Glorify The Terrorism: Why Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Succeeds!

The Good: Performances, Plot development, Most of the special effects, Moments of character
The Bad: Pacing is a little off, CG Tarkin is a little off, Thinly created characters
The Basics: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story illustrates well the adult potential of stories set within the Star Wars universe!


At the end of all of the hype surrounding a film, there must be an actual work produced; a product that has to stand or fall on its own outside the massive publicity machine designed to make the opening weekend of a (potential) blockbuster film a success. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is finally here and separated from all of the hype, the film is astonishingly good. Perhaps the highest kudos I could write about the film is this: I collect AT-ATs (toys, models, artwork, etc) and the trailer for Rogue One that included the variant AT-ATs on the Scarif beach got me jazzed for weeks. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story develops so well and is so engaging that by the time the AT-ACTs appear on screen, I had forgotten that they were even going to be in the film!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had amazing potential and a mountain of potential problems to overcome in order to be a storytelling success. Based on the second trailer for the film, I went into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with a reasonable expectation that the film would finally create a credible story surrounding the massive technical fault in the Death Star - that was explored in my article The Burden Of Being Rogue One: A Star Wars Story here! But the potential of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was much more massive that just creating a story to fix a prior storytelling gimmick and director Gareth Edwards clearly leapt upon that. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story transforms the Star Wars Universe from a mostly-white, mostly-male dominated setting into a truly diverse, collaborative Rebellion against the homogeneous and oppressive Empire.

But the conceptual genius of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is simple: almost anything can happen. The basic plot of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is simple; this is the story of how the Rebellion came into possession of the Death Star plans that Princess Leia was the custodian of at the outset of A New Hope (reviewed here!). But outside the very minor limitation that the viewer knows from the outset that the heroic team will accomplish their mission, there is very little that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is bound by. None of the primary heroes are required to survive the mission (in fact, from a storytelling perspective, it is better that they don't, otherwise the key question the film would create is "Why were Bothans used to steal the plans for the second Death Star when there was a perfectly effective team available to do the espionage mission?!") and most of the villains can be created to be at least as menacing as Darth Vader as they would naturally be vying for the Emperor's good favor (and villains outside Darth Vader are not limited by either their religious belief in the Force or their desire to keep any family members alive) and could have quite the history of violence, cruelty or just plain military success that existed in a different corner of the Star Wars Universe.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story lives up to those potentials.

Opening rather abruptly with Imperial officer Orson Krennic visiting the Erso homestead where he recovers Galen Erso, a former weapons designer who has been in hiding since leaving his Imperial post. Krennic dragoons Galen back into service and kills Lyra, but their daughter, Jyn manages to escape. Jyn is rescued by Saw Gerrera. Fifteen years later, on the Imperial-occupied moon of Jedha, a pilot (Bodhi Rook) defects from the Empire and claims to have a message for Gerrera from Galen Erso and his defection brings word to the Rebellion of the existence of the massive planet-destroying weapon being built by the Empire, the Death Star.

The rumors of the weapon and Galen Erso's message inspire the Rebellion to send Cassian Andor to Wobani (a planet with an Imperial labor camp) to break Jyn Erso out of Imperial custody. Jyn is taken to Yavin IV where she is generally uncooperative, bristling when Saw Gerrera is mentioned. For her freedom, Erso is given a mission by the Rebellion: to authenticate the existence of the Death Star and bring Galen Erso to the Imperial Senate to testify. To get to Galen, the Rebellion needs Jyn Erso to make contact with the more-extreme and militant Gerrera, while Andor is given the side mission of killing Galen Erso before the Death Star can be completed.

Jyn, Cassian, and their reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO head to Jedha, where the Stormtroopers are out in full force searching for Rook. On the crowded streets of Jedha, Erso is summoned by the blind devotee of the Force, Chirrut Imwe, who reveals that Jedha is being stripped of Kyber crystals to power the weapons of the Death Star. After meeting up with Gerrera, seeing the hologram of her father explaining why he helped work on the Death Star and witnessing the first test of the Death Star that destroys the capital of Jedha, the Rebellion is recoiling in terror. But to prove that her father truly made a plan to save the galaxy from his own weapon, Jyn, Cassian, Chirrut, Baze Malbus, Rook, and K-2SO must go rogue to one of the most heavily fortified military archives in the Empire to recover the Death Star plans and get them to the fracturing Alliance!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story might well be second only to The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!) for quality Star Wars films and I write that with two caveats. The first is that the older I get, the less perfect The Empire Strikes Back seems - so much of the dialogue is hokey and the relationships are often forced, etc. Second, as I watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, knowing where it absolutely must go, I became more and more aware that I was waiting. My initial feeling was that there was a pacing issued within Rogue One, but the truth is, even as I watched the film the first time, I had a sense that Rogue One might well age better upon multiple viewings. The themes in the film are far less religious than those of The Empire Strikes Back and there were no lines that actually made me cringe (though the cameo of Dr. Evizan and Ponda Baba felt a little forced after the initial delight of it). So, as little as die-hard fans might want to hear it, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story could actually be the best of the Star Wars films, but the initial viewing of it does not blow one away so much that they forget the delight of the earlier works.

I suspect that Rogue One will be to Star Wars what Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!) is to fans of the Star Trek franchise. In other words, it is a slow burn that takes most people time to warm up to it and some never do. But as Rebel troops landed on Scarif and one shouted "For Jedha!" it was hard for me not to smile and think "For Cardassia!"

Outside the pacing, there are only two noticeable problems with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The first is the CGI Grand Moff Tarkin. I was thrilled by how much of a part Grand Moff Tarkin has in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but the computer generated face on the character does not move quite right when the character speaks. While this might not be a big issue on smaller screens, on theatrical screens it was troublingly noticeable. The other issue is that because Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is populated by so many characters, very few of them are actually developed well. Within the narrative, on screen, Director Krennic seems to be solely motivated by his desire to actually get a face to face meeting with The Emperor. Undoubtedly, hundreds of articles will follow the release of Rogue One trying to make the argument that Chirrut and Baze were a romantic couple and the ability to make that argument will come from the fact that the two supporting characters are so thinly defined that there is a lot of room for interpretation for their relationship.

Okay, there's a third issue and that is "why the hell does director Gareth Edwards believe a stick is an effective weapon against Stormtrooper armor?!" Were there seriously no accidents on set where Donnie Yen accidentally smacked a stuntperson in Stormtrooper armor with his staff and the stunt persons just said, "It's fine. The armor protected me. I'm not hurt." That's nitpicky, I know, but seriously even in the first viewing, I found myself asking how that was supposed to be working on a practical level!

That said, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is dominated by Felicity Jones's Jyn Erso and Diego Luna's Cassian Andor and they both rise to the occasion and expertly characterize their characters through lines and implicitly through their actions. Andor is a Rebel who is the ultimate pragmatist in a very adult way. When he first appears on screen, he kills another Rebel who will either slow him down or easily crack under an Imperial interrogation. When the Rebels on Jedha attack an Imperial tank, Andor kills one of the Rebels to set off a grenade that will thus save Erso's life. Long before Andor combats Erso's assumptions on his part in the Rebellion, actor Diego Luna has made it abundantly clear that Andor is a man who has done uncomfortable things in the name of freedom and protecting the Rebellion. Luna does a masterful job of delivering his "you're not the only one who lost everything" speech to Jones's Erso, which could have been some of the film's cheesiest lines if he had stepped on them.

Felicity Jones is predictably incredible as Jyn Erso. Jones is the perfect actor to deliver an emotional performance opposite thin air and her reactions as Jyn to watching Galen's hologram is one of the most emotionally powerful moments of the entire film. Hopefully, there will be a director's cut of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to illustrate just how Erso inspired so many people to follow her on her rebellious mission for the Alliance, but against the wishes of the Alliance Council (the much-teased line about rebels rebelling did not make the theatrical cut of the film). One suspects that more of Jones's Erso in Rogue One could only make it better.

