Return to Deadwood?

I have always considered it something of a mixed bag when any network, cable or streaming, decides to bring back a classic series in some format. I was elated to see Arrested Development return in any format, delighted (in the end) by the X-Files revival, and impressed by the new season of Twin Peaks earlier this year. But there's just as likely a chance that the series will collapse - Curb Your Enthusiasm doesn't seem to have much life to it, the newest incarnation of 24 was a disaster, and I think the world could have gone without another season of Prison Break.

It's even harder to tell whether or not a film continuation of a TV series is something that will work or should even be attempted in the first place. Serenity brought closure to an unusual number of Firefly fans, and Fire Walk With Me is now considered a masterpiece. But did we really need a Sex and the City movie, let alone a third? And what convinced someone to give California a tax break to film the Entourage film was ridiculous.

But now it appears a film continuation of a series is coming that I would actually approve of, mainly because that it could deliver closure to a loyal group of fans who have been hoping for something to wrap it up since the series was killed too soon in 2005. It now appears that a movie version of Deadwood has finally moved beyond the conceptual stage, and may start filming for a late 2018 release.

A few words of explanation for those who may have missed its run. Deadwood was one of the series that helped lead TV into its current golden age. David Milch, the wunderkind behind Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue's best work, creating the best version of a television western this century has ever had. Set in the South Dakota mining town in 1876, the series centered around several real characters who settled in that town, and helped it slouch towards civilization. At the center of the action were two magnificent characters Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), the owner of the Gem,  corrupt, venial, bloodthirsty, and yet far more far-seeing than so many 'civilized' men, and Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant),  the easy to anger reluctant lawman, whose reluctant partnership would help bring the town forward.

Surrounding them was one the most extraordinary casts ever assembled, many of whom would launch their careers because of this series. The older hands were Brad Dourif, William Sanderson, John Hawkes, Brian Cox, and the late Powers Boothe. The series would launch the careers of Titus Welliver (Bosch), Paula Malcolmson (Ray Donovan,) Molly Parker (House of Cards), Kim Dickens (Fear the Walking Dead), and Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad).  Many of them would do great work in other series, but few would match their performances here.

The series worked wonderfully for three seasons. Then, for reasons that have never been entirely clear, not even the showrunners and executives, Deadwood was cancelled after its third season was filmed, leaving so many of the storylines unfinished. We were promised two TV movies to wrap up the stories, and the possibility lingered until 2010 that they would come, but they never did. For that reason, HBO's creative peak has never been the quite same since the series died. More importantly, despite how brilliant it was, Deadwood has never quite  registered as being quite as great as the other two giants of HBO's golden era: The Sopranos and The Wire. One ending was controversial, one was perfect, but at least there was an ending.

So the idea for closure for this series is an encouraging one that I would favor. And I'm glad to know it's going to happen. However, there are several questions I have to ask:

First off, what will the script be like? For those who don't know, there were no scripts for much of the Deadwood series. Milch would meet with his writers each day, they would discuss the filming, then he would tell the actors what scenes they would do, and scenes would typically be filmed out of order. Now, it's one thing to do this for a series (God knows it work spectacularly in the case of Deadwood); it's harder to imagine it working for the movie. Then again, I may be over-thinking this part; Mike Leigh and Christopher Guest have made careers based on films like this.

More to the point, what will the movie be about? Part of the skill of Deadwood was that so much of the action took place over a compressed period of time: the typical episode would last a day. It's hard to imagine Milch and company managing to wrap up everything about the series in a single film; it's part of the reason I doubted even two TV movies could do it.

And then there's the problem that was the greatest strength of Deadwood. The language. The amount of profanity that could be spoken by a character in a single speech was, frankly, awe-inspiring, even considering it was HBO. Milch took more abuse about the fact that all of the vulgarities were not anachronistic, and the plain truth is, after you got used to it, there was genuine poetry in it. What I don't know is if the MPAA would be able to handle it. I don't think any movie has managed to get an NC-17 rating just for profanity alone (and that's before you add the high level of violence that was equally present), but it definitely seems like this would be a major challenge to the ratings board. Milch might be able to charm them into it, but it would be a harder sell than the people at HBO.

