True Crime




This episode is called True Crime. There will be the usual spoilers and plenty of remarks on Jim and Blair's exceedingly attractive personal appearances.

As always, there is some sort of cop story cluttering up the screen. This one deals with an investigative tabloid TV team of Wendy Hawthorne, a news journalist, and Connor, an Aussie fellow and her cameraman. Wow, flash forward. Connor? Aussie? I know I've heard that somewhere before. Anyway, the higher-ups see Jim on TV regarding a bank robbery and decide it would look good for the True Crime team to follow Jim and Blair and film them in action. Needless to say, Blair is thrilled and Jim is ecstatic. Yeah, right.

This episode has more costume changes than some. Once in a while they wear the same thing through most of the episode. Not this one. It is a plethora of changes. The first scene has Blair in a white jacket, blue shirt and jeans. Jim has on his suede coat, a blue T-shirt and khakis. Oh, and the fact that Jim has the best case record in the PD is mentioned. Go, Jimmy!

The next scene has Blair wearing my shirt! My favorite one, that is. The baby blue one with the little yellow and white squares. God, I could just eat him up, he looks so good. Jim has on a teal blue shirt that looks good on him. Not a usual color for a guy, but I like it.

Jim and Blair are working the case with the camera crew following along. Jim is irritated as usual a la Ellison. Blair is amused in one scene when she is asking Jim "twenty questions" but he's not playing. We are treated to several very nice shots of Jim. That man looks very fine in his close ups. And Blair's hair is just about the longest it's been so far in the episodes.

There is a nice scene in Simon's office when the guys are discussing the case. Turns out there is a baseball memorabilia connection and Blair has a working knowledge of baseball collectibles since he aspires to be a collector himself. Turns out one of the bad guys is a baseball fanatic and that leads them to an item he's interested in purchasing. Blair gets to go undercover at a collectible store so they can catch the bad guy.

Well, then it happens. One of the most slashy moments in all 65 episodes. Good heavens, you need a tray of ice cubes for this one. We go from one great shot to another. First we are treated to Jim fast asleep in bed. He looks wonderful in yellow and blue sheets. He hears voices, wakes and gets up. Now we get to see Jim in his boxers toting his gun. He can arrest me any time. Jim goes into Blair's room. Blair is so sweetly asleep. He is absolutely adorable here. Jim scoots over to Blair's bedside and leans down, putting his hand on Blair's mouth. Blair's eyes pop open and Jim raises a finger, ssshhhh. He motions for Blair to follow and he flings open the door to be confronted by the bright light of the camera, running full tilt. We are treated to a very nice shot from the camera's POV of Jim and Blair in undies. Blair is just peeking around Jim's shoulder and Jim's protecting his Guide with his gun drawn. Good heavens, what a visual.

Well, as if that isn't enough, what Jim does and says is so funny. It always makes me laugh. Jim is more than pissed at the woman and her flunky being outside his door and filming. This is so good I'm going to put it right here for you to enjoy. Jim holds his gun out to Blair and his tone of voice is just so hysterical. He's all irritated and exasperated at the same time.

Jim: Sandburg, you better take this gun, 'cause I'm going to shoot them.
Blair: Jim, you don't want to do that.
Jim: I'm gonna shoot them.
Wendy: This is exactly the look we're going for -- the gun, the bod, the whole image.
Jim: (gives gun to Blair) Hold this, hold this.

Then he slams the door in their faces. Reading it just does not do it justice. I love everything about this scene, from Jim's hands on Blair to the frustration in Jim's voice. Okay, back to the story.

Blair is undercover in the sports store in a wonderful blue shirt. In his close up this shirt makes his eyes looks like the summer sky over the Rockies. Darn, wasn't that sweet? Well, as expected, the camera crew blows the stake out. They capture the one bad guy but there are four more running around. Jim finally has had it with the two TV people and sends them packing. The camera guy, Connor, picks up a cell phone the bad guy has conveniently dropped and pockets it. He uses the phone to cause lots of trouble in the rest of the episode.

After Jim decides he wants to use the camera people to trap the bad guys, there is a funny scene when he actually gushes to the woman, telling her how sorry he is and how much he wants to cooperate. Blair sits with his mouth open, "call me stunned," he says.

There is a very nice shot. Blair with his hair pulled back with his glasses on, working on his laptop. I love Blair in research mode.

Well, the next set up is blown when they figure out where the next hit will be and the cameraman uses the stolen cell to call the bad guys. He tips off the robbers that the cops are staking out the place. The robbers nicely blow up the entire block just about. Jim hears this funny echo and can't quite figure out what's going on. Turns out he can hear the open connection between the cells and figures out that the only people with them at the stake out who were not cops were the TV crew. We are treated to a very nice truck scene with Jim and Blair discussing this fact. They seem to solve a lot of problems talking things over in the truck. Jim also does the "it's all my fault" routine. Sometimes I just want to smack that guy.

Oh, one thing that happens in this episode is that when Jim is interrogating the first robber to be captured, he tunes into the guy's respiration and heart rate. This is the first time Jim can tell someone is lying using Sentinel senses and he tells Blair. Blair is all excited about this new development.

I always like the loft scene. They have a copy of one of the tapes from the camera crew and Blair is leading Jim through his exercises to listen to the noises on the tape to figure out where the robbers are hiding out. Blair is wearing a nice light green T-shirt that looks good on him. I like when Blair is in Guide mode, leading his Sentinel through his paces. There is a cute exchange when Jim tries to explain a noise he hears. He makes a strange noise and Blair thinks it's pretty funny. I like that Jim and Blair are hashing out all the details, talking about who needs to be where to make the robberies work. They put their heads together and figure out that the key is the bank guard, and that the guard is actually a member of the robbers' team.

The ditzy woman and her cohort find a receipt with an address on and go there and get themselves nabbed skulking around. Jim and Blair show up to the rescue, of course. I love when Jim and Blair are sneaking into the warehouse. First Jim tells Blair not to turn hero on him. Blair says, you must be joking. Then Jim says, keep your head down and stick with me. Blair says, thanks, Jim. Then Jim says, so I can keep an eye on you. Blair says, thanks, Jim. Blair's tone is like thanking your mother for reminding you to brush your teeth again and to pick up your room. Oh, and like Blair isn't heroic. Good heavens, he's always saving the day. This leads to a really great scene. Jim rescues the two dunces and is pinned down by gunfire. Blair finds some baseballs and nicely takes out a bad guy with just one good throw. Good Blair!

Well, the bad guys are killed or caught. The woman gets a decent job offer from a real TV station but decides to stay in Cascade. Jim makes a date with her. But don't worry, it won't work out. They never do. Not much of a tag, actually, but at least Jim and Blair are together at the end.

Let's see. Next episode, Ice Man. Sounds cold to me. I'm sure the guys will heat things up nicely.

Back to Episode Review Main Page

Home