Vegas “Bad Seeds” Review

Synopsis

When two bodies are found in a cornfield in Vegas, Assistant District Attorney Katherine O’Connell  (Carrie-Anne Moss) identifies them to be of Davey Cornaro (Jamie McShane), a union thug out of Milwaukee, and his bodyguard who have been missing for weeks. Cornaro had been competing with Savoy Casino head Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis) over who would buy into the Tumbleweed, an old casino with a potential to make a lot of money. The Milwaukee mob immediately figures out that Savino had Cornaro whacked, and sends “Jones” (Damon Herriman) for revenge. And he’ll stop at nothing to get it. When an innocent woman, Marjorie Dobbs witnesses him kill Borelli (Joe Sabatino), one of Savino’s men, Jones guns her down too. In the midst of the town’s new mayoral election, Sheriff Ralph Lamb’s (Dennis Quaid) top priority is preventing the loss of more innocent lives, even if it means protecting Savino, the man who started the war in the first place.

Concise Review

This episode packed quite a punch. A killer on the loose who’ll stop at nothing to wreak havoc on Savino and his men has the stakes pretty much as high as they can currently go. Then there’s the election campaign, visitors coming in from Chicago, an innocent woman’s death and Bad Seeds has you on the edge from the start. Add to that continuity, several plot threads coming to fruition, character development and interaction, and a new plot twist, and you’ve got a winner 9.5/10.

Detailed Analysis (spoilers)

Before I get into this episode’s analysis, I’d like to recap why things had escalated between Chicago and Milwaukee, specifically Johnny Rizzo’s (Michael Wiseman) clandestine role in the events.

Recap on Cornaro/Tumbleweed Disaster

Regular viewers will remember Johnny Rizzo was first introduced in episode “All That Glitters”. He is Mia (Sarah Jones), the Savoy’s accountant’s, father and a powerful lieutenant in the Chicago mob.

His second appearance was in episode “(Il)Legitimate. Rizzo had heard that Savino was buying into The Tumbleweed without getting the okay from Chicago mob head Angelo (Breaking Bad’s epic alumni Jonathan Banks). He pays Savino a visit during which the latter offers him ten percent of the profits if he lets Savino continue with his plans for the Tumbleweed. Rizzo tells Savino not to worry about Angelo in exchange for fifty percent of the profits.

-As viewers were told that Rizzo has Angelo’s ear, I assumed this meant he’d convince him of the enterprises success.

When Savino asked Rizzo, “What about Cornaro?”, Rizzo replied, “You’re the businessman, you figure it out.”

-It was only after this conversation that Savino had his man Borelli kill Cornaro.

Mob Politics (part 1)

Flash forward to this episode, and mob head Angelo (Jonathan Banks) is angry that Savino acted on his own, killing Cornaro and buying the Tumbleweed and starting the war with Milwaukee. To add insult to injury,  The Savoy shuts down due to Sheriff Ralph Lamb’s stationing his officers there as a precaution against Jones. At Angelo’s displeasure, Johnny Rizzo tells him that Savino is no good and that they should put Red (James Russo) back in charge of the Savoy.

-As I was watching the scene, I thought that perhaps this is what Rizzo had planned all along, that despite telling Savino he’d back him up he was actually setting him up. After all, it had been exposited that there is “bad blood” between the two (All That Glitters). That theory might still be true. But another presents itself by the time the episode ends (more on this later).

Angelo and and Johnny come to Vegas to visit Savino. Angelo tells Savino that unless they square things with Milwaukee, Jones will destroy their interests in Vegas. To prevent that, he adds that they have to give up The Tumbleweed. At Savino’s protests, Angelo adds that he’s not just trying to save the Savoy, he’s trying to save Savino, since Milwaukee knows that Savino was the one who ordered Cornaro and his bodyguard’s death.

-I found it interesting that Savino doesn’t try to assign part of the blame on Rizzo. My guess is that he knew it wouldn’t have mattered; he had already been moving on the Tumbleweed. But more interesting is the fact that, at Angelo’s declaration that he’s letting go of the tumbleweed, you see Rizzo freeze for a tiny second. This will make sense later.

