Date of airing: April 29, 2000 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 7.38 million viewers, 5.0/10 in Households, 2.1/8 with Adults 18-49
written by: Lawrence Meyers
directed by: Kyle Chandler
Kyle Chandler is mostly busy as an actor or as a rancher in Texas when he is home with his family, quoting FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS to his two daughters. But for two times in his career, he was also active as a director. Once for the penultimate episode of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS in 2011, and once for this very episode, which is his directorial debut, and judging by how his career continued, the number of TV episodes he sat on the director's chair for remains at two. It seemed obvious, however, that Chandler would get more involved in a direct fashion on this show, after he was given a producing credit for this season. It also does not seem like a coincidence that Chandler also directed the episode that saw Fisher Stevens return for his final appearance in the series. Why not take charge of the episode that guest stars one of your friends (and I am going to assume and say that Chandler and Stevens were friends back then, or the latter would not have returned for three episodes after his exit from the series at the end of season two) and have a little fun that way? I can imagine that this episode may have been fun to produce and shoot, as the story was light and a bit humorous, the bickering and banter between the characters was on a high level, and the general tone felt like friends getting together and making a movie.
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| Gary wishes he would have a bride at his side right now. |
There have been three recurring characters in this episode (one of them a former main character) – it makes me realize once more that the writers successfully managed to build a pool of characters they could use whenever they wanted, so that their show does not always look like a pure anthology series without any kind of character development, or a series that always resets the world after the end of an episode. Amber/Jade might have been the least interesting of the three recurring characters in this hour, but she showed the most character development, as she turned from a professional thief to a CIA liaison who can stop a civil war in a fictional country from breaking out. From a professional thief to a professional thief on a government contract – it is almost like Amber/Jade became a character of interest in this episode, with the writers probably thinking about when and how to give her a spot in a spin-off show that is all about heists.
But I guess such a show already existed somewhere on syndicated television, or was planned as a spin-off show on one of the many UPN dramas that tried to spin-off their shows into other shows that the network brass did not need to fully follow the development process of, because said development was already shown on screen. The third season of the time-travel action fun hour SEVEN DAYS supposedly had a multitude of backdoor pilots, testing out various guest characters if they were right for a potential show, and there was a professional thief among those characters in said show. I do not know a lot about EARLY EDITION, but there is a chance CBS might have done the same kind of character testing, as I think that it was a general way to try out potential future central characters for new TV shows – instead of developing them on paper through scripts, they were developed on the air in random shows, to gauge the viewers' interest in said characters.
This episode was okay. Amber/Jade was a different character, including having a different name she goes by for most of the time, which means her adventures during “The Iceman Taketh” could be considered a whole ‘nother story, while this episode did not even need the backstory of Amber's career as a diamond thief. Then again, how much time would the writers have wasted to bring in Chuck, his bride-to-be, as well as the fact that she was a professional thief without the backstory from "The Iceman Taketh" and the notion that Gary and Brigatti have already been dealing with Amber once before? Meanwhile, the episode failed to make me care about Chuck and Amber/Jade as a couple – in a way, Chuck was not even needed here, as he got less and less screentime as the episode went on and the story became more about her than him. But I was happy to note that Chuck was not as annoying as previously here. I was thinking that Chuck catching Gary and Amber/Jade together would lead to an absurd confrontation, but Gary only got a fist into the face and a few seconds of disappointment from his best friend. Thank the heavens there was not any more to have me roll my eyes out the back of my skull again.
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| Brigatti is in some sort of danger. |
At least the episode was not waiting for a cruel twist to break some of the characters' hearts. Amber/Jade was indeed telling the truth about her CIA-sanctioned heist, and she and Chuck were indeed getting married at the end, although I do believe that the marriage is not destined to last for long – Chuck is not that kind of character to get settled with a woman, and I see a divorce coming in less than five years, especially after Chuck made it clear to Gary and Marissa that he and Jade have known each other for only a couple of weeks
Brigatti's return was welcomed, and she was an okay-ish character in this hour, albeit a bit annoying with her brute behavior in front of Gary. But she was here, she continued her bickering with Gary, characters continued to notice their sexual tension, and the writers continued not to do anything with it, foregoing the development of a romantic relationship between the two for the sake of easy buddy comedy writing. It is a shame that the writers never made anything out of Gary and Brigatti, and unfortunately, this episode was it when it comes to the two, as we say goodbye to Brigatti forever and always – this was her final episode, and with four episodes left for the series, there was no time left for Gary to find happiness.
