Lovers and Other Killers

Season 1, Episode 6
Nov. 18, 1984

My whole premise of this blog is in danger. In the first 6 episodes half do not feature a freeze frame at the end with our heroine in them. The one for this episode features a puppy-eyed pretty boy who I will get to in a minute.

J. B. Fletcher: Stealing babies since 1984

And the 5th episode features a dog in a truck. The second episode was of a truck pulling away from the camera. Clearly I need to refocus on trucks.

So in this episode we have Jessica flying off to Seattle. Where she meets Peter Graves. When she arrives, she is mysteriously holding an Asian baby. Which Peter notes and raises an eyebrow over.

Then some Chinese nuns arrive and like ALL retired highs school teachers from Maine Jessica converses in perfect Mandarin. Like perfect perfect. Because Jessica is 100% perfect. All the damn time.

Peter Graves is impressed. But not enough to not shout "sayonara" after the Chinese nuns. To which Jessica points out his racism and they laugh so much. Oh Peter graves!

Seattle

So Seattle. Which is pointed out about 100 times in the episode. You have to wonder if the Seattle tourism board didn't somehow fund this thing. First off, this is the first episode clearly shot on location in the city it references. Space Needle and all.

There's a murder at the open that ends up being a red herring to point fingers all over the place and reveal the true plot of the episode: Sluts.

Jessica arrives and needs a secretary. She's going to be doing a series of lectures and needs to also get some writing done. So this guy David shows up in the middle of the night and calls Jessica sexist for wanting an older, female secretary instead of his handsome visage. She caves because Jessica is totes not sexist how dare you. She pays him $5.60 an hour.

It turns out David was dating the woman who died at the open. And also another woman. And also is trying to get it on with Jessica. The 80s loved them some male gigolo nonsense. It turns out the old woman was killed in a normal uninteresting break in for cash/jewels by a random man. Nope! Nothing to solve there! Moving on!

David is also dating/friendly with Lila. Who is married. But not old. And Lila is also sexting with another professor who looks kinda like James Spader and is also sleeping with Peter Graves. Because you would also sleep with Peter Graves if you could.

Box maze!

Lila dies in a box maze at 10:00 PM in front of Jessica. Because when you are in Seattle you just must see the docks at night. It is to DIE.

Waka! Waka!

Lila dies mainly so everyone can admit to sleeping with her and we can all feel ok with her death because SLUT!

Jessica's lectures seem to be based around her speaking in odd accents and pointing guns at her students. In her second one she confronts the non Peter Graves professor who is sleeping with Lila in a strange way that would get anyone fired/sent to a mental institution.

Stop. Drop. MURDER!

Then Jessica is pushed down a flight of stairs by a person in black. Then Peter Graves accuses her of clouded judgement because David is so gosh darn cute she must have a thing for him. Which is very projectionist of Peter Graves since his own May/December thing went so well.

Jessica realizes that the killer might not have been a man. This happens when she catches David in her hotel room for the 3rd time without her permission. But it gets ignored because sleuthing is afoot.

The killer was a jealous WOMAN, naturally.

Seattle

Peter Graves' secretary was in love with him. Jessica tricks her into confessing. It was because he ignored her. Jessica kinda called this in the opening scenes. She turns to Peter Graves and tells him his secretary is in love with him but he says that couldn't possibly be true. Because she's older and not young and slutty like Lila.

David follows Jessica to the airport and is still creepy. He says he loves her with a puppet. She says he'll be a character in her book. But she doesn't know if he's a victim, a suspect, or a bystander. Freeze frame on his face as a smile fades into that weird slightly menacing look up there at the top. MOST AMBIGUOUS ENDING EVER!!!

Also: Jessica seems to be stealing the puppet David handed her.

Also Also: The title is a riff on the 1970 film Love and Other Strangers. It was nominated for three Oscars and featured Diane Keaton in her first role. Bea Arthur and Cloris Leachman were in it. It won the Oscar for best original song.

My computer is repaired and I will be posting again starting this Tuesday.

