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chipper 
Title:: 1x01 Pilot: Merit Badge
Writer: Rand Ravich
Director: David Semel
Main Cast: Damian Lewis (Charlie Crews), Sarah Shahi (Dani Reese), Adam Arkin (Ted Earley), Robin Weigert (Lt. Karen Davis), Brooke Langton (Constance Griffiths), Brent Sexton (Bobby Stark)
Guest Stars: Michael Cudlitz (Mark Rawls), John Sklaroff (Arthur Tims), Chad Lindberg (Lonnie Garth), Cheryl White (Alyssa Gibney), Larry Poindexter (Warren Gibney), Jennifer Siebel (Jennifer Conover), Braeden Lemasters (Tyler Hawley), Brynn Thayer (Tyler's grandmother), Benjamín Benítez (Tito Juarez), Reno Wilson (Officer Zerco), Matt Gerald (Officer Krebbs), Bob Rusch (Correctional Officer), DeLon Howell (Correctional Office), Olivia Hardt (Pretty Girl)
Synopsis: After spending twelve years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Charlie Crews rejoins the force with a shiny new Detective badge. Crews, accompanied by his new partner Dani Reese, works to solve the inexplicable murder of a young boy. Crews' unconventional tactics put Reese on edge, causing both Reese and Lt. Karen Davis to question his motives for rejoining the force.
Notable Moments:
- The opening talking-head sections in the documentary interspersed with the flashbacks of Charlie getting the crap kicked out him in prison (and kicking back the crap out of his attackers)
- Charlie displays his Rain-Man like Detective-fu for the first time with the Dead Kid and his dog! He makes like he's gonna knife the dog, and Dani makes the first of many, many exasperated / irritated / shocked / choke-a-bitch Dani-faces to come.
- Charlie sniffs around the Dad of the Dead Kid with the wafting L'eau de Pot, and instructs him to flush the drug down the toilet. Dani superhumanly restrains herself from throttling him.
- Charlie makes that dig about "dumping the divorce papers in the mail" to the Mother of the Dead Kid and generally acts like an ass. Dani verbally bitchslaps him in the car and wonders if drug rehabilitation is worth having to put up with this clown. Turns out Charlie was fretting about having to go back to jail to visit Rawls (Bio-Dad of Dead Kid)
- Charlie and Rawls growl at each other and sort of bond. Possibly because of the Band of Brothers reunion. (Hi, Bull!)
- The asshole guards give Charlie attitude. Charlie almost loses it, but decides to confuse the guards with Zenisms instead.
- The one-on-one talk between Dani and the LT, in which we learn about Dani's history of drug addiction and the reason behind her being partnered with Charlie.
- Seeing Dani (and her magnificent bed-hair) in the morning after her one night stand.
- Charlie and Constance's tete-a-tete in her
den of iniquitykitchen, in which daddy issues and inappropriate UST flow like molten lava - KEVLAR!
- Charlie's words of consolation to the dying Lonnie: "It's all a bad dream; go to sleep."
- The Shower Scene: Reese gets doused with drugs and Charlie helps her clean up, and it manages to be character-advancing *and* totally hot, yet non-pervy. (OMG!)
- We see Charlie's Wall of Conspiracy for the first time. Set to The Frames' "Dream Awake" because this show is just that awesome.
- Ted totally kills Charlie's car with the tractor!
Quotes!
(I dedicate this section to the fine folks who had posted most of these quotes to IMDb, so that all I had to do was cut'n'paste. 'Cause you know this section would have been A LOT shorter if I had to do the actual transcribing.)
Charlie Crews: The dog must have took a bullet for the kid. Then took the shooter's finger off. Anyone ever love you that much?
Douchebag guard #1: Getting' angry, convict?
Charlie Crews: Anger ruins joy, steals the goodness of my mind, forces my mouth to say terrible things. Overcoming anger brings peace of mind, leads to a mind without regrets. If I overcome anger, I will be delightful and loved by everyone.
Douchebag guard #2: "Are you makin' fun of us?
Charlie Crews: It is the universe that makes fun of us all.
