Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Foyle's War, The Closer, and Tea

I've been rewatching Foyle's War lately. If anyone reads this blog and has not seen at least one episode of Foyle's War, they really should. Aunt Kitty? Have you? Do I need to bring up a DVD when I visit? For those Not In The Know, it's about a detective dealing with murder and mayhem amidst the backdrop of World War II. The British made it, and it's awesome.

One of my favorite little things about the show is tea. Yes. If Foyle's War is to be believed the British see tea as a cure all. When they capture a German spy and don't know what to do with him, they put him in a room and give him some tea. When a woman's husband is found murdered inside her bombed out house, they stick her in a pub and give her some tea. I've decided that at some point a Foyle's War drinking game must be done, and of course you would drink whenever they drank tea.

Meanwhile, I've been drinking more tea lately. If it works for them...

And then there was The Closer, a TNT series about a woman who comes from out of state to be a Deputy Police Chief in Los Angeles. The situation is ripe for overblown conflict and yelling, but they managed to handle it in a manner that was funny and realistic. No yelling, but plenty of subtle power struggles. The secondary characters, the detectives who work under her, are very well done. Once they get to know her they are protective of her, but at the same time, she is their boss, and they are willing to be a little mean and nosy as well.

I adored season one, but I'm having a major issue with season two. Our heroine keeps coming up with major clues to the solve the case through correlations with her personal life. Like, three episodes in a row. Done once with finesse, this is fine. But now it makes her seem lucky rather than intelligent. So, if her own life hadn't mirrored the case in some way, would she have never come up with the solution?

So Foyle's War, keep it up with the tea. And Closer? Stop that!

1 comment:

Catherine said...

I have believed in tea-as-cure-all my whole life. Bad report card? Tea! Brokenhearted? Tea! Jet-lagged? Tea! Truly, it makes the world slow down and wait for you.