Jones

Regular viewers will remember “Jones” from episode Solid Citizens when he came to look for Cornaro. He left two dead bodies in his wake before Savino managed to convince him that the man had skipped town. But his ruthlessness is highlighted further by the death of Marjorie, and the threat he poses to the rest of the cast and their loved ones.  Lara, Mia, even Ralph’s deceased wife serve as an indirect motivation for the men to get this man behind bars.

Jack And Mia

When Sheriff Ralph Lamb instructs officers to station themselves at the Savoy, his brother Deputy Jack Lamb (Jason O’Mara) goes to carry out the orders. There, the Savoy’s head accountant, Mia Rizzo expresses her indignation: “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.” Jack is flummoxed: “I’m not doing anything to you.” Mia explains that he’s shutting down the casino she helps run, and that she never expected something like that of him.

-Mia, to me, seems too reasonable a woman to be outraged by the man simply doing his job. I’d rather believe she was giving him a hard time as a means of pushing him away. Despite their initial apparent attraction (Il-legitimate), she’s been quietly resisting Jack’s moves and ignoring his gentle come-ons (The Real Thing). I imagine she’s taking the same stance to the possibility of a relationship between them as Ralph previously expressed to his smitten brother: It’s a bad idea.

But she might not be so adverse after this episode.

Jones manages to enter the casino despite all the police there and tries to kill Savino. An officer spots him, however, and a shoot out results in the officer having a double gun-shoot wound and Savino, who came running at the shots, injuring Jones.

The incident causes quite a stir for all three Lamb Officers. Ralph’s son, Deputy Dixon Lamb (played zealously by Taylor Handley) is so enraged at his friend the officer’s injury that he threatens to beat Savino up before Jack orders him to calm down. Ralph decides to arrest Savino and keep him by his side; Jones can’t kill him if he can’t find him. Meanwhile, Jack is so worried that he goes to see Mia. When she opens the door to her (room?) he  immediately demands, distressed, what she’s “still” doing here.

-I wonder if the “still” is supposed to serve as subtext; if we’re supposed to think that Jack’s already told Mia earlier, off-screen, to leave, and is the reason why he’s surprised here. I could be imagining things though. I love subtext…

Mia tells Jack that she’s not going anywhere and moves to shut the door behind her, after she joins Jack in the hall.

-This clues viewers in to the fact that there’s someone in the room with her she’d rather not hear their conversation.

We find out who after Jack emphatically urges Mia that she has to leave the Savoy, that Jone’s tried to kill her boss and that it is not safe. Unfortunately for him, Johnny Rizzo, Mia’s father, overhears him and calls Jack out on two things: not being able to keep peace in his own town, let alone being able to protect his daughter, and on not having any legitimate reason to want to do so anyway. Johnny also insults Jack as he makes his point, calling him the “candy store cop”. The conversation heats up when Jack tells him: “If you cared about her, you’d want her out of here too.” But Mia calms her father down before things turn ugly. He leaves, but not before giving Jack the most derisive, mocking look ever. And all Jack gets for his concern and trouble from Mia? She tells him, not unkindly, “I’ll be fine.”

Poor guy struck out in every way possible.

But he must have made some sort of impression. At the end of the episode, after Jones is caught and the police vacate the Savoy, the two joke about the occupation being over. Jack bids Mia goodbye but she calls him back, telling him that he never answered her father’s question: “Why are you interested in protecting me.” Jack responds “I guess I just feel it’s something I might be good at.”

-The moment would be trite and cliche if not for how Jones and O’Mara played the scene: with serious tones and solemn expressions. These aren’t two kids playing around. They’re mature adults sizing each other up. I only wonder why Jack doesn’t ask Mia out again as he did in “(Il) Legitimate. My guess is, while in that episode his annoyance with Ralph propelled him act impulsively on his attraction, Mia’s subsequent less than encouraging response (The Real Thing) has him taking a more subtle approach. I must say I’m glad of it. The potential with this pairing is too good to be realized prematurely. Mia’s smile after Jack leaves, however, seems to have inched him a bit closer to her affections.

