Star Trekking: Star Trek - The Original Series - Season Two - Part Three

Welcome to Star Trekking, my weekly blog forum for my Star Trek fandom.  

And we're back for our 3rd week of looking back on the second season of Star Trek, the Original Series.

A brief recap of my criteria for these posts.

• I watched it 
• I remember I watched it
• I enjoyed it when I watched it 

These posts are not meant to be objective or comprehensive.

Here are links to weeks one and two.

For week three, we're gonna pick up with what may be considered peak Star Trek, "The Trouble With Tribbles". 

Sometimes modern fans get twisted out of joint by the comedy in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.  Why can't modern Trek be about serious issues and serious sci-fi like the classic series?

Inevitably, someone will counter this argument with, "Hey, what about the  'The Trouble With Tribbles'?" so yeah, Star Trek could be funny so there, now shut up.

While I do enjoying re-watching "The Trouble With Tribbles" for all the laughs, the episode is set around some serious plot points.

After being on the brink of all our war in season 1's "Errand of Mercy", the Federation and the Klingons are in a state of uneasy detente, forced into a treaty by the Organians. (A nice bit of continuity to season one's "Errand of Mercy", building on a previous episode.)  

Kirk seems bemused and even befuddled by the whole deal with quadrotriticale, the miracle wheat stored on the K-7 space station awaiting transport to a colony world. It is an important wedge in the diplomatic gamesmanship between the Federation and the Klingons.  

Granted, it may not be an exciting "important wedge" hence the introduction of a chaos element, the Tribbles. 

The cute little purring balls of fur are fun and functional, facilitating moments of character development for the cast (Uhura gets some well deserved time in the spotlight) and exposing the plot involving quadrotriticale and the Klingon's duplicity.

Kirk spends a lot of time being annoyed by a lot of things in this episode: 

• by the Federation goon ordering him around about protecting the quadrotriticale on the space station.
• by EVERYONE but him knowing what quadrotriticale is. Even Chekov. (Who insists it's a "Wussian inwention".)
• the Klingons who have shown up wanting shore leave on the station 
• the multiplying moppet Tribbles are EVERYWHERE! (In his captain's chair on the bridge and even in his chicken sandwich and coffee!) 

To coin a phrase, his suffering is amusing to me.

But it's not damn funny to Kirk! 

And he demands answers from his chief medical officer.  

MCCOY:  Don't look at me. It's the tribbles who are breeding. If we don't get them off this ship, we're going to be hip deep in them.

KIRK: Explain that.

MCCOY: The nearest thing I can figure out is they're born pregnant, which seems to be quite a time saver.

KIRK: I know, but really...

MCCOY: And from my observations, it seems they're bisexual, reproducing at will. And, brother, have they got a lot of will.

SPOCK: Captain, I am forced to agree with the doctor. I've been running computations on their rate of reproduction. The figures are taking an alarming direction. They're consuming our supplies and returning nothing.

UHURA: But they do give us something, Mister Spock. They give us love. Well, Cyrano Jones says a tribble is the only love that money can buy.

KIRK: Too much of anything, Lieutenant, even love, isn't necessarily a good thing.

Things take a somewhat dark turn for the Tribbles when it's revealed they've consumed all the grain on the space station.

MCCOY: Jim, I think I've got it. All we have to do is quit feeding them. We quit feeding them, they stop breeding.

KIRK: Now he tells me.

SPOCK: Captain this tribble is dead. And so are these.

MCCOY: A lot of them are dead. A lot of them are alive, but they won't be for long.

SPOCK: The logical assumption is that there is something in the grain.

KIRK: Yes. Bones, I want the tribbles, the grain, everything analysed. I want to know what killed these tribbles.

MCCOY: I haven't figured out what keeps them alive yet.

If anyone in this episode is having troubles with Tribbles, it's Dr.McCoy.   

SIDE BAR: Also having a bad day is Scotty. Look, all he wants to do is hang out in his quarters reading technical manuals.

• Kirk orders him to take shore leave on the space station.
• Where he gets into a fight with the Klingons.
• Which gets him confined to quarters.
• Which is where he wanted to be all along to read his technical manuals.  

