Re: Blue Bloods "Two of a Kind" 5/10/2024 (was: What Did You Watch? 2024-05-10 (Friday))

On Sun, 12 May 2024 22:46:49 -0700
BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

In article <20240512114452.000033eb@example.com>,
 Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
 

On Sun, 12 May 2024 08:13:50 -0700
anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
 

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote: 

On Sat, 11 May 2024 19:53:22 -0700
anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
   

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:   

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
   

Blue Bloods - the penultimate episode of season 14A. Season
14B will apparently be just 4 episodes unless the cast and
producers of the show manage to convince CBS to un-cancel
it. Frankly - forgive the inadvertent pun - if I was another
network with some holes in my Friday night schedule, I'd
look seriously at picking this up. Apparently, the ratings
are still very strong (despite the ever-weaker writing) and
everyone still wants to do it so why not?      

   

As for plot, we see the first time in a very long time where
Danny's plumper son finally got something to do but sit at
the dinner table. After being robbed on campus, he and his
dad set out to catch the robber. Also, Eddie and her partner
untangle a landlord-tenant dispute that turns out to be more
complicated than it appears. Erin discovers a legal aid
attorney is not giving his client good advice and works to
take down the attorney which has unexpected consequences for
the client.      

 
Even Erin says he'd have been better off rotting in prison
without her help.
 

Jamie and Joe Hill actually engage in some off-duty
fisticuffs
- with each other! - and Frank has to figure out how to make
them get along.      

 
Why are they even going to the same party anyway? Joe isn't
NYPD is he? 

 
Yes, he's NYPD but he's assigned to an FBI task force. Which raises
another question about Frank assigning him to walk a beat. The FBI
wouldn't be happy about that. They don't go jump through all the
hoops and administrative red tape to get a local cop vetted and given
the TS security clearance necessary to have access to FBI office
spaces only to have his own command yank him away to work patrol.
When you're assigned to an FBI task force, you're basically belong to
the FBI at that point and there better be a good reason to go back to
your own agency to work, even temporarily.
 
When I was assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, I was
taken off all Secret Service duty schedules and travel rotations. I
closed out all my active cases or they were reassigned to other
agents. Other than court testimony under subpoena, I left all my USSS
responsibilities behind for two and a half years and essentially
became an FBI agent.
 

Gawd this was awful. None of the stories had anything
resembling a plot. Is Sean supposed to be at Columbia? The
student robbery plot was ridiculous. Danny tells Sean to wait
till the next night, and all he's going to have Sean do is
wait at the police station for the identity parade.      

 
Note that Sean never saw the face of the guy who mugged him.
It was the later guy who cut him that he could identify. So
what good was he going to do at the first lineup?
   

At the time, I assumed that the mugger that cut Sean was the
same one who had mugged him, whose face Sean had not seen on
that occasion. But given the later revelation that the Security
Chief apparently had several accomplices, I am no longer
confident that is right. If the second mugger was a different
guy, you're absolutely right: Sean would not have been able to
confirm that it was the guy who had mugged him. In fact, if I'm
right and Sean never saw his face during the first mugging,
Sean wouldn't have been much use at the lineup either, although
he might still have been able to identify the guy as someone
from the cafeteria.    

 
I went back and checked. The first mugger was wearing a watch cap
and a Covid mask and knocked Sean down from behind. Sean didn't
see anything but the ground.
 

So I *did* remember it correctly. Good to know.
 

The second guy (I can't even tell if it was the same guy) also
had a Covid mask, but it got knocked off, when Sean struggled
with him.

Night scenes make it hard to distinguish people, especially when
they are dimly lit like that scene was. Mind you, The Outer Range
is much worse for that! I'm finally watching Season 1 and its
amazing how many scenes they do outdoors and at night and with no
nearby light sources - apparently, the moon doesn't appear over
Wyoming - where you can't make out what the hell is going on
visually and the audio is your only clue. 

 
That's at least more realistic than night scenes in shows like THE
X-FILES, where they're chasing someone through a forest at night and
there's this mysterious light that illuminates everything glowing
from just over the next rise and none of the characters even seems to
notice it or think, Where the hell is that light coming from?

You're right: it IS more realistic for outdoor scenes at night to be
dark. That's just the way that real life works. But for story purposes
- in other words so that I can understand what the HELL is going on -
I'd be willing to accept some unnatural lighting that actually
illuminates things. Make it as plausible as possible of course - the
Moon does light up the night at times and a campfire at night is also
plausible - but don't have important action take place in pitch
darkness.


--
Rhino