Nothing gets my critical pulse...
Nothing gets my critical pulse racing more than when a show I already love switches around the formula, telling a story from a different angle or in a different style. That happened several times during November sweeps, which is why these are my three favorite episodes of the last month.
Without a Trace, "A Day in the Life" (Nov. 17): A brilliant hour from one of TV's most reliably excellent crime procedurals, this episode was told from the perspective not of our FBI heroes but of two parents (excellently played by Matt Craven and Laurie Metcalf) trapped in what to them seemed a nightmare but to the viewers seemed merely business as usual. When their teenage son fails to come home one night, they watch from the outside in confusion and growing despair as the missing-persons team collects evidence, constructs a time line and begins unearthing alarming information about their son (who turns out to have gotten in trouble while trying to do good). The suspense was palpable, but what makes this episode so memorable is the way it gives us a renewed appreciation for a job that weekly exposure can sometimes render routine.
Lost,
"The Other 48 Days" (Nov. 16): It's hardly unusual for
Lost to switch narrative styles and tones week in to week out, but even by this wonderful show's incredibly high standards, the episode propelling us through the first weeks in the life of the "tailies" (what was happening on the other side of the island during the first season, in short) made for riveting television. Twists, turns, new clues and new mysteries, told with a blistering pace and a deft, impressionistic sure hand. One of the best episodes yet in what is still hands-down the best and most original show on TV.
House,
"The Mistake" (Nov. 29): Told in flashback, as Dr. Chase prepares for a peer-review disciplinary hearing in the wake of a medical calamity for which he was at fault, this week's smart, entertaining episode broke the fourth wall repeatedly as action froze, characters commented as they watched themselves, and lies were revealed, causing certain scenes to be replayed several ways until the elusive truth (a very emotional one) came to the surface. Watching
Sela Ward's coolly efficient lawyer hem and haw as she tried to avoid Dr. House was amusing, and the final payoff was just as choice, with House finding himself temporarily under the thumb of one of his underlings. When
House stays within its formula, it's a very good show. When
House breaks free, as it did this week, it's sensational.
