(Season 6, Episode 14 – “The Brush Man”)
It was an entirely different world back in 1967. Nowadays it’s rare to have a door-to-door salesman come by the house, with the exception of those dubious magazine subscriptions or religion. But Fuller Brush reigned supreme in 1967 — a quality product line and not just brushes at all. Sure, this story can’t be about Fuller Brush, but a fictional competitor of theirs. We’re talking about Roy Dunn, Sampson’s Brush Man of the Year. Since Fuller Brush still exists (mainly online), the show made it clear the story was not about the Fuller Brush salesmen. Lawsuit averted, I guess. Read on for my review of the show.
The case
The story line used the recently found body approach instead of the common cold case with new clues approach. Other than a theft report — he disappeared with Sampson Brush monies and property — no one even knew that Roy Dunn was dead. That is, until they found his skeleton at the bottom of a drained duck pond. I was going to use an image of the skeleton but it all seemed way too C.S.I.-ish. So I used Lilly instead. You may thank me later.
I don’t know. As it unfolded, this whole story came across to me as some sort of knight in shining armor or a humble superhero out to defend the innocent. Dunn’s history is that he murdered a man in a fight while defending a battered woman. Then he befriended “Abnormal Norm” in Philly — a recluse hoarder weird dude. What got him killed was defending a woman and her son from abuse, as well as a sexual scandal involving the husband and men in the duck pond park. Gee, are they going to build a monument to this do-gooder silent hero in a fedora? Nope, not the most believable tale, not at all.
The music
They did better matching the years for the songs (for the most part) this time around. Nancy Sinatra sang “These Boots Are Made For Walking” and “Lightning’s Girl” in 1967. Lee Hazelwood had a hit with “Let It All Hang Out” in 1967, too. There was another song in the story I didn’t quite catch, but it seemed of the right era. I felt they almost muted the songs deep into the background tonight until they did the perp walk.
They blew it with said perp walk. That was Lou Reed and Velvet Underground with their 1969 hit, “Pale Blue Eyes.” Oops.
Asides
For some reason, I can’t ever really get into the lives of the peripheral characters on this show. I guess I either don’t care enough about them to care about their personal lives or I just want them to work cases. Nick is practically living at the police station because he gave his apartment key to a woman. I really don’t care and don’t show him in his underwear again. I didn’t need to see that.
Lilly let her father know that her mother was dead and how she died. During the perp walk, images of them were shown at the cemetery. I care a bit more about her life, but I’d still rather just see the cases. Call me impersonal.
Aging and the perp walk
When you’re going back in time to 1967 from the present, there’s more leeway in character changes. I was a bit surprised that young good-looking Kevin turned into a pudgy bearded man you might run into at a comics convention. His father went from slightly rounded features to scraggy and lean. Maybe being a mean person will do that to you. They had the hairstyles down pretty well for the women.
The perp walk had the mother-child reunion (1972 by Paul Simon) of Kevin and his mom after 42 years apart. As I previously mentioned, Lilly and her father got together, too. The woman whose husband was killed by Roy Dunn was in the schmaltz, too. Ah, Roy Dunn. It shows that a good deed never goes unpunished. Or something like that.
Clacked by Jackie Schnoop 
on Jan 25, 2009 @ 21:54 EST5EDT
