Sunday, July 19, 2015

Rookie Blue 6x04 "Letting Go" (Balancing On the Edge) [Contributor: Hope]


"Letting Go"
Original Airdate: July 16, 2015

I guess I never realized just how little we knew about Nick. How is it that we can understand someone’s character so well and yet not know one thing about their past? One of the great mysteries of humankind, I tell you. My biggest concern for this episode was whether or not Nick spinning a bit out of control would come off as in character. Not because I didn’t think the writers or the actor could pull it off, but because any new backstory that reveals a different side of a character at this point in a series can knock your perception of them off-kilter. As it turned out, I think they handled this episode very well and I really enjoyed it. Personally, I’m glad we had a character-centric episode. I know we have only eleven episodes this summer, but character development never detracts from a series (feel free to dispute my unsupported claim in the comments).

Nick

Long story short, Nick’s until-now secret, wheelchair-bound brother found the drunk driver who crashed into their car when they were kids (and ripped their lives apart). He basically asked Nick to track down the guy and kill him. Nick… well, Nick is Nick. He’s a good person. A good person who is also a human being. He was conflicted and major credit goes to the actor, Peter Mooney, for portraying the emotions so well. Nick doesn’t really want to go through with it now, but at one point, you can tell he did. He ends up ditching Juliet, who was assigned his partner for the episode (which irked Andy, who wasn’t even trying to hide her distrust, but didn't tell Juliet's secret to Nick).
 He found the driver, Marco, at a bar, then locked himself and Marco on the roof. It’s a well-known procedural fact that once the drama moves to the roof NO GOOD CAN COME FROM IT.

Of course, then things got even more complex when it was clear Marco was living in a world of pain brought on by himself. He almost tipped off the edge of the building where they were sitting, and Nick automatically stopped him. Even though Marco said he wanted to fall off, Nick saved him. Even when Marco announced he knew who Nick was, and they got in an all-out-fight that lead to Marco hanging off the edge of the building, Nick saved him. It took him a good, long minute of thought and deliberation, but he pulled him back up. He thought about letting go (…and there’s the title of the episode!), and it was such an intense moment that I wasn’t sure what was going to happen there for a minute. Even if, in the end, it was really Nick’s brother’s fault that night, this was a huge display of character for Nick.

Nick was figuratively on the edge, and he pulled himself back. He knows that turning Marco in is the right thing to do. He’s going to let go of enough of his hatred to think twice about taking revenge. He’s still a good-hearted character. That doesn’t mean pain from his past can’t haunt him and cloud his judgment for a while, and it doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to be steered back on the right path now and then.

Oliver

Oliver was so troubled in this episode that I felt he needed his own header this week. His daughter was arrested and he had the opportunity handed to him to make her record go away. His “I would never ask you to do that, sir” really meant “please leave me and my currently clean conscience a.l.o.n.e.” Matt Gordon did a great job portraying Oliver’s confliction. As usual, the show tackled a gray area and it did so very well. He was torn for the whole episode, but in the end, Oliver did it. He wasn’t happy he did it. And God, he better have gone home and grounded her for life. But he loves his daughter and was willing to shoulder that tarnished conscience for her future’s sake. And I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll see of his guilt. Oliver’s walking on a slippery slope, and he now owes the commissioner a favor.

The rest of the cast balanced out the drama of Nick and Oliver with a refreshing amount of one-liners, sarcasm, and dance moves. Overall, another strong episode, one that shifted the focus to someone else for the week and balanced the dramatic with the comedic in the way Rookie Blue has mastered.

Notepad:
  • Duncan: “Why do you need to make a bucket list?!” Gail [deadpan]: “Because, Duncan, I need to go shopping for some buckets.”
  • Awkward toasts with two mugs and…a greeting card?
  • Chloe: *waves to someone who’s on speaker phone and can’t see her*
  • Marlo: “'It was Ted. Ted is dead.'” Dov: “Does Dr. Seuss know [we have a another suspect]?”
  • Chris: “Do you think it would be weird if I asked for his autograph after we catch him?” Dov: “Yes I do.”
  • Chris practically running into someone on a bike during the chase scene… I have to wonder how many times THAT took to film. The timing must have been everything.
  • Chloe: “So was it just the prison dating thing you tried…?”
  • Duncan going to dance with those kids was golden. Gail’s little dance moves when he wasn’t watching = even better. Future dance lessons = please, Rookie Blue, do not rob us of those scenes.
  • “Oh come on Ward, you’ve been lying to me since I met you.” Nick 1, Juliet 0. Although the secret brother thing does take the cake.
  • “I was building a nest for him to come home to.” Chloe: *stares blankly into the middle distance*
  • Andy put her distrust of Juliet on the back burner for a bit, at least when Nick was in trouble. This character has priorities and she’s not afraid to order them. And it’s awesome.
  • Criminal arguing about his change of character: “I’ve been doing yoga! … TODAY WAS VERY CIRCUMSTANTIAL!”
  • Dov wants to be a detective. Detective Dov. It’s so alliterative IT JUST MIGHT WORK (okay, fine, it’d be Det. Epstein. Details).
  • Characters who we barely saw: Traci and Sam. Character who we can look forward to being in the spotlight next week: Traci!

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