extra parts that the episode could've dealt with a lot less - just what was the point of that crazy nurse? But even with all that, and in a strange way, because of that, the episode kind of works. Amell and Ambrose have such good rapport together and with Duchovny and Anderson that you can see them clicking in the right ways. When the next revival comes in 2018, I hope that they will be a part of it.

My score: 3.25 stars

Better Things Season 2 Review

The series of comedies that have grown up around stand-up comics have never quite appealed to me the same way so many of the other comedies have. Stretching back to the days of Curb Your Enthusiasm to shows such as Louie, I have never been able to find them as truly funny as the rest of the world seems to have. So much of the laughs that come in these series are mined from general unpleasantness, and while I have been able to see the humor in mannerisms, I have generally preferred shows where there's more consistency when it comes to storylines than that which center mainly on one character - series such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Life in Pieces have always been more appealing to me.

One could make the argument that a series such as Better Things, FX's most recent comedy series in this vein, would therefore be flat and unappealing. The links to Louie are direct - the lead actress, writer and director is Pamela Adlon, a comedienne, voice-over artist, and writer, who penned and starred in many episodes of Louie, and indeed, Louie C.K. has produced and co-written many episodes of the series.  Adlon's character, Samantha Fox, plays an actress and voice-over artist, who has been struggling in her career, has been divorced with three daughters, and is struggling with way too many problems as a single mom, though many verge on insane. Last season ended with her eldest daughter, Duke, deciding to disobey her mother by dating a man twice her age. The season premiere began with a party at her house, where she tried to accommodate  her, then ending with that man's younger brother trying to pick her up, and the episode basically ended with Duke begging her mother to break up the relationship for her. It was a very agonizing episode, and I can't deny it was very funny as well.

The series has a fair mix of comedy and awkwardness throughout. Last night, Samantha ended a relationship where she had been having sex with the beau before they went on their date, the man asked her if he actually liked her, and the relationship ended with a hysterical monologue in which she derided everything about him - sexual technique, his girlish behavior, and finished off with "This breakup is brought to you by Uber!" Then she took her youngest daughter, Max, off to be babysat for the weekend, and when Max asked her when Grandma will die, Samantha basically told her the woman would end up burying them all. (They do not have a good relationship) And the episode basically ended with her going off by herself to a motel, then apparently rented a car, picked up her two children, drove them back to the beach, played with them and seemed happy - and then we saw it was all just a fantasy.

Better Things is more intriguing then a lot of these comedies. Yes, there's a lot of awkwardness and fumbling over foibles that made so many of the Seinfeld like comics so irritating to me.  But Adlon is more appealing, even when she is at her absolute rudest, partly because she doesn't seem the traditional protagonist, even among female centered comedies. She's not a great mother, a good friend, and a pretty terrible date, but Adlon somehow makes her work. Part of this may be based on my own sympathy for Adlon as an actress, who had a similar career mostly laboring in series as Californication, and finally at this  stage, had to create her own series. She has demonstrated considerable gifts as a hyphenate and maybe Better Things, which earned her a couple of Emmy nods and a Peabody, will be a ticket to, well, better things.

My score: 3.75 stars.

The Good Place Season 2 Review

The Good Place was one of the more entertaining comedies to come out last season, and then, in the final minutes of the season finale, we got a game-changer that even the most daring dramas wouldn't try. The Good Place was actually a segment of The Bad Place, and Michael, the Architect (I should've known you can't trust Ted Danson anymore) has actually designed specifically to torture the four main characters who clearly didn't belong: Eleanor, the loathsome, self-centered woman; Chidi, the ethics professor who was terminally indecisive; Jason, a Miami DJ who reached a new level of moronic, and Tahani, who seemed charming most of the program was actually inferior to everything she tried to do. The moment all of them figured this out, Michael had their memories erased, and brought them all back to the beginning to try and perfect his new form of torment.

But Michael's in more trouble than he cares to admit. As was also revealed in the Season 1 finale, this project was considered a bad idea by his superiors, and now, if it fails this time, he is going to be 'retired' with extreme prejudice. (And having gotten a hint as to what The Bad Place does for 'fun', its probably going to be eternally painful.) And now that its been revealed that everyone else in The Good Place was actually playing a part, they are not wild about having to be recast, and most of them just want to go back to their old way of torturing people. Add to this the fact that at the last moment Eleanor (Kirsten Bell) managed to find a way to begin the search for Chidi again, and its small wonder that the moment every restarted, it very quickly got all forked up. The Season 2 premiere highlighted all four of the lead characters perspectives as they rebooted, and while things mostly started out as worse before, it became very clear that Michael had underestimated his subjects ability to reason, and overestimated his actors abilities to stick to the script. By the time the premiere was over, Michael had managed to regain control, and once against rebooted the process. What he hasn't told anybody is the fact that his superiors don't know about it, and that they have no intention of giving him a third chance.

