In This Section
|
« Raines
March 30, 2007: Reconstructing Alice
The tone and mood of this week’s episode is very different from last week's. Instead of zingers and destined-to-be-classic one-liners, we have some heavy stuff. I know Raines is a homicide detective who might be crazy, but a bit of levity never killed anyone. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) Don't get me wrong, though, I really enjoyed the episode and I liked that it was a little heavier, a little darker.
Let me sing the praises of Laurie Metcalf for just a moment. I think she’s great. She shines at comedy, as her time on Rosanne proved, but she can also do the heavy stuff, as evidenced on Grey’s Anatomy. She had very memorable guest appearances on Desperate Housewives and My Boys last year, and this is another solid turn for her. But back to our main man, Raines. He seems to have hit a new low; he's becoming a bit of an insomniac and has started drinking. Well, maybe he’s been drinking, but this is the first we’ve seen of it. The whole Alice in Wonderland tea party for the mad hatters down the rabbit hole was trippy and strange, but very well done. Our dead girl Alice plays it close to the vest.
Speaking of Alice, let’s focus for a moment on our victim of the week. It’s none other than Alice Brody, a homeless woman who had her identity stolen. Again, I have to commend the writers on taking a topic we’re all familiar with — identity theft — and showing it to us in a new way. I think you’ve got to be pretty crafty to even think of stealing a homeless person’s identity, even if they’re not using it. Although Alice was depressed and in the drink, she had people who loved her. Mickey Russo, a reformed alcoholic who cleaned up his act, got off the streets and wanted to help her do the same. But she couldn’t accept his help; she was dealing with her own demons. When the deputy from Denver flies out to identify the body, Raines’ Spidey sense starts tingling because there are no open investigations on her and there’s no need for him to identify the body in person. When the deputy admits Alice is his mother it’s not a huge shock, to Raines or to us. But when he says he won’t claim the body for burial, it made me very sad. Even if he imagined the worst about his mother after she walked out on him, doesn’t she deserve some compassion? Nothing like that has ever happened to me so maybe I’m speaking out of turn. What do you guys think?
I really enjoyed Raines' interactions with Alice in front of his shrink. Everything he said to Alice he was really saying to himself, including, “Don’t put your so-called problems on display. Have some dignity.” Ouch. Raines is really beating himself up. But at the same time I think seeing and talking to these mental projections of the victims is really helping him. He admitted to Alice that he’s afraid of becoming her. He might be crazy and he’s been drinking but he doesn’t want to end up alone on the street. He’s already lost his wife (divorce) and his partner (murder). He’s not sure he can lose anything else.
A few of you have already mentioned this, but I also love to see how Raines’ perception of the victims changes with every new piece of information he learns. The transformation I enjoyed most this week was when he made Alice look like the model from the catalog.
And what about Sally’s transformation? Who knew she was such a looker? I laughed out loud when she showed up in that outfit. Her hair was down, she had makeup on, and you could see the shape of her body. I loved that she “used her body like a weapon” to get information they so desperately needed for the case.
I think there was some good misdirection in this episode. I thought I knew who killed Alice, but I was actually surprised. I also don’t like to try too hard to solve the case before Raines does. I want to go along for the ride and enjoy his discoveries. And I loved that Mickey and Raines put Alice to rest where she loved to be in life: near the ocean (well, technically in the ocean, but you know what I mean).
You may have noticed that I didn’t really talk about the perpetrators of this crime. I was so impressed with Laurie Metcalf that they kind of blended into the background for me, but please feel free to discuss below.
Raines and Alice had a lot of very witty repartee. My favorites exchanges were:
“I’d like to see what you look like after a few years on the street.”
“We keep talking like this you’re gonna get your wish.”
“I’m not in a position to judge.”
“It hasn’t stopped you yet.”
“That’s like your 10th cup of coffee today.”
“Are you the caffeine police?”
|
TVGuide Links:
|
|
|
|
Apr 1, 2007 5:24 PM
|
He’s already lost his wife (divorce) and his partner (murder). He’s not sure he can loose anything else.
Perhaps it's a typo, but it's lose. If so, I'm sorry, but that's one of my pet peeves.
