How Jim Made It Work

[mlm828]

hoosier said:

Maybe the writers should have spent just a little more time explaining some of what Jim had to go through to 'make it work'. Would it have killed them to have given us some more background? It would probably have interfered with the flow/pace of the show and their emphasis on the crime of the week but I, for one, would have welcomed more of the human interest element.

[mlm828]

maggiethecat said:

Uh . . . huh? I thought we were discussing the veracity of the location shoots here! Jim supposedly being in the 8th when he was really in Midtown, bits of LA passing for Manhattan, stuff like that.

Do you mean that the show should have eliminated all the location and establishing shots -- which were obviously intended to impart a gritty New York atmosphere -- so they could have spent more time on the psychological aspects of the story? Now that would be worthy of a new thread . . .

[mlm828]

maggiethecat said:

Hey, hoosier, on reflection that really is a great idea for a new thread.

OK, here it is. I have a couple of ideas about hoosier's original question.

I think the writers of Blind Justice were skillful enough to work in what Jim had to do to "make it work," if they had wanted to do so. I think there may have been a conscious decision not to focus on that. I recall it was mentioned in one of the interviews or articles that they didn't get into details of things such as how Jim got where he was going, it was simply assumed he knew how to get where he was going. So with only a few exceptions -- like learning his way around the squad room in the Pilot -- they didn't really get into the "nuts and bolts" of how Jim was able to do what he did.

And, like a lot of other people, I would have loved to learn more about the year between the shooting and the return to work. Again, I think this was the result of a conscious decision to focus on Jim's return to work and the challenges of going back on the job, instead of his recovery and rehabilitation.

I do think we saw quite a bit of the psychological cost the job exacted, especially in "Marlon's Brando," "Seoul Man," and "Doggone" (where Christie tells Jim it takes all he's got just to do his job, and Jim doesn't disagree).

[hoosier]

I quess they just wanted to tantalize us by throwing out a few scraps once in a while. I too would have liked to have seen and learned more. I am one of those who like really detailed books, the more to the story the better.

I wouldn't change BJ for the world (well, maybe the continuity problems and the bloopers) but, like Oliver I just wanted more, please. I can understand why they didn't want to get bogged down in explanations and chose to be more subtle, such as the expression on Jim's face as he sat in the rain at the end of FFU. The anguish, the tightening of his throat muscles, the struggle not to break down spoke volumes. But had Jim always been so stoic or was it something he developed to keep others at arms length, to show that he was not vulnerable regardless of his situation? And then there are the issues of trust. His old partner had let him down, his new partner is young and female. Not only trust her to have his back but having to trust and rely on her like he has had to learn to rely on Christie. I can't envision the 'old' Jim Dunbar relying on anyone.

Of course, Jim had to get back on the street or he would have been little more than a 'civilian aide' but what about the differences between his working a case before to now being relegated to standing to one side so he can't contaminate the scene? I liked the 'flashes' of the crime scenes,how Jim interpreted them from what he was told and what he sensed on his own. Was this how the 'sighted' Jim worked a case, going at it from all angles? From Sonny's reference to the OK corral, was Jim something of a hotdog, a go-getter? Not one wanting to grab the limelight but wanting to get the bad guy no matter what?

Doggone would have been the perfect setting to get that rare flashback on how Jim and Hank met but I assume the writers may have felt it would have been too sappy. And what about Jim's affair with Anne Donnelly? One minuscule reference topped off by the fact that his new partner is a friend of hers! Argh!

Just how much change had there been between the 'sighted' Jim and blind Jim beyond the obvious? What had he been able to reconcile, how much had he adapted? When he told Christie that he had already given up so much--what? *sigh*

If they had included even a fraction of some of what I would have wanted , BJ would have been a two-hour show. Not such a bad idea ;D