(Season 4, Episodes 1-3)

I’m still trying to figure out the timeline of the beginning of this season versus the end of the last. It’s long enough that Lindsay’s out of the hospital, but short enough that she’s still feeling the physical scars of her attack. Considering that the perpetrator is still out there, and that this was a crime that involved an ADA’s best friend, the arrest of a judge, and the death of a known criminal, hopefully they didn’t just wait the four month summer hiatus to pick things up again. Can we trust that the criminal justice system in Boston is more efficient than that?

4.1 “Free Dental”

Only Fonzie (Henry Winkler) could be sympathetic as a dentist with a bug fetish, accused of murdering a patient. Well, maybe not sympathetic, but less than cringe-worthy, so at least a step in the right direction that no one else could have managed. The entire case was a bit odd for a season premiere (and what was with the grape jelly angle?), and I wasn’t quite sure why Bobby AND Lindsay had to be there to help Jimmy. Do they just always come as a pair now? Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 1, Episodes 10-11)

I’m just about through with the first season of Carnivale, and I’m finding it hard to believe that that means I’m nearly halfway through the entire series. How did this show only get two seasons? I’ve admitted that it may not be quite as good as some of the classic HBO shows that were on around the same time, but it is still a great show.

That’s just the way things go sometimes, I suppose. I can’t really make any judgement calls on the cancellation until I finish up the series. Maybe it fell apart during the second season.

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(Season 3, Episodes 21-23)

Season three ended strongly, with some big cases drawing to a close, and some other major issues being left open to be resolved at a later date. And it really is amazing just how many of these clients keep on coming back for more.

3.21 “Infected”

There’s no way that the Rider Strong murder trial was really what had Helen all worked up. On a macro level, it had to be because her ineptitude has allowed countless killers to walk free. From a micro perspective, this was clearly about the nun killer case, and she proved it when she started ranting about the nun in little Gary’s (Strong) closet. And what kind of a judge hands out 20 years for perjury? This case better come back around again. Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 1, Episodes 8-9)

After taking some time to really dive into to some of the characters of Carnivale, including the Dreifuss family and Brother Justin, some of the mystery and intrigue of the series returned to the forefront in these two episodes.

I’m still really enjoying Carnivale. The mood and setting are definitely very interesting, and the production value is very good. Some of the acting is still a bit subpar, in my opinion, but the supernatural intrigue and strong characters definitely make up for any trivial shortcomings on the show.

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(Season 3, Episodes 17-20)

Eugene battles his ex-wife for custody of their son, Helen floats further and further away from sanity (and legal acumen), Jimmy finds a gal, and Donnell and Associates gets hustled onto cases that are too big to be limited to just one episode. And my guess is too big for just one arc, as well. A lot should be coming back to haunt them sometime soon.

3.17 “Target Practice”

I guess it makes sense … after suing big tobacco, dancing with asbestos class action suits, and going after cancer-causing utilities companies, Donnell and Associates represented a plaintiff suing a gun manufacturer because one of their guns was used in the murder of the plaintiff’s daughter. Sympathy should really be barred from the courtroom, at least in a trial where it outweighs fact, legal precedent, or legal superiority. Negligence for manufacturing a product that could potentially be used to perpetrate a crime? Come on. Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 1, Episodes 6-7)

I’m halfway through the first season of Carnivale, and the show is still going strong. In my last entry, I mentioned that I was curious how the carnival was going to retaliate after losing one of their own. All my questions were answered in this block of episodes. Well, all my questions related to carnie justice, anyway. There was also a lot more exploration of the supernatural universe that these characters inhabit, and it just keeps getting more interesting. Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 3, Episodes 13-16)

I’m still no Ellenor fan, but she’s at the core of several stories that are beginning to shape The Practice into less of a one-off law procedural, and more of a serial drama. She’s crazy, don’t get me wrong, but she drives a lot of interesting plot. And she adds the unexpectedness of fighting on a show about attorneys, so there’s that.

3.13 “Judge and Jury”

I was looking up the “Judge” in question in this episode on IMDb, and discovered something that put this entire story into perspective: Judge Roberta Kittleson is played by Holland Taylor, better known as Evelyn Harper on Two and a Half Men. I’ve never seen the sitcom, but I can only assume that this revelation supports the under-sexed older woman character that she plays here. Read the rest of this entry »