Now. Being close to the earth as I am, I will be watching the gender issues dynamics. It wasn't too terrible tonight, but given the nature of the show, I'd want to step lightly.

Yeah, that tweaked me just a little. It's funny, huh? I know Tim from here at least, and trust him, but it's sort of like when Joss' Bad Daddy issues keep popping up. Or I guess, Hitchcock's cool blonde thang. Sorry Tim.

I wonder what's tweaking me? Rebecca doesn't play as strong right off. Not like Buffy going into the alley and then the overhead shot of her doing the handstand on the pipe. That's iconic. The images that resonate are the creep man-handling her out of the train, the fucked up paternalism of Webb; the white-knightism of Paul; her pulling her gun on the wrong guy.

So yeah, she's allowed to be herself, that character, and fuck up. And yet and yet....how much time before we see her be that strong person (not told so by Webb). Already she's primarily defined by her victimhood and the child abduction. She could've used a Fred-with-bloody-fist scene at least.

Purely on the level of narrative strategy, I wonder if its worth the play to go for the arc (character moving into their strength) at the expense of the first impression (iconography/myth/impact/identification). I trust that I'll be satisfied with the character arc by the time the story has played out, but first impression felt a little sour.

And it wasn't the acting. I thought Rachel was good.

Just thinking out loud.

Loved the Allyson shout-out and the Angelesque timelapse photography. Missed the Wolfram Security SO.

Not too gory at all. Why are they all having hissyfits?

I liked the plot turns, but my credulity was strained on several points: killer is in-house; killer is manipulating a special needs panty sniffer; victim is in-house. WTF? "This time it's personal!"

I think you get one unlikely scenario like that - the rest is just jerking the plot.

Thought the dialogue was a little overripe at times. Same thing P-C noted, "Gift born in darkness..." blah blah.

Also, the whole serial killer/profiler pop mythology feels a little played out to me by now. How long ago was it I first read Red Dragon anyway? That was in the 80s. Since then, SotL, Profiler, Millenium, gradually diminishing shadows of FBI stuff. Even hanging a lantern on Clarice Starling didn't diminsh that.

Oof - that all sounds negative, but those are really just quibbles. It had all the Timmy virtues; a well-crafted narrative (by which I mean the integration of exposition with character revelation, plot turns (despite some straining at the leash), pilot type set-up, characters revealed by their actions.

I'm in.

Didn't sound negative at all! One point of clarification -- the killer wasn't in-house. He was a security guy at the Angeles transit, the place they went to sift through the transit security footage.

Ple, I've got it on TiVo if nobody local has it handy.

One point of clarification -- the killer wasn't in-house. He was a security guy at the Angeles transit, the place they went to sift through the transit security footage.

Aha! Poor viewership on my part. Okay, that eases up stress on one major credulity point. Plus, it almost makes me forgive you for killing off Denver The Beatnik Esoteric Book Seller.

Poking head to whine at the general direction of the people who got to satisfy their curiosity congratulate Tim on the beginning of a new show.

thanks, Nilly, and David. Got lots of familiar faces to kill off, er, see. Shooting with good ol' Keith Szarabajka this week.

Nilly, you'd like it. It has a lot of intriguing characters that make you curious about their backstory. Same way they played out River in the early Firefly eps. You want to know. Web's got some Mal, and some spydaddy (from Alias) in him. And it's not too gory! Paul's got a little Simon in him (and Xander, but with Angel's old haircut. Jeez, how can that still be the cool haircut ten years on? Jane needs to make a new hair product joke at his expense.)

Shooting with good ol' Keith Szarabajka this week.

Oh, I love his voice.

Tim, several people I know here (um, face-space, Israel-here) are already downloading the episode as I type. I'm too prude for that, but I'm the minority.

Shooting with good ol' Keith Szarabajka this week.

Sweet! Make him say something growly. He's a good growler.

I'm too prude for that, but I'm the minority.

We ship you DVDs.

We'll include commercials to absolve you of guilt.