The Good Place is now trying to do something you wouldn't see on a streaming drama, much less a network comedy: completely flip the script. Even though showrunner Michael Schur had this in mind from the moment the series premiered, it remains to be seen whether this process will end up playing nearly as well as the fish-out-of-water segment that made Season 1 work so well. What is clear is that we are watching everybody with new eyes, and Danson, in particular, is more than up to the challenge. In Season 1, he played Michael as a genial, bewildered bureaucrat; now, he's playing him as a man who is trying to spin far too many plates at once, and not doing a good job. We now look at every that is being done differently, particularly to the idea of what was considered "good"; in season 1, it was frozen yogurt and portraits of clowns, now its Hawaiian pizza. But all of the characters are still as engaging as they were last season, and if anything, they are now more sympathetic, considering where they are. All of these characters were hard to fathom, but none of them deserve to be where they are right now.

Will Eleanor and her friends figure out what is going wrong here?  Will the series make us feel sympathy for Michael again? And is there an actual good place that these people can get away from? None of these questions have clear answers, but I have confidence in the writers, enough to agree with the series opening catchphrase: "Everything is Fine."

My score: 4 stars.

It's Getting Better: Reactions To This Year's Emmys

Its as if the Emmys are trying, almost all at once, to rectify the decades of complacency, where every year the same series and actors won again, there was little room for improvement. They still have a long way to go (and I'll admit, most of the great leaps were taken because Game of Thrones was ineligible), but last nights award were a huge step forward.

Some might argue otherwise, particularly in the Best Comedy category where once again, Veep (for the third straight season) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (for the sixth) emerged victorious after what was (at least in my mind) a mostly desultory season. But there was so much progress, particularly in the recognition of Atlanta where Donald Glover took two deserved Emmys both in front and behind the camera. And when Master of None became the first series to honor a female African American writer (and she was a lesbian too!), it was proof that diversity is now emerging behind the camera as well as in front. (And real class Aziz, letting your co-writer make the acceptance speech. You just continue to amaze).

Indeed, some could argue that HBO remained dominant, particularly in the Limited Series category, where it won practically every award. But having seen every performance in the acting categories, the Emmys would have been hard-pressed to make better choice. Sure, I would have preferred Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley prevail instead of Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern, but there were literally no loser in either category. And Riz Ahmed's work in The Night of got buried under so many other award shows that I thought they'd overlook him again. I was glad to be proven wrong. And lest we think the voters have gone soft, remember Best TV Movie and Best Writing went to an episode of Netflix's Black Mirror,  a series so dark and dystopian even a year ago, you wouldn't have thought it could prevail. The times are a-changing.

And NBC had a particularly good night. By my last count, they won fourteen awards. Most of them were for Saturday Night Live, a show that had perhaps one of its most impressive seasons in years. I may quibble about Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon taking up spots that could go to actors from actual comedies (if this trend continues, we may have to create a couple of awards for sketch comedy) but they were so hysterical in all of their foibles that its hard to imagine anyone being more impressive.

I've only seen a couple of episodes of The Handmaid's Tale, but despite my delays I was overjoyed that two of the greatest actresses in TV history, one completely shutout by the Emmys when she was doing her best work (Elisabeth Moss) and one who was basically ignored by them in her greatest role (Alexis Bleidel) ended up picking up trophies. Was a show too late? Maybe. But I didn't object when Claire Danes starting winning for Homeland and I'm not going to object now.

But my favorite award of the night, by far, was Sterling Brown for his incredible work on This is Us. If his performance wasn't enough to make me love him, his speech would win over everybody else. He name-checked Bryan Cranston, Jon Hamm and Andre Braugher (Homicide shoutout!) considered that he was the luckiest black actor raised by a white family, and tried valiantly to do a Cuba Gooding, Jr.

I'm not certain how well to rank the Emmys as a ceremony, though I though Stephen Colbert did a mostly good job keeping the political spiel away from the awards after the monologue. (He left that to the presenters and the recipients.) But generally, I was happy to see that there was more of a system in place for giving out the awards, particularly as the Emmys are beginning to realizing the limited series category now has nearly as much excitement as the bigger awards. And it was good to see so many acting legends on the screen. The 9 to 5 reunion was wonderful. Seeing Carol Burnett and Norman Lear give out the award for Best Comedy, great. Cicely Tyson presenting Best limited series, powerful.  The fact that the Emmys remember their history better than the Oscars do is reassuring.

(On a side note, I want to see Rachel Bloom host an award show next year. Any award show. Everything she does is marvelous. But her great song and dance number to open the Creative Arts Emmys, and her hysterical one celebrating the accountants make me love her even more. If you're not going to give her an Emmy, let her host.)

Was I thrilled with everything? Of course not. Stranger Things and Fargo  were basically shut out, and I don't know what Better Call Saul has to do to win an Emmy. But the fact that there are so many great series out there to actually deserve to be in the same room make me think that the Emmys is finally giving reparations after years of staleness. Of course, the dragons will be back next year, so I won't get cocky.