Now, don't get me wrong. I desperately want a Deadwood movie. For years, I've been trying to get the nerve to write Deadwood fanfiction so I could come up with a final season that the series never got. I want closure, and lacking that, I want to spend time with so many of this infuriating, incredible characters in this Old West that Louis L'Amour never came close to painting.  Still, I make this tremulous suggestion to HBO? Why not make a fourth season of Deadwood as well/instead? You owe it to Milch, you owe it to the viewers, and frankly, you owe to it yourself? You were more than willing to bring back for other seasons lesser shows (alright yes, The Comeback was clearly ahead of its time), and you have been willing to give wrapups for lesser series like Hello Ladies and Looking.

 Would it be a struggle to get the cast back together? Olyphant, McShane, Welliver and Dickens  are tied to other series, and it would have to be done without Cy Tolliver. But I have a feeling that if they would be willing to make this movie, they would be more than willing to make another season, much like the cast of Arrested Development was willing to drop everything to do a Season 5. All of them have said it was the greatest experience in the careers, and I can't imagine they wouldn't jump to get the band back together.

Come on, HBO. Things have never been quite the same for your network ever since you allowed the original series to die the death of a hundred cuts. And frankly, considering how abominably you treated Luck, you owe Milch a fair amount more. Let's make this happen. And I don't just 'want you to tell me something pretty.'

Homicide Episode Guide: Blood Wedding

Written by Matthew Wittem; story by Tom Fontana and James Yoshimura

Directed by Kevin Hooks

                As I have mentioned at least a half-dozen times by now, one of the things that made Homicide such a brilliant show was how it would, once or twice a season, stop a while to linger on the anguish of the victims. This has already been done to brilliant effect in episodes like ‘Every Mother’s Son’ and ‘A Doll’s Eyes’ or this season’s ‘The Heart of a Saturday Night’.  You wouldn’t think there would be any new twists they could put on it, but again ‘Blood Wedding’ shows that Fontana and company know how to do it.

                Assistant District Attorney Ed Danvers has always been portrayed as the typical city prosecutor--- not deliberately mean or callous, but mainly because he feels the endless pressure to try and get the case file closed or the docket freed up. As such viewers--- and probably some of the detectives---   saw him as indifferent or unemotional to the process of crime. In this episode Danvers learns about this in an incredibly violent way. While shopping for a wedding dress with his fiancée Meryl Hansen, an armed robber comes into the store with a gun. Somehow, Meryl ends up dead at the end of a .38  and Ed Danvers spends much of the episode with his clothes splashed with  the blood of his intended.

                The case ends up being Pembleton’s first as a primary detective since his stroke nearly six months ago and when Danvers learns this he doesn’t think Frank’s up to the task. However, even though Frank is still a little rocky as an investigator, Ed is in no shape to be making judgments of sense. Much like Robert Ellison in Season 2’s ‘Bop Gun’, Danvers spends much of the episode almost in a trance. He has clearly been wounded but he can not bring himself to go to the hospital. Unlike Ellison, however, Danvers is constantly challenging Frank, interfering with witnesses statements and coming up with different angles for the detectives to investigate. Pembleton is understandably pissed at having to deal with this, especially when Giardello backs Danvers on this.

                Eventually Frank and Tim track down a suspect in the robbery homicide. They find some evidence linking him to the robbery—ammo, ski masks, threads--- but nothing that conclusively links the suspect to the murder. In the interrogation they go after the robber hard, especially saying that since the victim was a public defender, every prosecutor in the city will want to convict him and no lawyer in the city will want to defend him. This shakes the suspect up but not enough to make him confess. The stoic prosecutor voices his demand very simply—he wants the suspect to die. So much so that he goes down to see him and lock-up and tells him that he will make it his life’s work to see the man dead.

