November 22, 2006: Outside Perspectives
The format of tonight's episode was wonderful. The way the flashback and present day scenes were tied together was very effective. I loved how as each of the family members finished describing their loved one the scene would switch to the loved one proving that their assessment was correct. As an example: Malcolm really did "take care of his own" by accompanying Franny to her mother's house. The whole encounter at the mother's house, by the way, was a bit unsatisfying. Eva's integrity is constantly being questioned and each time she is fully exonerated and even proven to be a little bit nicer or purer than she was originally thought.
I also found it intriguing that the police were so interested in the hostages' personalities. It never occurred to me, or I never really considered, how much of the action inside the bank was determined by how the individuals reacted, rather than the way the robbers conducted themselves. Of course, we have seen the way things played out due to Felicia making the phone call and how Nick's police experience contributed to the situation, but a true understanding of how each individuals' personality really dictated a lot of what happened escaped me until now.
Tonight was filled with many of the little, and not so little - Hello Jeremy/Lizzie insight - answers to questions that have plagued us for weeks. We finally met Nick's ex-wife Juliana, who was portrayed by
Sasha Alexander. You may recognize her from
NCIS,
Dawson's Creek or as the soap opera digest interviewer on
Friends who Joey confesses to that he never actually watches soaps. (I watch a lot of
Friends re-runs). Sasha gave off a very real cop-vibe - a little tough and a little rough. It was endearing to see the way Nick handled Juliana and was completely willing to put himself on the line to protect her.
Finally, we have the story of what happened between Lizzie and Jeremy. I was expecting it to be worked into the flashback scenes, but Jeremy describing it was much more gripping. I was also hoping for a more exciting explanation - something that would have justified waiting weeks to divulge - something really juicy. Instead we got a somewhat predictable story. Jeremy saw an opportunity to escapehe took it and didn't give a second thought to Lizzie. Definitely a valid reason to question their relationship, but harrowing enough to completely destroy them to the point that they can't even talk about it? Well, I'll leave that for you to judge.
A strong and very satisfying episode, but one question: What happened to Malcolm's house being bugged? I guess we will have to wait to find out.