Homicide Episode Guide: Hostage, Part 2

Written By Julie Martin; story by Tom Fontana and James Yoshimura

Directed by Jean de Segonzac

        ‘Hostage, Part Two’ opens mere hours after the previous episode ended. The situation at the school is still tense  but the tension does not reach its apogee until ten minutes in when the teacher of the class held hostage emerges with the outlaw’s demand: his pig. This turns out to be one of the rare occasions on Homicide when the viewer knows more than the police. The hostage taker--- and subsequent killer of four people at the school—is Jerry Uba, the suspect in the murder that Bayliss is investigating. Mere minutes later, Uba sets himself on fire as QRT and the Homicide detectives storm the school.

With the hostage taker in the hospital, the detectives can finally get to work. , This case would seem to be ‘easier’ to handle than some of the other red-balls--- the suspect is in custody, the murder weapon has been found--- its basically a matter of filing the paperwork. But for some reason Gee takes the murders of these people a lot harder than some of the other murders that have happened. He demands that Bayliss get a confession from Uba, that Kellerman and Lewis get the interviews done, that Ed Danvers speed up the process of charging Uba, and that he be present when Uba is charged. Yaphet Kotto does some of his best work when Giardello is angry, and here he is raging.  One of the highlights of the episode occurs after Uba is charged and Gee, with a look of extreme contempt on his face, scowls “Get well. Soon” at the bedridden Uba.

Equally good is Kyle Secor as Bayliss. For perhaps the first time since the show started four years ago, Tim gets to handle an interrogation completely on his own. He continues to demonstrate what a brilliant cop he is. Admittedly, though, Jerry Uba is not a complicated criminal. He went to the middle school to kill himself and murdered his mother so that she wouldn’t be left alone. The shots of Uba, covered with third-degree burns in the hospital, reveals him as more pathetic than anything else.

That’s all the police work that’s happening on ‘Homicide’ this week. The rest of the drama emerges, as is usually the case, from the characters. Particularly Frank Pembleton. Both at home and on the job, Frank seems almost feeble and pathetic.  He can’t remember his home phone number, keeps calling coffee a ‘bagel’ and is stumbling over words. Things are almost as bad at home, where we reveal another problem--- his medication has rendered him impotent. He also seems to be fumbling and frustrated around Mary and his daughter. Yet despite everything that has happened to him, in many ways he is the same adamant personality--- he won’t accept help or knuckle under to his condition, which is why he feels so incredibly useless at a place where he used to be a king. This leads him to do some very foolish things--- like pour his medication down the sink. More importantly, this will cause fractures in his relationships with both Tim and Mary. But that is for later.

Other subplots are unfolding for other minor characters. Brodie has been evicted from his apartment and is now sleeping in the squad room. For the next few months, he will be invited in, and consequently kicked out of, almost all of his coworker’s apartments. This week the detective in question is Munch. This almost doesn’t come off because Brodie is pissed at Munch’s hostile attitude towards Frank. But eventually Brodie does get invited in--- with strict instructions not to look in the medicine cabinet. (Perhaps Munch is still in the sixties.)

Ed Danvers in the meantime, reveals that he is getting engaged to a public defender named Meryl Hanson. Its clear this news causes pain for Sergeant Howard even though she tries to cover it up. The next few months will occasionally focus on preparation for Danvers’s wedding--- until it reaches a climax that nobody could have seen coming.

‘Hostage, Part Two’ is frustrating in some respects because so much is left unresolved. But this is what ‘Homicide’ does best, so it’s not necessarily a negative. It’s not quite as good as the first part but it does feature good performances from the leads as well as the side characters. There are very few big moments--- just a lot of little ones that register effectively.

My score: 4.25 stars

X-Files Episode Guide: Home Again

Written & Directed by Glen Morgan

As I mentioned in Founder's Mutation, Glen Morgan was as responsible for the early success of The X-Files as any of the first group of writers, perhaps even more than Chris Carter. In addition to being able to write some of the most frightening stories in the early canon, he also was one of the more humanistic of the writers. It's very unlike him, therefore, to be the one writer in this revival, who seems to be more interested in looking backwards than forward. This pertains to the title of the episode: Home, referring to the most controversial and goriest story the series ever produced, and Again, referring to Never Again, referring to the last script he and Wong ever wrote for the series. And there are certain elements of both of those scripts that those stories echoes: like Home, the series is set in Pennsylvania, it deals with a forgotten population that society seems to ignore at its peril, it has frankly some of the bloodiest the series has ever done (and frankly, I'm a little amazed they got them past the censors) and it even has a murder being performed to the most contrasting cheerful background music; in this case, Petula Clark's 'Downtown" There are also far too many flashbacks in this episode to make anyone comfortable, particularly in regard to William. Were it for these elements, and the general monster of the story, one could dismiss Home Again out of hand.

But the episode works a lot better than that, because of the other stories that Morgan is trying to recall: Beyond the Sea and One Breath. Both involved Scully heavily, and both involve the hospital scenes that so many fans grew tired of long before the X-Files closed up shop. In this case, though, I actually think they merit because we are dealing with something far more pertinent: the passing of a beloved character that, frankly, the series could've used more of: Scully's mother.