ANOTHER SIDE BAR: With all due apologies to Jay-Den Kraag over on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, I still insist William Campbell's Koloth is Star Trek's first gay Klingon.

KOLOTH: Ah, my dear Captain Kirk.

KIRK: My dear Captain Koloth. What do you want?

KOLOTH: An official apology addressed to the Klingon High Command. I expect you to assume full responsibility for the persecution of Klingon nationals in this quadrant.

KIRK: An apology?

KOLOTH: Yes. You've harassed my men. You've treated them like criminals. You've been most uncourteous, Captain Kirk

A Klingon upset over a breach of... courtesy? Maybe he's gay, maybe not.  Look, when you're playing a Klingon like he's frickin' Liberace, the conclusions draw themselves.  

William Campbell played Trelane in season one's "The Squire of Gothos".

Producers: Hey, William, you remember how you played Trelane?

William Campbell:  Really gay?  

Producers: We want you to take Koloth in a different direction.

William Campbell:  Even more gay! Got it! 

Campbell would return to play Koloth in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Speaking of returns and DS9, Capt. Sisko and his crew play dress up in classic TOS garb and time travel back to the events of "The Trouble With Tribbles" in the fantastic Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribblelations".  

Any excuse to post Dax doing a twirl.

Tribbles would be reconned into an earlier appearance in the Short Treks episode, "The Trouble With Edward" where a Starfleet officer experiments with growing Tribbles for food and the little critters propagate so quickly, they overwhelm an entire starship.  

Your mileage may vary on the canonicity of this short episode. It doesn't entirely make sense and defers to the rule of funny* more than contributing to actual Star Trek lore. 

On that note...

Star Trek ventured into full on comedy with  "A Piece of the Action" which leans especially hard on the rule of funny.*

*Per TV Tropes, the rule of funny is any violation of continuity, logic, physics, or common sense is permissible if the result gets enough of a laugh.

Unlike the Tribbles episode, this foray into comedy does not have a serious framework to hang it's comedy.

The Iotians are an inherently clever and imitative culture who has built their world. their government and economy based on an old book left behind by a previous Starfleet vessel, Chicago Mobs of the Twenties. 

"A Piece of the Action" is a pretzel twist of logic to make a cost saving episode work.  The production team seems to be using left over costumes, props and sets from another Desilu Studios TV show, the 1920's set crime series The Untouchables. 

To be honest, a cursory check has not confirmed this theory and The Untouchables had stopped production in 1963, 4 years before "A Piece of the Action was made. Still, all the stuff from that old crime show may have been still lying around.

The plot contrivances needed to make this episode work are so strained and convoluted, it makes sense to just give up trying to take this seriously and play up the absurdity of the situation.

In order to bring order to Iotian society and try to repair some of the damage done by the prior contamination, Kirk has to play into the planet's mob oriented system by casting the Federation as a mob with Kirk as a mob boss.

KIRK: Now look, Krako, we're taking over the whole ball of wax. You co-operate with us and maybe we'll cut you in for a piece of the action.

SPOCK: A miniscule. A very small piece.

KRAKO: How much is that?

KIRK: That's, er. We'll figure it out later.

KRAKO: I thought you guys had laws. No interference.

KIRK: Who's interfering? We're taking over. Check?

SPOCK: Right.

(Kirk rolls his eyes. How can Spock be so bad at this?)

KIRK: The planet is being taken over by the Federation, but we don't want to come in here and use our muscle, you know what I mean? That ain't subtle. So what we do is we help one guy take over the planet. He pulls the strings, and then we pull his. (to Spock) Hey, you, sit down.

(They settle them selves with their feet up on Krako's desk.)

KRAKO: What's your cut?

KIRK: What do you care as long as you're being cut in? 

  

Even Spock eventually gets into the act.  

SPOCK: I would advise youse to keep dialing, Oxmyx.

Spock finally getting into character as a mobster gets me every single time. 

Eventually, Kirk negotiates a deal where the gangs begin cooperating with each other instead of fighting each other while the Federation gets a cut.  

"Hey, Scotty! This is KOIK!" 

It's pretty clever how Kirk uses the tenets of their mob based society to put them on a path away from all that anarchy.  Yes, it makes a hash of the Prime Directive but that was already fucked up by the original contamination.  

