Day Break

Well, here we are, finally at the end of Brett’s long journey (it’s taken a little longer than expected thanks to ABC.com’s erratic schedule, but I digress). There is a little bit of disappointment when you realize that the show’s producers were hoping for a second season of the show and left a couple of plot threads hanging just in case there were more episodes on the horizon. It’s nothing major, and I still think this was an awesome episode, but I guess this serves as a reminder that whenever you work in the television industry you never know how things will end up. That last image in particular is sure to have fans of the shows debating its meaning (I’ll get to that later).

The first few scenes of this episode seem like more of the same: Brett using his knowledge to move through the day as efficiently as possible and save a number of people in the process. In the span of just a few minutes he manages to get immediate medical assistance to the bus driver who’s about to have a stroke, prevent Margo from being hit by said bus, and even uses the commotion to handcuff Chad to the grating of a gutter and make a run for it. Jack Bauer couldn’t have done it better himself.

But then we finally get some new revelations: Brett is able to convince Choi that he’s being framed and interrogates Mrs. Garza, whom we learn is the one who started this whole mess in the first place. Turns out that she convinced her husband not to testify, and by passing certain information on to her lover Tobias Booth, ensured that her husband would be killed and that Brett Hopper would be framed for the murder so that the evidence Garza sent to him would never see the light of day. This confession finally exonerates Hopper, but convinces the members of the conspiracy that they need to bring an end to everything. No more fooling around – destroy everyone and everything.

Unfortunately for the conspiracy, they set up the wrong person to kill Hopper – Damien. It was a bit confusing when Damien pistol-whipped Hopper and then just left him to wake up in the back of a pick-up truck in a parking garage. Clearly Damien realized that Hopper wasn’t the one who betrayed him, but when did he have his change of heart if he still attacked Brett? The fact that all of this didn’t add up was what made me realize that the one of the final scenes of this episode had to address the Damien/Uncle Nick storyline and bring us some closure to why everything happened.

As it turns out, Damien liked Hopper too much too take him out without checking his facts. I wasn’t totally clear on what Baxter would have said that cleared Hopper of selling Damien out, but the end result is the same: Uncle Nick is the one who ratted out the safe house, killed Hopper Senior and made it look like a suicide, and even tried to have Brett murdered. Pathetically, he even begs for his life as Brett walks away. “Think of your father!” I loved Brett’s cold response, even more ironic given his time-repeating. “I do. Every day.” There’s a part of me that thinks maybe Brett should have taken the moral high ground and had Nick sent to prison instead of letting Damien execute him, but given the amount of pain he’s caused in Hopper’s life, you can understand why he doesn’t even look back.

And I almost forgot to mention one of my favorite moments: Brett’s sudden realization that he’s made it to tomorrow after awakening from the back of the pick-up. Maybe the endlessly repeating day of his life was just a means of setting up this day, when everything important happens. That’s the real reason why Brett had to keep reliving the day, even when he solved Garza’s murder. This is about something much larger than just him, and if he had gotten to see tomorrow then, the conspiracy still would have won. Instead, their goon squad rushes into an empty courtroom and is taken down by a SWAT team led by Andrea. Nice. I also appreciate the crazy montage of punishment where we see what happens to nearly all of the bad guys. For those keeping score: Tobias Booth goes to prison, Detweiler kills himself with a shotgun, Chad escapes from custody after beating up the officer assigned to escort him through the police station, Mrs. Garza is killed, the Crying Man seems to escape (he unlocks his chains and produces a gun, so I think that’s what we’re meant to assume), and Spivak is finally revealed to be just misdirection, since Chad is the one who planted the fingerprints on the “murder weapon.” Only Barry Colburn gets away with everything, but at least he tells Brett who’s responsible for his dad’s murder.

And of course, there’s that last image in the episode, of a mysterious man we’ve never met before watching Brett, Rita and Jennifer from a distance with an air of detachment. Or maybe we have met him. Although I’ve checked the credits for this episode everywhere I could think of, I haven’t been able to tell if this guy is the same actor who played Jared Pryor. They look vaguely similar, but business suit guy’s beard is different and makes it hard to get a good look at his facial features. Whether or not this guy is Jared, the larger question of who he really is remains. I like some of the theories that have been posted already in the feedback. Maybe he’s the spirit of the city itself, who chose Brett Hopper to right the wrongs that had been corrupting it for years. Or maybe he’s a reference to some plotline that the show’s creators were hoping to use next season. We’ll never know. But maybe that’s for the best. After all, what’s a good mystery without a few pieces missing to keep you guessing?

First thing’s first: did anyone have problems with this episode being edited out of order? The show seemed out of sequence when I first tried to watch it: Immediately after Brett was running out of the courthouse, it cut straight to him finding Margo tied up in some remote location. I realized pretty quickly that I wasn’t so out of it as to miss an entire plotline and figured that it was a problem with the episode itself. Sure enough, towards the end I got another mixed-up sequence that explains what happened to Brett from the time he was threatening Uncle Nick to his freeing of Margo. At least I know now that I wasn’t going crazy. Did this happen to anyone else? It’s possible that it was a one-time glitch that caused the wrong act to play after the commercials. Hopefully it’s been fixed by now.

Just about everything we thought we knew about our characters changed yet again tonight, and I was happy to realize that their motivations are always surprisingly consistent with how we’ve seen these people act in the past. The writers have thought out this story line to a remarkable degree so that nobody is pulling a 180 at the last second and being revealed as the master villain, even though he or she had been helping Hopper all along.

In this case, I think it’s safe to assume that, based on the ending to this episode, the head of the conspiracy is... (dramatic pause) Barry Colburn, the crooked lawyer. He’s clearly the one controlling Tobias Booth and calling the shots for him. The twist ending also implies that the ever-helpful Spivak is also in on the scheme to frame Hopper somehow, although it’s not clear how; all we know for sure is that he had been subpoenaed in an upcoming trial involving most of the other major conspirators. Since Colburn mentions having an inside man in the department, maybe he meant Spivak (or Chad, although that would seem too obvious since we’ve known about that connection all along).