                But neither Danvers or anyone else will get any kind of closure with this case, because at the end of the episode the suspect hangs himself in his cell. In typical Homicide fashion, we never learn whether this is out of guilt or because of the fear that the detectives and Danvers rammed into him.

                Zeljko Ivanek gives the most emotional and intense performance that he will ever deliver as Ed Danvers finds himself at the hands of the callous investigative process and the indifference of the legal system, an indifference he himself fostered. In a powerful scene near the end of the episode, he berates himself for all the years of cutting corners and closing files, of forgetting the victim’s names and the heinousness of the crimes. This is a strong scene made even stronger by the fact that when Danvers returns to work later this season, he will be obeying the same rules and sticking with the same indifference; the criminal justice system can not survive any other way.

                Danvers isn’t the only person becoming disgusted with how the system works: Kellerman is becoming more and more dismayed by the procedure of his case--- by the end of the episode, the FBI has postponed the grand jury hearings until mid-January, thus forcing him to spend the holidays wondering if he has a future in law enforcement. He is so upset at this that he turns to Gee and the lieutenant does try to help. He goes to the three other detectives who are being prosecuted and asks them point blank if they will testify against Kellerman. Two of them (Goodman and Pires) say they won’t but Connelly, who we have seen twice before, reveals that in exchange for reduced prison time, he will give Mike’s name, whether or not he is guilty.

                In desperation Gee turns to Deputy Commissioner Harris, who we haven’t seen since season three. It is here we learn an ugly truth: Roger Gaffney was promoted to captain over Giardello because Harris wanted to remind the lieutenant to be more politically pliant. He is still holding a grudge against Gee about the Congressman Wade affair and the beauty of being in power is that you have the ability to carry out your grudges. The antagonism between the two men will fester until the end of the season when a conspiracy will reveal ugliness in Harris’s past---  enough to destroy a career.

                Not only are things going lousy professionally for the squad, they are faring badly personally. After Kellerman’s one night stand with Cox, Mike thinks that the two of them have more of a relationship then they do. It will develop but not very well, as it will take both Mike and Julianna into a severe downward spiral. And now Brodie has been reduced to sleeping in the morgue, having run out of detectives to pinch rooms out of. Fortunately, in a couple of weeks, he will find a place to stay and this overly milked storyline will get dropped.

                ‘Blood Wedding’ is a very dark episode of the level we have almost come to expect from Homicide. Andre Braugher, Yaphet Kotto and the woefully underutilized Melissa Leo deliver top-notch performances. We have seen the grief that murder brings to the victims, now we see how callousness of the system can often be as brutal as the crime itself. Ed Danvers will get over the death of Meryl Hanson but he will be scarred forever.

My score: 4.5 stars.

Fall of A hOUSE OF cARDS

There is no denying a simple truth: the great power in so much of Kevin Spacey's work has always been that he seems a little... off. From his breakout character of crime lord Mel Profit in Wiseguy, to his stunning work as the serial killer in Se7en to his first Oscar as Verbal/Keyzer Soze in The Usual Suspects, there has always been something in his character that makes you realize there is something dangerous below the surface. Even in his work in such brilliant films as American Beauty and Beyond the Sea, there has always been something that you just can't trust. That was perhaps the inner charm of Frank Underwood in House of Cards; even as Frank seemed to let you in on all of the Machiavellian plans for power, even to the point of climbing over bodies, you never could quite believe that you were seeing everything.

And now its become very clear that, just like so many of his characters, we never knew the whole truth about the actor. Over the past month, multiple allegation of sexual assault and harassment have been made against Spacey. Unlike most of the other major sexual scandals, Spacey's have been entirely been made by younger men. It is unclear whether any of the allegations are true, but as is the case with Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, when there's this much smoke, one has to assume there is at least some fire.

I'm not going to deal with the charges against Spacey. What I do want to deal with is how it will affect the series he has been nominated for multiple Emmys for. In the week that the charges began to come out, Netflix has sent mixed messages. They first announced that the sixth season of House of Cards, due out in 2018, will be its last. Two days later, they announced that they were suspending production on the series. The last announcement has been made that the final season will go forward, but that they have not decided on Spacey's role in it.

