Crime Drama TV

Keith puts the heat on Mindy O’Dell now that he’s sheriff (Why, Lamb, WHY?! *sobs*) She reveals that the second man in the hotel room that night was the Dean himself, who waved a gun around and basically informed Landry that his career is over. She was the one who appeared at Cyrus’ office later to plead for mercy and give him some Xanax. Keith arrests Landry, who has some info to add to the story. Cyrus also informed Mindy that, according to their pre-nup, she gets nothing. His alibi? He stopped at a convenience store for cigarettes on his way back from the Neptune Grand. Mindy gets her life insurance check, buys a boat, and skips town.

Meanwhile, Veronica and Tim the TA try to prove Landry’s innocence by tracking down the stripper who bummed some cigarettes off of him, but end up kind of proving he did it by learning that the stripper was blackmailed into saying it. They listen to the recordings of Landry’s bugged cell phone and hear a reference to Papa’s Cabin, a Hemmingway reference that leads them to some beach-side paradise and Mindy’s boat. On it, they find Landry, who cries that he just meant to confront Mindy about setting him up and he didn’t mean for her to fall overboard and die. He’s arrested.

Post arrest, the criminology class wants the dirty details of how Landry killed Dean O’Dell. Tim the Teacher begins to go over the crime and Veronica realizes something - Landry didn’t have time to call and blackmail the stripper after being arrested - and puts it all together. The true guilty party? Tim the Teacher. Me? Doing the victory dance. This is the first time I’ve ever correctly predicted who did it on this show!

Oh, I almost forgot. Logan and Parker are getting cozy. Logan asks for Veronica’s permission to date her. It is about as exciting as it sounds.

What I Liked
- Being right about Tim the TA
- Keith showing up the kids by figuring out that “Papa’s Cabin” was a Hemmingway reference

What I Didn’t Like
- The pacing. The whole episode felt a little off. And Mindy’s death was like an afterthought. This could have been stretched over two episodes and have worked much better.
- LAMB IS STILL DEAD.

It’s the middle of the regular TV season, so I thought I’d give a brief overview of my thoughts on the shows I will be covering and their current plot lines. FYI: A brief review of each episode will be posted the day after the epiode airs with the exception of Numb3rs, which will be posted on Mondays.

Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is the only linear drama I will be covering. All the rest are your standard procedurals. I really like how the three mysteries formula is working; it keeps the show fresh and we don’t get any filler episodes. My suspect for Mystery 2: The Return to O’Dell’s Cave is Tim the TA. Also? LAMB IS DEAD. I’M GOING TO GO CRY IN A CORNER NOW, THANKS.

Bones
Bones isn’t a great procedural - in fact, one might even call it mediocre - but it’s entertaining nonetheless. I like that they’re going somewhere with the whole Booth/Brennan romance thing and adding some non-crime-related drama to spice it up a little. Although the therapist thing has got to stop. I don’t like the therapist and I think he’s crap at his job. I will elaborate on Thursday.

Criminal Minds
I. Love. This. Show. One of the things that first got me into procedurals is my personal interest in criminal psychology; I’m really more interested in the why than the how when it comes to crime and Criminal Minds is where I get my fix. My only problem with the show is that the writers have so many characters to juggle that we often get short-changed on character development with the more minor characters like J.J. and Garcia (who is my BFF). The addiction storyline with Reid bugs just a little, mostly because he’s my TV boyfriend and I can’t stand to see him hurt, but I’m waiting until this week’s episode to pass my judgement on the storyline as a whole.

CSI
Where it all started. CSI was my first crime drama. I’ve been watching it - no lie - since I was 12. Listen closely, y’all, ’cause this is the only time I’m going to say it: this is the only CSI I will be covering. Miami and New York? Crap. I will not have their sub-par excuse for crime drama taint this blog as long as I write it. That said, I like that the Vegas writers aren’t hitting us over the head with Grissom and Sara’s relationship. They’ve been very subtle and I applaud them. Greg’s civil suit makes me a bitter, angry person. He’s another one of my TV boyfriends. I would really like the writers to give Catherine, Warrick, and Nick (THANK YOU, George Eads for getting rid of that very sad pornstache and 70s hair) something interesting to do. They really feel like they’re fading into the background.

And last but most certainly not least, Numb3rs
I hate math. I really do. And yet I cannot seem to tear myself away from the adorkable math genius Charlie Eppes and his scrumptious, FBI agent brother Don. The cases are interesting mostly because you wonder what else they can solve with math. One of these days Charlie’s going to bust out an equation to find out who ate the last cookie or something. Where Numb3rs really excells is with the balance of crime and personal moments. I look forward to the Eppes family moments, which never feel gratuitous or out-of-place.

So there you have it - the line-up for the Crime Drama TV blog. I’ll see you tomorrow with some thoughts on Veronica Mars.

Why do we love crime dramas so much? Is it the crime? Is it the drama? Is it Rob Morrow in a pair of tight jeans?

The crime is most certainly captivating. From using forensic science to identify a person from a single strand of hair to looking inside the criminal mind to using complicated mathematical equations, there are a million angles from which to look at crime. Our world can be a scary place to live in sometimes and it’s nice to know that there are people out there putting the baddies away.

And the drama. Let’s not forget the drama. Admit it, watching these people deal with the horrific and gruesome on a day-to-day basis makes you feel just a little bit better about your job as a menial cubicle slave. At least you don’t have to encounter dead bodies or get shot at every day.

So why do we love drime dramas so much? Because it’s exciting. Because it shows us the best and worst of the human condition. Because Rob Morrow really does look great in tight jeans.