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Disappearing acts on 'The Nine"
This week's installment of The Nine, or as I call it, Dead Show Walking, centered around disappearances: the disappearance of Lizzy Miller, the disappearance of $200,000 from the money Lucas and Randall stole from the bank, and the disappearance of the hostages' feelings of security. As if post-traumatic stress disorders weren't enough for this group, they also realized that they were being watched by unknown entities. By the end of the episode, the show heavily hinted that one of the hostages may have actually had a hand in the robbery.
At the outset of the episode, we saw Nick Cavanaugh in a bus near the L.A. County Jail's maximum security wing. I know this because the show felt the need to have the subtitle "L.A County Jail – Maximum Security Wing" alongside the wide shot of the building. As if I were going to confuse it with a Quizno's sub shop. Lucas gets brought into the bus, which makes me question just how maximum the security is in this wing. Nick starts saying things I don't understand, talking about "$200,000" and "Skeet McCormick," and I rush to Wikipedia to see if I've completely forgotten an integral character on this show, and then the screen goes black and I see those dreaded words: "One Day Earlier."
Ugh. One of my least favorite narrative devices involves a show opening in the middle of some intense scene that makes no sense, only to cut to a "One Hour/Day/Week/Month Earlier" title. Just a lazy, brutal technique. One of my favorite shows of all time, Alias, used to pull this stunt all the time, and it drove me bonkers then. The show would open with Sydney Bristow dressed up as Helen of Troy, and she's serving mojitos at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and all of a sudden, Sark and 12 elephants would parachute in from the sky brandishing Uzis, opening fire at Ms. Bristow, and I'd be watching this going, "What in the ..." and then I'd get the dreaded "18 Hours and 34 Minutes Earlier" on my screen, and I'd throw my US Weekly at the television.
But enough about Alias, back to The Nine. Turns out, this $200,000 in question was the amount of money missing from the amount Lucas and Randall stole during their ill-fated robbery. No one knew about the missing money (or at least claimed to know) until Kathryn Hale turned on the charm to a former co-worker. This man, now working for the law firm representing Judith Miller, let it slip that the money was found to be missing in the aftermath of the event. Motive for the surveillance appeared to have been found: some interested party thinks one of the hostages made off with the money, and in the guise of cable television providers, plumbers, and security system installers, have bugged each and every hostage.
Coinciding with this revelation of lost money was the revelation that Lizzie Miller was equally missing. Jeremy, last seen by Lizzie being consoled by Franny in the D.A.'s office, led the charge to find her after three days of calls went unanswered. The majority of the episode tried to drop subtle hints of "maybe Lizzie's not as sweet and innocent as she appears to be," which frankly, I never really bought. I don't think of Lizzie as criminal. I just don't. I think of her as someone who probably spent the week in bed crying when she found out that the Lilith Fair had gone on permanent hiatus. But that's just me. (Personally, I have expected the hostages to run into Cissy Yost, or start seeing stick figures in all of the cable television brochures. Must be all those John from Cincinnati recaps seeping into other parts of my brain.)
And what turned Jeremy's calls into a full-blown manhunt? A note on Lizzie's morning paper that said, "Youre Being Watched." That's not a typo in there, it really said "Youre" instead of "You're", which alerted Jeremy and Ethan that they were possibly dealing with someone both ethically AND grammatically challenged. It's one thing to deal with a kidnapper, but a kidnapper who ends sentences with prepositions is a WHOLE other ballgame.
Turns out Lizzie hightailed it to Arizona after watching the Jeremy-Franny Snugglethon '07 in order to see her former fiancé, a professor of hers who broke it off because, in his mind, Lizzie never really let him in, emotionally speaking. Lizzie's pilgrimage to Arizona was largely in part to seeing Snugglethon '07 and making like A Flock of Seagulls: she ran, she ran so far away. Well, she drove, at least, and somehow got 800 miles without having to fill up her car. (They only found her when she used her ATM for the first time in three days at a gas station.) That's the most amazing car since KITT in Knight Rider. I don't even want to know the miles-per-gallon on that bad boy. On one end of the spectrum of fuel efficiency there's the Hummer, and on the other is Lizzie's Econo-Car of the Future. Al Gore needs to know about this car, pronto.
Finally, the episode came full circle, with a fleshed-out version of Nick and Lucas' conversation in the less-than-maximum-security bus. Turns out Lucas asked a man in the neighboring cell to pass on the message. Lucas got a tip from his lawyer that the feds would be watching Lizzie, thanks to her frequent visits to the jail. Lucas professed to know nothing about the missing $200,000, and insisted he and Randall worked alone that day. Nick's not convinced, so we as viewers have to be convinced, because while a show like Lost lets its ostensible hero, Jack Shepard, be wrong about just about EVERYTHING, The Nine takes Nick's words at face value. What he says is gospel, and the Gospel According to Nick says there's a traitor in the group.