Finally, Alan Tudyk's K-2SO is the best droid in the Star Wars franchise. Walking around like a cranky film critic, K-2SO manages to find the right addition of snarky humor to keep the slower portions of Rogue One moving delightfully well.

Gareth Edwards does not throw out the whole Star Wars playbook by creating a film with diverse characters - though he is not at all subtle about making all of the Imperial engineers old white men - but he does redefine effectively the potential of stories that can be told within the Star Wars Universe. In the original Star Wars Trilogy, the heroes were terrorists and religious zealots whose actions and philosophies were glossed over because their goals were clearly a greater good (i.e. destroying a planet-destroying weapon and rebelling against an oppressive government). In Rogue One, the heroes are flat-out terrorists and they fight for a higher set of principles even when some of their operatives have to do horrible things and participate willingly in acts of sacrifice to save the galaxy. Understanding the complexity of terrorists and patriots is both universal and timely and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story executes it in a way that is likely to weather well as time goes by.

For other works in the Star Wars franchise, please check out my reviews of:
Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars - Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
The Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 1
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 2
Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
Star Wars - Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi
Caravan Of Courage - An Ewok Adventure
Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakesn

9/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Finally Here: NYPD Blue Season Five On DVD Delights (In Its Own Weird Way)!

The Good: Good character development, Some truly engaging stories/plots, Great acting
The Bad: Showrunners are clearly unsure how to keep balance for the whole cast
The Basics: After years since the last NYPD Blue DVD set release, NYPD Blue The Complete Fifth Season was released by Shout! Factory and finally resolves one of the few cliffhangers of the series!


With longrunning television shows, it is hard for those who release such series' on permanent mediums, like DVD and Blu-Ray, to know what will sell. After all, television series's inevitably get cancelled when they lose relevance with their audience; a show that runs for twelve seasons is bound to disconnect from its original audience and, in the case of something like NYPD Blue, that usually means that those who would release it on a permanent medium have to remind the fans why they fell in love with the show in the first place . . . without giving them a chance to tire of the series a second time. Unfortunately, ABC seemed to hit a wall in releasing NYPD Blue on DVD when it dropped NYPD Blue Season Four (reviewed here!) and the season did not do as well in the marketplace as they hoped it would. So, ABC scrapped its plan to keep releasing seasons of NYPD Blue on DVD. Last year, Shout! Factory picked up the license and started releasing seasons of NYPD Blue on DVD again.

It's a good thing, too; the fourth season of NYPD Blue was one of the few seasons of the show that ended on a legitimate cliffhanger. So, when Shout! Factory released the fifth season of NYPD Blue, not only were they taking a bit of a financial risk in reinvigorating the love many fans had for NYPD Blue, they were ending a years-long storytelling stalemate that most fans had in their DVD collection! And NYPD Blue Season Five is a decent season of television, though it does illustrate a number of the long-term fractures in the series. By this point in NYPD Blue, there are a significant number of regular cast/characters (along with a few significant recurring characters who were downgraded out of the main cast, most notably Sharon Lawrence) and the challenge the writers and executive producers had was in keeping all of them relevant, interesting, and integral to the ongoing narrative. Far too often, characters like Medavoy and Kirkendall are relegated to very distant b-plots that placehold in the story so time can reasonably pass in the a-plot.

But, even so, there is a lot to recommend NYPD Blue Season Five. Opening months after Bobby Simone was relieved of duty under suspicion of working with a local criminal, while the Internal Affairs Bureau attempts to root out a mole in their ranks, the 15th Squad continues to solve cases involving violent crimes in New York City. While suspicions surround Andy Sipowicz, Bobby manages to clear his name and return to active duty as the squad's lead police detective.

Cases in the fourth season involve things like a mute who witnesses a murder and tries to communicate what he saw through bible passages, a uniform officer who may have murdered his first girlfriend after trying to pin the murder on her new, mentally ill boyfriend, and a gun deal that went horribly awry and resulted in one of the people being thrown off the roof of a building! This season finds James Martinez marrying Gina (whom he has gotten pregnant) and Sipowicz dealing with his urination problems straight on (as he is diagnosed with cancer), as well as Simone and Russell dancing around marriage and crushed by a miscarriage. The detectives investigate a case wherein a maid donated a precious diamond from one of her employers (because it was hidden in a soup can) and a weird case that involves a man who is either suffering from a multiple personality disorder or is impersonating his own twin! The season climaxes with the long-awaited marriage of Simone and Russell!

Season five of NYPD Blue continues to have and introduce great characters. Despite the Gina plot leading to a number of Administrative Assistants swapping in and out, the show remains generally well-focused on the main members of the 15th Squad. In the fifth season of NYPD Blue, the characters are:

Bobby Simone - Finally able to exonerate himself, he and Diane get closer and he gets back into the swing of things as the lead detective in the 15th Precinct. He remains calm and measured and is saddened and hurt when Diane gets pregnant and loses the fetus. He is very protective of Russell, but tries to give her the space to succeed (and not blow their cover about their relationship). Andy relies upon him when he is diagnosed with cancer,

Andy Sipowicz - Investigated heavily following the death of Joey Salvo, he manages to keep things together while Bobby is away from the Squad. He hides his medical condition from Sylvia long enough for it to get bad. He reluctantly goes in for prostate surgery after his doctor outs him to Sylvia. He and Fancy go a few rounds over a racism case where a white father raised his son to be racist and it got him killed. He continues to be sarcastic and quick-witted,

Arthur Fancy - Captivated by being on a case again when he takes a complaint while the other detectives are out, he generally remains focused on keeping the Squad running properly. That keeps him behind his desk most of the time, though he comes out when a racist comes in screaming racial epitaphs and messing up Sipowicz and Bobby's case. He avoids the flirtatious interest of two PAAs who replace Gina,

Greg Medavoy - Becomes deeply involved in Abby's life when her girlfriend is murdered while Abby is still pregnant. He investigates odd cases, like one involving a man who seems to be impersonating his own twin and the murder of a good Samaritan who tried to help a bike messenger during a bad drug deal. His stutter is virtually gone now,

James Martinez - After knocking Gina up, he eagerly agrees to marry her. As her pregnancy progresses, he hurts his back and is put on medical leave for months. When he returns, his joyful fatherhood news is eclipsed by Greg sharing Abby's birthing video,

Sylvia - Absent most of the season, she returns to work right around the time that Andy's health problem forces him to deal with it. She shows genuine love and support for Andy through his prostate problem,

Jill Kirkendall - Supporting Diane (when Diane is around) through her pregnancy and miscarriage concerns, she is partnered with Medavoy while James is out. She is straightlaced to his wacky and helps move his unproductive interviews forward,

Naomi - A new P.A.A. who has a little secret that she eventually shares with Simone . . . before she has to go on the run,

Dolores - Naomi's replacement, she is flirtatious and interested in Fancy (and either ballet or erotic literature). She is oddly cold to John Irvin when they meet,

and Diane Russell - Stressed while Bobby is forced to do odd jobs to get by during his time as a suspect, she sticks by him. She and Jill investigate some terrible cases involving women before she gets pregnant and then loses the baby. She disagrees with Bobby's assessment that she is engaged in risk behaviors while pregnant and they are slow to come back together after her miscarriage.

NYPD Blue Season Five features the same high level of acting quality that viewers came to expect from the show. Jimmy Smits, Dennis Franz and James McDaniel lead the cast with powerful performances, most notably in "Weaver Of Hate" where they deliver emotionally complicated performances as a racially-motivated crime raises tensions in the squad. While Kim Delaney gives a solid performance throughout, her most impressive role in the season essentially mimics the Russell sobriety arc from earlier seasons.

