Rake
Season One, Episode Seven, R vs. Tanner
Original Air Date: December 16, 2010
Cleaver is bashed during an unsuccessful robbery attempt at a chemists shop and must testify at the trial of the young man accused of the robbery, bashing and death of his fellow robber. Joe Sandilands is outed as one of fourteen politicians who frequented Club Jules. Tired of the stress of the situation, Joe commits suicide. Cleaver is given the case of Travis Tanner, a young man accused of bashing and robbing "Glebe woman". Cleaver learns some shocking truths about Missy that have the ability to change the relationship between the two of them forever. Fuzz hits some relationship woes with Fiona. Barney deals with his separation from Scarlett.
Barney spends a sleepless night without Scarlett but, oddly enough, finds himself smiling as he stands by the pool drinking his coffee the following morning.
Joe Sandilands is outed as one of fourteen politicians who frequented Club Jules, the brothel where Missy used to work. Video of him leaving the Club was put on YouTube leaving Sandilands no choice but to issue a statement expressing regret and remorse to his family, colleagues and supporters.
Cleave, who is suffering from a lion of a hang-over begs Nicole to find something to "kill the bastard behind my eyes" but, alas, she cannot find anything that will do the trick. Two men go through their last minute preparations for a robbery. Unfortunately, they have chosen to rob the exact same chemists shop where Cleaver has gone to get something for his "step-mother of all headaches". They enter the shop while the chemist has gone to the back to fetch something for Cleave's headache. Poor Cleaver, who can't stop telling the young men that they are on "candid camera" and that they should bolt before getting caught ends up getting bashed in the side of the head.
The young men return to their flat after the unsuccessful robbery attempt and, while one who was severely injured during the attempt sleeps, the other tries to wash the web he'd drawn on his face off.
While having his injuries taken care of at hospital, Cleaver watches a news story about David "Harry" Potter and wonders where HIS parade is. Barney arrives at the hospital and tells Cleaver to never call him again as he isn't his next of kin. When Cleaver tells him they can get over everything, Barney informs him coolly that he has gotten over Scarlett and over his friendship with him then leaves.
Scarlett arrives angry at she and Barney's house to tell him that until she is informed otherwise, it is still their house and their children. Barney doesn't argue, he simply says 'okay' and walks away.
Cleave arrives back at his office where Nicole shows him a small newspaper article about his assault at the chemists shop. He's more angry that a Glebe woman who was bashed and robbed got a bigger story that he did. When Nicole hands him the brief for Travis Tanner, the man accused to bashing the Glebe woman, Cleave vows to get him off to show Glebe woman who's boss and what it's like to be below the fold. While going over the case with Simone from the Crown Prosecutors Office, Cleave is told that, while Tanner fits the description given by Glebe woman, there is a witness who claims to have seen Tanner in the city at the precise time Glebe woman's attack occurred. The witness just so happens to be Missy.
Cleave speaks with Missy about what had happened. She literally bumped into Tanner on Phillips Street. Tanner helped her pick up her belongings she had dropped and even introduced himself to her by name. She can even describe a tattoo on his shoulder. She heard about the crime on the radio (but didn't hear about the barista from King's Cross, unfortunately) and came forward and the case eventually was delivered to Cleaver. Cleaver sees the entire situation as proof of their spiritual connection.
Simone and Cleaver pay a visit to Tanner in jail who gives them the details of why he was on Phillips Street. He wanted to see "the blue". The weather was poor but he still spent most of the day by the harbour before going back to the halfway house where he was staying. He went past the law school where Missy studies because he doesn't know the city that well.
Wanting a private word with him, Mick and Col drop in on Cleave as he is having a drink. They heard what happened at the chemists shop. Mick tells him the boys that bashed him happens to be the son of a good friend of his. He goes on to say that the other boy, Tony, died and, after asking Cleave what happened and getting an answer, he (Mick) wants Cleave to make sure Josh won't get a sentence for murder (but manslaughter is okay).
Missy and Joe Sandilands meet and he tells her his wife has given him two weeks to find a new place to live. She knew he was visiting the Club but the humiliation of everyone knowing is too much for her. Jules is keeping an understandably low profile. Someone had hacked in and gotten the client list. Missy is worried that if the client list is out, the list of girls working at the brothel is also out. Joe assures her it's only the "celebs" anyone is interested in. When he suggests she tell David, she declines that saying they're too far down the track for that. He asks her if she ever enjoyed it when they were together at the Club. Her answers lead him to believe she didn't and that Cleaver was always the one for her. He asks if she fell in love with Cleaver and she replies once or twice but that he's a hopeless case. He leaves her with a few words that "it might have been" are the saddest words and a light touch on the cheek.
Barney and Scarlett attend couples therapy even though they've already made the decision to divorce, for the children's sake. They end up bickering over who Barney meant by 'them' (the kids). When they leave the office, Scarlett wants to know what Barney is playing at with his new facade. He says the fog has lifted and he's got the desire to move on, which is what they both want, of course.
Cleaver goes into the mens room and, when he hears coughing, assumes it's a colleague who is using the patch to try and quit smoking. After going on for a few seconds about how the man is destined to be a smoker, the man comes out of the stall and it's not his colleague. The man ridicules Cleaver for talking incessantly, even while using the loo, then tells him he wants to see "the prick Greene". Cleaver calmly gives him directions where he can find Greene. In Cleaver's office, the man from the mens room and his wife, Tanner's parents, and Simone, are waiting on him. They hardly seem to be hands-on parents.
Joe Sandilands drives out to the ocean and commits suicide. Cleaver, Wendy, David and Missy and Barney and Scarlett are in attendance at the funeral. Cleaver is clearly upset by the loss of his friend. Barney comforts Joe's widow telling her one day she will wake up, the pain will be gone and she will begin again.
After the funeral, Wendy tells Cleave she's having a dinner for Fuzz's birthday at her place if he's free and that Fiona will be there. He talks about how seeing her talking with Scarlett reminded him of how things used to be years ago and how much he misses those times. He's lost them all, he believes and he loves them all, most of all Wendy. He kisses her and she asks him to get out of the car.
He calls Missy and the two meet at a club and talk over the list of so-called Club celebrities published in the paper. He's annoyed that out of thirty names, he didn't get a mention. A drunken Barney visits a pole-dancing club. Missy tells Cleave she saw Joe the morning he committed suicide. She's distraught over if she could have helped Joe or not. Cleave comforts her confirming that Joe was just sick of the BS. Missy is as well and confides in Cleaver that she's sick of it all with David as she's having to lie to him and pretend she's someone she isn't. He tells her to give David the truth; be real with David the way she's real with him. She laughs it away as being not that simple before the two share a kiss.
Barney pays a dancer at the club $200 for a kiss. The next morning, still drunk, Barney dances in a public fountain where he is seen by Cleaver. When two constables tell him to get out of the fountain, Cleaver comes to his rescue. The constables leave Barney alone and, after much trouble, Cleave finally gets him out of the fountain.
Missy arrives at home and finds that David isn't as understanding of her mourning Joe as she thought he might be. He doesn't understand how she can mourn someone she just met a little while ago so hard. He chastises her for disappearing all the time and reminds her that he's running for Parliament and that they are getting married and he must know where she was the night before. She begins to cry and turns and runs into the bedroom and closes the door without answering him.
Cleave takes Barney to the cafe he lives above to pour some coffee into him to sober him up. Barney tells him he tried to be Cleaver for the night and that he went to the bar. As he was kissing the woman, everything came back to him and he burst into tears then threw up on the woman. Cleave pours Barnyard into a cab and takes him home where the two are met by Scarlett. She immediately assumes Cleaver did something to Barney. She orders Cleave to leave her family alone then takes Barney into the house.
Scarlett, who is prosecuting Cleaver's assault case, decides she wants to cross examine him when he takes the stand despite protests from her colleague. Mick arrives in the courtroom as Scarlett stands to start her examination. She questions him calmly but firmly about what he saw the night he was bashed and how, if he had been hit hard enough to send him to hospital, he is able to be sure he didn't actually see Josh strike his mate on purpose. She asks if he'd been drinking or even taking cocaine which draws a word from the judge. He admits he'd been to rehab for cocaine addiction two years ago and she asks if he's taken the drug since. She then asks if he's an associate of Michael Corella and he does admit to defending him. When the questions become too tough, Cleaver takes a novel approach: he tells the judge he has had sexual relations with Scarlett and that she is his best friends wife leading the judge to call Scarlett into chambers.
Cleaver rushes from his bashing trial to Travis Tanner's trial. Cleaver is surprised to learn from a constable that the "Glebe woman" wasn't a "Glebe woman" at all. The attack occurred in Glebe but the woman was actually from Annandale. He also learns that the seventy-one year-old woman was attacked from behind but was able to describe her attacker including a barbed wire tattoo on his arm. He gets the constable to admit he's seen barbed wire tattoos many times throughout the course of his career. Cleaver suggests that since Tanner was arrested within two hours of the attack, there was no real investigation and even went so far as to merely cross reference inhabitants of the halfway house to hit upon Tanner to pin the crime on.
Cleave attends Fuzz's birthday dinner and finds Wendy angry at him (for the kiss), Fuzz and "Vampira" (Fiona). Conversation is tense during the dinner and get even more tense when Wendy makes a comment about Fiona not acting her age. Fuzz calls his mother on the comment and says she must get used to the fact that he and Fiona are in love. As Cleaver is delivering a toast to his now 16 year-old son, Fiona stands and rushes from the room. Fuzz follows her. Both Wendy and Cleaver comfort their son who has been dumped by Fiona for someone younger. Fuzz is distraught because Fiona was "the one" and blames them for Fiona meeting the new man at the new school they drove her to. Cleave and Wendy can't help but share a small laugh after Fuzz storms out of his bedroom. He offers to call Fiona's new school in the morning to let them know of her penchant for young men.
Barney moves into a new home. David wishes Missy good luck with the "Glebe woman case" as she's getting ready to leave for court. She arrives at the courthouse and tries to avoid Cleaver but he follows her all the way to the ladies room where he finds her crying. She is upset that Tanner's parents are at the trial. She confesses to Cleave that Tanner's mum and dad are HER mother and father and Travis is her younger brother. She acknowledges that Travis did commit the crime but his life will be over if he goes into prison again. He warns her about the dangers of getting in the witness box and lying if she is found out. She continues to confess even more including the fact her name is Jane Tanner. He's angry that she felt the need to lie to him but she insists she started the lies before she ever met him.
In court, Cleaver questions Missy/Jane about what she claimed happened on the night of the attack with two questions: what time she saw him and if she is convinced it was Travis Tanner she saw. She answers both questions with the lie she made up to save her brother. As Cleave is leaving the courthouse with Simone, Missy runs up to him to thank him. He politely replies to her then turns back to Simone saying drinks are in order.
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This episode sure was packed to the gills! I certainly can't NOT mention Joe Sandilands suicide. I really liked Joe. The character added some great humor to the show when he appeared. Geoff Morrell was awesome as the no-nonsense, say exactly what he's thinking politician. I'm sad Joe is leaving and I will certainly miss him showing up from time to time.
The biggest news from this episode are the truths Missy dropped on Cleaver before the Travis Tanner trial. She told him so many of her darkest secrets. Secrets she'd never tell anyone else. She trusted him with who she really is. She also put Cleaver in a position she really didn't have any right to put him in. Sure, she wanted to protect her brother, but at what cost? If it's learned she lied on the stand her life will be destroyed and Cleaver will surely see some trouble from it as well since he allowed her to lie. I can only imagine this will damage their friendship. Maybe not permanently as Cleaver is extremely fond of her, but it will cause some damage. And just maybe this needed to happen to Cleaver. He now knows what it feels like to have been painted into a corner by someone he loves. He was in the exact same situation with Missy that he had put his friends and loved ones in many times.
We have one more episode left this season. It's a shame Rake is coming to a close so soon. When a show is this good, I could watch a brand new episode every single week and never tire of it. The final episode of the first season of Rake airs on 23rd December, 2010. Could you ask for any better Christmas prezzy than that?
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Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Idris Elba Nominated For a Golden Globe!
The amazing Idris Elba has received a Golden Globe nomination for his work as John Luther in the BBC series Luther. His nomination is in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television category.
Ian McShane (Pillars of the Earth), Al Pacino (You don't Know Jack), Dennis Quaid (The Special Relationship) and Edgar Ramierez (Carlos) are also nominated in the same category.
Congratulations, Idris! Hopefully, come January 16, 2011, Idris and all of his fans will be celebrating his win!
If you would like to see the entire list of nominees for this year, you can visit the Official Golden Globes web site.
http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/
Ian McShane (Pillars of the Earth), Al Pacino (You don't Know Jack), Dennis Quaid (The Special Relationship) and Edgar Ramierez (Carlos) are also nominated in the same category.
Congratulations, Idris! Hopefully, come January 16, 2011, Idris and all of his fans will be celebrating his win!
If you would like to see the entire list of nominees for this year, you can visit the Official Golden Globes web site.
http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/
Friday, December 10, 2010
US Television: Vampire Diaries, Episode 2.11 "By the Light of the Moon"
Vampire Diaries
Season Two, Episode 2.11, By the Light of the Moon
Original Air Date: December 9, 2010
The full moon arrives and Caroline is right by Tyler's side as he embarks on his first transformation. Jules, a mysterious woman arrives in town looking for Mason Lockwood. Could Jules be more than she appears and could she be bringing danger with her? Bonnie and Luka work a spell together but both are hiding secrets from the other. Elijah returns to make Elena an offer she can't refuse. Life changes for Rose.
Tyler, growing more anxious about the approaching full moon, starts preparing. He tries calling Mason but gets his voice mail and leaves a message. The message is heard by an unknown woman.
Elena questions Bonnie about the moonstone. Bonnie knows if she can figure out how to remove the spell from the stone it will be useless. Elena wants Bonnie to focus on getting Stefan out of the tomb instead of focusing on the moonstone (which is what Stefan wants Bonnie to do). Jeremy interrupts their conversation and, when Bonnie leaves to get a coffee, he asks Elena why she's on a suicide mission. Elena doesn't want those she loves to get hurt but he doesn't accept that. When he leaves, Elena takes the moonstone from Bonnie's purse and tries to leave. She tells Bonnie she is going to see Stefan but Bonnie knows Elena is lying. Jeremy, finds that his sister took the moonstone. Elena protests citing that Klaus killed Katherine's family because of her having crossed him. Bonnie steps aside and when Elena tries to leave the house she finds that Bonnie has set up a spell to trap Elena in the house.
Damon lets Stefan know about Bonnie holding Elena in her house and takes him some things he might need while in the tomb, including some blood which Stefan refuses to take because he doesn't want to have to share it with Katherine. Damon promises Stefan they will find a way to get him out once the moonstone is taken care of. Stefan wants Elena's safety placed above his freedom.
The woman who overheard Tyler's voice mail to Mason, Jules (Michaela McManus) arrives at the Lockwood home as Tyler is getting ready to leave. Jules is looking for Mason and, when Carol Lockwood tells her Mason has been back in Florida for some time, Jules reveals to them that he hasn't.