Let us consider first how much this will damage the story of the series. There have been situations in the past where series have decided to move forward despite the death of their lead character. In most cases, it has been disastrous for the show. Considering that the sixth season was in production, that probably means that most of the storylines will have to be seriously, if not completely rewritten. And even if they can manage somehow to find a way to do this, even given everything that's happened, its ridiculous on the face of it - one could almost say that it would be like doing the final act of Hamlet, if Hamlet had been murdered in Act Four. For better or worse,  House of Cards has been the story of Frank Underwood. How do you proceed even if you kill him off early on? One could make the argument for continuing the suspension of the series until the charges are made official, and Spacey has a chance - however remote - to clear his name. (And indeed, given that the most recent season ended with Spacey's character being removed from office and his wife becoming president, one could have made the argument that Cards could've just as simply come to an end then, with no complaint.)

But the fact is the damage has already been done to House of Cards. TV advertisements for Netflix have removed it from their slots, and its no longer prominent on the website itself. And considering that the series is the show that essentially put Netflix on the map as a source for original programming, its nearly as criminal as all the backstabbing and doubledealing that went on the series.  Because so much  of House of Cards  - particularly in the first two seasons - was some of the most engaging and brilliant television I've seen on any network. It was by far one of the most realistic and cynical series about politics in medium, and at times, it even made the British series that was its inspiration seem tame. And not all of it had to do with Spacey. Beau Willimon's writing, and the entire cast from Robin Wright and Michael Kelly, down to Reg E. Cathey and Molly Parker was some of the most astounding work for the medium, and considering the level of competition that has been available this decade, that is impressive.

Will Hollywood be able to forgive Kevin Spacey, even if he is found innocent? It's hard to say. Hollywood has a long history of forgive and forget when it comes to this type of sexual behavior. Witness that they were eventually able to honor Mel Gibson, Roman Polanski, and Woody Allen at the Oscars. A more interesting question is whether I can forgive Spacey. He was always one of my favorite actors, and considering his incredible gifts for impersonation, one of the most entertaining performers to watch. Now, I'm not certain I can watch his work with the rose-colored glasses I did before. I stopped watching House of Cards in Season 3, not because I had a problem with anything connected with it, but because I simply didn't have the time. Now that I know what I do about Spacey -  I'm just not certain I can ever find my way back to it again. Much of the series was based on the character of Frank Underwood. And now I don't know if I can disassociate Spacey from Frank's ever again. Which I think is a real loss, and a painful one.

Homicide Episode Guide: Control

Written by Les Carter and Susan Sisko; story by Tom Fontana and Julie Martin

Directed by Jean de Segonzac

                No doubt there was a huge outpouring of relief when this episode first aired as fans finally got what they had wanted, to see Frank Pembleton back on the street. Later, some critics would wonder whether or not Frank’s return—both working cases and in attitude---  had been rushed a bit by Fontana and company. To this I would say how many shows would dare put their star actor on the bench for more than a third of the season. Furthermore, close observance of Braugher over the rest of season five would show that many of the habits and behaviors we have seen throughout the first third of the season--- stumbling over words, faulty memory, slowed speech---  would remain largely present for the remainder of the year.

                This is particularly clear in ‘Control’ where Frank needs to continuously dictate into a tape recorder to protect his untrustworthy memory. He also misspeaks on more than one occasion, and gets on verbal  sidetracks repeatedly. However, the one who clearly doesn’t think Frank has recovered is Bayliss. Acting as primary, and no doubt somewhat buoyed up about working solo the past few months, Tim repeatedly challenges Frank throughout the investigation of  a triple murder. A woman and her two children have been killed—the woman stabbed over twenty times, the children dispatched with a bullet in the head for each of them. Frank wants to pursue her boyfriend, a bartender with a record for assault and a tendency to get angry with the wife. Tim, however, wants to pursue her ex-husband, a naval commander in Annapolis who seems very calm and unemotional--- almost too unemotional.