Still, there is enough going on and the writing remains sharp enough to make returning to the 15th Squad a welcome reunion for fans of NYPD Blue. With the release of season five of NYPD Blue on DVD, Shout! Factory effectively proves that absence makes the heart grow fonder! Fortunately, they aren't keeping us waiting as long for more . . .

For other seasons of NYPD Blue, please visit my reviews of:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

7.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized list of all my television and movie reviews!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Dexter Gets A Friend In Season Three!

The Good: Decent performances, Interesting character direction, Good flow for the season
The Bad: Somewhat repetitive plot progression, Lack of ramifications from prior seasons
The Basics: In the third season of Dexter, Jimmy Smits joins the cast and moves Dexter’s character to a new place . . . before surrendering the potential it built.


Like most serialized shows, Dexter made a good attempt to make seasonlong arcs and the concept of the show is an initially engaging one. However, the show lacked ambition to truly change itself and grow for the character. As a result, the seasons have a tendency to bring in significant guest stars who last only a season and the idea is that Dexter will grow only so far before that guest star is jettisoned at the end of the season and the show is pretty much restored to what it was at the beginning. The third season of Dexter really starts that tradition with the addition of Jimmy Smits to the cast.

The concept for the third season is a clever one and it pushes Dexter in a smart new direction before it mortgages the growth on the one front. The idea for season three of Dexter is that he develops a seemingly normal friendship with an upstanding citizen, the lead prosecutor in Miami and in the process he finds acceptance. Discovering that Miguel Prado has some of the same values he does, Dexter grows close and he manages to grow his relationship with Rita. Of course, in keeping with the formula, things have to fall apart with Prado before the end of the season and it’s somewhat unfortunate that the formula prevents genuine, sustained growth for the series.

Dexter has settled into a good routine following the death of Doakes and having no one on his trail. His relationship with Rita is pretty much repaired as Astrid and Cody have essentially adopted him as their father. When Rita gets pregnant, Dexter feels a tremendous pressure to marry her and have a normal life with her. To keep himself level, Dexter goes hunting for Fred Bowman, “Freebo,” and in the process, he accidentally kills Oscar Prado, the youngest brother of Miguel and Ramone Prado. Trying to justify the death of Oscar to himself (Debra discovers he was a junkie with some debts), Dexter draws the attention of Miguel. Attempting to divert attention from himself, Dexter is drawn into a friendship that quickly comes to a head when the revenge-seeking Miguel witnesses Dexter coming out of the garage where he had just killed Freebo.

While Dexter and Miguel keep the Miami Metro Police Department chasing their tails looking for Freebo, Debra starts using a C.I. from one of the new detectives on the squad. Her relationship with the informant begins to yield results as she begins the hunt for a serial killer in Miami who removes flesh from his victims. As Debra searches for the Skinner, Dexter tries to keep Miguel in line as the ambitious prosecutor butts heads with the determined District Attorney. When Miguel begins to go rogue, Dexter is forced to choose between maintaining his friendship and keeping himself and his family safe.

The third season of Dexter oddly distances itself from some of the elements that made the show popular and successful up until this point. Coming off of the climactic events of the second season (reviewed here!), it seems odd how there is only one new person in the Miami Metro and how LaGuerta is not riddled with more trust issues. In fact, that the season is not plagued with Internal Affairs investigations surrounding Doakes and that Dexter is able to get so far with Miguel Prado is somewhat troubling from a larger series context.

That said, the character of Miguel Prado works initially because: 1. Jimmy Smits can act and 2. He comes to the show with vastly different motivations than Dexter. Prado is not just “Dexter Lite.” Instead, he is a man who seeks justice above all things and while he has been devoted to law and order, he has become frustrated with the bureaucracy. Unfortunately, the demands of the show seem to move the character into a faster than realistic degeneration. It would have been far more interesting to have a slow arc where Miguel truly relied upon Dexter as a mentor for a while before his own ambitions and sense of entitlement took over.

As well, fans of Dexter will find that the formula in general is becoming a bit stale and predictable in the third season. While Dexter does his serial killing and explores how he will modify the Code his adopted father left for him, the Miami Metro Police Department works a season-long case involving yet another serial killer in Miami. As a result, Dexter does astonishingly little actual police work to help his sister and Batista in season three and his character is pretty much relegated to covering his own tracks (save a one-episode case wherein Dexter figures out that the sympathetic victim might actually have been the killer of the week).

Fortunately, the plot familiarity takes a back seat to the generally good character work of the season. In the third season, the principle characters of Dexter include:

Dexter Morgan – A serial killer who works as a blood-splatter analyst, he begins to move toward a normal life. His safe relationship with Rita turns decidedly unsafe for him when she gets pregnant. He exhibits a strong protective instinct when he recognizes a child predator hanging around Astrid. When he is exposed to Miguel Prado, he is able to make an actual friend and soon he and Rita are doing things as a couple with Miguel and his wife. But Dexter falls back on the first rule of the Code Of Harry when Miguel begins killing people who do not meet the Code and begins to menace LaGuerta,

Miguel Prado – The top prosecutor in Florida, he is an old friend of LaGuerta’s. His family begins to fall apart when the seemingly upstanding Oscar is killed. His marriage is strained when he starts to join Dexter on his nocturnal activities. When he and his wife decide he should run for District Attorney, Miguel feels threatened by defense attorney Ellen Wolf and he decides to take her out, which strains his friendship with Dexter,

Debra – After twenty-seven days of pushing her vices away, she sees the opportunity for advancement. She uses the CI, Anton, to get information that shows Oscar Prado was a junkie and embarrasses LaGuerta as a result of her exposing that lead. She falls off the wagon on the anniversary of Harry Morgan’s birthday when Batista takes her off the Prado case. She is harassed by an Internal Affairs detective who seems to have a personal beef with the new detective in the squad, Harrington,

Angel Batista – Has some run-ins with hookers as he is separated from his wife. LaGuerta promotes him to Detective Sergeant, which puts him in effective charge of most of the squad right under LaGuerta. After nearly getting busted by Detective Barbara Gianna, he begins pursuing her romantically. In trying to protect Gianna, he pushes the limits of his own ethics,

Masuka – Becomes obsessed with being taken seriously. He asks Dexter to proof an important article he wrote for a forensics trade magazine. When none of his coworkers come to hear him deliver an important speech, he changes his entire bearing. He reverts to form after being legitimate, with more respect from his coworkers,

Rita – Gets pregnant. When she gets moody, she loses her job, but Dexter steps up to support her, Astrid, and Cody. She befriends Sylvia Prado and Sylvia gets her a job working real estate. As she and Dexter move toward their wedding, she gets more and more emotional,

Quinn – A new homicide detective, he is under investigation by IAD. He puts Debra in touch with an informant to try to get her information on the Freebo case. As Debra sniffs around him for Detective Yuki, he is forced to reveal that his informant is not actually registered. He is excellent with witnesses and gets results that infuriate Debra,

And LaGuerta – Frustrated by the fact that the Prado case puts her back in touch with “the one who got away,” Miguel Prado. When it looks like Miguel Prado might not be the man she thought he was, she befriends Ellen Wolf. Her friendship with Ellen Wolf leads her to trust Dexter with forensics she does not want on the books and puts her in the crosshairs of Dexter’s new friend.

Jimmy Smits rules Dexter Season Three. His bearing, accent and character are unlike anything he has ever played. In fact, at the beginning of the season, Smits as Miguel Prado is unrecognizable as the famous actor. It is only when Prado begins to loosen up that he starts to deliver some of his lines with the ease and charisma Smits possesses inherently.

Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, and David Zayas all give solid performances in the third season of Dexter. The primary, regular actors in Dexter all know their roles at this point and they deliver consistently.