Jenna tells Alaric that she's assisting a writer who is working on a book on small towns since her sister kept most of the archives and Carol Lockwood didn't have the time. She leaves him at the Grill and he watches as Tyler comes in and goes to speak with Caroline. Tyler tells Caroline about Jules visit that morning and that Jules had told them Mason never made it back to Florida.
Damon pays a visit to Elena who is in a bad mood because of her current situation. He hasn't told Stefan about Elijah still being alive because there isn't anything he could do about it and he wants to know where Bonnie is. Jeremy thought she was with Damon. Bonnie is on "moonstone duty", Damon is on "Elena patrol" and Caroline, who Damon amusing calls "Vampire Barbie" is taking care of Tyler. Alaric calls Damon to let him know that Sheriff Forbes has officially declared Mason Lockwood a missing person and about Jules arrival. Damon leaves Jeremy in charge of watching Elena to go to Alaric to deal with the Jules situation.
Caroline and Tyler go to the old Lockwood estate to start preparing for that nights full moon. When Jules leaves the Lockwood house, she stops just outside and makes a call to someone. She tells them Mason is missing and that they were right and there is another werewolf, Mason's nephew. She then goes to the Grill and asks Matt about Tyler. Damon and Alaric watch her and Damon gives Alaric some wolfsbane to help them find out if Jules is a werewolf as well.
Tyler starts working on getting ready for the full moon. Caroline brought wolfsbane and when Tyler touches it, it burns his fingers. While Caroline mixes the wolfsbane with water, Tyler checks the chains he has set up, which should be good up to 5,000 pounds. She asks him how he is doing and he simply answers "still human".
Bonnie takes Luka back his dog tags and he's angry about her channeling him without his knowledge. She tries to explain but he cuts her off telling her he forgives her and opens the door so she can come in. They look over an impressive collection of grimoires that his father has collected and Luka explains why his father has collected them and how he sees that all witches are family by a code of loyalty to help each other. She asks if he knows how to break the bind between a talisman and a spell. Since each spell is unique he wants her to be more specific but is sure they can figure things out.
Alaric and Damon flank Jules and Alaric offers to buy her a drink and Damon tells him to leave. While Damon distracts her, Alaric mixes the wolfsbane in her drink.
Katherine taunts Stefan about his 'fasting' then takes her dress off and tells him they should make the best out of their being there together. She tells him Damon has what he wants: Elena and will not rush to get him out. She kisses him and he pushes her away once but a second kiss starts them. He awakens realizing everything was a dream and tells Katherine to stay out of his head.
Elena comes downstairs to find Jenna digging through the closet to find Elena's mother's historical research for the writer she is helping. She hands Elena a box of books and stands and closes the door. Elena is shocked to see Elijah is standing behind the door. Apparently, he is the "writer" Jenna has been roped into helping. He leaves thanking Jenna for inviting him into her home. Elena runs upstairs and pounds on Jeremy's door but is stopped by Elijah who has come back into the house. When Jeremy opens the door, Elijah instructs her to not let him know he's there. She asks him to help Jenna with the boxes and he goes downstairs leaving Elena and Elijah to talk.
Damon continues to chat up Jules, who is yet to take a sip of her drink. They talk about Mason and Jules informs Damon he's missing and he offers to help her find him.
Tyler becomes more and more nervous as the apex of the moon approaches. He takes a drink of the wolfsbane water and falls to his knees in pain. Caroline tries to comfort him but he pushes her away. She persists and, when he calms down, he apologizes to her.
Elijah tells Elena he means her family no harm and explains to her about Klaus being the most feared and hated of the Originals. He informs her that his (Elijah's) goal isn't to break the curse. Klaus' obsessions have made him a paranoid recluse and he trusts only those in his immediate circle. Klaus doesn't trust Elijah anymore. Elena realizes he doesn't know where Klaus is anymore and that he is trying to use her to flush him out. He wants to offer her a deal. He wants her to do nothing. To live her life and stop fighting. When the time is right, the two of them will draw Klaus out together and Elijah will make certain her friends are unharmed. Then, Elijah will kill Klaus. After a bit of thought, Elena tells him she needs him to do one more thing for her.
Bonnie and Luka set up a circle of candles on the roof to work the unbinding spell on the moonstone. Even though he is helping her with the spell, Bonnie still doesn't tell him the entire story behind the moonstone. They join hands and begin chanting over the stone. The stone raises into the air and explodes into light.
Tyler is getting closer to his transformation and things are getting harder for him. He tells Caroline she should leave but she refuses to leave him just yet. He weeps in pain as his body writhes and contorts as his ordeal begins. Damon almost gets Jules to take a drink but she realizes there is wolfsbane in the drink. She knows exactly what Damon and Alaric are and she tells Damon straight out that the night of the full moon isn't the night to pick a fight with her and that he's been marked then she leaves.
Caroline is powerless to help Tyler. She has to stand back and watch his body change and see the pain he's in. Again, he wants her to leave because he doesn't want to hurt her but she again refuses to go. Damon is angry about Jules attitude toward him but Alaric calms him down telling him to go home, lock the doors and they'll deal with it in the morning when it's safer for Damon.
Caroline holds Tyler to comfort him and only gets out of his reach when he starts to become more aggressive. She puts a gate and steel door between the two of them, which is a good thing because he pulls the chains from the floor. She stands by crying as he struggles with his body changing in the transformation. Everything goes quiet and Caroline starts to open the door. Tyler, now a werewolf, pushes against it. When she realizes she can't hold the door closed, she bolts from the cellar and into the woods.
Damon arrives home and senses something isn't quite right. He finds Rose waiting for him. She apologizes for Elena. She has nowhere else to go. They hear class breaking and see a wolf has entered the house. It jumps on Rose and bites her then runs out the broken window. Damon bends next to Rose and they see that the bite on her shoulder is healing.
When Luka goes back to his apartment, his father is waiting and asks if his son was successful. Luka admits that he was. Bonnie fell for the whole show and didn't suspect anything. Luka gives his father the moonstone. Before the full moon is over, there is one more thing Elijah needs Luka and his father to do.
Katherine refuses to apologize to Stefan for anything she's done. She admits she does love him even if he won't believe her. He wants her to prove to him there is something inside her worth trusting. She tells him she could help him find Klaus. She says to start with Isobel. Since she was a research expert and able to find Katherine. They hear a noise and when they go to the entrance to the tomb they see Elijah. Elijah tells Stefan that his release has been granted per the bargain he reached with Elena. Stefan is able to leave the tomb but Katherine is unable to leave the tomb and Elijah refuses to let her out. Elijah tells Stefan he is free to go and that Elena will explain the arrangement to him. As long as she keeps her word, he will keep his. Despite her begging, Stefan leaves Katherine in the tomb.
Caroline goes back to the cellar and to Tyler how is human again. She covers him with a blanket and holds him to comfort him. Stefan goes to see Elena. Damon knows the werewolf who attacked Rose was Jules as Caroline had told him Tyler was locked up. Rose vows to stay and help him protect and save Elena. The healed bite on her shoulder hurts when Damon touches it. He pulls back her robe to reveal that the skin has started to blister.
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You know, I really like Elijah. I'm sorry, but I do. Don't get me wrong, I love (and I do mean love) Damon and Stefan. And I don't want anything bad to happen to Elena because I like her too. But is Elijah just too cool or what? Daniel Gillies plays an awesome bad guy. Just when you think he's all bad, he says something that makes you think he might not be that bad. Then, he does something to make you re-think it all over again. He doesn't get blindingly angry. He just takes care of whatever problems are in his way. I can't wait to see how things turn out with him and if he is really in this whole mess to try and kill Klaus or if that is one big vampire lie to get Elena so he can turn her over to Klaus to score some points or do a job he was instructed to do.
I am loving the storyline with Tyler and Caroline. He needs her and she is there for him in a big way, even going so far as to put herself in mortal danger just to help him. Caroline has really changed since she became a vampire and I like her a lot more. She's not the whiny, spoiled little girl that she was in the first season. She's grown up. I can see her and Tyler developing a strong bond over their supernatural lives and the ups and downs that go with them. When one needs the other, they will be there. At least I hope that's how it will end up playing out.
Luka doesn't seem very happy at all that he had to con Bonnie. This is another plot line I can't wait to see play out. I want to know if the Martins are good or bad. I haven't quite made up my mind about them yet.
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For more information:
Official Site: http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/
TV Rage: http://www.tvrage.com/The_Vampire_Diaries
Season Two, Episode 2.11, By the Light of the Moon
Original Air Date: December 9, 2010
The full moon arrives and Caroline is right by Tyler's side as he embarks on his first transformation. Jules, a mysterious woman arrives in town looking for Mason Lockwood. Could Jules be more than she appears and could she be bringing danger with her? Bonnie and Luka work a spell together but both are hiding secrets from the other. Elijah returns to make Elena an offer she can't refuse. Life changes for Rose.
Tyler, growing more anxious about the approaching full moon, starts preparing. He tries calling Mason but gets his voice mail and leaves a message. The message is heard by an unknown woman.
Elena questions Bonnie about the moonstone. Bonnie knows if she can figure out how to remove the spell from the stone it will be useless. Elena wants Bonnie to focus on getting Stefan out of the tomb instead of focusing on the moonstone (which is what Stefan wants Bonnie to do). Jeremy interrupts their conversation and, when Bonnie leaves to get a coffee, he asks Elena why she's on a suicide mission. Elena doesn't want those she loves to get hurt but he doesn't accept that. When he leaves, Elena takes the moonstone from Bonnie's purse and tries to leave. She tells Bonnie she is going to see Stefan but Bonnie knows Elena is lying. Jeremy, finds that his sister took the moonstone. Elena protests citing that Klaus killed Katherine's family because of her having crossed him. Bonnie steps aside and when Elena tries to leave the house she finds that Bonnie has set up a spell to trap Elena in the house.
Damon lets Stefan know about Bonnie holding Elena in her house and takes him some things he might need while in the tomb, including some blood which Stefan refuses to take because he doesn't want to have to share it with Katherine. Damon promises Stefan they will find a way to get him out once the moonstone is taken care of. Stefan wants Elena's safety placed above his freedom.
The woman who overheard Tyler's voice mail to Mason, Jules (Michaela McManus) arrives at the Lockwood home as Tyler is getting ready to leave. Jules is looking for Mason and, when Carol Lockwood tells her Mason has been back in Florida for some time, Jules reveals to them that he hasn't.
Jenna tells Alaric that she's assisting a writer who is working on a book on small towns since her sister kept most of the archives and Carol Lockwood didn't have the time. She leaves him at the Grill and he watches as Tyler comes in and goes to speak with Caroline. Tyler tells Caroline about Jules visit that morning and that Jules had told them Mason never made it back to Florida.
Damon pays a visit to Elena who is in a bad mood because of her current situation. He hasn't told Stefan about Elijah still being alive because there isn't anything he could do about it and he wants to know where Bonnie is. Jeremy thought she was with Damon. Bonnie is on "moonstone duty", Damon is on "Elena patrol" and Caroline, who Damon amusing calls "Vampire Barbie" is taking care of Tyler. Alaric calls Damon to let him know that Sheriff Forbes has officially declared Mason Lockwood a missing person and about Jules arrival. Damon leaves Jeremy in charge of watching Elena to go to Alaric to deal with the Jules situation.
Caroline and Tyler go to the old Lockwood estate to start preparing for that nights full moon. When Jules leaves the Lockwood house, she stops just outside and makes a call to someone. She tells them Mason is missing and that they were right and there is another werewolf, Mason's nephew. She then goes to the Grill and asks Matt about Tyler. Damon and Alaric watch her and Damon gives Alaric some wolfsbane to help them find out if Jules is a werewolf as well.
Tyler starts working on getting ready for the full moon. Caroline brought wolfsbane and when Tyler touches it, it burns his fingers. While Caroline mixes the wolfsbane with water, Tyler checks the chains he has set up, which should be good up to 5,000 pounds. She asks him how he is doing and he simply answers "still human".
Bonnie takes Luka back his dog tags and he's angry about her channeling him without his knowledge. She tries to explain but he cuts her off telling her he forgives her and opens the door so she can come in. They look over an impressive collection of grimoires that his father has collected and Luka explains why his father has collected them and how he sees that all witches are family by a code of loyalty to help each other. She asks if he knows how to break the bind between a talisman and a spell. Since each spell is unique he wants her to be more specific but is sure they can figure things out.
Alaric and Damon flank Jules and Alaric offers to buy her a drink and Damon tells him to leave. While Damon distracts her, Alaric mixes the wolfsbane in her drink.
Katherine taunts Stefan about his 'fasting' then takes her dress off and tells him they should make the best out of their being there together. She tells him Damon has what he wants: Elena and will not rush to get him out. She kisses him and he pushes her away once but a second kiss starts them. He awakens realizing everything was a dream and tells Katherine to stay out of his head.
Elena comes downstairs to find Jenna digging through the closet to find Elena's mother's historical research for the writer she is helping. She hands Elena a box of books and stands and closes the door. Elena is shocked to see Elijah is standing behind the door. Apparently, he is the "writer" Jenna has been roped into helping. He leaves thanking Jenna for inviting him into her home. Elena runs upstairs and pounds on Jeremy's door but is stopped by Elijah who has come back into the house. When Jeremy opens the door, Elijah instructs her to not let him know he's there. She asks him to help Jenna with the boxes and he goes downstairs leaving Elena and Elijah to talk.
Damon continues to chat up Jules, who is yet to take a sip of her drink. They talk about Mason and Jules informs Damon he's missing and he offers to help her find him.
Tyler becomes more and more nervous as the apex of the moon approaches. He takes a drink of the wolfsbane water and falls to his knees in pain. Caroline tries to comfort him but he pushes her away. She persists and, when he calms down, he apologizes to her.
Elijah tells Elena he means her family no harm and explains to her about Klaus being the most feared and hated of the Originals. He informs her that his (Elijah's) goal isn't to break the curse. Klaus' obsessions have made him a paranoid recluse and he trusts only those in his immediate circle. Klaus doesn't trust Elijah anymore. Elena realizes he doesn't know where Klaus is anymore and that he is trying to use her to flush him out. He wants to offer her a deal. He wants her to do nothing. To live her life and stop fighting. When the time is right, the two of them will draw Klaus out together and Elijah will make certain her friends are unharmed. Then, Elijah will kill Klaus. After a bit of thought, Elena tells him she needs him to do one more thing for her.
Bonnie and Luka set up a circle of candles on the roof to work the unbinding spell on the moonstone. Even though he is helping her with the spell, Bonnie still doesn't tell him the entire story behind the moonstone. They join hands and begin chanting over the stone. The stone raises into the air and explodes into light.
Tyler is getting closer to his transformation and things are getting harder for him. He tells Caroline she should leave but she refuses to leave him just yet. He weeps in pain as his body writhes and contorts as his ordeal begins. Damon almost gets Jules to take a drink but she realizes there is wolfsbane in the drink. She knows exactly what Damon and Alaric are and she tells Damon straight out that the night of the full moon isn't the night to pick a fight with her and that he's been marked then she leaves.
Caroline is powerless to help Tyler. She has to stand back and watch his body change and see the pain he's in. Again, he wants her to leave because he doesn't want to hurt her but she again refuses to go. Damon is angry about Jules attitude toward him but Alaric calms him down telling him to go home, lock the doors and they'll deal with it in the morning when it's safer for Damon.