And just as crucially, we find out Rita’s deep dark secret, which she’s been hiding all this time. It’s actually pretty disturbing: she attacked and accidentally killed her father with a flashlight in order to protect her brother Billy, who was on the receiving end of one of their father’s drunken rages. She was still married to Chad at the time, and he helped her avoid the police and get rid of the body. That’s a pretty grisly secret for a couple to hide from the world. Maybe the strain of knowing what they had done eventually took a toll on their marriage?

I’m not quite sure I believe that an ace lawyer and Shelten’s police connections are all that you need to cover up a murder, but I guess it’s all a part of the film noir attitude that Day Break is aiming for, where nobody is purely good and we all have dark secrets that we’d rather not face. When Rita finally confesses all of this to Brett, he in turn reveals to her a secret he’d been keeping: His father didn’t get killed in the line of duty. He committed suicide. It’s interesting to realize the thematic link that the writers are drawing here. Just as Brett Hopper’s day is repeating itself endlessly, trapping him in the same situations over and over again, so too is the past repeating itself in the present: The tragedies of Brett and Rita’s parents are coming back to haunt them. For Brett, the case that destroyed his father’s integrity and drove him to suicide is now ruining his own life. It’s a clever little way of showing that this story is all about karma, and the realization that even if we’re trapped within the same period of time, our past mistakes will catch up to us eventually.

Other noteworthy mentions: I laughed out loud at Brett’s cheesy one-liner, “Consequence, bitch!” as he shot Detweiler, although I’m glad that this show doesn’t stoop to having our hero yell out a catchphrase every time he takes out a bad guy. I think it worked this time mostly because Detweiler’s “Decision... consequence” mantra has been set up as the show’s unofficial tagline. Also, has anyone else noticed that it’s become incredibly commonplace for a thriller TV show to have a scene where the good guy (in this case, Brett Hopper) is eavesdropping on a meeting between two bad guys (in this case, Booth and Uncle Nick) and then suddenly the hero’s cell phone goes off and alerts everyone in the nearby area that they’re being spied on by someone in the bathroom stall/broom closet/telephone booth/etc, forcing them to hunt down said hero? I keep seeing this plot device used over and over again. When are people going to learn to set those things to vibrate mode when they’re doing their espionage work?

Just one episode left now, and more than anything else, I’m curious to see how Brett will be able to right every wrong and resolve every story line within the span of 24 hours. He knows just about everything that will happen during this day now, but is that foreknowledge really enough for him to save Rita and bring down the conspiracy in one fell swoop?

The first few minutes of this episode were a great change of pace, although it didn’t take long before I was feeling the same way as Brett did: even when you’re lounging about on a tropical beach, sipping alcoholic beverages and spending time with your bikini-clad, smokin’ hot girlfriend, eventually you’d get bored of doing the exact same thing day after day. Okay, maybe you wouldn’t get bored of it, but you might eventually be depressed to realize that you’re trapped. Your life is on permanent hold, nothing you do matters in the long run, and you only have twenty-four hours of freedom to enjoy.

Still, I’m glad that Brett finally decides to use this time-repeating to his advantage by taking outlandish vacations (and for those of you wondering why he’s able to flee the city without being hunted down like in the second episode of the series, it’s because he’s found the tracking device on his car that Fencik and Buchalter were using to track him). The man deserves a few days of R and R. But by the time the first commercial break rolled around and the biggest plot twist was that the secret ingredient in the Baja Blaster was coconut juice, I was beginning to wonder if this was just a filler episode to kill time before a two-part grand finale.

(And on a totally unrelated side note, Moon Bloodgood is absolutely gorgeous, and she’s engaged to… Milo from 24? Really? Nice job dude – he looks pretty goofy to me to have such a hot girlfriend. Maybe some of the girls on the feedback board can educate me on this one: Eric Balfour, hot or not? Maybe his pointy chin and half-goatee are more handsome than I thought. Or maybe there’s hope for all of us goofy-looking guys out there after all.)

But anyway, back to the massive revelations in this episode, which manage to change the entire game again. It seems that Brett’s ability to affect people from the moment they wake up has both positive (inspiring his sister to trust him, convincing Andrea to take her boyfriend to rehab) and negative results. This time, Rita wakes up apparently mad at Brett for no real reason. Or at least, no reason that she hasn’t felt the other several dozen times that she woke up. She decides to call Chad this morning, and in doing so, tips off Spivak’s SWAT team that Hopper is at her place rather than his apartment. Which gives Brett even less time than before to start running.

But Rita gets even less trustworthy as the day progresses: while she’s driving along with Chad, she gets a phone call and exclaims “Someone found the body!” What body? Later, Uncle Nick visits Brett in prison and vaguely alludes to the fact that Rita’s secret concerns the conspiracy that Booth is running as well. If that’s the case, it would make sense that Chad’s secret that he’s being blackmailed for and Rita’s secret are one and the same: if Rita’s secret somehow is connected to the men running this conspiracy that would explain how they know about it to control Chad. And this secret also concerns a guy named Billy, whom Chad describes as a perpetual screw-up.

Unfortunately, Rita isn’t the only one who’s lost Brett’s trust. Uncle Nick is also a part of the conspiracy, albeit as an enforcer that, like Chad, has been threatened into working for them but still doesn’t want to see any harm come to Hopper. Apparently the dirty money Brett’s father accumulated was a result of burying any investigation into the murder of Isabella Contrares, but while Uncle Nick could live with the guilt, Hopper Senior couldn’t. Hey, at least the man is nice enough to send “Hippo” (what a terrible nickname to get stuck with…) to act as Brett’s guardian angel with a sniper rifle. He’s not evil, he’s just scared out of his mind at the amount of power the conspiracy has, and he advises Brett to plead guilty to the murder and serve his time in jail rather than rock the boat.

And then the episode closes with another two plot twists. For starters, Uncle Nick is the one who tipped off Damien and saved him from the massacre at the safe house. Curiously though, he uses Damien’s trust from this tip to convince him that Brett should no longer be considered an ally. And then the final piece of information: much as I predicted, there’s someone above Booth in the conspiracy. And I’m certain it’s a character we’ve already met. Whoever it is, Uncle Nick knows and has access to this person, because he suggests a meeting to take care of business once and for all.