Also, who cares? It's funny! 

I did not care for "A Piece of the Action" when I was younger, dismissing it as too silly and too stupid. Now that I'm older, I tend to regard the silliness and the stupidity less as bugs and more as features.  

Who cares? It's funny! 

FUN FACT:  Quentin Tarentino's pitch for a Star Trek movie was a sequel to "A Piece of the Action".  

That's two comedic episodes. Let's get into something more serious. 

Next up we've got "The Immunity Syndrome"  which like "Obession" from earlier in season 2 deals with a non-humanoid alien entity, in this case a giant amoeba.

The entity destroys a starship with 400 Vulcans on board.  Across a vast distance of space, Spock reports he felt them die.

Spock senses a disturbance in the force.  (Whoops! Wrong franchise.) 

Not only has the crew of the Vulcan ship been killed but the billion plus inhabitants of the star system the Vulcans were exploring are also gone.

The culprit, a large dark zone, like an amoeba but reaching across the vastness of space.  

The Enterprise gets stuck in the zone and begins losing power. And the zone also impacts the health and life of the crew.  The remaining power of the ship and the lives of the crew can be measured in minutes.  

A plan is formed to send a shuttle into the heart of the entity to figure out what the hell it is and how to stop it. Spock is designated to carry out this mission.  

MCCOY: The DNA code analyser will give you the fundamental structure of the thing. You'll need readings on three light wavelengths from the enzyme recorder.

SPOCK: I am familiar with the equipment, Doctor. We're wasting time. The shuttlecraft is ready.

MCCOY: You're determined not to let me share in this, aren't you?

SPOCK: This is not a competition, Doctor. Whether you understand it or not, grant me my own kind of dignity.

MCCOY: Vulcan dignity? How can I grant you what I don't understand?

SPOCK: Then employ one of your own superstitions. Wish me luck.

(Silence and stares, then McCoy opens the hangar deck door. Spock walks across and into the Galileo. The doors shut.)

MCCOY: Good luck, Spock.

Aww! Despite all the constant ribbing and insults, McCoy is worried about his little buddy.

The mission into the entity goes well in that Spock is able to send back crucial Intel on what this damn thing is which in turns suggests ways to stop it.

BUT...

The mission does NOT go well in that it seems Spock is lost inside the dark zone with no hope of return.

A plan is put in motion to stop the entity but time is running out for the Enterprise to carry this out and escape from the dark zone.

When...

CHEKOV: Captain, metallic substance outside the ship.

MCCOY: Spock?

KIRK: Lieutenant, get me Spock's voice channel. Highest possible gain.

UHURA: Go ahead, sir.

KIRK: Spock, do you read me? Do you read me, Spock, do you read me? Come in, Spock. Spock! Scotty, get a tractor beam...

SCOTT: Captain, we don't have enough time to do it. We only have a fifty three second escape margin.

KIRK: I'm well aware of that, Mister Scott. Get two tractor beams on that shuttlecraft.

SCOTT: Aye, sir. Tractor beams on.

[Shuttlecraft]

SPOCK: Captain, I recommend you abandon the attempt, Do not risk the ship further on my behalf.

[Bridge]

MCCOY: Shut up, Spock! We're rescuing you.

[Shuttlecraft]

SPOCK: Why, thank you, Captain McCoy.

Long story made short, Spock is extricated from certain death and the giant space amoeba is disposed of.

In and of itself, "The Immunity Syndrome"  revisits the concept from "The Doomsday Machine" of the all powerful implacable enemy that cannot be negotiated with.

Point of order: the music for "The Immunity Syndrome" was lifted from the soundtrack recorded for "The Doomsday Machine".  

What makes this episode work for me is the character driven drama.

Spock "feeling" the death of 400 Vulcans and not necessarily coping well with that.

McCoy's sense of concern for Spock. Behind the incessant barbs directed at Spock, we see McCoy's genuine affection for his Vulcan crewmate.

Kirk wrestling with the burdens of command.  The shuttle mission into the entity is virtually a suicide mission and it's Kirk's responsibility to order someone to take that mission.  

The idea that has formed over the years that Kirk is some kind of headstrong space cowboy is undermined by the evidence of the Star Trek series showing Kirk as a serious minded, contemplative Captain.  