Caroline holds Tyler to comfort him and only gets out of his reach when he starts to become more aggressive. She puts a gate and steel door between the two of them, which is a good thing because he pulls the chains from the floor. She stands by crying as he struggles with his body changing in the transformation. Everything goes quiet and Caroline starts to open the door. Tyler, now a werewolf, pushes against it. When she realizes she can't hold the door closed, she bolts from the cellar and into the woods.
Damon arrives home and senses something isn't quite right. He finds Rose waiting for him. She apologizes for Elena. She has nowhere else to go. They hear class breaking and see a wolf has entered the house. It jumps on Rose and bites her then runs out the broken window. Damon bends next to Rose and they see that the bite on her shoulder is healing.
When Luka goes back to his apartment, his father is waiting and asks if his son was successful. Luka admits that he was. Bonnie fell for the whole show and didn't suspect anything. Luka gives his father the moonstone. Before the full moon is over, there is one more thing Elijah needs Luka and his father to do.
Katherine refuses to apologize to Stefan for anything she's done. She admits she does love him even if he won't believe her. He wants her to prove to him there is something inside her worth trusting. She tells him she could help him find Klaus. She says to start with Isobel. Since she was a research expert and able to find Katherine. They hear a noise and when they go to the entrance to the tomb they see Elijah. Elijah tells Stefan that his release has been granted per the bargain he reached with Elena. Stefan is able to leave the tomb but Katherine is unable to leave the tomb and Elijah refuses to let her out. Elijah tells Stefan he is free to go and that Elena will explain the arrangement to him. As long as she keeps her word, he will keep his. Despite her begging, Stefan leaves Katherine in the tomb.
Caroline goes back to the cellar and to Tyler how is human again. She covers him with a blanket and holds him to comfort him. Stefan goes to see Elena. Damon knows the werewolf who attacked Rose was Jules as Caroline had told him Tyler was locked up. Rose vows to stay and help him protect and save Elena. The healed bite on her shoulder hurts when Damon touches it. He pulls back her robe to reveal that the skin has started to blister.
--
You know, I really like Elijah. I'm sorry, but I do. Don't get me wrong, I love (and I do mean love) Damon and Stefan. And I don't want anything bad to happen to Elena because I like her too. But is Elijah just too cool or what? Daniel Gillies plays an awesome bad guy. Just when you think he's all bad, he says something that makes you think he might not be that bad. Then, he does something to make you re-think it all over again. He doesn't get blindingly angry. He just takes care of whatever problems are in his way. I can't wait to see how things turn out with him and if he is really in this whole mess to try and kill Klaus or if that is one big vampire lie to get Elena so he can turn her over to Klaus to score some points or do a job he was instructed to do.
I am loving the storyline with Tyler and Caroline. He needs her and she is there for him in a big way, even going so far as to put herself in mortal danger just to help him. Caroline has really changed since she became a vampire and I like her a lot more. She's not the whiny, spoiled little girl that she was in the first season. She's grown up. I can see her and Tyler developing a strong bond over their supernatural lives and the ups and downs that go with them. When one needs the other, they will be there. At least I hope that's how it will end up playing out.
Luka doesn't seem very happy at all that he had to con Bonnie. This is another plot line I can't wait to see play out. I want to know if the Martins are good or bad. I haven't quite made up my mind about them yet.
--
For more information:
Official Site: http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/
TV Rage: http://www.tvrage.com/The_Vampire_Diaries
Thursday, December 9, 2010
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.6 "R vs. Langhorn"
Rake
Season One, Episode Six, R vs. Langhorn
Original Air Date: December 9, 2010
Radio personality Eddie Langhorn is arrested for inciting racial hatred because of controversial comments she made on her radio show during an interview with Joe Sandilands. She turns to old friend Cleaver Greene to represent her. Cleave makes another appearance in tax court. This time, it doesn't end so favorably for him. Missy gives Cleave some expected, but unwelcome, news. Cleave must deal with a family emergency when his father has a stroke. Barney comes to Scarlett's aid during a trial she's prosecuting.
Radio personality, Eddie Langhorn (Rachel Griffiths) interviews Joe Sandilands and pulls no punches in her questioning of him. She wants to know what will be done about crime, particularly a series of rapes that haven't been solved. She blames him for the vigilantes who have starting working in some of the neighborhoods. A group of young men with ball bats brutally attack and bash another group of young men and leave them where they fall.
Scarlett is still not home with Barney. Her sister comes into the nursery to feed the baby and tell Scarlett that she received a phone call from her boss, Warrick (the Director of Public Prosecutions). Cleave is awakened by Nicole as he was sleeping beneath his desk. He gets up to get ready for court and is caught buck naked in the men's room washing up.
The police place Eddie Langhorn under arrest for causing a riot and inciting racial hatred. She isn't bothered by the charges in the least and the officers that arrest her are quite star-struck. David, Missy and Joe, on the campaign trail, spend some time with some of the "less controversial ethnic groups" and even do some dancing for the cameras.
Cleave is still hitting the cocaine pretty hard. Before making an appearance in tax court, he picks up a black rubbish bag to take in as his "evidence". David is still prosecuting the case and wants Cleave to produce the documents he requests under subpoena or be held in contempt. Cleave assures the court he has the documents with him and presents the rather smelly bag of documents. The smell invades the court room and the judge orders him to remove the documents immediately. The judge holds Cleaver in contempt and orders him to remand. As he is getting into the vehicle to take him to jail, he receives a call from his sister, Lilly, informing him their father has had a stroke and is in hospital. As he will be occupied for the next couple of days, Cleaver promises he will try to get up to see their father on the weekend. Cleave arrives in jail and all the unsavory characters in the cell know him.
Warrick briefs Scarlett on the arrest of Eddie Langhorn as she will be prosecuting the case.
Missy goes to see Cleaver in jail. She knows he's doing cocaine again. Cleave isn't as kind to her as he usually is and is actually rather rude to her. She leaves after telling him he will die if he keeps his behavior up.
Scarlett goes home to pick up a file and finds a woman she doesn't know there. Scarlett's son, Adam, is home from school with a fever and Sylvia is watching over him. Scarlett gives Barney an angry call because he didn't let her know Adam was sick and because he is parading Sylvia around in front of the children. Barney is quite pleased with the way he handled the conversation with Scarlett once she hangs up.
When he is released from jail, Cleave gets another call from Lilly. Their father keeps asking to see him. He asks to borrow Nicole's car for the weekend to drive up to see his father. Nicole is moving them into yet another new office previously belonging to a Tolga Urdan. Cleave enters the room and finds Eddie Langhorn sitting in his chair waiting for him.
Cleave doesn't agree with Eddie's opinions and wonders why she chose him to represent her. She feels justified in her actions because of the gang rape she questioned Joe Sandilands about. He refuses to represent her and leaves the office. She goes after him and they are caught by a group of reporters. She makes a heartfelt statement to the reporters and Cleave interrupts wanting to know if he can say something. When Eddie steps aside to allow him to speak he asks if any of the reporters can lend him a car for the weekend.
Cleave goes to Wendy who lends him her car and insists Fuzz go along to see his grandfather and to give Cleave time to talk with their son about his teacher/girlfriend. Wendy makes note that he is defending the "gorgon". He denies that and she reminds him that the last time they saw Eddie she ruined their marriage but Cleave claims he did that all by himself.
Fuzz listens to loud music on the drive up to see the elder Greene. At the hospital, Cleave's father awakens and is "better" for seeing Cleave. Cleave spends another few uncomfortable seconds in the room then gets up and leaves. They go to see his sisters Lilly and Jane who both start into Cleave. Even they make comment about him defending Eddie. He maintains he isn't defending her and continues to talk about how their father wasn't good to him. They remind him that he was a handful even as a child.
On the way home, Cleave pulls the car over and tells Fuzz if he wants nothing to do with him then he can get out. He's tired of people passing judgment on him. Fuzz gets out of the car and starts walking and Cleave gets out to stop him and the two argue. As Cleave is telling his son how much he loves him, a lorry swerves around a corner and bashes into Wendy's car. Cleave calls her and tells her the damage is "largely superficial" but the car is a mess. He promises her he'll pay for the damage as he's "good for it".
Missy and David meet with a local woman, Elspeth, who has a complaint she thinks he should handle. She is having issues with the weekly collection of garden waste and he needs to take care of it. He gets her vote as she likes him.
Cleave and Eddie meet for lunch and he asks her if she really believes what she says on air. She does. He is familiar with the rape cases she is rallying against and feels it doesn't have to be anything but it suits her to make it mean something. They get into an argument over different ethnic groups and their customs then end up in the bathroom kissing and snorting cocaine.
At the courthouse, Scarlett expresses her opinion of Eddie Langhorn to Cleaver who says that democracy is built upon the inalienable right to express moronic opinions. Scarlett feels she is "the Devil". In her opening arguments, Scarlett makes it clear that Langhorn knew exactly what she was doing in trying to incite violence. She questions one of the young men who committed the beatings and he admits he doesn't know if he would have done the beatings if he hadn't listened to Eddie. Cleaver then makes the case that the young man didn't understand what Eddie was talking about as he couldn't define many of the words she used in her broadcast.
Joe, Missy and David try to figure out a piece of artwork. Joe thinks it's a human organ while Missy is certain it has to be an animal of some kind. When Joe steps away for a second, David asks Missy the name of the town where her parents renewed their wedding vows. Joe steps back with them and a woman walks up and notes that the camel has caught their eyes.
Scarlett questions the general manager of the station where Eddie works. He's clearly happy with the performance Eddie has done on the station and with the revenue she's brought in. Ted Gorman, another personality at the station will be leaving and Eddie is a candidate to fill that position and Scarlett suggests everything could have been a publicity stunt. He doesn't see things that way at all.
In his office, Cleave asks Eddie why she neglected to tell him about Gorman leaving the station. She accuses him of humiliating her listeners, the boy from court. If he didn't have the opportunity for a good education she is proud to speak on his behalf. She tells him they are both advocates for hire; two sides of the same coin.
That night, Scarlett is walking in a park and is followed by a group of boys. She gets on her knees and they pass her by but she is severely shaken by the encounter. She calls Cleave, who is asleep at his desk and he immediately goes to her aid. He finds her hiding beneath a bridge. The next day, Cleave finds Barney and tells him Scarlett was attacked the night before. He blames it on Eddie Langhorn.
David tells Missy that after the election and before he gets sworn in, they should take a trip to Italy and end up in the same town where her parents reaffirmed their vows. He says he thinks they should get married.
Barney wants to talk over the Langhorn case with Joe over a game but Joe declines saying the case is off limits. When they are getting ready to leave the gym, Joe picks up his bag, says goodbye to Barney and leaves. Barney sees some papers on the bench where Joe's bag was sitting and calls to him that he forgot them. He picks them up and sees they are the case file for the Mary Drouin case, Eddie Langhorn's cause.
Eddie claims in court she only wanted to get answers about the Drouin case and the other rapes from her on-air conversation with Joe Sandilands and did not mean to cause racial unrest or a riot. Scarlett acts her to clarify some of her on-air statements. As Eddie is testifying, Barney enters the courtroom and sits down to watch the proceedings. When Scarlett sees him, she requests a brief recess. He gives her the Drouin case file and fifteen minutes to read over it before he must have it back. He tells her Sylvia is an agency nanny that charges $32 an hour.
Once back in court, Scarlett questions Eddie about knowing Mary Drouin's sister who came to visit her a week before the broadcast. Eddie had given her $20,000, which she claimed was to help Mary with her medical and psychological needs. She claimed Mary's sister came to her with a wild story she didn't believe. That the rape didn't happen as Mary had described it and that it was perpetrated instead by a family member. The story about the Muslim gang was invented to cover up the family rape. Eddie's general manager, unhappy about the new information, gets up and leaves the courtroom. Cleaver objects and asks the judge to strike the evidence from the record. The judge agrees and orders the jury to not take the information into account. Eddie is acquitted but Cleaver knows the truth about her.
That night, Cleaver cooks his steak on his iron. Missy pays him a visit and asks if he's going to rehab (which he isn't). They kiss and she tells him she and David are getting married. When she leaves, he looks through the photo album Lilly gave Fuzz. He goes back to see his father and takes one of the photos from the album with him. He listens to the radio (which has Eddie now playing easy listening) until his father awakens and asks him to "turn that wretched harpie off, son".
As always, everything seems to be crumbling around poor Cleave. His cocaine usage is getting worse. Missy knows he's using again but even her pleas for him to get help fall on deaf ears. He pushes her away when she comes to visit him in jail. That was more a defensive move on his part than real anger at her, I do think. His father has had a stroke and he must come to terms with his feelings for him. Fuzz is still bitterly angry at him for how he treated his girlfriend/teacher. He's on speaking terms with Wendy again, but now that her car got trashed in his custody that might change. And worst of all, Missy drops the news on him that she and David are getting married. I can't help but believe Missy isn't truly happy at the prospect of being Mrs. Melissa Potter. She still has Cleave in her heart and head too much to truly be dedicated 100% to David.
I thought it was quite big of Barney to extend a professional olive branch to Scarlett. He's clearly still very angry and hurt with her having slept with Cleave but he put that aside for a few minutes and did the right thing. And I won't believe he wasn't genuinely concerned when Cleave told him Scarlett had been attacked. His reaction wasn't one of an angry husband but one of a concerned husband.
The previews for next week look great. We might just see the ice melt a bit between Cleave and old Barnyard. I sure do hope so as I love Barney and look forward to seeing him and Cleave working together again.
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Six, R vs. Langhorn
Original Air Date: December 9, 2010
Radio personality Eddie Langhorn is arrested for inciting racial hatred because of controversial comments she made on her radio show during an interview with Joe Sandilands. She turns to old friend Cleaver Greene to represent her. Cleave makes another appearance in tax court. This time, it doesn't end so favorably for him. Missy gives Cleave some expected, but unwelcome, news. Cleave must deal with a family emergency when his father has a stroke. Barney comes to Scarlett's aid during a trial she's prosecuting.
Radio personality, Eddie Langhorn (Rachel Griffiths) interviews Joe Sandilands and pulls no punches in her questioning of him. She wants to know what will be done about crime, particularly a series of rapes that haven't been solved. She blames him for the vigilantes who have starting working in some of the neighborhoods. A group of young men with ball bats brutally attack and bash another group of young men and leave them where they fall.
Scarlett is still not home with Barney. Her sister comes into the nursery to feed the baby and tell Scarlett that she received a phone call from her boss, Warrick (the Director of Public Prosecutions). Cleave is awakened by Nicole as he was sleeping beneath his desk. He gets up to get ready for court and is caught buck naked in the men's room washing up.
The police place Eddie Langhorn under arrest for causing a riot and inciting racial hatred. She isn't bothered by the charges in the least and the officers that arrest her are quite star-struck. David, Missy and Joe, on the campaign trail, spend some time with some of the "less controversial ethnic groups" and even do some dancing for the cameras.