Dani Reese: Why exactly would the universe make fun of us all?
Charlie Crews: Maybe it's insecure.
Charlie Crews: [to Tyler] She thinks I'm gonna hug. You think I'm gonna hug you. [hugs Reese, who is PISSED] As I hug my partner, I know she is real, and mindfully meet this person with open arms and an open heart. [Reese pushes him off of her]
Bobby Stark: Hey, can I get a picture, you know, on account of you being a celebrity detective and all.
Charlie Crews: That's a phone, Bobby.
Tito Juarez: It's got a camera in it, where you been?
Charlie Crews: Me? I've been in federal maximum security prison.
Juarez: Does it bother you that he spent all that time in the joint? What does that do to a guy's head? I'm just saying, you sure he's gonna be there when you go through a door?
Dani Reese: Does it bother you that your pal Stark let his partner go down for a crime he didn't do? I mean, I'm just saying.
The One Night Stand Dude: Do you want to know my name?
Dani Reese: If I wanted to know your name, I'd have asked you for it.
ONSD: So that means you're not gonna call?
Dani Reese: I can't call if I don't know your name, now, can I?
Alyssa Gibney: So tell me something that means something. Tell me anything that means something.
Charlie Crews: The man who killed your son is out there, right now, inside this same moment we are in. As we sit here, as I look at you, the man who killed John is free. Now that means something, doesn't it?
Dani Reese: I don't exactly understand you.
Charlie Crews: You don't have to understand here to be here.
Dani Reese: That's what I don't understand.
Charlie Crews: My father is getting remarried to an 8 year old. Because my mother is dead. My mother is dead because he killed her. He killed her when he wouldn't let her come see me.
Constance Griffiths: No Zen for Daddy?
Charlie Crews: No Zen for Daddy.
Constance Griffiths: [after a pause] Hey, where did you go?
Charlie Crews: [sighs] I'm still here. Do you ever think no one will ever will understand what we did? What you and I came through? Do you ever think the world is now you and me in one place and everyone else in another? [sighs again] Sorry. I'm sorry; that's stupid.
Constance Griffiths: I think that all the time.
Charlie Crews: That's like...
Dani Reese: Living in the future?
Charlie Crews: Actually, I thought about that, and it turns out there really is no future, or past either, just now. And now. [she hangs up]
Charlie Crews: And now, now... Reese?
Dani Reese: Why'd you become a cop again?
Charlie Crews: When I was doing all that time, I always thought inside me, I'm still a cop, it's what I held onto.
Dani Reese: Wow, that sounds like a lot of crap.
Charlie Crews: A lot of life is a lot of crap.
Charlie Crews: Mango?
Dani Reese: [shakes her head] It's okay.
Charlie Crews: This came all the way from Guatemala. And now it's right here in this cup. It's all connected Reese.
Dani Reese: What is?
Charlie Crews: It is.
Dani Reese: Mmm, that's Zen.
Charlie Crews: Is it?
Dani Reese: That's Zen too, isn't it?
Charlie Crews: Is it?
Dani Reese: Say "is it?" one more time and I'll shoot you.
And last but not the least, in all its cringe-worthy glory!
Constance: Life was his sentence, and life was what he got back. (Seriously, y'all. I almost stopped watching right there. I mean, I love you, show, but Holy Jumping Moses on a Crackerjack, the ANVILS!)
Things We Learned
- Charlie Crews was incarcerated in Pelican Bay Penitentiary, a federal maximum security prison, for 12 years (1995 - 2007) for triple homicides he did not commit. He was exonerated when DNA evidence was later examined and revealed that none of the physical evidence on scene matched Crews'.
- His wife, Jennifer, believed he was guilty despite his protestations about his innocence and mailed the divorce papers to prison. She later remarried a Mark Conover.
- He was brutally beaten, had nearly all the bones in his body broken, and had lacerations requiring 241 stitches.
- He had a dog-eared book titled The Path to Zen he read over and over while in solitary.