But as entertaining it is to watch Jason O’ Mara play the lovelorn cowboy cop, it’s even better seeing him act the protective concerned younger brother…

Bro love:  Jack and Ralph

Dixon suggests to his dad that an abandoned car might be the Milwaukee killer’s so Ralph tells him to check out the car. After he leaves, his uncle Jack tells Ralph: “You know I don’t want to speak too soon, but that kid’s got a head for this line of work.” Ralph replies: “I’m glad one of you does.”

I wonder if Ralph’s jab here was an annoyed reaction to Jack’s repeatedly expressed opinion of  how good Dixon is at his job. The last time Jack said it had been by way of telling Ralph to ease up on his protectiveness of his son (Solid Citizens).

Either way, I loved the expressions on both the men’s faces after this line. Ralph smiles to let his younger brother know he’s joking but Jack’s tight grin makes me think he may not have appreciated the tease. Though it doesn’t stop him from later coming to Ralph’s rescue.

A man enters the station. He tells Ralph that his neighbors told him what happened and that “they won’t let me see her”. Ralph is confused until the gentleman clarifies “I’m Clarence Dobbs, my wife Marjorie was in that alley.”

This statement gains the attention of Jack and Katherine, who seem to be more worried about Ralph than the bereaved husband. We find out why when the Sheriff has a hard time stringing two sentences together. He tells Dobb’s that he’s sorry for his loss, that it was a terrible “accident”. At Dobb’s confusion (Marjorie was murdered), Jack intervenes and gently takes him aside, relieving Ralph of having to deal with the man.

The look of combined concern and pity Jack gives Ralph clues us into the fact that he knew his older brother was perhaps reliving his own nightmare of having lost his wife, too vividly to be able to deal with Dobbs.

It was a great scene both because it reinforces the brothers’ bond, and because it clues us in on how Ralph’s wife died. And just in case we haven’t figured it out, Ralph’s later scene with Savino makes it canon.

Vincent Savino Gets Under Ralph’s Skin

After Ralph arrests Savino, he takes him to his ranch for safekeeping. There, we (and Ralph) become privy to Vincent Savino being a concerned husband. He tells Ralph he wants to call his wife to tell her to get out of town. Ralph obliges Savino, but doesn’t give the man privacy as he tells his wife that he can’t protect her.

Later Savino muses that it must get lonely for Ralph “what with your brother out doing his own thing and your son chasing skirts”.

-I love how Dixon’s “gigolo”status is apparent even to Savino; a newcomer to the city XD.  I am curious however what Jack’s “own thing” is. He seems to be as devoted to the ranch as Ralph.

Ralph tells Savino he gets by, to which the younger man offers to go on a double date; him and his wife Lara, and Ralph with ADA Katherine O Connell. Ralph is unaffected at Savino’s allusion to his and Katherine’s not so hidden chemistry and tells him he’ll check his calender. Savino presses on, from offering to provide Ralph company if he’s the shy kind, to finally asking what happened to his wife. Ralph keeps ignoring him, but falls into Savino’s trap when he confirms the deceptively benign question that he was the oldest in his unit (during the war). Savino then jokingly asks if Ralph stayed because his wife had left him while he was fighting. This finally gets an honest response from Ralph. He reveals that he lost her in a car accident while he was away. Savino (honestly?) says that it’s a shame. The two are silent for a moment before the Chicago man asks Ralph if he ever wonders, if he’d taken a discharge from the army and returned home, if his wife would still be alive. Ralph’s response is to punch Savino in the face.

This was a very interesting scene acted superbly by Quaid and Chiklis. I felt it revealing that Savino, despite his momentary sympathy for Ralph, would nevertheless poke at an obviously sore wound. I guess after finally figuring out Ralph’s weak spot, he couldn’t help but exploit it. Or maybe it was in retaliation to Ralph seeing him so vulnerable when he was talking to his wife, Lara. Now they’re even.

Despite that, the two (for the second time) work well together to bring down Jones when he comes to Ralph’s ranch. With the Milwaukee man in custody, all seems right again.

My reaction was, really? That’s it?

