Date of airing: November 1, 1997 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 13.34 million viewers, 8.3/14 in Households
This was another TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL-type episode set in Chicago with the main character getting tomorrow’s newspaper today, instead of a couple of angels with bright orange halos shining above their heads. Sometimes I wish those shows would just cross over and get it over with, for EARLY EDITION to officially recognize the inspiration it has been getting for most of the previous 29 episodes, to show the viewers that the world of some CBS dramas needed lifesavers and both literal and figurative angels. It made the show about angels a little conspicuous at times, and it does make EARLY EDITION a bit pretentious as well, since the show never really utilizes its fantasy genre or the Lucius Snow backstory, but sometimes I just want to watch some wholesome and good-hearted TV dramas.
The episode was okay. Once more, there was a little bit of a retcon, as Gary and Chuck were suddenly involved in a community project that was run by a church, least alone getting a connection to a soup group for food donations, which for a new kitchen and restaurant, seemed rather interesting. It was the show's effort to get into the elusive (for TV drama storytelling) South Side of Chicago, even if this episode may not have even been set there (but what do I know about the locations used in this episode?). I'm curious though as to why the writers haven't used the real-life tragedies of some of Chicago's neighborhoods for their show, as EARLY EDITION would have been a perfect fit for such a narrative for an episode or two, simply because for the sake of emotional drama and kitsch. Considering this show is set in Chicago and never shied away from going from one place to the next to shoot some exterior stuff, it was nice to see that the producers made it out there – if they actually made it out there, and didn’t just shoot in a random Chicago corner that was in fact not the South Side.
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| There's a duel of stares in the church. |
Kareem was a top-notch generic TV character with issues all over his face. As soon as he put on his sunglasses, right after he left prison, I knew I wouldn’t like the guy, I knew that he would cause all kinds of trouble and not be the person Gary needed to save, and I knew that I would rather want to see him back in prison for whatever he had planned on doing, including ruining the lives of a few characters in his surroundings. That turned out to be his own younger brother, and while the narrative was extremely troped-up and predictable, it at least gave the characters a field to play in, and made the premise of a community program run by a church count. Granted, Sister Mary Alice didn't get a lot of character depth here either, but episodes like this remind me of the idea I had about reviving the genre of social-work TV dramas – something CBS was really good at during the 1990s and early 2000s with this show, TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, its spin-off show PROMISED LAND, JUDGING AMY, and then JOAN OF ARCADIA. Studios connected with CBS even produced 7TH HEAVEN, but that one aired on The WB.
Marcus happened to be a
top-notch generic TV character as well, since all his emotions could not
have been more of a plot device to get more into Sister Mary’s
decision-making process and to have it be about her decision to relocate and start anew. It’s almost like this wasn’t Marcus’s episode,
but it was Sister Mary’s. It wasn't about Marcus who was trapped in the heinous claws of his evil brother, but it was about Sister Mary's emotional state of mind, and how she constantly felt like her work was not enough, now that one of her boys was killed and another was about to make acquaintances with law and order.
In fact, Gary’s efforts to change a headline might not only have
influenced the subjects of a headline, but also surrounding parties. By
helping Marcus stay alive, Gary inadvertently also helped Sister Alice,
and I noticed that when she was driving away, hopefully never to return
to Chicago, because the nun hasn’t figured out that her state of mind
was less important than the people she was supposed to help. I
can understand that you might get burned out in these kinds of jobs, unable to
help any more people when you're shot and burned mentally as well, but Sister Alice seemed rather annoyed and
disappointed in herself that she was unable to actually help someone, so
she decided to quit. Well, she was young, and she probably saw an easy life in walking away from Chicago, never having to think about herself and instead just
focus on one thing. That doesn't really make her a good character in hindsight.
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| Welcome to Hollywood, Judy Greer! Yes, this was her first-ever role. |
Meanwhile, Chuck’s story was bananas once more. I was a bit perplexed to see Judy Greer in this episode (this seemed to have been her first-ever role), but maybe that just happened because she is something of an A-lister these days. The actor you can cast for your project when you need someone playing a mom. And of course, Chuck had to fall in love with this beautiful young woman who identified as "Chef," but who couldn’t do anything in the kitchen than place an apple on a plate. As if the writers needed to make sure once more that Chuck is more of a prick and less of a manager being taken seriously by his staff and the audience, thinking about one thing and one thing only before putting others’ needs above himself. Like, hiring actual chefs for the restaurant he is supposed to be running.
