NYPD Blue: Some thoughts on "Seminal Thinking" (5/12)
Alan Sepinwall
Some thoughts on "Seminal Thinking," the May 12 episode of NYPD Blue,
after, as usual, a quick summary and some credits:
--------------------------------------------
Story by David Milch & Bill Clark & Kevin Arkadie (someone else gets in
on the fun!)
Teleplay by Kevin Arkadie
Directed by Matthew Penn
SUMMARY: Andy and Bobby try to throw a well-meaning killer a break, but
the guy may be too dim to help himself; Greg's indignation over a
murderer's use of excess semen provides him with the necessary
ammunition to get the guy to confess; Doc Mondzac informs Andy that the
cancer may have spread.
----------------------------------------------
I read once that, in the heady days of the early '70s, the civil rights
movement finally hit television, at least to the extent that network
standards & practices departments insisted that any cop show which
featured a black man committing a crime or other bad act also had to
feature at least one black man doing something positive. (Bear in mind,
this may have just been tradition rather than rule; my recollection's
hazy and it's 11 p.m. on a work night.)
I think the NYPD Blue writing staff is inching closer to adopting a
similar rule about one Detective Gregoy Medavoy, which, if I'm
interpreting correctly, roughly translates to "If Medavoy's acting like
a weirdo/idiot/incompetent in the first act, he has to do something to
redeem himself by the final act."
I should have suspected something was up when I started laughing very
hard at Greg's "inordinate amounts" rant in the locker room, since such
scenes often give me the desire to do my Elvis .38-special remote control
impression. Either it was genuinely funny -- and, judging by the rest of
the episode, I'd have to say that it was -- or I had a premonition that
Greg was going to show off his smarter side later, or both. I loved the
idea that Greg's disgust and indignation over the overuse of semen would
fill him with enough rage to scam the pants off their suspect, and I
thought the other detectives' improvisational responses to same were very
well-done -- note that Jill, the most generous of spirit by far, is the
only one not thrown at all by Greg's gambit, while it takes Diane and
James a moment to get over Greg's out-of-character behavior.
In fact, the only thing to bother me at all was the final scene in the
squadroom, which I think was overdoing the kudos for Greg. Yes, those
were two very strong interviews and he did get the guy to flip, but
A)This isn't the first time Greg's conned a statement out of a suspect,
and B)Andy and Bobby do this every week without drawing crowds in the
squadroom and mentions of commendation from Fancy. Also, while I liked
Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
You know there's something heavy going on in the personal subplots when
both the main crime stories are largely comic, but I think Milch and
Kevin Arkadie pulled it off nicely. The unintentional murder story was so
loaded with Line of the Week candidates that I'm too lazy to go back to
the tape to write them all down, but there was more to the comedy than
just good quips. From the con man who was just begging for somebody to
put a bullet in his brain -- until someone actually did -- to Bobby
worrying that their usual attempts to help a semi-deserving guy out of
trouble would lead to some more trouble of their own, this was a real
comic gem.
Of course, in the middle of said gem we were dropped a thermonuclear plot
development: Andy's cancer may not be as gone as we thought. At first, I
was bothered by the fact that the Doc Mondzac scene seemed to be dropped
into the middle of the story without acknowledgement, but it was slipped
in nicely after a few scenes. I loved the episode's closing moments, as
Andy turned to Sylvia for comfort and instead had to comfort her. Franz
and Smits make a great team, but so do Franz and Lawrence.
As for Bobby and Diane's quick "Let's get it on" chat at the start of the
show, it was really just a preamble to whatever's going to happen in next
week's super-duper-mondo-jumbo 90-minute finale, so at present, I offer
no opinion on it.
With a largely comic episode like this one, I don't have much to say (and
I'm too engrossed in a repeat of one of the final episodes of From the
Earth to the Moon to really concentrate), so I'll go now. Remember, as
the title card said at the end of the episode, next week's finale is
extra-long, like Lost Israel Part 2, and starts a half-hour earlier, like
Lost Israel Part 2. If you fail to set your VCRs accordingly, don't come
bellyachin' to me.
