Episode 5: Emotional Rescue (Du du du du, du du du du du DUUUUU!)by KT

Click here for screengrabs from this episode

Okay. Ep 5 starts with a “Previously on Tarzan” that opens with Sam telling Jane about Donald having seen Michael's death. So we don't see the BIG recap that we've been seeing every week so far—none of that “Jane Porter had everything she wanted” thing.

The ep opens with Tarzan looking over the city in the daylight. We hear Kathleen say, “John?” as she walks into the frame YAY! Once again, Lucy scores the opening dialogue and the opening scene with the star. John Tarzan is not quite so happy about this as I am. He's a bit sullen that she's being a momma type, back on his case again.

John has two slash scar marks on his upper left arm that I never noticed before. Is this a sly reference to Xena's endlessly getting cut there? I imagine it's make-up, eh?

With a very concerned look on her face, Kathleen says “Something's wrong, isn't it”. Tarzan of course, doesn't respond. “You haven't seen Jane Porter in a while. Wouldn't have something to do with her, would it?” Tarzan says, “She doesn't want to see me.” Kathleen replies, “She said that?” “No.” “Then how do you know?” Tarzan says, “When I'm with her, she's sad.” Kathleen reassures him, “John, she cares about you. She wouldn't have gone to all this trouble for you if she didn't care.” Tarzan asks, “Then why do I make her unhappy?” Kathleen says, “People can feel two things at once. Even opposite things.” Tarzan says, “I only feel one thing. Why can't Jane?”

Cut to Jane slithering along a brick wall under a portico, carrying her gun out and ready. She pauses at the corner and then hops out around the end of the wall, arms outstretched, gun pointing. She looks like a kid playing cop. She does that television cop swing around check the area thing, menacing the space with her gun. The camera swings around giddily with her. Girl needs glasses because she apparently swung right by a guy without seeing him as we notice when he's suddenly right behind her and hits her with a plank. Now THAT is dumb! He had to be visible to her—he was just STANDING there, he didn't run into the frame or anything. Jeez… (Sometimes I really think Jane needs to go back to the Police Academy for a refresher course.)

Jane falls down, dropping her gun of course. The bad guy comes over slowly, menacingly, giving her time to scan the roofs for Snoopy Vulture Tarzan. (She obviously wants to be pissed again.) The bad guy pulls a knife.

A big fight ensues. Once again it's shown in that weird mix of speeds, fast, slow, jerky. Jane throws barricades at the guy, smashes a bottle across his face, kicks him in the groin, knees him in the side and finally knees him in the face as he kneels helplessly before her. All without having identified herself as a police officer. Sam runs up when the fight is over and is REAL impressed with her having taken the guy down by herself.

Cut to Jane and Sam walking along the streets. Sam is teasing her about missing Tarzan. She says she doesn't. He says that since Tarzan is staying away, she should be happy. She says she's thrilled. Sam asks what her problem is then. Jane says that being with Tarzan was exciting and scary and she's going through a little adrenaline withdrawal. Sam tells her if she wants excitement, she should go bungee jumping. Sam demands she promise him that she will stay the hell away from John Clayton. She finally agrees. Immediately her phone rings.

It's Richard. She demands to know how he got the number. He just answers that he wants to see her. She tells him she's busy. Richard tells her that he's talked to Donald about him looking down on the roof and seeing Michael die. And then says with that lilting Richard “Gotcha!” voice, “So when can you come by?” Jane looks at Sam and then looks away, still holding the phone.

Credits roll.

Fade in on shot of Greystoke building. Cut to Richard's office where he and Jane sit and talk. Richard says the fact that John tried to save Michael is a good sign, that it shows he's got humanity and maybe can be civilized. Then he says he curious as to why Jane hasn't brought Donald forward. Jane says she's trying to protect John from the cops, from prison and from Richard. Richard says, “You can lose your shield over that”. Jane says that if this is some kind of blackmail attempt, he can forget about it and gets up to leave. Richard says he doesn't want to blackmail her. On the contrary, he's impressed that she did what she had to do. That it's better that John being mixed up in a cop's death is kept secret. He tells Jane that they're thinking the same way. Jane denies this.

