“Possession” (Season 12)
By Hank 74
Lennie-9/10
Ed-9/10
Van Buren-7/10
Jack-8/10
Serena-9/10
Nora-6/10
Supporting Cast-7/10
Plot-7/10
Performance-7/10
Value-4/10
Total Grade-73/100 or a C-
Notes:
Let me begin by offering another one of my comparisons to an old ep. In this
case, it would definitely be "Cradle to Grave" from season 2. But
without a doubt that ep from the Cerretta years is far much better overall than
what I saw tonight. Unfortunately this ep was not good, and I'm being as fair
as I can in grading this.
The ironic thing is this was Serena's best ep so far, and it happens to be
where the rest of it fell apart. Her wardrobe was better and more conservative,
but I'm no fashion expert. More importantly though, we finally got to see her
character shine in the face of adversity. In this case trying to get an
indictment. Seems rather routine and normal, but we now learn of a few things
which the grand jury can do. Defense attorneys often complain they only listen
to the DA and follow their lead. But in this case, the grand jury exhibited
their veto power and slapped it back in Serena's face. I wished we could have
seen more of this process at work and heard from the doctors whom the defense
wanted to call. Yet I sense that even though Serena lost, she received support
from Nora and more importantly from Jack.
What bothered me the most about this was the choppiness and weaving out to left
field without a clear connection. The "Law" part was OK, and the
first part of the "Order" part was getting interesting. But then come
the final part, it simply went downhill by going all over the map from the
sister to the brother to the business manager. Follow the money, but leave us
some crumbs along the way.
Another problem was the acting, particularly of the brother. I know he was
casted by Mr. Wolf and co. to be an annoying, cranky man. But the whole
character annoyed me and including the relationship with the deceased was way
out of left field. Let me just say that Iris Corman in "Cradle to
Grave" was far better portrayed than the dress designer/owner in this one.
That's all I can say about it. It was bad. Hopefully you had something good to
do this Halloween. I wouldn't tape this one if I were you.
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