Whew, that’s quite a lot of surprises for one episode, so many that it felt like Brett spent almost the entire time after the beach vacations being constantly at someone else’s mercy. He goes from almost being killed by Fencik and Buchalter to being lectured by Uncle Nick to getting arrested and accosted in his prison cell. I’m impressed that this show has managed to change everything yet again, but it only makes it harder to wait another week for a single episode, and then one more after that for the finale. Let’s just hope they don’t save all the answers for the final hour, because I’m dying to know what Rita’s secret is.

The opening of this episode had something that I love to see on Day Break and don’t get nearly enough of: Watching a short piece of a day over and over again as Brett tries to figure out precisely the right set of actions in order to get what he wants. Here, he’s confronted with a hostile prison warden who’s not letting him see the legendary prisoner Miguel Dominguez. First he just tells Brett that Dominguez is in solitary confinement. Then Brett realizes the warden is a part of the conspiracy and tries to pretend he’s there on Detweiler’s orders. Finally, he’s able to make his answers to the warden’s questions believable and detailed enough to get access. Sometimes Day Break can seem like a really good noir that just happens to have the clever twist that Brett Hopper is repeating the same day over and over again; I always appreciate it when the episode is edited in such a way that we see him really taking advantage of this fact rather than just seeing a whole day at a time. Although, what does Brett do for the rest of the day, since he has to wait a whole 24 hours in order to get his next chance? I guess I’d kill time at the movies, since you’re not wasting any money (it would all be back in your wallet by the next day), and it would be hard for Spivak and his SWAT team to find you in a darkened theater.

And once again, I have to applaud the show’s writers for their consistent sense of cause-and-effect. When Dominguez showed up at Rita’s apartment to kill her and Chad, I was wondering why this had never happened before. But then the answer became clear by the end of the episode: Alma isn’t an innocent, she’s actually the “Crying Man’s” dispatcher and sister. She tips him off after Brett comes to visit her and tells her brother to get rid of him for asking questions.

I was a little less clear on who exactly the dead guy was in the bathtub in the apartment above Brett’s own (that’s apparently been bugged). It seems that he’s another victim of Dominguez, and that Fencik and Buchalter were responsible for the body disposal and just left him there for the time being. If there was another connection to the conspiracy, I think I missed it. But I assume that whomever this dead guy is, he might be crucial to the final three episodes and to figuring out what else Hopper needs to solve in order to see tomorrow.

I’ll get to that last revelation in a moment, but first, a few more small details to point out. Andrea continues to get funnier with each episode, or at least, she’s the character that's been given the writers' best lines. When Spivak gets in her face about searching cold case files and tells her to stop it if she wants to "play ball," she snaps back: “I’ve got a better idea. I’ll pull all the cases I want, and you can play ball with yourself.” I was also amused by Brett’s landlord, aka the Worst Liar Ever. His alibi for where Hopper is when he’s told to stall for time: “I think he’s taking care of the dead man in the tub!” At least we got more proof in this episode that Spivak isn’t evil. After he’s presented with solid evidence that Dominguez killed Garza, he’s willing to let Brett go and not push things any further. Hey, a little fairness is all I’ve been asking of the guy.

But, obviously, the big question left to deal with is: How exactly will Brett make the day stop repeating if it’s about more than solving Garza’s murder and clearing his own name? I have to admit that I really, really like this plot twist, because I think it suggests that Brett is trapped in this endless loop for larger reasons than himself. It isn’t enough for him to turn the worst day of his life into a good day where he gets to live, escape incarceration and protect the people he loves. I wonder if the key to seeing tomorrow is to make it the best possible day for every single person Brett can influence. For example, what happens to the woman who gets hit by the bus if he’s not there to save her? And frankly, there are a couple of unanswered questions about the conspiracy, as well. Who is Booth’s boss? (It’s been implied that there’s someone in power above him.) What are Rita and Chad’s dark secrets, and are they somehow connected? I’m envisioning some kind of Groundhog Day scenario in which Brett has to run around the city doing every single good deed that he possibly can, while at the same time clearing his name and shutting down the conspiracy entirely.

Or, maybe my guess is way off. Anyone else got any theories on what it will take for Brett Hopper to see the sun rise?

Sorry if I’m moving a little quickly for some of the readers out there – I figured it would be best if I made sure this blog kept up with the episodes available online, since I assume most people are watching them as soon as possible (Day Break withdrawal and all that). I’m hoping to knock out the tenth episode either this Saturday or Sunday, and then we’re back to one review per week until the series concludes.

Now that the boring logistics are out of the way, I have to say: this might be the best episode of Day Break yet. It’s chock full of twists and turns, insanely dangerous moves by Brett Hopper (at this point, I’m willing to compare him to a time-traveling Jack Bauer), and a couple of lines of dialogue that had me laughing out loud. Did they save up all their best one-liners for this one episode? Writer John Hlavin deserves some credit for his witty dialogue: I especially liked Andrea’s comeback “Well this morning, I had breakfast with Count Chocula.” when Booth’s right-hand man tries to make it clear he’s well-connected.

And before I forget, Brett mentions more than once that Booth is only the most powerful guy in the conspiracy that he knows of, and there’s probably bigger fish pulling his strings. I’m not sure how Brett comes to this information, or if it’s just a hunch, but I doubt the show’s creators would have made him say it if it wasn’t true. So apparently the master villain of Day Break still has yet to be revealed, which leads me to believe it’s a character we’ve met already. My vote is on Jennifer’s husband, and that his previous “kidnapping” was a ruse to get the files in the briefcase without anyone figuring it out. Whoever it turns out to be, I hope the show remains consistent to the character development they’ve given us so far – after all, why would somebody like Andrea or Detective Choi help out Brett every other version of this day if they’re running the conspiracy?

