A Televisual Feast

Here’s another episode with way too little story. Rockford suspects–or at least wastes time telling her he suspects her–his client of murdering her husband. He also wastes time suspecting the police department, assuming they’re corrupt instead of doing any investigating. Without the wasted time, the episode would probably run thirty minutes. And maybe it should. The case just doesn’t have enough developments and intricacies.

Another problem is giving Rockford the easy previous relationship with the client. At least if she’d come out to the trailer, they could have killed some time with that establishing scene. Instead, it’s Rockford versus the cops–skipping the most interesting scene in that whole aspect of the story. Of course, the most interesting scene in the subplot regarding the wife being a suspect is also skipped. Way too much expositional dialogue, way too much of Rockford doing interesting things we don’t get to see.

It’s actually not a particularly disappointing episode, I’m just wondering if it’s going to be the quality norm for the foreseeable future… I mean, James Garner is fun and all… but the show seems very inclined for weekly viewings.

2.5