Week of May 10 - Doggone

[mlm828]

You know you've been waiting for this. It's May 10th and the beginning of week 10 of the re-watch: time for "Doggone" . . . and Ted the Drug Dealer.

[hoosier]

Here it is almost the end of the week and no one has commented on Doggone yet

I like the rapport between Jim and Sonny mainly because it gives us some clues into what Jim was like before he was blinded--how he might shoot first and ask questions later (OK corral). It showed that Sonny felt comfortable enough to propose the "blind drug dealer scheme". Even though it was followed by Jim's comment that Sonny was an idiot and how "they had been through this before" (what, what was "this"!!!) Jim still pitched it to Fisk anyway. And finally Sonny asking Jim if he was still married and how that was working out. They seem to know each other very well.

One thing that always bothered me was how Jim broke protocol when he got into Debbie's car. Yeah, he wasn't breaking cover but they had made no contingency plan for such a move. He wasn't wearing a wire or a GPS tracker and there was no way he could be sure Tom and Marty were following him, he just assumed that they were. Had he gotten caught up in the moment, doing undercover like he may have had before, failing to remember that "there were things he can't do anymore"? And wouldn't there have been problems of legality since they crossed state lines? If he had been successful, would the bust have been legal? He was way out of his jurisdiction though they had no way of knowing that when they set up the deal.

And Jim's let get physical, flying across the table to grab at Johnny, demanding to know where Hank was! Whoa, down girl ;D

Here we see a real change in Marty. Finally considering Jim "one of the team"? Offering to take his place at the meet, asking if he was okay, offering to go out and look for Hank . Was this scene left on the cutting room floor? When they left, Jim had his cane in hand as he did when he entered his apartment so here was a missed opportunity to see him using it.

And lastly, the unresolved issue of just how involved was Sonny with the Puerto Ricans. Being called "Sonny boy" shows that even if they weren't in cahoots they either still knew him or of him. Even Jim thought he had been set up

[mlm828]

May 15, 2008 19:04:02 GMT -5 hoosier said:

Here it is almost the end of the week and no one has commented on Doggone yet

What's up with that? Surely hoosier and I aren't the only ones with something to say!

May 15, 2008 19:04:02 GMT -5 hoosier said:

Here we see a real change in Marty. Finally considering Jim "one of the team"? Offering to take his place at the meet, asking if he was okay, offering to go out and look for Hank . Was this scene left on the cutting room floor? When they left, Jim had his cane in hand as he did when he entered his apartment so here was a missed opportunity to see him using it.

I always thought part of the reason - maybe the main reason - for Marty's changed attitude was that Jim covered for the rest of the squad when the Chief of Ds asked how he ended up lost in Jersey. I think this demonstrated loyalty and showed Marty Jim was becoming a team player. I think Marty was beginning to think of Jim more as a fellow cop than the blind guy who was foisted on them.

About the "missing" scene where Jim and Marty look for Hank: I wonder if it was ever written or filmed. I always thought not, but either way, what a disappointment not to see it!

When I watched the episode earlier this week, I was quite touched by the scene between Jim and Christie after he comes home, especially when he suggests talking to someone, and she says, "I'd like that."



It struck me how close Jim came in this episode to losing the two individuals on whom he depended the most - Christie and Hank. We always think of "Doggone" as the episode where Hank goes missing, but Jim was in danger of losing Christie, too. I remember thinking, when I first saw that scene, that she might really leave him.

[hoosier]

I noticed how Marty seemed to be waiting for Jim to bring up the fact that they had "lost" him when he was being questioned by the Chief. Surely he would have realized by then that Jim was the kind of guy who stood up for himself and didn't rely on someone else to fight his battles for him?

I always thought how perceptive Christie was in this episode. She laid it on the line but then stepped back and let Jim to come his own conclusions. If she had been the one to suggest couples therapy, I'm afraid he would have run for the proverbial hills. But, maybe he had been thinking along those lines anyway and it took Christie's ultimatum for him to actually verbalize it. That morning he had said he wanted to talk so maybe he realized that it was time to clear the air and settle old issues so they could go forward. That and Sonny's bringing up the fact that Christie had stuck by him after he was shot might have gotten him thinking about how to save his marriage.