Margaret Scully was one of the better characters that the series created. Because she was never directly tied to anything related to the X-Files mythology, she had a warmth and humanity that too many of the other regulars on the series sorely lacked. One could argue that she was an easy ploy for sentiment - every time her character showed up, it was almost a sure thing that someone in her family would be either dead or clinging to life - but Margaret always seemed to be the series greatest source of kindness in a universe that was generally grim and unforgiving.

So its fitting that when she makes her final appearance, there's nothing mythology based about her illness. Indeed, its almost bluntly simple - she has finally succumbed to a heart attack, and now is in a coma, neatly reversing the scenario of One Breath. And now Scully finds herself facing the same problem her mother did, learning that Margaret has given an advanced directive that she not be kept on life support. And now Scully finds that in her mother's final moments, the child she is most concerned about is Charlie, the youngest and never seen Scully child, who has been estranged from the family for years. Scully wants desperate to try and save her mother, and answer the almost banal questions that seem to surround, but all she can do is try and connect her comatose mother with her estranged child. And her last words  almost fittingly, are to Mulder, about their child - and then she's gone. It's honestly the most heartbreaking death the series has ever given us because its painfully simple, and the agony that Gillian Anderson goes through in this episode doesn't feel as forced as it did the final seasons of the show, even when William comes up, because it finally gives us a connection that we haven't seen before.

It's rather a pity the case that Mulder and Scully end up investigating in this episode isn't particularly original. Oh, I'll admit there are some interesting elements - to see the homeless being avenged by a group of politicians and developers who honestly couldn't give a damn about it would have some entertainment value if it were done a little more subtly. But there's no reason for the same level of gore and excess that we get in Home Again that we got in some of the darker episodes. And at least when we saw in Home, it was Morgan & Wong poking sharply against the idea of the American Dream; this seems too much like a Howard Gordon revenge story for comfort. The explanation is even less subtle, because the street artist whose responsible for this never seems to either explain how his Frankenstein's graffiti came to life nor ever seem to pay for it.

But for once,  its almost worth overlooking because the human element is so much richer than it has been. Just like in Founder's Mutation, Morgan seems able to tap into the angst over William in a very genuine way. One could say that the scenes from Season 9 weren't exactly the X-Files greatest hits, but they also brought a poignancy to Scully's motherhood that was never really there in the final season. And Home Again is by far the best showcase of Anderson's work in a very long time, as she deals with both the loss of her mother and her son in a way that the writers couldn't have master before. (The fact that Scully ends up scattering her mother's ashes the same way her father's were is a nice callback that you're amazed that Glen Morgan remembered it). It doesn't have anywhere near the power of Beyond the Sea or One Breath, but as an episode which merges the humanity of our protagonists with the supernatural bits of those early stories, its well worth the time.

My score: 4 stars.

Picks for This Years Emmys, Part 3: Best Limited Series

Now, the limited series, as well as a few others.

BEST LIMITED SERIES

I don't care what the ads say: Genius doesn't deserve to be here, no matter how great an actor Geoffrey Rush is, and its certainly no better than American Crime's final season. So let's consider the more likely winners.

The Night Of was an incredible experience, and had it not aired last July, it would certainly have more of a chance. Having seen Feud: Bette & Joan, it was a marvelous celebration of an era long since gone, and I really can't see what Olivia De Haviland found so objectionable about it. Still, the lawsuit may hurt its overall chances.

I personally thought Fargo was exceptional this season, and it more than deserves to win this year. But I think the most likely victor is going to be Big Little Lies. An incredible adaptation of a brilliant book, it featured some of the greatest performances of the year. This is an HBO victory I can get behind.

Should Win: Fargo

Will Win: Big Little Lies.

BEST ACTOR, TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

There's a real chance Benedict Cumberbatch could prevail for his turn in Sherlock, considering it might be his last chance. Robert DeNiro got his first Emmy nomination for The Wizard of Lies, and the Emmys loves the chance to honor great actors, but I think the odds are better, it will be someone from one of the mini-series.

Riz Ahmed, by far, had the more impressive performance in The Night Of, considering it mirrored his transition from innocent college student to cold-blooded drug addict. But I'm relatively certain that this years winner is going to be Ewan McGregor for his astounding dual turn as the Stussy brothers in Fargo. To create one dazzling character is remarkable; to create two different, but similar characters is even more astonishing. He's earned it.

Should Win/Will Win: McGregor.

BEST ACTRESS, TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Oh, I really don't envy the Emmy judges there job in this category. Six of the best performances this years, including four Academy Award winning actresses, to choose between. This is arguably the toughest category of the entire night.

On one hand, Carrie Coon had an incredible year, and given how astonishing her body of work, particularly as the one force of good in Fargo deserves some recognition. Felicity Huffman has done astonishing work on American Crime for three years, and this is their last chance to honor her. Either win if the other four actresses cancel each other out, but the Emmys has rarely done that.