It seems that Frank is more anxious to interrogate the boyfriend because he’s here and he wants to get back in the box to prove he’s still a good cop. Bayliss, however, seems a little more determined to pursue the other leads, probably because he doesn’t want to be witness to another  stroke by his partner. He has no problem abandoning Frank and butts heads with him more than usual. At one point he complains that the two of them don’t have a rhythm any more, even though the interrogation of the ex-husband has the two of them working at optimum strength. It is clear that Tim has some kind of problem with his partner beyond his understandable fear. Their disputes, which have always been a part of their relationship, will get louder and more frequent until  they hit a breaking point

 While Frank and Tim are getting their groove back (so to speak) Lewis Is

handling a ghost of his own. Called in on the shooting of a low level drug dealer, he finds that the slinger worked for Luther Mahoney. Working again with Terri Stivers, he learns the slinger worked for Junior Bunk, Mahoney’s nephew and, as we will see, one of the most cowardly criminals to work the street. (When Meldrick comes to arrest him, he bursts into tears after being charged.)

Bunk is more than willing to testify ’monogamously’  that his uncle called in a hit man to kill the slinger in question. We learn a lot about Luther when we hear that he paid this hitman $5000 in heroin to kill someone for cheating him out of $300 of heroin. This is how a man like him operates and we will see how far he takes his code.

For once the case seems to be proceeding swimmingly. The detectives get the gun that killed the man, they get the hit man, and they have a man more than willing to testify to conspiracy charges against Mahoney. However, Luther remains as calm and controlled as ever. It is here that things get a little unreal. Supposedly Junior Bunk is in custody, out of reach of Luther. Nevertheless, he manages to get a message to Luther forcing Junior to reverse himself. It seems unlikely that any man would have this kind of reach, but as we will learn in years to come Mahoney does have friends in the department.

Luther’s gall is such that he has the nerve to got to the Waterfront after being cleared and buys a drink for the house. He wisely clears out when Meldrick gets in his face but it is here that Luther that probably goes over the line with Lewis. He’s gone too far and Meldrick will not forget it

Things are getting worse for Kellerman as the grand jury officially subpoenas him. But in another way things are getting better as Juliana Cox makes a couple of visits to him in the squad before spending the night on his boat. This relationship will be a life raft to Mike, but it will eventually become self-destructive to both of them.

‘Control’, much like the previous episode ‘The True Test’ isn’t a bad episode of Homicide. The stories are good, there are good performances by Mekhi Phifer as Junior and Erik Todd Dellums as Luther and it is a critical episode for Lewis, Pembleton and Bayliss. It just doesn’t seem quite up to the high standards that Fontana and company have established this season. Still, there’s little wrong with this episode and it really does feature some good moments, particular in Frank’s final conversation with the ex-husband  in lock-up and Meldrick’s talk with Luther. Fans were probably happy and in truth there isn’t a huge amount to complain about.

My score: 4 stars.

Why Ray Donovan Is Destroying Peak TV

In an essay I published earlier this year, I put forth the idea  that, for better or worse, the era of Peak TV is linked with the rise of the anithero. However, the reason that many of these series don't have huge audiences is that, for every Breaking Bad or Mad Men, there are at least three or four Chicago P.D.  or Sons of Anarchy, series with leads that could be antiheroes, but are really just despicable people who do bad things with no real goal in mind. And nowhere has this ever been more clear than with the series that seems to epitomize scum than Showtime's Ray Donovan.

There are many, many problems with this series, but to try and list them all would sound like a litany, so I'll limit my complaints by sticking to the problems with the title character.  First of all, there's his job. On more than one occasion, I have said that Olivia Pope is basically Ray Donovan with a better wardrobe. There is, however, one key element that raises her marginally above Ray. At least, in Olivia Pope's world, there is at least the facade that by covering up the crimes and misdemeanors that the powerful do, she is trying to hold on to the idea that the people need to believe that their politicians are above reproach if the system is to work. (Of course, that was before she started rigging elections and killing vice presidents, but let's set that aside for now) Ray's sole job is to make sure that the celebrities and power-brokers in Hollywood don't get sent to jail for doing the same horrible things, which even the most liberal among us can only say isn't the same thing at all. In fact, given what we have learned about the level of sexual harassment and assaults that some of the most prestigious names in Hollywood have been responsible for, this is one area where more light needs to be shed, not less.