- Ted Earley, Charlie's financial adviser and an ex-CEO of Attercliff Capital, manages his settlement money (amount undisclosed), which may be as much as $50 million. Ted was in the prison with Charlie for white colour crime (insider trading.) Charlie saved his life in prison. Ted now lives in Charlie's garage. Excuse me, in a room above his garage.
- Bobby Stark, Charlie's ex-partner, testified against him during the trial in some capacity.
- Dani Reese went undercover in a drug ring as a rookie cop and became addicted; she's in a rehabilitation program and got saddled with Charlie as a sort of punishment (?) for her misdeeds.
- Lt. Karen Davis, Crews' and Reese' direct supervisor, was partners with Dani's father for three years and appears to be a friend of the Reese family.
- Dani Reese is Charlie Crews' superior officer.
- Charlie's father, who believed in his culpability, did not allow Mrs. Crews to come see Charlie in prison. Mrs. Crews died before Charlie was exonerated. Charlie is ANGRY at his father, who's getting remarried to a much younger woman and seems keen on making some type of reconciliatory overtures to Charlie.
Wall of Conspiracy (new info from the episode that advanced the conspiracy arc):
We don't get any "new" information re. conspiracy in this episode, but we do get our first look at the Wall.
- Scribbled over the photos of people we don't know (yet) on the wall: "Compromised DNA," "Follow the money," "Dead in car accident," "40K in wife's account," "Sudden dismissal" (under a photo of an unnamed police officer), "Missing," and "Reassigned"
- Under Bobby Stark's photo: "He could not have seen"
- A photograph of a younger Lt. Davis prominently displayed at the end
Fresh Fruit (we can't do a Life recap without the tally of fruit Charlie consumes now, can we?):
- A Mushy pear (yuck!) --> crispy apple (Green Anjou) during the questioning session with Tyler
- Melon pieces in Constance's kitchen
- Grapes while Charlie chases Mark Conover in his car
- Cup of Mango (all the way from Guatemala!) on the top of the hill with Reese
- Apple Charlie is eating while Ted destroys his car
Music from the Episode
- "Single Sedative" by Eastern Conference Champions and "Last Hero" by Negative in the scene with the car and the shaking down of Jennifer's husband
- "Jique", Brazilian Girls, when Charlie, um, meditates with the blonde
- "Dream Awake", The Frames, over the reveal of the Wall of Conspiracy
Questions for Discussion:
(These are not here as some obligatory questions to answer, but rather to serve as sparks to prompt discussion. Feel free to digress in different directions, so long as the focus is on the show!)
Did the pilot leave you with a well-defined impression of who Charlie Crews and Dani Reese were as characters? How are they similar/different from your typical protagonists of a police procedural?
What do you think of Charlie Crews and his Zen? Does he really subscribe to it as a philosophy? Is it a front? A weapon to throw people off balance? A defense mechanism? All of the above?
Did the pilot hook you immediately, and if so, at what point? Was there one moment in the ep that reeled you in or was it a combination of things? If the pilot left you feeling intrigued (since you are here and all, there must have been enough things to keep you watching) but not 100% on board, was there any particular elements you thought needed more work?
How did the relationship between Charlie and Constance strike you? Did the scene in her kitchen intrigue you about their history together? What about Charlie's relationship with Ted?
There was a neat bookend formed by the scene of Crews and Reese visiting the prison in this episode and the one in 1x11, "Fill It Up": the presence of Rawls, the same guards, and "I'm thinking of where I'm going next." Is there anything else in the pilot, in retrospect, that served as foreshadowing or was revisited later in a meaningful way? How much in advance do you think the writers plotted out the arc over the next 11 episodes?
What did you think of the Case of the Week? Did it work for you? Or didn't it? If so, why or why not?
Hopefully that should be enough to get people started. Remember: member participation is what we're looking for! And if you want to talk about an aspect about the show not touched above / a discussion point that's too long for the comment section, etc., please feel free to start a separate post.
OK! Enough from me. Happy re-watch day, everyone!
