Vendetta

In this episode, Jim is an jerk. Might as well admit it right up front. He's definitely out of control. He must have been PMSing very badly, because he is way out of line, in my opinion, of course.

So we're introduced to our boys following a robbery in a high rise apartment building. The bad guys include a gal and three fellows. They're quick and smart about their marks, and manage to pull off some pretty high profile crimes.

We see our boys walking down the street. Jim is wearing a green sweater over a white t-shirt and those dark pants. <sigh> Blair is wearing a long-sleeved blue print snap-button (western-style) shirt with the sleeves rolled up and jeans. Apparently, what sets Jim off is that the DA isn't pressing charges on a purse snatcher and he's angry. Jim pulls out in traffic without looking, cutting off the guy. The man is angry and bangs on the truck's window. Jim calls the man names and manhandles him.

Blair is shocked that Jim is so out of control. Jim makes another smart remark about the guy's cologne when his senses start to go whacky. Jim is interrupted from his tirade when Simon calls about another high-rise robbery. Jim threatens the guy with arrest but tells him to get lost. Blair watches Jim's hissy fit with wide eyes before they leave. The guy who was cut off then writes down Jim's license place number.

The guy Jim roughed up is angry also. He's being evicted from his apartment. And then his doctor leaves a phone message that he's missed his last three sessions, leading us to believe he has mental problems. He plays with a hand-gun by putting a single bullet into it and playing around, Russian roulette style. He points it at his desk, and manages to shoot a notebook. Smart guy. He sees Jim's name and license plate number on the notebook, so he hacks into the DMV and gets Jim's address.

The boys investigate the robbery where Jim finds a partial fingerprint on the safe. Then they mosey home. Interesting note: the camera pans up from Collette's to Jim's apartment, which we know is at 852 Prospect, but on the awning of the store next to Collette's the address is 111 W 1st. Oops. I do believe this is the only shot on the inside of the building's elevator. It has the old-fashioned round window. Blair is lecturing about road rage, but Jim asks Blair to show him the bottom of his shoes because he's choking from something. We find that Blair kept an apartment key above the door, but when Blair tries to find his key, it's gone. When Jim gives Blair his keys, and Blair opens the door we find out that there is a huge pile of brown goop in the middle of the apartment, which turns out to be a nice, fresh pile of horse manure.

At the station, Blair is wearing a long-sleeve burgundy shirt, and jeans, and his hair is pulled back. Jim is wearing a black and white plaid shirt with khakis. His hair is the usual. <beg> Simon sends the boys to Crown Jewelers to check out that several of the robbery victims were clients. When we get to the store, both guys are now wearing brown jackets.

In a very cute scene, Blair finds something nice in the display case; some aboriginal jewelry. Crown is from Australia, and Blair wants to look. Jim is a grouch and tells him they're not there on a shopping spree. I hope Jim came back later and bought Blair something nice since he's being such a grouch.

It turns out our angry motorist has reported Jim's truck as stolen and it's being towed when the boys show up. Jim sees the irritating motorist and isn't a happy camper. He gets the guy's license plate as he pulls away and makes yet another snide remark to the tow truck operator. Jim is not having a good week.

We find out the guy's name is Dan Freeman, and Jim is still angry. After a bit of a discussion between Jim, Blair and Simon, Simon figures out that Jim provoked the guy, which is why the horse manure was put into Jim's apartment. (He had made the smart remark about the guy's cologne, hence the smelly horse manure.) Then Jim bites Blair's head off when Blair points out that Jim's being a bit -- confrontational. Simon isn't happy with Jim's attitude. Oh, and when Jim's railing, Blair makes the chatter motion with his hand. It's very funny. Jim bitches and moans away. Did I mention Blair has the evil sideburns in this episode?

So it turns out Crown is the safecracker and he's arrested. The boys go to Crown's apartment and search the place. They listen to the answering machine and find another lead to a guy named Trent Leeds. Crown finally admits he worked with Leeds. I love when Blair comes bursting in and lets slip that Jim wants to go undercover -- as a safecracker. Blair is confident Jim can use his Sentinel abilities to hear the tumblers even without prior knowledge of how to crack a safe.

We are then treated to a truck scene. I love when the boys are in the truck. They chat away and we learn all kinds of interesting things. Unfortunately, Freeman is following Jim yet again. Jim pulls his truck sideways in the middle of a busy street, blocks traffic, and drags Freeman from his car. Jim manhandles Freeman yet again. Blair has to drag him off. Nice touch that Blair wraps his arms around Jim and yanks. Then he leads Jim away, but not until Jim has threatened Freeman and Freeman has taped it.

