kipkuhmi

This is a great ending to a very well crafted TV series which keeps its style from beginning to end. The Ravini/Ripley interview scene lacked credibility, as many people have justly pointed out, and the Caravaggio mini side plot might not have been entirely convincing. But all together it was well done with a great cast, superb photography and a very clever script.

There is a theatrical priniciple called "Chekov's gun" which states that every item that is being presented in a story must have its use. This has become a standard narrative element in film, sometimes to the extent of predicatability - the camera explicitly shows us a gun, so we know it will be of importance sooner or later. I liked very much how Mr Zaillian played with this element and the viewers' expectation when it comes to the expected final twist - that one Big Blunder that Tom Ripley will surely make that will blow his scheme to pieces. Tom handing Marge his coat because she is cold. She'll find something in the pockets, right? The slippery edge at the boat dock that is hinted at serveral times - Tom will stage an "accident" with Marge there and it will be the one murder to many, won't it? Will Marge find Tom's suitcase under his bed? Will Ravini recognize Tom's ash tray from Dickie's appartment in Rome? This is an entire arsenal of Chekov guns. And all this is dragged out so painfully for us who (strangely) want Tom Ripley to get away that you can almost hear Mr Zaillian chuckle in his cutting room chair: "Well, let's have them suffer a little longer". It also shows how the makers of this series for the most part used the generous time frame of a mini series very intelligently.

The icing on the cake was the moment when Marge wandered around Tom's appartment in search of some sewing material because she tore a strap on her bra. She accidently stumbles over Dickie's ring that is now obviously in Tom's possession, and that can only mean ONE thing, right?

This scene, which doesn't appear in the novel, is a direct reference to the 1999 Minghella movie where it is a major plot point. The way that Mr Taillian elaborated on this was a real joy to watch, like the rest of the show.

The Big Bang Theory has given us so many hours of joy that it really hurts to say this, but this episode (plus the one preceding it) is so bad it is almost unwatchable. I've watched the whole series from High IQ sperm clinic to post-Stockholm couch dinner at least six or seven times, but this is one of the very few episodes that I usually skip. Why is that?

(1) The whole "Penny re-marries Leonard" sequence is completely unoriginal. Obviously the writers couldn't come up with a better cliff hanger for the end of season 9 than "Hey, why not have ANOTHER wedding?", so they decided to have this Leonard-Penny relationship that had run out of steam loooong ago drag out a little more.

(2) What the heck is going on with Beverly Hofstaedter? For an entire season she keeps telling us how nice it was that Leonard and Penny married in secret and didn't bother her with all this wedding nonsense. She can barely stand exchanging more than two sentences with her son. But then, all of a sudden, we learn that in truth she is deeply hurt that there hadn't been a ceremony that she had been invited to. Aha, that comes unexpectedly, but all right. Let's have another wedding ceremony, made !!especially and explicitly!! Because of her. But surprise again, what happens now: She shows up in foul mood, picks a fight with everybody and leaves early. So what's the point again of all this?

(3) The writing of the supporting cast is absolutely dreadful. Don't even mention Penny's brother. Just remember how Sheldon's mother and Penny's father were very funny, interesting and believable characters that one could find funny and respect them at the same time. And compare this to the one-dimensional cartoon characters that they have become here. Wyatt is acting like a ignorant hillbilly, and the only good thing about Mary Cooper is that for once she made me agree with Beverly Hofstaedter: Woman, would you please read another book?

(4) The "Colonel Williams" story arc that starts with this episode is especially regrettable and strange, because I think every Breaking Bad fan was happy to see Dean Norris having made it out of the Arizona desert. But what a wasted opportunity it turns out to be across the following episodes. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the idea of that gyroscope military project. And in all fairness, there were some funny moments in it, too. But rarely have I seen a character that made so little sense like this Colonel Williams. Mr Norris is not to blame for that, it is lazy writing and especially lazy directing. Seriously, what is going on there? So this Col. Williams shows up again and again, in full uniform but wearing no hat, no coat, not even carrying a briefcase, not taking notes of any kind?!? No assistants supervising the project, no secretaries making appointments, no board or committee or sth discussing with Howard, Leonard and Sheldon what must be a billion dollar thing?!? Nope, it is just the Colonel who pops in now and then and leaves. This must be the most surreal character on the entire show. It is like the whole story thread would eventually turn out to be just a hallucination with the Colonel as some kind of Rabbit Harvey in uniform. As I said, the gyroscope story wasn't bad as such, but it could have been SO much better. You don't even get the feeling that the friends really are (in later episodes) in some secret location because the lab could have been on Caltech campus all the same. Why not show some outdoor locations, why not show the friends pull up to an Area-51-like military installation? Just imagine the kind of stories you could have gotten out of this.

The Big Bang Theory still remains one of my all-time favorite TV shows, and I give my 4/10 out of respect for all those fond memories. The moments that are pure gold still outweigh the week moment, but this episode surely belongs to the latter. It is one of those fifteen or twenty or so episodes by which the whole series should have been shorter.

What I liked most about this movie was how it managed to avoid every courtroom drama chliché in the book. If this was a Hollywood production, then after car chases, yelling prosecutors and the attorney jumping into bed with his client it would have been revealed that the boy was only faking his near-blindness and the murder had been committed by the baby-sitter. As much as I like a good murder mystery twist, I was hoping for the entire movie that Mrs Triet wouldn't ruin her story with some silly revelation in the end. Of course, my concerns were unfounded. This is a very well crafted and style-conscious film that keeps its naturalistic tone from the first minute to the last. Instead of a big surprise it is more about those little details that reveal more and more about a complicated marriage. Everybody is on their top game here - the dog included. Without spoilering anything, the ending leaves you with the feeling that an adequate verdict has been reached, although you can't be one hundred percent sure. And that's how most of those cases go in real life, I guess.