He asks Jane why they can't work together. John trusts her and she should convince him to go to Richard so he can help him. Jane says no. Richard admits that mistakes were made. But that he loves John and just wants to help him be the man he was meant to be. Jane asks what that is. Richard answers, “A Clayton”. Richard pulls out the necklace John was wearing when he was captured. He says it belonged to John's mother. And asks Jane to give it back to him. (Hmmm. Would you accept a used necklace from this man? I think something is afoot. Like maybe a bug implant?)

Jane's apartment. Jane walks in the door and immediately says to Nicky's back from across the room, “Hey Nick! You okay?” What Jane's clairvoyant? She can read backs? Whatever it is, she's right. Nicky gets up and turns around and tells Jane she's worried about her friend Darcy. She hasn't seen nor heard from her in four days. She's not answering the phone and Nicky is worried. Jane asks if she's ever done anything like this before and asks if Nicky's tried calling her parents. Nicky doesn't know how to get in touch with her parents because they're “From Ohio somewhere”. (Nicky acts as if Ohio is Timbuktu pre internet days.) Jane promises to help.

Cut to the station house. Jane is checking Nicky's voice mail. Since nobody has seen her lately, the college gave her Nicky's voice mail code. Maybe she told THEM she's a cop, eh? There is a somewhat threatening call from a guy named Gary. He's upset that Darcy is not returning his calls. He tells her he's coming over and she'd better open her door to him.

Jane says they're going to need some help. So they print up flyers. (For some reason, I find that highly amusing.) Sam says there's no match at the hospitals and they're about to start checking the morgue. Another cop has pulled up Darcy's e-mail on his computer. They find a whole bunch of e-mails from a guy named “Raptor”. The last one says that he can't wait to meet her in person. That was over a week ago and she hasn't checked her e-mail since.

Back to Kathleen's. Jane is wandering in the jungle looking for John. Birds are cooing on the sound track. John is perched up on a garden archway and asks Jane why she's come. (This is beginning to feel something like Alice In Wonderland, the way John keeps popping up in unlikely spots).She tells him she has something for him. She dangles the necklace and he jumps, swings and flips down and takes it gently from her hand. He asks where she got it. She says, “Your uncle.” Tarzan says, “But he wants to hurt me.” She says true, but that deep down part of him cares for John. (Uh-oh—she's channeling Gabrielle.) John immediately slips it on his neck and says, “Thank you.” Jane smiles. Tarzan turns to leave.

Jane calls him back and says that though she wants him to stay in the jungle, maybe he could come by and visit her sometime. (Sadly, she doesn't say this in a Mae West voice.) She wants to be sure he's safe. He asks, “Do you want me to stay here or not?” She says, “Yes definitely, I just…” and the phone rings. It's Sam telling her they got an arrest warrant for Raptor. Jane tells Tarzan she's got to go. He shuts his eyes, turns away and trundles off into the jungle.

Cut to Gary's apartment. They FINALLY identify themselves as “POLICE!” as they bang on Gary's door. Nobody answers, so the super lets them in. They enter the apartment and begin to search it. They find nothing. Suddenly Darcy comes in.

Next scene, Jane and Darcy are talking. Darcy is embarrassed because folks thought she was kidnapped. Sam finds a picture of Gary. She tells them she has fallen in love with Gary. She says, “I couldn't help myself. It was all butterflies and adrenaline”. Jane glances away for an instant. Suddenly Gary comes home and asks what's going on. Darcy tells him that Jane is Nicky's sister and that Nicky was worried about her and asked her sister for help.

Gary says, “Nicky called the police?” Sam says it's just a misunderstanding. Gary grabs Darcy, kisses her head and keeps his hand tightly on her shoulder at the junction of her neck. Once they leave Gary looks at Darcy with irritation. Darcy looks apprehensive.

Commercials.

