THE BIG C “Crossing The Line” Season 2 Episode 13 – How freaking annoying is this show? Last week it ruined an awfully sad moment – Lee’s death – with clumsy editing and an insipid need to force pseudo dramatic climaxes in between scenes of an actual dramatic climax, and it basically neutered the impact of the death of Lee. This time, however, the show takes its time, allows the moments to breathe, moves forward, gaining momentum in a believable, awesome way. This isn’t the sort of show where really cool things happen. This isn’t about cool things, it’s about people and the Jameson family.
But when cool things happen, like Paul ghost showing up at the end of the marathon, the show jumps fifty levels in awesome. That technique has been used over and over again, but I did not expect it. I did not even realize that Paul was a ghost until Adam told his mother that his father hadn’t appeared yet. I kinda wish that they hadn’t cut to a shot of Paul on the floor with the paramedics around him, but whatever. It didn’t lessen the dramatic appeal of the moment. Since Showtime has already renewed this show for a third season, it’s safe to say that things will have changed: Paul will either be dead or recuperating; probably with huge hospital bills and maybe he’ll get busted for using cocaine. It was a clever way to tie in what seemed like a fairly wishy washy plotline to make Paul seem like more of a rebel, and turn it into something dramatic and brilliant. Since most of the episode was focused on Cathy’s wellbeing, given that she’s determined to run the marathon, the idea that Paul’s health might be in danger never crossed my mind.
If there is one complaint I have about the marathon race is that I wish it had been better directed. The director did nothing interesting with the camerawork and instead everything relied upon Laura Linney stumbling to make the scene look authentic. It was a perfect opportunity to force in some brilliant shots which was missed.
There were a lot of small moments in this episode, most of them involving Adam who, when he’s hanging out with his mother or trying to mend bridges with his girlfriend Mia (hopefully she’ll be around next year, since she’s naturally excellent) is a fantastic character. When he’s hanging out with Poppy or the stripper, everything just rings so false.
Still, it was an excellent episode of the show, probably my favorite of the season.
What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below.
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