So that concludes my very cursory once-over of the second season of Star Trek.

Admittedly I did not cover everything that I watched, remembered and enjoyed but hey, this has gone on long enough.

Thanks again to Chrissie's Transcripts Site  for the script exerpts.

Coming up on future installments of Star Trekking:

We're taking another nostalgic spin around the block with Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Movie Time: Who Killed Teddy Bear?

So the countdown to Halloween is now measured in days.

7 days to go.

I did get the Halloween decorations up last week, if you count looking like a discount Mexican restaurant as Halloween decor.

We're still cycling through a series of movies of questionable quality. Today's movie is more of a crime drama than a horror film but I've watched this thing and I was horrified.

It's... Movie Time! 

The film for today's post is from 1965 and is called Who Killed Teddy Bear? This movie is about a young woman in New York City  just trying to live her life but damn if she doesn't have to contend with a sicko stalker who is terrorizing the city as a sex murderer.  

There's no nudity but the movie is a hot bed of taboo topics such as pornography, voyeurism, incest, and lesbianism. 

A lot of Who Killed Teddy Bear? was shot on location, providing a film document of Times Square and 42nd Street in a era of seedy and decrepit decline.

Norah Dain is trying to make the best of it in NYC as a nightclub disc jockey and aspiring actress living alone.  She's got her own apartment in Manhattan apartment so she's doing OK. Life could be better but it could also be worse.

And get worse it does when the obscene phone calls start. The creepy caller knows things about her, details he could only know if he was watching her everyday.  

When Norah finds a  decapitated teddy bear in her apartment, well, that's just one damn thing too many and she calls the cops.

Police detective Lt. Dave Madden is on the case.

Norah has trouble feeling assured. Lt. Dave is kind of weird.

Here's how Lt. Dave Madden goes about his work:

• secretly recording his discussions with Norah
• listening to tapes of Norah and other women talking about obscene phone calls
• obsessively studying pornography and the behavior of sex perverts

He does all this at home within earshot of his 10 year old daughter and quite frankly, that is SO wrong and just plain weird.

Lt. Dave Madden's superiors at work are concerned about how he conducts himself.

Hey! Could Lt. Dave Madden himself be Norah's obscene phone caller?  Wouldn't that be quite the plot twist, eh?

But he's not.

The filmmakers helpfully move that element of suspicion away from our disturbing detective and show us who the real caller is.

The obscene caller is seen to be Lawrence Sherman, a waiter at the nightclub where Norah works. 

Lawrence lives with and cares for his 19-year-old sister Edie, who is brain damaged and has the mind of a child. 

When she was a little girl, Edie suffered brain damage in a fall down the stairs while running away from seeing Lawrence having sex with an older woman.  

The story implies the older woman was their mother. Ewww! 

Lawrence is unable to have a normal romantic or sexual relationship due to his guilt over the accident and his duty to look after Edie following the death of their parents. 

Edie might have the child but she's in the body of a sexually maturing adolescent. Edie starts dressing a like an adult woman with high heels and makeup.  And she's flirting with Lawrence and... Double ewww!  Which Lawrence finds... frustrating?

OMG! What is this movie I've stumbled on to? Look, just because it's on TCM doesn't mean I have to watch this damn thing. 

But I've made it this far. 

Lawrence looks for outlets to relieve his... frustration.

• Visiting adult bookstores
• Pornographic movies 
• Making obscene calls to Norah

Norah is oblivious to all this back story. The Lawrence she knows from the nightclub seems like a nice of guy. She's friendly towards him, maybe even attracted to him. 

But the calls continue and Norah is very worried.  

Marian Freeman, the nightclub manager of the nightclub takes a personal interest in Norah and tries to advise and protect her. She offers to stay overnight with Norah at her apartment so Norah will not be alone and afraid. 

A kind gesture that goes awry when Norah thinks Marian is a lesbian and attempting to seduce her.  Norah demands for Marian to leave.  

Walking down the street alone in a coat she borrowed from Norah, Marian is attacked by Lawrence who kills her.

The next night after the nightclub closes, Lawrence attacks and sexually assaults Norah.  

