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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 22659" data-attributes="member: 23">ENTRAPMENTAfter complaining that the series wasn't feeling as special so far this season due to a different balance of personal and professional, the magic was all in place for the next episode. And the reason? There are several, but first and foremost is conflict and tension. And it's more effective because of how smoothly things have gone so far this season. There are three pairings on the show that are in serious jeopardy this episode: Cagney & Lacey; Petrie & Isbecki; Petrie & Claudia. The stakes feel particularly high. In the case of Cagney and Lacey, their professional conflict becomes personal. Meanwhile, a personal conflict for Petrie and Claudia seeps over into his professional life and his working relationship with Isbecki also gets personal. This episode is the second directed by Al Waxman. His first was Season Four's Lost And Found, which I didn't comment on at the time because I didn't notice. There's something about an actor getting behind the lens of a show they act in that somehow makes me watch with a more critical eye. Not necessarily looking for fault, but noticing little choices that I may take for granted with a strictly DGA member. It's interesting that although I overlooked Waxman's directorial debut, I still commented on some of the choices he (presumably) made in that episode, such as cutting Petrie's dialogue with Cagney's search. Entrapment seems like it would have brought its own challenges to any director. There are several key scenes that involve people being filmed by the characters, so we cut between what's "real" and what the characters' camera can "see". In addition, we're also shown the playback of what the characters have filmed. The opening scene, for instance begins by cutting between Chris and Mary Beth in disguise as pharmacists and the back room where Isbecki is filming them through a one-way mirror. By the end of the scene, we're watching the scene being played back (apparently in "real time" at first, but it becomes evident that we're now at a later date when we see Chris, Mary Beth and Victor among those watching the film). There are many subtleties to the scene that could have made it flop if it hadn't been well-directed, but Waxman pulls it off with aplomb. Because of watching Waxman's direction, I also became aware of other little choices being made. For instance, there's a scene with the Laceys at a bowling alley where Mary Beth and Harv discuss an issue between Mary Beth and Chris. I noticed that there was no real reason for it to take place at a bowling alley. Apart from a couple of extraneous words of encouragement made to the boys, all the dialogue was fairly standard and could have taken place at their apartment. It made me appreciate this little moment where we see the Laceys behaving like a normal family, not because it serves the plot but because it serves the characters. Chris and Mary Beth's fallout arose from another sting of theirs where they almost lost the target and Chris - out of sight of the cameras - brought up the subject of drugs, which Mary Beth saw.  Chris started to confess it to the person in charge of the operation who cut her off and suggested Chris and Mary Beth take the weekend to get their story straight. Chris was comfortable with this, feeling justified because they knew the guy was a drug dealer. Mary Beth insisted she was going to tell the truth, putting their partnership in jeopardy. We've seen this scenario play out before in a couple of very similar ways, but it never stops working for me because I can 100% believe that their very different viewpoints - which are usually complementary - are going to cause them to butt heads. This time round I very much enjoyed the colours that it brought out in Mary Beth. Rather than just agonising over potentially betraying her partner, she really let Chris have it a couple of times for putting her in this position and assuming she would go along with it. It's interesting to see the mixed messages Chris was getting. The task leader's suggestion that she should perjure herself was backed up by a conversation with Charlie who said he'd done the same thing many times to put a bad guy away and suggested that Mary Beth was in the wrong job if she can't handle that. Mary Beth finally going along with Chris's perjury was a powerful moment. We'd watched Chris lie confidently under oath, and then saw Mary Beth backed into to saying the words out loud which was painful to watch for Chris, for the judge who knew they were both lying and for the viewer. To see someone going to these lengths for the sake of a good working relationship felt both completely wrong and rather beautiful. And it was a relief when Chris finally stepped up and stopped Mary Beth from saying the words. It felt a bit late in the day, but at least it happened and that became a rather beautiful moment too. Even though it meant the dealer walked free. Petrie and Isbecki's clash came when Marcus realised that Isbecki had been gossiping about Claudia cheating on Marcus. This episode gave some wonderful Petrie moments in scenes with Claudia and with Isbecki. We saw him seethe with anger and look completely wounded, and as the episode progressed we realised he's been betrayed by the two people he has come to count on the most. And he has to make the choice about whether one, both or none of those relationships are worth saving. In particular, Petrie's decision to end his partnership with Isbecki gave us some great Isbecki/Petrie moments. This is probably as much depth as Isbecki has displayed in the series so far. I'm just amazed at how much was packed into this episode and still having space to be thoroughly explored. It's also occurred to me that, aside from the two leads, Petrie is the only other character who we follow home on a regular basis. Most of what we know of the others is through hearsay and throwaway comments. Coleman had a role to play in the Petrie/Isbecki drama: his inappropriate joke revealing to Petrie that Isbecki had been gossiping. Coleman also came into a conflict of kinds with Mary Beth when he asked if she'd undertaken amniocentesis. This caused Mary Beth to bawl him out about how much she hates his gambling charts about her pregnancy and him using her unborn child to make a profit. This was a rare case of Coleman actually showing an interest in Mary Beth out of genuine concern when he spoke for the second time about his daughter Betty (her first mention was in Stress). Truthfully, Coleman feels very one-note most of the time, so I'm glad of any attempt to give him a little depth, and this was a lovely scene which showed us the lovely, compassionate side to Mary Beth and started to strengthen Coleman's relationships with his colleagues.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?