TV-Reviewed

Michael gets to meet his latest contact: Victor. Apparently, Carla is definitely high up in the food chain–or, at least, higher up than this guy–and has sent somebody else to the meet. Now, the spy tip here should seem fairly obvious, as Mike says, “If they give you a map and picture they trust you, a place and time they’re just checking you out.”  Or, should it be that they want to checkmate you?

I wasn’t expecting the meet with Carla’s operative to take place in a park where people can sit around all day and play chess, that was interesting.  Although, Mike’s game of chess… well, I didn’t know it could be so lethal. I never would have thought a chess piece could be used to puncture an artery.  I guess, he was going to do that by pressure, obviously–if that’s possible, and I guess it could be (but, I’m no doctor, I just know bruises and what not can be caused that way); not that a chess piece is all that sharp, but the bishop does have a pointy head. Anyway, a dangerous chess piece and a gun under the table later and Mike walked away with, of all things, a red girlie cell phone covered in fake diamonds–oh, and not to mention a heart on the back of it. The look on Mike’s face when he saw that phone was classic.

So, the whole thing about Victor having “an annoying sense of humor” is definitely true. However, we see throughout “Bad Blood” its more than just annoying, more like gleefully sinister. I’m betting the writers had fun with this character. Everything from that cell phone to the crazed laughter at the end about the incendiary rounds… yeah, I’d say Victor is off his rocker. Carla sure knows whom to hire.  Gleefully sinister. My guess here was that Carla wanted to show Michael that her, and her peoples’, threats are genuine.  They have no remorse in what they do, because Victor sure was more than happy to put down some rental cops, which means he would probably do the same to anybody who got in his, or the mission’s, way.

On the home front, this did get Mike a little worried, worried enough to send over Sam to look after her. I thought it was amusing, though, when Mike talks to Sam about his concerns, saying that these guys will “work their way through my family and friends with a 9mm” if he doesn’t help them, which is more than likely true. So, of course, Sam agreed to help, if reluctantly. How quickly does Mike want Sam to go over to Madeline’s? “Don’t finish that beer serious or go after you’re…,” says Sam before getting Mike’s cell phone jammed up to his ear. Well, I guess that would be: “don’t finish that beer serious”. This episode had plenty of fun, cool lines like that to repeat. Hmm… I’m surprised Sam didn’t chug that beer down–I know I hate tossing away a perfectly good beer or, worse, putting it in the refrigerator until later, yuck! Anyhow.

Sam ends up over at Madeline’s where he pretty much learns to cook from watching TV all day. I had to laugh when Mike came over to check in on things and Sam had him taste whatever that was. “Just a little sippy-sip,” he told Michael. That got me laughing a bit. Oh, but the best part was later when Mike had Sam take Madeline out in the car to take pictures of Eddie. That was great, I thought, because it got her in on part of the plan without her even knowing what was really going on. So, now, officially, the entire Westen family has been employed in Mike’s side-business. Plus the whole thing with Michael being concerned about his mother’s safety leant a slight touch of drama to the storyline–if just the slightest; at least, we see the family story is progressing nicely. Of course, at the show’s end, Madeline let’s Mike know it’s OK to tell her know when he’s sent somebody over to watch out for her. I sure laughed pretty good when she gave Sam his bullets back. “Say nothing,” like Mike told Sam, “nothing’s good.”

One thing I have yet to mention is the side-job. This week’s wasn’t all that complicated. Basically, you had a crooked office employee steal money from his boss and blame it on another employee, that employee, of course, being the younger brother of one of Michael’s old high school buds. Ricky, said younger brother, explains to Mike the sincerity of the danger he’s in. His boss, Valentine, is not only a hip-hop mogul, but he also started out as a real gangster–so, you knew if that money didn’t show up, Ricky would have been more than figuratively dead.

Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne

First time we met Ricky, of course, he was helping Madeline with her home theater. Naturally, when Sam showed up and saw him with all those wires, he had to think he was up to no good. They also managed to put another excellent line in here when Sam says, “What are you up to friend? A little surveillance? Planting a bug, or is it something more exotic?” The expression on Ricky’s face when he heard that gun click was priceless, too.

The first actual dialogue scene between Valentine and his crew was pretty convincing, and amusing. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was going to go when he called out Marcus, but I sure enjoyed it when Valentine hit him in the head with that glass-encased double-platinum record. I guess that would make me pretty serious, too, seeing that happen. I think Ricky acted appropriately here; nervous, serious, and wanting Michael’s help desperately. Fi sure wanted to shoot something, too,–not that she doesn’t always want to shoot something–in this episode; her trigger finger seems to be getting a little antsy. Hmm…a clue? Maybe. I think she’s needing, pardon me for saying this, “some action.” If she’s not getting any in bed, she sure wants it with gunfire and explosions. Good thing Mike stopped her from going into Valentine’s office with that shotgun, because I’m sure she’d have used it.

Lately, pretty much every episode, we’ve seen Michael doing some new characters. Well, this time was no exception, of course, when he busted out Jimmy, a guy from “bean town” who’s into real estate, among other things, and has ties to the Boston mafia. I thought Jeffrey Donovan’s rendition of a loud mouth Bostonian was pretty darn close. Not that all Bostonians are loud mouths, but the accent was dead on. I’m pretty sure Donovan had fun with this character, because he seemed to have pulled out all the stops. The flashy jewelry, the cocky-confident laid back attitude, the liking of getting past any hurdle via force… Yep, all there. That sounds like a Bostonian with mafia connections to me. But, what was even more intriguing was the fact that Victor did an even better accent–hmm… is this guy really from Boston?

I definitely enjoyed Victor crashing the party, too, and bringing that fugly cell phone with him; he sure wasn’t all that happy about Mike forwarding his calls, apparently. Victor might have nearly ruined Mike’s plans here with Eddie, but it all worked out in the end. At least, we know Valentine is still straight up gangster. I think it’s worth noting that Eddie, in his own way, was another interesting character. Sure, he was the typical weasel type, but it was fun seeing his nervous deviousness–if that’s the best way to put it. I laughed pretty good when he shot that gun and there was only the smoke. I think we all would have figured out by the second shot that the gun was loaded with blanks. Anyway.

Victor, obviously, kept Michael in the dark about their mission other than saying that they were going to, basically, steal an item that was in route between one place to another. Yet, one thing I thought was a little messed up on the bad guys’ part was the fact that they let Michael have the Impala before the mission–without supervision at that. Not very smart guys. They should have known he’d be able to do…something with the car to possibly compromise their operations. However, I don’t think anybody would have guessed he’d build a makeshift X-ray machine into the trunk. Is that even possible? I mean, I do know CRTs do emit X-rays in the “projection process”, but…Wow, the show got all MacGyver all of a sudden. However, I do remember in season one when Mike had built another device out of an old TV. Could a Taser produce enough power to pump through the tube to get an X-ray? Not sure. But, it sure was a cool spy-gadget moment.

And what was the big thing Carla’s group wanted? As we saw it was a sniper rifle. Hmm… must be an awfully special one for all the trouble they went through to get it, like Fiona said. Speaking of Fi, now I know it was just a 2D X-ray image, but, I wonder if she knows what sort of sniper rifle it is? I guess she would have said, or maybe she’ll say next episode, once she’s had time to examine the X-ray more closely. One thing I do question, though, fully is Michael’s action of slapping that X-ray up over the window. I wouldn’t think that would be a wise move on his part. Doesn’t Carla seem to have eyes everywhere these days?

Rating: 9.0