Some thoughts on "Twin Petes," the February 10 episode of "NYPD Blue," after, of course, a quick summary: ---------------------------------------------- Jill's maternal instincts help Bobby and Diane bring a suspect in; Medavoy's confusion over a case that may or may not involve identical twins wreaks havoc with Andyr's latest "prostrate" difficulties; busty, chain-smoking Dolores takes Naomi's place as squad PAA; and Sylvia decides to go back to work ------------------------------------------------ I admit it. I'm a guy. I have an unhealthy appreciation for the Die Hard movies and A-Team reruns. If I cry at a movie, it's almost certainly about sports (say, Hoosiers) or the space program (say, Apollo 13). Part of the reason I've liked NYPD Blue so much for so long is the way in which it explores and understands relationships between men at work and at play, which can be incredibly complicated in their simplicity, if that makes any sense. But until recently, that brilliant dissection of testosterone in (inter)action has come at a price: the marginalization and patronization of the female characters. In recent weeks, it seems like David Milch is attempting a late course correction with a series of episodes putting the focus on Diane and Jill and what it's like to be a woman -- specifically, a pregnant woman or mother -- on the police force. If that is his intention (and I could be way off, as Milch moves in mysterious ways, it seems), it's a noble one, but I'm not sure how well it's working. Maybe it's just because I'm a man who can't fully appreciate or understand the sanctity and beauty of motherhood, or maybe it's because I like to believe that there's a lot more to the female experience than birthin' babies, but I haven't been as moved by the recent bun in the oven arc as I think I'm supposed to have been. The main plot of "Twin Petes" spun around a conflict we've seen several times before on the show: a person being asked by the police to conspire in the apprehension/conviction of a murderous loved one. What was supposed to make it fresh was the use of Jill as the empathizing mom, and, more importantly, Diane as the pregnant novice trying to learn what she's in for in the months and years ahead. But I wasn't that enthralled by it. Like I said, we've seen most of the basic elements of this story before, and the mother/mother-to-be bonding scene between Jill and Diane wasn't enough to get me past the boredom I felt at several of the earlier scenes. I did, however, very much like Sharon Lawrence's brief return, not so much for the chance to see her, but because of the sentiments expressed by Sylvia: yes, she loves Theo more than anything, but she also misses her job and is good at it and wants to get back to it. Since Fired Up isn't quite dead yet, odds are that either Sylvia winds up working in another part of the city or something nefarious happens to her, but this was a nice moment. Medavoy and the twins, Medavoy and the twins, Medavoy and the twins.... where to begin? Well, let's start with the fact that I'm not a big fan of stories built around the premise of the detectives being confused. Didn't like it with the convoluted construction site murder last year in "Tom and Geri." Didn't like it with the Polish husband-and-wife team murder in "Caulksmanship." And I didn't really like it here. If one of the primary lures of a story is watching a character get himself tied up in knots with the possible permutations of a crime, count me out, I guess. Besides, I think the joke got tipped off too soon; almost from the instant Peter (or was it Patrick?) walked into the precinct, Greg was greeting him with stares of incredulity. The story might have been funnier if it had taken a while for Medavoy to start considering that Patrick (or was it Peter?) was a few bricks shy of a load. And I thought the psychiatrist was too much of a caricature for his scene to work. That said, I'm still undecided about the final couple of scenes of the story. I think it is possible to mix farce and tragedy, but there were a couple of problems here. One, like I said before, I didn't find the farce all that amusing. Two, I was so confused by the issue of exactly which twin was which and what each one had done that I couldn't really focus on the scene itself. Maybe I was supposed to react that way, maybe we were being intentionally placed into Medavoy's mindset, but I found it all distracting. I did like Andy's "You're a good cop" comment, though. Andy's a man of few words, and, besides, he was in an awful hurry to get to a locale where he could piss in peace, and this was the shortest and most to the point way he could make Greg feel a little better. The sentiment may not have perfectly fit the moment -- Greg's police work on this one was actually kind of lacking -- but they were the words that would've meant the most to Greg coming from Andy. Other assorted notes: -I've already seen a number of on-line interpretations of the final shot of the show, most prominently the idea that Andy's doctor's visit was not as peachy as he'd told everyone. That seems like the best guess to me; that shot screamed "Major development coming." -About damn time somebody points out the fact that Medavoy -- and all the detectives, for that matter -- tend to talk like 19th century noblemen rather than 20th century homicide cops. -Bochco Productions should take out an ad in Variety: "If you're a well-put-together woman between the ages of twenty and thirty, we want YOU to audition for a role as our new squad PAA. Acting ability preferred, but not essential." I agree with the sentiment expressed earlier: since Bill Brochtrup is coming back, anyway, why waste time on another bombshell PAA when you're also going to have to make some kind of room for Upstairs John? That's pretty much it for this week. Next week brings, surprise of surprises, another new episode, so I'll see ya then, in (long dramatic pause) the funny papers... Alan Sepinwall * e-mail: sepinwal@force.stwing.upenn.edu NYPD Blue page: http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~sepinwal/nypd.html RANDOM QUOTE: "Mr. Mayor, would you consider marching in the gay pride parade?" "What are you, drunk?" -Barry Bostwick making a political gaffe on "Spin City"