“Robbing Hood”
Written by Jim Danger Gray Directed by Paul Shapiro The Story Ned is rather anxious about the fact that Vivian is dating the weird guy who was trying to find his dad and who has seen Chuck alive and will therefore probably figure out soon that she’s the one who’s supposed to be dead. Emerson gets hired by a lawyer to solve the murder of his single client. Who had been a yarn kingpin of sorts. His corpse is now attached to his chandelier. They get a lead from him: the bellman killed him. Also, he had a really obnoxious ditzy blonde trophy wife. Ned goes to find the trophy that leads to the man’s will, but unfortunately, all of his trophies are taxidermy game animals. Also the safe with the will turns out to be empty. Lots of rich people have been robbed lately, and it might be connected. Chuck wants to wake up her dad to find out what Dwight Dickson is up to, but Ned thinks that’s a little extreme. The serial rich person robber always donates to charity after pulling a job. Dwight Dickson tries to manipulate Vivian into giving him Charles’s watch, but he does like her a bit. With the case, Chuck wants to run a sting using Lily and Vivian’s house as a lure for the thief, and it would also put her in the position to check her dad’s old letters for references to Dwight. Olive is the bait on the hook (pretending to be a super rich lady). Lily hates this plan, but Vivian thinks it’s exciting. While everyone else prepares for the sting with varying degrees of cooperativeness, Chuck examines the hidden box of her father’s things. Sure enough, the thief shows up. He claims the murder victim asked him to rob him to keep the money away from the trophy wife. Ned, Chuck, and Emerson stake out the trophy wife and catch her snogging the bellman. Dwight shows up creepily at the Pie Hole, scaring Olive and leaving behind a threat. Lily confronts Dwight, then points he rifle at him and demands he leave. She then goes to visit Charlotte’s grave, which has plainly been dug up. The thief returns the will but tries to escape, and Emerson doesn’t let him. Also, the robber accidentally dropped the chandelier on the victim. The lawyer inherits everything, except Emerson’s fee. Lily goes to confront Dwight and finds a huge arsenal in his room. Also Charles’s watch, which he stole, and proves to Lily that he unearthed Charlotte’s grave. Ned and Chuck have no choice but to bring back Charles Charles and ask him questions. The aunts are in this one even more than the last one! Yay! But Emerson and Olive are still getting kinda shafted for it. Despite that, this episode stands out for how strongly it focuses on the arc, both emotionally and plot-wise. The murder investigation took more of a backseat than it usually does. Vivian’s romance with Dwight and Dwight’s ulterior motives span multiple episodes, and they’re dragging Lily and her secrets along kicking and screaming. Ned and Chuck revisit the matter of reviving her father, and ultimately only decide to do it when they have no other options. I liked all of that, but I do feel like we’re missing an important piece of information that would sell the Dwight Dickson plot. Namely, what the crap is so important about those watches? Hopefully this is a question that will be answered soon. Things I Liked
Things I Didn’t
The Characters Vivian’s resolve not to live vicariously is incredibly sad and touching, and I love that she carries Charlotte’s obituary with her as a reminder of that resolve. It sucks that she’s going to get burned by this relationship. Lily’s overprotectiveness of Vivian! She really hasn’t had an opportunity to display that quality before now. One of my favorite things is when a normally extremely crotchety character is called upon to defend a loved one. They act like they hate everything, but you do not mess with the people they love. Ned’s nightmare about getting dissected if his gift is discovered is horrifying. So I’m totally with Chuck: it’s incredibly brave and wonderful of him to put her emotions over his own safety. I feel like this is the most Chuck has ever appreciated something Ned has done for her—not that she’s been entirely unappreciative in the past, but Olive did have a point about her being kind of self-absorbed. Also, a few episodes ago, Chuck was upset with Ned for refusing to touch her dad back to life so she could say goodbye. Now she’s being clear-headed enough about the situation to recognize the service he’s doing her by sparing her that pain. It’s starting to feel like Olive has slid into basic Hufflepuff supporting character mode, where she doesn’t drive any plots herself or have big emotional arcs, just cheerfully supports her friends in theirs. Overall Rating 4.5/5
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The Watcher's Diary
In this blog, I'll be reviewing, analyzing, and generally fangirling over excellent television. Exhibit A: the Whedonverse. Archives
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