But writers Greg Walker and Nick Santora had only been luring viewers into a false sense of security. After Mia and Jack’s final cute scene, the episode shifts to Vincent telling his wife Lara that it seems Angelo managed to calm Milwaukee. No sooner do the words leave his mouth than Angelo, Red and Johnny Rizzo join them, telling Vincent that they need to straighten out the Tumbleweed business once and for all.

And there it is, the other shoe drops. Red, Lara, and Vincent all know what’s coming. Vincent is about to be taken out. Vincent kisses his wife goodbye before leaving.

Mob Politics (part 2)

Savino is taken to the desert where Angelo tells Savino that he loves him like a son, but that Milwaukee buried two of their own and that he’s paying them back with the Tumbleweed….and with Savino.

Angelo turns away, not wanting to see Rizzo kill Savino. Instead, Rizzo shoots Angelo.

-For a moment there I honestly thought Chiklis was leaving the show. What a shocker…and relief.

Rizzo tells Savino: “He was getting soft, the old Angelo would have seen that coming” and continues to say that he needs Savino back at work; that Angelo’s death was sanctioned from Chicago because they didn’t want to lose the Tumbleweed: “You work for me now.”

The question for me is: had Rizzo always intended on taking out Angelo? Is that what he meant when he told Savino in an earlier episode not to worry about him? Or was Savino Rizzo’s intended target, but Rizzo decided to change his plan when Angelo announced he was going to give up the Tumbleweed? I’m not sure, but what I do know is that Johnny Rizzo love for money trumps any bad blood between himself and Savino. Just like it trumped his loyalty for his boss.

Conclusion

But the one thing that Rizzo cares about more than anything is his daughter, Mia. This is another reason why a romance between her and Jack would be so exciting. It raises the possibility of all sorts of conflict.

Not that the show will lack any, now that Rizzo is in charge. His quick temper and fits of violent rage match ones I’ve only ever seen on characters played by Joe Pesci. We now also know that he is cunning, ruthless and manipulative. Then there’s the fact that Sheriff Ralph once beat him up when he resisted arrest, and that Rizzo had wanted to kill him for it. He was stopped only by Savino who made the case to Angelo that having (another) Sheriff killed would be bad for their business. But now that Angelo is gone?All bets are off. Perhaps Savino will soon be able to repay Ralph for saving his life.  I can’t wait to see how Vince copes with his new boss. I also wonder if he realizes just how far Johnny planned for all this, if he’ll suspect that he had been Rizzo’s initial intended target (if that’s true, anyway).

Finally, George Grady (Gil Bellows) has been voted as the town’s new Mayor. And since his campaign was paid for by Savino, Sheriff Ralph will probably have many more problems on his plate.

Man, what a pivotal episode.

Best Lines/repartee’s

“Go hug a cactus. I’m not patting down those zombies.”-Dixon, to Jack.

“Wholesale butchery.” –Jone’s (honest) reply to the cop who asked him what his business in town is.

“Borelli came here from Chicago, what, three years ago? Not much of a shelf life on these guys is there.”- Jack, to Ralph. I’ll say. I was just starting to love the character. Thanks for the head’s up, writers.

“You wanna tell me how the hell this happens?”-Sheriff, to Ralph, on the double murder.

“I assume with a gun.” Ralph, in response to the above.

“Don’t get smart with me.”- Sheriff, to Ralph.

“Don’t get loud with me.”-Ralph, in response to above.

“Mrs. Dobbs here, she wasn’t a mobster. So I would appreciate if we don’t fret about your job security over her dead body.” Ralph, to Sheriff.

“Doctor said no salt.” Rizzo, to Angelo. Talk about irony. The man worried about Angelo’s health ends up killing him.

“I live to eat.”-Savino, to Ralph. A man after my own heart XD.

“It is okay to have some company up here, once in a while. I can help you with the arrangement if you’re the shy kind.” Savino, trying to ‘help’ Ralph.

Don’t miss tonight’s Vegas episode, Exposure ! And be sure to follow the show on twitter.

