Beyond the Call

This review is guest-programmed by assistant priestess in the Cult of Cullen,

Jo_Macq

To start off with, a little sartorial note: when we Cultists ritually burn that green tie of Cullen's, can we use that yellow shirt of Duncan's as kindling for the ceremonial pyre? I don't think it suits his colouring.

Anyway, after the pre-credits recap (in which anyone reading my mind could hear me yelling, "Go away! GO AWAY!" -- footage of Ross and the DS in bed should also serve as kindling for the ritual pyre), we begin with Cullen and the vampiric china doll (henceforward the VCD, to save my typing fingers). Cullen, unless I'm completely mistaken, is in "humour her, or you'll be late" mode. The VCD is her usual, strident self. It's a good thing that the actress concerned is good at that, but then she has had a lot of practice She's still strident when Cullen returns from his meeting, when he tells her to come in and sit down in tones that suggest he thinks he should preserve the niceties of etiquette, even when he knows she's in the mood to follow him into his office without his permission. The upshot of all of this is that we get to see the VCD in a bouncy mood when she gets her own way, which is a sight of dread and horror when you are sure there are bound to be tears and recriminations before bedtime.

Today's subplot is introduced by Reg in, shall we say, a quizzical frame of mind, which doesn't, for a wonder, tie into the main plot. Reg has an interesting definition of "playing properly", one notices, in the scene where he gets Cass to test him out. I can only assume that he was expecting an easy one, or something showy that didn't take much brain power so that he could show off, and found himself foiled. One hopes that this didn't rub off onto the way he behaved around June and Munroe, because June sounded frustrated enough in the Custody area when the prisoner started joining in. Munroe, despite coming close to slipping and telling Reg exactly what he could do, showed why he's an Inspector and Reg is a Constable. There are some days when Reg would try the patience of some of the nicer saints. He wouldn't last five minutes with some of the tetchier ones...

Back to CID, and Cullen's office, which resembled a canteen at times, with the cups of coffee being consumed. (My notes, at one point, say "What, no biscuits?") I was glad that Vik and Duncan were involved, as there were plenty of occasions where it might've degenerated into an American high school girls' locker room stereotype without them, with Cullen having to act as headmaster to a pair of unruly, snobby schoolgirls.

The VCD should've been off the case altogether -- too gung-ho about it, too closely involved, as subtle as a brick to the head, and constantly in deniability mode. She obviously wants to play Nemesis, and is only managing to be a gorgon, if her expression while she was doing the "we're all women of the world" bit. Loathsome. She's a fine one to talk about what things look like, or sound like (so's Cass, for that matter). One might almost feel sorry for Kate, if one didn't also think she ought to know better by now than to trust the VCD. And having her bump into Swain like that was a bit obvious.

Come the time of the raid, and it looked like someone had fun with the pyrotechnics

This gets the curate's egg too, because the VCD vandalises episodes she plays a major part, as far as I'm concerned. The excellent parts, of course, are Cullen and the CID team players...