Jane and Sam leave the building and walk out to the sidewalk. Sam says he's getting the vibe on this guy and asks Jane if she is also. Jane's spacing out. Sam pulls her attention back and says he fits an abuser's profile. As they get in their car (and buckle up their seat belts like good little citizens), Sam says he doesn't understand why smart girls go for these dangerous guys. “Are they bored, hot and bothered or just stupid?” Jane cops an attitude and asks, “Why you asking me?” Sam gets this “Uh-oh” look on his face, then raises his eyebrows innocently and says, “No reason” and off they drive. (I'm REALLY enjoying Miguel's work.)

Cut to Jane's apartment. Nicky's pissed and whining because Jane is letting Darcy stay with that guy. Jane says she's over 18 so there's not much she can do. But she'll work on it.

Shot of the Empire State Building shown in fast motion so that the clouds race across the sky and the smoke coming out of nearby chimneys looks like it's doing a wild-armed version of the wave. Then we see a little screen showing stylized city blocks and a big ol' pulsing dot moving across them. Camera pulls back to show we're in Richard's office. Richard is talking to one of his minions. He asks if the tracking device is working. The guy says yeah and it's tracking John because no one else moves like that. (D'OH! Jane wins the “Most NAIVE Big City Police Detective Award” again. What a buffoon!)

Richard says once he stops moving they can go pick him up. The guy says that he stopped at one place for a number of hours the night before. Richard asks where. The minion builds suspense, says Richard isn't going to like this. Richard tells him to answer. He says John was at Kathleen's house. Richard tells him to turn the device off—he now knows everything he needs to know.

Back at Jane's office, she's working the phones. Sam comes over and says Gary is totally clean. Jane says they must be missing an angle. She suddenly runs across the room and steals one of the other cops' newspaper, right out of his hand. Surprisingly, he doesn't shoot her but just lets her take it. (Sure clue that these are really Toronto cops, not New York ones.)

She asks Sam what city has a team called the Raptors. He says “Toronto” She shows Sam the sports page of the paper which says, “Raptors eat Knicks”. (Little sly Canadian humor there.) She says what if Gary is from Toronto and has a record there which wouldn't show up in the NY system.

Cut to Jane's bedroom. Nicky is in it alone, wearing a robe and a pair of headphones and standing before a mirror. She holds up one of Jane's blouses against herself, telling herself it looks better on her. Tarzan appears in the window. Nicky sees him in the mirror, screams, turns and rips the headphones off her head. He falls back out the window and then reappears. She screams again. Then she says, “You must be John”. She offers her hand but he doesn't take it. He walks past her and picks up the headphones and listens to them. She explains that it's music. He says it's loud. Jane says she's letting off some steam.

Tarzan says, “You're worried.” Nicky tells him about Darcy. And how Jane is trying to help but Nicky's not sure it's enough. Tarzan says that he will help Jane. Nicky says she's going with him.

Cut to the police station. Jane and Sam have found out that Gary had contacted a woman online and lured her into a relationship. When she tried to break it off, he resorted to physical violence. She is later found dead in a park but there is not enough evidence to pin the charges on Gary.

Cut to Nicky and Darcy outside Gary's apartment. Snoopy Tarzan watches them from a little perch on the architecture of a building across the street.

Nicky wants to meet Gary. Darcy says it's not a good time. She says Gary is really intense. And she's never had somebody love her this much before. And that it's hard for people to understand that. Gary comes out. Darcy introduces them. He sarcastically thanks Nicky for calling the cops over Darcy. Darcy tries to get him back in the building. Nicky wants Darcy to go off with her to talk. Gary doesn't want her to go and drags her into the building.

In his apartment, he attacks Darcy, smacking her in the face and throwing her around the room. (It's a real weird apartment—half of it looks like a storage area.) Suddenly Tarzan breaks through the apartment's glass door and proceeds to fight Gary. Nice monkey moves again from Fimmel during the fight. Nicky follows Tarzan into the apartment. Outside, Jane and Sam pull up in their car. They run upstairs, guns drawn and break up the fight. Jane screams at Tarzan to stop. He says “He'll only hit her again.” Jane promises him that she won't let him. Sam says they all need to give him statements. Nicky apologizes to Darcy.

Commercials. So many furken commercials.