January 16 2008, 17:51:51 UTC 4 years ago
Now, I'll admit that I hadn't really watched the full pilot before sitting down for the rewatch. I'd seen large chunks of it, but more while wandering in and out of the room to do laundry, etc. I have to say that, going back, it's a surprisingly strong episode. Admittedly, it's a pilot, and thus had a decent amount of money put into it. That being said, I was really stunned at how consistent it is in regards to the rest of the episodes.
Something that's been commented about a LOT on my friends list is how beautifully shot this show is. I keep forgetting about that until I go back and watch an episode. Mostly because with a bit of distance, the composition and colors kind of blend into a pleasant fuzz in my brain, and it's only when I rewatch an episode that I remember how startling and clear the colors are. Or how beautifully composed the shots can be. I think my absolute perfect example of that in the pilot is the - literally - 15 second scene after Dani and Charlie leave the prison, where they're walking by the "No Entry" sign. The one-liner is funny as hell, but the composition of that... the long shot and the emphasis on the sign... just. DAMN. For something that should have been (and kind of was) anvilicious, the shot and the show managed to pull it off with something like grace.
I honestly think that's a really consistent theme with this show. That the elements of it on paper seem rather trite and cliche (my first reactions were alternately, "God, ANOTHER procedural? I'll watch an episode, but JEEZ." and "Oh, not ANOTHER Bobby Goren!") but somehow, the cast and the cinematographer manage to pull about 85% of it off. And I leave the writers out of that only half-heartedly. Because while some of the dialog just sparkles and is stuff that I say, literally, just before it's BEING SAID, there are anvils. HUGE anvils that make me cringe and want to run away.
And the best example of that? Are Connie's little bumpers. Her going on and on about Charlie getting his 'life' back. I feel kinda bad that she keeps getting stuck with this really forced dialog and thematic stuff. (I also feel bad for the actress because I'm not sure that the writers knew exactly how they were going to keep her around and/or relevant after the pilot. But. That's another story for a different day.)
January 16 2008, 17:52:11 UTC 4 years ago
Also, having rewatched this episode and having WATCHED the rest of the episodes, I was struck at how the groundwork for the natural growth of the show really WAS laid in the pilot. We got all these hints of things to come. Not only was there the stuff mentioned in the last paragraph, but we've also got Dani's drug addiction, her alcoholism and destructive tendencies, and the animosity towards her father. We've also got the Lt. being forceful but ambiguous, but correct in wanting to bust Charlie for something he's done, rather than something that's been fabricated. There's Ted admitting to Charlie's saving of his life, and the indication that his loyalty is going to be unquestioned when it comes down to the bone. Then there's Bobby who's overly Good Ole' Boy, but willing to stand up to the department (a bit) and try and get Charlie back, even if there's a whole lodestone of guilt associated with that relationship and how it would just be easier for him to walk away and let it go. We also have very visceral examples of Charlie defending himself and attacking people in prison, and Dani's willingness to stand up for someone who's her partner... if just in name.
ALL of these elements play hard into the following episodes and not just the hiatus-break.
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January 17 2008, 02:53:14 UTC 4 years ago
YES! I noticed it right off. They do consistently interesting things about framing and lighting, and even though I don't have the technical language to describe it properly, these choices (along with the fantastic actors) kept me intrigued even though I found the writing in the pilot rather clunky. Take the introduction of Charlie, for example. For the first few minutes, we see him through other people's eyes -- through photographs and flashbacks -- and he's a passive character, a victim. Then they transition to this really bright, gorgeous yellow-orange light of the present from the blue-gray-green palette of the grainy documentary and the prison scenes, and there is Charlie, looking up to the sun (paralleling the scarily blank, broken face of Charlie in the solitary moments before, looking up at... well, nothing.) It's a very effective contrast that grabs you, barely 5 minutes in, and a lot of that came through the composition/lighting choices. I love that.
There are other interesting shots scattered throughout the pilot. The long shot outside the prison you mentioned is *fantastic*. And the way Dani just comes to a halt at that last bit -- I mean, the joke is OK, but the visual is almost like a punchline, you know? I also love the shot of Dani trying to rein in the asshole guards in the prison, where you could see her face behind this... inverse triangle made by the arms of the men in front of her.
