THE DOYLE REPORT
FROM DUBLIN, WITH LOVE
SEASON 4, EPISODE 1
Des lives! I'm very happy that Des
lives. Even though they did do a nice set-up job in the early minutes
of this episode for him to die, and I admit to perspiring somewhat
when Des flat-lined, but when we jumped to the cemetery, I knew he
was fine. Or, at least, not dead. Counter-intuitive? Maybe. But bear
with. If Des was actually dead and the Doyles were having a funeral
for him, there would have been sad music and sad silent cuts between
the family members in their own silent grief. In fact, if Des was
going to die, the episode probably wouldn't have even started at the
hospital – it would have started months after the event with Jake
getting his drink on and Tinny going all emo. Or something. I'm not
saying Allan Hawco writes to formula, but he does tend to follow
existing trends, which isn't a bad thing; trends exist for a reason.
(Except for the trend of stirrup pants. I can only imagine that was a
temporary poisoning in international water supplies whose side
effects included lapses in judgement.) Not the least of which is
making us feel at ease that characters we love are not dead several
moments before they crutch hilariously into frame, as Des did.
However, it did feel like the whole
'commemorating the death of Jake's mother' thing was a bit of forced
and flimsy reason to get the cast out into a cemetery for some
super-fun misdirection. I assume we came in at the end of the whole
thing, otherwise Mal got too angry at his brother-in-law to actually
do the commemoration part. But still.
I'm loving the evolving Des/Jake
relationship that's going on thus far. Jake is so tender and
affectionate toward Des – if I can put it that way without making
them sound like lovers. I know part of it is because Jake indirectly
got Des shot, but it's nice. The whole 'didn't know how much you
meant to me until I almost killed you' chestnut. Besides, it's not
just Jake. Des is acting a lot more adult-y. Like turning down Jake's
request for help on the new case because he's got something else to
do. A season ago, he would have been all over it and offering WAY too
many suggestions on where to start and then getting smacked upside
the head. This relationship was on the road to change before the
shooting – reference the scene under the table where Jake and Des
are disarming the bomb – and I like it. I think my favourite Des
moment this episode was when he said:
DES: But we're like brothers and
brothers do nice things for each other, so...
Tinny is now going by Katrina. I'm sure
we always knew that Tinny was short for something, but it's all kinds
of weird to hear it. Also, how narcissistic is her mother ot give her
a variation of her own name? But Tinny's in training to be a cop. She
wears her hair in a long braid and goes jogging with other police
cadets. I can see how this is entirely the right thing for her to do,
it just comes as a surprise. Also, can't she see that she'll
constantly be doing favours for her uncle and grandfather once she
gets made into a full grown cop?
Tinny also appears to be on a quest to
find her father – Jake's ex partner played by Paul Gross – which
is an entirely valid quest. I do sense, though, that her decision to
become a cop is somehow linked to her rogue, criminal daddy. Or maybe
not. Maybe she's going through a phase where she likes guns and
badges. We shall see how it all unfolds.
I love love love the crazy fast way
Rory talks – Rory is the cousin from Ireland who owes the scary
Irish guy buckets of money and steals a statue from the scary black
guy to pay back the scary Irish guy, which seems on the surface to be
a terrible set of life choices, especially since he's also stealing
the scary black guy's stripper girlfriend. That speech he gives right
before the casino heist, that was truly awesome.
RORY: You remember all those summers
when we used to come visit you and we'd always get into the worst
bits of trouble and you remember that time, Jake, when I wanted to
ride a shopping cart all the way down mainstreet and you said it'd be
a terrible idea, but we did it anyway? Do you remember how much fun
we had? Well, I happen to know that behind that door is an
underground casino and we're going to rob it!
Picture the above in a super-fast,
super-Irish patter. It was awesome. Even if I did have to paraphrase
a bit because I couldn't remember the whole speech – give me a
break, I only saw it once.
Fun Film Fact! Allan Hawco (Jake) and
Sean McGinley (Mal) and Martin McCann (Rory) were all in a movie
together about five years ago called Closing The Ring.
Although McGinley and Hawco never appeared in a scene together, Hawco
and McCann had several scenes together and McGinley had one with him.
It's a beautiful movie and you should all see it.
Rose's
line: Who wants tea? With whisky? And ice? And no tea?
Might
be my favourite line in the whole series. Definitely my favourite
line this season.
The
way Leslie phones Jake at the end of the episode just to hear his
voice – after we find out she's all undercover on what looks to be
a drug sting operation thingy and that she's incommunicato to
everyone including Jake – is really cute in a heartbreaking sort of
way. But cute and ouchy has been the ruling emotion between these
self-crossed lovers for a while and I think kudos should go out to
the team for still getting this one right.
Now,
the thing we're all actually dying to know. The fate of the GTO. It
lives too. Sort of. In a limpy, not-running, exploded sort of way.
Des, with a little help from Tinny, is paying to have Ned Bishop of
Bishop Taxi and the episode with the rum running fame fix it up. They
– the creative team – get serious points for having the GTO
revealed in this sorry state. I also really liked the way Jake
lovingly caressed its' carcass like it was new again. Besides,
they've opened the door for weeks of jokes at Jake's expense and that
is always fun.