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Vegas “The Real Thing” Episode Review

Synopsis

Sheriff Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid) attempts to solve the case of a murdered dentist. Meanwhile The Savoy casino’s head Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis) faces a troubling week. His count room manager Mia Rizzo (Sarah Jones) discovers fake chips in the casino. Worse, Mayor Bennett (Michael O’Neill) passes a new law allowing the Gaming Control Board auditors to monitor the Savoy’s earnings, making it impossible for Vince to skim money to send to his mob financiers in Chicago. While Savino tries to discover who is creating the fake chips, his wife Lara (Vinessa Shaw) offers to help him get local business owner George Grady  (Gil Bellows) elected as Vegas’s new Mayor, eliminating the auditors’ presence by getting rid of the mayor who brought them.

Concise Verdict

This episode is a great place to start for viewers new to the show. Not only is the case intriguing and surprising, but it provides great continuity and/or insight on many of the players and their relationships. Combined with a wonderfully original premise, flawless writing, direction, editing, appropriate music by David Carbonara and acting, and The Real Thing is a good example of why Vegas is this year’s best new show.  10/10

Detailed Review (spoilers galore)

This is where I analyze the most important scenes of the episode.  In this case, the teaser took up a bulk of the review because of how wonderfully clever it sets up the various, seemingly disconnected threads of this particular tale.

Teaser

Sheriff Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid) meets his son Dixon (Taylor Handley) who caught a trio of young male thieves. Their pants are pulled down which Dixon says he made them do since he only had one pair of handcuffs. Dixon exposits that the three stole cash over the Utah state line, that he Arizona police lost them and the men (boys, really) were unarmed. Ralph wishes Dixon hadn’t caught them as he’ll have to extradite them from two states if he wants to jail them “here in Nevada”; that it’ll take a lot of paperwork.

-At the beginning of the teaser, Ralph drives by a sign which states that the cities of Mesquite (Nevada), Littlefield (Arizona) and St. George (Utah), are all several miles away. This was a nice detail to help along the story.

Ralph says that as he hates paperwork so he’d rather just shoot the perps. After the boys are appropriately terrified the Sheriff continues that he could let them go instead after making sure the money is given back. Dixon chimes in that it would be easier than digging three graves in the desert heat. The boys pull their pants back up and speed away in their pickup. Ralph tells his son that it’s easier to scare the boys than it is to jail them and that “Sometimes there’s a difference between the law and justice.”

-This line was great continuity to Ralph’s character frequently using his own judgment when it comes to dealing with perps (i.e. helping a woman reclaim her ranch using questionable money, not turning a boy who accidentally poisoned his best friend in). But by the end of the episode viewers will be shown that not only will the statement serve as a running theme throughout the show, but also as a point of conflict (and possibly understanding) between the Sheriff and Casino manager Vincent Savino. But more on that later…

Dixon says that he would have been glad doing the paperwork. Ralph grins and says that his son should have told him so.

-Dixon here is obviously proud of himself to have succeeded in capturing perps who managed to evade the law in two states and wouldn’t have minded having it put on record. But he’ll be sorry he made that statement later.

The scene switches to Dentist Dr. Saffron’s office where a showgirl comes asking him to fix a broken tooth. The doctor turns on the music.

-Music is cleverly used in several instances in the episode to help intercut and smoothly transition into other scenes. Just so readers know, I’ll be using the word clever a lot in this review.

Mia Rizzo, in charge of the count room at The Savoy casino sees one of her employees make what I  assume is a vitamin C  concoction. She tells him if he gets the rest of the room sick she’ll fire him. This is when the Board of gaming auditors comes in and tells her of the mayor’s new authorization of having them inspect the casino’s finances. An auditor sights the drink as an open container. Its owner and Mia reach for it at the same time knocking it over. The drink dilutes the paint on one of the chips (a fake) on the table. Mia silently pockets it before anyone else notices before scene switches once more. This time, to Vincent’s office where he is enraged at the unwelcome presence of both fake chips and auditors in his Casino.

-Very nice set up right here. We are also told that Red (James Russo) is on a plane to Chicago to explain what is going on, so viewers know how big of a problem this is for Vince. Also explains why he’s not in this episode.

