[- Linn -]

Bullit >>>>> Frank

I loved Taylor and Summer looking for Pancakes. I liked how they mixed the drama and the lighthearted stuff. And I loved Taylor's "Summer, you're such a good mom!" And of course, Uncle Alistair.

[lasha4god]

Full review, this is a bit long, so if any one is bothered by the length I'll fake cut to my journal.
---------------------

Things appear to be at a surprising norm in the earthquake’s aftermath. There’s an ere, an elusion that everyone is ok, even with the surprisingly strong dark cinematography and mystifying dissolves that carry on through the rest of the episode. But of course elusions make way to truth revealed.

÷

After a massive piece of furniture crashes over Taylor and Ryan they break free leaving a false sense of joy and hope. But as Taylor turns away from the rubble Ryan reaches for his side and draws blood on his hands. The future is not that bright after all.

Ryan has a large piece of glass shard coming out of his lower side. And surprisingly there’s no expense sparred in the visual department as we see the bloody object protruding from his body. Ryan has made an emergency S.O.S. call to Seth who is comforting Summer after just coming clear of death themselves. The reluctant and zombie fearing hero comes to Ryan’s rescue but is alarmed to see what damage he’s actually having to 911 to. Seth appeases both Taylor and Summer and convinces them to stay back at the Dr. Roberts mansion.

Seth and Ryan on the other hand are on a more taxing and dire mission, to save Ryan’s life! On their way to the hospital Seth succumbs to the notion flooding his mind, the overwhelming prospect of Ryan not surviving and being lost for good. This is no overreaction or slight Cohen moment and it shows. When once his fears were selfishly motivated and propelled by Ryan rebuilding his life away from the Cohens in Chino, it’s now about Ryan leaving Seth’s life not for a new locale, but the afterlife. Feverously Seth is jilted by the resounding fear and misses sight of fallen debris on the highway. The precise mix of humor, anxiety and forced coolness is used when Seth is left to change a flat tire. It was a pitch perfect example of Seth at his most essential and defining. And there’s nothing about Seth in that moment that’s spitefully cocky, misguided or in the least bit selfish, as he occasionally appeared in the past, specifically during the season three premiere and season one finale.

Unfortunately the earthquakes aftershock hits and another Range Rover meets its demise. While still panicky and visibly shaken Seth continues as the reluctant hero determined to not let his brother and soulmate suffer. They may not have a means of transportation but they have each other. Ryan refuses to sit idle while Seth goes out for help so the two mercilessly stay by each other’s side walking down the desolate streets of Newport. But soon the trudge proves too much for Ryan and Seth is forced to go out on his own. Before long he runs into the welcoming homeless crew. Seth barters his defunct Range Rover in exchange for Darryl’s shopping cart.

The strenuous, but gratifying, superhero story is quickly halted when Frank and Co. come to their rescue. But the glory of their journey and story is far from over. Ryan lies in a hospital bed and a tender, brotherly, moment reveals itself as Seth discloses that he donated his blood. Ryan and Seth were finally more than mere source context to fans homosexual radar they were brothers by blood! It was a satisfying, full circle, moment for two characters whose friendship and connection was at the heart of this show from the pilot.

÷

It’s both intriguing and ironic that just last episode Kirsten was so inundated with Newpsie hell, but now that the earthquake has hit there’s not a Newpsie in sight sans Taylor’s mom. Sandy is left to play hero to what appear to be average everyday citizens. He’s the common man fighting the adversities and annoyances of Newport to reach out to the common people. It’s the same story told in an unflinching and honest way. But it leaves me to wonder why Kirsten so quickly wanted to make an exit from a place they both can leave the most positive impact.

After the aftershock Kirsten fears the worst for her unborn child and Sandy rushes them both to the hospital, which is chaotic, but alarmingly nothing like what one would presume a hospital to be like after a major earthquake. Kirsten’s time at the hospital is nothing more than a vehicle for unwanted tension and fear for the viewer. But on the flip side we see Sandy frantically fight for her honor and her safety. And when all are reunited in the hospital Kirsten reveals to not only be ok but that the unharmed baby is a girl! How glorious just sitting here and imagining Seth bonding with his little baby sister.

