'Las Vegas' does some horse-trading

There's something wonderful about Cooper-based episodes of Las Vegas. This wasn't one, but at least he set the plot in motion, and that makes everything better. It particularly helps on episodes like tonight which seem to go nowhere and resolve nothing.

At the start of the episode, Danny was asked by the boss man to go to Wyoming to buy the boss a horse. As you may recall, I've complained before about Cooper sending Danny off on non-Montecito related business, so I was quite happy to see Danny call Cooper on it tonight. Cooper of course overruled Danny, but at least the show made the point that maybe, just maybe, Danny shouldn't be doing this sort of thing for Cooper.

Mike decided that he just had to go with Danny on the trip. Frankly, the chemistry between the two of those guys is one of the best things the show has going for it. If they were just a little more comfortable with themselves I think the relationship could really head somewhere great.

As could be predicted, things did not go smoothly with Danny and Mike and the horse buying. Not only did Mike find out that he was allergic to horses, but the seller of the horse in question decided to pull the horse from the auction. You didn't really think it would be as easy as going out, buying the horse, and going back to Vegas, did you?

Mike ended up having to leave the auction due to his heretofore unknown horse allergies and met a beautiful woman that saved his life when he went into anaphylactic shock. Mike was awfully close to having a fling with the woman until she spotted his "CR" (Cooper Ranch) keychain, which caused her to freak and ditch him.

Elsewhere at the auction, Danny tried to buy the horse directly from the dealer for a million dollars (allegedly, similar horses go for 750,000). The man declined as it was his son's love of the horse that caused the man to pull it from the sale to begin with. Danny, idiotically, tried to get in good with the son by inviting him to the Montecito when the boy turned 21. The ploy worked and they got the horse, but it still wasn't the smartest move.

You see, Cooper had sent Danny to buy the horse because the man selling it hated Cooper. Yet, Danny spilled to the boy exactly who Danny was and where he was from. Was Danny not worried that the boy would tell the father and the father would kill the deal? Danny even yelled at Mike for telling the woman in question (who turned out to be the seller's wife) that he was in any way related to Cooper. How could Danny get upset at Mike and not himself? Okay, I shouldn't push for logic from the show, but I can't help myself.

Not surprisingly, as Danny and Mike were driving away the family put it all together and they hopped in their car and went after Danny, Mike, and the horse. Danny and Mike, figured the family had gone to Cooper's ranch to get the horse back and so did the only logical thing they could come up with -- they brought the horse to Vegas. Yeah, I don't understand either, but it's what they did and it's where the story ended.

Meanwhile, Cooper hit Delinda at the decline of quality at the restaurant since Wolfgang's departure and, at the same time, Delinda's baby hit her from the inside. No matter what anyone else may feel, I don't like the baby storyline. Maybe they can get away with pretending the whole thing was a dream and that Delinda's not really pregnant. I don't think they will, but it's a thought.

In order to try and fix the restaurant, Delinda tried to hire Ted Allen from Queer Eye and more recently Top Chef, two shows that air (or aired) on NBC-Universal owned Bravo. Ted was even able to get in a plug for the upcoming new season of Top Chef. I love how Las Vegas shamelessly promotes anything and everything they can. They in no way try to hide what they're doing and somehow that makes it better. In the end, Delinda hired a guy from Toledo who has no pedigree but can cook.

On the Sam front, I was surprised that Sam balked at the notion of running interference for her whale, Rodney, who wanted to cheat on his fiancée. The fiancée in question had recently become thin, which was not to Rodney's liking. Running interference seems like the exact sort of thing that Sam would do, perhaps this particular whale didn't spend enough cash to get Sam's best service. Sam even got Rodney to admit to his fiancée that he was a "chubby chaser," which promptly got him dumped (the fiancée liked her new-found thin body). From there the plot went nowhere, except that there was a quick shot of Rodney making out with the same woman he was cheating on his fiancée with earlier.

And then there was Piper. Ah, Piper. What are we going to do with her? Her entire story tonight revolved around her having a thing for "hot guitar guy." The plot never really went anywhere, it never even started to go anywhere. Delinda got rid of the guitar guy by telling him Piper was seeing someone else and Polly acted out moments from Notting Hill to make Piper feel better.

Thoughts from tonight that just didn't fit in elsewheres:

• I found it odd that the episode tonight started with the notion of the "Living Large" convention along with Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby's Got Back." I don't know why, but I did.
• Mike buys $200 jeans!?! Yet again, I don't know why that surprises or distresses me, but it does.

I hereby promise you that I will never buy $200 jeans. At least not until the average pair of jeans costs $200. What I will do is keep on writing stories at The TV and Film Guy's Reviews until I can afford the $200 jeans if I wanted them (which I don't).

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