Date of airing: October 23, 1999 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 8.50 million viewers, 5.8/10 in Households, 2.5/8 with Adults 18-49
written by: Eric Tuchman
directed by: Reza Badiyi
I can only hope that this was not the final episode of Miguel Diaz, or else, his character and his position as a (photo-)journalist who knows about Gary getting into danger too often was very much wasted in his appearances. Maybe Miguel is about to become "just" one of Gary's friends from here on, or an acquaintance who sometimes pops up and assists Gary in his missions to save the day (or the other way around, as Gary has done in this episode). Or maybe the writers have finished with him, and EARLY EDITION continues to be a stand-alone-type series, with recurring characters slowly being phased out during the final episodes of the series, as it became clear that the show would most likely not see another season, judging by the subpar ratings.
There is almost no reason for Miguel to be a recurring character any longer, since his story was told to completion during this hour, but the guy seemed too important for Gary halfway into the episode to just drop Miguel like that and forget about him. The twist of him having kept tabs on Gary’s name for the past three years makes you think that this was a setup for another story in another episode. It is obvious that Gary’s name will not be in the paper like that, since the writers already did that once before (thank you for that, Chuck) and the cat did not like it, but there could be something in the story now, and I can only hope the writers were thinking about how to approach it in a serious manner, and without losing some of the awkward humor the show has found over the course of the past two seasons.
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| Meet Gary Hobson, always hiding out in the garbage bin. |
Miguel was a bit of an annoying character though. He sounded like a womanizer at one point, and I do not like the look of a guy with short hair and just one earring hanging there, as if that is the sexiest look a guy can come up with in the 1990s. That is sort of a 1980s/early 90s look, and if you are into it, you can go for it, but I find it to be a bit much boyband-like, as if you have seen a few too many primetime teen soap operas in your life and decided to emulate the look of Brian Austin Green. It kind of makes you look like a fool now, in addition to giving you a resemblance with a pimp that does not like wearing suits and a gold chain.
Anyway, Miguel was close to being a dick-ish character here, but I guess that is what comes out of the guy when he has a girlfriend who could not stop talking about getting married while at gunpoint, or chat about baby names even though you are technically still broken up. For a hot second, I was stunned that Miguel did not just run away from that woman and realized he would live in peace and quiet without her, but then I remembered he is a dick-ish character who wears only one earring, which means he is a womanizer and likes having women around. Plus point for Justina Machado being that woman, however. She came before my eyes for the first time during the final season of ER, where she played Archie's love interest, and I liked her there, so now I kind of want to know in what she starred, so I can watch more of her. I guess I will have to put ONE DAY AT A TIME on my to-watch list now.
Meanwhile, the story of the supposed-to-be-dead millionaire was weird. I realize that when you fake your death, you do not want to be photographed, but when one guy knows you are alive and can easily make your life a living hell by telling the press, then maybe you show a little too much trust in that one guy knowing your secret. Not to mention that you fake your death and yet still roam around freely like you are a guy on an errand run – maybe disguise yourself? Put on a wig and a fake mustache, maybe wear some sunglasses, and you will not be accidentally recognized by a photojournalist who accidentally took your picture. Okay, the writers explained why Bruce risked exposure by being in Chicago (he needed to find all his riches, which he apparently could not do within a single day), but if Bruce was such a criminal, he could have hired a bunch of cheap crooks that could have gotten the riches out of the city for him, instead of doing it by himself. Heck, Bruce could have asked his right-hand henchman Victor to do it and handsomely pay him for that. While the setup of the crime story is not riddled with plot holes, it does not really make sense either. Then again, this is EARLY EDITION, and the villains most of the time do not handle their crap very well.
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| The dream team makes the evil man go down hard! |
I mean, come on, either Victor or Gary could have emptied the gun before Victor gave it back to Bruce to get shot. Gary knew Victor would be killed, but Bruce still got handed a loaded pistol? How are people in this show so stupid, and why is no one able to become a smart character by doing smart things here? Granted, everything went fine in the end – Bruce got caught, and no one got killed, but why even risk the danger of getting shot when you could have *not* given Bruce a loaded gun to shoot around with? This is still Saturday night family entertainment, so maybe characters should not be handed loaded weapons to kill people with. I mean this in a serious way, because I would love to know how much pressure CBS put on their Saturday night family dramas, to keep them G rated and keep most story complexities out of the show, while also trying to put excitement into their family-friendly programming to get new viewers.