Cleave is still hitting the cocaine pretty hard. Before making an appearance in tax court, he picks up a black rubbish bag to take in as his "evidence". David is still prosecuting the case and wants Cleave to produce the documents he requests under subpoena or be held in contempt. Cleave assures the court he has the documents with him and presents the rather smelly bag of documents. The smell invades the court room and the judge orders him to remove the documents immediately. The judge holds Cleaver in contempt and orders him to remand. As he is getting into the vehicle to take him to jail, he receives a call from his sister, Lilly, informing him their father has had a stroke and is in hospital. As he will be occupied for the next couple of days, Cleaver promises he will try to get up to see their father on the weekend. Cleave arrives in jail and all the unsavory characters in the cell know him.
Warrick briefs Scarlett on the arrest of Eddie Langhorn as she will be prosecuting the case.
Missy goes to see Cleaver in jail. She knows he's doing cocaine again. Cleave isn't as kind to her as he usually is and is actually rather rude to her. She leaves after telling him he will die if he keeps his behavior up.
Scarlett goes home to pick up a file and finds a woman she doesn't know there. Scarlett's son, Adam, is home from school with a fever and Sylvia is watching over him. Scarlett gives Barney an angry call because he didn't let her know Adam was sick and because he is parading Sylvia around in front of the children. Barney is quite pleased with the way he handled the conversation with Scarlett once she hangs up.
When he is released from jail, Cleave gets another call from Lilly. Their father keeps asking to see him. He asks to borrow Nicole's car for the weekend to drive up to see his father. Nicole is moving them into yet another new office previously belonging to a Tolga Urdan. Cleave enters the room and finds Eddie Langhorn sitting in his chair waiting for him.
Cleave doesn't agree with Eddie's opinions and wonders why she chose him to represent her. She feels justified in her actions because of the gang rape she questioned Joe Sandilands about. He refuses to represent her and leaves the office. She goes after him and they are caught by a group of reporters. She makes a heartfelt statement to the reporters and Cleave interrupts wanting to know if he can say something. When Eddie steps aside to allow him to speak he asks if any of the reporters can lend him a car for the weekend.
Cleave goes to Wendy who lends him her car and insists Fuzz go along to see his grandfather and to give Cleave time to talk with their son about his teacher/girlfriend. Wendy makes note that he is defending the "gorgon". He denies that and she reminds him that the last time they saw Eddie she ruined their marriage but Cleave claims he did that all by himself.
Fuzz listens to loud music on the drive up to see the elder Greene. At the hospital, Cleave's father awakens and is "better" for seeing Cleave. Cleave spends another few uncomfortable seconds in the room then gets up and leaves. They go to see his sisters Lilly and Jane who both start into Cleave. Even they make comment about him defending Eddie. He maintains he isn't defending her and continues to talk about how their father wasn't good to him. They remind him that he was a handful even as a child.
On the way home, Cleave pulls the car over and tells Fuzz if he wants nothing to do with him then he can get out. He's tired of people passing judgment on him. Fuzz gets out of the car and starts walking and Cleave gets out to stop him and the two argue. As Cleave is telling his son how much he loves him, a lorry swerves around a corner and bashes into Wendy's car. Cleave calls her and tells her the damage is "largely superficial" but the car is a mess. He promises her he'll pay for the damage as he's "good for it".
Missy and David meet with a local woman, Elspeth, who has a complaint she thinks he should handle. She is having issues with the weekly collection of garden waste and he needs to take care of it. He gets her vote as she likes him.
Cleave and Eddie meet for lunch and he asks her if she really believes what she says on air. She does. He is familiar with the rape cases she is rallying against and feels it doesn't have to be anything but it suits her to make it mean something. They get into an argument over different ethnic groups and their customs then end up in the bathroom kissing and snorting cocaine.
At the courthouse, Scarlett expresses her opinion of Eddie Langhorn to Cleaver who says that democracy is built upon the inalienable right to express moronic opinions. Scarlett feels she is "the Devil". In her opening arguments, Scarlett makes it clear that Langhorn knew exactly what she was doing in trying to incite violence. She questions one of the young men who committed the beatings and he admits he doesn't know if he would have done the beatings if he hadn't listened to Eddie. Cleaver then makes the case that the young man didn't understand what Eddie was talking about as he couldn't define many of the words she used in her broadcast.
Joe, Missy and David try to figure out a piece of artwork. Joe thinks it's a human organ while Missy is certain it has to be an animal of some kind. When Joe steps away for a second, David asks Missy the name of the town where her parents renewed their wedding vows. Joe steps back with them and a woman walks up and notes that the camel has caught their eyes.
Scarlett questions the general manager of the station where Eddie works. He's clearly happy with the performance Eddie has done on the station and with the revenue she's brought in. Ted Gorman, another personality at the station will be leaving and Eddie is a candidate to fill that position and Scarlett suggests everything could have been a publicity stunt. He doesn't see things that way at all.
In his office, Cleave asks Eddie why she neglected to tell him about Gorman leaving the station. She accuses him of humiliating her listeners, the boy from court. If he didn't have the opportunity for a good education she is proud to speak on his behalf. She tells him they are both advocates for hire; two sides of the same coin.
That night, Scarlett is walking in a park and is followed by a group of boys. She gets on her knees and they pass her by but she is severely shaken by the encounter. She calls Cleave, who is asleep at his desk and he immediately goes to her aid. He finds her hiding beneath a bridge. The next day, Cleave finds Barney and tells him Scarlett was attacked the night before. He blames it on Eddie Langhorn.
David tells Missy that after the election and before he gets sworn in, they should take a trip to Italy and end up in the same town where her parents reaffirmed their vows. He says he thinks they should get married.
Barney wants to talk over the Langhorn case with Joe over a game but Joe declines saying the case is off limits. When they are getting ready to leave the gym, Joe picks up his bag, says goodbye to Barney and leaves. Barney sees some papers on the bench where Joe's bag was sitting and calls to him that he forgot them. He picks them up and sees they are the case file for the Mary Drouin case, Eddie Langhorn's cause.
Eddie claims in court she only wanted to get answers about the Drouin case and the other rapes from her on-air conversation with Joe Sandilands and did not mean to cause racial unrest or a riot. Scarlett acts her to clarify some of her on-air statements. As Eddie is testifying, Barney enters the courtroom and sits down to watch the proceedings. When Scarlett sees him, she requests a brief recess. He gives her the Drouin case file and fifteen minutes to read over it before he must have it back. He tells her Sylvia is an agency nanny that charges $32 an hour.
Once back in court, Scarlett questions Eddie about knowing Mary Drouin's sister who came to visit her a week before the broadcast. Eddie had given her $20,000, which she claimed was to help Mary with her medical and psychological needs. She claimed Mary's sister came to her with a wild story she didn't believe. That the rape didn't happen as Mary had described it and that it was perpetrated instead by a family member. The story about the Muslim gang was invented to cover up the family rape. Eddie's general manager, unhappy about the new information, gets up and leaves the courtroom. Cleaver objects and asks the judge to strike the evidence from the record. The judge agrees and orders the jury to not take the information into account. Eddie is acquitted but Cleaver knows the truth about her.
That night, Cleaver cooks his steak on his iron. Missy pays him a visit and asks if he's going to rehab (which he isn't). They kiss and she tells him she and David are getting married. When she leaves, he looks through the photo album Lilly gave Fuzz. He goes back to see his father and takes one of the photos from the album with him. He listens to the radio (which has Eddie now playing easy listening) until his father awakens and asks him to "turn that wretched harpie off, son".
--
The case Cleaver works on in this episode isn't as wild as some have been in the past. After all, bestiality and cannibalism are pretty hard to top, aren't they? Cleave is old friends (well, more than friends, exactly) with his client in this case but they don't see eye to eye on hardly anything. Still, he comes through for her and manages to get her acquitted. However, that acquittal comes at a price to her.As always, everything seems to be crumbling around poor Cleave. His cocaine usage is getting worse. Missy knows he's using again but even her pleas for him to get help fall on deaf ears. He pushes her away when she comes to visit him in jail. That was more a defensive move on his part than real anger at her, I do think. His father has had a stroke and he must come to terms with his feelings for him. Fuzz is still bitterly angry at him for how he treated his girlfriend/teacher. He's on speaking terms with Wendy again, but now that her car got trashed in his custody that might change. And worst of all, Missy drops the news on him that she and David are getting married. I can't help but believe Missy isn't truly happy at the prospect of being Mrs. Melissa Potter. She still has Cleave in her heart and head too much to truly be dedicated 100% to David.
I thought it was quite big of Barney to extend a professional olive branch to Scarlett. He's clearly still very angry and hurt with her having slept with Cleave but he put that aside for a few minutes and did the right thing. And I won't believe he wasn't genuinely concerned when Cleave told him Scarlett had been attacked. His reaction wasn't one of an angry husband but one of a concerned husband.
The previews for next week look great. We might just see the ice melt a bit between Cleave and old Barnyard. I sure do hope so as I love Barney and look forward to seeing him and Cleave working together again.
--
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.5 "R vs. Chandler"
Rake
Season One, Episode Five, R vs. Chandler
Original Air Date: December 2, 2010
Dr. Bruce Chandler is in need of the stellar legal services of Cleaver Greene when a DVD hidden in the good doctors briefcase is discovered following the theft of said briefcase. Barney doesn't want anything to do with Cleaver. Scarlett shows up at Cleaver's flat after Barney kicks her out of their house. David Potter starts his political run but will it cause problems between he and Missy?
Cleave tries to get Barney to talk to him and wants Barnyard to even give him a good hit. Barney keeps his cool until Cleave tells his friend he has too much respect for him. He accuses Cleave of never giving respect no matter how much he talks about it and of being a selfish turd. Things don't go too much better when Cleave drops by Wendy's. Fuzz will not let him in the house because neither he or Wendy want him there. He pleads his case to Wendy (and Fuzz) in that he thought his son was seeing a girl his own age and not a 28 year-old woman. She tells Cleaver to not come back until he feels he can shoulder some of the responsibility of raising their son. Cleave walks away grumbling about how their conversation should have gone.
Dr. Bruce Chandler's (Sam Neill) briefcase is stolen as he is at the check out at the market. A policeman later finds the briefcase on the curb and takes it back to his desk to look through it where he finds a DVD hidden in the case. The police pay a visit to Dr. Chandler at the hospital about his stolen briefcase (and the contents of the DVD). Chandler ends up at the police station. When his wife, Jan (Heather Mitchell), comes to visit him, he whispers to her that they found the DVD. She's angry he didn't keep the DVD in their home safe. That wasn't an option because their daughter, Bec (Brooke Harman) has the combination to the safe.
At a loss in every other aspect of his life, Cleave goes where he feels at home: to gamble on the fights. He goes into the restroom with some cocaine and, after a few moments of though, does all four lines.
Chandler tells Bec about his current problems. She wants to see the DVD but he refuses to let her.
Cleave, now high and drinking beer, goads the fighters and demands Col (Steve Le Marquand) double the bet he placed. Cleave loses the bet, of course, and ends up taking the punishment for it because he didn't have the money to cover the bet as he claimed he did. "Life's too short to wait for a beating" so he urges Col to get on with things. Cleave goes back to Barney's but his old (and now former) friend still doesn't want anything to do with him. He goes home and Missy comes to his aid when called. She takes care of his injuries and cleans him up. They kiss and he confesses to her that he slept with his best friends wife and she replies "I know". He asks her how she knew and when he looks at her it's Wendy, not Missy. The buzzer awakens him from his dream and it is Scarlett there to see him. Barney has kicked Scarlett out of their home. She is going to spend the day at Cleave's flat.
At work, Lincoln (Rhys Muldoon) will be briefing Cleave (who is suffering from a great case of hay fever) on the Chandler case, after he learns how to work the DVD player. Finally, Cleave must call Nicole in to start the DVD for them. The contents of the DVD are apparently something judging from Cleave's reaction to them. Lincoln isn't the best assistant Cleave could ever hope for. He cannot find some of the necessary information for the case and appears to be totally unprepared. Cleave is perfectly familiar with Chandler as he delivered Fuzz. Chandler, at first, maintains it wasn't him in the room. Then, maintains it was him in the room but the room was in Canada so he technically didn't commit any crime under New South Wales law.
Cleave goes to see Chandler and makes it clear the Canada story will never fly as the opera house and Sydney Morning Herald can be clearly seen in the video. He admits to Cleave that so far, the only thing he's told Bec about the situation is that he was with a prostitute and taking drugs. We also learn that the DVD contained Chandler and "the other woman" having "a three-way with the family dog". Chandler doesn't want his wife Jan charged with anything so he insists the woman he was with in the video was a prostitute and not his wife.
David Potter makes his first public speech in his run for the Labour Party candidate against his opponent, an electrician from the area the candidate will represent, Jack Fulton (David Webb). Joe Sandilands doesn't want David to worry about Jack but he's cautioned by Gav Myers (Alan Flower) to be prepared all the same.
Cleave arrives home that night to find Scarlett has cleaned his flat and is preparing dinner. He excuses himself and goes to the bathroom to snort some more cocaine. He gives her dozens of other options where she could stay and wants to know what will happen with Barney found out. Barney dropped her at Cleaver's. Scarlett starts to leave in tears but Cleave stops her.
Missy assumes that "be prepared" means they must find some dirt on Jack Fulton. David informs her he already has dirt on Fulton, which surprises her. David is comfortable with the whole thought of all the candidates, and their backers (including Joe) digging up dirt on each other. Missy is worried and doesn't like the idea that she will have her private life and past possibly brought out in the process.
Missy goes to Cleaver's flat to tell him she thinks she's left David. She starts to leave when she realizes he has company but he calls her to come back. Cleave, Missy and Scarlett sit up talking about David. Missy feels she isn't good enough for David and Scarlett tries to understand why she feels that way. Missy reveals to her that she used to be a prostitute and Scarlett understands this was Cleave's old favorite.
That night, the family dog wanders into the Chandler's bedroom. Bruce wants the animal out of the room immediately but Jan doesn't mind him staying as he was lonely outside. Bruce is upset because his good name has been sullied by the DVD of them "buggering the family hound". Bruce is beside himself with worry but Jan is calm and cool. He tells her he's thinking of having Cleaver change his plea to guilty because a trial will only make things worse for her and Bec. She refuses to allow him to do that. He gets back in the bed but jumps up when he realizes the dog is under the covers with him and Jan.
Missy and Scarlett go to sleep in Cleave's bed and, as he is sitting there watching them, the buzzer sounds. It's Wendy wanting to know if Fuzz is there. She can't find him anywhere, even at the home of his teacher (she must have moved). He suggests they change the approach they are using with Fuzz. Wendy questions him on who is in his bed with Scarlett and he tells her it's Missy. Cleave calls Fuzz's mobile and leaves a message for him to call, at the very least, Wendy. Fuzz texts him back to let them know he's with his teacher and will see his mother in the morning. After Wendy drinks more wine than she really should, Cleave ends up sitting and watching Missy, Scarlett and Wendy sleep in his bed. The next day, he is awakened by the noise of all three women and Scarlett's children talking and playing in his flat. He snorts more cocaine and is caught with some still under his nose when one of Scarlett's kids come into the bathroom.
Jan Chandler finds things aren't as perfectly fine as she thinks when a clerk at the supermarket she frequents doesn't want to answer a question and avoids getting near her.
