Over There: The Prisoner

Ooh, it's a war movie! Over There today proved itself to be, not a realistic picture of the war in Iraq, but an action-packed drama-filled fiction show. Today's episode? No one's gonna think (as some did after the premiere) that it's a reality show. And it's a good thing. The interrogation sequence was fun, edge-of-our-seats stuff. There was mayhem, and very mild torture, and an excellent firefight. None of which seemed terrifically likely to happen to a unit which has only been 'over there' a couple of weeks, and already had one very exciting interchange on the first day. Such is the power of the Bochco enterprise. That scene during the closing credits was gripping, filled with tension, mildly unbelievable. The camera work is great, Bochco can say volumes in the quiet pouring of a glass of juice.

So, I liked it, and I'm loving the development of the friendship between Frank and Tariq, and enjoying the casual authority maintained by Sgt. Scream. As I'm meant to, of course, I'm hating Frank's wife, the evil drunk mama. And Eddie? My husband and I agree he looks like an older version of my own son, breaking my heart. The Eddie-and-his-mom storyline is, I think, the most realistic subplot of the whole series. I know this sort of thing happens (although not to the extreme, probably, that it's occuring here) - depressed wives, stuck in oppressive base housing without any friends, reaching out to whatever vices they have for comfort and letting their kids get the brunt. When the pop-tarts come up in that lonely kitchen, with the morning sun pouring in, I cried out loud.

And - sorry - I laughed when Doublewide's husband goes to the spousal support group. Oh, it's sweet, and at first I thought they were going to set up some infidelity scenario (it doesn't look like it). But that scene was such a caricature. The little story about the string cheese was excellent, although I didn't expect Mr. "I'm in the wrong place!" would have really told that story. He'd have kept it to himself for a couple of meetings. That wouldn't have made for good TV, of course, would it have?