Some thoughts on "Speak For Yourself, Bruce Clayton," the March 24 episode of NYPD Blue, after, of course, a brief synopsis and the writing/directing credits (back by semi-popular demand): ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Story by David Milch & Bill Clark Teleplay by Jody Worth Directed by Mark Tinker SYNOPSIS: Andy and Bobby investigate a series of rapes and shootings related to a feud between two drug gangs and a paralyzed ex-dealer named Jamal; The murder of a security guard leads Diane, Jill and Greg to a woman with surprising allure to the men in her life and eventually leads to a shooting in the squadroom; Bobby learns of Andy's prostate difficulties and prods him into keeping his promise to Sylvia about getting a catscan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Since it worked well last time, I'm going to continue splitting up the review into different topics.) THE MANY FACES OF GIANCARLO: A hot topic of Internet debate about our favorite show deals with the frequent recycling of guest actors in new roles. For the actor to be asked back, s/he is usually darned good, but it can still be distracting to see last season's crackhead as this season's attorney. In the case of Giancarlo Esposito -- who last appeared as Ferdinand Hollie, a gun-toting, drug-using snitch of Simone's -- the similarity between the old role and the new was so close that it would have taken a phenomenal actor to not make me see Ferdinand Hollie everytime Jamal opened his mouth. Fortunately, Giancarlo Esposito *is* a phenomenal actor, and Jamal stood out as a totally new creation. The interview scene with Simone and Jamal was extraordinary. The show frequently lets the cops manhandle suspects with impunity, but in the case of the quadriplegic Jamal, even so simple a gesture as wiping his mouth or touching his crucifix was enough to make him feel utterly defeated. Jamal doesn't ever need to go to prison, because he lives in one every single day. And the appeal to God was certainly a different approach to interrogation than we've seen before, and quite moving, as well. Bobby's comment to Diane at the end about not knowing how he got Jamal to give up Antoine made me wonder, though, what Bobby's thoughts on God are, and made me realize that after nearly four years, we still know so much less about him than we do about Andy. In fact, I was thinking for the first half of the episode that it's a shame Smits is so often reduced to playing straight man to Franz, since he's every bit as good an actor, and I thought it a funny coincidence when the story required Andy to leave the room during Jamal's interview so Smits could fly solo for a few minutes. (Bringing up the embarrassments of Andy's alcoholic past was a nice touch.) The story also incorporated Andy's illness well. As I understand it, the crime stories are usually written independently of the personal subplots, and half the time we see characters who are experiencing major personal trauma going through work as if it was a normal day (Diane on a case the morning after being drugged by Jimmy Liery comes to mind), and I was glad to see that Andy's angst over his medical situtation occasionally bubbled over into the case, whether it was his insistence on kicking open the door or his out-of-proportion annoyance with the Richmond cops. And the scene on the stairwell, when Andy suddenly dropped his guard, was very moving, especially Andy's "You're my good friend" comment. In all, this was one of the best A-stories of the season, and I didn't find it nearly as confusing as Fancy and Bobby did. :) (Usually, when the characters start talking about how confused they are by the case, it means sloppy writing -- think Sister Sun-Ray -- but the feud made sense to me.) GREG THE GUNSLINGER: We sure ran the full gamut of Medavoy in this episode, didn't we? Starting off with his hilariously clueless recap of his father's opinion of the Watergate hearings -- an appropriate bit of Medavoy obliviousness, given the context -- the show then moved on to slightly more normal Greg, attempting to appease Abby, then to the cool-under-pressure Greg who took out the gun-toting Bruce Clayton. Much of the time, the slow, deliberate pace of NYPD Blue (and Brooklyn South, too) can get aggravating, but in a scene like Clayton's entrance into the squadroom, it worked beautifully from start to finish, as we saw the detectives, one at a time, unfasten their gun belts until the tension got so thick you could smack it around with a phone book. I would just hate to be Dolores or Abby, though. :) I also very much liked Diane's call to Greg at the end, reminding us that for all their toughness, these guys are all human and witnessing a shooting can really mess you up. The other really interesting thing about the Bruce Clayton story, I thought, was Diane and Jill's interview with Val. From time to time, we've seen the various detectives try to steer certain perps into giving statements more likely to sway the grand jury against indictment, and they did it again here. This isn't necessarily something that ever needs to be addressed on the show, but the way that the detectives often set themselves up as judge and jury -- whether it's using beating a confession out of someone they "know" is guilty, or deciding that some perps are more worthy of mercy than others -- fascinating, and I wonder how much of that really goes on and how much is just David Milch's dramatic license. LINES OF THE WEEK: "One DD5 and he thinks he's Dick Tracy." -Andy, after Fancy expresses undue delight at doing a bit of detective work "When you get back up here, I want to have this whole thing diagrammed" -Fancy, remarking on the complicated feud between Jamal and Antoine "How'd you do with him?" -Andy inquiring about Bobby's phone conversation with the Richmond cops, after haranguing said cops in the background for the entirety of the conversation Great show all around. We get a new one next week, followed by a repeat of the season premiere; let's see if it makes more sense the second time around. See ya in the funny papers... Alan Sepinwall * e-mail: sepinwal@force.stwing.upenn.edu NYPD Blue page: http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~sepinwal/nypd.html RANDOM QUOTE: "I had a small house of brokerage on Wall Street. Many days no business comes to my hut. Jimmy has fear? A thousand times no! I never doubted myself for a minute, for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." -From the English-translated-to-Japanese-then-back-to-English book "Jimmy James: Macho Business Donkey Wrestler," as read by Stephen Root on "NewsRadio"