Shaddup Your Mouth! 8X12 Review (**1/2 out of 5)

--Sorry the reviews are out of order. I will get 8X11 up soon!

"Raskolnikov!" as Boris Badenov used to cry, and I second the sentiment. Brooklyn ‘Til I Die left me rather frustrated. A game where the “rich and powerful come to play with young and beautiful creatures of the under world” except not quite to so dramatic. My mom always said to be careful wielding a fake gun and a cartoon alias—wait, no that actually never came up in my life; ever. Note: The rich have way too much time and money on their hands.

I’ve said it before, but I always cringe when I see Written by Aaron Rashaan Thomas pop up on the screen. His episodes are usually pretty weak, and this one marginally exceeded expectations. Two characters, a man and a woman, laughing as they run from a “crime boss” and his cronies, killers show up, kill girl, take guy, try to get ransom money from rich, cold, unfeeling father, get caught, add some details in the interim—that’s the episode. Easy enough premise, but choppy execution, or rather I should say repeated execution. The show has become Kill, Solve, Repeat.

How many episodes have involved some kind of ridiculous scavenger hunt or game across the city? We’ve done this storyline…a lot! It’s not impressive or interesting any more; it’s just stale. No matter how they try to dress it up. Though I loved Gary Sinise’s expression when the “crime boss” actor, assuming Mac is part of the game, starts to go off about “his” establishment. Gary’s perplexed face sets me to giggling. And why does it always come down to some kind of specialty store—where thy keep a detailed list of the customers and what they bought. Is there really no other way to progress an investigation? A magic shop, a clown store, a joke shop, a murderer memorabilia shop, and the list goes on.

I will give acknowledgement where it is due. I enjoyed the idea of the son coming up with the ransom plan. That was an interesting way to incorporate the son’s understanding of his father, and the actual plan to use the security guards was equally effective. That was a nice touch, just not enough to save the episode, especially when we are stuck with stilted dialogue like “We find those kidnapers we find our killers.” No shi…um…crap, Sherlock (though you want to talk an awesome crime drama? Mmmm Benedict Cumberbatch!). A blatant lack of finesse in the writing; Mac says the motivation is greed, he’s talking about the kidnappers…or is he? The father is just as bad. It’s all about greed. Yadda yadda yadda. I get it, a moose and his squirrel would get it! And I know we are meant to feel for the son, which I do on some level, however, he gets all “Do you know why I played this expensive game, bought an expensive dress for a hot woman? To get away from my father.” Riiiiiiight, absolutely no hypocrisy in that.

Remember when CSI’s were just, you know, CSIs? Flack ran the take down of the drug lord in Snow Day, but now Mac is in charge of ransom drops? The occasional incidence of stepping outside the bounds is forgivable, but this kind of blatant reworking of the police force is unbelievable and frustrating. It was much more believable to have Danny freaking out over Lindsay going undercover in It’s Not What It Looks Like since, and I quote, "It’s not our job." Except now it is.

I really don’t understand Jo and Lindsay’s relationship. How many times last year did we hear about Jo and her children and how she wanted to keep them safe or how she would feel if her kids were in danger, etc.? Lindsay mentions Lucy, and Jo rolls her eyes. “As endearing as that sounds lets focus on one severed appendage at a time.” Shaddup your mouth! I would actually find this interesting if I thought it was going anywhere or was part of a bigger storyline, but I just think it is ultimately a result of poor writing. The Jo of the seventh season has left the building.

I’m always hesitant with Mac’s love life—here today, cast for another show tomorrow. So for what it’s worth it was nice to see Mac with a friend. Though they end the episode gazing at each other…ooh, some veiled reference to the happenings in Mac’s past. Luckily we’ve never had a storyline like that before…