I love this next scene. Jim is going undercover and his cover is a safecracker from Texas. So to get ready, he's busy watching Bonanza. He regales us with the family history of Hoss, Little Joe and Adam. It's so darned cute, but not nearly as cute as Blair doing his Texas lilt and twang. Talk about adorable! In this scene, Jim is wearing a dark brownish red shirt and grey pants. Blair is wearing a very nice royal blue shirt and grey pants. Oh and Blair is wearing his earrings. I hate the sideburns though. <g>

Jim goes undercover as Bill Murdock. He's wearing a nice suit, dark grey with a purple shirt and a bolo tie. Melanie, the gang woman, takes him in hand and delivers him to the bad guys. He's given a minute to break into the safe or he's dead meat. The Texas accent is pretty bad, I think, but fun. Jim uses his hearing to listen to the tumblers click, and opens the safe successfully. The smirk he gives is pretty funny. "Hey, I'm good," he's thinking. Until the bad guy gives him just seconds to open a second safe that will explode all over his hands if he's not successful. Then he's not to happy, but he hides it well.

The next thing Freeman does is to give everybody in the precinct a new watch and charge them to Jim's credit card. Twenty-three thousand dollars! The jeweler who takes back the watches is the guy who runs the Stargate in SG1. Blair tells Simon that Freeman worked for a credit card company and a computer company. Seems that back when, Freeman cut himself a royalty check that he was owed after the company stalled with payment, and without the computer company's knowledge. He wasn't charged, but he was blacklisted from computer companies and can't find a job, which is why he's going nuts also. And Rhonda comes into Simon's office and hands Jim a piece of paper. It's a restraining order ordering Jim to stay 100 feet away from Freeman. Funny how Rhonda took service on something for Jim. Apparently, the process server just chucked it at the first person they saw. Is that legal?

When Jim goes to the hotel to meet with his new compadres, he smells Freeman. He has another scene with the stalker before he goes and saunters off with Melanie on his arm. Of course, Freeman sees this. Melanie hits on Jim, but he nicely puts her down by telling her he's married. When Blair calls, he calls Blair honey and sugar. Blair is very cute being confused. Jim is still pissed about Freeman. He rails yet again, but Blair has to calm him down. Oh, good camera for Blair. He's calling from the loft and he looks very nice in front of the balcony windows in the sunlight behind him.

Jim sends Melanie on her way with a small kiss. And guess who finds Melanie? Let's think. Blair? Nope. Simon? Double nope. Ah, ha! Freeman! He dazzles her with his pretty words and she falls for it. They spent the night together. It's funny when Melanie says how good Freeman smells. Apparently, Jim thinks he stinks, but he's okay with Melanie.

The robbery is going down in the next scene. I like the slo-motion shots where Jim keeps looking around, expecting to see Freeman. Melanie makes some remark about having a fun night and asks Jim if he's jealous. He says, maybe, without even looking at the girl. Guess she can't take a hint. Jim is wearing all brown, coat, shirt and pants. The head bad guy takes Jim's gun away for some reason, which means trouble is coming.

Blair and Simon are watching from Simon's car, and SWAT is standing by. Of course, Freeman is following and he blows the setup by calling Melanie and telling her Jim's a cop when he sees SWAT getting ready. By this time, Jim's already opened the safe so they're going to kill him after they get out of the building. Jim is wearing coveralls in this scene since they're in the building as a maintenance crew.

Simon realizes the set up has gone bad and he sends in SWAT. Blair protests, thinking that Jim will be hit, but Jim knows what's going down when he sees the laser site on his shirt. Jim drops, and one of the bad guys is killed. Jim sees Freeman and takes off. I love that Simon orders Blair to stay in the car, but when Jim takes off, Simon tells Blair, "Let's go!". Jim chases Freeman while Blair and Simon follow. Oh, and Jim is hit by a car, but he keeps right on going! He must have been black and blue after that smack.

A foot chase ensues. Jim loses him, but Blair tells him to concentrate on his cologne. Jim follows the scent where Freeman ends up in the sewer, a place Jim is never happy to be. Simon lets Blair follow Jim while he calls for backup. Blair helps Jim by telling him to separate the smells. Jim is choking and coughing, but he does as Blair tells him. Jim is still in the coveralls. Blair is wearing his dark green silk shirt and jeans.

When Jim rushes the guy, Freeman slips over the edge of the wall. Jim is nice enough to catch him, but you can tell he's tempted to let him drop into the river. Blair convinces Jim he can't let Freeman die and Jim finally relents, hauling him up. Good Jim.

The final tag is a nice truck scene. Jim and Blair are talking about losing control, and Jim promises to do better about losing his temper. Blair calls Jim a good guy, which is nice. They drive off into the sunset together.

Cool. Another fine TS episode.

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