Episode 2: The Return of the Grievous Angel

So, this episode kicks off with the bread and butter of P.I. life. Or what I imagine is the bread and butter of P.I. life. Serving seemingly unfindable people with court papers to make their child support payments. It's especially satisfying because the guy is clearly a huge dick and his employees all hate him (evidenced by the way those two guys in the hall immediately pick up boxes to look busy as the boss runs by and how they immediately point which way he went when Mal asks) but mostly it's satisfying because of the chase scene - with the best bit being when Jake takes that dive when he falls over the walker - that ends with Jake and Dick Guy trying to strangle each other on the way down the conveyor belt. And then there's Mal's deft serving, which deserves some attention: taking the papers from Jake and dropping them on Dick Guy's chest with Consider yourself served. 

Two other favourite Mal moments:
1. When he and Jake are walking back to the GTO and we clearly see 'Dick 4 Hire' on the side and Mal points and lets out a single short laugh.
2. The Panties Exchange 
    M: If she was leaving town you'd think she'd have packed her panties.

    J: Ugh, I hate it when you say that world.

    M: What, panties? Doctors say it. It's clinical.

    J: It's not clinical. When you say it's disgusting.

    M: Panties.

    Then they see Bill watching them and Jake goes over to talk to him and spots Des. Commence chase         scene 2, albeit a lot shorter and involving fewer roofs than 1, but arguably just as much pain for young Des. Jake manhandles him to the car, where Mal says:

    M: I like your work, by the way. It's very tasteful.

    J: Don't encourage him.

    M: You've gotta support the arts.

    J: It is not art.

    D: It is art, man.

    J: Shut up.

    M (getting into the car): Panties.

    I love this exchange. Cracks me up. Also, the child-like goading of father to son totally plays into the episode theme, which I have theories about and will get to shortly. 

The Jake/Nikki story definitely makes some strides this episode. Most of them are kind of weird. Weird in a how did these people EVER manage to get married kind of way. Like Nikki's pillow fetish - fetish in the sense that she has too many, like, a ridiculous amount of pillows, not that they make her hot (I think, but in the words of Judi Dench 'you don't know Newfoundlanders') - and the way Jake takes out his rage on the unsuspecting foam. Or the way Nikki tries to distract him from sex by trying to make him go eat dinner and her insistence that he hasn't turned off the hall light. I love when he's like 'What, is this some new self-help thing you're on' when she cuts short the make out session because she wants to 'figure things out' and she quickly moves the book she was reading to out of Jake's sight and grasp and says 'No.' in a way that totally means yes. And then there's the scene at the end with crazy drunk Nikki at the bar who is being all sensible and adult (mostly and up to a point) until they get back to her place and Jake says they should probably stop sleeping together (which, let's be honest, he only does because he wants to be a better man with the hot Constable) and she fakes calling the cops. Then he leaves, which pretty much puts the cap on the soap-y Nikki and Jake show and completely fits with the theme arc of the episode, the theory about which is still forthcoming. Also, I'm pretty sure that the only time Jake gets punched in this entire episode is when Nikki clocks him with the phone. 

Episode High Points:

ROSE (after unlocking the handcuffs Jake put her and Des in with a hairpin): What? Do you have Stockholm Syndrome?

DES: Can you teach me how to unlock these cuffs like that?

Jake's blatant checking out of Leslie right after she tells him not to leave town since he's the only link to a dead girl stuffed in her car in St. John's. And he does it again after she finds them at Victor Vermin's house and he says 'You've got my number' and Mal has to pull him away with a well timed 'Come boy.'

The chase between Jake and Bill that ends with Bill landing in a giant vat of ice and fish. 

When Jake and Leslie are talking about Jake's problem that his client skipped town on him and Leslie says 'Why don't you hire a PI?' I also love when he opens the car door for Leslie and she gets in and he shuts it and drops the bounced check in its' plastic packaging on her lap and gives her very ADULT advice, like buckle up and safe driving.  

JAKE: Hi. So, when do I get my apology?

LESLIE: Sorry?

JAKE: Thanks, that was quick, I didn't think it'd be that fast.

L: No, I mean 'sorry I don't know what you're talking about.'

J: Whoa, c'mon, Constable. You accused me of murder.

Des getting hired as their 'hot young secretary,' which delights Mal and Rose, possibly because of how much it pisses off Jake. 

So, the framing in this episode is so specific - Jake and Malachi side by side flat to the camera with a third person behind or in front of them (happens almost every time they have a scene with Victor Vermin and again with Des in the garage ostensibly cleaning Jake's car but mostly he's just complaining and drinking Doyle juice - and just to clarify, that's juice owned by the Doyles, not made from Doyles because ew) that I think they must be doing an homage to some P.I. cop show or film. But I don't know the genre well enough to tell you what they're homaging. Any thoughts? 

This episode seems to have a thematic line of growing up and/or the consequences of youthful action. Everyone in his world treats Jake like a teenager or a 'seven year old boy,' and most of all Jake himself. Unless he's with Leslie. Hmmm. The way Mal stops him from knocking on Victor Vermin's door and Jake's childish revenge of taking over and screwing up the interview with the aforementioned. The wild abandon Nikki and Jake bring to their closet sex life; they're so in the moment and uncaring of long term consequences, like the fact that Jake has a peace bond against him from Nikki and he's filing one against her,   that they seem like teenagers and we can see how they once decided marriage was totally the right thing for them. Even Tinny takes a shot at Jake's man-boy state: Bit pathetic, doncha think? A grown man living in his Daddy's house. This line goes through the whole episode - from the opening with Dick Guy spending his child support payments on shiny new trucks from the East to the Rose and Tinny scene by the sink where Rose calls Tinny a little girl and insists she does the dishes. Even in the way Victor Vermin's past comes back to haunt him hardcore - from getting extorted by Emma/Lisa to Bill trying to kill him to his son killing Emma/Lisa and destroying his family. There just seems to be a consistent through line going on, n'est pas? 

Okay, here's something I don't get. They get Victor Vermin and his strange and poorly acted son arrested and then Mal's like 'now that we've cleared our names...' and Jake fills in the blank with 'pint?' And then we cut to the bar where Mal and Rose and Des are well into their drinks and then Jake comes in looking tired and a little beaten and out of sorts. So, why didn't he go with Mal? What happened between leaving the house of Victor Vermin and him arriving at the bar? What took him so long to get there?  Plus, they left Victor Vermin's house in late afternoon, Jake was supposed to meet Nikki at 7:30 and he's two and a half hours late. So, what'd he do? It's like there was originally another scene in there and it got edited away. 

Also, Victor Vermin's son. I can't decide if he's really really good at acting like the stoner skater boi rich kid or if he's a really really mediocre to bad actor. I'm leaning toward that one though.