Of the entire group, my personal preference is just barely for Coon. But honestly, I think the most likely winner is Reese Witherspoon for her exceptional turn as super soccer mom Madeline on Big Little Lies. Both ribaldly funny and curiously moving, it was astonishing work. It would be nice if she won.

Should Win: Coon.

Will Win: Witherspoon (but no bad choices, honestly).

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Well, this category isn't as difficult as the last one, but it's close. All of the performers were of superb caliber, and an argument could be made for any of them. So I'm going to have to go with some personal choices.

Michael K. Williams has deserved an Emmy since The Wire, and considering that his performance in The Night of was at least as good as that would make for a good argument for honoring him. But the same timing problem that was difficult for Ahmed may hurt Williams. Tucci and Molina both gave great performances in Feud, but its hard to see one choosing one over the other.

Ultimately, I think the choice will come down to one of two psychopaths: Alexander Skarsgaard's slowly monstrous husband in Big Little Lies, or David Thewlis' wolf-like manipulator in Fargo. Both gave memorable performances of evil, but I think Thewlis' manipulations will be more persuasive.

Should Win: Williams

Will Win: Thewlis (but again, all good choices)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Not quite as tough as the last category, but still harder to pierce. All of the actresses gave worthy performances, and it depends really on which Hollywood talent they choose to honor.

My personal preference is for Shailene Woodley for her incredible work as the trouble mother and rape victim in Big Little Lies. It was a towering work, and honestly, she's been laboring just long enough in Hollywood to deserve some kind of recognition.

But I think it likely that they will honor for the third consecutive year, Regina King for her work on American Crime. Normally, this is where I rage against the lack of originality of the Emmy voters, but in this case, I'll make an exception. After all, American Crime was no typical series, and Regina King was magnificent in giving three separate and remarkable characters life. This may be the last chance to honor her for awhile. I won't mind if any of the other actresses win, but I think this is King's to lose.

Should Win: Woodley.

Will Win: King.

As for the rest, Best TV Movie will almost certainly go to The Wizard of Lies. Best Sketch Comedy series is going to go to SNL in a walk. Best Variety Talk Series is going to come down to which Daily Show alum will prevail, and I can see Jon Oliver just beating out Samantha Bee, though honestly, both are good choices.

See you Sunday.

Picks For This Year's Emmys: Part 2, Comedy

BEST COMEDY

There's a very good chance Veep will end up making it three years in a row. And there might be an argument for it, had this not been the weakest season I have seen yet. The disappearance of the original showrunner probably was the biggest cause for its lack of appeal this season.

There are many good candidates in this category. I personally would push for black-ish, which remains one of the funniest and most relevant series on the air. But for some reason, it just can't seem to crack the book. So I'll go with the next best thing.

Atlanta was one of the most original series on television in all of last year. More shocking and stark than several of the dramas nominated, it also had one of the most brilliant satirical tones of any series. (My personal favorite involved a black affairs talk show complete with original but all-too passable commercials.) Add the fact that it took the Golden Globe and a Peabody, the fact that its lead is more than due, and that FX - or any basic cable network, for that matter - has yet prevailed in this category - and I think it has more than a chance of winning.

Should Win: black-ish

Will Win: Atlanta.

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY

This is an even tougher category to fathom. Jeffrey Tambor probably could take his third Emmy in a row for some of the more daring moments in all of Transparent, but the fact that the series didn't take a Best Comedy nod, may show the time is over. William H. Macy has a lot of popularity, and won the SAG award this year, but I don't think Shameless has enough momentum to triumph here.

Aziz Ansari had some great moments in Master of None, and probably should be rewarded. But really, I think it's going to go Donald Glover for his incredible work as Earn on Atlanta. He's already taken a Globe, a Critic's Choice, and given how much the Emmys loves hyphenates, I'd say his chances of taking at least one trophy this year is good.

Should Win/Will Win: Glover.

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY

I'll be honest, I'm getting really tired of Julia Louis-Dreyfus taking the Emmy every year. I know she's a comic force, but its getting repetitive to the point of dullness. Add to this, the fact that her character was just so horrendous to watch all season that I just can't see her prevailing.

Besides, given the level of talent in this category, couldn't we please give it to someone who hasn't had a chance? My personal preference would be Tracee Ellis Ross, whose work in black-ish has always been nothing short of wonderful. As the more 'rational' member of the Johnson family, she nevertheless deals with some of the more hysterical moments, as well the most powerful (how can anyone look at the season 3 finale and not think she deserves an Emmy?) She's already won a Golden Globe. What more does it take to convince the Emmy voters?

In all honesty, I'd also be fine if either of the superb comic leads of Grace & Frankie could take a trophy as well, particularly Tomlin, who is more than due one. But really, can we just agree? Selina's won enough.

Should Win: Ross.

Will Win: Tomlin (but probably Louis-Dreyfus.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY

This is where things start to get a little slippery. There is some good talent in this category, and I wouldn't even object that much if Louie Anderson managed to repeat for his superb turn on the criminally undervalued Baskets. But it seems far more likely that it will go to Alec Baldwin for his work on Saturday Night Live. Which is to say his impression of Donald Trump.

