run, Jane, run
Dec. 24th, 2013 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessIt looks as though I will have decent internet access over these holidays, for the first time ever. And so, I have been trying to catch up and I hope to be able to watch all the (few) Christmas specials that I want to. Not to mention post end of year things at the end of the year.
The last aired episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD 1.10 The Bridge is not available on 4OD (I’d assumed it would be available for more than a week as most shows are on 4OD). The truth is that that only evinces a shrug and a ‘maybe I’ll look for a recap’. So I did, and I know what happened, and I may twirl about some theories in my mind over the break.
The Mentalist, 6.8 Red John
Hmm. I bought a character played by Xander Berkely (and the actor did a good job) as Red John more than I bought it being Bertram – smart but dumb as probably!Red John said. And I thought that Jane hadn’t believed Bertram was It either, but that the move of dencouncing him as Red John publicly would get more likely to be!Red John's attention.
The line about Jane not believing that someone was smarter than him brought a bit of a wry smile from me, rather than the appreciative nod it was meant to, because Jane, like Red John (only three people to back you up?), the Team (a lot of this was not foreseeing the FBI using tactics they'd have used) and the FBI were all stupid at times. So, although I appreciated Jane’s tactical awareness in bringing a gun to where he wanted to lure Red John, there were lots of other things that he did that were not so smart.
The tension as to whether Jane would kill the man he thought was Red John was somewhat dissipated by his having done it before. And the show couldn’t bring itself to do it in a church (which I am glad about, honestly). But...that woman walked away, the Association is still up and running, even if without its leader (maybe...probably). We don’t know if that FBI guy is honest – he probably is.
I liked the detail of his interaction with the inexperienced agent (is it significant? I can’t care as much as I should.) Cho’s irritation and the way the team went in with their eyes mostly wide open was good. Even the pacing of the final stretch...
But this should have happened a few seasons ago. What actually has happened has affected how I watch the show. I’m mildly curious about how it will continue. How exactly does the team reunite, are they going to have to face the law, seein as they've done plenty of dodgy things - and with the Association still around plus their having brought a lot of bad people down, putting them in jail would be uncomfortable? Will the CBI reconstitute itself and Jane clear his name/avoid justice, having claimed vengeance? Do they deal with the ramifications, really, or brush them under the carpet and find a way to continue having Jane plus team solve murder cases every week? Do they do another ‘but that wasn’t really Red John’ (the stuff about delusions of grandeur made me think of Brent Stiles again)? Jane can’t walk off into the sunset at the end, but he hasn’t yielded to authority for so long, what else can he do? He chose not to kill himself here – well, there’d be no show had he done so – and called Lisbon and then ran. Because even if this is the last season, which I haven’t heard that it is, there are a lot more episodes to go but can what comes next work given what's happened and without what we were led to believe was the end game?
Oh, by the way, don’t say he’s her boyfriend, even if he’s the closest thing to it.
Oooh, I wonder if Jane’s ran to the carnies. I mean, I mildly wonder. Basically, if they entertain me with whatever they come up with, however silly and implausible, that’ll be fine, but I won’t be as affected as I was by seasons 2 and 3. I do empathise with the team, manipulated by Jane and his shenanigans!
The last aired episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD 1.10 The Bridge is not available on 4OD (I’d assumed it would be available for more than a week as most shows are on 4OD). The truth is that that only evinces a shrug and a ‘maybe I’ll look for a recap’. So I did, and I know what happened, and I may twirl about some theories in my mind over the break.
The Mentalist, 6.8 Red John
Hmm. I bought a character played by Xander Berkely (and the actor did a good job) as Red John more than I bought it being Bertram – smart but dumb as probably!Red John said. And I thought that Jane hadn’t believed Bertram was It either, but that the move of dencouncing him as Red John publicly would get more likely to be!Red John's attention.
The line about Jane not believing that someone was smarter than him brought a bit of a wry smile from me, rather than the appreciative nod it was meant to, because Jane, like Red John (only three people to back you up?), the Team (a lot of this was not foreseeing the FBI using tactics they'd have used) and the FBI were all stupid at times. So, although I appreciated Jane’s tactical awareness in bringing a gun to where he wanted to lure Red John, there were lots of other things that he did that were not so smart.
The tension as to whether Jane would kill the man he thought was Red John was somewhat dissipated by his having done it before. And the show couldn’t bring itself to do it in a church (which I am glad about, honestly). But...that woman walked away, the Association is still up and running, even if without its leader (maybe...probably). We don’t know if that FBI guy is honest – he probably is.
I liked the detail of his interaction with the inexperienced agent (is it significant? I can’t care as much as I should.) Cho’s irritation and the way the team went in with their eyes mostly wide open was good. Even the pacing of the final stretch...
But this should have happened a few seasons ago. What actually has happened has affected how I watch the show. I’m mildly curious about how it will continue. How exactly does the team reunite, are they going to have to face the law, seein as they've done plenty of dodgy things - and with the Association still around plus their having brought a lot of bad people down, putting them in jail would be uncomfortable? Will the CBI reconstitute itself and Jane clear his name/avoid justice, having claimed vengeance? Do they deal with the ramifications, really, or brush them under the carpet and find a way to continue having Jane plus team solve murder cases every week? Do they do another ‘but that wasn’t really Red John’ (the stuff about delusions of grandeur made me think of Brent Stiles again)? Jane can’t walk off into the sunset at the end, but he hasn’t yielded to authority for so long, what else can he do? He chose not to kill himself here – well, there’d be no show had he done so – and called Lisbon and then ran. Because even if this is the last season, which I haven’t heard that it is, there are a lot more episodes to go but can what comes next work given what's happened and without what we were led to believe was the end game?
Oh, by the way, don’t say he’s her boyfriend, even if he’s the closest thing to it.
Oooh, I wonder if Jane’s ran to the carnies. I mean, I mildly wonder. Basically, if they entertain me with whatever they come up with, however silly and implausible, that’ll be fine, but I won’t be as affected as I was by seasons 2 and 3. I do empathise with the team, manipulated by Jane and his shenanigans!