Then of course there is the shower scene. GOD, I love that scene. It's short, but it says SO MUCH, about Dani's prickliness and vulnerability and strength. There is -- well, this is gonna sound really pretentious and possibly offensive, I don't know, but...it almost feels like the camera is a character in its own right in this scene, and it's looking at Dani and her desperate struggles with this omniscient gaze that's full of compassion. The scene, for being set in a dirty bathroom in a crack den, is shot like it's set in a church: the diffuse light filtered through the dusty window like stained glass; the way it illuminates their faces, half in light and half in shadow; the beautiful overhead shot of Charlie lifting Dani into the tub; and the organ music that sounds like a hymn. I never get tired of watching that scene, and a lot of that has to do with the composition and lighting and music.
January 16 2008, 18:02:43 UTC 4 years ago
Hilariously enough, a 2-part comment
1. This is *awesome*. Thanks for all your hard work,2. I will be back later for the Q&A, but for now, a couple things that occurred to me while re-watching, and then reading this.
Notable Moments
Charlie displays his Rain-Man like Detective-fu for the first time with the Dead Kid and his dog!
For the record, the moment I fell in love with Crews was when he kissed the top of the dog's head -- twice! It's not surprising that he spke softly to the dog and touched it gently, but kissing a dog is, to me, the spontaneous act of a real animal lover, and that got me immediately. All the horrific things that had happened to him and he still had the capacity to treat the dog gently and lovingly? Way to make me root for the character.
Seeing Dani (and her magnificent bed-hair) in the morning after her one night stand.
For a minute, I was confused, because this scene followed Ted talking about staying in Charlie's garage, which followed Charlie chasing his cupcake up the stairs. Naturally, this being American television, I assumed this scene was set in Charlie's bedroom (except the woman wasn't blonde, so that was confusing), or even Ted's.
But NO. It was Dani. Having a life of her own. A screwed up one that actually added *layers* to and built on the expository scene with the LT. My confusion gave way to astonsihment that here we had a female character with *a life and story of her own that had nothing to do with the male lead*.
Seriously. I almost fell out of my chair. That's not the moment I fell in love with Reese, but it was certainly the moment I decided to sit up and really start paying attention to the show.
The Shower Scene
Just gorgeous. I was kind of rolling my eyes that not 5 minutes out of prison, Charlie has already killed someone while on duty, because that's about as television cop as you can get. But this scene went *nowhere* I expected it to and was stunningly beautiful besides, and yeah. I loved it.
January 16 2008, 18:08:46 UTC 4 years ago
Part 2
Quotes!Charlie Crews: That's like...
Dani Reese: Living in the future?
Charlie Crews: Actually, I thought about that, and it turns out there really is no future, or past either, just now. And now. [she hangs up]
Charlie Crews: And now, now... Reese?
THAT'S the moment I fell in love was Reese. I was almost all the way there when she gave it back to Juarez in the "How can you trust your partner?" conversation, but this moment, when she just hung up on Zen babble #32 made me laugh and laugh and laugh and love her a lot.
Things We Learned
He was brutally beaten, had nearly all the bones in his body broken, and had lacerations requiring 241 stitches.
Also that he gave it back in kind. I can't help that think that whatever he "did to that guard in Pelican Bay" as the guards at Rawls' prison reminded him, will come up again. There's got to be a story there.
Lt. Karen Davis, Crews' and Reese' direct supervisor, was partners with Dani's father for three years and appears to be a friend of the Reese family.
And that Reese's mother *is* alive (I'd seen some discussion wondering about this, and I hadn't remembered myself) and that her family has "Wednesday night dinners," in which Lt. Davis is included. Interesting.
Wall of Conspiracy
No new info, but I did notice in all the rewatching I did in the last few weeks that the pictures have changed a lot since the pilot. Not surprising, of course. Two things about the wall -- looking back on my review of the pilot when I first saw it, I had felt I hadn't really *seen* Charlie the person, except maybe a bit in the scene with Cinstance, right up till this moment. There was so much babbling and nervous tick redirection going on that it was only in this very, very still moment that I felt like I was seeing an intelligent, driven man. (Whereas the scene with Constance showed the man that *almost*, but did not, break and that all the Zen in the world hasn't fully suppressed his anger.) That was interesting.