On DVD, the third season of Dexter includes featurettes that are mildly informative and it’s surprising how few extras Showtime produced. That said, the source material may never be better than it is on this season.

For other works with Anne Ramsay, please visit my reviews of:
Six Feet Under - Season 5
The L Word - Season 2
The L Word - Season 1
Woman On Top
Mad About You - Season 3
Mad About You - Season 2
Mad About You - Season 1
“The Emissary” - Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Elementary, Dear Data” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

7/10

For other television works, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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When In Darkness And In Doubt, Turn Toward The Blue: NYPD Blue Season Four!

The Good: Excellent character development, Great acting, Interesting stories
The Bad: Lousy DVD extras, Formulaic nature of stories sets in
The Basics: With a great deal of character development, wonderful acting and interesting stories, NYPD Blue The Complete Fourth Season is well worth the money.


NYPD Blue started out as a remarkably consistent show. Seasons one through three were solid, with excellent acting, characterization and stories. Season four continues the tradition, while hinting at the cracks that come in the series to come. For the most part, this is a solid season, but where it has its difficulties is in beginning to feel repetitive and formulaic on the plot front. After all, there are only so many ways these type of cases can begin and end. In simple terms, by the time the fourth season of the show comes around, we know the plot drill; something happens, the incident is investigated, witnesses are brought in, the truth is determined, our characters move on.

Season four of NYPD Blue finds the 15th Precinct dealing with the consequences of the prior season. Andy is working to stay sober again while worrying about his new baby, Diane and Bobby navigate treacherous waters when Simone proposes and Russell does not have an immediate answer, and Martinez finds new romance with the new PAA. Medavoy works to diet and exercise, Fancy deals with a racist cop and his wife's new business enterprise, and a new detective arrives in the squad.

Despite the somewhat formulaic notion of the plot to the series, Season four of NYPD Blue succeeds because of the characters. Here is how the fourth season finds them:

Bobby Simone - Feeling miffed over Diane's lack of a response to his marriage proposal, Simone begins to drift away from Diane and into some professional risk-taking,

Andy Sipowicz - Sober once again, Andy is learning to deal with the loss of his son and how to live with his new wife and new son, while dealing with a PAA who is sexually harassing him,

Arthur Fancy - Keeping the squad together, Fancy gets some time away from his desk to help out on the street, to deal with a racist cop and to find himself in the uncomfortable position of trying to sell his wife's products at the precinct for her,

Greg Medavoy - Disturbed by his size, Medavoy begins a diet competition with Andy and ends up meeting a uniformed officer named Abby who he becomes interested in,

James Martinez - After winning a position as Squad Delegate, James helps the new PAA, Gina, cope when she is assaulted,

Sylvia - After deciding to go back to work following the birth of the baby, Sylvia must wrestle with her desire to stay home and raise Theo instead,

Jill Kirkendall - A new detective in the squad, Kirkendall illustrates strength and keen detective skills, while claiming to be a romantic and working to raise her two children,

and Diane Russell - Following her ambivalence toward Simone's proposal, Russell begins to go undercover with a dangerous man, whose relationship with her triggers long-repressed memories.

The fourth season is not even completely repetitive on the plot front; the episode "Taillight's Last Gleaming" finds Andy having bizarre dreams about Andy Jr. The plot does get repetitive, save when character moments like that move into the plot and take over. However, that problem begins to become a problem by the end of this season, though the final episode does lead into a pretty impressive cliffhanger.

No, the real problem in the DVD presentation of season four is the extras. The fact is, this DVD set has some of the weakest extras of any DVD collection I own. There are commentaries, even commentaries on decent episodes like "Where's Swaldo" (a follow-up to the third season episode "The Backboard Jungle") and "Tom and Geri." The problem is that outside the commentary for "Tom and Geri," the commentaries aren't insightful or even interesting. Mark Tinker and Bill Clark sit awkwardly trying to say anything on their two commentaries and the result is disappointing and boring. It's hard to take a quality episode of one of the best shows on television in its heyday and make it into a boring experience, but watching with the commentary track on for "Alice Doesn't Fit Here Anymore" succeeds in being, well, dull.

Overall, this is a great season of television, though more than any prior season of "Blue," it feels like a sequel to the prior season. More than any previous season, this one relies on prior knowledge of the characters and cases. In order to get the most out of season four, the viewer must watch season three.

The acting in season four illustrates the power of great casting and giving great actors material to work with. In season four, we see some of the actors stretch their wings, as it were. Dennis Franz, who has played Sipowicz as a curmudgeon the past three seasons continues the trend while adding new depth and dimension, when Andy gets scared and/or confused. And Franz sells us on it.

Jimmy Smits is given a great deal more to do in this season, opening Simone up to more vulnerability and strength. Smits has to enact Simone more off the job than before and that sense of character and casual ease illustrates ability that he has not been allowed to before now. Similarly, Kim Delaney as Diane Russell does an amazing job of illustrating her acting prowess by switching emotions on a dime. She's pretty fabulous moving from strong to vulnerable, damaged to in control in literally the blink of an eye.

But more than the others, it's refreshing to see James McDaniel come into his own and out from behind the desk. McDaniel is one of the most impressive actors on the show and easily the most underused. He has a dignity and quality to him that is often thrust into the background. In season four, McDaniel is given material to work with and he runs with it. Mr. McDaniel gives Lt. Fancy dignity, frustration, anger, and reserve and he has the ability to moderate it all with a realism that makes his character one of the best defined in the NYPD Blue universe.

All in all, this is a pretty solid DVD collection and any points off are really for the lack of decent DVD extras. Still, for a quality show like NYPD Blue, it's insulting that it's not getting better treatment on DVD with more extras.

For other seasons of NYPD Blue, please visit my reviews of:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

9/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized list of all my television and movie reviews!

© 2012, 2007, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Arguably The Best Season Of NYPD Blue Is The Third Season!

The Good: Great acting, Wonderful character development, Good plots, Excellent direction and writing
The Bad: Weak DVD bonuses, Packaging
The Basics: While Simone and Russell negotiate a new relationship, Sipowicz works cases while mentoring his son in what it means to be a cop.


There are plenty of people who will go into great depth on NYPD Blue to argue that the third season of the show is the very best the show ever achieved. While this is a season of great television that is exceptionally compelling and rewatchable, I find such arguments completely neglect the latter seasons of the show which had a greatness to them that was very different. Regardless, with the third season of NYPD Blue out now on DVD, viewers have a chance to get the 15th Precinct's most controversial season for their home libraries.

Now that Sylvia and Andy are married, Sipowicz begins to get into a daily routine, which is soon broken by Sylvia's announcement that she is pregnant. Life at the 15th Precinct gets instantly more complicated when Martinez is shot, complicating Medavoy and Lesniak's lives. And Diane Russell, now free and open to date Bobby Simone, works to stay on the wagon while dealing with a volatile family situation. And the fairly cool relationship between Lieutenant Fancy and Sipowicz hits a boiling point when a race-related shooting causes mayhem on the streets. And through it, Sipowicz begins to get closer to his estranged son, Andy Jr.

All of the bad with this season of NYPD Blue has to do with the DVDs, not the actual show. The two biggest problems are: the packaging and the DVD extras. The packaging is irksome for those who have not seen this season and want to have a profound shock. If you want to experience a television show and be hit out of the blue like viewers originally were, the back of the DVD box (and the episode summaries on the individual DVDs) give way too much information on both the season and the episodes. In short, the third season is building to an important character event for Andy Sipowicz, which comes in the last three episodes of the season. Yet, right on the back of the box, it mentions what that event is. It's pretty lousy.

