Have I mentioned how much I loathe the simplistic penchant for labeling our major corporate industries as evil? Not that I’m going to defend every corporation, or justify some of the uncovered underhanded business practice that we’ve all heard about, but we seem to have this love/hate relationship with the corporations that keep our modern society’s wheels turning. Once upon a time, it was “Big Oil” or “Wall Street”, perennial favorites, but with the growing health care crisis in the US, they have been joined by “Big Pharma”. And as with any corporate entity that we come to rely upon in life, some resent that dependency and come to believe that it is being used to facilitate Despicably Evil Deeds.
But corporations in the real world are generally run and populated by human beings, good and bad. Unfortunately, it’s usually the bad people who want the trappings of power, and when a company executive is played by James Frain, well, there’s little doubt where that character stands. What was a bit surprising was that the episode took a little bit of time to make him more than a cardboard villain. Either that, or Frain managed to give a thin villainous character a bit more nuance than usual.
Michael was totally in his element in this episode, handling two very different situations by finding the common thread between them. His psychological manipulation of James was very nicely played, and it never felt like the writers were pushing the characters to service the plot (a bit of a problem of late). I particularly like how Jesse was a major part of the operation. I still don’t think they know what they want to do with him in the long run, but I’ve always liked his potential within Team Westen, and it is used well here.
This episode also gave us Patrick Bauchau as Lucien. Two great guest stars in this episode! I loved the interplay between Lucien and Michael, and how it informed Michael’s activities in the rest of the episode. It’s almost as if he took all the frustration over the mess with Lucien out on James while doing his “crazy” routine. (Then again, Michael does it so well, one really has to wonder how much of it is an act anymore.)
One small disappointment is that the writers appear to be setting up friction between Michael and Fiona. Does this really make any sense at this point? Fiona has been around for just about every situation Michael has been through since he was burned. Would his focus on the man trying to frame him for murder really bother her so much? I know she’s supposed to be a bit unstable herself, but it strains credibility. Hopefully this was meant as just a momentary source of tension in an already frantic situation.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
