Episode 10
Blue Christmas (12-10-01)

Brief Synopsis: A suspected cop-killer dies while in police custody, prompting an investigation of vengeful detective Winslow.

Just a quick question: Bug mentioned his family bought their fake Christmas tree at Walmart.  Bug grew up in England (are there really Walmarts in Europe?)

Okay so on to the serious stuff.  It was a strong episode and a good follow up to Digger, though the time sequence bothered  me.  I guess what bothered me more was if the Digger episodes supposedly took place in November then this being Christmas time in this episode is fine.  Say about a month has gone by—that’s understandable.  But I don’t think it could have been November in the Digger episodes.  First off the clothes everyone was wearing were way to light for November in Boston.  It’s COLD in Boston during the month of November.  And second if it was November in the Digger episodes no one would be digging up the ground that easily.  Things freeze here—i.e. the ground.  So I’ll put that aside and say I did like both episodes.

Jordan: Max made a great comment that finding the truth isn’t always the ‘right’ thing to do.  I think that summed things up beautifully.  Jordan sees only ‘justice’.  Good guy or bad guy she’s out to find the truth.  Even after her talk with Max she still didn’t get it.  She should have let things go.  The man was a cop killer and everyone (the police force) felt he’d gotten justice.   Justice in this case wasn’t what was ‘right’ however Jordan can’t compute this.  The last thing she wants to do is see a cop, especially Eddie blamed, but she pushes on anyway.

Max and Jordan had some good scenes.  It looks like Evelyn is gone (may I cheer?!?!).  There was a much more relaxed atmosphere and easy companionship about them in this episode.  It was nice to see some peace among them.

I found it interesting that Jordan was  blowing off her friends because she felt she didn’t fit in with them and that she was ‘weird’.  I’m glad they told her to get over it—she needs some friends.  Last thing we need is for Jordan to shut herself off from everyone.

Garret and Lily: Poor Garret.  He wants to spend Christmas with his daughter but to do so he must endure the company of his ex-wife and her boyfriend.  I understand he frustration and his decision not to go.  He does ultimately go, only because Lily backs out of her dinner plans with him. 

He’s got a handful of a daughter in his hands.  I’m beginning to think some of it is purely for attention—attention from her father.  Of course Garret is starting to give it to her and now she needs to start behaving like the responsible adult she almost is.  She can be a little more courteous to her father.  And the talking back needs to go.  Garret needs to put an end to that.  He lets her get away with it.

I don’t know if Lily backed out of dinner because she thought Garret still had something going with his wife or because she knew of the situation with his daughter.  Either way I was glad she backed out.  I think Garret needed to go be with his daughter (despite the difficult circumstances).

Nigel: Once again Nigel provided the humor.  And I loved it (he does it so well) but I’d like to see him with a serious case.  I know he’s portrayed as the quirky, always cheerful, good guy.  I’d like to see him be serious though.  I think he could do it well and I think it would make his character become so much deeper.  I’d like to see him start to grow a little. 

So Trey got suckered into the ski trip with Nigel.  Nigel then goes and (I believe) deliberately freaks Trey out about his sexual orientation (which we didn’t get an answer to).

Bug: I should have know he’s not the Scrooge he pretended to be.  I think maybe some of the ‘unhappiness’ comes from being alone.  It’s no fun to celebrate holiday’s by yourself.  It was nice to see him helping the community.  Bug might be a pessimist, but he’s a good person.  And Lily was the perfect person to be helping Bug.  She’s very much the ‘giving’ and ‘caring’ personality.  This is right up her alley.

On the other side—Jordan’s case—Bug wasn’t afraid to voice the conclusion Jordan didn’t want to hear.  He wasn’t as connected to the case, but he wasn’t going to let Jordan’s opinions change his opinion/findings.  What makes Bug so likable was he wasn’t afraid to admit he was wrong.  I think it was a strong character development episode for Bug.

3 1/2 out of 5 Dead Bodies.  I nice Christmas story that had a satisfying ending (all around).