Vince walks out of his office and runs into his wife Lara who was meeting him for lunch. He tells her he has business to take care of and tells her they’ll have dinner together. Scene then switches back to the dentist’s office. The showgirl wakes up, alone, tooth still broken. She walks around the dark quiet office looking for Dr. Saffron until she finds him dead on the floor.

-Again, the transition was wonderful between the above scene. Having the bright Casino lights turn into the light atop the dentist’s chair, which the showgirl woke up to, was beautiful. Furthermore, we have so much foundation , so many characters packed in teaser. But it never felt heavy or like it was too much.

Honorable Mentions

Casting: Kudo’s to whomever cast Gil Bellows. I’ll always remember him as the Elvis wannabe inmate whom Tim Robbin’s took under his wing in The Shawshank Redemption. Others may know him as Ally McBeal’s boy next door crush. Either way, it was great to see this show use his talents. And he certainly fit his part.

Direction/Editing: I cannot stress this enough. The transitions between the scenes were beautiful. I’ve already spoken about the ones in the teaser. But there was also the use of music to transfer the scene where Savino’s lackeys commandeer the television shipping van, to the one in the beauty parlor with Lara and Catherine, to the one in the Savoy’s file room where Mia and Jack were working. Director Alex Zakrzewski made this episode feel like an old fashioned mystery film. I can’t wait to see the sequel.

Acting: The performances have been consistently good on this show but it seemed like the actors have gotten more comfortable with each other. I really enjoyed the chemistry which exists between all the characters. There’s the cute/wary friendship between Lara and Catherine, the friendly camaraderie between Borelli and Cota, the attraction between Jack and Mia, the genuine affection between the Lamb family members, and, finally, the grudging respect between Ralph and Savino.

Writing: As if the review so far hasn’t given enough reasons on why Vanessa Reisen’s script is so great, here another one: I love how multi-dimensional all the characters in this show are, and how painlessly this fact is depicted:

–Mayor Bennett isn’t as clean a mayor as he might initially seem. When Savino states Grady is only eight points behind Bennett, Grady explains why his odds of winning are good: “Bennet’s getting too big for his britches. You don’t buy supplies from his cronies you get inspectors checking your sewer lines for violations. People are fed up.” The possibility that the Mayor may not be as righteous as he looks gives depth to his character.

–Catherine. The ADA  (played by Carrie-Anne Moss) started a conversation with Lara about the Kennedy election after she saw her on Grady’s side. Then she approached her again before the debate. It hints that the desert rose has a clever, almost sneaky streak within her. This is especially true when she tells Lara that she doesn’t work for Bennett. While that’s technically true (she didn’t lie when she said she works for the city) she was obviously fishing for information to help Bennett. I love clever women.

-Jack. When Jack and Ralph go the Savoy to ask Savino about the fake chips and how that might have led to the doctor’s death, Savino tells them that he has a lead to share. They move to follow him but Savino stops Jack: “Not you, just him,” wanting only Ralph to come with him.  I enjoyed Jack’s annoyed reaction here. It reminded me of the slight conflict established by Ashley Gable’s wonderful episode in which Jack told Ralph “You make all the choices. We all have to take it.” Any hint that Jack, devoted as he may be to his brother, might also harbor a slight resentment to his authority intrigues me. I’m very interested in his character.

Best Lines

“You boys are gonna get yourselves quite a sunburn dressed like that.”-Ralph, to perps Dixon had take off their pants.

“What’s that?” Jack, to Ralph.

“It’s a knife.” Ralph’s deadpan response to above.

“On it.” Jack’s clarified response.

“You really want to add blasphemy to your list of crimes?” Savino.

“Reckon he bit off more than he can chew.” Jack, to Ralph’s on why the dentist was killed. Ralph’s expression at Jack’s god-awful pun was priceless.

“You said you were fine doing paperwork.” Ralph to his son, on why he was leaving him behind at the station. As if Ralph needed a reason more than his desire to protect his son.

“You say that? Oh, you’re an idiot.” Jack, to Dixon, in response to the above.

“He ain’t like the real law.” Savino, on Ralph.