M I A

My computer died last week. I hoped to be back up and running by now but it looks like it will be a few more days.

In the meantime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0_sE6pdXus&feature=youtube_gdata_player

It's A Dog's Life

Season 1, Episode 5
Nov. 4, 1984

Lynn Redgrave and horses and a beagle. Oh my!

Mmm Hmm

Jessica continues her tour of wealthy America c. 1984. What is it about horse racing that screams rich 80s? They go on a fox hunt.

In Virginia.

In 1984.

We are briefly introduced to a bunch of obnoxious rich people who I don't care about. One is named Trisha and another is called Echo. That about sums it up.

So horses. I feel that in the 80s it was shorthand to show people engaging in horse-related events. It meant they were very well off. It still might. They've done it on Mad Men.

Maybe, due to the cost, and the sort of incredibly drinks and polo aspects of it the whole world of horses just feels rich? I'm sure Mitt Romney sending his horse to the Olympics will not help change that.

Huzzah!

So then the patriarch of all those boring rich people dies in the most ridiculous way. His horse decides to jump a river or a bush or a cliff and Denton screams Tally-ho! and dies. It looks like this as it happens.

For several reasons the phrasing is odd. First...come on writers, way to make a death absolutely silly. I know this show tends to take the bite out of the violence by making with the funny but this is reaching.

Secondly, 'tally-ho' is what you yell when you see a fox or quarry. I'm assuming Denton did not see one. So is it a sly reference to HIM being the quarry? I doubt it. That is putting a lot of credit int he laps of the writers.

This is the first death that really looks like an accident. The man died because he fell from a horse. Everyone saw it. Case shut. Except not. Saving time. The horse was doped up and went crazy. Yawn.

Cut to the reading of the will. Which, because of the 80s is a video will. Denton reads his children FOR FILTH and proceeds to tell them they are terrible and get nothing. His art goes to the Smithsonian. His money...to his dog Teddy. Which delights Lynn Redgrave to no end since she hates the kids.

Lynn Redgrave is...

The only one we get to really meet is Morgana, who is psychic. Or sees ghosts. She reads tea leaves too. The only other kid we remember is Trisha, mainly because she dies next and also gets to say this line, which is the best thing on television ever:

"Electronic music. You know, tweeters, woofers, heavy metal."

Heavy metal? This is why I don't think the writers know a thing about what they are doing.

...deeply concerned. Also...holding a dog.

Lynn brings a sense of grace and calm to the proceedings. She clearly thought this was a real acting gig. Though she is pretty much only holding a dog and looking pensive the whole time.

A series of setting up the dog. He is drugged. Jailed. Sued to be declared mentally unsound. I wish I could make this up. I would guess that it's meant to be a comment of some kind about ungrateful rich kids and the whims of the very rich.

Of course people have done it in real life.

Trisha, the drunk daughter who hates music, dies in an unfortunate gate closing accident. IT WAS THE DOG! But Marcus Boswell, the family's lawyer, trained the dog to do it. He was milking the estate for money and he and Trisha drugged the horse to kill Denton. His stocks were going bad. He owed a lot to some stock broker. It is all poorly defined.

This is how I looked after this episode.

Jessica figures all of this out because of a split seam on a coat...and then uses an intercom to reveal the whole thing in a courtroom. For some reason. Again, ill-defined. Lynn is in jail, with the dog, but is freed. Which is good. And everyone goes back to their house to ride horses. The very rich dog gets to retire to a stud farm and make diddle with lots of dogs...because being rich is somehow genetic?

I just don't get any of it. Sloppy episode all around. But oddly high on the gravitas scale. Lynn's presence made Angela up her game. We get some serious FACE in the courtroom reveal.

And what can only be described as a short, half-assed Singing In The Rain homage. The episode is mainly worth watching because it makes no sense and is actually well acted. The script is probably the worst so far. Or the one that makes the least sense. But is does give us Jessica's second relative. Lynn plays a cousin of J. B. A trope that would eventually bring us dueling Lansburys.