Second, there is the issue of Ray Donovan, the character. I was going to say 'the human being', but having watched the series on and off for five years, I have yet to see any truly human aspect to him. Hell, Dexter Morgan demonstrated more character growth in his relationships that Ray ever has. He doesn't have a single friend to speak of, he barely talks any more than he has to even members of his own family, he doesn't seem to have any interest in the field he works in, and whenever any question is asked him, he'll either lie or straight deny it. Now I know that Liev Schrieber is a great actor. I've seen him do impressive work in film and on stage. But Ray Donovan barely shows any range at all, even when it comes to changing the tenor of his voice. Some people may be drawn to this minimalism, I like my characters to show at least some emotion.

And he treats his family, who are supposedly the people he is doing this all for, with an equal amount of disdain. He's always hated his father, Mickey (and the way that this series has utterly wasted Jon Voight is another crime in itself) but as utterly contemptible as some of the crimes Mick's committed, it doesn't remotely justify how little he seems to care for everybody else.  Terry, who suffers from Parkinson's, and who has been Ray's most loyal confidant, barely gets more than tolerated, and its clear Ray has been using his gym to launder money - a move with almost got him sent to prison. Bunchy, a victim of sexual abuse in his youth, has been given little freedom for his life, and its clear Ray sees him as a burden. His son has been dealing with delinquent issues, and was willing to join the marines to get away from him. He has got to great lengths to sabotage every relationship his daughter had. And his treatment of Abby (Paula Malcomson, also wasted), his wife was loathsome, as he cheated on her throughout the series, and never really listened to her pleas for help. In an interview for the series, Eddie Marsan, who plays Terry said: "They (the Donovans) can't survive without each other, and yet they're utterly toxic with each other." Most of this is Ray's fault.

And this became even clearer this season, when Abby, who had been stricken with cancer last year, began a final descent. Ray utterly refused to accept her diagnosis, wouldn't listen to her decision not to continue treatment, had an affair with his next door neighbor while she was dying,  and then, in order to get her into a clinical trial, infected a patient with meningitis, only to learn that his daughter had helped Abby kill herself. He then spent the entire fifth season half drunk (its also pretty clear that Ray is an alcoholic), pushing every member of his family away, and not accepting any responsibility for anything he'd done. I imagine the partisans of this series (whoever they are, I don't know anybody who watches this show) will say there was some kind of redemption for him, in the fact that in the end, he helped that same kid receive treatment. I would remind those people that in order to do that,  they probably destroyed the doctor's reputation, which probably endangered or killed God knows how many people, and basically had Ray end up killing somebody.      No doubt, people will say he sold his soul. There was never one there.

This is a horrible, utterly without any redeeming features series, and yet, for reasons which boggle the mind, critics and some audiences do seem to like it. Liev Schreiber has been taking Emmy nominations away from any number of deserving actors, including fellow Showtime thespians Paul Giamatti and Michael Sheen. Now, I'll admit the Best Actor category is flooded with similar characters, but at least some of them are entertaining and have more of a range. I can't imagine what people see in Ray Donovan, the series or the lead.

And now, the show has been renewed for a sixth season, where the main difference is Ray will be operating out of New York, not Los Angeles. (He had to relocate when his reputation was made public in LA.)  But he showed absolutely no sign of either changing or even acknowledging he has to change. The main difference is he'll be working primarily for Sam Winslow, a studio head who, from the moment she met Ray, has been completely able to manipulate him to do what he wants. (One of the only enjoyable things about this series was watching Susan Sarandon tear into this role like a coyote into a T-Bone.)