Jane and Tarzan are still in the apartment. Jane asks how he got there. Tarzan says he came with Nicky. Tarzan looks like he's crying. Jane forbids Tarzan to hang with Nicky because she's not a cop and can't protect herself like Jane can. Tarzan says he would never hurt her. Jane says that he might never mean to. But that he might lose control like he did that night with Michael on the roof. (Tch. Now she's back to blaming Tarzan for that.) Tarzan looks both stricken and angry. Sirens sound and Jane tells him that he'd better leave before more cops come.

Cut to police station. Darcy is demanding to see Gary to make sure he's okay. Sam says he's in a holding cell where he belongs. Darcy says, “And your psycho friend can go free?” Jane tells her she's getting mad at the wrong people. Sam says they need her to press charges against Gary for battering. She says they upset him and that's why he acted that way. They show her the report and pictures of Gary's battered, dead, last girlfriend. Darcy says she knows all about it and that Gary had nothing to do with that. And she refuses to press charges against him. Jane says she needs to protect herself and she will help her get a restraining order. She answers, “I want to go home.”

Cut to Kathleen's apartment. Richard comes busting in. Kathleen is happy to see him for an instant, until he turns away from her, looking around and demanding, “Where is he?” Kathleen says she doesn't know what he's talking about. Richard interrupts her, growling out, “Don't start that charade with me!” Kathleen stares coldly at him. Richard says, “Is he upstairs?” Kathleen gives his back a malevolent slightly evil Xena look. Richard runs up the staircase, Kathleen in hot pursuit behind him. (Where's a big brother with long legs when you need one to get quickly up a staircase?)

Richard goes unerringly up to the jungle. Both of them peer around after he slams open the door and they enter the jungle. Again the camera starts swinging around the actors. The siblings stare at each other. Somewhat Joe DoLuca sounding music, (whining drone sounds) begins on the soundtrack as Richard walks around looking for John with Kathleen right behind him.

We see half eaten food on the ground and a shirt tossed on a boulder. Richard says, “So this is where you've been hiding him”. Kathleen says, “Me! You didn't even let me know he was alive! You kept him locked in a cage.”

Richard says “I saved his life!” Then he rages about how he kept looking for John long after Kathleen gave up. And that he found John, filthy and alone in that jungle and brought him back. Kathleen says Richard kept searching for John just so he could get what he's wanted for the last 20 years-control of Greystoke.

John suddenly flips down from above. He spits out at Richard, “LEAVE!” Richard says he wants to help John get what he wants—Jane. He tells John that Jane won't want him like he is, the way he lives. That he's like a wild animal and he will never get to take his place beside Jane until he changes. (This is kind of interesting. Nobody has directly mentioned this to Tarzan before. That he's just too wild in looks, personal hygiene and behavior for Jane and she would find it easier to be around him if he conformed a bit.)

Tarzan keeps glaring at him and/or looks like he's about to cry. Richard claims that he knew his brother better than anybody and that he knows what John's father would want him to be. Tarzan growls, ducks his head down and doesn't always look Richard in the eye. He's doing a pretty credible imitation of primate behavior during confrontations. Then Richard says he loves him and just wants to help him.

Tarzan says, “No. Never. I see what you are and I hate you.” Richard is stunned with hurt. He has no answer and no argument for that. He turns and quietly walks away.

Kathleen is teary-eyed, sympathetic and silent. She moves towards Tarzan to say something to him but he just leaps back up into the trees.

Richard goes down to the street and gets into his chauffeured SUV. He tells his minion that Kathleen has poisoned John against him. He's really upset and coldly furious. (AND just a tad un-self unaware.)

He asks how Donald's doing. The minion says he's climbing the walls. Richard says to tell him that as a witness to a murder, his life is in jeopardy. The minion says that it wasn't a murder but an accident. And that Michael lunged at John. Richard says, “No. That's not the way that I heard it. Perhaps we should talk to him again. Just to clarify the facts.” The minion gives him an impassive look and stays silent.