Now, regardless of your politics, let's look at this from a truly mathematical point of view. Baldwin is not a cast member of SNL. Granted, he appeared on practically every episode this season, and was very funny. That said, by the standards of the Emmys, Baldwin should be competing in the Best Guest Actor category. I've raged against SNL having performers in this category before, and will again, but this is a stretch of the rules by even the elastic standards of the category.

I really hope the judges make some changes to the rules, because we really are stretching the term. And it took away some very good nominees.

Should win: Tony Hale

Will Win: Baldwin.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY

Exhibit B. Now I'll admit SNL had a banner year this season, but it didn't deserve three nominees in this category. I'm still not sure who Vanessa Bayer plays on that series. And it kept Jane Krakowski and Mayim Bialik from getting deserved nominations.

Personally, I'd like to see Kathryn Hahn prevail for incredible work as the rabbi Raquel, whose patience with the Pfeffermans finally collapses spectacularly this season. She's had the most growth of any of the characters on this show, and considering her long history as an actress (hell, for this service), she deserves a win. But my guess is, the Emmys will go back to repeat mode and give the trophy to Kate McKinnon for SNL. I'm not complaining that much - she is a regular, and her work is superb. But really, we've got to work this out guys.

Should Win: Hahn.

Will Win: McKinnon.

This Year's Emmy Predictions: Part 1, Drama

Over the last few years, it has been getting more and more enjoyable to pick the winners for the Emmys. Part of it is because of the generally high level of talent that has been gathering for each successive year. Part of it is because the Emmys seems to be determined to be more and more diverse. (And I'm not just talking racially, although certainly no one's going to be putting up the hashtag #EmmysSoWhite given the last three years.)

But this seasons seems particularly refreshing . For the first time in I don't know how long, the Emmys are going to have to honor completely new winners in every category in the Best Dramas. (Thanks for waiting til summer, Game of Thrones.) And with all of the diverse possibilities, particularly in Drama and Limited Series, the Emmy races haven't been this wide open in at least five years. It's possible there will be some backsliding, but it's not likely.  And broadcast TV has a chance to get in on the love for the first time in six years.

So, here are my prediction, though I'll be honest this time: there's really a good chance I'll be happy even if I'm wrong.

BEST DRAMA

There doesn't seem to be a clear frontrunner here. The Crown took the Golden Globe in January. Stranger Things took the SAG award. The Handmaid's Tale did well at the TV Critics. Even MTV got in on the act and made some good choices picking Stranger Things and This is Us.

Westworld might be able to be prevail, if they go into the fantasy market.  This is Us is the first broadcast drama in nearly five years, and it is a great one. The Crown would've been a shoo-in had the Emmys taken place a few months earlier. Handmaid's Tale seems more relevant then ever.

It's a really tough call, so I'm going to go with my gut: I think Stranger Things has the slimmest of edges. It was a phenomena in a way that even the best Netflix series are. There is a chance that Westworld or This is Us could upset it, but I think the buzz is just enough to push it over the edge.

Should Win: Stranger Things.

Will Win:  This is Us/ Stranger Things  but they're all good choices

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA

With the exception of Liev Schrieber, who I've ranted about being picked earlier, this is basically a great category. And given that whoever wins will be the seventh different actor in as many years, for once the past doesn't help.

Kevin Spacey should've gotten one before, but I think his moment has past. Anthony Hopkins wasn't the biggest thing for Westworld. I desperately want Matthew Rhys to win something, anything for The Americans, but I just don't think he has the momentum.

Bob Odenkirk was his usual level of brilliance on Better Call Saul, and the Broadcast Critics and Breaking Bad love might be enough, but I have to say the odds are looking good for Sterling Brown for his superb work on This is Us. It's not just that it's been a very long time since an African-American won in this category, it's that his work was generally impressive among a great cast. Yes, he won last year, but I'm not going to hold that against him.

Should Win: Odenkirk/Rhys

Will Win: Brown.

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA

This is a tougher group to pin down then Best Actor. Evan Rachel Wood took the Critics Choice for Westworld. Claire Foy triumphed at the Globes and the SAG awards for The Crown. Elisabeth Moss prevailed for the Handmaid's Tale at the Broadcast Critics.

Like Rhys, I would like to see Keri Russell prevail for The Americans, but I think its going to come down to one of those three.  Foy has a slight edge as the Emmys have a habit of reward actors who play powerful people. But Moss is due. Really due. She has a record that is even worse than her former Mad Men co-star Jon Hamm, and at least he finally got one. I may not be wild about it, but come on, its time.

Should Win: Foy

Will Win: Moss (but again, no bad choices)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA

Comparatively, the Supporting category is a bit easier. The competition should be tougher, and part of me would like to see either Jonathan Banks for Breaking Bad or Ron Cephas Jones for This is Us win. But it many ways, this is a no-brainer.