But Spivak, for once, proves that he’s a good guy who’s useful at more than acting like a jerk. I almost wanted to cheer when he showed up with the SWAT team at the last possible second to save Brett. And although he insisted on putting Brett in handcuffs right after rescuing him, he was nice enough about it to almost apologize. And Choi, who’s been much more of a reasonable guy since the very beginning, was grateful enough for Hopper’s insane courage that he took over the duties of arresting Brett in order to take him to the Garza crime scene. We didn’t learn anything new there, except that Garza tried to send Hopper a fax the night before he died: police files on Miguel Dominguez, the legendary killer who supposedly murdered Isabella (on orders, I’m guessing, from Tobias Booth) according to the evidence at the crime scene. Only problem is that he was serving time in prison at the time of the murder, which severely complicates things. It’s strange that Garza would try to send Hopper this information, but it’s nothing that we didn’t know already. At least now Hopper has a new direction to look for clues to the conspiracy though.

In addition to planting the murder photo in Booth’s speech and knocking out the “reformed” gangbanger who’s on Booth’s payroll and then driving away with his car, Brett’s craziest moment of the night was easily charging into the summit with nothing but two grenades and a plan to stall for time by talking. Nice work. Good thing the cavalry arrived when it did, because two seconds later and Hopper might have been torn to pieces. And it was even the second time that day Brett had the bad luck to walk into a room filled with gun-toting lowlifes. “Alright, now on the count of three, we’re all going to lower our guns.” Yeah, good try man, but I guess that routine really doesn’t work too often outside of the movies.

As much as I liked the big moments, there were also a couple of smaller touches that I really appreciated. One of the most frustrating things for Brett is not only having to re-explain to his friends and loved ones why he knows so much day after day, but he has to put up with their annoyance that there’s so much that he’s not telling them. Rita puts her foot down and demands that he open up to her, and so the very next day he starts the morning by explaining exactly what’s happening to him. Her response is hardly what he must have expected: “I can’t believe you just told me that!” I guess it wouldn’t really work to mention that it was her idea in the first place, but it’s a fun way of bringing to the surface one of the show’s themes: that minute changes in our everyday lives can alter our thinking completely. One day she wants to know everything in order to trust Brett, the next she’d rather be ignorant.

So nine down, four to go. And the next one promises to reveal Garza’s true killer as well. I’ll be back over the weekend and then we’re all caught up. Until then…

Now this is more like it. The previous episode of Day Break brought up a couple of new plot threads without resolving anything – here, we’re finally seeing how all of the pieces of this puzzle fit together, and how a number of the major players in this series are involved in the conspiracy to frame Brett. Specifically, it seems that both Chad and Hopper’s sister Jennifer are being extorted into helping against their will: Neither one of them has much power in the greater scheme of things. More than anything else, what I loved about this episode, and the series in general, is that everyone’s motivations make sense. As the show’s mantra “decision… consequence” proves, sometimes these characters’ stupid mistakes in the past have spiraled into personal tragedies by the end of the day.

It all comes back to Hopper’s father (I forget, did we learn his name at some point? The best I can remember he was Brett Hopper Senior). It was hinted at in previous episodes that he died under tragic circumstances, and here it’s confirmed that he committed suicide, apparently just after retiring early with a fat bank account full of cash. Detective Spivak is still livid over that last fact. He insists that Hopper was a dirty cop who took bribes in order to get rich, and that his guilty conscience over the matter was what drove him to take his own life. When Choi gets in his face about whether or not Spivak has a personal vendetta here, I was asking myself the same question: are we finally going to get a reason why Spivak hates the Hopper family so intensely, beyond what would be required of hunting someone in a murder case? He’s like the Severus Snape of Day Break, the guy who spends every scene insulting the intelligence of those around him, acting shady, and holding a grudge against the hero and his family for reasons that remain murky. I want this guy to develop more shades of gray the way Chad has.

Meanwhile, Hopper Senior’s own family questions if their father managed to pad his retirement fund through less-than-wholesome means. Both Jennifer and Brett refer to their inheritance as dirty money, although I was a little unclear about why Brett was yelling at Jennifer for spending it. “You put your family in jeopardy for a couple days off and some new curtains?” he yells at his sister, but what should she have done? Left the money in a safe deposit box to collect dust? She couldn’t have known that dangerous people would come looking for that money some day, dirty or not. But even if I thought some of Brett’s logic was shaky, it’s always compelling material when he and his sister argue. She digs into him for not being around after their father’s suicide and leaving her to take care of everything. When Brett finally opens up and forgives his sister for using the money and promising to handle the situation, the day apparently changes again, the way it did when he apologized to Andrea. This time, Jennifer wakes up in the morning and trusts Brett enough to call him first thing and explain her dilemma to him.

The money was just a red herring anyway, since the villains really want the briefcase itself, which in turn has the murder file on Isabella Contrares. And speaking of the villains, the final reveal is that a politician named Tobias Booth may be the Big Bad running the whole conspiracy from a distance. There’s still a lot left unanswered for the last few episodes to take care of, but I finally feel like I’m understanding the general shape of the plot and why everyone is acting the way they are.

Well, maybe not Chad. He’s being blackmailed by the bad guys who are threatening to reveal his secret, whatever that is, but he’s clearly got more going on than just being a complete black hat. He cares enough about his ex-wife to go ballistic when one of the two ex-cop goons threatens to hurt her, and the conspirators argue that he may not even be afraid of whatever dirt they’ve got on him anymore – hence their decision to kill him via Jennifer.

Another highlight of the episode: the frantic montage of character deaths, reminding Brett that whatever choices he makes, someone almost always pays for his decisions with their life. It was a shock to watch Jennifer get hit by the car, and it’s telling that out of all people he’s watched die, this might have affected Brett more than anyone else.

So now we get to wonder what dark secrets almost half the cast is hiding, not to mention Hopper’s dad. Was he really a dirty cop? I’m hoping not, but a show as good as Day Break will probably surprise me with some huge revelation either way.

From now on, I’m going to try to either use the actual episode title as the headline of these blog entries, or at least state which episode I’m writing about at the very beginning. That way everyone can read only the entries for the episodes they’ve seen. And I have a quick favor to ask of everyone: If you’re going to discuss episodes beyond the one in question, be sure to note at the beginning of your comment that it contains spoilers. Thank you.

This was another solid episode of Day Break that makes me lament the fact that it was prematurely canceled, although this isn’t exactly the kind of installment that made me feel like Hopper is one step closer to solving this case. If anything, it introduced 101 new plot elements and clues: I’m impressed at the complexity of this conspiracy and how well thought-out the writers have made the plot. Now I just hope the next few episodes give me some answers.

