The mid-season finale has come and gone, and I have to say as much of a proponent of this show as I have been, I have been left disappointed. Ups and downs, but it ended exactly as I said it would- with a proposal. I guess I didn’t
specify that I guessed there would be a cliff hanger- but I totally was guessing that part too. I swear.
Let’s break down some of the stories, shall we?There is the murder, or murders in this case. I knew this was weird because there are never two murders on this show. I wasn’t wrong, but I will save the Strangers on a Train reference for the show (they totally called themselves out). A man and a woman, with no connections but the dog park, kill the person the other needs killed. The motives are never 100% clear but Korsak makes a comment that the lack of dog barking must have meant that the dog knew the killer. But if there was no connection, how is that possible? Also, for a professor who is going for tenure to have office hours at her own HOME, I’m calling it. I get it, she’s a sociology professor and sociologists are a special breed but no professor would ever be allowed to hold their office hours there. It’s inappropriate.
It was amusing to watch Frankie try and track down the man’s killer as apparently he did not play well with anyone. When we meet the man’s family it was immediately weird. Turns out they were together, so the wife had her husband killed to be with his sister. Not completely unheard of.
On another point, we meet Paddy Doyle Sr. who we have never had a single mention of before. He is in his 90’s and is suddenly being released to Maura. Sr. doesn’t want to be there, and Maura is weird
about it. He’s a crabby old gangster who tells Maura, to her face, that she never should have been born. We find out that he had even tried to kill her mother while she was pregnant. But instead of leaving his jerk face in prison, she takes him home. Where Casey takes care of him.
Ah, Casey. It’s been weird. First off, I thought he was working as a civilian in Afghanistan. Having been in the military myself, I’m pretty sure he would have been retired out due to his injuries. I get that he received a miracle, but I don’t see him being sent back without a heck of a fight.
Casey is given a 72 hour leave, which happens, but gets to come home early. He is wearing his
uniform, which is what tells us he is still in even though he has been referred to as a Vet. Jane could have taken the time off but doesn’t because she has weird commitment issues. Casey is nothing but the perfect boyfriend, stating that she should never apologize for being late or dedicated to her job. But alas Jane tells Maura “I can’t be me and be his too.” Feminism!!! This bothers me. But that’s my soapbox.
We are told, after we are informed of his magical military status, that he is in line for a promotion and his 20 years are coming up which would set him up for retirement(which was a thought that made me dizzy since we weren’t aware he was still in the military).
He has the choice to take the promotion and be in line for general, or retire. He leaves the choice to Jane: Marry me or I go back to war. That is not something to put on a person! Harsh. Not to mention, I don’t understand his back to back to back deployments. Yes, it kind of happens- but not so much in Casey’s field.
I’ve been disappointed; I’ve made that pretty clear. Had I started writing these reviews the first season you would have gotten a completely different response. The show was awesome, fresh, and new. Now its repetitive, obvious, and boring. We get the bit of witty banter, but there is no thought put into the story line/mystery/crime and at the core that is what this show is supposed to be- a procedural. They are taking a hiatus till winter at which point we will get only 2 episodes. I’m confused about the hiatus. With the passing of Lee Thompson Young, I realize there are going to be re-writes. But I’m pretty sure the hiatus was always planned- it was that way in the past. I’m hoping, I really am, that the show can pick itself up and carry on after such an off season and major loss.
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