See ya in the funny papers...
Alan Sepinwall * e-mail: sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu
NYPD Blue page: http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~sepinwal/nypd.html
RANDOM QUOTE:
"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror,
murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da
Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love --
they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The
cuckoo clock."
-Orson Welles, "The Third Man"
a...@asc.upenn.edu
In article <6jb58a$q...@force.stwing.upenn.edu> sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu (Alan Sepinwall) writes:
>From: sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu (Alan Sepinwall)
>Subject: NYPD Blue: Some thoughts on "Seminal Thinking" (5/12)
>Date: 12 May 1998 23:49:30 -0400
>In fact, the only thing to bother me at all was the final scene in the
>squadroom, which I think was overdoing the kudos for Greg. Yes, those
>were two very strong interviews and he did get the guy to flip, but
>A)This isn't the first time Greg's conned a statement out of a suspect,
>and B)Andy and Bobby do this every week without drawing crowds in the
>squadroom and mentions of commendation from Fancy.
True, but you'll have to admit, they've been setting this up for awhile now,
what with all the "There he goes again" eye-rolling over the last few weeks at
Greg.
Also, while I liked
>Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
>shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
In my opinion, either he was touching himself because he was "on fire" or he
was pinching himself because he couldn't believe everyone was praising him.
Geoff
Rob Means
In article <6jb58a$q...@force.stwing.upenn.edu> sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu (Alan Sepinwall) writes:
>squadroom, which I think was overdoing the kudos for Greg. Yes, those
>were two very strong interviews and he did get the guy to flip, but
>A)This isn't the first time Greg's conned a statement out of a suspect,
>and B)Andy and Bobby do this every week without drawing crowds in the
>squadroom and mentions of commendation from Fancy. Also, while I liked
>Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
>shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
Wondered about that myself. The best solution I could come up involved the
commendation that Fancy had just said he was recommending. If that
commendation come with a dress uniform decoration (don't know what it's
called--a braided loop that runs from the shoulder epaulette, under the arm,
and back up to the shoulder in back), Greg may have been imagining himself
wearing the decoration.
Rob Means
Delphi International
1828 L Street, N.W.
Suite 900
Washington, DC 20036
Tel.: 202/898-0950, ext. 67
r...@delphi-int.org
EGK
On Wed, 13 May 1998 09:36:14, r...@delhi-int.org (Rob Means) wrote:
>In article <6jb58a$q...@force.stwing.upenn.edu> sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu (Alan Sepinwall) writes:
>>In fact, the only thing to bother me at all was the final scene in the
>>squadroom, which I think was overdoing the kudos for Greg. Yes, those
>>were two very strong interviews and he did get the guy to flip, but
>>A)This isn't the first time Greg's conned a statement out of a suspect,
>>and B)Andy and Bobby do this every week without drawing crowds in the
>>squadroom and mentions of commendation from Fancy. Also, while I liked
>>Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
>>shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
>
>Wondered about that myself. The best solution I could come up involved the
>commendation that Fancy had just said he was recommending. If that
>commendation come with a dress uniform decoration (don't know what it's
>called--a braided loop that runs from the shoulder epaulette, under the arm,
>and back up to the shoulder in back), Greg may have been imagining himself
>wearing the decoration.
Since this happened shortly after Martinez touched him and jumped back
acting like he was burned, I got the impression Greg was immitating that
more then anything. Seemed like a lot was inferred without dialogue too.
Greg's looking in the mirror and knowing that the rest of the squad often
thinks of him as a bit of a boob and being able to prove to them (and
himself) that he's not such a dim bulb after all.
email: e...@dangerous-minds.com
Paulo Medeiros
Alan Sepinwall wrote:
>
>
>
> ...Also, while I liked
> Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
> shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
I Agree, that was totally useless, however, was'nt he touching his shoulder
becauseof what James told him, about being (siring) hot!. You know when we
touch some one
with one finger and say "sssssss" hot!
