A much belated Republic of Doyle review. My apologies. But as I think there's only one left in the season, I can hardly punk out now so close to the finish line.
So on out last episode of Doyle, Jake learns the disadvantage of having friends come along on a stake-out and that perhaps you shouldn't involve yourself in the affairs of your ex-fling's current boyfriend. Tinny tries to make Dez into less of a doufus with mixed results, while Mal and Rose go on vacation. In the liquor cabinet.
It's not exactly a secret that I loathed last week's episode, which was a blemish on a nice run of shows. For whatever reason, it takes five or six episodes for the boys to get into the swing of things. Which is fine if you have a 22 episode season like they do in the United States. Doesn't work quite so well when you only have 12. Something to work on for next season. Republic of Doyle isn't high art, but it's good when it's on the mark. They just need to be hitting it with more consistency.
Having said that, this was back to form. A good, solid episode where the guilty party wasn't readily obvious. I was actually wondering for a bit if it was going to be a two-parter. While on a stake-out Jake goes into a bar with brother Christian and lawyer Walter in tow where there is some illegal gambling going on, featuring the mayor of St. John's, a judge and a developer. Next thing you know, armed gunmen burst in, with strippers (much to Walter's pleasure), and people are photographed in compromising positions.
The mayor hires Jake to figure out what's going on and get back those photos. What's happening is that there appears to be a sizeable amount of corruption happening in St. John's City Council, which the mayor may or may not be involved in. Throw in sinister feds and a couple of murders and you've got yourself a pretty good mystery with lots happening.
Seriously, when a murder happens in St. John's at this point, they might as well just call Jake and ask how he's involved with the incident.
Even the Dez and Tinny stuff wasn't too bad. I hate saying Tinny is more interesting trying to fix up Dez because I wish she was just more interesting all on her own, that she didn't need a male character to fix to be interesting. But compared to the terrible dope growing subplot from earlier the season (and hey, remember her wanting to go to London? Once again, Doyle is not great on following up on these things) I'll take it.
I will, once again, say that more Walter is a good thing. Yes, the Christian and Jake stuff wasn't too bad. But how much more fun would it have been for Jake and Walter to be going around trying to solve the case? So yes, more Walter. Besides, he delivers several killer lines in about four minutes of screen time.
Finally, we have the ongoing Jake/Alison/Leslie triangle. Leslie continues to be the most frustrating character on the show right now, because for a police detective she is staggeringly dense. She catches her boyfriend lying to her, does something I believe they might call actual detective work and catches him lying again. Then he tells her who she should and shouldn't be friends with. I believe that's three strikes there in one episode and yet, there she is still with him.
I think that's my problem with Leslie and Allison. They're both supposed to be deeply intelligent women and the absolute top of their game. But they're not always written that way and, Leslie in particular, acts incredibly stupid. They should both be smarter than Jake and yet the deeply stupid stuff they're wrapped up in (Alison with an abusive husband. Pick something with Leslie) is annoying. If they were deliberate character flaws, I might go with that (I can almost go with Alison and the abusive husband). But more often then not it feels like lazy writing. "Let's get them to do something stupid because it moves Jake's story along" is not great writing.
Don't get me wrong, it was a fun episode, nice and twisty and I enjoyed it. But I want better and there are times when I see good writing like most of this episode, laced with just lazy stuff that makes me frustrated.
So let's see what happens next week. We have hints of a sinister plot going on at city hall, we're about due for Christian to do something dumb-ass again, the Jake-Alison-Leslie storyline is probably due to be wrapped up and I'm sure we'll have another cliffhanger of some sorts.
Quotes of the Week:
So on out last episode of Doyle, Jake learns the disadvantage of having friends come along on a stake-out and that perhaps you shouldn't involve yourself in the affairs of your ex-fling's current boyfriend. Tinny tries to make Dez into less of a doufus with mixed results, while Mal and Rose go on vacation. In the liquor cabinet.
