Any review giving this episode 2 stars or higher is hopeful thinking for episodes to come. I notice some other reviews pointing out possible new writers because the script was so bad. Looks like the head writer hasn't changed so I don't think it's that. I think this terrible episode is due to 3 things:
1 - They tried to do too much. They wanted to mention Covid without mentioning it. They wanted to mention the police violence headlines being seen across the country without mentioning specific victims. They wanted to get both sides of that debate in as well which is a departure from the typical BB storyline. They wanted to remind us about Joe. And Eddie's dad. And Danny's hot temper. And Abigail's weird stare down when she closes the office door. It all felt forced and there was no true narrative to the script.
2 - The actors are simply out of practice. If you're a professional basketball player and take 8 months off from the court or even touching a basketball for that matter, your first day back will assuredly feature some air balls. This episode saw a lot of air balls.
3 - A lot of people are mentioning the director or writer for the flaws in this one. I really think it's the editor's fault and I'm surprised considering he's edited over 60 eps in the past. Especially with Frank, they cut into reaction counterpoints too early. He was still in the listening phase of his acting and that extra pause makes the conversation feel clunky and unnatural. This happened..a lot! With not just Selleck either. It's most pronounced in his scenes with the 1PP trio and Erin though. There's a really bad edit with Jamie and Eddie too at one point. As someone who has held the job before, I think they really need to get the editing supervisor to crack the whip on dialogue edits..for the sake of one of my favorite shows.
NOTE: A thing many people don't know is the edits have to fit the commercial schedule sometimes, not the other way around. So, this means, it may not be the editor's fault. He may have had to elongate scenes to fill time to get to the break. This would suggest poor show producing but the problem lies somewhere in there. The edit was a huge problem on this episode..I'm simply speculating as to the cause.
1 - They tried to do too much. They wanted to mention Covid without mentioning it. They wanted to mention the police violence headlines being seen across the country without mentioning specific victims. They wanted to get both sides of that debate in as well which is a departure from the typical BB storyline. They wanted to remind us about Joe. And Eddie's dad. And Danny's hot temper. And Abigail's weird stare down when she closes the office door. It all felt forced and there was no true narrative to the script.
2 - The actors are simply out of practice. If you're a professional basketball player and take 8 months off from the court or even touching a basketball for that matter, your first day back will assuredly feature some air balls. This episode saw a lot of air balls.
3 - A lot of people are mentioning the director or writer for the flaws in this one. I really think it's the editor's fault and I'm surprised considering he's edited over 60 eps in the past. Especially with Frank, they cut into reaction counterpoints too early. He was still in the listening phase of his acting and that extra pause makes the conversation feel clunky and unnatural. This happened..a lot! With not just Selleck either. It's most pronounced in his scenes with the 1PP trio and Erin though. There's a really bad edit with Jamie and Eddie too at one point. As someone who has held the job before, I think they really need to get the editing supervisor to crack the whip on dialogue edits..for the sake of one of my favorite shows.
NOTE: A thing many people don't know is the edits have to fit the commercial schedule sometimes, not the other way around. So, this means, it may not be the editor's fault. He may have had to elongate scenes to fill time to get to the break. This would suggest poor show producing but the problem lies somewhere in there. The edit was a huge problem on this episode..I'm simply speculating as to the cause.