Back at police headquarters. Jane passes Gary in a hallway. He gets in her personal space and they pivot around each other in slow-mo. Gary leaves. Sam comes up and tells Jane that unless Darcy testifies they have no case. They have to let Gary go and that there's nothing they can do.

Jane says, “Yes there is” and she chases after Gary out into the streets. Snoopy Vulture Tarzan is of course watching them from the rooftops. Jane confronts Gary and challenges him to a fight. (LOL!) She says that the girl he killed didn't think he was man enough either. She says, “Show me what you showed her.” Tarzan perks up, wants in on the action and suddenly jumps in between them. Gary runs off telling them both to stay away from him.

Jane is pissed. “Dammit John, I HAD him!” Tarzan says, “He was going to hurt you.” Jane starts to sputter out, “I just wish…” She stops herself and says never mind and walks away.

Sam tells her it was a good plan and would have worked if “Goldilocks” hadn't stepped in. She says he was just trying to help. Sam says yeah, but he has a hair trigger temper and someday she will get hurt. Jane dismisses his concern, saying John would never hurt her. Sam says, “You know who you sound like? Darcy.” VERY interesting comment.

Cut to Nicky in Jane's apartment. Somebody knocks. Nicky gets up, opens the door and Gary rushes in. He puts a gun to her throat and says, “You and your sister shoulda minded your own business.”

Endless commercials. (You know there's a number of commercials I've never seen before. But they still all suck.)

Cut to a car racing down New Toronto's streets. Inside, Nicky is begging Gary to let her go. Gary claims he doesn't want to hurt her. Darcy has moved back to her dorm and Gary wants Nicky to talk to Darcy and get her to return to Gary. Nicky sneaks her phone out of her pocket and speed dials Jane.

Cut to the police station. Jane answers her phone and now hears what's going on in the car. She tells Sam they have to trace this call.

Cut to Jane and Sam hurtling down the street in their car. Sam is on his cell phone and they are closing in on Gary and Nicky. Tarzan shows up as they drive across a bridge. He jumps onto the hood of the speeding car and instead of splattering against the windshield like a jungle bug, he balances on the hood and just pounds on the windshield. Then he reaches in through the window and grabs the steering wheel. NOW there's gonna be trouble—I doubt he's got a driver's license.

The car stops suddenly and Tarzan whiplashes off into the road. Jane and Sam's car screeches to a halt. Gary pulls Nicky out of the car and holds a gun to her head. Sam and Jane jump out of their car, guns drawn. Gary's screaming “Back up or I'll kill her!” Jane and Sam are screaming, “Drop your gun!” Jane puts her gun down. She begins to jive Gary that Darcy wants him back. Then she offers herself as a substitute hostage for Nicky. Tarzan is closing in also. Gary aims at Jane and pulls the trigger, Tarzan jumps and knocks Jane down as Gary and Sam both shoot their guns off.

Gary and Nicky fall off the bridge. Tarzan jumps in after them. (With a LOVELY slo-mo dive.) Jane yells, “Nicky!” and pants as she stares down into the water. Neither she nor Sam jump in.

Tarzan of course saves Nicky and hauls her out of the water. Jane cries, hugs Nicky, says, “I thought I lost you”, etc. Sam looks at Tarzan and gives him a manly nod of appreciation. Tarzan nods back. (Wonder if there's Tarzan/Sam fanfic yet.)

Jane continues to cry and hug her sister and Tarzan disappears.

Cut to night shot of Graystoke building. Interior shot of Richard's office. He is looking at pictures of John and most likely his father John Sr.

The door opens and the minion shows Donald in. Donald shies away from the minion who is pushing him towards Richard. He says, “Please don't touch me. I'll be happy to cooperate.” Richard asks him if he's had time to think about what they talked about. Donald says he'd like to go home and think about it. Richard tells him that he's sorry but he can't go home until they reach an understanding. The minion looks upset. Donald says that he understands that they want him to lie. Richard says, “Donald, if you don't help us…boy, you think you have phobias now.” He says to his minion, “Take him back, let him think about it some more.”

