February 26, 2007: But He Stole My Pic-a-nic Basket
OK, let's work this one out together. Of the three men on the "mancation" - sidenote: has anyone in the history of anything ever called a vacation a mancation? Or am I tragically unhip? - the one who wasn't Dennis or Rob (but whose name I never caught) killed Tess, and Dennis killed the bodyguard Rocko. Then he got nervous and wanted to call the cops, so Rob and not-Rob smeared Dennis' vest with vanilla bought from the man from
Deliverance so that the only grizzly bear living in the Everglades could maul Dennis. Everyone got it so far? Then, it turns out that Tess was only at the hotel in the first place because Anna had to make her demo tape. But because Anna was actually part of a prostitution ring, Horatio is in trouble with a horny politico played by
Ed Begley Jr.
Now my head hurts.
Maybe it's because this show airs late-ish and my brain isn't in working order. Then again, maybe it's because the plot made no sense. Last week I praised this show for a relatively narrow focus. This week, the focus was still narrow (there were really only two stories), but the pacing and arrangement of the episode caused a breakdown of massive proportions. Each piece of the story made sense, but it didn't all make sense together. I found myself wishing for the relatively simplistic Army-recruit episode from December.
Also, I feel like I missed something with Supervisor O'Shay. Has he been introduced before? In looking through Ed Begley Jr.'s credits, I can't find any evidence of another appearance on this show, but the way he was introduced gave the impression that we should know who he was. What is he the supervisor of? Why does he hate Horatio (aside from the obvious reasons - yes, I read all of your comments and know very well your feelings on Caine)?
However, it's nice to know that even a C-grade (I'm being
very generous here) episode can still give us an A-rated Horatio line: "That means our victim was the bait." Cue
Roger Daltrey.
I could be harsher on this episode and give it a D, but I really do think it was a victim of a poorly arranged plot. Imagine how much more smoothly it could have gone if they'd concluded the "mancation" part before introducing us to Anna and the prostitution ring? We might have had more time to understand just who this Supervisor O'Shay was, and why this group of prostitutes was so in demand. And that's not a sentence I ever thought I'd type.
Next week is a rerun, so until we meet again, beware of bears, prostitutes and Ed Begley Jr.