As well, the DVD extras are pathetic. The third season of NYPD Blue has three episodes that are mind-blowingly great. "The Backboard Jungle" and the (quasi-) two-part perfect episodes "A Death In The Family" and "Closing Time" are both culturally relevant and astonishing and powerful in the human tragedy portrayed. None of these three episodes has commentary. "The Backboard Jungle" is possibly the most complicated and in-your-face racial exposes, exploring ethnic relations and ethnic conflict, of the 1990s. Yet, no commentary. Instead, there are lackluster commentaries without any real insight on the unextraordinary episodes "Sorry, Wong Suspect" and "Head Case." This is a huge disappointment, as is the lack of a featurette on "The Backboard Jungle."

Barring that, this is a worthy addition to anyone's collection. Anyone who loves great drama will love this season of NYPD Blue. "A Death In The Family" and "Closing Time," when viewed together are a perfect study in human misery and tragedy. "The Backboard Jungle" pulls no punches when exploring a shootout at a basketball game that puts Sipowicz at odds with a black community leader. And outside those three episodes, there is plenty of greatness. "Cold Heaters" has Andy and Fancy working together to help out a father who killed when his ten year-old boy was beaten to death and "We Was Robbed" offers a somewhat comedic relief to the typical drama of the show.

As this is a character-driven series, here is how the third season plays out for the mains:

Bobby Simone - Now able to date Russell, Simone acts as a buffer between Sipowicz and Fancy while solving cases. Still dealing with the death of his wife, he finds conflict with Russell occasionally over risks she takes on the job,

Andy Sipowicz - Domesticated and reforging bonds with his estranged son, Andy begins to look forward to the birth of a new son while trying to stay out of trouble with the job,

Lieutenant Arthur Fancy - Mostly stuck behind his desk, Fancy leads the squad by keeping everyone in line and on focus. Unfortunately, Fancy has little development this season,

James Martinez - Shot early on, James works to recover and return to work, while trying to figure out his relationship (or lack thereof) with Lesniak,

Greg Medavoy - Once again, Medavoy finds conflict at home, which causes him to move into the 15th Precinct's building,

Donna Abandando - Also largely behind a desk for the bulk of the season, Abandando moves the last half of the season when an opportunity comes her way she is not sure she wants to pass up,

Sylvia Costas - Pregnant and working hard to be supportive of Andy, Sylvia is an anchor that keeps Andy grounded and true,

Adrian Lesniak - Frustrated at Martinez's advances, Lesniak begins to explore her own sexuality,

and Diane Russell - Working hard to stay sober, Russell encounters a personal tragedy at home, but finds some salvation in Simone.

This is a season of powerful character arcs and it would not have been pulled off with anything of the success it had were it not for the powerful performances. This is a season that is a model of great acting.

James McBride gives an awesome performance as Fancy in "The Backboard Jungle," easily proving that when the writers give him material, he will rise to the occasion. Similarly, Justine Miceli does wonderful work as a troubled Lesniak, though her character is left with almost nowhere to go after this season. Jimmy Smits does great work, but much of it this season is supporting the work of Dennis Franz and Kim Delaney.

Kim Delaney does an excellent job as the strong, yet scarred Russell. She convinces the viewer that her character is essentially good, but with a shadow in her past that makes things difficult for her. Delaney brings both strength and vulnerability to the role, making her performances diverse and compelling.

It is, however, Dennis Franz who rules this season. It is Franz's portrayal of Sipowicz as the father, mentor, bigot, detective, husband, and friend that makes the season pop. He's given a great role and he sells the viewer entirely on it. Franz plays Andy as both deadpan comic and tormented, easily earning every award he won this season.

But you should not take my word for it entirely, this is a great season of adult television and more adults ought to buy it and enjoy it. It's worth the money, despite it's lack of decent bonus material.

For other great third seasons, be sure to visit my reviews of:
The West Wing - Season Three
Psych - Season 3
Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Third Season

10/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing of all my television reviews.

© 2012, 2007, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Second Season Of A Great Show Maintains Perfection With NYPD Blue Season Two!

The Good: Excellent acting, Great character development, Decent extras, Generally good plots
The Bad: Plots begin to take on formulaic spin in this season
The Basics: With excellent acting and great characters, the second season of NYPD Blue continues a tradition of outstanding achievement and lasting greatness.


Sophomore seasons for a television show are difficult, especially if the first season of the show was fabulous, groundbreaking, and/or started something of a phenomenon. Thus, the pressure on NYPD Blue (outside whatever behind the scenes difficulties leaked into the media) was pretty tremendous going into its second year. The boxed set DVD collection of NYPD Blue for the second season is a real treat as it illustrates the rare achievement of a show that started out with a bang continuing to fly high.

The second season of NYPD Blue finds the 15th Precinct immediately under siege. With the trial of Janice Licalsi in full swing, Detective John Kelly finds himself under investigation by Internal Affairs. Pressured about his role in concealing evidence, Kelly is forced to resign, despite the efforts of Sipowicz and Fancy. Sipowicz is paired up with a new detective, Bobby Simone, who works to become Andy's friend. As they adjust to being around one another through several cases, Medavoy and Martinez pair up (professionally) while Medavoy and Donna Abandando continue their on-again, off-again relationship.

NYPD Blue prides itself on being a character-driven show and the second season continues the trend of putting the characters up front as the most important aspect. More important than the cases these detectives solve is who the detectives are and how they go about solving the crimes. In the second season, this is how the characters evolve:

Licalsi - Her trial is resolved quickly and Licalsi goes on her merry way, without the merry,

Lesniak - A new, young female detective who catches Martinez's eye arrives as a real professional who is attempting to keep her work and personal lives very much separate,

Diane Russell - Arriving near the end of the season, she is introduced as a smart detective who also has a serious drinking problem,

John Kelly - Suffers the consequences of standing by the woman he loves,

Donna Abandando - Finds that her love for Medavoy is not enough to change the nervous man and she initiates a painful breakup with him,

Martinez - Grows as a detective, now without Kelly. Paired with Medavoy, he starts to become his own man and tries to show that to Lesniak,

Medavoy - His paranoia over having such a good thing as a relationship with Donna surfaces, causing him to spy and lose everything. Outside that, he finds himself going a great deal of good in the City and growing even more as a detective,

Sylvia Costas - Still an ADA, she gets even closer to Andy to the point that when he proposes to her, she finds herself headed toward the aisle, even as she is forced to deal with difficult incidences from her own past,

Fancy - Gets the son he's always wanted and finds himself having to defend both his squad and his brother as he illustrates how competent he is at being the boos of the 15th Squad,

Bobby Simone - Arrives as a widower who has ties to the media which force him to re-evaluate his life. Partnering with Sipowicz compels him to be levelheaded and methodical, but he has his own issues and when Diane arrives, he finds his life even more complicated,

Andy Sipowicz - Still arguably in the shadows of another cop (now Simone), Sipowicz keeps sober with the help of a sponsor, deals with another big loss in his life, and gets both a new partner and a solid love interest when he and Sylvia move in together and decide to take the big plunge.

As with the first season, NYPD Blue finds the second season immersed in murky territory with an impressive number of moral questions being asked and a rather practical approach to the world as it works. NYPD Blue is possibly the show wherein the good guys win the least amount of times. That is to say that while often the 15th Squad finds the correct perpetrator, justice is not always served. For example, after two episodes wherein Simone attempts to catch a serial killer, his suspect is murdered while going to trial. Similarly, as Andy gets entrenched on the road to sobriety, his sponsor's mentally ill son comes back into his sponsor's life.

NYPD Blue continues its tradition of being daring television. Even beyond the language and nudity, the second season of the show pushes the boundaries of what may be talked about and shown on television. For example, in "Double Abandando," one of the most disgusting killers of the entire series is revealed to be a man who knowingly infects women with H.I.V. The episode raises the social conscious about a serious problem and reflects on the lack of consequences in such a case. It's a real eye opener.