Donald backs away and puts his hands up, palms out to keep the guy from touching him, begging, “Please. Please stop. PLEASE. NO. PLEASE. ALRIGHT! What I saw was murder. I saw the blond man murder Detective Foster”.

The minion turns an impassive face to Richard who nods to him. The minion's body language radiates just a touch of disgust with the whole proceedings. He steps aside to let Donald walk by. Donald says, “He killed him on purpose.” Richard says, “Get him out of my sight”.

Cut to Jane in the penthouse jungle, saying “John?” She walks around towards the sound of running water. Soft rock music by a young male vocalist starts on the soundtrack. Shot of Tarzan with his back to the camera taking a shower. Jane's eyes WIDEN. And then they scan. Tarzan's head shoots around. Jane pulls back into the greenery with a “hooo-hooo!” look on her face and then she leans forward again for another peek. He's gone. She turns around to leave and there he is in front of her. She gasps and then takes a quick look down at his crotch. And says, “Ooo..ooh my gosh!” *sigh*

She turns away and apologizes. He doesn't answer, just pulls on a pair of sweat pants. She says, “John, you gave me my sister back. I owe you everything for that.” She starts to cry again. She touches his face and says, “Now I know that there's a part of you that most people don't see. A part that's very gentle and very kind. And I want you to know that I see it. And I'm glad that I do.” (Her talking about his “part” right after she checks out his equipment just cracked me up. What WERE they thinking?)

The boy on the soundtrack begins to wail out incomprehensible words as Tarzan touches her face and lips and they stare into each others eyes as Jane cries.

Fade to black and the usual commercial for the horrible music they use in this series.

Not a lot of Lucy tonight. Very disappointing.

This episode was a slog for me. Perhaps because Lucy seemed to have even less time than last week in it. There's a dreadful dreariness to the episodes. And a very bland sameness from week to week that doesn't make for a lot of excitement.

As I said before, the main story, the Tarzan and Jane relationship, barely moves. There is much more time spent dealing with the case of the week than resolving the personal conflicts they have set up.

Tarzan is just such a serious dweeb. As the series goes along, I wonder even more why they are pretending that it's the story of Tarzan. Nobody has even called him Tarzan since the first episode.

The lack of humor over Tarzan's situation is such a terrible waste. Tarzan is essentially a person from a totally different culture. There's so much opportunity to show him trying to adjust to this brave new world he's suddenly back in. That type of situation is always fun for making sly comments on our society. (The movie “Splash” comes to mind.) I'd happily take even some of the clichés in that genre just for a little excitement. But, like the whole Tarzan myth, this possibility is totally overlooked.

I'd like to see John beginning to relate to his past life that was lived here, with scenes of him remembering things again. Yeah, he's “untamed” but has the man NO curiosity? Heck, at the very least have him show up wearing some ratty 20 year old Mickey Mouse ears he found in that trunk in his old bedroom. Send him to his 20 year class reunion. Have him wear T-Shirts saying things like “My parents went to Africa and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” Where is Matt Groening when you need him? Hell, where is Rob Tapert? HE would have made a great Tarzan in New York series.

I find the pacing of the show very plodding—there's really no rhythm to it. There isn't a progression of visual tension to build up to the climax of each act. Commercial breaks sometime come as a surprise rather than being expected. I think the mixture of shots must be “off” for my taste. The show just doesn't flow for me.

I can't really figure out what's so wrong. Part of it is that the main character is not interesting. He's too one dimensional so far. He's got a goal that isn't really explained. We're not totally sure why being with Jane appeals to him so much. I have no idea what he thinks their life together would be like. In the first scene of this ep, he's moping around because he hasn't seen her lately. But every time they've been together, she tells him to get lost. Perhaps that's part of it-Tarzan seems like a loser so far. Just too dependent upon someone else whom he doesn't really know at all for his happiness.

He really only comes alive in the scenes where he confronts the bad guys. The best thing about him is his physical movements when swinging around, galloping in to a fight on all fours or leaping down from high spots. His interactions with Jane are terminally boring.

