Guest Clacker A. Camille Nicholson is now an ABD in Cultural Studies and English Literature who due to the dearth of available academic positions has returned to the seemingly, yet not fully desiccated heart of the E-Commerce fold.
After lamenting Aryeh’s putting In Plain Sight out of sight, I abashedly find myself putting my money where my mouth is.
The one thing I always noticed and partially liked about season two’s episodes is the quick pace and balance of multiple characters. On the one hand, if an episode dropped a character, I wondered what happened to their story line. On the other hand, sometimes I felt the show forced itself to juggle too many people. With the clearing of the boards, the episode appeared more measured, intimate and introspective with more of a focus on the witness and Mary’s inner voice, while the writing\acting remained strong and allowed the directing to incorporate more city shot experimentation.
Although the show left out the typical Mary-Marshal bonding at the opening, I loved their car moment. Marshal really does know Mary and he clearly knows how to handle her. Although Mary is an Alpha 80% of the time, Marshal obviously knows when to assume control the other 20%. I loved his calling a timeout and forcing her to step through her feelings. Other things I loved: Marshal’s subtle display of emotion while trying to help his partner (despite his own desires) and Marshal’s wording rhyme scheme about the “purest part of Mary’s heart.”
Regarding the witness of the week, I tend to care more about Mary’s life than the witness, but how did others feel about the parallel of Mary’s relationship with his? If the witness had lived without his girlfriend for three years, I would have swallowed his view of endless love. However, his story constructing love at first sight as the standard for all love seemed a bit much (especially if we want to make the case that Mary and Marshal belong together considering their relationship seemingly originated in dislike at first sight yet matured due to their years together).
I don’t understand Rafe’s sudden hesitance towards Mary. He has always known about her antipathy towards commitment. She threw the ring at him the first time he proposed. She freaked out when he asked her to lie to his mother. And, even without the myriad father/family/commitment issues, anyone could see her anti-child policy a mile away. I always felt Rafe attempted to fit Mary into his ideals. So, I find his sudden eyes wide open stance odd. Ironically, after disliking their relationship for 2 full seasons (and the first half of episode 3.1), I finally jumped on team Rafe-Mary after the season premiere’s end shot of their intertwined bodies.
I really dislike the Allison Janney character. She is slightly sinister in her love of decadence and clearly does not care/understand WitSec rules. Admittedly, Mary did not either (according to last week). However, her ‘so bring it, bitch’ and telling Mary to ‘grovel apologetically’ seemed un-called for, considering Mary had not insulted her (outside of mocking AJ’s ‘skills’) and also keeping in mind AJ’s bribes (to a witness idyllically in love) caused him to bolt.
It seems like an ongoing theme this season and in the central characters is maturity. The mother has grown up. The little sister has become more honest in her relationship. Even Mary (compared with her earlier prototype) appears calmer and more measured. While I love her abrasive side (because you rarely see female characters throw temper tantrums), we also saw her more human side i.e. apologizing to Rafe for forgetting the visit, apologizing to the Aunt for not spending time with her, opening up to Marshal, and bursting into tears. I loved the tone of this entire episode. It felt quixotic and slightly sad. What did other people think?
Quick Notes:
Favorite Quote:
Attorney: ‘Are you sure this will work?’ Mary: ‘Yea, cause I do this every night on my radio helpline’
Final Questions:
So what do people think of the new format? Was this ep to your liking? Does it make you want to return to the IPS folds?
Clacked by Guest Clacker
on Apr 16, 2010 @ 15:13 EST5EDT
I cheered when Rafe dumped Mary … good for him! But other than that? They can clean house all they want, but if it gets to the point where even Marshal has only a line here and there? That’s moving in the wrong direction.
You know, Aryeh, I think you’re just done with the series. There are some shows that I loved that veered off course for me (although others loved it) i.e. Ugly Betty (although it has returned to its roots for the final season). I thought you might like the more introspective, apologetic, teary Mary and the increased focus on the witness. Evidently, it cut Marshal down, but I wondered today if Marshal might go the route of other characters i.e. the Chris Stevens character in Northern Exposure or the James Hickok character in the Young Riders, who worked well in controlled doses but when increased to 75% show time lost their potency –
An – I’d love a more realistic Mary, but that’s not how I saw her last week. At least not in keeping with who else she is as a person. Everyone can evolve, but it would have to be in-character for it to be an improvement.
Rufus – my wife and I feel exactly the same way. The voice-overs are ridiculously not in keeping with the rest of the show or characters.
Ivey – I don’t know that I’m done with Rafe. I really like him, just not for Mary.
Gak! Gadzooks and zounds. Misspelling alert! Read hearbroken as heartbroken. Apologies all.
I wonder if anyone else is as bothered as I am by the voice-overs. They’re out of character for Mary — much too introspective, almost maudlin. They come across as little life-lessons, pithy insights into the human condition, things I can’t imagine Mary ever saying. Let the story speak for itself.
hmm, that’s interesting. I started to actually like Mary’s more introspective voice-overs. I particularly noticed when they started to construct her internal narratives within that vein for the season opener. I think they’re starting to shift Mary from the brash person I’ve always loved to someone who’s still strong but slightly vulnerable. Of course I hate a vulnerable Mary, but perhaps they’re trying to show what goes on beneath the veneer of all of that seemingly uber-aggressive personae -
But here’s my question: Are we listening to Mary’s thoughts? Because I can’t imagine her actually articulating the ideas she develops in the voice-overs. I can imagine her perhaps sensing or feeling some of those things, but I can’t imagine her actually taking the time to put those thoughts into a coherent form that someone else could understand. And, of course, I can’t imagine her actually speaking those words out loud to another human being. So, in that sense, it seems out of character, and it makes the whole thing seem a bit artificial.
In some ways in with Aryeh. I’m done with Rafe. I just don’t think he works for Mary, and thus drags down the show. Same with Jinx, unless used sparingly (which is disapointing because i love Warren). You scan definitely have to much Brandy, but her character isn’t as bad as the other two.
I also think getting rid of Dersch and Elenore (?) was a mistake. But if we had to lose one office conflict to get another, that is a trade worth making, because:
I love Allison Janney’s addition to the show. Her and McCormick have great chemistry. They were of the few highlights from the White House third of the West Wing in it’s final years, and that experience with each other pays major dividends here.
The best part of this show, though, continues to be the relationship between Mary her partner. They play off of each other so wonderfully, it’s not funny. Don’t ever make them a couple though, unless it’s in the season finale.
But for some of us without the benefit of West Wing experience, the character and her relationship with Mary add nothing on screen. Either way, it seems to be an incredibly expensive guest shot to add some chemistry, of which there was an abundance last year with the secondary characters. Not going to miss Rafe or Jinx, though.
I’ve always liked Mary’s voiceovers, as they give me the sense that there’s a lot more going on with the character behind her scowling face. As for the philosophical tone, it’s probably a by-product of too much time spent alone with Marshall.
And the ATF agent definitely would have been that snarky no matter which President was a close, personal friend of “Marshal” Pearson.