Mystery

The Irrational – A Kick in the Teeth

  • Title: The Irrational – A Kick in the Teeth
  • IMDb: link

The Irrational - A Kick in the Teeth

As Phoebe (Molly Kunz) discovers there may be trouble in paradise in her new job, Owen’s (Arash DeMaxi) trial replacement for her (Max Lloyd-Jones) has a rough week. On the positive note, Simon does his job perfectly in one of the tests run by the department that are the highlight of the episode showcasing how inaccurate eye-witness accounts can be (first through the use of playing cards immediately followed by a staged theft). On the other-hand, he leaves Owen high and dry after having an emotional reaction to a crime scene. Still, it appears he be sticking around, at least in the short-term and until Phoebe’s arc with her new boss , who isn’t above plagiarizing her assistants’ work, comes to fruition.

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NCIS: Origins – Enter Sandman

  • Title: NCIS: Origins – Enter Sandman
  • IMDb: link

NCIS: Origins - Enter Sandman

The two-part opener to NCIS: Origins introduces Austin Stowell as Leroy Jethro Gibbs on his first day working for NIS (which would eventually get rebranded into NCIS). Still shaken from the loss of his wife and daughter (shown in flashbacks), Gibbs is far from the cocky veteran seen in the NCIS opener, but the journey to how he gets there should be half of the fun. While we do get present day narration and cameos from Mark Harmon foreshadowing the importance of the case, and some dark secret he never shared, along with his relationship to one of the agents in particular, they are few and far between and it doesn’t appear (at least from this) that he will have a large part in the series.

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The Old Man – XIII

  • Title: The Old Man – XIII
  • IMDb: link

The Old Man - XIII

As Harold (John Lithgow) tracks down Morgan Bote’s (Joel Grey) dying message to Julian Carson (Gbenga Akinnagbe) and an unexpected face from his past, Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) and Zoe (Amy Brenneman) search for Hamzad’s lawyer (Rowena King) who has disappeared. Zoe learns a little more about tradecraft as Dan applies pressure to the lawyer’s assistant (Ana Mulvoy Ten) and the pair find more than they were searching for as the series continues to take some unexpected paths. 

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Murder in a Small Town – A Chill Rain

  • Title: Murder in a Small Town – A Chill Rain
  • IMDb: link

Murder in a Small Town - A Chill Rain

Notable for downplaying the romance into a subplot separate from the latest murder, “A Chill Rain” gives us Zoe Strachan (Stana Katic) whose brother is found murdered after arriving in town begging for money to pay of loan sharks. It’s not a bad episode, but there’s little surprise that Zoe is the killer (and just what is that accent from Katic?). Zoe is smart enough not to incriminate herself but acts incredibly recklessly in lying to the police and bullying her nephew when a little kindness, even faked, would likely have led her to getting away with murder. Her recklessness makes you wonder how she remained out of jail for so long.

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Only Murders in the Building – Valley of the Dolls

  • Title: Only Murders in the Building – Valley of the Dolls
  • wiki: link

Only Murder in the Building - Valley of the Dolls

Fleeing the Arconia, “Valley of the Dolls” gives us Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) hiding out in the suburbs with Charles’ sister Doreen (Melissa McCarthy) hoping to save themselves from the killer watching them and find some space to solve the murder. Howard‘s (Michael Cyril Creighton) decision to tell everyone where they are basically makes the first part of their plan moot, as Bev (Molly Shannon) and then Zach GalifianakisEugene Levy, and Eva Longoria, and later Loretta (Meryl Streep) as well. This will force Oliver to confront his romantic issues, which will (somewhat annoyingly) yo-yo all over the place before settling back down, while also fighting off the advances of Charles’ sister.

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