And then, of course, there is the nudity and language. The nudity does not seem so gratuitous as it may have in the first season, save in Bobby Simone's first episode, "Simone Says," where writer David Milch admits he lobbied for nudity (in the form of the police investigating a photographer's studio while many people are posing naked) because he knew that the show would be drawing a lot of viewers anyway. The nudity and language do not seem so extreme now, either because of how this show changed television so a lot of this is not shocking today or because I have grown up. Still, it is definitely not kid's fare.

In addition to very realistic, complicated characters, the second season of NYPD Blue captivates using intriguing storylines that are not usually predictable. Some of the interesting cases the 15th Squad must investigate include a homicidal, lecherous chiropractor, a gypsy scam artist, a young man whose approach to meeting women is to send them death threats, a case that depends on the testimony of a woman who wants Simone to love her, and many, many murders. Add to that a side adventure where Sipowicz conceals that a detective died in a prostitute's bed and you have an interesting season!

Part of the reason this series is so engaging and has endured as long as it has it in the quality of the acting. NYPD Blue has a phenomenal cast and many argue that the ensemble that begins with this second season is the strongest (I tend to argue third season and the current one, which is season eleven). These are all professionals and they truly hone their craft here in the second season.

Among the supporting cast of people like Gail O'Grady (Donna) and Nicholas Turturro (Martinez), two actors stand above the rest. Gordon Clapp continues to progress Medavoy into a likable, decent man with a very human range of flaws. Clapp humanizes much of the show making it easy to connect to the bigger, sometimes frightening world that NYPD Blue portrays by playing Medavoy as an emotive man who is competent, but fearful. Clapp's ability to stutter and his use of body language sell the audience on one of the most intriguing characters in the series.

The other standout of the secondary cast is Sharon Lawrence as Sylvia Costas. Lawrence does a phenomenal job of selling the audience on the unlikely pairing of Costas and Sipowicz. Lawrence uses her ability to have her eyes emote a loving expression, her body language to play cool and confident and her voice to be almost parental to add depth to a character who began the series as someone Sipowicz could yell profanities at. Lawrence infuses the relationship with real chemistry and is utterly convincing as the Assistant District Attorney.

Dennis Franz continues to impress as Sipowicz. Perhaps Franz is the luckiest; the expectations on him are not to simply show up and look good, so the show tends to emphasize his character and as a result, he gets a lot of great material. In this season of the show, Franz continues to expand his ability to act by presenting Sipowicz as both a curmudgeon and a guy who has a heart. What Franz does so well is to present dialog that most actors would find reprehensible or complicated with an ease that convinces us it is all his character. That is quality acting.

And in the second season, Jimmy Smits exploded into the series as an acting force to be reckoned with. More than simply the good looking man that many might assume he was cast for, Smits backs up the looks with soothing tones that easily connote a caring man. Smits plays Simone as an intriguing combination of clever and forceful, striking a balance that Sipowicz does not have. Smits seems to take great joy in opening up a place for wry humor in the series, using his eyes to laugh when it might not otherwise be appropriate. As well, Smits can turn on the best of intensity when he plays Simone in interrogation scenes, making his performances possibly the most rounded of the characters this season.

Essential for anyone who loves great drama, those who are not fond of police shows should not be intimidated by NYPD Blue. The second season continues the trend of using a cop show to push the borders of what a family drama can be by mixing crime solving with family-style drama (with the squad essentially dealing with similar problems that a family has behind the scenes and separate from the crime solving).

Fans of NYPD Blue will enjoy the extras this boxed set has. Several episodes have commentary and though David Milch is somewhat of a washout giving commentary (he sits and repeats Sipowicz's lines and adds little else), the rest of the people are pretty interesting. The behind the scenes interviews are both confusing and interesting. On the subject of David Caruso's departure, the information seems to contradict what was said in the first season bonuses (i.e. that Steven Bochco pre-emptively fired Caruso in anticipation of him not wanting to come back due to movie roles, which changes now with Caruso being difficult and wanting to leave on these discs). But the endearing moments are seeing people like Sharon Lawrence and Gail O'Grady talk about the show. Though both actresses eventually left the show, they talk about NYPD Blue as a great experience and in glowing terms. Lawrence, especially, has a particular love of the show that she illustrates by speaking in quite an educated fashion on all sorts of episodes, including scenes she was not even in. It's refreshing to see celebrities excited by the show that made them stars as opposed to trying to distance themselves from it.

This DVD set does not have deleted scenes and it is doubtful that any exist; perhaps one of the most intriguing things about watching these episodes is seeing how much longer the running time of the episodes was then than it is now. Maybe one of the signs of the greatness of this show should come from the Nielsen's; season two was so good that they had to start cutting out programming time to make way for more advertising. A real classic and an essential addition to anyone's DVD collection.

For other works with Jimmy Smits, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The West Wing - Season Seven
The West Wing - Season Six
Revenge Of The Sith
Attack Of The Clones

10/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing of all of my television reviews!

© 2012, 2007, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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As The Campaigns Heat Up, The Bartlet Administration Fades On The West Wing Season 7!

The Good: Excellent character work, Great plots, Nice series resolution, Some truly great acting
The Bad: Low on bonus features, "Missing" episode
The Basics: In the final boxed set of The West Wing DVDs, the series presents a long arc away from the White House as two candidates run for President.


For those who have not read many of my reviews, I have become quite the fan of The West Wing. So, when I start my review of The West Wing - The Complete Seventh Season with a little gripe, it must be taken with a grain of salt and the realization that I'm still sore the show is over. The West Wing - The Complete Seventh Season is, in fact, NOT the complete seventh season. Featuring twenty-two episodes on six discs, this appears to be a complete season, save to the true fan of The West Wing. As the scant bonus features in this boxed set both deal with the episode called "The Debate" and admit that the program was originally filmed live, for both East Coast and West Coast audiences. As a result, there are two versions of "The Debate" and in the liner notes for the boxed set, the one on the DVD is differentiated as "The Debate (West Coast)." I suppose this is nice for establishing which of the two is cannon, but it would have been real nice to have both available for viewers (I'm still scouring Disc 2 to see if there's an easter egg with the alternate version!). But I get ahead of myself.

It is, simply put, impossible to discuss The West Wing - The Complete Seventh Season without ruining the surprise of the final two episodes of The West Wing - The Complete Sixth Season (click here for that review!). This is because the final episodes in the sixth season involve the harrowing Democratic Caucus which struggles to pick the Democratic candidate for President. Following that resolution at the peak of the sixth season, the seventh season deals with the campaign trail, so if you're one who is quite vested in The West Wing but is just now getting it on DVD and wants to maintain the surprise, you must stop reading now.

The Santos-McGarry Campaign is heating up, dogging Arnold Vinick and putting Santos within striking distance of the Presidency. Opening with only a nine point deficit, the once-unbeatable Vinick begins to sweat what looked like an easy win for the Republicans. Josh adds a new spokesperson to the campaign, in the form of Lou, and the deficit begins to close quickly. While Santos and McGarry - accompanied by Josh, Anabeth, and eventually Donna - crisscross the nation campaigning, the White House begins to lose relevancy.

The remaining staff of the West Wing, however, do not go gently into the good night, as the shuttle leak investigation heats up and China and Russia begin a military takeover of Kazakhstan which Bartlet uses the U.S. military to intervene in. When the astronauts on the defective space station are rescued by repairs made from the secret military shuttle, the White House is descended upon by investigators. When their attentions turn to C.J., Toby confesses and is fired. It is soon thereafter that Bartlet takes a moral stand to intervene in Kazakhstan, leaving a mess for the next President of the United States of America.