Missy makes an angry call to David while watching a news story detailing the dirt he had found on Fulton. David wants her to come home but she needs some time to think and stays at Cleaver's. Cleave goes downstairs to the diner to eat and Missy drops in while he's there. David calls a few seconds after she sits down. She doesn't see how it can work with David. He tells her she needs to either tell David the truth or end the relationship because there is no way she can keep a secret in this town. He offers her the job of helping him out with his current case for a distraction. They go back to his office to watch the DVD and she's disgusted by what she sees. When they return to Cleave's flat, it is empty. Scarlett has gone to stay with her sister for a few nights. Missy, too, soon leaves to stay at a friend's place while her friend is away.
A photographer (Brett Heath) is harassing Bec Chandler. When Missy sees this, she bumps into him so Bec can get away then knees him in the groin. Missy and Bec talk about why the photographer was hounding her. Missy tries to reassure her that everyone is into something but Bec doesn't understand what she means. She explains further then tells her she's working for her father. Later, Bec wants her father to explain things to her. He doesn't feel he could really give her a proper explanation that would be good enough for her. She asks why mum is so forgiving of him and if he is protecting her.
Cleave takes more cocaine before working over the case with Missy. They work late and Missy suggests they shouldn't necessarily be afraid of the DVD. They toss around the thought of playing it over and over and over because the more it's watched, the more the viewer becomes immune to it. Lincoln arrives with a revelation that he might have come up with a way to minimize how much the jury sees the DVD.
In court, Cleaver goes with the non-stop DVD playing theory. He goes through the video literally frame-by-frame, almost one-hundred thousand of them and does commentary making frequent reference to the "unknown prostitute". The judge takes Cleave and the prosecutor into his office about the "unknown prostitute" comments. Cleaver admits that his directions are that Chandler and his wife love their daughter and want to keep Jan out of things. He asks the judge and prosecutor to give the kid a break.
Cleaver questions Dr. D/Antonio (Genevieve Hegney) if she equates the act Chandler is accused of with the act of paedophilia, which she does. He then asks if children and dogs are pretty much the same to her which draws an objection from the prosecutor. He gets her to admit that she doesn't see why a dogs life is any less valuable than a humans. He then suggestions that her views on animal welfare are extreme, which she rejects. When she says she doesn't believe a dog should be forced to have sex against his or her will, Cleave goes back to the DVD. He wants her to show them where the exact moment Felix the dog is being forced, coerced or encouraged.
While having lunch outside the courthouse, Missy stops Bec from entering the building. Bec wants to know if it was her mother in the room with her father on the DVD. Missy assures her it was a prostitute and even gives her the woman's name and where she works. When the trial resumes, the prosecution questions Chandler as to where he found the prostitute and how much he paid for the "specialization", then asks no further questions. Cleave delivers amusing and statistic-filled closing arguments. The jury finds Chandler not guilty.
Joe Sandilands calls Missy to encourage Missy to go back to David. She calls a rain check for a celebration with Cleave and spends a sleepless night with David. Scarlett isn't sleeping either. And Cleaver, he's at his flat alone indulging in all his bad habits. Felix the dog scratches to get into the Chandler's bedroom that night.
Sam Neill was awesome as Bruce Chandler. I'm a great fan of Neill's to start off with so it was wonderful to see him here. He was perfectly paranoid every time we saw him, at some points, almost to where I thought for sure Chandler would be having a heart attack at any second. Neill's range as an actor is amazing and he never ceases to amaze me.
It's episodes like this that are proof positive that Rake isn't like any other legal drama on television. I'm yet to find another that deals with cannibals, bestiality, politicians and lawyers the way this show does. It's unique and it's perfect.
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Season One, Episode Five, R vs. Chandler
Original Air Date: December 2, 2010
Dr. Bruce Chandler is in need of the stellar legal services of Cleaver Greene when a DVD hidden in the good doctors briefcase is discovered following the theft of said briefcase. Barney doesn't want anything to do with Cleaver. Scarlett shows up at Cleaver's flat after Barney kicks her out of their house. David Potter starts his political run but will it cause problems between he and Missy?
Cleave tries to get Barney to talk to him and wants Barnyard to even give him a good hit. Barney keeps his cool until Cleave tells his friend he has too much respect for him. He accuses Cleave of never giving respect no matter how much he talks about it and of being a selfish turd. Things don't go too much better when Cleave drops by Wendy's. Fuzz will not let him in the house because neither he or Wendy want him there. He pleads his case to Wendy (and Fuzz) in that he thought his son was seeing a girl his own age and not a 28 year-old woman. She tells Cleaver to not come back until he feels he can shoulder some of the responsibility of raising their son. Cleave walks away grumbling about how their conversation should have gone.
Dr. Bruce Chandler's (Sam Neill) briefcase is stolen as he is at the check out at the market. A policeman later finds the briefcase on the curb and takes it back to his desk to look through it where he finds a DVD hidden in the case. The police pay a visit to Dr. Chandler at the hospital about his stolen briefcase (and the contents of the DVD). Chandler ends up at the police station. When his wife, Jan (Heather Mitchell), comes to visit him, he whispers to her that they found the DVD. She's angry he didn't keep the DVD in their home safe. That wasn't an option because their daughter, Bec (Brooke Harman) has the combination to the safe.
At a loss in every other aspect of his life, Cleave goes where he feels at home: to gamble on the fights. He goes into the restroom with some cocaine and, after a few moments of though, does all four lines.
Chandler tells Bec about his current problems. She wants to see the DVD but he refuses to let her.
Cleave, now high and drinking beer, goads the fighters and demands Col (Steve Le Marquand) double the bet he placed. Cleave loses the bet, of course, and ends up taking the punishment for it because he didn't have the money to cover the bet as he claimed he did. "Life's too short to wait for a beating" so he urges Col to get on with things. Cleave goes back to Barney's but his old (and now former) friend still doesn't want anything to do with him. He goes home and Missy comes to his aid when called. She takes care of his injuries and cleans him up. They kiss and he confesses to her that he slept with his best friends wife and she replies "I know". He asks her how she knew and when he looks at her it's Wendy, not Missy. The buzzer awakens him from his dream and it is Scarlett there to see him. Barney has kicked Scarlett out of their home. She is going to spend the day at Cleave's flat.
At work, Lincoln (Rhys Muldoon) will be briefing Cleave (who is suffering from a great case of hay fever) on the Chandler case, after he learns how to work the DVD player. Finally, Cleave must call Nicole in to start the DVD for them. The contents of the DVD are apparently something judging from Cleave's reaction to them. Lincoln isn't the best assistant Cleave could ever hope for. He cannot find some of the necessary information for the case and appears to be totally unprepared. Cleave is perfectly familiar with Chandler as he delivered Fuzz. Chandler, at first, maintains it wasn't him in the room. Then, maintains it was him in the room but the room was in Canada so he technically didn't commit any crime under New South Wales law.
Cleave goes to see Chandler and makes it clear the Canada story will never fly as the opera house and Sydney Morning Herald can be clearly seen in the video. He admits to Cleave that so far, the only thing he's told Bec about the situation is that he was with a prostitute and taking drugs. We also learn that the DVD contained Chandler and "the other woman" having "a three-way with the family dog". Chandler doesn't want his wife Jan charged with anything so he insists the woman he was with in the video was a prostitute and not his wife.
David Potter makes his first public speech in his run for the Labour Party candidate against his opponent, an electrician from the area the candidate will represent, Jack Fulton (David Webb). Joe Sandilands doesn't want David to worry about Jack but he's cautioned by Gav Myers (Alan Flower) to be prepared all the same.
Cleave arrives home that night to find Scarlett has cleaned his flat and is preparing dinner. He excuses himself and goes to the bathroom to snort some more cocaine. He gives her dozens of other options where she could stay and wants to know what will happen with Barney found out. Barney dropped her at Cleaver's. Scarlett starts to leave in tears but Cleave stops her.
Missy assumes that "be prepared" means they must find some dirt on Jack Fulton. David informs her he already has dirt on Fulton, which surprises her. David is comfortable with the whole thought of all the candidates, and their backers (including Joe) digging up dirt on each other. Missy is worried and doesn't like the idea that she will have her private life and past possibly brought out in the process.
Missy goes to Cleaver's flat to tell him she thinks she's left David. She starts to leave when she realizes he has company but he calls her to come back. Cleave, Missy and Scarlett sit up talking about David. Missy feels she isn't good enough for David and Scarlett tries to understand why she feels that way. Missy reveals to her that she used to be a prostitute and Scarlett understands this was Cleave's old favorite.
That night, the family dog wanders into the Chandler's bedroom. Bruce wants the animal out of the room immediately but Jan doesn't mind him staying as he was lonely outside. Bruce is upset because his good name has been sullied by the DVD of them "buggering the family hound". Bruce is beside himself with worry but Jan is calm and cool. He tells her he's thinking of having Cleaver change his plea to guilty because a trial will only make things worse for her and Bec. She refuses to allow him to do that. He gets back in the bed but jumps up when he realizes the dog is under the covers with him and Jan.
Missy and Scarlett go to sleep in Cleave's bed and, as he is sitting there watching them, the buzzer sounds. It's Wendy wanting to know if Fuzz is there. She can't find him anywhere, even at the home of his teacher (she must have moved). He suggests they change the approach they are using with Fuzz. Wendy questions him on who is in his bed with Scarlett and he tells her it's Missy. Cleave calls Fuzz's mobile and leaves a message for him to call, at the very least, Wendy. Fuzz texts him back to let them know he's with his teacher and will see his mother in the morning. After Wendy drinks more wine than she really should, Cleave ends up sitting and watching Missy, Scarlett and Wendy sleep in his bed. The next day, he is awakened by the noise of all three women and Scarlett's children talking and playing in his flat. He snorts more cocaine and is caught with some still under his nose when one of Scarlett's kids come into the bathroom.
Jan Chandler finds things aren't as perfectly fine as she thinks when a clerk at the supermarket she frequents doesn't want to answer a question and avoids getting near her.
Missy makes an angry call to David while watching a news story detailing the dirt he had found on Fulton. David wants her to come home but she needs some time to think and stays at Cleaver's. Cleave goes downstairs to the diner to eat and Missy drops in while he's there. David calls a few seconds after she sits down. She doesn't see how it can work with David. He tells her she needs to either tell David the truth or end the relationship because there is no way she can keep a secret in this town. He offers her the job of helping him out with his current case for a distraction. They go back to his office to watch the DVD and she's disgusted by what she sees. When they return to Cleave's flat, it is empty. Scarlett has gone to stay with her sister for a few nights. Missy, too, soon leaves to stay at a friend's place while her friend is away.
A photographer (Brett Heath) is harassing Bec Chandler. When Missy sees this, she bumps into him so Bec can get away then knees him in the groin. Missy and Bec talk about why the photographer was hounding her. Missy tries to reassure her that everyone is into something but Bec doesn't understand what she means. She explains further then tells her she's working for her father. Later, Bec wants her father to explain things to her. He doesn't feel he could really give her a proper explanation that would be good enough for her. She asks why mum is so forgiving of him and if he is protecting her.
Cleave takes more cocaine before working over the case with Missy. They work late and Missy suggests they shouldn't necessarily be afraid of the DVD. They toss around the thought of playing it over and over and over because the more it's watched, the more the viewer becomes immune to it. Lincoln arrives with a revelation that he might have come up with a way to minimize how much the jury sees the DVD.
In court, Cleaver goes with the non-stop DVD playing theory. He goes through the video literally frame-by-frame, almost one-hundred thousand of them and does commentary making frequent reference to the "unknown prostitute". The judge takes Cleave and the prosecutor into his office about the "unknown prostitute" comments. Cleaver admits that his directions are that Chandler and his wife love their daughter and want to keep Jan out of things. He asks the judge and prosecutor to give the kid a break.
Cleaver questions Dr. D/Antonio (Genevieve Hegney) if she equates the act Chandler is accused of with the act of paedophilia, which she does. He then asks if children and dogs are pretty much the same to her which draws an objection from the prosecutor. He gets her to admit that she doesn't see why a dogs life is any less valuable than a humans. He then suggestions that her views on animal welfare are extreme, which she rejects. When she says she doesn't believe a dog should be forced to have sex against his or her will, Cleave goes back to the DVD. He wants her to show them where the exact moment Felix the dog is being forced, coerced or encouraged.
While having lunch outside the courthouse, Missy stops Bec from entering the building. Bec wants to know if it was her mother in the room with her father on the DVD. Missy assures her it was a prostitute and even gives her the woman's name and where she works. When the trial resumes, the prosecution questions Chandler as to where he found the prostitute and how much he paid for the "specialization", then asks no further questions. Cleave delivers amusing and statistic-filled closing arguments. The jury finds Chandler not guilty.
Joe Sandilands calls Missy to encourage Missy to go back to David. She calls a rain check for a celebration with Cleave and spends a sleepless night with David. Scarlett isn't sleeping either. And Cleaver, he's at his flat alone indulging in all his bad habits. Felix the dog scratches to get into the Chandler's bedroom that night.
--
Cleaver is kind of spiraling out of control in this episode, isn't he? He's getting back into the cocaine he had kicked previously, which can only mean trouble. His relationship with Barney is in tatters and Fuzz is pretty angry at him right now as well. We can surely hope that things work out for our hero at some point, can we not?Sam Neill was awesome as Bruce Chandler. I'm a great fan of Neill's to start off with so it was wonderful to see him here. He was perfectly paranoid every time we saw him, at some points, almost to where I thought for sure Chandler would be having a heart attack at any second. Neill's range as an actor is amazing and he never ceases to amaze me.
It's episodes like this that are proof positive that Rake isn't like any other legal drama on television. I'm yet to find another that deals with cannibals, bestiality, politicians and lawyers the way this show does. It's unique and it's perfect.
--
Rake airs each Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (AUS time) on ABC1.
For more information:
Official ABC1 Site: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage: http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845
Friday, December 3, 2010
US Television: Vampire Diaries, Episode 2.10 "The Sacrifice"
Vampire Diaries
Season Two, Episode 2.10, The Sacrifice
Original Air Date: December 2, 2010
Damon and Stefan have a plan to get the moonstone from Katherine but Elena wants no part of it. She has her own plans. Elena convinces Rose to take her to see Slater as neither woman knows he is dead. When Elena's plan isn't what Rose thought it was, she calls Damon for help. Jeremy gets in trouble and Stefan makes a sacrifice of his own to save him. Tyler and Caroline make a discovery about the Lockwood Curse that terrifies them both.
Elena awakens to see her bedroom door open. Thinking nothing of it, she rolls over to go back to sleep. We see Jonas Martin looking around a door and a sound startles Elena and she jolts up in bed to look around. She goes out into the hall to check out the house, and as she is getting ready to look into a room with an open door, a shirtless Alaric startles her (startles them both, actually). While Jenna and Alaric are uncomfortably telling Elena that what she heard was them (!), Jonas Martin is in Elena's room taking hair from her hair brush and some of her jewelry as well as a photograph. Elena goes back to bed and Jonas Martin slips out of the house without anyone knowing he was there.