It's interesting to compare this show with two other new shows, Karen Cisco and Joan of Arc. Both of those shows have interesting, fun heroes with very good supporting casts of characters also. Both these shows “work”. You want to keep tuning in next week because every week you learn something new and provocative about the characters. And because the stories are well written and make you want to keep watching to see how they end. There's a real sense of freshness about them.

Tarzan's stories are predictable. No surprises. It has an air of old TV shows about it. These cases are things we might have seen on CHIPS. The writing staff needs to make up some new stories instead of endlessly recycling old clichéd very familiar been there, done that crime stories.

The look of the show also seems somehow very inwardly focused. It's tight, restricted, with a very confining feeling to me. Interior shots are very closed in—people are generally standing or sitting still, close together as they talk to one another. There's no pleasing composition in any of the groupings. Only in the police station scenes do we see any action in the background. This just makes the feel of the show real static. Of course, perhaps this is what they want to show—how confining Tarzan sees this world. But then they should have restricted space only when Tarzan is around.

There's not enough variety in the shots either. The vast bulk of them are straight on shots with the camera on the same level as the actor. There are very few high and almost no low shots, and even the panning shots don't really seem to have an intrinsic reason for movement. They repeat a circling movement around the actors a number of times. But they just don't do those cool funky shots like in X-Files where we'd see things like a very low shot facing a closed door with light behind it and then shadows of feet coming up to it. That's just nice—builds a little suspense of who's outside the door, why are they standing there without opening it, and what will they do once they get themselves inside?

As I've said before, there's also a lot of talking in this show and that really slows things down. Jane and Sam are always explaining everything about the cases to each other, about how how they will get the information they need and how they figured things out. It would be much better to show them doing this stuff. For example, why did they use dialogue to set up getting the information from Toronto? They could have shown Jane or Sam typing on a computer, sending an e-mail requesting it. It's almost like they're afraid to do things that might be inexplicable for a bit—they give us all the information of what they're going to do and why they're doing it beforehand, so there's nothing left for us to figure out for ourselves. And I find that REALLY boring.

On the plus side, we get to watch Lucy work for a few minutes every week.

In this ep, Nicky was used much more than usual. And of course, she's Jane's Achilles' heel. This really works because the case comes to Jane's attention because Darcy is Nicky's friend. Good way to use Nicky and to avoid overweening coincidence.

Again Miguel is a real pleasure for me to watch at work. He's so comfortable in his acting. I really enjoyed how he played his admiration for Jane taking the bad guy down all by herself at the beginning.

Miguel “listens” really well. Watch how he acts at the end of that fight scene when he asks Jane, “You do this all by yourself?” He's got just the right mix of amazement and admiration in his voice. And the he actually appears to be listening for the answer, rather than just waiting for someone to say his cue. He's also REALLY good in the next scene where he teases Jane about wanting Tarzan around. Again, he listens well, he gestures well, he's just so natural an actor.

I'd love to see Lucy and Miguel work together as partners in something someday.

I am just not impressed with Fimmel's acting. I suspect that he doesn't talk not just because the character is VERY taciturn, but perhaps they're afraid he can't carry a scene. He constantly has this strained look on his face as if he was constipated or something. I'm finding him very irksome. I want to kick his butt and tell him to get a life. He's a RICH guy. He can go out and dance on Broadway for pete's sake. But no, he just hovers over Jane all the time, mooning and miserable. Blech. I think about how Lucy was able to convey a whole range of emotions in Xena with just the expressions on her face and the look in her eyes. She can portray love, hurt, exasperation, anger, mischief, vengeance, sympathy and sorrow, all without one word. The difference between her silent acting and Travis' is striking and one not to Travis' credit.

Sarah does very well with what they give her but what they give her sucks. I'm tired of Jane's constant whingeing and crying.

It's not just mourning for Michael. In fact, that would be a relief, to let her really grieve over that whole situation. She not only had him die on her, she found out just before he died what a damaged, dangerous person he was. Surely that should be causing her some retrospection. Instead she just wavers between blaming Tarzan for Michael's death, blaming herself for Michael's death and wondering why she's “betraying” Michael by being attracted to someone else so soon. Perhaps the problem also stems from the presentation of Tarzan. Why would anybody be attracted to a lumbering hulk who miserably trails along after them, praying for a little attention? (Or is she perhaps just interested in his part?)