All that Ray Donovan has ever been able to do is gather an immense number of great actors together, and waste their talents playing contemptible and horrible people. There's something grimly fascinating about the show, I admit, but its the fascination of a slow motion train wreck. The series will probably begin filming Season Six any day now. If I run to Liev Schreiber by chance in Manhattan, I'm going to walk up to him, and punch him in the face. It'll be worth it, even if I know from this series how good a brawler he is.

Homicide Episode Guide: The True Test

Written by Noel Behn; story by Tom Fontana and Noel Behn

Directed by Alan Taylor

                The detectives at Homicide haven’t yet had to investigate the murder of a teenager so far this season, which is odd considering how many young people get murdered in Baltimore. So Lewis and Bayliss are called into investigate the stabbing of another young African-American --- only this time the body didn’t fall on the streets but in a wealthy private school. Marshall Buchanan, the victim had been accepted on a scholarship in a school that doesn’t have a lot of blacks in it. In a more upper-class environment, his parents clearly hoped he’d  be ‘safe’.  Clearly they were wrong.

                From the beginning of this case, Bayliss is pissed off at the teachers and student body at this prep school. As we learn from him, this comes from something in his childhood. His cousin Jim (who we met in Season 3’s ‘Colors’) had dreamed of getting in and when he was turned down, a vital part of him was crushed. Bayliss has never been able to forgive that slight and it nettles him. Perhaps for that reason, he goes after the main suspect with more vengeance than per usual.

                That’s not to say that the main suspect doesn’t deserve it. McPhee Brodman, a seventeen-year old upperclassman is one of the cruelest characters we have ever met on Homicide. He is an egotistical, self centered, racist punk who taunts the detectives throughout the entire show. He seems to have the ability to manipulate younger students into doing various harsh and cruel things--- including Marshall’s murder. Former child star Elijah Wood (pre Lord of the Rings) gives one of the most unnerving performances on Homicide playing a teenager with no code of ethics at all.

                He thinks he’s above the law, and he has good reason for thinking so. His mother is Judge Susan Aandahl, a semi-recurring character we first met in season 4. In many ways, her blindness to the obvious cruelty of her son is even more frightening then McPhee’s actions. She knows that he is capable of violent actions--- he firebombed a car at age seven---  but as she puts it  she’s a judge, but she’s also a mother. In a private conversation she has with Bayliss, she admits that she is afraid of her son. Yet she is determined to protect her son, no matter what. This is revealed in the climax of the episode when McPhee reveals that he had Marshall murdered because he wouldn’t carry out an assignment--- his mother’s murder. The look on Sagan Lewis’s face when she hears this is one of pure shock--- yet minutes later, she is trying to get her son’s statement suppressed. One wonders if maybe McPhee won his duel with the detectives.

                Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this case occurs when Bayliss reveals that he admires the judge for standing by her son no matter what. This is a small crack in the hide of Bayliss, which has been getting tougher and tougher as the season progresses.

                Though the main focus of the show is on Secor and Clark Johnson, the writers do not forget to look in on the other two detectives who’ve had ongoing problems. In the course of this episode, Pembleton once again takes his firearms exam. This time he manages to pass and is finally allowed back on the street, even though he admits the real test is in the box. Things seem to be looking up for Frank--- but he’s not looking closely at his life. In a scene at the start of the episode, Mary Pembleton reveals that it hasn’t been easy dealing with her husband for the last month. Looking closely at it, Mary clearly sees that there are some problems in their marriage, which will come up again sooner than Frank realizes.

                In contrast, there is little brightness in Kellerman’s life.  The three other arson detectives under indictment have all copped pleas, insinuating that Mike, the only innocent man in the bunch,  is going to be the one hung out to dry. Even his own attorney thinks that he should plea out. Mike’s life is so crappy, he invites Brodie to stay with him on his boat, despite Munch’s warnings.

                The one bright spot for Mike occurs in the first act, when for the first time, he meets Dr. Cox. The two of them strike up a dialogue and its clear, there’s something there. The byplay involving Cox and Kellerman is peculiar, considering the heavy flirting that was going on between Juliana and Bayliss in the past three episodes. One wonders why Fontana suddenly changed directions on this, as it doesn’t seem to deal with the continuity of the show. Still Diamond and Forbes do have some chemistry, and it will continue to spark.