Lt. Madden arrives before Lawrence can kill Norah. Madden beats the crap out of Lawrence then (inexplicably) allows him to leave the club.

While running through the traffic of Times Square, Lawrence imagines he's running through Central Park towards a smiling Norah.

Police officers pursue Lawrence and shoot him dead and the movie ends and does our misery.

WHAT the UNHOLY HELL was that?  

The co-writer of the screenplay was Arnold Drake with a long career writing comics like Doom Patrol, Deadman, Phantom Stranger and Guardians of the Galaxy. He also wrote one of the first graphic novels, It Rhymes With Lust, that was illustrated by Matt Baker and may offer some insight of how he came to this movie.  

Sal Mineo who played Lawrence attains a couple of milestones in American cinema.

• First man in an American movie to simulate masturbation
• First man in an American movie to appear in jockey shorts.

Who Killed Teddy Bear? was not well received.

• Leonard Maltin called the film "sleazy" and "a waste of talent".
• The British Board of Film Classification refused to certify the film for release in the U.K.  
• The Catholic Church called for a boycott of the film.

If you want to get more high minded in assessing this movie, Anton Bitel wrote: "The film’s sexual panic captures perfectly the mood between the repressive 1950s and the liberated 1970s."  

For some reason I do not understand, the film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews.

An Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Who Killed Teddy Bear? was announced in 2024.  

I found Who Killed Teddy Bear? to be repulsive and disturbing but to be fair, I think that's the whole idea. But it's oppressive atmosphere is unrelenting.  Poor Norah is just trying to keep her head down and get on her with life and all she gets for her trouble is unwanted attention. 

Norah was played by Juliet Prowse, an actor and dancer principally known for much lighter fare.   

All I knew about Juliet Prowse when I was younger was her ubiquitous presence in L'eggs Pantyhose ads in the TV Guide.

God yes, Juliet! I HATE wrinkles around my ankles! 

Tomorrow: Star Trekking!

Next Saturday: It's Halloween and the absolutely WORST movie we've covered this month. 

How Friday Video Link: Gilligan's Island the Band

 

We're about a week out from Halloween where you get to put together a costume and dress like somebody else.

On the subject of dressing up as someone else...

Your Friday Video Link this week are some short clips of a very unusual cover band, Gilligan's Island the Band.  

This band performs dressed up like Gilligan, the Skipper, Mary Ann, Ginger and all the rest of those wacky castaways.

The sound quality may be a bit sketchy but they really look a lot of fun. 

We're back tomorrow with Movie Time as we continue our Halloween countdown of really bad movies.

Thanks for popping by and remember to be good to one another.

Dave-El's Spinner Rack: Legion of Super Heroes#1

DC Comics is giving this another go.

Legion of Super Heroes#1

I guess I'm giving this another go as well.

But I have been burned by this sort of thing before.

This Legion of Super Heroes#1 does not have an actual "Legion".  Not  yet.

Set a thousand years in the future where the very idea of "Super Heroes" is against the law, this issue is about world building.

And what a complex and intriguing world being built by writer Joshua Williamson and artist Hayden Sherman (with the always brilliant coloring by Tamra Bonvillain, perhaps my favorite colorists working in comics today).   

In most tellings of the LSH origin, the story sets up the idea of the Legion with 3 super powered teens saving the life of R. J. Brande, the richest man in the universe. 

In this tale, Brande is already dead and 2 super powered teens are investigating his murder.

• Querl Dox (in past comics was known as Braniac 5, here he's called Braniac 1 of 5) 
• Tenzil Kem (who in the classic comics was Matter Eater Lad)

Querl and Tenzil could leave things to the quasi-fascist government and their masked police force but who trusts them to get to the truth. 

Williamson knows the toys in the Legion toy box but he's playing with them differently.  Querl and Tenzil may be different from the versions I've known in past versions of the Legion but they're also imminently recognizable.  

In addition to Querl Dox and Tenzil Kim doing a cool "buddy cop" routine as they probe Brande's murder, we check in elsewhere on some characters who have been the fundamental foundation of previous incarnations of the Legion and may well be again.  

Telepathic Imra Ardeen on Titan, a moon of  Saturn.

Rokk Krinn whose magnetic powers are employed in athletics to keep his family out of the harsh mines of his homeworld and out of poverty.  