> I loved the episode's closing moments, as
> Andy turned to Sylvia for comfort and instead had to comfort her. Franz
> and Smits make a great team, but so do Franz and Lawrence.
I was even surprised that Sip. would even tell Sylvia about the findings. Is
thisan Andy that is becoming "sensitive" to Sylvia? Cool of him to open up!
> As for Bobby and Diane's quick "Let's get it on" chat at the start of the
> show, it was really just a preamble to whatever's going to happen in next
> week's super-duper-mondo-jumbo 90-minute finale, so at present, I offer
> no opinion on it.
I'm tired of their game, hell get it over with, already, oye vay, get married
andlets go on. I'm beginning to dislike Lady Diane!
Bobby deserves more!
My .73 CDN cents worth!
anyway, as we say here in Canuck Land, Aye OK!
Shalom
Paulo
David Pirmann
>squadroom and mentions of commendation from Fancy. Also, while I liked
>Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
>shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
My guess is that he was pinching himself to make sure he wasn't
dreaming...
-Dave
Jane Schweitzer
>In fact, the only thing to bother me at all was the final scene in the
>squadroom, which I think was overdoing the kudos for Greg. Yes, those
>were two very strong interviews and he did get the guy to flip, but
>A)This isn't the first time Greg's conned a statement out of a suspect,
>and B)Andy and Bobby do this every week without drawing crowds in the
>squadroom and mentions of commendation from Fancy.
I had the same thoughts during that scene. I idea of a commendation definitely
went overboard. But I think what blew everyone away was the way Greg adlibbed
his way through the interview, lobbing one preposterous lie after another at
ol' Calvin.
That Calvin was a piece of work. I was glad all my shots were up-to-date when
he came on the screen.
>Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
>shirtsleeve?
I think he was reliving what James said to him when James touched him on the
sleeve and made the comment about "searing heat".
Jane (Hey, how's it goin'?)
>
Shannon
Alan Sepinwall wrote:
Also, while I liked
> Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
> shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
> Our vote is that he was pinching himself to make sure it was all real.
Barbara Gavin
Alan Sepinwall <sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu> wrote
> I loved the episode's closing moments, as
> Andy turned to Sylvia for comfort and instead had to comfort her. Franz
> and Smits make a great team, but so do Franz and Lawrence.
I really liked watching Andy realize that Sylvia needed comforting, that it
wasn't *all* about him. The whole time he was in the hospital, she was
brave and strong and positive for him, while he was (ahem) not the best
patient in the world. I am convinced I could see the realization come over
Andy's face that they are in this together and that Sylvia's life is bound
up in his and that she loves him passioantely.
barbara
dru...@pcfl.net
Greg was pinching himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. It carries
on with his past feelings of ineptitude. He used to go on and on about
how he thought he was never a good enough detective like Andy or
Bobby.
On 12 May 1998 23:49:30 -0400, sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu (Alan
Susan K. Walker
David Pirmann wrote:
>
> In <6jb58a$q...@force.stwing.upenn.edu> sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu (Alan Sepinwall) writes:
>
> >Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
> >shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
>
> dreaming...
>
> -Dave
That was my guess too.
- Susan
Trapper
Exactly. In fact, I find Andy & Sylvia's relationship much more
compelling than Simone & Russell's. Being a fat, dumpy, unloveable guy
might have something to do with that, but I just find it wonderful that
these 2 people found each other in the world as depicted on the show
each week. As for Simone and Russell, the 2 best looking people in the
stationhouse fell in love, that whole plotline has never caught my
interest.
Trapper
Barbara Gavin wrote:
>
> Alan Sepinwall <sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu> wrote
>
> > I loved the episode's closing moments, as
> > Andy turned to Sylvia for comfort and instead had to comfort her. Franz
> > and Smits make a great team, but so do Franz and Lawrence.
