Thursday, February 26, 2009

Life - Recap & Review - Hit Me Baby

Life
“Hit Me Baby”

Original Air Date: Feb 25, 2009

Brittany Wells – Associate Staff Writer
brittanyw@thetwocentscorp.com

We open to find out that Crews has taken his Grand National back from the mystery woman we met two weeks ago, and is now a little annoyed that his phone no longer syncs up with his car. He’s busy talking the ear off of an (I’m guessing Indian) woman from tech support about how he’s “kind of” a cop, and she points out that he either is or isn’t. (Hey, Jeff, having flashbacks to season 1 of 24 along with me?)

Continue Reading...

[photo: NBC]

4 comments:

  1. Life
    “Hit Me Baby”

    Original Air Date: Feb 25, 2009

    Brittany Wells – Associate Staff Writer
    brittanyw@thetwocentscorp.com

    We open to find out that Crews has taken his Grand National back from the mystery woman we met two weeks ago, and is now a little annoyed that his phone no longer syncs up with his car. He’s busy talking the ear off of an (I’m guessing Indian) woman from tech support about how he’s “kind of” a cop, and she points out that he either is or isn’t. (Hey, Jeff, having flashbacks to season 1 of 24 along with me?)

    Then he gets to the crime scene, where there is literally a man on a stick, and some really bad music. I loathe Britney Spears. Even before she went crazy, I didn’t like her. So having to listen to her most infamous song – even if it’s a cover by some guy – does not make me happy. I plug my ears until after the commercial, when we find out Guy On A Stick is a dead financial advisor named Jerome Rafts, who got a broom handle through the chest and apparently has a thing for pigeons, not to mention is a serial dater. Ergo, there’s no shortage of suspects. Reese finds out she’s wanted for an FBI task force, which is the plot cover for Sarah Shahi’s pregnancy. Shows can kind of survive when their stars are on maternity leave – I didn’t feel The X-Files was that bad when Gillian Anderson was gone, but then again I love Robert Patrick – but with her being in almost every scene I’m curious to see how Life will adapt to her being gone for “a few weeks” (presumably a few episodes).

    Reese’s replacement is none other than Bobby Starks, who attempts to fill out a suit and pretend to be a detective. I’ve always kinda wondered how they’re keeping Brent Sexton involved in all the episodes and I have to say, this he does very well. They find out that Rafts didn’t have a lot of girlfriends – he paid for a lot of escorts, spending the most money on Alexa, one he was supposed to see the night of the murder – who’s conveniently not identifiable on the security camera tape from his apartment. They go to interview her madam, who says she disappeared after that night. Figuring either she killed Rafts or knows who did, the boys set out to find her.

    Meanwhile, Ted – poor Ted, who’s not doing so well of recent – runs into that creepy security woman from last episode. I mention this only because she happens to be played by Helen McCrory, who is Damian Lewis’ wife and did a marvelous job as Cherie Blair in The Queen. Unfortunately, they’ve thrown so much makeup and and hideous black wardrobe on her, it’s like a bad Cher concert. And Reese is being interrogated in an FBI office that looks like someone built a giant game of Connect Four.

    Back on the case, the boys interview Rafts’ previous dates, who all mention his thing for pigeons. They return to the pigeon coop only to run into – in one of the series’ great visual sequences – two twin brothers. They tell them that Alexa was also heavily into pigeons. What are the odds of that? Going back to the house, they find a full bathtub with an iHome dock next to it, which looks suspiciously like a backup plan. Stark claims that the outlet would trip the circuit in less than a second, but the outlet has been tampered with nail polish. Charlie is just crazy enough to throw the iHome in the bathtub to see anyway. He manages to short-circuit the entire building.

    But now their case is coming together. They’ve linked Alexa to a lot of suspicious deaths – a labor leader, a DEA informant, a whistleblower. But why did she kill Rafts? His business files are empty meaning he didn’t make his money in finance, and also meaning they don’t know who might want him dead. They go back to poking pigeons, where they find a pigeon expert who tells them he gave her a bird that returned to him because it didn’t feel cared for. Crews wonders if they might be able to repeat the process and follow the bird back to her – and they do. Except now she’s calling herself Claudia, a personal chef with a conveniently huge purse. She agrees to come into the station, but no one can identify her as Alexa. However, Crews nails her when he finds scratch marks on the back of her neck – from the pigeons, who test positive for human DNA. (He also picks up a diet soda.) He relays the news to Bobby, who’s doing surveillance outside her house, and tells him to wait.

    So what does Bobby do? Go in the house, end up with a poison capsule down his throat. Yeah, way to go, Starks. Charlie turns up, but doesn’t seem all too concerned about Alexa/Claudia driving off – he’s put diet soda in her gas tank. Ha. They nab her at gunpoint. But there’s one final twist: Crews wonders, what was with all the birdseed at Rafts’ apartment? It contains a sniper rifle and a lot of money. Turns out, he was also a hitman – and she knocked him off to eliminate competition because of the economy. Even professional killers are feeling the pinch.

    What did you think? Sound off below.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved the episode and what do you mean "mystery woman"? It was the girl he gave his Grand National to in "Fill It Up" maybe it would be better to unplug your ears and pay attention

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, someone's snappish. To answer your "question," Kathy, I was paying attention to the episode - and meant the term in the context of the fact that, to my knowledge, we don't even know her name. In fact, many viewers were incredibly confused as to who she was when she appeared last week. Not all of us have all of Season One on automatic recall.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoyed this episode but I admit to missing the Crews-Reese vibe since the big appeal to me is the partnership.

    Also, I think it must be bittersweet for Bobby, back in the day it was Bobby mentoring Charlie this time around it's Charlie mentoring Bobby and Bobby realizing he's not as adept to this detective gig (which admittedly he knows. Bobby seemed to be happy as a patrol officer).

    I'm just concerned with the separation of the partners... I hope the partners are reunited soon. Much as I hate to say it... the ratings aren't looking well and if this series ended with a split between the partners well... that'd be one of the saddest endings I'll ever encounter.

    ReplyDelete

TheTwoCents Comments Policy