Siege

Remember, plenty of spoilers and plenty of comments on Jim and Blair's wonderful physical appearances.

Okay, here goes. And remember, I am skipping all the useless blowing up scenes and stuff like that. Boring. They just cluttered up the screen and took time away from Jim and Blair.

We see Jim and Blair walking through the parking garage. They are talking about how to lie to Simon to get Blair approved as a ride along. They banter sweetly about what to say and what not to say. Jim stops and gives us that Sentinel look. Blair is reading this body language pretty well even this early. He asks what's up and Jim says he smells blood. Blair says he cut his finger on a bagel. I love that Blair sniffs his own figure as if he could smell the blood, too.

On to Jim and Blair tapdancing in front of Simon. Blair looks particularly good in this scene. Several nice front camera shots of him. Jim is irritatingly chewing on a toothpick. Almost but not quite as irritating as when he chews gum, a total pet peeve of mine when anybody does it. Sorry.

They give Simon several stories before Simon gives us his captain look and sends our Blair from the room. Jim slips up here (actually the writers) and says Blair is a long distance relative and even his mother asked him to find him a job. Simon apparently doesn't know Jim well enough to know that Jim's mother amscrayed (is that a word?) years ago. Of course, that episode hasn't been written yet, so we'll let it slide.

Simon falls for the story, or actually, Simon believes Jim's sincerity about helping Blair and agrees on conditions. So then we go to Jim taking Blair to the processing department. Blair makes a comment about needing to use the bathroom and Jim practically escorts Blair there, holding his arm. Okay...insert slashy comment here. This scene to me when Jim walks away chuckling almost seems ad libbed, about is Blair sure he can "handle" it. Darn, I wish I had a script for this episode to see.

Anyway, we go to the processing room where the hapless Ellison sticks his foot in his mouth telling Vera, the files clerk, that she smells like her grandmother. Blair's face is priceless as he looks at Jim with the "get a clue about women" look. Jim honestly looks confused. "What did I SAY?" He makes a retreat, being the smart man that he is. Very nice close-up of Blair as he comments to Vera about whether or not he looks like a guy who would have trouble passing a drug test.

Our Jimmy goes to his desk and the evil Carolyn approaches. Another nice shot of Jim. He looks good in that grey t-shirt and he has a nice smile on his face, which he gives to Carolyn, but which he should be giving to Blair. Off to Wonderburger they go.

So we have Jim out of the station and Blair in the potty. Trouble ensues when the baddies take over the station, so easily, I might add. We meet Garrett Kincaid who isn't even worth mentioning so I won't waste any time on him.

Blair is in the bathroom when poor Joel is shot (I like Joel through the entire series.) He peeks out, sees the baddies, and hides in the john stall. Smart Blair. Meanwhile, Jim and Carolyn figure out something is up and hightail it back to the station. Our Jim looks particularly appealing crouched down with the snow falling on him, using his senses to listen at what is happening in the station. The car horn blaring sends his hearing bonkers for a second, but he recovers. Enter Simon, who gets understandably upset when he realizes Daryl is a hostage. Love it when Jim grabs him and throws him on the ground, and lies through his teeth about Daryl being okay because he saw him in the window.

Blair, meantime, is hiding, a bad guy comes into the john. Blair's foot slips, toilet flushes, bad guy approaches stall. In a great shot, we see Blair bite his lip and lunge, taking out the baddie with the door. He escapes, but he should have picked up that gun and taken it with him.

Meanwhile there is a good camera shot of Jim and Simon standing on the street looking up while the snow is falling watching the place where Daryl had been hanging just seconds ago. Jim looks good here. Makes you want to brush the snow from his jacket.

Onto the scene in the store across from the station. Jim looks really fine in this shot with the window light behind him. Have I mentioned Simon is also a good looking man? I like when he gives those "Jim are you nuts?" looks and when he laughs. They decide to hit the sewers. Jim's face looks completely overwhelmed when he smells the sewer. He actually tells Simon he doesn't think he can make it. Simon is puzzled at his usually macho friend. They manage anyway and are soon traveling towards the station. Jim in Kevlar. This is a fantasy of mine. He looks good, good, good. Jim should always wear Kevlar in every episode. Almost, but not quite as good as Jim in jungle gear and ranks up there with Jim in handcuffs. But I digressed---

Blair is behind the candy machine, muttering some stupidly written dialogue about women he has used, more bad writing. The baddie shoots the candy machine in the usual macho bad guy way and our Blair smartly pushes the candy machine over onto the bad guy, squashing and hopefully killing him. Very good Blair. Blair looks scared but he is very smart.

We switch back and forth. Simon and Jim eventually make it to the station. Jim does use his senses to hear the bad guy coming, to feel the door, etc. Would have been better with Blair beside him, but we can't have everything. We all know about the scene of Simon carrying the two guns up the stairs. Guess he couldn't decide which one he wanted. OH, wait, Jim takes a bullet in his vest. Good slomo shot, but let's face it, he should have been out cold and had at least a few bruised ribs. But he is very manly and rises to the occasion easily.

Blair meantime retreats to the office, throws the marble ball through the window, and without a thought to the height, he drops down onto the window cleaning platform with a thud. The bad guys see him, shoot out the machine and our Blair falls three or four stories before the platform jerks to a halt right at the bad guy's window. Blair is captured after a fine showing of his moxie. And that bullet hole is in that jacket, and in the next episode, it has a patch on it. Love the detail. A poor grad student would have to fix that hole. He couldn't afford a new jacket.

Blair looks particular appealing sitting on that desk with his hands tied. His hair is kind of messy and he has a deadly serious look on his face. He lies through his teeth and tells the bad guy that he's Lt. Sandburg from Narcotics and Banks sent him in. Joel smartly yells that it's true, thereby saving Blair's life. The bad guy decides he will keep him alive and does indeed pick out Blair to be his own personal hostage. Blair's closeup is very good. He is scared, but more, he is brave, even now.

Meanwhile, Jim and Simon are making their way into the control room and getting the cops back to the station. Jim looks particularly fine all dirty faced. I like Jim crouching around carrying that gun.

Kincaid takes off with Blair, who thinks that by telling the truth, he will be set free. He doesn't know that the bad guy has ordered all the hostages killed. But Jim and Simon burst in saving the people.

Required helicopter scene and bad, bad blue screen work. Wonderful Blair who uses the flare gun to bring the helicopter back to the station by telling the pilot that after he kills him, Blair can fly as he flew in Desert Storm. Blair is a very smart fellow. Good thing he has a quick mouth. Oh, and I loved it when he chucks Kincaid out of the helicopter. Too bad they didn't kill off Kincaid now and not waste that other episode on him later.

Really good final scene back on the station roof. I like when Blair tries to get Carolyn to untie his hands. She looks at him like "Who the hell ARE you?" Competition, Carolyn, you silly woman. And when our Jim, all dirty and still wearing that vest, pats Blair's face. Oh, my. "This wasn't like a typical day for you, was it?" I love Jim's laugh. Cute, Cute, Cute--that they finish this episode once again with Blair running after Jim. That's okay, because one of these days, it's going to be Jim running after Blair. Take my word for it.

There is is. The End.

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