kristen999: (H Steve Angst)
kristen999 ([personal profile] kristen999) wrote2012-11-26 11:20 pm

H50 3.08

Thoughts under the cut.







The episode was kind of like they stuck two different ideas together into one script.

Steve's sudden jumping to conclusions with the shrink seemed out of character, but I blame it on pacing or the lack of good pacing at the start.

Don't get me wrong, once Olivia started screwing around with him and getting under his skin, then I enjoyed the cat and mouse. It was cool to have a smart female villain, but there was no real build to justify such heavy suspicion, unless it was her profiling him that really riled him up? Steve really is not normally this so hot-headed unless children or fathers are involved. *scratches head*


Again, if there had been enough of a lead-up than it would have been easier to understand the fact that he hates being played. I get that. It's so Steve. And wow, did she really get him good at the restaurant. The flat tire?


EDIT: I have come around to the idea that this was really about Steve trusting his gut when everyone else didn't. I can see that raising his hackles and making him more determined.

EDIT2: On the re-watch, I found Steve's behavior more reasonable and found it much more in character.

Catherine.

I liked her a lot. She really got to show a ton of skills and I don't want to hear things like 'how does she know how to kick ass?' She was in naval intelligence, we don't know what she did, and we've gotten enough hints that she's done this thing before.

I really, really hope she doesn’t lie to Steve. I hope we learned she told him off-screen and considering that Steve always ready knows Doris is lying about stuff, but please, don't go there. Don't let this be another betrayal. Since we don't know...I'm going to assume she DID tell him, just like I think anyone on his team would tell him and nod to Doris to her face.

EDITED to add: If she did lie to him, as much as it'll hurt Steve, it will be add a lot of layers. I mean what can I say. I hate seeing him hurt but at the same time, Steve angst is a thing of beauty. Conflict is good drama and the idea of Steve and Catherine trying to work through something like this, even if it results with them on the rocks guarantees great acting from both Alex and Michelle. With MB a regular, it gives her
and Steve something meaty to play with and an arc. Calm. Conflict. Resolution.


Doris.

Um. Whoa.

Guess her and Wo Fat have something in common.

And how is Doris going to explain the broken lamp, the blood on the floor, and her bruise?

There was stuff I didn't like, but there was good stuff in between. And a lot left for future eppys!

[identity profile] kristen999.livejournal.com 2012-11-28 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
I'm slowly coming around to the fact that Steve is real bulldog about his gut and coupled with his team's doubts, it really made him very head strong. Like I said, I enjoyed it a lot when Olivia started to play him, but for me, the start felt off, but I think with a re-watch things might play out different, esp with the lack of commercials.


Doris really is like a shadow of Wo Fat in a lot of ways and that is scary.

[identity profile] t-verano.livejournal.com 2012-11-28 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
I've just watched once now, but that first scene with Olivia, where Steve almost immediately locks down on her -- I was thinking both "strong gut feeling" and that she'd immediately sized him up as a threat and tried to get him off balance by her off the wall questions about which branch of the service and if he'd been in Iraq or Afghanistan -- sort of like both of them recognized "enemy" at first sight. And her "get him off balance" remarks pushed even more of Steve's "being played" buttons.

I loved that he didn't seem unreasonable at any point (to me), just (very) determined, not always smooth about it (heh), and absolutely confident in his gut instinct, which has probably saved his life and other people's lives more than once in his SEAL and NI past.

I liked this ep a lot -- the moment Cath says to Doris "you did" when Doris says "you don't walk away from an explosion like that" -- and Vanessa Marcil totally pushed my buttons, too; she's excellent at that. And poor Steve in the cafe with Olivia, almost buying for a moment that she'll be driven to talk about the murder, but being set up instead...