After going to see Katherine, Damon and Stefan pay a visit to Elena. The brothers went to see Katherine to ask her for the moonstone. She agreed to give them anything they wanted if they had their witch hocus-pocus her out of the tomb as she's reconsidered staying there where Klaus cannot touch her. They free her and she turns over the stone and disappears from Mystic Falls forever. They can destroy the spell Klaus wants Elena for by releasing it from the moonstone. Their plan is for Bonnie to be able to break the tomb's seal long enough for the Salvatores to get in, get the stone and get out. Elena tells them there is only one problem with their plan: she doesn't want them to do it. She doesn't want Klaus to kill everyone she cares about, including Damon and Stefan.
Bonnie and Luka are bonding over the fact they both have powers. She confides in him about the physical reactions she has to working the spells (the nosebleeds and passing out). He tells her that is because she is trying to do too much on her own and she needs help. Nature and the elements are extra things she can draw power from. He asks her if she's ever channeled another witch before (put their energy together to double their strength). She has no idea what he's talking about so he does a demonstration. He takes her bracelet and gives her his dog tags and tells her to stand still and concentrate. The wind comes up around them blowing leaves and papers all over the school grounds. Jeremy steps up beside them and asks what's up with the weather. Luka laughs it off and says goodbye to Bonnie then leaves. Bonnie gets a message from Damon on her phone.
Elena goes to the Salvatore house and finds Rose. Elena wants more information about what Slater knew but Rose isn't pleased about it. Elena says Rose owes her because one word from her and Damon and Stefan would have killed her (Rose) for kidnapping her. Elena wants Rose to take her to Slater. She offers Rose the chance to walk during the daylight if she will help her.
Matt approaches Tyler at school to apologize for picking a fight with him. Matt isn't having an easy time dealing with what happened to Sarah. Caroline asks Tyler what he's going to do since it's almost the full moon.
Bonnie assures the group that she might be able to lower the tomb spell long enough for them to get in and get the stone as she's learned a few new things. When they have trouble deciding who exactly will go in and get the stone, Bonnie asks if they have anything that belongs to Katherine.
Rose takes Elena to Slater's apartment and find his body. Elena goes through some of Slater's papers while Rose throws back the curtains to look outside. Slater had tempered glass in his apartment like the glass in the cafe. They hear a noise while looking at Slater's computer (that is password protected). Rose opens a door and finds a woman named Alice (Bree Condon) hiding. Alice runs to Rose and hugs her crying.
Stefan gives Bonnie the picture of Katherine he has had for years as it belonged to Katherine. She places it in a bowl, drips water over it, burns it and recites a few words. If the ashes from the metal picture are blown onto Katherine, it will incapacitate her for a minute or two so they can get the stone and get out.
As Tyler and Caroline are walking through the woods, they talk about the state of Caroline's relationship with Matt. Tyler understands how Caroline feels that it's better she and Matt aren't together as she can't be 100% honest with Matt. He takes her to the cellar of the old Lockwood property and they go in. As they are looking around, Caroline finds an old book wrapped in a white cloth. Tyler looks through the book which is apparently Mason's diary. He chronicled everything that happened regarding his curse. In the back of the diary, Tyler finds a computer drive.
Jeremy is worried that Bonnie isn't strong enough to help the Salvatore brothers with their plan but she assures him she will be fine. When he sends Bonnie to get something to put the ashes in, Jeremy takes a few of them for himself.
Rose isn't impressed by Alice's tears. She knew that Alice was only dating Slater so he could turn her. Alice feels Elena looks really familiar to her for some reason. Elena asks Alice for Slater's computer password but Alice isn't in the mood to be talking about that. Elena, stepping things up a bit, asks Alice if she will give her the password if she can convince Rose to turn her. Someone had wiped Slater's hard drive but Alice is able to access all of his data that is stored on a remote server. Rose notices a name "Cody" in the files and Alice says she could call him. Elena hands her the phone and tells her to call Cody and tell him to get in touch with Klaus and relay the message that the doppelganger is alive and she's ready to surrender. Rose is shocked and when she asks Elena about her plans realizes that Elena is willing to sacrifice herself.
Jeremy goes alone to see Katherine for the moonstone. He fires a stake at her and when she's caught off guard, throws some of the ashes at her. Katherine falls to the ground and Jeremy enters the tomb. When he can't find the stone on Katherine, he goes deeper into the tomb to search for it. He gets the stone but as he is leaving, Katherine gets up and attacks him, biting him. He throws the stone out of the tomb. Bonnie arrives at the tomb and meets up with Damon and Stefan who are waiting outside.
As they are getting ready to enter the tomb, Rose calls Damon telling him not to be angry with her. She proceeds to tell him about what Elena had conned her into doing. As Bonnie and Stefan find the moonstone, Katherine presents herself with a weakened Jeremy firmly in her grasp. Because of his ring, she can't kill him but she intends to keep him with her until they open the tomb and let her out.
Jonas Martin and Elijah are preparing to work a spell using the items Jonas stole from Elena's room. Jonas cuts Elijah's hand and has him place it over a photograph of Elena. Jonas takes Elijah's other hand and he has Elijah close his eyes, relax his mind and look for Elena while he begins to chant. In Slater's apartment, Elena sees Elijah's face in the windows as she is looking outside.
Bonnie gives Stefan what is left of the ash and warns him it will take her some time to break the spell for him. As Bonnie (who still has Luka's dog tags) starts to chant the spell, Luka, who is now home with his father, can sense her.
Caroline and Tyler watch the video that is on the drive from the back of Mason's diary. He recorded his first transformation. Caroline reads selections from Mason's diary while they watch the video. It's painful for them to watch as Mason is crying in pain for someone to help him. They watch him suffer for at least five hours and he still hasn't fully transformed. Tyler pauses the video and tells Caroline that whatever it was that was happening, he can't go through it.
Damon arrives at Slater's and asks Elena what she's doing there. Damon wants Elena to leave with him but she refuses. She tells him she doesn't want to be saved if it means Klaus is going to kill every person she loves. Damon is unaffected by that and tells her to get out the door before he throws her over his shoulder and carries her out.
Jeremy warns Stefan to stop Bonnie because she isn't strong enough to handle the spell but Katherine sees that she has some help. At the Martin's, Jonas asks his son what is wrong and Luka admits that Bonnie is channeling him. Both Bonnie and Luka are feeling the physical effects of the spell. She falls to the ground and Stefan picks her up. Bonnie realizes that even channeling Luka she isn't strong enough to break the tomb spell. Katherine starts to feed off Jeremy again but Stefan rushes into the tomb and pulls her away from him and throws Jeremy out.
Caroline tries to comfort Tyler by telling him Mason did say the transformation sped up over time so if he can get through the first one, things will be easier. Tyler questions why she is helping him as they've never been friends before. She tells him about how hard things were for her when she turned and she doesn't want him to be alone in what he's going through. The doorbell rings and when Caroline answers it Matt is standing there. He has missed her and needed to see her. Tyler opens the door behind Caroline and the smile kind of fades from Matt's face when he sees Tyler.
Before Damon can get Elena out of Slater's apartment, Cody (James Harvey Ward) and two other men arrive "to meet the doppelganger". The man in the back slumps to the floor and Elijah is standing behind him, which, of course, is a surprise to Damon who thought he was dead. Rose quickly flees the apartment. Elijah reaches into the two remaining men's chests and pulls their hearts out then rushes from the apartment leaving Damon and Elena alone.
Back at the Martin's, Elijah tells Jonas his shadow spell was successful. He allowed Damon to live because he knows that he would have died trying to prevent anything from happening to Elena and that will serve his purpose. Damon will protect Elena and keep her safe for him.
Bonnie takes Jeremy home and they argue about his choosing to try and get the stone on his own and about her trying the spell when she wasn't strong enough. He wants to kiss her but she pulls away telling him she can't and leaves.
Damon escorts Elena home and he tells her what she did was stupid. She doesn't question why he and Stefan and everyone else tries to save her and she insists they shouldn't question why she would want to save them. Jeremy opens the door and simply says "Stefan".
Elena runs to the tomb but Damon grabs her before she runs inside. Stefan and Katherine listen to them arguing from inside the tomb. When Damon finally lets go of Elena, she storms away leaving him at the entrance to the tomb. Damon tells him he'll figure out how to get him out. Stefan tells him Bonnie has the moonstone and to work with her to figure out how to de-spell it. He makes Damon promise that he will keep Elena away from the tomb and no matter what happens to protect her. When Damon leaves, Katherine tells Stefan that his making Damon promise to take care of Elena was the biggest mistake he ever made.
My, my, my! Aren't things getting interesting? I'd like to think the Martin's aren't all bad. Surely, there has to be some good in them. I know Jonas is Elijah's right hand man and all but I kind of like both him and Luka. I'm hoping they are only helping Elijah because they, or more accurately, Jonas owes him. And Jonas does kind of seem to be a bit remorseful about what he's doing at times, doesn't he? (Or am I just imagining that?) I'd love to see them jump the bad guys ship and head over to Team Salvatore.
Bonnie is going to be needing some serious spell help. This would be an awesome time for Lucy Bennett to make another appearance. She's a tough one and I loved her character. I'd love to see her back on the show for a spell (no pun intended). Jeremy and Bonnie still aren't happening and it isn't because Jeremy hasn't made it clear to Bonnie that he isn't the little boy she thinks he is. Bonnie is the hold up on this one.
Tyler is going to have his hands full pretty soon. His very first transformation is coming up and now that he knows how hard it will be it's going to make it all the harder going into it. He is most certainly going to need a friend to help him get adjusted to the life he has ahead of him.
Stefan is now in the tomb with Katherine. Sigh. Stefan had to be the good guy and rush in to save Jeremy so now he's locked away with big, bad, Katherine. We all know there is going to be some fireworks between the two (good or bad) and that Stefan will be getting out. The question is when and how. And how will this affect the relationship between Damon, Stefan and Elena? Will Elena end up falling for the super hot brother with the hypnotic eyes or will she stay true to the super hot brother with the kind and gentle soul?
For more information:
Official Site: http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/
TV Rage: http://www.tvrage.com/The_Vampire_Diaries
Season Two, Episode 2.10, The Sacrifice
Original Air Date: December 2, 2010
Damon and Stefan have a plan to get the moonstone from Katherine but Elena wants no part of it. She has her own plans. Elena convinces Rose to take her to see Slater as neither woman knows he is dead. When Elena's plan isn't what Rose thought it was, she calls Damon for help. Jeremy gets in trouble and Stefan makes a sacrifice of his own to save him. Tyler and Caroline make a discovery about the Lockwood Curse that terrifies them both.
Elena awakens to see her bedroom door open. Thinking nothing of it, she rolls over to go back to sleep. We see Jonas Martin looking around a door and a sound startles Elena and she jolts up in bed to look around. She goes out into the hall to check out the house, and as she is getting ready to look into a room with an open door, a shirtless Alaric startles her (startles them both, actually). While Jenna and Alaric are uncomfortably telling Elena that what she heard was them (!), Jonas Martin is in Elena's room taking hair from her hair brush and some of her jewelry as well as a photograph. Elena goes back to bed and Jonas Martin slips out of the house without anyone knowing he was there.
After going to see Katherine, Damon and Stefan pay a visit to Elena. The brothers went to see Katherine to ask her for the moonstone. She agreed to give them anything they wanted if they had their witch hocus-pocus her out of the tomb as she's reconsidered staying there where Klaus cannot touch her. They free her and she turns over the stone and disappears from Mystic Falls forever. They can destroy the spell Klaus wants Elena for by releasing it from the moonstone. Their plan is for Bonnie to be able to break the tomb's seal long enough for the Salvatores to get in, get the stone and get out. Elena tells them there is only one problem with their plan: she doesn't want them to do it. She doesn't want Klaus to kill everyone she cares about, including Damon and Stefan.
Bonnie and Luka are bonding over the fact they both have powers. She confides in him about the physical reactions she has to working the spells (the nosebleeds and passing out). He tells her that is because she is trying to do too much on her own and she needs help. Nature and the elements are extra things she can draw power from. He asks her if she's ever channeled another witch before (put their energy together to double their strength). She has no idea what he's talking about so he does a demonstration. He takes her bracelet and gives her his dog tags and tells her to stand still and concentrate. The wind comes up around them blowing leaves and papers all over the school grounds. Jeremy steps up beside them and asks what's up with the weather. Luka laughs it off and says goodbye to Bonnie then leaves. Bonnie gets a message from Damon on her phone.
Elena goes to the Salvatore house and finds Rose. Elena wants more information about what Slater knew but Rose isn't pleased about it. Elena says Rose owes her because one word from her and Damon and Stefan would have killed her (Rose) for kidnapping her. Elena wants Rose to take her to Slater. She offers Rose the chance to walk during the daylight if she will help her.
Matt approaches Tyler at school to apologize for picking a fight with him. Matt isn't having an easy time dealing with what happened to Sarah. Caroline asks Tyler what he's going to do since it's almost the full moon.
Bonnie assures the group that she might be able to lower the tomb spell long enough for them to get in and get the stone as she's learned a few new things. When they have trouble deciding who exactly will go in and get the stone, Bonnie asks if they have anything that belongs to Katherine.
Rose takes Elena to Slater's apartment and find his body. Elena goes through some of Slater's papers while Rose throws back the curtains to look outside. Slater had tempered glass in his apartment like the glass in the cafe. They hear a noise while looking at Slater's computer (that is password protected). Rose opens a door and finds a woman named Alice (Bree Condon) hiding. Alice runs to Rose and hugs her crying.
Stefan gives Bonnie the picture of Katherine he has had for years as it belonged to Katherine. She places it in a bowl, drips water over it, burns it and recites a few words. If the ashes from the metal picture are blown onto Katherine, it will incapacitate her for a minute or two so they can get the stone and get out.
As Tyler and Caroline are walking through the woods, they talk about the state of Caroline's relationship with Matt. Tyler understands how Caroline feels that it's better she and Matt aren't together as she can't be 100% honest with Matt. He takes her to the cellar of the old Lockwood property and they go in. As they are looking around, Caroline finds an old book wrapped in a white cloth. Tyler looks through the book which is apparently Mason's diary. He chronicled everything that happened regarding his curse. In the back of the diary, Tyler finds a computer drive.
Jeremy is worried that Bonnie isn't strong enough to help the Salvatore brothers with their plan but she assures him she will be fine. When he sends Bonnie to get something to put the ashes in, Jeremy takes a few of them for himself.
Rose isn't impressed by Alice's tears. She knew that Alice was only dating Slater so he could turn her. Alice feels Elena looks really familiar to her for some reason. Elena asks Alice for Slater's computer password but Alice isn't in the mood to be talking about that. Elena, stepping things up a bit, asks Alice if she will give her the password if she can convince Rose to turn her. Someone had wiped Slater's hard drive but Alice is able to access all of his data that is stored on a remote server. Rose notices a name "Cody" in the files and Alice says she could call him. Elena hands her the phone and tells her to call Cody and tell him to get in touch with Klaus and relay the message that the doppelganger is alive and she's ready to surrender. Rose is shocked and when she asks Elena about her plans realizes that Elena is willing to sacrifice herself.
