Having seen sneaks and plugs for Prime Suspect — not to mention the original and revised pilots — I became instantly attracted. I mentioned in my preview I was looking forward to the show … and I still am going forward.
You see … Prime Suspect is a neat, tidy little police procedural that …
*hears subconscious knocking inside his head, looks to see who’s knocking*
Michael: “Hello … ??”
Subconscious: “Michael, come on. Don’t fib to your readers.”
Michael: “What … ?!? I’m not fibbing! How’m I fibbing … ?!?”
Subconscious: “By using ‘neat, tidy little police procedural’ in such a happenstance sort of fashion, that’s how.”
Michael: “Well … to me, everything’s fitting pretty nicely. That’s neat and tidy! It’s a police procedural! That’s truth speakin’, right there! And it’s the pilot episode. It doesn’t get littler than that, you know!”
Subconscious: “Dude … just do the right thing …”
Michael: *sigh*
*watches subconscious turn and fade into the distance, Michael returns back to the post*
Hokay folks, look: My subconscious is raggin’ on me. Maybe Prime Suspect isn’t quite the neat and tidy little procedural I’m professing.
I mean … there is a pretty horrific, messy murder scene right from the get-go on the show’s opener. (Not so “neat and tidy,” I guess.) Jane Timoney (Maria Bello) does stir things up in a big way inside her department, asking for a homicide investigation after the lead in the case dies of a violent heart attack. (So … not so “little,” I imagine.) She gets her beau’s visiting privileges revoked, in a manner of speaking, showing off her gun collection to his ex … no over-night stay for the wee lad, much to her beau’s chagrin. (So … again, not so “tidy.”) Oh … and she gets the shit kicked out of her toward the end of the show as she runs down a perp suspected of that murder mentioned above. (So, yeah … messy … a synonym for “neat” …)
*sigh*
What I mean to say is this new NBC offering is neat and tidy in as much that it clips along pretty spiffily, taking us through a couple days in the life of homicide detective Timoney and her boatload of trials and tribulations in acquiring and working her first big case. Pretty satisfying premiere, if you ask me.
It’s a rough start for Timoney. At the end of the episode, she’s beaten and bruised and swollen, but still spitting nails. There was only one soft spot in her demeanor when she fell into the arms of her better half (who, by the by, was a recasting from the original pilot … and a vast improvement over that English-accented actor) when she came home after a shellacking from “The Beef Trust,” her skeptical co-workers who aren’t going to afford her an inch of credence, no matter what she does. She’s going to have to earn it, day by day. And even then it’s highly doubtful they’re going to so much as acknowledge it.
Maria Bello is fine in her role. This is going to be a pretty good ride.
Quotes:
“Could I ask you something? You ever worry someone might drop a house on you?” — Carter
“The car’s not gonna drive itself.” — Timoney getting in the car and ignoring Carter
“I guess you don’t …” — Carter
“He’s like some kind of surgeon. Thoracic. He’s a Thoracic surgeon … what is that? Sounds like dinosaurs or something …” — Blando
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on Sep 22, 2011 @ 23:58 EST5EDT
And I thought I was Angel that sat on your shoulder.