It's not exactly a secret that I loathed last week's episode, which was a blemish on a nice run of shows. For whatever reason, it takes five or six episodes for the boys to get into the swing of things. Which is fine if you have a 22 episode season like they do in the United States. Doesn't work quite so well when you only have 12. Something to work on for next season. Republic of Doyle isn't high art, but it's good when it's on the mark. They just need to be hitting it with more consistency.
Having said that, this was back to form. A good, solid episode where the guilty party wasn't readily obvious. I was actually wondering for a bit if it was going to be a two-parter. While on a stake-out Jake goes into a bar with brother Christian and lawyer Walter in tow where there is some illegal gambling going on, featuring the mayor of St. John's, a judge and a developer. Next thing you know, armed gunmen burst in, with strippers (much to Walter's pleasure), and people are photographed in compromising positions.
The mayor hires Jake to figure out what's going on and get back those photos. What's happening is that there appears to be a sizeable amount of corruption happening in St. John's City Council, which the mayor may or may not be involved in. Throw in sinister feds and a couple of murders and you've got yourself a pretty good mystery with lots happening.
Seriously, when a murder happens in St. John's at this point, they might as well just call Jake and ask how he's involved with the incident.
Even the Dez and Tinny stuff wasn't too bad. I hate saying Tinny is more interesting trying to fix up Dez because I wish she was just more interesting all on her own, that she didn't need a male character to fix to be interesting. But compared to the terrible dope growing subplot from earlier the season (and hey, remember her wanting to go to London? Once again, Doyle is not great on following up on these things) I'll take it.
I will, once again, say that more Walter is a good thing. Yes, the Christian and Jake stuff wasn't too bad. But how much more fun would it have been for Jake and Walter to be going around trying to solve the case? So yes, more Walter. Besides, he delivers several killer lines in about four minutes of screen time.
Finally, we have the ongoing Jake/Alison/Leslie triangle. Leslie continues to be the most frustrating character on the show right now, because for a police detective she is staggeringly dense. She catches her boyfriend lying to her, does something I believe they might call actual detective work and catches him lying again. Then he tells her who she should and shouldn't be friends with. I believe that's three strikes there in one episode and yet, there she is still with him.
I think that's my problem with Leslie and Allison. They're both supposed to be deeply intelligent women and the absolute top of their game. But they're not always written that way and, Leslie in particular, acts incredibly stupid. They should both be smarter than Jake and yet the deeply stupid stuff they're wrapped up in (Alison with an abusive husband. Pick something with Leslie) is annoying. If they were deliberate character flaws, I might go with that (I can almost go with Alison and the abusive husband). But more often then not it feels like lazy writing. "Let's get them to do something stupid because it moves Jake's story along" is not great writing.
Don't get me wrong, it was a fun episode, nice and twisty and I enjoyed it. But I want better and there are times when I see good writing like most of this episode, laced with just lazy stuff that makes me frustrated.
So let's see what happens next week. We have hints of a sinister plot going on at city hall, we're about due for Christian to do something dumb-ass again, the Jake-Alison-Leslie storyline is probably due to be wrapped up and I'm sure we'll have another cliffhanger of some sorts.
Quotes of the Week:
"Let’s go to George Street. Girls like me better when I’m drunk." - Walter
"Pay no attention. That was my dickweed brudder." - Jake. Glad to see 'dickweed' passes muster on the CBC standards.
"Special knock, you know what that means - Strippers!" - Walter
"Anyway, any one for microwave coconut shrimp?" - Rose
"You're hot and your blonde. Of course people are watching you." - Jake
"If I could take Jake’s blood, I would." - Dez, not being creepy at all.
"Think hard. Not too hard, you look like you’re hurting yourself." - Tinny
"I wanted another daughter, but I got you. Oh well, you take what you’ve got." Mal to Jake
"I guess he told you I saw him."
"Well, he has a black eye and I know he met with you." - Jake and Leslie on Jake's meeting with the mayor
"Tragically, I see no hookers." - Walter
Last Five
1. Watching Michael Knight - Mark Bragg*
2. For a dance - Jackson Browne
3. Love you so what - Lloyd Cole
4. I want you - The Beatles
5. Maria's bed - Bruce Springsteen
1 comment:
There's 13 episodes this season. 2 left.
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