John Lithgow's work as the past-his-prime Winston Churchill on The Crown was a master class of acting. He's already won the SAG Award and the Critics Choice. And considering that the Emmys has been very kind both to him, and other actors who have played Churchill, I think he all but has a lock. It's very hard to argue against him.

Should Win/Will Win: Lithgow.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA

This, theoretically, could be a wide open category. There's no Games of Thrones, no Maggie Smith, no Anna Gunn. With the exception of Uzo Aduba, there's no previous nominees either. And there are a lot of good possibilities - I could see Chrissy Metz from This is Us or Critic's Choice winner Thandie Newton taking the grand prize. But this one is, if anything easier, than Supporting Actor.

Millie Bobby Brown's work on Stranger Things was a master class of acting, particularly when you consider how little dialogue she was given. She's one of the most gifted performers I've seen in awhile, and she's not even a teenager yet (!)  It's been a long time an African-American lead has one; its been longer still since a teenager won anything at the Emmys.  To use a quote I'm sure every journalist will be using, this one goes to Eleven.

Should Win/Will Win: Brown.

Homicide Episode Guide: Hostage, Part One

Written by James Yoshimura; story by Tom Fontana and Julie Martin

Directed by Ted Demme

The first great moment of Season Five occurs fifteen minutes into ‘Hostage, Part One.’ when Francis Xavier Pembleton, very slowly gets out of his car and begins deliberately walking up the stairs to the squad to  the Cowboy Junkies ‘This Street, That Man, This Life.’ By now everyone in the squad has been waiting for Frank to come back.

A lot of the brass in the department are pissed that Frank is returning to the Homicide Unit. Barnfather and  Gaffney mask their concern for the unit by showing apprehension for Frank’s well-being, specially if the tensions of the job get to him. (Somehow I don’t think Gaffney  would mind if Frank did drop dead) But the most surprising source of hostility comes from Detective Munch. Part of this comes off the fact that Frank showed no compassion for Stan’s shooting by coming to the hospital. Part of this is because he knows that no one would bend over backward for him if he had a stroke. But most of it is simple hurt of the fact that he called Franks home dozens of times while he was recovering and Frank didn’t bother to return  one. When Munch confronts him with this, Frank sheepishly admits that he didn’t think that it mattered to him.

 Bur Frank has enough problems without Munch. He stumbles over words frequently. He has memory blocks over simple words and spelling. And he sweats profusely after a brief walk. His mind and body have been fractured, but his will is still strong. He wants to get back on the job but the department (who doesn’t want Frank back at all) has other plans. They demand that Frank qualify on the range before he can return to work. Until then he is limited to half days, spent doing administrative work and answering phones. Frank’s furious about this but Gee (who  has called in every favor he can to get Frank back) is adamant.

When Frank enters the squad room for the first time, for a moment everyone stops working and goes quiet. But this is Homicide  and instants later everyone’s back to work. And there’s a lot going on. With Frank chained to his desk, Russert running off to  Paris with a French diplomat and Bolander officially retired the squad is busy. Bayliss and Munch are called out on an investigation into the murder of a woman in her house. The only witness to the crime: a pig. While they’re out on this, the rest of the squad is called onto a ‘red ball’ case of a man taking hostages at a middle school. Though there are bodies on the ground, because there are live victims QRT is put in charge. They are more concerned with saving the hostages then the already dead bodies leaving the detectives scrambling. It is not until the episodes end that the shooter makes his first demand: he wants beer. The scenes at the school are unnerving, more so since they were filmed nearly three years before similar shootings would take place in Columbine.

There’s a lot going on in this episode but unlike the opening of season four, most of the action is character driven. As always Andre Braugher dominates the proceedings. Given  a chance to show Frank Pembleton as much less than invincible, he does a brilliant job (particularly in scenes where he struggles to remember such mundane words as ‘Xerox’ and ‘pizza’) He repeatedly tries to tell Gee and Bayliss that he’s still the same man but it is very clear that he is not. Despite this, however, he wants to get back on the street so he heads towards the firing range. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that Frank (who was a lousy shot before his stroke) has a long way to go here to.

Just as impressive, however, is the now clean-shaven, short-hared Kyle Secor. In his murder investigation, he shows that he is a long way from the rookie who worked these streets four years ago. Even more telling are his scenes with Braugher. His first scene with him where he tries to embrace Frank (to the latter’s extreme discomfort) is very critical in showing both men’s character. Tim tries to show compassion and concern for his partner only to be spurned by him. Similarly, when Frank tries to help Tim with his murder, Bayliss turns him away and asks him to take his medicine.  These are small things but fractures are appearing in Tim and Frank’s relationship.

The other actors (with the exception of Belzer) don’t a get lot of face time but there are very memorable small scenes such as when Meldrick discusses the bad karma that is associated with Bolander’s desk and is pissed when Mike mentions he’s sitting at a dead mans desk also. There is also some humor as Bayliss and Munch find themselves trying to learn about the breeding of a pig. The most unsettling scene, however, occurs at the school when Brodie tapes the reactions of the kids at the school. As one girl watches her classmate’s wounded body being taken away, she assumes that the camera’s presence makes this a movie and that what she just witnessed wasn’t real. When this illusion is shattered, she seems even more devastated then by the shooting itself.