Garth Ranzz has electrical powers and like a lot of kids imagine, super powers means being a super hero.  With a shrine at home to history's greatest hero, Superman, Garth dons a mask and costume to go out and fight crime. It's not going well.

If one comes to Legion of Super Heroes#1 expecting to see the Legion of Super Heroes, well, this issue may be a bit of a disappointment.  But crafting a wall built story with gorgeous art goes a lot way to belying any such concerns.

I'm willing to give this a shot and I like what I see coming out of the gate but I remain cautious: I have been burned before.

Wow! It's been seven years (Seven?!?) since Marvel's golden boy Brian Michael Bendis came to DC with a grand plan to revitalize and restore the Legion of Super Heroes to prominence once more.  

After about 2 years, the Bendis Legion sputtered to a close, ending not with a bang but a whimper.  Dreams of the LSH restored to glory dying in ignominy.  

That was a hard one to take.  

• I first came to the Legion of Super Heroes in August 1974 in the pages of Superboy#205.
• I was there in the heady days of the Levitz/Giffen "Great Darkness" saga that began in the summer of 1982.  
• I was there in the descent into madness that was the "5 Years Later"/Post Crisis time jump of the 1990's. 
• I was there in 2010 when Paul Levitz returned to recapture the glory years of the Legion only to see it fizzle out by August 2013.

I've been lifted up by the exploits of the Legion and I have been burned.

But I'm still hoping...

I'm trusting Joshua Williamson to do better by my beloved Legion.  

_________________________

Next week is Comic Book Retro 50. What comic books did a young Dave-El buy in October 1976? That trip down memory lane will happen in 7 days.  

America Last

What? Another political post? Yeah.

I am very disturbed by the rapidity of America's collapse in the face of unprecedented betrayal.

Monday I wrote a post about Donald Trump's capitulation to Russia AGAINST the interests of the country Li'l Donnie is supposed to lead. 

The fallout from Trump's actions over this past weekend continues to unfold and the situation has only gotten worse since I made my post on Monday.  

Trump has essentially allied America (against it's collective will) with Vladmir Putin and Russia.

• Trump agreeing to buy diesel fuel from Russia.
• Trump revoking the bi-partisan sanctions package passed by Congress.
• The Trump administration cutting off Ukraine's access to U.S. intelligence to protect itself from Russian attack.
• The Trump White House throttling back the process speed of Ukaine's access to Starlink which Ukraine uses to guide it's drones. (The White House is blaming Elon Musk for the Starlink throttle back; Musk is blaming the White House.)   

What comes next?  Putin has proposed a meeting of himself, Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to hammer out an end to  to the Russia–Ukraine war.

Notice who is NOT invited to that confab.

Xi does not have a dog in this fight but China would still stand to gain from an America with reduced influence and power, a certain outcome if Trump abandons Ukraine and everything our country is supposed to stand for. 

If Li'l Donnie actually takes the bait and agrees to this arrangement, the betrayal will be total and real.

• The betrayal of Ukraine, an erstwhile ally, handing over a sovereign nation with a democratically elected government to a hostile invader led by a dictator.
• The betrayal of America's ideals invoked upon our founding 250 years ago,  to seek the benefits of freedom and democracy over the iron grip of the tyrant.  
• And the betrayal of Donald Trump's own rhetoric. America First? Capitulating to Vladmir Putin exposes Trump as what most of us already could see, that Trump, is weak, a coward, a sniveling man child seeking validation from stronger men.

Trump would demean the United States to standing in line behind Russia.

Behind China.

Behind Europe which is figuring out Trump (and sadly by extension) America is not to be trusted.

America First? Ha! 

Ultimately, Trump has devolved this nation to America Last.

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Blue Skies and Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage

Today's post is about a cop show about a detective who rather not have to work with people and the partner who is not people.  

Which sounds like Hudson & Rex.

But it's not.

Andrea and I finished up season 1 of Blue Skies, a cop show about a National Park Service detective (Jodie Larsen) who rather not have to work with people and the partner (her dog Blue) who is not people.  

Over the course of the season, we found out Blue's former human companion was ex-military, like Jodie.  When that human died, Blue went off in search of another human and found Jodie.