                For all the strengths of ‘The True Test’ (especially because it was the highest rated episode of Season 5) the episode isn’t quite up to the level of some of the other episodes. The acting is very high-caliber, yet the story itself seems a little less sound--- there aren’t a lot of seventeen-year- olds like McPhee in the world of Homicide, so it doesn’t have the same resonance despite Wood’s great work. However, it ends with a rare optimistic note for one of the characters, and hints that maybe better things are on the way, especially with Braugher going back on the street. It’s been good watching him recover, now seeing him back on the job has a lot of promise.

My score: 4 stars.

Janie The Virgin Season 4 Review

Ever since the days that the CW was once the WB, the powers that be at the Emmys have constantly denied it recognition in any major category. This was galling in the days when only the major networks would get nominations; it's absolutely moronic in an era when many of the series nominated aren't even on TV any more.  And right now, the cruelest victim of them all is one of the best shows on any network, Jane the Virgin.

The telenovela satire (which it acknowledges at least twice an episode) has been growing incredibly powerfully over the last year. In one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of TV, Jane's beloved husband Michael died from complications from the shooting in the third season premiere. The series has since moved forward three years, and Jane's baby Mateo is now nearly five years old. Her family situation has been sort of in a mix the last few months. Her mother Xo has finally married her father, telenovella star Rogelio (the always hysterical Jaime Camil), but have been unable to deal with a proper marriage because Rogelio's fist wife  (Justina Machado) has shown up very pregnant with Rogelio's child, and now they are trying to deal with a really complicated situation, especially now Patty has fallen in love with Rogelio great rival Esteban.

Things have not gotten any easier with Jane's baby daddy Rafael. In the third season finale, he was thrown out of his hotel and disinherited by his sister, Luisa. He has now spent the last three episodes trying to rebuild his fortune at the expense of everything else. For starters, he torched his relationship with Jane at the beginning of the season, which has become awkward since they are living together now. Then, his relationship with his ex-wife/other baby mama Petra (Yael Gregorias) fell apart when she told him she was isn't in love with him. And now, he's trying to having a fake relationship in order to buy his hotel back, which has the advantage both the other women in his life.

As for Jane (the incredible Gina Rodriguez), she is trying very hard to remain sane and self-centered, which has not been helpful by the fact that the first man she ever was love with, Adam, a comic book artist, has come back into her life and has determined to make her happy. Which makes even more complicated because Xo and her Abuela didn't exactly love him the first time, and aren't crazy about him now.

What makes all of this so brilliant is that this series never takes itself seriously. Realizing that the title has made no sense for the last year, half the fun now comes when it shows up and is edited. Narrator Anthony Mendes remains one of the most delightful treasures in the history of television, and they still find ways to make it remarkable. (In the season premiere, for example, they introduced Adam with his own narrator, and they spent the episode sniping at each other. And the series always seems to have throw away dialogue that will drive into hysterics. For example, in last night's episode, Rogelio was raging at one of the writers: "You can't introduce a new character three-fifths of the way through the series, and expect him the audience to love him!" The narrator then cut in: "Gee. I wonder what Adam's doing."

Jane the Virgin is arguably one of the cleverest, charming, and endearing series on television, and now it has been regulated to Friday nights, considered the dead zone of broadcast TV. Two of the best series on network television are on the CW Fridays,(the other, of course, is Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and on their best days they get less than a million viewers combined. Jane has done well at the Golden Globes and the Critic Choice , but the Emmys still refuse to give it the time of day. And since both shows probably need the awards to survive, this is particularly cruel. Both series may survive til they reach their natural ends - this is, after all, a network that has been more than willing to renew both series despite their low ratings  - but I regret this because both series are among the truly exceptional accomplishments on any form of medium. Find the time in your DVR or Hula. Watch this show.  It should be noted that there's no reason not to.

My score: 4.5 stars.