‘Hostage, Pat One’ shows that Homicide still has its A-Game. There are a lot more risks being taken then before and the end result is, like the best television, impressive indeed.

My score: 4.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Mulder and Scully Meet The Were-Monster

Written & Directed by Darin Morgan

As I've mentioned before, Darin Morgan was, with the exception of Vince Gilligan, the most astonishing talent to come out of Ten-Thirteen. Were it not for his relatively small output, he would properly be regarded as one of the geniuses to come out of television anywhere. What is remarkable about his ability in his scripts for X-Files (and, to a certain extent, for both scripts he wrote for Millennium) ,  was his ability to look into the workings of a great TV series, and find a way to completely subvert the characters and invert the idea of how TV works.  In the 1990s, he was light-years ahead of the curve; by the time of reboot of The X-Files had come up, entire series had been developed which were basically meta-construct of familiar types. (The most obvious examples were Psych, Community, Supernatural and Leverage, and those are just the most blatant versions.)  It would be easy to make the assumption that hiring Morgan to write an episode would be more of a nod to the fans of the series rather than the idea of having anything new to say.

But, as always, Morgan takes your expectations of what we've come to expect from the series, and manages to complete subvert them. Hell, the very title of the episode has the unwieldiness of all the scripts Morgan wrote in Season 3. The same logic applies to much of the casting. There in the opening are Stoner and Chick, still trying to find the ultimate high (this time by sniffing paint) and running into supernatural death. There's Alex Diakun, who made brief but indelible impressions in three of the four scripts that Morgan wrote for the series original incarnation. Scully goes looking for an animal shelter, and finds herself reminiscing about Quee-Quee, the dog she got from Clyde Bruckman, and was ultimately eaten in Quagmire, a story that Morgan was believed to have rewritten. And near the end, Scully makes a joke that she's immortal, playing off a reference that Bruckman made when she asked how she died, and he told her she didn't.

But Morgan has a more intriguing story to tell than you would think by all the sly in-jokes I've already mentioned. He takes the idea that Mulder is finally beginning to run out of patience with the paranormal, and milks it for all the entertainment he can. Duchovny gives the best performance of the reboot, playing a man who is not the invincible icon of the 1990s, but a middle-aged man suffering from frustrations, unable to find his way to work his own cell phone, and finally running out of patience with the mediocre motels that he and Scully have been forced to stay at all these years.  Morgan takes the tropes of the series and turns them on his head - the big debate that Mulder and Scully would have about the nature of the beast that they are tracking is told entirely by Mulder, acknowledging that by now everybody can do them. He makes Scully a bit more than active than she's been, getting her to admit how much fun these cases were, and how much she liked Mulder when he was in his rabidly chipper mode.

But what makes this episode sing is a scene that we've never seen in any incarnation of the X-Files - Mulder finally has his conversation with a Monster-of-the-Week. The ten minute sequence in which Guy Mann/The Were-Lizard tells about what happened when he was bitten by a man - not the other way around - and found that he was turning into a human whenever the sun comes up. And we find out that all the vagaries of human life - the urge to get a job, to have dinner, to get a pet - would look like from an outsider's perspective. It's one of the funniest sequence the X-Files has ever done, no question, but its also hugely entertaining because Mulder, even after everything he's seen finds it impossible to believe. It's a reflection on the cynicism that has become exponential in the 21st century and how much it seems to have truly affected even our most believing hero. And yet, strangely, the episode also ends a note of optimism that was largely absent from most of Morgan's work. Mulder runs out at the end to tell Guy that he believed every he told him. Inexplicably, there's an element of warmth in it that we never see. And the moment at the end where Guy finally transforms into the Werebeast and goes off into the moonlight is the moment of validation that Mulder has been looking for his entire career.

Of course, because this is a Darin Morgan episode, Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster is also screamingly funny. Morgan has no problem playing on just about every trope and joke that he can milk out of the episode. Mulder is going to a psychiatrist to see a patient, and the doctor diagnosing him as even crazier than a man who turns into a were-lizard. The ultimate mockery of are obsession with cell phones, and the fact that nobody understands them. The fact that Guy tells Mulder that he screwed Scully in the back of the phone shop. And the fact that the serial killer is ultimately so common at this point that when Scully finally catches him, no one wants to hear his excuse.  Not to mention the little touches such as that Mulder has made his ring-tone The X-Files theme.  All put under the Morgan-esque dialogue that we've come to love from his work.

When any series is rebooted, if there's only one good episode in the entire run, one wonders why they bothered to bring it back. But to get a Darin Morgan story for Ten-Thirteen nearly twenty years after he penned his last one really is a good justification.  Mulder and Scully Meet the Were Monster is an X-Files episode that stands up with the best of any that the series produced when it was at its peak.  Will we get another such story when the 2018 revival comes up? Even one would justify that one, too.

My score: 5 stars.