The most obvious unanswered question: is Jared an actual time traveler (I don’t know if that’s the exact term — time-repeater?) like Hopper does? Or just a crazy guy who’s searching in vain for his deceased brother? For most of the time we’re led to believe that he’s going through the same day over and over again, too, but then Dr. Forasz has an explanation for his condition that does make perfect sense, even though it’s a huge coincidence that Forasz and the conspiracy head honcho Brett’s hunting for are both members of the same private club. As the doctor was explaining this, I was thinking back and trying to remember if anything Jared did or said would prove that he’s actually been repeating the same day, and realized there was hardly anything concrete.

But then at the very end it’s clear that he does remember one of the previous days Hopper lived through, when Jared encountered him at the police station and bit him. So does that mean that Forasz is more than he seems, and his story was a lie? I really hope Jared shows up again and is involved in the rest of this story, because otherwise most of this episode was dedicated to a character who doesn’t have anything do with the rest of the plot — and didn’t even help to explain that character’s condition.

Of course, all will be forgiven if this plotline goes somewhere. Speaking of which, this episode has a number of other sudden developments that have me scratching my head. The bartender at the swanky club is involved in another group of shadowy people keeping an eye on Brett’s life, but the twist is that they knew his dad and want to help him. My guess is that one of them is also the sniper who took out the two thugs who tried to accost Hopper. Either that or there’s another mysterious ally looking out for him. The only other possibility I can think of is that it was his sister Jennifer, since she would know exactly where the thugs were because she’s a part of the conspiracy. Maybe she had a rare moment to strike back at the people manipulating her and decided to take it.

There’s also a little bit of tension coming to the surface between Detectives Choi and Spivak over whether or not Hopper is guilty. Spivak has been exactly the same stereotype since the first episode: the cynical, power-drunk superior who believes everyone else is intellectually inferior to him. When Choi argued that the evidence against Hopper was so overwhelming that he could’t believe it hadn’t been deliberately planted, Spivak just retorted that it meant he’s a sloppy killer. Could Choi be Hopper’s next ally in solving this mystery? Or maybe the writers are foreshadowing the possibility that Spivak could be involved in the conspiracy, too, and that’s the reason why he immediately dismisses any possibility that this isn’t an open-and-shut murder case.

But nothing seems stranger to me than the fact that Garza’s own wife is certain that Hopper killed her husband. Even if she’s lying, she’s one heck of an actress, because she’s able to convince Rita that she’s telling the truth. Somehow I want to believe that she’s not part of the conspiracy, but I can’t imagine how somebody could frame Brett Hopper so completely that Garza’s wife thought she got a good look at him when it was really somebody else.

If most of what I’ve written this time is an endless series of unanswered questions, well I guess it’s because that’s what made up most of this episode. There were a few standout moments from Hopper, such as his stealing a businessman’s laptop and briefly explaining that it was a matter of “a police investigation.” I also liked the general idea of using a posh exclusive club for wealthy members as a backdrop to the story — it’s a perfect film-noir setting. But after three dynamite episodes in a row, it was a bit of a letdown that this one felt like mostly filler.

I was originally planning to review only two episodes a week, but I kinda forgot that there were four new episodes coming out today. So I’m hoping to knock out all of them before next Monday. There’ll be a new review either Tuesday or Wednesday, with the next two finishing over the weekend. I’m dying to see what happens next; at least I won’t have to wait long.

Huzzah! TV Guide's own Matt Mitovich is reporting that ABC has dealt with whatever issues were preventing them from airing Day Break online, and have announced that they now have a schedule:

Episodes 101 through 107: Jan. 29
Episodes 108-110: by Jan. 29
Episode 111: Feb. 5
Episode 112: Feb. 11
Episode 113: Feb. 19

I'm not exactly clear on what the difference is between episodes arriving January 29th or by January 29th, since 107 would be the first unaired (i.e. new to us) episode, and I would hope ABC would have the sense to post it before episodes 108-110 go up. Either way, at least things are moving forward.

Also, I'm going to finish out these reviews in as timely a manner as possible, but if three or four new episodes are available on the same day, I probably won't be able to get to them all at once (especially since they go online on Mondays). Right now I'm hoping to keep to a twice-a-week or so schedule; just letting you know.

I’m pretty sure that everyone reading this blog has heard by now, but just in case, I’m afraid I’m going to have to be the bearer of bad news: Day Break has been canceled, effective immediately. The remaining episodes have been yanked off ABC’s schedule (and replaced with sitcom reruns, no less), although there is a silver lining. ABC’s website will provide the remaining episodes of the show for online viewing. I’m not entirely clear on when new episodes will be made available, but it would appear that they’ll be sticking to the same schedule they would have had if the show had stayed on the air. If that’s the case, every Thursday morning there’ll be a new episode of Day Break.

I realize this is not what any of us wanted, although it’s worth pointing out that even just two or three years ago it’s doubtful ABC (or any other network, for that matter) would have been able to finish out a series by streaming its leftover episodes over the Internet. So while it’s hardly the best-case scenario, at least we do get to see the story in its entirety.

I’m also wondering, like a lot of you, how a show that’s been as entertaining as Day Break could have slipped through all the cracks and ended up with such dismal ratings. A part of me wants to point the finger at ABC, but the truth is that I saw commercials promoting the show nonstop during November, so it’s difficult to say that they didn’t do their best to help the show succeed — at first. I suppose the larger issue here is how long a network should be expected to stick by a show before pulling the plug. Day Break was promoted with the promise that its story would be fully explained in thirteen weeks, just in time for the return of Lost. Obviously by canceling it, that promise is going to go unfulfilled. Although NBC never made that claim in promoting Kidnapped, the same situation occurred: The show was canceled before it could even provide the amount of resolution offered by the number of episodes filmed. I can’t help but wonder if this could have repercussions for the networks down the line, since it’s difficult enough already to get people to watch serialized dramas. At least if people knew that the networks would definitely support a show long enough to tell one complete arc of a story, they might be more willing to tune in.

