Quentin, your writting is impeccable!

Comment by Robert — May 10, 2007 @ 6:04 pm

I think it’s Claudette who holds the show together.  Her moral authority has always kept the show on track, or at least it has made the show’s excesses work. 

I don’t think Dutch gets enough credit here.  He’s insecure and arrogant, but he is a gifted and hungry (like the wolf) detective, and his triumphs as a detective are very affecting (e.g. early in the show when he elicits a confession from a serial killer, but has to go cry in his car because the killer had gotten under his skin).

Comment by Sean — May 11, 2007 @ 11:42 pm

Sean:

>>I don’t think Dutch gets enough credit here. 

(((Q: I totally dig that. Dutch is an incredibly fascinating character. His infamous cat-clutching episode alone warrants analysis. We’ll see where he ends up in Season Six—he’s always on Vic’s trail. And he was right on about Vic and the Money Train heist (I still think Claudette is a better detective, though). How ironic would it be if Vic’s undoing came at the hands of “Dutchboy”, the guy he spent Seasons 1 through now picking on and treating like a chump?

>>I think it’s Claudette who holds the show together.  Her moral authority has always kept the show on track, or at least it has made the show’s excesses work. 

(((Q: I love, love, love Claudette! However, she’s had a couple of power trips, I think, that have taken her out of the realm of moral authority and into something altogether different. In Season 4, I liked her willingness (see also: zeal) to fight for the integrity of the system (insisting on getting convictions overturned because of mishaps with the legal process), but sometimes she strikes me as being more theoretical than practical (except when she’s working on a case; in her police work, she’s all about practicality).

Comment by Quentin from North Carolina — May 13, 2007 @ 7:36 pm