Jeremy goes alone to see Katherine for the moonstone. He fires a stake at her and when she's caught off guard, throws some of the ashes at her. Katherine falls to the ground and Jeremy enters the tomb. When he can't find the stone on Katherine, he goes deeper into the tomb to search for it. He gets the stone but as he is leaving, Katherine gets up and attacks him, biting him. He throws the stone out of the tomb. Bonnie arrives at the tomb and meets up with Damon and Stefan who are waiting outside.
As they are getting ready to enter the tomb, Rose calls Damon telling him not to be angry with her. She proceeds to tell him about what Elena had conned her into doing. As Bonnie and Stefan find the moonstone, Katherine presents herself with a weakened Jeremy firmly in her grasp. Because of his ring, she can't kill him but she intends to keep him with her until they open the tomb and let her out.
Jonas Martin and Elijah are preparing to work a spell using the items Jonas stole from Elena's room. Jonas cuts Elijah's hand and has him place it over a photograph of Elena. Jonas takes Elijah's other hand and he has Elijah close his eyes, relax his mind and look for Elena while he begins to chant. In Slater's apartment, Elena sees Elijah's face in the windows as she is looking outside.
Bonnie gives Stefan what is left of the ash and warns him it will take her some time to break the spell for him. As Bonnie (who still has Luka's dog tags) starts to chant the spell, Luka, who is now home with his father, can sense her.
Caroline and Tyler watch the video that is on the drive from the back of Mason's diary. He recorded his first transformation. Caroline reads selections from Mason's diary while they watch the video. It's painful for them to watch as Mason is crying in pain for someone to help him. They watch him suffer for at least five hours and he still hasn't fully transformed. Tyler pauses the video and tells Caroline that whatever it was that was happening, he can't go through it.
Damon arrives at Slater's and asks Elena what she's doing there. Damon wants Elena to leave with him but she refuses. She tells him she doesn't want to be saved if it means Klaus is going to kill every person she loves. Damon is unaffected by that and tells her to get out the door before he throws her over his shoulder and carries her out.
Jeremy warns Stefan to stop Bonnie because she isn't strong enough to handle the spell but Katherine sees that she has some help. At the Martin's, Jonas asks his son what is wrong and Luka admits that Bonnie is channeling him. Both Bonnie and Luka are feeling the physical effects of the spell. She falls to the ground and Stefan picks her up. Bonnie realizes that even channeling Luka she isn't strong enough to break the tomb spell. Katherine starts to feed off Jeremy again but Stefan rushes into the tomb and pulls her away from him and throws Jeremy out.
Caroline tries to comfort Tyler by telling him Mason did say the transformation sped up over time so if he can get through the first one, things will be easier. Tyler questions why she is helping him as they've never been friends before. She tells him about how hard things were for her when she turned and she doesn't want him to be alone in what he's going through. The doorbell rings and when Caroline answers it Matt is standing there. He has missed her and needed to see her. Tyler opens the door behind Caroline and the smile kind of fades from Matt's face when he sees Tyler.
Before Damon can get Elena out of Slater's apartment, Cody (James Harvey Ward) and two other men arrive "to meet the doppelganger". The man in the back slumps to the floor and Elijah is standing behind him, which, of course, is a surprise to Damon who thought he was dead. Rose quickly flees the apartment. Elijah reaches into the two remaining men's chests and pulls their hearts out then rushes from the apartment leaving Damon and Elena alone.
Back at the Martin's, Elijah tells Jonas his shadow spell was successful. He allowed Damon to live because he knows that he would have died trying to prevent anything from happening to Elena and that will serve his purpose. Damon will protect Elena and keep her safe for him.
Bonnie takes Jeremy home and they argue about his choosing to try and get the stone on his own and about her trying the spell when she wasn't strong enough. He wants to kiss her but she pulls away telling him she can't and leaves.
Damon escorts Elena home and he tells her what she did was stupid. She doesn't question why he and Stefan and everyone else tries to save her and she insists they shouldn't question why she would want to save them. Jeremy opens the door and simply says "Stefan".
Elena runs to the tomb but Damon grabs her before she runs inside. Stefan and Katherine listen to them arguing from inside the tomb. When Damon finally lets go of Elena, she storms away leaving him at the entrance to the tomb. Damon tells him he'll figure out how to get him out. Stefan tells him Bonnie has the moonstone and to work with her to figure out how to de-spell it. He makes Damon promise that he will keep Elena away from the tomb and no matter what happens to protect her. When Damon leaves, Katherine tells Stefan that his making Damon promise to take care of Elena was the biggest mistake he ever made.
--
My, my, my! Aren't things getting interesting? I'd like to think the Martin's aren't all bad. Surely, there has to be some good in them. I know Jonas is Elijah's right hand man and all but I kind of like both him and Luka. I'm hoping they are only helping Elijah because they, or more accurately, Jonas owes him. And Jonas does kind of seem to be a bit remorseful about what he's doing at times, doesn't he? (Or am I just imagining that?) I'd love to see them jump the bad guys ship and head over to Team Salvatore.
Bonnie is going to be needing some serious spell help. This would be an awesome time for Lucy Bennett to make another appearance. She's a tough one and I loved her character. I'd love to see her back on the show for a spell (no pun intended). Jeremy and Bonnie still aren't happening and it isn't because Jeremy hasn't made it clear to Bonnie that he isn't the little boy she thinks he is. Bonnie is the hold up on this one.
Tyler is going to have his hands full pretty soon. His very first transformation is coming up and now that he knows how hard it will be it's going to make it all the harder going into it. He is most certainly going to need a friend to help him get adjusted to the life he has ahead of him.
Stefan is now in the tomb with Katherine. Sigh. Stefan had to be the good guy and rush in to save Jeremy so now he's locked away with big, bad, Katherine. We all know there is going to be some fireworks between the two (good or bad) and that Stefan will be getting out. The question is when and how. And how will this affect the relationship between Damon, Stefan and Elena? Will Elena end up falling for the super hot brother with the hypnotic eyes or will she stay true to the super hot brother with the kind and gentle soul?
--
For more information:
Official Site: http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries
The Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/
TV Rage: http://www.tvrage.com/The_Vampire_Diaries
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
UK Television: Law & Order: UK, Episode 4.1 "ID"
Law & Order: UK
Season Four, Episode One, ID
ID, Original Air Date: November 4, 2010 (Canada)
ID, Original Air Date: March 21, 2011 (U.K.)
Based on Law & Order (US) "Promises to Keep", Season 3, Episode 14 (10th February, 1993)
A young doctor is brutally murdered in the car park of the hospital where she works. The case takes on a dramatic twist when the prime suspect turns out to have a shocking identity. As the investigation continues, even more details emerge and the case takes on a complication that could potentially threaten the legal system.
In 1997, Billy Wells (Matthew Loreti) is given a sentence of 12 years for his part in the killing of teacher Yvonne Macy and her unborn child. In the present day, at the Royal Hampton Hospital, Alice Cullen was murdered. The murder wasn't caught on CCTV has it happened between cars and the cameras didn't pick it up. Nothing was missing with the exception of her keys. Brooks feels Alice Cullen knew her attacker.
When Brooks and Devlin search Alice Cullen's flat, they find that whoever killed her had already used her keys to get in and ransack the flat. Matt Devlin finds an ultrasound that had been done of the child Alice was carrying and post-mortem confirmed she was 10 weeks pregnant. Two dark hairs found on her clothes were sent in for DNA analysis.
Alice's parents Robert and Ellen Cullen (Ian Cairns & Geraldine Alexander) and her fiance, Joe Nash (Matthew McNulty), speak with Brooks and Devlin at the station. Her parents cannot think of anything in her flat that anyone could have wanted unless it would have been an addict breaking into a doctors flat looking for drugs. Devlin fingerprints Joe Nash to rule him out as one of the two sets of fingerprints they found at Alice's flat. Her parents tell Ronnie Brooks they should be checking up on Alice's last boyfriend rather than Joe, her current one.
Brooks and Devlin speak with Alice's previous boyfriend. He said he had moved on from Alice and "never lost any sleep" over her becoming engaged to Joe Nash. He said the marriage and family wouldn't have lasted because she would have gone running home to her father the minute she didn't get her own way. He insists that he's dealt with his anger issues and maintains that he didn't kill her. His alibi that he was spending the evening with his personal assistant holds true.
Nash's alibi was that he was in Chinatown. Chandler sends Brooks and Devlin to investigate Nash's alibi further. No one in Chinatown remembers seeing him so they go through his phone records and find he called Daniela Renzo (Nicola Walker), a psychiatric social worker, three times on the night Alice was murdered and none of the calls were made from Chinatown. The calls put Joe at the murder scene a half hour before the killing, near Alice's flat at the time of the break-in and finally at Daniela Renzo's in time for bed.
In an effort to test Joe, Chandler sends Brooks and Devlin to convince him to make a public appeal for information about Alice's murder on the news. He declines saying he wouldn't know what to say with all those people watching and they should ask someone else to do it instead.
They next go to see Daniela Renzo who inform them Joe is a client and nothing more. She gives them a few details about the issues Joe suffers from but doesn't divulge too much because of client confidentiality. She is surprised to learn that Alice was murdered and tells them he was there, at her home, Sunday night. He didn't want Alice to know of their appointments. She said he called about 5:30, arrived at six and left about eight. The other two calls to her were because he left his jacket at her home.
They speak with Joe again and he admits he didn't tell the truth because he was ashamed of needing a psychiatric social worker. He was supposed to meet Alice for dinner that night but after his meeting with Daniela, he went to the restaurant but it was too late. He says he then went to her flat but Alice wasn't there so he went home then back to Daniela's to collect the jacket he had forgotten there earlier that night.
When they leave, Brooks brings up Joe's manner of dress and how he makes his bed to Matt. They both exhibit behaviours of someone who has been in prison. Joe did spend three months in prison for nicking cars when he was younger. Ronnie Brooks is certain Joe is an ex-con. Brooks finds in Nash's files from Manchester that the arresting officer for Nash's TWOC arrest was Detective Sergeant Marvin Douglas. Martin Douglas was transferred from Manchester to London six months prior to Joe's arrest. Brooks knows that for a fact because Douglas was an usher at his (Brooks') second wedding that took place one month after Douglas got back to London.
Matt learns from Daniela Renzo's landlord that he tried to deliver a parcel to her three times on the day Alice was murdered but she was out all evening. Chandler orders them to bring both Renzo and Nash in as she's covering for him or they are in it together.
Renzo and Nash share a look in the corridor before each of them is ushered into separate rooms. Alesha watches on the monitors as Brooks and Devlin interview Joe Nash. He admits that he and Alice were going to meet at the restaurant but they had a fight. He didn't go to Daniela's flat until around 10:30 that night. He called her from outside her flat but she was getting ready to go to bed and didn't let him in. They push him wanting to know if he and Daniela were sleeping together and if Alice found out. If that is what Alice and Joe fought about that night. Joe begs to stop the interview saying he needs some sleep. He doesn't want to tell them what he and Alice argued about. He finally breaks down and admits they argued about his diary. He also admits to killing Alice saying he never meant to do it.
As Matt Devlin places Joe under arrest for Alice's murder, Joe starts rambling about not really being "Joe Nash". He says the home office arranged things and he was moved down here and given the name and history and was given a new passport. Chandler, who is with Daniela, questions her if she is more than just Joe's social worker to which Daniela replies "you've got no idea what you're asking". She reveals to Chandler that she was assigned to help Joe deal with his new identity as he is on Life License. Joe tells Brooks and Devlin about the murder of the teacher when he was a young boy. He was released six years ago on Life License. He isn't Joe Nash, he is Billy Wells.
Castle, Steel and Phillips attend a meeting at the Offices of the Director of Public Prosecutions with Carla Hopley (Isla Blair) regarding Joe Nash. They are informed that Joe Nash spent 3 months in the same YOI as Billy Wells. They two shared a cell. Steel questions why Nash would claim to be Billy Wells if he isn't. The response is that Nash suffers from delusion disorder. Alesha states that the police surgeon found Joe fit for questioning. She insists that Joe Nash is definitely not Billy Wells. She is adamant that there cannot be a trial. Steel sees no problem in this as Joe has confessed to killing Alice. She wants them to offer Nash a deal to plead manslaughter, diminished responsibility so he will be given a hospital order and it will be made sure that he will need Ministry of Justice approval for any future release. They agree to the terms and Steel will present it to Nash's brief.
Nash's solicitor, Eli Smart (Benedict Wong) arrives with praise for Steel. Steel presents Smart with the terms of the deal and Smart assures Steel that, while he just got the case that morning, he can be certain his client wouldn't turn down a deal that good.
Joe surprises everyone in court when he pleads "not guilty" instead of "guilty" as he was expected to do. Eli Smart is as shocked and surprised as everyone else as he had no idea his client would change his plea. Later, Phillips presents Steel with paperwork from Eli Smart that claims Joe Nash was coerced into confessing to Alice's murder.
Steel meets with Joe and Smart and is told that Joe was confused when he made the claims that he was Billy Wells and that he killed Alice. Smart wants Steel to look over the confession tapes again as he maintains Joe never actually said he killed Alice. Steel and Phillips do just that. Phillips says Joe did admit killing Alice while Steel questions if he really does. He goes through the confession Joe makes word for word and notes that it is Billy Wells confession from 1997. Joe's using the exact same words Billy Wells did leading Alesha to question if Joe really could be Billy Wells. Steel compares photographs of a young Billy Wells to those of Joe and he can see similarities while Alesha isn't convinced. Steel points out how the case changes if Joe truly is Billy Wells. He wants to know one way or the other.
Chandler informs Steel that Joe's prints came back identified as Joe Nash. He asks about the diary Joe mentioned in his confession. It was never found and could very well have been destroyed by Joe. He wants her to check Joe Nash's DNA against that of Billy Wells but there is no DNA profile in Wells' file to compare it against.
Steel and Phillips next go to the Dangerous Offenders Unit wanting more information about Billy Wells. They hit a brick wall as they are told the information they want cannot be disclosed for the safety of both the offender and the social worker. Unless they have authority from the Home Secretary, the information they want remains confidential. Daniela Renzo will not even disclose anything to them without a signed letter of consent from Joe despite the fact she had already told Chandler she was assigned to help him deal with his new identity. She's now a witness for the defense and they can hold their questions for court.
Joe Nash was attacked in prison and moved to the Vulnerable Prisoners Wing. A new prisoner "went crazy" and attacked Joe after seeing him. They pay Joe a visit in prison and ask him about his identity. He denies being Billy Wells. Steel pushes Joe, pointing out the verbatim confession and similarities between Yvonne Macy's murder and Alice's murder. Joe insists he isn't Billy Wells and calls the guard to take him back to his cell.
Chandler tells Steel and Phillips there were certain details both defense and prosecution agreed to keep out of court in the Billy Wells trial. Steel asks Chandler to check the Yvonne Macy file to see if when she was found if her underwear were in her mouth. Chandler says she doesn't need to check because she already knows. The fact Joe knew that one detail is proof enough for Steel that Joe Nash is, in fact, Billy Wells. Steel wants to charge Joe/Billy accordingly now that his true identity is known. Steel refuses to cover up Billy Wills true identity and his crimes to save face for the Home Secretary. Castle warns him the issue isn't about one case and that this case could threaten the entire criminal justice system. The repercussions could be frightening and that sometimes the truth causes more harm than good. He tells Steel to talk to Eli Smart again to convince him to take the plea in light of the new information. And he must do it before the DPP finds out what he's been doing.