But as heartwarming as the moment was greater impact would of came from Kirsten having a miscarriage. Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan would have been brilliant with the material. And the coming twist to the aftermath of their grief, they decide to plan a pregnancy.

÷

Julie and Kaitlin are presumably trapped inside an ice cream shop with a young, alternative, Seth-stand in. If you think he’d be anything more than a boy with a crush on a girl who’s always treated him like dirt you’d be wrong. The kid, while charmingly cute when he reveals his affections for Kaitlin, is both dull and annoying most of the time. And most perplexing is his power over two street wise woman when he easily convinces them that the shop is water-locked in, thus leaving no way out. Just as strange, Kaitlin and Julie kill time by singing the seminal season one song “Night Moves” by Bob Seger. What begins to give way to mother-daughter bonding soon transforms into something bizarre and disturbing. Seth-stand in wises up to the songs sexual nature and it’s then, if not already, that we remember the song anchoring Julie and Luke’s elusive affair.

Just as the in-house variety show is coming to a close Ryan’s still inappropriately well-adjusted father Frank saves the day. It was sly of the writers to show Frank, on the phone with Sandy, in an earthquake induced traffic jam. But who where they fooling, because that very moment I knew there would be no other man to rescue the Coopers even if I did secretly long for the Bullet to make an unexpected save. It was in Julie and Kaitlin’s story that we were meant to find a balance of humor and light, joyous, over-tones. Instead they drowned in a sea of cliché’s and foolishness.

÷

Serving the balance of humor better was Summer and Taylor. Like a developed female comedy duo they surveyed Dr. Roberts house for Pancakes. It was a perfect mix of sweetness, bonding and slapstick. Things took a dramatic turn when they frantically believed someone had broken in the home. Taylor puts on her transparent superhero amour with aid from Jimmy’s old flare gun, and quickly turns into a neurotic variation of Sydney Bristow from Alias. But her quick, instinctual, survival skills turn out to be misguided as she accidentally shoots her mother with the flare gun. Ironically Mrs. Townsend has come to the mansion because she was worried about Taylor. Coming down from the flare incident, the two share an out of body experience. They bond. While little about this feels essential, it’s not without merit and appeal.

÷

And now everything has come to its rightful close and our core characters are all found to be alive and in good spirits. Even the seconds-in-command have their moment of satisfaction and joy. Watching Darryl settle into the Cohen’s un-drivable Range Rover was a nice touch. But this paradox of normalness is exposed for the fraud it is. As the Cohen’s approach the internal setting of a place that wasn’t simply a home but the grounding for our core characters and some of their more seminal moments, they discover the real horrific aftermath of the earthquake. The Cohen house is nothing more than a skeleton of what it once was as it stands (barely) in ruins. One can’t help but pause in reflection of all that house added to the show. Again, it was more than a structural locale. It was a foundation to characters and the show as a whole. Was destroying the emblematic backdrop to create a bridge to the final worth it? Next week will be the true and final teller of that.

**** ½ out of ***** stars

[clum]

thanks for the review! i love it.

[LooBitteTundiLoo]

I really liked the Seth/Ryan relationship in this episode and all the season 1 allusions/past season memories they brought up. That was the best, most touching part in the Night Moves, especially them becoming blood brothers.

I thought Taylor's kung fu rolln'tumble to shoot the intruder (turning out to be her mom) was the all time cheesiest thing the show has done by far! It was ridiculous, I actually cringed at the sight of it. I was hoping she and her mom would make amends and then leave the show together... haha, in my dreams!

Sandy and Kirsten did great. Julie/Kaitlin's storyline was kinda pointless, but I liked the singing.

The home being destroyed at the end was really sad. And the range rover's giveaway to the bum was pretty laughable- I really thought "wow this show is getting bad, it needs to end if these are the kinda jokes it's making"