Tomorrow night’s episode of Leverage, “The Juror #6 Job”, was directed by TV veteran Jonathan Frakes and reunites him with Star Trek alums Brent Spiner, Armin Shimerman, and Kitty Swink. I had a chance to talk with Frakes about his experience on this episode and with the Leverage team in general (he’s directed two episodes so far.) We also talked a bit about the present and future of television.
“The truth is told by whoever’s left standing.”
—Tom Zarek
“I know who you are, Felix. I know who you are.”
—Gaius Baltar
At last a day of reckoning has come, and tyranny brings even more blood than we might have imagined, and not in the ways we might have guessed: the Quorum executed at Zarek’s command, that noble lunkhead Anders shot and possibly dying, renegade lawyer Romo Lampkin taking revenge with his omnipresent pen, and rather nastily at that. (Am I wrong or did he actually gut that marine wide open? I hate to go back and watch it again.) In the end all is resolved and yet nothing is at peace, as we see the cracks have taken hold, that the ship itself is beginning to split apart even as its people are coming back together, however tentatively. Every second of this show carries a weight these days, every lurch forward leading us toward something inevitable, and inevitably more tragic.
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Y’all think I’m going to talk about Smash, right? Or maybe Matt’s mom coming back into his life like a bad penny? Or Tami relinquishing ground like some Soviet general setting up a pincer for the German army?
I will. I’ll get to that stuff. But first let me tell you how I know this show we love is back.
Some spy gets blacklisted goes freelance, he could be standing right in front of you; you wouldn’t even know it.
After the incredible highs of the last two weeks, we had to expect we’d eventually have a bit of a let down. Fortunately, this is Burn Notice, where even the off episodes are eminently entertaining. Plus, we can always count on Fiona and the FX guys to give us some tasty explosions.
My father was an addict, my grandfather. I know how these people operate.
TNT’s done a bit of a number on the order of episodes, shuffling them around for a variety of reasons. Last week’s episode, in fact, was intended to be the third on the air according to John Rogers. But we get serendipity. Nate’s drinking from last week, which seemed a bit out of place because it was more pronounced than in previous weeks, makes a nice precursor to tonight’s full-on addiction problem.
Like any high-functioning alcoholic, as long as Nate’s well lubricated (but not too lubricated) he’s fine. Hence the booze in the soda can first thing in the morning and the ubiquitous tumbler. And like any high-functioning alcoholic, any interruption in the flow can be catastrophic.
We should start by rechristening this one “I love Jemaine,” because really, I love Jemaine. And never more so than when something is smacking him in the face. We are both funny that way. Bret, on the other hand, is funny in the way that he’s willing to insult not five but seven famed rap artists in the course of an approximately 26-second number during yet another gig at the local library. (A number that also includes an approximately 1.5-second bass solo by Jemaine and is notable for having only one lyric—“______ is not very good”—and a single variation on that lyric: “But the Rhymenoceros is very, very good.”)
“I could do this all day. Who’s next?”
—Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
“Felix Gaeta. Who would’ve thought?”
—President Laura Roslin
“When this is over, there’s gonna be a reckoning. And live or die, it’s how you act today that’s gonna matter.”
—Admiral William Adama
Semper frakkin’ fi, indeed. What an amazing hour of television. So many chickens come home to roost in the form of a good old-fashioned hell raising, packed from fore to aft with petty comeuppances and epic betrayals, as well as a couple of gloriously dirty gunfights. “The Oath” was also a welcome reminder that nothing that’s happened so far—no decision too great and no grievance too small—has occurred in a vacuum. Everybody’s fair game for a smackdown, and into the breach we go.
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There were a few great, moving lines in this episode, but as usual it was the silences that spoke loudest. Two minutes, one line of dialog, and Death Cab for Cutie singing a lamentation.
Fiona: Michael McBride. Sometimes I wonder if he’s the one I fell in love with.
Michael: I wouldn’t be surprised. We caused a lot of mayhem, you and I. He was your type of guy.
Fiona: Yes you were. Where did he go?
Michael: Oh you know how it is with cover IDs. You become who you need to be.
Fiona: And everyone gets to guess who you really are.
The dance between Fiona and Michael had been picking up steam before the long winter break and really sped up last week when Campbell broke up with Fi. She’s known for a long time that her feelings for Michael run deep, but her detour with Campbell let her bury them for a time. Now they’re resurfacing, but making her question who Michael really is and wheter he ever felt for her the way she feels for him.
By episode’s end she’ll have the answer.
A very quick note to pass along the good news from Javi Grillo-Marxauch’s blog: Shout! Factory, producers of some of the finest DVD sets on the market, are working on the box set of season one of The Middleman and should have it in time for Comic-Con!