So Steve had a Mother of a day
Sep. 26th, 2012 01:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kapuahiSo everyone and their mother has seen the episode so we all know what happened. I’m not going to do that, but you know I am full of opinions and I’m about to share them all with you.
For all the ridiculous mission impossible jailbreak scenes as awesome as they were, this wasn’t about the explosions and guns and car chases no matter how much it tried to tell us it was, this was all about the characters we have loved and sometimes learned to love and their struggle to hold it all together.
There was not one mediocre performance in this episode, love them or hate them every one of those actors really pushed each other this episode.
Steve and Doris just break my heart. He had to have been in shock and he's so heartbroken and distrustful, you can hear the hitch in his breath, the momentary joy that she’s there in his voice. You can see just how much he just wants to be little Stevie and have her fix things all over the place, but he’s spent his entire adult life being trained to distrust everything that she now represents. You can see the struggle in his voice, in his tears, the pulse fluttering in his throat, he loves his mother but he doesn’t trust her even a little. Anyone who says that Alex can’t act/is wooden/unemotional clearly isn’t watching the same show. There are so many subtle nuances and faceted performances in every single thing he does on screen.
And OMG, how good was Christine Lahti, She is so good at what she does, she made me hate her with a touch of feeling sorry for her in SVU and I’m sure she’s about to do the exact same thing. The way her chin wibbled when she was talking was almost as heart breaking as Steve’s reaction. I think the both of them just blew that scene out of the water.
But what are Doris’ motives? Why did she let Wo Fat go? Why didn’t he try to shoot her? I wonder if at some stage she was his handler? Why was it time for Steve to meet her, there is definitely another agenda there but who knows when we’ll find out. But she’s not going to hurt Steve on Danny’s watch. Danny has her number remember.
If I thought that AOL was going to steal all the emotional thunder in this episode I’m fairly certain DDK didn’t get that memo. He was absolutely heartbreaking in the scenes where Malia died and such tightly wound and controlled grief for the rest of the episode. I’m so glad that he shot Delano. That action made him, for me, the perfect flawed character that he is. Sometimes good people do bad things, it doesn’t make them bad, it just makes them human. Also? The boys may have looked like they didn’t care about Chin’s loss, but they’re male for God’s sake, they’re not going to go all huggy and touchy, especially while they’re trying to catch bad guys and keep Doris safe.
Then there was Danny and Doris. Danny could have all the reactions that Steve couldn’t and he did. Also he had Doris’ number right from the start (and he really did) he wasn’t going to let her off the hook for 20 years of Steve’s pain, but he wasn’t going to disrespect her either, so she’s not just going to slide in and hurt his Steve again. Likewise, Doris isn’t a stupid woman it would have taken her 20 seconds to workout how important Danny was to Steve and she was going to test that.
So many people are seeing the Cargument as Steve pushing Danny away. That wasn’t how I saw it at all. To me that was Steve being a selfless friend, or a good uncle Steve. He’s been the kid that has lost a parent, sent away. Grace’s circumstances are different yes, but a huge bitter custody battle could mean that Grace will lose Danny. Steve wouldn’t want that, any more than he wants to lose Danny. I really thought we were seeing selfless Uncle Steve, he knows what it's like to lose a parent, he doesn't want Grace hurt and if pushing Danny away means she keeps her Danno then that’s what he will do. Also? The evil woman ring tone? They aren’t demonising Rachel, it’s a well-established piece of canon that Danny uses ring tones to express his emotion for people. Rachel started out with Psycho didn’t she? Evil woman is a step up.
Way back in season one I thought that Kono belonged with Charlie Fong, but Adam changed my mind the very first time they shared a scene and that’s only getting stronger. Ian plays Adam so perfectly smitten with our Kono that its’ hard not to get a schmoopy little smile every time they are together. I know it was hard to see them so happy right after Chin was so incredibly broken but there were two sides to that story and while Chin’s was heartbreaking, Kono’s was a happier ending and the two of them deserved that soft moment on her steps. Also it was a complete softener for that whole kickass car jumping thing when she almost snuffed toothpick.
And then there is the new girl, or not so new girl. I make no bones that I love Catherine, I’ve always known that she’s kick ass, but there is a completely different level to Catherine that I love. Love it or hate it Danny, Chin and Kono are all Steve’s subordinates. Generally, with the exception of Danny they obey him. Cath doesn’t do that, she is more than willing to question him, sass him and go toe to toe with him if it’s something she doesn’t agree with. That’s not something Steve is accustomed to and personally I like it. Also Naval Intelligence doesn’t mean she’s always been on a desk, she has probably had the same training Steve has minus the SEAL. She’s Badass and she proved it. She’s no Barbie.
The weakest part of the whole ep? That mission impossible implausibly ridiculous Jail break that was so ludicrous it was awesome, but blowing up HPD just to steal the meth? Seriously Steve can steal 10 million and not get found out but they have to blow up a building? Either Delano was too flashy for his own good or Steve really is superSEAL.