Also, I think the exigency of pulling the wall down later to hide it from IAS served a good purpose -- it's going to keep TPTB more flexible as to who's involved in the conspiracy, and not be locked in just because someone's picture is on the wall. Still, it was a *great* visual, and really hooked me in to the long term possibilities of the show.
No doubt later. Believe it or not. What is it about this show that makes me go on and on and on...
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January 17 2008, 01:08:34 UTC 4 years ago
Re: Hilariously enough, a 2-part comment
when he kissed the top of the dog's head -- twice!Is it just me, or were there paralells to the scene at the end, with the shooter? How he held him and let him know he wasn't dying alone?
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January 16 2008, 18:59:43 UTC 4 years ago
It did leave me with a well defined impression of who they are. For example, in the scene where Charlie shoots the crack addict, just as the addict is about to die, Charlie kneels beside him and comforts him in his last moments. This drew me in on how Charlie does not hold any bad feelings from his time in prison, and is still a compassionate person.
January 16 2008, 21:58:34 UTC 4 years ago
randomly
I must admit that my response to the dog taking off the shooter's finger was: A golden retreiver? Yeah, right. Loyal, sure, but they're generally marshmallows. And it would have to hang on for a long damn time to actually take off a finger. They're hardly pit bulls.Awesome writeup, Vonnie!
January 17 2008, 04:39:15 UTC 4 years ago
Re: randomly
Heee! Golden retrievers are mild-tempered and cuddly, yeah? I imagine a pit bull wouldn't have inspired quite the same "awww! Cute puppy!" warm and fuzzies as a Golden though. This ep is full of handwavium.Thanks for the props!
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January 16 2008, 22:13:11 UTC 4 years ago
(It's actually kind of an issue in prisons, because putting the nonviolent crimes in with the violent crimes is basically cruising for more violent crimes to happen. So they don't do that, and they especially don't do that in the federal prison system, which is probably 80% ex-congressmen and bankers, and 20% Timothy McVeigh.)
I don't remember if there's a line that handwaves that, but it deserves some handwaving.
January 17 2008, 01:46:50 UTC 4 years ago
FWIW, I talked a little about this here.
Since no one has all day to wade through that, from the research I did: If you read about Pelican Bay Penitentiary, where Charlie did his time, you realize that the show has played very fast and loose with some facts, though the reasons -- to serve the narrative [to get Ted and Charlie to meet] -- are understandable. Pelican Bay is a supermaximum security prison, which means that the prisoners are some of the very worst, and they are kept isolated almost all the time. There is little or no prisoner interaction, and the prisoners are even supposed to spend their one hour in the yard alone.
OTOH, Pelican Bay happens to be where hard core California gang members are sent, so if someone wanted Charlie -- a police officer -- dead, it would be a good place to send him. It’s also a State penitentiary, as far as I can figure out, though Charlie at least once refers to being in a "Federal Maximum Security Prison," which is confusing. None of those things make it a place where Ted, a white collar criminal, should have ended up.
FWIW further, one way they could have met, possibly, though it's also a stretch, is at a half-way facility for easing inmates back into society. Charlie may well have been a protector for Ted there, too, but it sure doesn't have quite the ring to it as, "We met in prison."
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January 16 2008, 22:50:50 UTC 4 years ago
Also, Charlie quite obviously had a trial by media - I want to touch on this more. I'm aligning my thoughts into a proper comment!
January 17 2008, 01:55:29 UTC 4 years ago
Wow. That never even occurred to me, that would really hit on why the shoddy investigation led to a guilty conviction.
January 16 2008, 23:49:20 UTC 4 years ago
The "hugging my partner" scene, on the other hand, is pure performance.
Dani looks both amused and a little proud when Charlie starts spouting Zen at the prison guards.
I'd forgotten that Dani is ostensibly his superior. That gets downplayed later, doesn't it?