I’m also a bit surprised by the lack of critical praise Day Break has received — it doesn’t seem like anyone in the media is really mourning its demise. Matt Roush has made it clear that he didn’t really care for the show, and while I don’t agree with his opinion, I respect it and even understand it. The first two episodes of Day Break were interesting, but uneven, with some forced dialogue and awkward pacing that might have been a result of having to set up too much plot in such a short amount of time. But the fourth episode, which explored Brett’s fractured relationships with his sister and drug-addicted former partner, was a major step forward, and I completely loved last week’s adrenaline rush that brought some great plot twists to the conspiracy while further developing the characters. Maybe in today’s glut of shows it was too late for Day Break to show improvement, but that’s a bad sign when the public has made up its mind after two or three episodes. I’m not blaming Roush for his review because I realize there isn’t enough time in the day to keep up with every single TV show, and I think he gave the first few episodes a fair chance. It’s just a shame that by the time the show was firing on all cylinders, nobody was paying attention.

Anyway, I do have some good news: I’m really enjoying Day Break and I’ll be continuing to cover the online episodes on a regular basis until the series concludes. Assuming ABC delivers the episodes on time, the next article should be going up tomorrow. If anyone out there is still interested in the show, I’m still willing to write.

I hate to sound like a broken record in my praise of Day Break, but almost every episode has been better than the one before it, and tonight’s was no exception. So much happened that I was amazed the writers managed to cover all this territory in the span of an hour.

Let’s start off with easily the biggest plot twist of the night: Brett’s mild-mannered sister Jennifer is somehow involved with the conspiracy, too. When I saw Chad get gunned down the second time around, and it revealed that Jennifer was the assassin, I was sure that she couldn’t possibly be acting of her own will. In other words, I had a really hard time believing something as out-of-the-blue as the revelation that she’s really moustache-twirling evil. I thought that I could see her crying as she iced him, and my suspicions were proven correct when the real criminal mastermind — the boss of shadowy guy (who we now know is named Detweiler) — threatened her in his car. Clearly she’s being manipulated into doing the dirty deeds of the conspiracy. But why her? What leverage do they have on her?

Although they’ve done some variations on it in the past, this episode was also the first real time that they’ve pulled the Groundhog Day trick of editing the show so that Hopper speeds through the things he already knows (like getting from busting up Damien’s little birthday with family to finding the photo at the church). Or having Hopper handle the same situation in vastly different ways: First he punches Detweiler as soon as he opens the door, only to find his wife packing a freakin’ shotgun. Immediately cut to him on the next day, acting a bit more diplomatic.

I really liked the way the trail of clues for Isabella’s murder made sense and were easy to follow; but at the same time, Hopper’s investigation always finds interesting ways to exploit the fact that he can redo the same day over and over again. The stuff with Isabella’s mom was a bit creepy, as she insists that her daughter is still alive and well. Maybe I’m just being naive, but I can’t believe this woman is so crazy that she’s imagining her daughter living in her house. I don’t think the writers would drop such an interesting plot development just for the sake of making her character kookier. There’s got to be more here than what we learn in this episode. I hope.

On the other hand, I thought the visit to the church with the Spanish-speaking nun was the only part of the episode that felt forced to me. I guess I just get annoyed whenever a character in a television show or a movie is assumed to be so incredibly wise that they can know everything about a person and make such Yoda-like declarations as “It’s not her soul that he seeks.” On the other hand, I liked the subtle moment when Brett Hopper is staring at the crucifix in church. Although the show doesn’t need to explain it, I think Hopper is wondering if maybe a higher power is the one responsible for the time repeating, and if so, why. The episode doesn’t stop to have Brett ask these questions out loud, but maybe it’s better that way: Something this strange probably works best as just an unsolved spiritual mystery (just like how Groundhog Day also never thought to provide an explanation).

This episode also came up with a number of great ways to violently murder people, including the clever ‘paint the windshield and grenade the car’ method of choice for eliminating Damien. Nice reversal in the end, having him catch the assassins and return the favor. Or the horrific fate that Detweiler is subjected to in the end: being buried alive under a dump truck full of dirt. And apparently, he’s killed just to show Jennifer that the Mastermind means business!

Which brings me back to the most important question of all: What is the central aim of this conspiracy? Even Hopper’s willingness to confess to Garza’s murder and turn over all the evidence to them isn’t nearly enough to make them stop their plans. Likewise, Detweiler is so afraid of them that Hopper's sticking a gun in his face doesn’t faze him at all. What could these shadow guys possibly be up to? That’s the mystery which drives all of the other smaller ones, and so far, I’m stumped to explain it.

So, it’s starting to look like Brett Hopper’s dad is even more connected to the conspiracy than I thought last time. We’re getting more clues, although hardly anything has been explained. “It’s a real shame what happened,” the weaselly cop who wasn’t Skinner on The X-Files says to Hopper’s sister. The obvious conclusion to draw from that statement is that he’s dead now. But since this show thrives on plot twists, I started to wonder if maybe they were going to say that he’s in jail for some reason instead. At least that’s what I was thinking before the cop tries to get Jennifer to say that her brother is crazy, seeing as how there’s apparently a history of mental illness in the family. Could Hopper Sr. have committed suicide? And then the head-honcho creepy conspiracy dude (who really needs a cool nickname, a la “Horn rimmed Glasses” from Heroes… any suggestions?) says that he has déjà vu as a result of dealing with two different Detective Hoppers! Clearly Brett’s dad tangled with these guys in the conspiracy once upon a time.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. This was a fairly atypical episode of Day Break, confined to mostly one day and one location. Hopper goes ballistic trying to get a murder file from his old partner Chad, and waving his gun around foolishly ends up spiraling into a hostage crisis.

Chad himself gets vastly more complicated: He’s not shy about flaunting his intelligence and the things he thinks make him superior over Hopper, yet he actually saves Hopper’s life at one point. So that sniper in the air ducts wasn’t going to merely subdue Brett but take him out for good, in complete disregard for protocol. If they’ve got random guys on a hostage-crisis unit on their side, you know this conspiracy is serious.

And my favorite Chad-moment of the night was his turning around the story that Rita once told about stopping to take care of the dog that was hit by a car. It’s an example of good writing that mirrors the premise of the show: The same event is retold from a different viewpoint, with a very different result. In Chad’s version of the story, although he still seems like a coldhearted jerk for wanting to ignore the dog, the experience makes him realize that he loves Rita. And it makes him understand why she left him and started dating Hopper — because she thinks he’s pathetic enough to deserve her sympathy. Of course, that’s the way Chad would see it.

