Life: Serious Control Issues

(S01E09) "I investigate things." -- Charlie Crews to the IAD investigator.

Let's get the good news out of the way first. It was reported earlier this week that Life was being picked up for a full season. Huzzah! The show is finally getting the recognition it deserves and it is pretty much thanks to you, viewers. If you didn't tune in week after week and support the poopie out of the show then it could have had a more iffy future like the other NBC freshman shows Journeyman and Bionic Woman. Now all you have to do is keep it up. You can start doing that by watching the show two times next week. More on that at the end of the post.

Gallery: Life - Season One

For now, let's discuss this week's airing. I'm going to get my one minor pet peeve out of the way: this week's mystery about the young man and his over-protective father could have been ripped right off of Law & Order: SVU. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if SVU used the premise sometime in its nine-year history. Not that it was done poorly. On the contrary, Life took the concept of abduction and turned it upside down to present a different side of things.

A side where the boy didn't know about his own abduction. Here was a man who the teen knew as his father and truly loved, despite the "father" being extremely guarded and locking him in his own apartment. Because he was with the man for so long the 'son' didn't know any different, didn't know a real sense of normalcy when it came to his home life. I'm truly surprised that he let his "son" out of the apartment in the first place.

What really made this whole situation different was the way that Charlie could relate to the boy. I mean, what happened to both of them very much paralleled each other: both were abducted unknowingly (although, technically, I don't think the police would call Crews' arrest an abduction), both were imprisoned for 12 years, and both returned to the world not knowing who they were anymore. The only difference was that Charlie had a head start to find his feet once again, while the boy was just starting to take baby steps.

The whole abduction storyline really threw me for a loop when it came to solving the mystery of who killed the runaway named Josie. I really didn't think it was the crazy kitten owner even though he was a ... crazy ... kitten ... owner. I didn't even think to wonder about the location of the cats that begot the kittens. Those poor animals -- getting cut across the throat by that man because their voices changed. The same fate fell upon Josie, which means that Josie and the Pussycats were murdered the same way.

Oh, come on! Don't tell me none of you thought about that while watching the show. Sheesh!

The other thing that took place this week was the continuing murder investigation against Crews. In a change of pace for the show that part of the plot took up the first 25 minutes or so. It's not too hard to see that the murder of Detective Ames, lead on Charlie's old murder case, is a golden opportunity for the higher-up muckity-mucks on the force to get rid of Crews once and for all. Even Lt. Davis is seeing some merit to it, even though I can see that she is moving more and more into Crews' camp (albeit glacier-like movement).

I think that's why Charlie isn't really cooperating with IAD to clear his name. He knows that there are plenty of people out for his hide both inside and outside the force. So, if going out, why not do so with a bang or two to shake things up. It obviously didn't hurt him when all was said and done since he was cleared by IAD to remain on the force. You could hear a bit of relief in Lt. Davis' voice when that happened. Slowly, slowly, crept the garden snail.

Over to Jack Reese, Dani's father. I recall the musings of Misters Fred and George Weasley when I say that Jack is one right wanking prat. He just seems to be a really nasty person and, on the surface, it looks like that he is definitely part of the Conspiracy. However, I also got the feeling that Jack was protecting Charlie from other elements that are really after him. Meaning that Mr. Reese is a good guy not a bad guy. Ahh, I still think he's a right wanking prat.

Other things I liked about this week's show:

• Dani admitting that, while she didn't really like Crews, she knows that he is not one of the bad guys. Frankly, I think she does like Crews.
• Lt. Davis telling Dani that she is become more and more like Crews. Well, if I had a choice I'd rather be a fruit-eating, Zen-practicing detective than a drug addict.
• We finally got a reason why Charlie eats fruit all of the time -- he didn't get any in prison.
• The recap that Charlie gave to Ted at the beginning of the episode about the Conspiracy. I think that was a great move of the producers and writers because it gave new viewers a chance to see what was going on with the show right in the first 60 seconds.
• Charlie grows his own oranges. A reference back to the orange grove he purchased way back in the pilot episode.
• Charlie gets his knife back from Dani.

Now, about that 'watching the show two times next week' statement I made at the beginning of the review. Next week Life is not only on Wednesday but Monday as well, taking the place of Journeyman. Fact of the matter is that it is a two-part episode. So, you'll have no other choice but to watch both episodes to follow what is going on. So, make sure you set your alarm, online calendar, and DVR to notify you about the Monday airing and I'll see you then.