He's certainly pretty unguarded during that scene with Constance. Can you imagine how long it must have taken her to gain his trust? (Holy Jesus, Damian Lewis, how you so hot?)
Contrast the shower scene with the post-vodka walk in "Powerless". She accepts his help getting into the shower, but once she's okay, she pushes him away.
They really get the most amazing guest stars. More, they get guest stars who can play with the rhythm of the dialogue, which is sometimes almost...Biblical? There's a rise and a fall to it, a timing which draws you in. Even in this episode, the writers play with repetition, just like "I got right!" in "Fill It Up." It can't be a coincidence that they get so many people who were also on Deadwood.
I know there are some of you who are anti-montage, but man, that montage with the Wall of Conspiracy fucking rocks.
January 17 2008, 00:25:44 UTC 4 years ago
I think it's because he's already freaked out. The repetitions in his lines (which, yeah, he does at other times, but usually with some purpose), the trailing-off conversation.
Damian Lewis, how you so hot?
What I want to know is how did I miss seeing him in anything else before this show?! He has amazing charisma.
I know there are some of you who are anti-montage, but man, that montage with the Wall of Conspiracy fucking rocks.
I thought it was awesome--and I usually am anti-montage.
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January 17 2008, 02:00:42 UTC 4 years ago
I hadn't noticed this so much before -- though I do enjoy the dialogue -- but the rhythm of the whole sequence of scenes from the interview with the killer, to his arrest, to the scene at the prison where he catches sight of the boy's father, had an *awesome* rhythm to it. There's even a moment where the guard escorting the killer pushes him and he sort of hops to keep his balance that falls into that rhythm. The camera movement and editing work with it too. It's not something I noticed on first viewing -- or second or eighth -- but I noticed it last night. And it was cool.
January 17 2008, 02:01:50 UTC 4 years ago
I love how she looked amused and a little proud when Charlie went out on a Zen babble at the guards. It's the little things in the show (and the big things) that make me love it.
Contrast the shower scene with the post-vodka walk in "Powerless". She accepts his help getting into the shower, but once she's okay, she pushes him away.
And they manage it in six episodes! From pushing him away to accepting his help and even sharing that 'Is it?' joke at the walk! How do they do it?
I also agree with the guest stars, it struck me on rewatch they luck out on guest stars, the mother was very believable and heartbroken and Rawls is just awesome. I love the quiet calm he has in the 11th episode.
January 17 2008, 00:21:13 UTC 4 years ago
LOVE this scene. Love that it works--the guards really are confused.
Dani Reese: Does it bother you that your pal Stark let his partner go down for a crime he didn't do? I mean, I'm just saying.
This is when my Dani-love first started. She didn't even know her partner that well, but she was ready to defend him.
What do you think of Charlie Crews and his Zen? Does he really subscribe to it as a philosophy? Is it a front? A weapon to throw people off balance? A defense mechanism? All of the above?
Definitely all of the above. It took me several episodes to perceive that, though.
January 17 2008, 00:53:16 UTC 4 years ago
Yes, and at this point she was still very unsure of him but she still stuck-up for Charlie. Even in their first scene together Dani was gentle with him, warning him off because seeing a dead kid might be too much for him.
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January 17 2008, 00:50:05 UTC 4 years ago
I came to Life backwards, I started with Farthingale (but didn't finish it) and liked what I saw of the characters, I liked the visuals and the music and decided to watch the pilot. I think, in retrospect, watching Farthingale helped a lot in my loving the series, the pilot started out slowly (but not *too* slowly) and yet, at the same time, I felt like it was going too fast, if that makes any kind of sense.
Did the pilot leave you with a well-defined impression of who Charlie Crews and Dani Reese were as characters? How are they similar/different from your typical protagonists of a police procedural?
I liked the way it introduced Reese and Crews to the audience. The Case of the Week was pretty much background for me.
Charlie's quirks interested me but Reese quickly got my attention from Reese sticking-up to Charlie to realizing that Reese has her own set of problems independent of Charlie, to her one night stand and when she just up and hung up on Charlie's Zen talk and then, and then the shower scene! OMG. That was it, point of no return. I was gone, really, gone for it.