So who do you think the traitor might be? Why are the feds REALLY bugging the hostages? And do you think Lizzie's more of a Sarah Mclachlan fan or an Indigo Girls groupie?
No idea who may be the traitor. How many more episodes of this will abc be showing this summer? My fear is that we'll get a couple of more, and then the plug gets pulled again, with no closure. Any thoughts??
Keith Talkington | Aug 9, 2007 6:21:09 AM | #To Keith: I think that ABC originally ordered 13 episodes last year. Only 7 episodes aired initially, so I think that ABC is burning off the remaining 6 now before the new fall season starts. Hopefully, they will air the rest, instead of just posting them on ABC.com. However, I believe the producers have announced that there wasn't enough time to make a series "finale" (so no real closure to the big mystery).
Back to this week's episode... I loved all the main characters, but especially Nick and Egan. They have a great "Odd Couple" type of friendship.
All of the actors are great at the subtle stuff, and Owain Yeoman can express so mnay emotions with just his eyes (since they don't give very many lines anyway).
I didn't believe Lucas either when he said that he didn't have any other accomplices inside the bank. I'm not sure who it could possibly be, but it better not be Nick or Kathryn (since he is a police detective and she's a prosecutor!).
Paige | Aug 9, 2007 8:08:13 AM | #no way they'll air the rest--i give it one or two more airings---if we're lucky
tim | Aug 9, 2007 10:04:05 AM | #I'd exclude:
Nick: Law enforcement and was clearly at odds with both the robbers and people outside. The fact that he's asking the question also wouldn't make sense.
Social worker with the featureless, plastic-like face: Pregnant and wouldn't want to get in harm's way.
Dimpled doc: Already rich with no real motive.
Star Trek Voyager guy who wanted to commit suicide because he used to play Neelix: Generally clueless and post-robbery epiphany wouldn't make much sense.
So that leaves:
The two slutty mexican girls: Either seems plausible to me, with Eva being the obvious better candidate since we know little about her. Then again, the dimpled one has been known to date men who are in prison and are willing to escape for stupid reasons.
Hot lawyer lady from Third Watch with the botched nose job: She actually has a plausible motive, namely to get famous via the incident to get elected as DA. She may also have had previous dealings with the robbers since she's involved in the prosecutor's office.
Overweight bank manager guy: It's possible. He's an inside guy and his daughter was only there accidentally. They could explain it as frustration with a dead-end job since they alluded to something about him going after a promotion. Given how they treated the widow, it also seems like the bank didn't treat its employees well.
Daughter: Also possible though I think less likely. That said, her amnesia is coveniently covering up something. She seems enamored with the robbers, and the robbers with her. Could be a history between them.
If I had a bank robber's gun to my head, I'd go with the obvious Eva or the lawyer lady.
Bob Dobolina | Aug 9, 2007 10:19:04 AM | #I think it might be the bank manager I mean he was an inside man. And the whole Lizzie running away there trying to give this person Character developent out of no where without any previous evidence..
Tyson | Aug 9, 2007 12:43:15 PM | #I think it is Nick, mostly because he has some big gambling debts to pay. He also started to bank there about 2 months before the robbery, the girl tellers thought he was there to see them, but couldn't he have been there checking out the layout and giving instructions to his booky on how to pull off this heist, and if successful his debt would be paid in full.
The reason that Lucas and his brother were probably hired by the booky to do the job, and unknown to them Nick would be their back-up if the had any small problems.
But then it all went south and Nick probably hid the money and used it to pay off his debt, and is just checking to see if the guys would squeal on their booky, who could then involve Nick.
Here's a thought about the car - perhaps she used cash to make prior fuel purchases and had to use the ATM card when she ran out of cash.
anon | Aug 9, 2007 10:32:57 PM | #Bob D. He wasn't on Star Trek Voyager. He was the doctor on Enterprise.
jim | Aug 10, 2007 4:24:10 AM | #I'm a doctor, not an IMDB, Jim! But, you're right. He was Phlox, not Neelix! That's a little less suicide worthy. My mistake.
Bob Dobolina | Aug 10, 2007 2:15:25 PM | #Yeah, Pat, that explanation does sound plausible too. Could be Nick too... *ponder*
Bob Dobolina | Aug 10, 2007 2:16:33 PM | #Looks like we'll never know, as ABC went and repulled the show. *smacks head against desk*
ryan | Aug 14, 2007 10:36:46 AM | #
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