This set us up for a huge season and I for one can’t wait.
For all the ridiculous mission impossible jailbreak scenes as awesome as they were, this wasn’t about the explosions and guns and car chases no matter how much it tried to tell us it was, this was all about the characters we have loved and sometimes learned to love and their struggle to hold it all together.
There was not one mediocre performance in this episode, love them or hate them every one of those actors really pushed each other this episode.
Steve and Doris just break my heart. He had to have been in shock and he's so heartbroken and distrustful, you can hear the hitch in his breath, the momentary joy that she’s there in his voice. You can see just how much he just wants to be little Stevie and have her fix things all over the place, but he’s spent his entire adult life being trained to distrust everything that she now represents. You can see the struggle in his voice, in his tears, the pulse fluttering in his throat, he loves his mother but he doesn’t trust her even a little. Anyone who says that Alex can’t act/is wooden/unemotional clearly isn’t watching the same show. There are so many subtle nuances and faceted performances in every single thing he does on screen.
And OMG, how good was Christine Lahti, She is so good at what she does, she made me hate her with a touch of feeling sorry for her in SVU and I’m sure she’s about to do the exact same thing. The way her chin wibbled when she was talking was almost as heart breaking as Steve’s reaction. I think the both of them just blew that scene out of the water.
But what are Doris’ motives? Why did she let Wo Fat go? Why didn’t he try to shoot her? I wonder if at some stage she was his handler? Why was it time for Steve to meet her, there is definitely another agenda there but who knows when we’ll find out. But she’s not going to hurt Steve on Danny’s watch. Danny has her number remember.
If I thought that AOL was going to steal all the emotional thunder in this episode I’m fairly certain DDK didn’t get that memo. He was absolutely heartbreaking in the scenes where Malia died and such tightly wound and controlled grief for the rest of the episode. I’m so glad that he shot Delano. That action made him, for me, the perfect flawed character that he is. Sometimes good people do bad things, it doesn’t make them bad, it just makes them human. Also? The boys may have looked like they didn’t care about Chin’s loss, but they’re male for God’s sake, they’re not going to go all huggy and touchy, especially while they’re trying to catch bad guys and keep Doris safe.
Then there was Danny and Doris. Danny could have all the reactions that Steve couldn’t and he did. Also he had Doris’ number right from the start (and he really did) he wasn’t going to let her off the hook for 20 years of Steve’s pain, but he wasn’t going to disrespect her either, so she’s not just going to slide in and hurt his Steve again. Likewise, Doris isn’t a stupid woman it would have taken her 20 seconds to workout how important Danny was to Steve and she was going to test that.
So many people are seeing the Cargument as Steve pushing Danny away. That wasn’t how I saw it at all. To me that was Steve being a selfless friend, or a good uncle Steve. He’s been the kid that has lost a parent, sent away. Grace’s circumstances are different yes, but a huge bitter custody battle could mean that Grace will lose Danny. Steve wouldn’t want that, any more than he wants to lose Danny. I really thought we were seeing selfless Uncle Steve, he knows what it's like to lose a parent, he doesn't want Grace hurt and if pushing Danny away means she keeps her Danno then that’s what he will do. Also? The evil woman ring tone? They aren’t demonising Rachel, it’s a well-established piece of canon that Danny uses ring tones to express his emotion for people. Rachel started out with Psycho didn’t she? Evil woman is a step up.
Way back in season one I thought that Kono belonged with Charlie Fong, but Adam changed my mind the very first time they shared a scene and that’s only getting stronger. Ian plays Adam so perfectly smitten with our Kono that its’ hard not to get a schmoopy little smile every time they are together. I know it was hard to see them so happy right after Chin was so incredibly broken but there were two sides to that story and while Chin’s was heartbreaking, Kono’s was a happier ending and the two of them deserved that soft moment on her steps. Also it was a complete softener for that whole kickass car jumping thing when she almost snuffed toothpick.
And then there is the new girl, or not so new girl. I make no bones that I love Catherine, I’ve always known that she’s kick ass, but there is a completely different level to Catherine that I love. Love it or hate it Danny, Chin and Kono are all Steve’s subordinates. Generally, with the exception of Danny they obey him. Cath doesn’t do that, she is more than willing to question him, sass him and go toe to toe with him if it’s something she doesn’t agree with. That’s not something Steve is accustomed to and personally I like it. Also Naval Intelligence doesn’t mean she’s always been on a desk, she has probably had the same training Steve has minus the SEAL. She’s Badass and she proved it. She’s no Barbie.
The weakest part of the whole ep? That mission impossible implausibly ridiculous Jail break that was so ludicrous it was awesome, but blowing up HPD just to steal the meth? Seriously Steve can steal 10 million and not get found out but they have to blow up a building? Either Delano was too flashy for his own good or Steve really is superSEAL.
This set us up for a huge season and I for one can’t wait.