How exactly Blue came to Jodie's front door is not explained.

I still think Jodie's dead mom guided this canine companion to her daughter's home, knowing she needed a friend.

There is nothing to support this supernatural theory.

Speaking of Jodie's dead mom...

The season long arc surrounding her mountain climbing death is resolved. No, Mom was not murdered but her fall was connected to her investigation into a someone who was murdered and the subsequent conspiracy to cover it up. 

Jodie's dad and her possible love interest Ryan have been investigating this mystery on the down low, away from Jodie. 

Jodie, a trained police detective, is not happy she was kept out of the loop but she moves on a brings the case to a close.

Set in the environs of a national park, Blue Skies is certainly a pretty show to look at it.  And Blue the dog is just so frickin' adorable.

But the writing on this series is so perfunctory and the acting so flat.  Blue Skies is a pleasant enough diversion of TV viewing but it's no Hudson & Rex.

Speaking of which....

Our luck held out for a second week.  Episode 2 of Hudson & Rex season 9 got posted and the drama continues to unfold.

Joe is still in the hospital recovering from being hit by a car and the police chief as put Sarah in charge of the Major Crimes Unit.

Sarah is also still being frosty towards Charlie.

Jesse confronts Sarah about this and Sarah makes it plain she's just not prepared to deal with this.  She grieved for a whole year thinking Charlie was dead. Everything can't just snap back to the way it was before.

You know, I get that but girl, I still think you owe Charles a conversation at least.  There is so much sadness in those beautiful eyes of his.

QUIT ASKING IF I'M GAY! Can I not as a straight man objectively assess that another man has beautiful eyes?

By the way, we're down one Hudson.

Mark Hudson apparently has a on-again/off again relationship with a woman in Halifax named Laura who is now pregnant (after an on-again moment) so Mark's leaving St. John's to make that relationship work.

The moment at the end of episode 2 when Mark says good-bye to Rex and Rex looks sad about is so... so...

No. Dammit! No, we don't. 

As one Hudson goes, another returns.  

Charlie Hudson completes his re-certification.

His gun test on the artillery range: 6 shots, dead center. 

Charlie's eyes are sharp as well as beautiful.

I'M NOT GAY!! 

Charlie's psych eval goes well enough but we and the psychiatrist can both sense that he's got a lot of trauma to process.

And he's going back to work with Major Crimes with a girlfriend who is not his girlfriend and is now his boss?

I hope our luck holds out and we get episode 3. 

_____________________________________

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage is back for it's 3rd season.

Apparently the tire store is doing well enough for Georgie to pull $2500 out of petty cash to bail Connor out of jail.

Things are still tense between Georgie and his mother because Mary Cooper has the temerity to date Fred Fagenbacher, the epitome of evil amongst tire store owners.  

But Fred has been very kind and gracious towards Mary. Is he really trying to be a better person like he claims or is this just long range fuckery to get back at Georgie?

I've got a bad feeling it's the latter but I hope it's the former, especially after Mary gives Fred a big damn kiss.

Mandy still has her TV job doing the weather and fluff pieces.  She does a feature on a prize winning pig owned by Wade, the old dude who was a frequent customer at Mee Maw's gambling room on Young Sheldon.

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage continues to be kind of just OK for me.  I still think Montana Jordan as Georgie was a better actor when he was younger on Young Sheldon. 

_____________________________________

 $ Game Show Side Quest $ 

Musician Lisa Loeb went to the bonus round TWICE on last week's Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and solved the puzzle TWICE and won $100,000 for charity TWICE! 

Lisa was up against 2 other female musicians I've never heard of before and do no remember after. Sorry to... whoever they were.  

I was here for Lisa, still rockin' that sexy librarian vibe.

It's been 32 years since Lisa Loeb debuted with her hit song "Stay" and I think it's terribly impudent of her to not age.

The music video for "Stay" was directed by Ethan Hawke who HAS aged a LOT since 1994.  He presented a category on Jeopardy last week.

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Coming up on future editions of the Tuesday TV Touchbase:

• We're back to the MCU with VisionQuest.
• A quick pop in on new Law & Order
• The return of Happy's Place
• And sooner or later, I will finish season 2 of Batman: Caped Crusader

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.