I knew that the person at the shelter was behind the identity theft and had killed the guy. My daughter asked how I knew, and I told her, "Because I've seen a lot of this kind of show." I still enjoyed it, though, because of Jeff Goldblum and Laurie Metcalf's performances.
|
|
Apr 1, 2007 11:08 PM
|
|
I love this show. At first I was afraid it would be just another Medium of Ghost Whisper it is very unique. Sometimes I am afraid to put info in these blogs because so many have people correcting grammer and spelling and I am the worst speller and do not have time to read over my reply. I just hope this show sticks around since it is very entertaining and makes Friday not such a bad night to watch TV.
|
|
Apr 2, 2007 9:54 AM
|
|
This show has really grown on me now that we can see what the ghosts that Raines see really are and why he sees them as he does. I hope others are watching this because I do think it deserves a full season run!
|
|
Apr 2, 2007 11:40 AM
|
This is a good show. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I have. I thought this was the best ep so far this season. I liked how they left it a mystery as far as why the mother left the family. She was obviously upset about something. Laurie Metcalf was great again. I have enjoyed seeing her on DH, this show and on My Boys. 3 very different roles for her. I think she should get a regular role somewhere.
Jeff Goldblum was excellent again. He seemed a little nicer to that one cop on this ep. He also is making progress with the shrink. But the rest of his life is falling apart. The drinking and not sleeping is not good. And we didn't see his partner this week.
I've been looking at the ratings every week for the show. They seemed not bad for this week. They definitely improved from the lead-in Identity. Maybe just maybe this show has found a home on Friday.
|
|
Apr 2, 2007 12:20 PM
|
I thought this episode turned a corner. It was better than it's usual self, albeit darker. I did not have all the little mysteries figured out, although i don't do alot of that usually. I SOOOO enjoyed Laurie Metcalf. She is one of the most brilliant, underrated actresses out there today and totally earned her Emmys from being on Roseanne. I loved her on the Norm McDonald show as well and the episode of Monk she did.
I was glad that Raines stopped BSing his therapist and talked to Alice right in front of her.
He makes you care about him a little more each episode.
Excellent!
|
|
Apr 2, 2007 3:10 PM
|
|
If those who love this show haven't seen Graham Yost's first effort go out and rent Boomtown. The best first year cop show. Ever. Until the suits got hold of it in it's second ratings challenged shortened season. They took an original premise, at least for a procedural, and totally hijacked it right into the dumper. Nice going, NBC.
|
|
Apr 2, 2007 8:34 PM
|
|
I'm a day late so I doubt anyone will even read this but I (probably naively) think it may help the show to have more comments and I really hope this show makes it. I'm surprised they moved it to Friday when it seems they'd promote the heck out of a show starring Jeff Goldblum and with such an interesting premise. I believe the move was planned all along, but I don't get it. As usual, Jeff Goldblum did a great job in this episode, particularly with the shrink scene. I totally believed him talking to the homeless victim and knowing he was really talking about his fears of turning out like that himself. Another great guest appearance by Laurie Metcalf who is always great to see. I noticed a couple of odd moments in the show, though. In the first 2 scenes between Raines and the Homeless shelter lady, there was some odd interaction. In the first scene, although he had just met her, Raines tries to touch her in what looked like a pretty affectionate manner when she was walking away from him. He put his hand out as if to caress her on the shoulder. Then in the 2nd scene, she has to walk very closely past him and there's an obvious "moment" there between them also. It seemed like they were setting something up between them and then it ends up as kind of a red herring. I guess they wanted us to feel that Raines liked her but it didn't seem to keep him from going after her once he put the pieces together.
|
|
Apr 3, 2007 11:57 AM
|
|
I like this show and I love Jeff Goldblum . At first I was afraid this was going to be a Ghost Whisperer type show but I like that the scenes with the victim are just Raines imagination. I agree it is interesting how his perspective on how he "sees" the victim changes as he comes to know more about them.
|
|
Apr 3, 2007 3:34 PM
|
If those who love this show haven't seen Graham Yost's first effort go out and rent Boomtown. The best first year cop show. Ever. Until the suits got hold of it in it's second ratings challenged shortened season. They took an original premise, at least for a procedural, and totally hijacked it right into the dumper. Nice going, NBC.
bmp956, did you catch the cameo appearance of Boomtown's Dect. Bobby Smith in the Raines pilot? I thought it was an awesome little shout-out to a great show that was cancelled way too soon.
|
|
Apr 4, 2007 1:24 PM
|
|
I like Raines.
|
|
Apr 5, 2007 9:37 PM
|
|
Loved the ep and loved the French maid outfit. What the vics look like really does reflect Raines' thoughts, eh? LOL
|
|
Apr 5, 2007 11:52 PM
|
|
|