Eli Smart says Nash's true identity changes nothing because he was hired to defend John Nash and that's what he is doing. Steel tells him that if the fact he's really Billy Wells comes out he will never get a fair trial and they need to keep it out of court. Smart agrees to book a visit with Nash.
Chandler pays a visit to Steel's office and throws a thick folder down on his desk telling him to not ask how she got it. The folder is Billy Wells prison records. She flagged the last section that records identifying marks. Billy Wells has a three-inch scar on his left arm from a suicide attempt. Steel confronts Nash with the scar but Nash still insists he isn't Billy Wells until Steel tells him to pull up his sleeve. He finally admits who he really is but he maintains that he never killed Alice. Steel encourages him to take the deal because the DNA evidence will prove his guilt. He tells Steel to find his diary and read what prison did to him and if he still thinks he could have killed Alice he'll see him in court.
Knowing that anyone who would have read Nash's diary would have known right off who he really was, Steel sends Devlin and Brooks to Daniela Renzo's. Brooks finds it hidden behind a couch cushion. The diary lays out every detail and Alesha remarks he gave it to Alice because he wanted her to know he was Billy Wells. Daniela claims in interview that Joe gave her Alice's keys and begged her to get his diary back for him and that she had no idea Joe had killed Alice. Chandler takes a swab from Daniela's cheek for DNA analysis. After Steel informs her they have a DNA profile from the scene, she wants to get up and leave but Chandler orders her to sit back down. He reads from Joe's diary where he had told Daniela he wanted to stop his appointments with her. She claims Joe couldn't have survived without her. She admitted to being with Alice the night she died but only to talk to her. She tells Steel that she grabbed Alice's bag and Alice fell and hit her head against the car door; an accident. Even if Joe/Billy had gone back to prison, Daniela felt she could have still worked with him and made sure he was alright. She had no idea Alice was pregnant which is a wake up call to her that Joe/Billy didn't tell her everything the way she claimed he did. Chandler places her under arrest for Alice's murder.
Steel and Alesha present a somber Eli Smart with Billy Wells release papers at a local pub. Smart tells them Billy was found hanging in his cell two hours ago.
Promises to Keep, the original Law & Order episode ID was based on is one of my favorites. In the original, the amazing (and very underrated, I might add) Lindsey Crouse plays Dr. Diane Meade, the psychiatrist who is pulling the strings, so to speak, of her client Danny Garrett (Frederick Weller). The US and UK shows differ in that in the US original, Meade and Garrett are actually having an affair and Meade even visits Garrett in prison where she tells him she loves him. I liked the changes in the story for the UK version. They were subtle but enough to give this version a unique twist.
Law & Order: UK airs on Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. on CityTV in Canada. Season four is currently not airing in the UK and will air at a later date.
For more information:
Law & Order: UK ITV1 Official Site: http://www.itv.com/drama/copsandcrime/lawandorder/
Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1166893/
TV Rage: http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-18198
Season Four, Episode One, ID
ID, Original Air Date: November 4, 2010 (Canada)
ID, Original Air Date: March 21, 2011 (U.K.)
Based on Law & Order (US) "Promises to Keep", Season 3, Episode 14 (10th February, 1993)
A young doctor is brutally murdered in the car park of the hospital where she works. The case takes on a dramatic twist when the prime suspect turns out to have a shocking identity. As the investigation continues, even more details emerge and the case takes on a complication that could potentially threaten the legal system.
In 1997, Billy Wells (Matthew Loreti) is given a sentence of 12 years for his part in the killing of teacher Yvonne Macy and her unborn child. In the present day, at the Royal Hampton Hospital, Alice Cullen was murdered. The murder wasn't caught on CCTV has it happened between cars and the cameras didn't pick it up. Nothing was missing with the exception of her keys. Brooks feels Alice Cullen knew her attacker.
When Brooks and Devlin search Alice Cullen's flat, they find that whoever killed her had already used her keys to get in and ransack the flat. Matt Devlin finds an ultrasound that had been done of the child Alice was carrying and post-mortem confirmed she was 10 weeks pregnant. Two dark hairs found on her clothes were sent in for DNA analysis.
Alice's parents Robert and Ellen Cullen (Ian Cairns & Geraldine Alexander) and her fiance, Joe Nash (Matthew McNulty), speak with Brooks and Devlin at the station. Her parents cannot think of anything in her flat that anyone could have wanted unless it would have been an addict breaking into a doctors flat looking for drugs. Devlin fingerprints Joe Nash to rule him out as one of the two sets of fingerprints they found at Alice's flat. Her parents tell Ronnie Brooks they should be checking up on Alice's last boyfriend rather than Joe, her current one.
Brooks and Devlin speak with Alice's previous boyfriend. He said he had moved on from Alice and "never lost any sleep" over her becoming engaged to Joe Nash. He said the marriage and family wouldn't have lasted because she would have gone running home to her father the minute she didn't get her own way. He insists that he's dealt with his anger issues and maintains that he didn't kill her. His alibi that he was spending the evening with his personal assistant holds true.
Nash's alibi was that he was in Chinatown. Chandler sends Brooks and Devlin to investigate Nash's alibi further. No one in Chinatown remembers seeing him so they go through his phone records and find he called Daniela Renzo (Nicola Walker), a psychiatric social worker, three times on the night Alice was murdered and none of the calls were made from Chinatown. The calls put Joe at the murder scene a half hour before the killing, near Alice's flat at the time of the break-in and finally at Daniela Renzo's in time for bed.
In an effort to test Joe, Chandler sends Brooks and Devlin to convince him to make a public appeal for information about Alice's murder on the news. He declines saying he wouldn't know what to say with all those people watching and they should ask someone else to do it instead.
They next go to see Daniela Renzo who inform them Joe is a client and nothing more. She gives them a few details about the issues Joe suffers from but doesn't divulge too much because of client confidentiality. She is surprised to learn that Alice was murdered and tells them he was there, at her home, Sunday night. He didn't want Alice to know of their appointments. She said he called about 5:30, arrived at six and left about eight. The other two calls to her were because he left his jacket at her home.
They speak with Joe again and he admits he didn't tell the truth because he was ashamed of needing a psychiatric social worker. He was supposed to meet Alice for dinner that night but after his meeting with Daniela, he went to the restaurant but it was too late. He says he then went to her flat but Alice wasn't there so he went home then back to Daniela's to collect the jacket he had forgotten there earlier that night.
When they leave, Brooks brings up Joe's manner of dress and how he makes his bed to Matt. They both exhibit behaviours of someone who has been in prison. Joe did spend three months in prison for nicking cars when he was younger. Ronnie Brooks is certain Joe is an ex-con. Brooks finds in Nash's files from Manchester that the arresting officer for Nash's TWOC arrest was Detective Sergeant Marvin Douglas. Martin Douglas was transferred from Manchester to London six months prior to Joe's arrest. Brooks knows that for a fact because Douglas was an usher at his (Brooks') second wedding that took place one month after Douglas got back to London.
Matt learns from Daniela Renzo's landlord that he tried to deliver a parcel to her three times on the day Alice was murdered but she was out all evening. Chandler orders them to bring both Renzo and Nash in as she's covering for him or they are in it together.
Renzo and Nash share a look in the corridor before each of them is ushered into separate rooms. Alesha watches on the monitors as Brooks and Devlin interview Joe Nash. He admits that he and Alice were going to meet at the restaurant but they had a fight. He didn't go to Daniela's flat until around 10:30 that night. He called her from outside her flat but she was getting ready to go to bed and didn't let him in. They push him wanting to know if he and Daniela were sleeping together and if Alice found out. If that is what Alice and Joe fought about that night. Joe begs to stop the interview saying he needs some sleep. He doesn't want to tell them what he and Alice argued about. He finally breaks down and admits they argued about his diary. He also admits to killing Alice saying he never meant to do it.
As Matt Devlin places Joe under arrest for Alice's murder, Joe starts rambling about not really being "Joe Nash". He says the home office arranged things and he was moved down here and given the name and history and was given a new passport. Chandler, who is with Daniela, questions her if she is more than just Joe's social worker to which Daniela replies "you've got no idea what you're asking". She reveals to Chandler that she was assigned to help Joe deal with his new identity as he is on Life License. Joe tells Brooks and Devlin about the murder of the teacher when he was a young boy. He was released six years ago on Life License. He isn't Joe Nash, he is Billy Wells.
Castle, Steel and Phillips attend a meeting at the Offices of the Director of Public Prosecutions with Carla Hopley (Isla Blair) regarding Joe Nash. They are informed that Joe Nash spent 3 months in the same YOI as Billy Wells. They two shared a cell. Steel questions why Nash would claim to be Billy Wells if he isn't. The response is that Nash suffers from delusion disorder. Alesha states that the police surgeon found Joe fit for questioning. She insists that Joe Nash is definitely not Billy Wells. She is adamant that there cannot be a trial. Steel sees no problem in this as Joe has confessed to killing Alice. She wants them to offer Nash a deal to plead manslaughter, diminished responsibility so he will be given a hospital order and it will be made sure that he will need Ministry of Justice approval for any future release. They agree to the terms and Steel will present it to Nash's brief.
Nash's solicitor, Eli Smart (Benedict Wong) arrives with praise for Steel. Steel presents Smart with the terms of the deal and Smart assures Steel that, while he just got the case that morning, he can be certain his client wouldn't turn down a deal that good.
Joe surprises everyone in court when he pleads "not guilty" instead of "guilty" as he was expected to do. Eli Smart is as shocked and surprised as everyone else as he had no idea his client would change his plea. Later, Phillips presents Steel with paperwork from Eli Smart that claims Joe Nash was coerced into confessing to Alice's murder.
Steel meets with Joe and Smart and is told that Joe was confused when he made the claims that he was Billy Wells and that he killed Alice. Smart wants Steel to look over the confession tapes again as he maintains Joe never actually said he killed Alice. Steel and Phillips do just that. Phillips says Joe did admit killing Alice while Steel questions if he really does. He goes through the confession Joe makes word for word and notes that it is Billy Wells confession from 1997. Joe's using the exact same words Billy Wells did leading Alesha to question if Joe really could be Billy Wells. Steel compares photographs of a young Billy Wells to those of Joe and he can see similarities while Alesha isn't convinced. Steel points out how the case changes if Joe truly is Billy Wells. He wants to know one way or the other.
Chandler informs Steel that Joe's prints came back identified as Joe Nash. He asks about the diary Joe mentioned in his confession. It was never found and could very well have been destroyed by Joe. He wants her to check Joe Nash's DNA against that of Billy Wells but there is no DNA profile in Wells' file to compare it against.
Steel and Phillips next go to the Dangerous Offenders Unit wanting more information about Billy Wells. They hit a brick wall as they are told the information they want cannot be disclosed for the safety of both the offender and the social worker. Unless they have authority from the Home Secretary, the information they want remains confidential. Daniela Renzo will not even disclose anything to them without a signed letter of consent from Joe despite the fact she had already told Chandler she was assigned to help him deal with his new identity. She's now a witness for the defense and they can hold their questions for court.
Joe Nash was attacked in prison and moved to the Vulnerable Prisoners Wing. A new prisoner "went crazy" and attacked Joe after seeing him. They pay Joe a visit in prison and ask him about his identity. He denies being Billy Wells. Steel pushes Joe, pointing out the verbatim confession and similarities between Yvonne Macy's murder and Alice's murder. Joe insists he isn't Billy Wells and calls the guard to take him back to his cell.
Chandler tells Steel and Phillips there were certain details both defense and prosecution agreed to keep out of court in the Billy Wells trial. Steel asks Chandler to check the Yvonne Macy file to see if when she was found if her underwear were in her mouth. Chandler says she doesn't need to check because she already knows. The fact Joe knew that one detail is proof enough for Steel that Joe Nash is, in fact, Billy Wells. Steel wants to charge Joe/Billy accordingly now that his true identity is known. Steel refuses to cover up Billy Wills true identity and his crimes to save face for the Home Secretary. Castle warns him the issue isn't about one case and that this case could threaten the entire criminal justice system. The repercussions could be frightening and that sometimes the truth causes more harm than good. He tells Steel to talk to Eli Smart again to convince him to take the plea in light of the new information. And he must do it before the DPP finds out what he's been doing.
Eli Smart says Nash's true identity changes nothing because he was hired to defend John Nash and that's what he is doing. Steel tells him that if the fact he's really Billy Wells comes out he will never get a fair trial and they need to keep it out of court. Smart agrees to book a visit with Nash.
Chandler pays a visit to Steel's office and throws a thick folder down on his desk telling him to not ask how she got it. The folder is Billy Wells prison records. She flagged the last section that records identifying marks. Billy Wells has a three-inch scar on his left arm from a suicide attempt. Steel confronts Nash with the scar but Nash still insists he isn't Billy Wells until Steel tells him to pull up his sleeve. He finally admits who he really is but he maintains that he never killed Alice. Steel encourages him to take the deal because the DNA evidence will prove his guilt. He tells Steel to find his diary and read what prison did to him and if he still thinks he could have killed Alice he'll see him in court.
Knowing that anyone who would have read Nash's diary would have known right off who he really was, Steel sends Devlin and Brooks to Daniela Renzo's. Brooks finds it hidden behind a couch cushion. The diary lays out every detail and Alesha remarks he gave it to Alice because he wanted her to know he was Billy Wells. Daniela claims in interview that Joe gave her Alice's keys and begged her to get his diary back for him and that she had no idea Joe had killed Alice. Chandler takes a swab from Daniela's cheek for DNA analysis. After Steel informs her they have a DNA profile from the scene, she wants to get up and leave but Chandler orders her to sit back down. He reads from Joe's diary where he had told Daniela he wanted to stop his appointments with her. She claims Joe couldn't have survived without her. She admitted to being with Alice the night she died but only to talk to her. She tells Steel that she grabbed Alice's bag and Alice fell and hit her head against the car door; an accident. Even if Joe/Billy had gone back to prison, Daniela felt she could have still worked with him and made sure he was alright. She had no idea Alice was pregnant which is a wake up call to her that Joe/Billy didn't tell her everything the way she claimed he did. Chandler places her under arrest for Alice's murder.
Steel and Alesha present a somber Eli Smart with Billy Wells release papers at a local pub. Smart tells them Billy was found hanging in his cell two hours ago.
Promises to Keep, the original Law & Order episode ID was based on is one of my favorites. In the original, the amazing (and very underrated, I might add) Lindsey Crouse plays Dr. Diane Meade, the psychiatrist who is pulling the strings, so to speak, of her client Danny Garrett (Frederick Weller). The US and UK shows differ in that in the US original, Meade and Garrett are actually having an affair and Meade even visits Garrett in prison where she tells him she loves him. I liked the changes in the story for the UK version. They were subtle but enough to give this version a unique twist.
Law & Order: UK airs on Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. on CityTV in Canada. Season four is currently not airing in the UK and will air at a later date.
For more information:
Law & Order: UK ITV1 Official Site: http://www.itv.com/drama/copsandcrime/lawandorder/
Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1166893/
TV Rage: http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-18198
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