“Just enjoying the fresh air. It feels good to be out in the field for a change, out of the station trapped under a mountain of paperwork.” Dixon, to his dad. Love Taylor Handley’s delivery.

“That’s a shock. You volunteering to work with Ms. Rizzo.” In one amusing line, new viewers are informed that Jack holds a candle to the count room manager, and that both his nephew and his brother know about it despite his attempts to hide it.

“I got kids!” – terrified driver.

““And I got hemorrhoids but you don’t hear me complaining about ‘em.”- Borelli, in response to the above.  I actually laughed out loud at this one. Funniest line in the episode.

“Do I look like a guy who is about to kill someone? I’m chewing gum for Gods’ sakes.” –Borelli.  Second funniest line in the episode.

“You know some days it’s a pleasure coming to work.” –Borelli, in response to Cota saying that they need to visit all the “dame” hangouts.

“You don’t get points for knocking down the calf, you get points for roping it.”-Ralph to Vincent.

“Shut up!” Ralph and Vincent’s simultaneous order to the perp when he interrupted their discussion on what to do with him.

Pet Peeve

While Sarah Jones’ wig looks as good (if not better) than it ever did, I preferred it when the darker roots of her (real?) bangs were visible as they matched her dark eyebrows. Dirty blonde looked more natural on her than her current bleach blonde look. Her make-up also seems more modern in this episode than it did in the previous episodes; not sure that’s a good thing.

Best Scenes

Second runner up: Borreli and Cota’s theft of the television van. Sonny Marinelli and Joe Sabatino provided the funniest moment of the episode. The latter’s delivery of his lines was especially hilarious.

First runner up: Ralph and Vincent face off over what to do with perp Jesse Lynch.

Sheriff Lamb demands that Vincent hand over the perp, whom Vincent wants to kill. The two then have the following debate:

Vince: Let me ask you something, Lamb. You got any mountain lions up there in your ranch?

Lamb: Got a few.

Vince: What if one of them came down and started killing your livestock? Taking what was yours out of your house, off of your son’s plate. You’d kill that lion wouldn’t you.

Lamb: I’d kill him dead cause the law says I can.

Vincent then rightfully points out that Lamb has his own code of ethics, that the first time he saw him he was having a fistfight with the ground crew in an airfield, and he wasn’t even a Sheriff at the time. He calls him out on taking the law into his own hands while conveniently being the Sheriff, adding: “You know as well as I do that there’s a difference between law and justice.”

It’s a powerful, powerful statement. Especially considering how Ralph said the exact same thing to his son at the beginning of the episode. But despite the similarities between the two men, there remains an important, albeit subtle difference between them, illustrated in Ralph’s reply to Vincent: “Killing a man for stealing money is not going to serve either one.”

Awesome.

But even better is how Savino punched out Lynch before giving him to Ralph, and Ralph’s amused “Fair enough”.

The Winner: The ending

Savino gets back to his Casino in time to watch the debate start on TV. Cota remarks that Bennett looks sick, as he’s sweating while Grady, thanks to the make-up Lara had him put on looks cool and confident. After Gary’s good opening speech, Savino’s man Borelli cuts the television feed before Bennett can give his own statement. At the police station, Jack knowingly remarks to a smiling Ralph “I guess timing is everything.” And when Cota tells Savino that Grady might have held his own against Bennett, Savino replies: “Why take a chance? People always remember the last thing they see.”

Indeed. And I’ll always remember this episode for the delicious entertainment it provided. Thanks to the entire cast and crew for this fantastic show!

Readers, do yourself a favor and download this episode on itunes before the new episode “Bad Seeds” airs. It promises to be another powerful entry. Here’s the promo.

*Vegas was created by Greg Walker and Nicholas Pileggi. It airs on CBS on Tuesdays at 10 pm.

*All material posted in this blog is the intellectual property of reviewbrain (unless otherwise stated). Readers are free to make use of the information provided they cite the source (this blog) either by name (reviewbrain’s blog) or by linking to it. Please extend the same courtesy to the authors of the comments as well (by mentioning their names) to ensure that credit is given where credit is due.