The West Wing - The Complete Seventh Season does what the prior six seasons did best, with the sense of transition for the show. With both Santos and Vinick establishing themselves and their staffs as realistic elements that could reasonably take over the series. Indeed, one of the weakest elements to the boxed set is that final episodes - which realistically chronicle the transition for the winner of the presidential contest - are not followed up on by a continued series. Vinick's staff includes characters played by notables like Stephen Root and Patricia Richardson who seem poised to take over the West Wing. Similarly, Santos's staff comes to include characters portrayed by the likes of Janeane Garofalo. Who will win the presidential election is realistically drawn out as a nailbiter (in fact, in the two-part "Election" episodes, it's something of an Electoral College mystery how the victor actually won) and the suspense is very real.

But like all great television, most of the moves and plots are motivated by character actions, not by plot exposition. As a result, outside one fateful plot twist that is exploited by one of the campaigns, the series progresses as a result of the actions of the characters. And The West Wing has a memorable collection of characters. Here is how the seventh season finds the principles:

Abbey Bartlet - Announces that daughter Ellie is marrying the fruit fly guy and otherwise sits most of the season out,

Charlie - Working under C.J., he finds himself trying to move issues, but often neglected and missing the President,

Toby - Confesses to leaking the shuttle information to the press, which earns him a ticket to jail, the loss of his job and ostracization from all his friends. Eventually, Josh begins to get advice from him for the campaign over the phone as Toby prepares for prison,

Annabeth - Now working for Leo, she finds herself smitten with the Vice Presidential candidate and eager to improve his image,

Leo - Now a candidate for Vice President, he finds himself working to support a man he barely knows while maintaining his fragile health,

Kate Harper - Is given the unfortunate task of keeping the President briefed on the deteriorating situation in Kazakhstan while she develops a relationship with Will,

Will - Is transferred from the Vice President's office to work as the new White House Press Secretary following Toby's firing. There he connects with Kate and begins to think about the future,

Donna - After months on the outs with Josh for backing the Vice President's candidacy and almost keeping Santos from becoming the Democratic candidate, Santos hires her to work for the campaign, forcing her and Josh together again, though now with a very different power dynamic,

Josh - Finding running the Santos-McGarry Campaign to be stressful and harrowing, he finds himself in the crosshairs of the DNC for how he allocates the advertising budget. At risk of coming undone completely, Santos begins to question his ability to do the job,

C.J. - The sole remaining staffer of the West Wing left holding together the Bartlet Administration from the original team, she finds herself stressed out as the target of the leak investigation and later the tensions between China and Russia. She is given the opportunity to question her purpose and her future, which comes to a head when Danny returns,

Santos - Campaigning revitalizes the young candidate as he becomes more and more presidential,

Vinick - Campaigning takes its toll on the older man as he finds himself in a real race against Santos and must compromise his beliefs or risk the conservative base of the Republican party not coming out on election day,

and President Bartlet - As his relevancy in day-to-day operations fades, he finds himself distracted less by his M.S. and more by his sense of betrayal from Toby, his joy over Ellie's marriage and the shock that comes when one of his closest friends dies. Not one to sit by and let genocide occur, Bartlet feels compelled to stop China and Russia from going to war over Kazakhstan and - much to Vinick and Santos's dismay - commits U.S. troops to an intervention there without an exit strategy.

For the first time ever, it makes perfect sense that neither Richard Schiff (Toby) nor Martin Sheen (Bartlet) won awards for their roles for a season of The West Wing. Schiff, by this point, was long past being nominated and Sheen is not presented with enough material to be a real contender this season. Instead, as the plots focused with dramatic intensity on the campaigns of Arnold Vinick and Matthew Santos for the White House, actors Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits found themselves bearing much of the acting burden in the seventh season. Alan Alda won the Emmy for his performance in the seventh season and episodes like "Two Weeks Out" and "The Debate" illustrate perfectly how much he deserved it. This was not a sneaky lifetime achievement award; Alda's performances are truly wonderful.

And more than anything, The West Wing - The Complete Seventh Season illustrates perfectly what can be accomplished with an exceptional ensemble cast. More than any prior season of the series, there are no stars for the show. Instead, most of the characters and actors are given equal weight and work together to tell the stories the show seeks to explore. And this work is a masterpiece of electoral politics, telling stories that almost exclusively focus on the Presidency in twilight and the rise of the next wave of potential leaders. The result is something that looks and feels very different from The West Wing most viewers know and are comfortable with. Instead, this is a season about the campaign trail and the diminished powers of a president following the election of a successor.

The real frustration for the viewer is likely to be that after all of the emotional build-up, we do not get to actually see the presidency of . . .

. . . I'm not ruining it!

But what is more disappointing than that is that the DVD set is utterly lacking in commentary. Instead, there are two featurettes that focus on how "The Debate" was made and nothing else. Fans of the series are likely to be disappointed by that.

But as we enter election season in the United States, The West Wing - The Complete Seventh Season on DVD appears as a model for how fickle election cycles can be. In a year when the fields are (mostly) wide open, it's refreshing to watch something with high-minded people acting honorably in the hope of bettering the nation, even if it is a fictional incarnation of it. This set is ideal for fans of The West Wing who may have gotten tired of watching reruns of the earlier seasons for years and/or want a chance to catch up on reviewing the end of the series. But for real fans of the show, it's easier to recommend The West Wing - The Complete Series (click here for that review!), which is a better investment for those who love great drama.

For other television reviews, please check out my takes on:
Lost Season 6
Star Trek Season 3
V The First Season

9/10

For other television program reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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The West Wing Season 6: The Last Significant Actions Of The Bartlet Administration Fade As Campaigns Heat Up!

The Good: Excellent stories, Great acting, Wonderful character development, Nice DVD extras
The Bad: I could always live with more DVD bonus features . . .
The Basics: As the Bartlet Administration heads into twilight, Bartlet pursues an ambitious agenda, while his potential successors vie for his position.


Few shows take enough time and effort to seriously consider reinventing themselves and as a result, most long-running television programs lose their audience by simply repeating what they've done before (i.e. E.R.) or they tragically flounder searching for direction (i.e. The X-Files, Millennium in its third season). So, it's always a treat for me to watch a series that has an idea what is coming and plans adequately for it. In the case of The West Wing, a television show about the two-term presidency of Jed Bartlet, a seven-year run made sense as it is made clear in the first season of The West Wing (click here for that review!) that the producers would begin planning for the end. In The West Wing - The Complete Sixth Season, viewers of the show are treated to the last significant acts of the Bartlet presidency as the series makes its natural transition into twilight. Fortunately, as a story about an American presidency, there is a natural exit; the election of a new president.

The West Wing - The Complete Sixth Season begins the transition from the Bartlet White House to the campaign for his successor and in that way, this boxed set is a treat of two shows. The first half of the season provides a framework for the denouement of the Bartlet Administration by resolving the climactic issues from the end of the fifth season (click here for that review!). The second half of the season divides between the dwindling Bartlet Administration and the active campaign for the Democratic primary in a season that fractures almost all of the bonds that bind the staff of the West Wing.

Following the terrorist attacks in Gaza and the Palestinian Prime Minister inviting himself to peace talks with the Bartlet Administration, President Jed Bartlet finds himself in a real bind. Assembling his staff, he listens to the lone voices of Kate Harper and C.J. Cregg who urge him to seize the opportunity for peace and Bartlet soon finds himself hosting very real peace talks at Camp David. The process of brokering a Middle East peace accord leaves Bartlet without Leo's counsel and the staff of the West Wing is fractured.

Leo has a massive heart attack which knocks him out of the Chief of Staff role, regardless of the President's intent to fire him anyway. This results in a shakeup of the West Wing when Bartlet promotes C.J. to Chief of Staff. Bitter about Josh's treatment of her, Donna joins Will Bailey in his attempt to get Vice President Bob Rusell the Democratic nomination for president and Josh, bitter at C.J.'s promotion, soon leaves to help a maverick Congressman the same nomination. This leaves Bartlet and his team scrambling to lead the country, a task further plagued by the President's health.