It was just, the panic and the way the whole scene was shot and the music... it got to me, especially since they didn't play it to exploit Reese's hotness, it was all about her fear and panic and Crews just standing behind looking helpless.
One of the things I think that distinguishes Reese and Crews is that I don't feel like their damage is pastede on. It's... I don't know how to describe it but its lying there beneath the surface but they don't let it, or at least, they try to not let it rule them. I love that Reese doesn't immediately jump up and identify with a victim and/or suspect, that it would take a real punch in a gut before she even acknowledges it and that it's Crews who identifies with the victim/suspect.
Also, I love that Reese is Charlie's superior officer.
I love that a lot of things in this series were built up on the this episode, I agree with
I think it's all of the above, Charlie uses Zen to both control his rage and survive, he honestly believes in Zen because it helped him survive prison but at the same time, it's just another tool for him to misdirect people or another way to piss people off.
As for Constance, I had no opinion of in this episode even on rewatch but it struck me that the kitchen scene was one of the few moments Charlie was honest with another person, it also struck me that when Charlie said something about the 'Me and You against the world' feeling that in the episodes after that he seemed to be pulling away from that mentality, at least, in regards to Constance.
January 17 2008, 01:36:44 UTC 4 years ago
I think it's been a smart choice for the show to keep their drama!angst separate from the case-of-the-week to a large degree.
'Fill It Up' builds on a lot of things that comes from the first episode and the episodes following the first and I'm just speechless with glee.
I really hope that NBC understands this--people are watching shows like this because of the way they build. "Speechless with glee" is my attitude as well. (I won't bother pointing out how many shows have been damaged by networks that insisted on stand-alone episodes because we all know about them.)
4 years ago
January 17 2008, 01:29:45 UTC 4 years ago
Re: the scene where he tells a dying Lonnie Garth (the crack addict) that it's all a bad dream and to go back to sleep: I think this is another aspect of Zen philosophy--that our "waking" lives are really "dreams" and we only "wake up" when we're dead. (Charlie again references this in "A Civil War" when he asks Reese in the car something like "How do you know we really are awake?" as they're pulling an all-nighter)
Re: Charlie and his Zen: I think I read somewhere that Damian Lewis, who plays Charlie, said that Charlie uses Zen as a crutch to help him survive prison and the outside world. I think Charlie really does want to find the inner peace and detachment that Zen can provide, but he's obviously still struggling to get there. He probably does use it for all the above reasons you mentioned, and it apparently helps him in his detective work as well.
Before the pilot even aired, I'd already decided to support the show because Lewis was in it, and I enjoyed the pilot, but I didn't particularly care for the scene in the car where Charlie babbles on the way to the prison to see Rawls. That was a little too much oddness. Luckily, as the episodes went on, I thought they got better and I loved them. Ironically, my liking for Constance decreased with future episodes but now I can tolerate her. Hmm, I kind of wonder why Charlie's father would call his son's lawyer to try to make peace with Charlie. Can Constance and Charlie be that close as lawyer/client, even if their experience is so unique? I also knew Constance was off-limits to Charlie from the get-go and wondered where her husband was during the kitchen scene.
More Fruit: Green grapes in the car while listening to the Zen tape and before he pulls over Jen's husband.
January 17 2008, 01:33:17 UTC 4 years ago
More Fruit: Charlie bites into an apple as Ted proceeds to destroy his Bentley with the tractor. Does the orange grove Charlie buys count as fruit for the episode? :)
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January 17 2008, 08:38:31 UTC 4 years ago
Dani Reese went undercover in a drug ring as a rookie cop and became addicted
I really wonder who thought putting a rookie cup undercover was such a great idea. From what I read about undercover work, they usually send out cops who has at least some years of experience under their belt. She seemed so happy and proud to be in uniform and my heart just breaks for her, it seemed all the idealism she had was just burned away.
January 20 2008, 17:54:25 UTC 4 years ago