"It's getting better all the time. It's getting so much better all the tiiiiime."
I was already in a musical frame of mind as I couldn't get Dave Clark Five's "Catch Us If You Can" out of my head. (Here they come again, mmmm-mm-mm ...) But the Beatles tune also seems to apply. This is the episode that may help stem the criticism of the show; there's much less to criticize. This episode is more developed, and we meet a lot more people who don't seem to have the milk of human kindness suckled out of them. A lot more happens during the day too, which is refreshing. The conversations are more snappy in their back and forth like they've never been before ... better all the tiiime.
Different this time around are time stamps on the screen which definitely help move from scene to scene. In this episode specifically they were important, but you can see why other shows use them; they are the transition the brain needs to go from action sequence to people sitting around a table to, let's say, someone getting shot.
Speaking of which: A guy gets shot in this episode. Just one for a change. It happens at the beginning and the rest of the show is Team Vicodin trying to prevent our girl Jane from killing him. Got that?
There's some Enya/Nine Inch Nails (circa Pretty Hate Machine) hybrid music launching us into the show. There's an assault on a building from people in camouflage. We see the faces of Mighty Misogynist, Maureen, and McBride (aka 3M) on some guy's green-screened PDA. We quickly find out it's Team Vicodin out there in camo. Boy, they're great at this secret squirrel sleuthing stuff; someone's spotted them and tagged them and hung them up on the trophy wall before the battle even gets started. Except this time, they have an excuse for being found out.
The shooter - some slacker-looking dude who doesn't know how to shave - has mines and tripwires set around the building. Still it's not enough. After thumb-squirting his chewed wad of gum on the gun-sight, our Neuro Of The Week shoots and misses a couple times before scoring direct hits on our fearless leaders.
Painkiller Jane makes a brazen assault with her best Tomb Raider pose, Desert Eagles deftly directed and firing endlessly in each hand. It appears she gets hit and just lies there. We know - 'cause we're gifted that way — she must be faking because she can heal herself without trying. She continues to lie there long enough for him to come downstairs - and see PJ. They know each other.
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