It seems like every ep she realizes something very good about Tarzan's character. And tells him so. But by the beginning of the next ep, she's forgotten that and is back to thinking of him as only a very dangerous loose cannon who needs to be controlled and kept away from her life, her work and her family.

Mitch Pileggi has a few more scenes this time also. There's a nice deepening of Richard's complexity in this ep. He's extraordinarily manipulating and extremely cold. He has absolutely no empathy for anyone else. He also has a serious disconnect in self perception.

He's OUTRAGED that Kathleen is harboring John. He charges into Kathleen's house to get him back. He seems to honestly think that John will go back with him. When John says he hates him, he's absolutely devastated. He cannot believe that can be true.

And then he spins a web of deceit, taking advantage of poor Donald and his demons. He will force Donald to lie and will have Tarzan accused of a murder he didn't commit so that he can get what he wants. And of course, he's blaming Kathleen for all of it.

Now my favorite part—Lucy's scenes:

Opening scene. Her face is filled with compassion as she says, “Something's wrong, isn't it.”

She's so concerned as she watches him. She's searching for his feelings, she just hates to see him hurting. She's hoping she can help him through his problems.

Kathleen is so maternal towards her nephew. Buttoning his shirt, showing an interest in him by asking him where he's going, wanting to give him solace and comfort when he's lonely and down. Lucy plays Kathleen as someone who loves her newly returned nephew so much and yet is not entirely sure how to show that in ways he will accept or appreciate. She portrays the conflict between wanting to take care of him and help him, and knowing that he doesn't totally trust her to do that. I get the sense she's always holding back, that what she would like to do would be to touch him, hug him, just talk to him for hours. She's letting him call the shots in how close they get but you can see that it's hard for her to not do what she wants to do.

It startles me that Lucy's eyes appear hazel in this scene. They sure ain't near so blue without her black, black hair, but hazel? There just aren't any very tight, well lit close up shots that showcase her beautiful eyes like they did all the time in Xena.

The second Lucy scene is when Richard comes tearing into her house. She gives him a smile when he first appears. Is she really happy to see him for just a moment or is she trying to act innocent? I think she's honestly happy to see him but him turning his back on her brings her back to the reality of their strained relationship. This scene showcases how lonely Kathleen is also. How she truly lost her whole family when her big brother was lost in the jungle. After Richard turns away, her face changes and she gets just a bit of ‘tude on her towards him and his questions.

Later up in the jungle penthouse when Richard says to John, “Come with me”, Kathleen gets this stricken look on her face. Will she lose her nephew the way she lost her brother? She's obviously worried that John just might go off with Richard, leaving her alone again. When Richard says, “I love you. I just want to help you”, John glances over to Kathleen. She doesn't say anything, leaving the decision totally up to John.

When John tells Richard that he hates him, Richard looks towards Kate. She tears up, lowers her eyes and looks away from the painful scene. Richard is left totally devastated.

There's a lot of real emotion over unhappy and damaged family relationships in this scene. I think this is the best scene of the ep. Lucy and Mitch do a really good job. Mitch actually makes you feel sorry for Richard. Well, at least until he gets into his vehicle and tells his minion it's all Kathleen's fault that John hates him.

During their confrontation, I suddenly had the realization that Lucy with her hair up looks somewhat like Katherine Hepburn. And then I thought, “And Mitch looks like Daddy Warbucks!” She didn't pull out a New England accent and he didn't start to sing though.

Tough o meter:

Jane does take down that guy in the beginning of the ep all by herself. But then she gets tricked by Richard into hanging a tracking collar on Tarzan. And once again it's Tarzan who actually saves Nicky from drowning. And of course she cries again, but at least this time she's crying for her baby sister who almost got killed. But then she cries AGAIN at the end of the ep as she talks to Tarzan. And, MAJOR BURN, she gasps and screams out “OH-OH MY GOSH!” when she sees his wee-wee. *sigh*

Oh well—there's always next week…

KT