If you're not in tune with The West Wing by this season, it's an odd crossroads to pick it up at. Interestingly enough, the seventh season stands on its own well as almost a new series and the sixth season is a bridge to that. As a result, the campaigns easily lead the viewer to everything they will need to understand about who the characters are and what the overall plot of the season is. The half of the show that continues to deal with the disintegrating Bartlet Administration does allude to events from prior seasons that may make it more difficult for those picking up just this boxed set. Is it a deal-breaker? It need not be. The show is pretty clear about explaining itself, though some of it has to be looked for (i.e. in the fourth or fifth episode of this season, the show leaps forward a year with a reference to Midterm elections that we never see - and it's encapsulated in a single line!).

For the most part, this is high drama and two powerful bits strongly inform the viewer of the magnitude of the events and characters on the show; the brokering of the Middle East peace plan and the president's M.S. recurring while he is in the middle of delicate negotiations with China. This is not drama for the feint of heart, though seeing so many people fighting the good fights leads the viewer to be heartened. When Josh discovers Representative Santos and urges him to run for president, Santos begins to run a campaign built on principle and the desire to solve crippling problems in the world. It's a difficult fantasy for many Americans to watch given how infrequently it happens out in reality.

It does, however, make for truly great television and in this DVD boxed set, the extras only make it better. Three episodes ("King Corn," "In God We Trust," and "2162 Votes") have commentary and this season the commentaries are ripe with stories and substance as opposed to a forum for the writers and producers to discuss their anxiety after taking over following Aaron Sorkin's departure. I could always use more commentaries - one from Bradley Whitford on the episode he wrote, "Faith Based Initiative" would have been nice, similarly having Richard Schiff discuss his directoral endeavor "A Good Day" would have been cool, too. There is also a decent featurette on C.J. Cregg where the cast and crew is interviewed about the evolution of Allison Janney's character's transition from press secretary to chief of staff. It's a fun retrospective for the fans.

And the nice thing about season six is that it continues the strong emphasis on the characters and how they develop. The characters become like good friends or family and their trials and tribulations in season six continue to evolve them as some of the richest to be found on television. Here is how the sixth season finds the principle characters:

Abbey Bartlet - Finds herself struggling to manage her husband when his M.S. recurs and her priority shifts almost entirely to insuring his survival (no mention is made of her pill popping from the prior season). The highlight of her year is being sent to a NASCAR race,

Kate Harper - As the world appears less safe, the NSA liaison finds herself more active and it is her ideas and guidance that Bartlet comes to rely on and inspires the president to attempt to broker a peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians,

Charlie - Forced by the President to get a real job following his graduation from college, he finds himself floundering until he is offered a great opportunity from C.J.,

Will - On the outs with most of the staff of the West Wing (especially Toby) for jumping ship to work as the Vice President's Chief of Staff, he finds himself set up with the daunting task of making his witless boss electable. Will soon finds himself running Bob Russell's campaign and making him into the front-runner no one anticipated he could be,

Donna - Following her recuperation from being wounded in Gaza, she finds her life and position unfulfilling as Josh's lackey. When she leaves his side, Will is quick to get her a job working on the Russell campaign where she becomes a formidable force raising funds for the Vice President,

Senator Arnold Vinick - A plain-speaking, intelligent and forthright Republican who refuses a job in the Bartlet White House to begin his run for president, Vinick gets a rocky start by speaking truth to power and isolating the Republican base with his centrist views and his refusal to pander to get elected,

Congressman Matt Santos - Having decided to give up his House seat and return to Texas following the Midterm elections where he wins an easy re-election, Santos is approached by Josh to run for President on a populist platform. Dragged out of obscurity by Josh, the husband, father, and Representative begins a rocky road that might make him the most powerful man in the world,

Toby - Bitter at Will and Josh for leaving the Bartlet Administration before the end, he is forced to sublimate his rage at C.J. in order to keep the government running. Unfortunately for Toby, C.J. taps him to be the interim press secretary, a job he is terribly unsuited for,

Leo - Finding his counsel no longer needed, Leo resigns as Chief of Staff only to have a massive heart attack soon after. Following his long and painful recovery, he returns to the West Wing as a simple advisor, until the president calls upon him to straighten out the fractured Democratic Party at the national convention,

C.J. - After advising the president to stick with the peace negotiations, she finds herself promoted to Chief of Staff and suddenly facing conflicts she never expected, including a representative from Georgia (the former Soviet republic) offering her their nuclear arsenal on her first day, assisting the president with negotiations with China and finding herself out of the loop on a special negotiation with Cuba,

Josh - Looking for more than just a position working on Bartlet's legacy, he soon leaves to make Matt Santos into the Democratic candidate for president, despite the seemingly insurmountable hurdles that represents. Advising Santos with a strength of training from Leo, he finds himself flying without a net, or Donna,

and President Jed Bartlet - After ambitious work brokering a Middle East peace plan, he finds himself working to fight for it by wrangling Congress to support it. Fighting the impetus and history that seems to indicate he must act like a lame duck, Bartlet attempts ambitious negotiations with China amid a crippling recurrence of his M.S., tries secret negotiations with Cuba and finds himself inspired by Leo to not waste his last year in office.

Despite the powerful feeling of a show (and Administration) in transition, this is not a series that is going at all quietly into the good night. Instead, the sixth season ramps up the stakes by tackling ambitious issues with dramatic twists, working in negotiations on tough issues with China with deeply personal incidents like the crippling return of the president's M.S. (which leaves him tethered to a bedtime and frequently to a cane). As a television show, the series is insistent on maintaining its quality and growing it. Alan Alda appears as Senator Vinick and Jimmy Smits comes on as Matt Santos, easily his strongest role since his appearance as Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue. Both Smits and Alda add something powerful to the episodes they participate in and it's easy to see how they come to dominate the latter episodes of this season.

And this is a season filled with great performances. Allison Janney won (again) the Emmy for Best Actress for her work in this season and she earns it with great performances in episodes like "Liftoff" where she is charged with the difficult task of taking her character in a completely different direction, while still making her seem like the same person as she was prior to her change in job title. Janney makes the transition masterfully and makes it appear effortless.

The rest of the cast gives great performances when they are allowed, especially my perennial favorite Richard Schiff who plays the gloomy Toby with more purpose and anger this season. Lost following the death of his brother and the final State of the Union he pens, Schiff infuses a subliminal rage in almost every scene he shares with costars Bradley Whitford and Joshua Malina.

The standout this season is unsurprisingly Martin Sheen. One would think it would be a no-brainer that Sheen would be the acting powerhouse on The West Wing, but this season he outdoes himself. Sheen has consistently illustrated his ability to act presidential. He's got it and he's great in that niche. In season five, he had to play wounded and hobbled by his political adversaries and the kidnapping crisis. In season six, his acting challenge is to portray a man so riddled by disease that he cannot walk and Sheen sells the viewer on that perfectly. When Bartlet is paralyzed by his M.S. the viewer never doubts his absolute inability to move, so powerful is the performance of Martin Sheen.

This is a great collection and a must for fans of The West Wing and while it is perfectly accessible to those who have not previously watched the show, it is appreciated more by those who have been invested in the characters before now. And for those who are fans, let's be honest, why are you considering this boxed set? Anyone who fell in love with the Bartlet Administration will need The Complete Series set (click here for that review!). But for those on a budget, you could do far worse than picking this gem up!

For other wonderful television seasons, please check out my reviews of:
Sports Night
Lost
V Season 1

10/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page for a concise listing of my reviews by clicking here!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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