This review is for both parts of this two part episode. I notice both the director and writer credits are missing here in IMDb. I have to wonder if that is on purpose because they are not good. FYI the writer of part 1 is David Wolkove and part 2 is Grant Rosenberg. The director of both is David Fruet.
About the only nice thing I can say is whoo hoo! Jess says good bye for good (I hope). And we get to see a very young Kathryn Winnick. She gamely does her best with what she is (unfortunately) given, which is playing a woman even dumber, klutzier, and more annoying that Jess. Although she lacks Jess's nails on a chalkboard shrillness. I have no idea why the writers of this show basically can only write helpless, stupid bimbos. Ok, they tone it down a bit for Mel by making her seem businesslike by making her humorless, but she's still helpless. I can just hear others saying "but she has a good heart." Guess what? A woman can have a good heart AND more than 2 brain cells.
The producers must basically be just like the men at the bar watching Laura work - mouths hanging open while they dispassionately ogle her, preferring their women without a personality or independent thought. Her character, Laura is probably the dumbest ever created. She can't take 2 steps without breaking something or setting things on fire. At one point she falls down and her shirt just falls off, so she finishes the scene in her bra. And the men just stare. I have a feeling most of the audience was doing the same thing.
Anyway, as for the plot, I don't know how you take a character who imitates famous serial killers and make him boring and non-threatening, but they achieved it. There's a dumb twist at the end where his crimes were actually part of a conspiracy just to draw out Cole and try to release the prisoners he's caught. Seems like it would have been a lot easier to just jump him behind the bar one night, but then I'm not a highly paid tv writer. No matter, the twist is limply resolved in just a few minutes and then the anticlimax is over. Needless to say, more skilled direction may have at least made this mess fun to watch. Maybe some suspense? Or actual humor? Or even just go for camp. Nope. It's all just grindingly bad.
About the only nice thing I can say is whoo hoo! Jess says good bye for good (I hope). And we get to see a very young Kathryn Winnick. She gamely does her best with what she is (unfortunately) given, which is playing a woman even dumber, klutzier, and more annoying that Jess. Although she lacks Jess's nails on a chalkboard shrillness. I have no idea why the writers of this show basically can only write helpless, stupid bimbos. Ok, they tone it down a bit for Mel by making her seem businesslike by making her humorless, but she's still helpless. I can just hear others saying "but she has a good heart." Guess what? A woman can have a good heart AND more than 2 brain cells.
The producers must basically be just like the men at the bar watching Laura work - mouths hanging open while they dispassionately ogle her, preferring their women without a personality or independent thought. Her character, Laura is probably the dumbest ever created. She can't take 2 steps without breaking something or setting things on fire. At one point she falls down and her shirt just falls off, so she finishes the scene in her bra. And the men just stare. I have a feeling most of the audience was doing the same thing.
Anyway, as for the plot, I don't know how you take a character who imitates famous serial killers and make him boring and non-threatening, but they achieved it. There's a dumb twist at the end where his crimes were actually part of a conspiracy just to draw out Cole and try to release the prisoners he's caught. Seems like it would have been a lot easier to just jump him behind the bar one night, but then I'm not a highly paid tv writer. No matter, the twist is limply resolved in just a few minutes and then the anticlimax is over. Needless to say, more skilled direction may have at least made this mess fun to watch. Maybe some suspense? Or actual humor? Or even just go for camp. Nope. It's all just grindingly bad.