I think, at this point, the show needs to put a moratorium on faking us out about the possibility that other people might be reliving the same day over and over again like Brett. First, crazy bearded dude in jail suggests that he knows what Hopper is going through, just before biting him on the arm and screaming, “We all taste like chicken!” (At least, that’s what I thought he said, it was kinda slurred.) Okaaaaay.… Then shadowy conspiracy dude mentions having déjà vu. Are we going to see more people affected by this time-repeating or not? If the answer’s no, I think the writers should retire this gimmick.

I keep waiting for Mitch Pileggi’s character to become more interesting, or at least more important to the plot. In fact, he’s so underused right now that I had to go to IMDB just to remember that his character’s name is Detective Spivak. Even so, Pileggi can play an insufferable superior better than anyone else in television-land, and he knows exactly how to sell dialogue like: “You forgot one thing…. People are stupid!” He has a way of just looking at someone that says he’s got them all figured out, and he thinks he’s a thousand times smarter than they could ever be. I hope he gets to do more than just stand around and glower in the near future.

So, all in all, another good episode that definitely proves Day Break isn’t a one-trick pony, but instead has the potential to take on a different format for the hour if need be. Some characters prove more trustworthy (Chad, Andrea for passing along info about the evidence), some look shadier (the hostage negotiator), some remain clichés even if they’re funny (Spivak), and we get a whole mess of clues hinting at where this might lead. If you haven’t heard the latest rumblings from ABC, the ratings aren’t so hot. It’s looking like Day Break might not hang onto the 9 pm Wednesday slot all the way through February. So tell a friend to check this show out so that we can keep it on the air until the finale — count me in for seeing how it all ties together.

Although I did like the first two episodes, this installment of Day Break was the difference between merely being impressed by the show's complexity and actually getting involved in it. Before now, I’ve spent most of the episode trying to figure out whether or not every single one of the plot threads has made sense and doesn’t contradict what’s happened in each previous day (which is confusing enough as it is, or maybe even impossible). Instead, this time around, I started to care about the characters.

I loved the scene when Brett and his sister Jennifer end up yelling at each other when they’ve found her house torn apart. He suggests that her husband might be working with those responsible, and she bitterly responds, “You always assume the worst about people.” From there, things get even uglier: She’s quick to tell him that he’s never around and doesn’t care about anyone else in the family. That’s the irony of Brett’s situation: He knows that there’s so much more at stake because he’s reliving the same day, but everyone around him doesn’t know that, so they keep harping on him for things that don’t matter to him. Who’s got time to mend fences with the brother-in-law when you’re framed for murder?

But all of the story lines in this episode show that Brett has to improve his life as well as save it — and salvage a number of broken relationships. Interesting that his sister mentions that Brett’s a lot like his dad; and then later on, someone else says that his dad used to be on the police force, as well. I didn’t catch if they said his dad was still alive — anyone else think he might turn up on the show and become a part of the series? Or if he’s dead, maybe it will turn out that Brett will have to investigate some of his old cases and learn more about him. I was also intrigued by his visiting his sister’s house in secret and seeing Jennifer, her husband and their daughter looking like one big happy family. Don’t get me wrong, we know that the husband is an abusive jerk (or at least, we think we do — another plot twist?), but in real life nobody is ever that one-dimensional. Maybe he’s a good father and husband except when his temper flares. It just goes to show that Brett doesn’t know everything.

Meanwhile, Hopper’s calling Andrea in the morning to warn her away from Eddie, and then she rolls over and… too late. I have to admit, I’ve watched plenty of movies and should have seen that plot twist coming, but it still took me by surprise. Speaking of movies, did anyone else notice that the music sounded a bit different in this episode? There were times when it sounded like a loud, warbling horn, almost like something out of an old detective film.

Sorry for that detour. If there’s one thing about this episode that I didn’t get, it was why Brett chose to help Eddie and Andrea instead of getting the answers from the mastermind with the sinister voice. If he finds out something important, he can remember it the next day and help Eddie and Andrea then. I wonder if Hopper is unsure whether he’ll wake up again on the same day tomorrow, so he has to keep doing everything assuming that it might be permanent. After all, he doesn’t know how this time repeating works to begin with, so who’s to say when it will suddenly stop?

My other favorite scene is when Brett confronts an out-of-his-mind Eddie holding a gun to Andrea. Brett realizes that solving this crisis isn’t a matter of just knowing what to do, but simply being honest and empathetic toward his old partner. Just like with his sister, Brett’s relationship with Eddie is terrible due largely to neglect on his part, only now he’s able to admit his mistakes and offer some help. He’s getting smarter with each day, but now he’s honestly becoming a better person.

And then there’s the really surprising ending: the day isn’t the same this time. Andrea somehow has an epiphany and decides to take Eddie into rehab and face up to the consequences of her actions with Internal Affairs. Only time will tell if Hopper can inspire any more changes like this, but either way, the cast of Day Break just got a lot more compelling.

First off, thanks to everyone who pointed me in the direction of ABC’s official Day Break website (check it out here). I was surprised, actually, by how much the FAQ on there gives away: it specifically outlines the rules the time repeating operates by (if he dies, he stays dead – end of story), and it promises to finish up this day’s plotlines within the first season. I expected that last part, but I thought it was unusual for the show’s creators to let us know this right off the bat. Maybe they just don’t want potential audience members to worry that they’ll be dragging this story out forever. And it’s left deliberately unclear whether or not they’ll explain what’s causing the time repeating, although the other interviews that I’ve read suggest that it’s never going to be solved.

Watching this second episode, I’m even more impressed with how neatly the pieces of the puzzle fit together. It’s clever how we see events in the different versions of the day that seem unrelated, and then realize how one explains the next. For example, in day one (according to this episode at least) Brett and Andrea find a dead body floating in Baxter the lawyer’s swimming pool. Later on, Brett is kidnapped by some of Damien’s goons and watches as Baxter is executed right in front of him. The next day has Brett connecting the dots: he’s at the house early enough this time to watch those same goons show up, kill the girl and take him and Baxter captive. Neat.