>
Julie A. Peronto
[snipped]
Alan Sepinwall (sepi...@force.stwing.upenn.edu) wrote:
: Also, while I liked
: Greg studying himself in the mirror, what was he doing with his
: shirtsleeve? Checking for semen stains, or something I'm completely missing?
My take on it was that he was pinching himself to make sure that he
wasn't dreaming & that he really had done something "great".
Julie
Bob Cradock
In article <355AB1...@vegas.infi.net>, Trapper
<tra...@vegas.infi.net> wrote:
> Exactly. In fact, I find Andy & Sylvia's relationship much more
> compelling than Simone & Russell's. Being a fat, dumpy, unloveable guy
> might have something to do with that, but I just find it wonderful that
> these 2 people found each other in the world as depicted on the show
> each week. As for Simone and Russell, the 2 best looking people in the
> stationhouse fell in love, that whole plotline has never caught my
> interest.
> Barbara Gavin wrote:
> > I really liked watching Andy realize that Sylvia needed comforting, that it
> > wasn't *all* about him. The whole time he was in the hospital, she was
> > brave and strong and positive for him, while he was (ahem) not the best
> > patient in the world. I am convinced I could see the realization come over
> > Andy's face that they are in this together and that Sylvia's life is bound
> > up in his and that she loves him passioantely.
Yeah, I think their relationship is much more richly textured. They
have so much in common with my parents that it's scary, but even
without that bias they give us a tremendous amount of "portrayal" (?)
with or without words.
Jim Powers
Trapper wrote:
>
> Exactly. In fact, I find Andy & Sylvia's relationship much more
> compelling than Simone & Russell's. Being a fat, dumpy, unloveable guy
> might have something to do with that, but I just find it wonderful that
> these 2 people found each other in the world as depicted on the show
> each week. As for Simone and Russell, the 2 best looking people in the
> stationhouse fell in love, that whole plotline has never caught my
> interest.
>
>
Both relationships are working against great odds, with one partner a
recovering alcoholic. But I still see Russell as very much the loose
cannon, as she played to great effect in her undercover assignment
against Jimmy Leary. Sylvia, on the other hand, is solid as a rock and
very self-confident. She has held up Andy through two major crises--the
murder of Andy, Jr., and now prostate cancer-- but in this episode we
see she needs a little support herself, and Andy is there for her. The
relationship started out cautiously, with Andy using tropical fish as a
way to express his deepest feelings. <g> We've seen many times how
deeply they love each other, and Sylvia has too much self-respect to let
Andy get out of line even a little. They are a delight to watch
together, and another reason why this is the best dramatic series on
television.
Jim Powers
Did I understand the opening scene correctly? Two corpses, from two
totally unrelated homicides, found within minutes in one small vacant
lot? Gee, I thought the crime rate in NYC was going *down*!
Shannon
Bob Cradock wrote:
>
>
> Yeah, I think their (Andy and Sylvia's) relationship is much more richly textured. They
> have so much in common with my parents that it's scary, but even
> without that bias they give us a tremendous amount of "portrayal" (?)
> with or without words.
Maybe this is a stretch, 8^), but I think the main reason for Andy being
a better developed character is that he is based on some 'real-life'
people, namely Milch and his father; whereas Bobby is based on ???, just
an excellent foil to Sipowitz. I have always felt that the writing for
Simone hasn't been up to par with that of Sipowitz; but we just finished
the reruns of Diane's situation with Leary, and Smits did a great job
with being the protective 'ex-boyfriend'. There just hasn't been enough
consistent tension to develop the Simone character fully, he has only
sporadic and temporary flair-ups of expression. Let's hope that the next
project lets him shine, even if we would prefer he stay with us on Blue.
ps. 'yeah, huh' in Canadian would be 'Yeah, eh'
in Swedish would be 'ja, da' (plus diacritic which I
haven't yet figured out how to produce on this machine)
Looking forward mucho to la semaine prochaine and the season finale,
should be a good one...
Shannon
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