Like I promised in my preview, Dark Blue did not disappoint in its season two return. I’m not sure why the show needed the double episode treatment on its first night back (which seems to be a new TNT trend), but what can you do. Let’s take one at a time.
I love Carter’s new hobby, prescribed to him following the whole shoot-and-kill incident in the season one finale. Gardening in a community garden … there could be some good times had out there. Plus it could become his version of the Tony Soprano basement meeting for conversations he’d rather others not be privy to. And he could get to know his neighbors out there, which you know would go so well. So much potential!
Great seeing Dean back in the swing of things, going undercover by shaking shopkeepers down for protection money. I’m not crazy about him and Jaimie seemingly back together now that Scott’s gone, but I don’t think they’re real enough as a couple to stick if either finds something better. So there’s that … except for the fact that Jaimie seems the jealous type. So we’ll see.
FBI Special Agent Alex Rice (Tricia Helfer) looks to be a permanent addition to the show (that comes from all the new promo pictures that include her, not anything else), and I have to say that so far, not so impressed. Carter needs someone to challenge and push him, but she didn’t work for me. If it has to be someone on the outside who he’s paired with him, let it be his ex Nicole, or DEA Agent Julia Harris. Rice rubbed me the wrong way.
Great to see the talented Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro, here as Victor Uros) again. This show has a knack for casting some great actors in bad guy roles. But while good material is shoveled at the guests, what was up with Ty? He was totally MIA throughout the episode, at least as far as playing a significant role went. Last season left him in an awkward place, with his wife Melissa asking him to start a family. Might he be done going undercover?
Carter was back as his crazy self … I loved his ambush of Victor’s office, shoving a gun in Victor’s face and establishing a reputation. Of course it got Phil the assassin (Jack Stehlin) on Carter’s back, but that was bound to happen. No self-respecting drug dealer would stand for that kind of threat without retaliating.
What’s always puzzled me about Dark Blue (at least, one thing that has) is how lackadaisical the team is about maintaining their undercover identities. They go back and forth to their unit’s headquarters while under, they revive old identities without being 100% sure that they haven’t burned any bridges … worse is the show for ignoring these glaring holes. Shouldn’t one of our team resuscitate an old cover only to find that someone in the crew they’re infiltrating know’s that they’re a cop from another bust? Or better yet, why wasn’t anyone watching the tattoo parlor when Carter was meeting Rice, resulting in their being followed back to headquarters? It seems sloppy at times.
I’m wary of this new joint LAPD/FBI task force, mainly because the show worked so well for me last season that I worry about adding someone new. The problem for us fans is that it didn’t seem to work so well for TNT, so they’re bound to tinker with it a lot this season. Hopefully the show won’t lose what made us fall in love.
But even with the distractions, it’s great to have Dark Blue back!
“I don’t date, but if I did … they’d call back.” – Carter to Agent Rice
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Aug 04, 2010 @ 22:00 EST5EDT
Aryeh: So great to have Dark Blue back and read your reveiws and comments again which are always so ‘on’ for me. I felt that some of the Darkness was missing but I am guessing that is one purpose so that the show appeals to a wider base. The comments in the Threads on the Dark Blue fan website are bleak from ‘disappointed fans’.
I am enjoying the new ‘relationship’ with Dean and art gallery owner and am happy that plotline is carrying over to next week. The numbers for the first two eps were low. Do you think that TNT would put Dark Blue on after The Closer mid-season, now that it looks like the Angie Harmon cop show is a hit??
*POST AUTHOR*
Great to have the show (and you) back! :)
I heard an interview with Dylan McDermott where he discussed the fact that the show will be much “lighter” this season. At the same time, part of that is opening the stories up more to our getting to know the crew. The theme of the show is dark, and it will continue to be … the very palette of colors used in most shots screams as much. But if TNT can’t get the show to open up to more viewers, they’ll inevitably dump it, which would be a lot worse than more wisecracks. The essence of the show was still quite evident to me.
As for the scheduling, I am confused as to why TNT continues to refuse to give Dark Blue some of the lead-in support that all its other new shows get. So far nothing else new has proven the ability to stand on its own two feet (I don’t think), but with a slew of new stuff coming, who knows what will be. I think it would be wise for them to pair Dark Blue with an established juggernaut. Will they do it? Who knows.