I still have tons of questions though, and not just about how the metaphysics of time repeating work. Weren’t we in the middle of a day at the end of the previous episode? Not that it’s a huge deal, since it just means we have to assume that Brett didn’t do much of importance that night. He had to kill some time in order to make it to 6:18 am and have everything reset – maybe we’re just missing hours of him doing sudoku or playing skeeball.

Also: are the attack on Damien’s safe house and Brett’s framing for the murder of Alberto Garza related? There’s no definite answer to that one yet, although both of them happening on the exact same day would be an incredible coincidence. Maybe Garza’s murder is being used to keep Brett occupied while the Latin Disciples eliminate Damien?

And I liked Brett’s method of saving the woman from getting hit by the bus, yelling at her over the phone to get to work instead of dragging her out of harm’s way. “I said don’t stop for coffee!” he barks into his cell phone as she ignores his first warning. Although it seems like just a gag, I wonder if this is a clue to how Brett Hopper will solve all of the hundred different problems threatening to destroy him this day: not by racing to stop everything as quickly as possible, but by using the information he has at his disposal and his smarts.

The plot was interesting enough to keep me watching, but what I really appreciated about this episode was that it felt like it gave the characters some time to really show us who they are. Andrea reminds Brett that they’ve been partners for two years – “I’ve never had a boyfriend that long,” she tells him sadly – and seems genuinely hurt that he’s not being honest with her. Of all the people Brett has to deal with, she might be the most trustworthy. On the other hand, Baxter is revealed to be a self-serving weasel who doesn’t care about anything other than saving his own skin. And although he’s almost certainly part of the conspiracy, Chad might have a little bit of decency left in him; I think he actually cares about Rita’s well-being, although maybe he just wants her back. Either way, I don’t think he knows about or would help with her murder.

And what’s Rita’s secret that she’s hiding? Yet another mystery for us to debate, I suppose. My favorite moment in the episode came at the very end, when Brett gazes longingly at Rita’s apartment while he’s speaking to her on the phone. “When will I see you again?” she asks him. His weary answer: “Tomorrow.” It’s a bitter joke, although of course she doesn’t know it. And then Brett has to see Chad in the apartment with her. Right then, as much as I wanted the answers to all the show’s questions, I was looking forward even more to seeing Brett and Rita back together and able to enjoy a little happiness without being on the run. Those two deserve it.

I’ll admit it: When I first saw the commercials for Day Break, my initial thought was, it’s Groundhog Day meets 24! My second thought was, can a show really sustain such a cool but very specific premise over the long run? Groundhog Day did a masterful job of filling up a 100-minute movie with every single gag and philosophical insight that its writers could think of, but wouldn’t the well run dry after just a couple of episodes on a TV show?

Now that I’ve seen the first two hours, I understand. The neat twist Day Break pulls on us is that there’s enough happening that the show would be interesting even without the time loop. Detective Brett Hopper has to find a key witness on the run, avoid being framed for the murder of a DA, tell his girlfriend and sister to get out of town or face serious consequences, get payback on the sister’s husband for abusing her, and generally figure out who’s behind the conspiracy to frame him and ruin his life. Got all that?

I’m curious whether the whole time-repeating situation will have an explanation, or if it’s just happening due to a mysterious higher power, and we’ll never get a clear answer. If it’s the former, it could prove interesting. Maybe this show will turn into something more like science fiction, with the time-travel stuff becoming front and center. After all, Lost didn’t make clear for a while (or, arguably, still hasn’t) whether the island has something supernatural going on.

Okay, that’s probably just wishful thinking. And I do have one question already about how this phenomenon works. Everything resets itself each morning, except Brett still has all the injuries he sustained from the previous day. Is this meant to suggest that if he dies, he won’t wake up again the next morning? At least it supplies the most clever plot twist so far: He’s able to avoid being arrested at his apartment and stick with Rita long enough to have her provide him with an alibi. But then he has everything blown for him, because he’s got a mysterious bullet wound in his shoulder. That tends to look pretty suspicious when you claim you’ve spent the entire night with your girlfriend.

Taye Diggs is a good match for this role, with the intensity to suggest both his desperation and his relentlessness. I especially like the fact that he only spends a few minutes realizing that he’s trapped in the same day before trying to set things right. It’s probably unrealistic (I assume most people would be a bit confused), but it works for a Jack Bauer-type action hero who’s ready to solve the conspiracy as quickly as possible. However, every time Diggs gets shirtless — which seems to be a lot — it makes me feel like I need a gym membership.

I also liked the small moment when he shows up at the hospital to check on his girlfriend and runs into the woman whom he saved from being hit by the bus. Only this time around he didn’t save her, and she’s in critical condition. “I didn’t go for coffee,” Hopper mutters to himself, already thinking of the long list of people he’s going to have to save with his knowledge of the future. It’s hard enough clearing your name without having to worry about preventing every traffic accident around the city.

And it was great to see Adam Baldwin of Firefly fame playing — surprise! — a slimy, duplicitous villain! Okay, that’s not a surprise; that’s what he’s played on every show in which I’ve ever seen him. In fact, while the episode wanted the revelation that he’s in on the conspiracy to be a huge deal, I just shrugged and thought, “Figures.” He’s too perfect at playing the bad guy. Let’s hope there’s a romantic lead somewhere in the man’s future.

More than anything else, I’m impressed with the way this show doesn’t make each day a separate incident, but has each one logically trigger the next. Once Hopper realizes that he can’t avoid being kidnapped and threatened at the construction site, he decides to blow town with Rita. Then he wakes up the next day with his sheets soaked with blood and is taken straight to the hospital. It goes a long way toward making Day Break feel like a complete story and not just a weekly gimmick.

I know a lot of the hard core Lost fans are ready to throw Day Break under the bus for “replacing” their favorite show for three months, but this show definitely deserves a chance. As Hopper’s situation goes from bad to worse, I keep trying to figure out what he could possibly learn that would teach him how to solve every single little (and not so little) problem. I guess we’ll have the answer in 11 weeks.

My thoughts on Day Break coming soon...