Crossing Over
Written by Cliff Olin And Peter Calloway
Directed by Frederick E.O. Toye
8.0
"Great"
On television getting Christmas themed episodes are always expected. Every single TV show going has at least done one and a god few of them tend to do several during their span and for the most part, the results are pretty predictable.
When it comes to this episode, the same could nearly be said except for the fact because our main family is of both Catholic and Jewish heritages; it seems only natural for this show to merge both Christmas and Hanukah into the same episode. When you think about it, one question springs to mind why not?
The reason behind this interesting merging is down to the girl of the Whedon folk Paige, who thinks it might be a great idea to learn a little more about her family heritage and while Nora's first reaction is to point out how religion has a tendency to be used a popularity contest, overall she's enthused that her granddaughter wants to know more about Judaism.
However because Paige isn't entirely that versed in her grandmother's pushiness, both Sarah and Tommy are quick to cynically point out Nora's overbearing ways and neither Kitty or Justin express that much delight in it. They should be relieved that Nora isn't snooping into their affairs this week while pitying poor Paige.
The thing is with Nora; much as I do like the character, is that when she gets into something, she tends to go the whole hog with it. Even before William passed away, I'd assume she was pretty like that but since his death, Nora does seem extra desperate to prove her usefulness even at the cost of annoying her family at times but her efforts here with Paige are well intentioned if as per usual too full on.
Paige just wanted to learn a little bit more about being Jewish and Nora more or less tried to put the girl through her own customised Rabbinical school. Paige is a bright kid but like anyone, she seriously baulks when Nora piles on the information and to add to the strain, Nora also decides to hold a party as well in honour of Paige. The party also doubles as a reminder that Justin is set to be army bound as well.
Of course a party involving the Walkers and outsiders usually has to have a couple of things go wrong and one of them includes Nora's overbearing stance making television look like a cosier alternative for Paige. Nora doesn't really cotton onto the fact that she's gone a bit overboard and once again someone had to point it out.
First off all there was Joe who didn't like seeing Paige too scared to face the plethora of guests Nora invited to the party and told Nora to lay off a bit but really it was Saul who managed to do something useful by slowly coaxing Paige to come down and enjoy the party.
Times like this and Saul can really rock as a character. Sometimes I have trouble figuring out his motivations and that didn't help that Ron Rifkin went from playing a duplicitous character in Alias to popping up on this show in a few months but overall Saul's heart was in the right place regarding Paige and the ceremony itself was sweet.
Paige's sudden interest in Judaism does have a good explanation behind it. Although her diabetes hasn't gotten worse, the girl is still upset to actually have the disease and a part of her hoped that being more spiritual would overcome it but alas both Nora and Sarah have to remind her of no such luck happening.
What risked being incredibly cheesy as a plot ended up working pretty damn well thanks to Kerris Lila Dorsey's acting and it goes to show if something like that warrant real interest in an episode, then this show really is on good ground with viewers.
However something just as serious was also brewing up in this episode too with Justin's impending return to Iraq. Judging by the last two episodes, Justin is pretty adamant about not wanting to go back and regardless of serving his purpose or duty, if the lad doesn't want to go back, then he shouldn't have to simple as that.
Unfortunately he does but luckily for him, not only does he have a supportive family by his side but he's also fortunate that older brother Kevin is a lawyer and this week, it's Kevin's strength at his job that is highlighted throughout.
An interesting thing that I have to admit about this episode is that while Kevin was clever enough to use the notion of the army being irresponsible to send a drug addled lad like Justin out to war, is how adamant they want Justin back.
It's not like the US army have suffered that much of a reduced number of people signing up, so you have to wonder why they're willing to not let Justin even sort himself out before going back.
Kevin is pretty compelling in the courtroom accusing the US army of showing no sensitivity to Justin's circumstances and you really feel that this alone should've bowled over the judge, even Matthew Rhys' cuteness didn't hit the spot but unfortunately the army use Justin's knack for not using drugs during his army days as an incentive to make sure the judge sees it their way. I have to admit I really didn't see that one coming.
So Justin would do drugs and not care what his family thought of him yet despite access to a copious amount of them in the army, he never once touched any? My guess would be the fact that to Justin, the army never saw him as a failure and cold turkey was his way of maintaining it.
There's an incredibly moving scene when Justin himself speaks about his own troubles, being in the army and his family and for a brief second, you thought that might have gotten the army judge to relent but it really didn't. In fairness with all the evidence thrown her way, the woman was clearly an idiot or bribed. No-one in their right minds would've gone against Kevin on this particular case.
Luckily for Justin and Kevin, someone was actually sympathetic to the latter's plight and that person happened to be a Brigadier who decided that Justin could have at least six months before he had to resume active duty and while a part of me is glad Justin got the break, it did seem a little out of nowhere.
On the plus side it ended the episode on a rather happy enough note and Nora at least got some temporary relief that her last born wasn't in any immediate danger just yet. This episode also scored points for the way Kevin and Justin happened to lean on each other as well.
Meanwhile with some Christmas cheer, someone had to awaken either Scrooge or the Grinch and Sarah felt it was her duty to hone in the latter's main characteristic when it came to dealing with Holly. Turns out that neat piece of land from last week also has another owner with Holly having a third claim on it.
Sarah's not particularly pleased with that development and to me, it's like the writers are seriously eager to find ways of prolonging Holly in any shape or form necessary and when she quickly realises that Sarah and company were attempting to scam her, Holly not only decides to dump Saul but she's prepared to even sue Ojai for being taken advantage of. If it was anyone else, they'd get my sympathy but with Holly, I just can't feel that bad for her.
However given that Sarah caused this mess by allowing her hatred of the woman to cloud her better judgement, it's amazing that Nora has to try and salvage the wreckage as such by breaking bread. To some people seeing Nora club Holly to death with a roll would be preferable to Nora asking her rival to sell her stock to Sarah, Saul and Tommy and acknowledging that William loved her too.
It's very big of Nora to do that and clearly her words affected Holly who did sell her portion of the land and used half the money to buy herself in Ojai. Only goes to show that Holly won't be going away anytime soon and one of Sarah's first warnings to her new business partner is to keep Rebecca out of their lives. Yeah Sarah, like that's really gonna happen.
If Ojai got a new business partner, then Kitty found herself with a new job offer and a newer perspective in life. Contrary to what she was expecting with the public announcement last week, instead of getting herself fired, Kitty ended up becoming more popular among her viewers.
In fact Kitty's popularity has escalated to the point where Warren was on the verge of losing his job. It's funny that Whit wanted to fire Warren for being too smug and Kitty had to point out that as a whole, politics in itself has long been smug. Once again, Kitty did prove that she wasn't a clueless girl.
As a result and after a rather bittersweet conversation between herself and Warren, Kitty then decided to finish working for Red White And Blue and take the communication staff job for Robert. I'm gonna mss this particular set but it will be interesting to see how Kitty fares in her new work environment, though whether or not her belief in Robert is a bit premature is another thing to see.
Also in "Light The Lights"
I notice in the writings credits, this episode was co-written by Cliff Olin, the son of Patricia Wettig and Ken Olin. This show really is keeping it in the family.
Sarah (re Cooper's singing): "He's definitely your son"
Joe: "He definitely is".
That "Batman Smells" song of Cooper's is pretty old but I wondered if Sarah meant that Joe was a terrible singer during that exchange.
Tommy: "Just screw Holly?"
Sarah: "Worked for Dad".
Kitty: "I think you mean Walt Whitman"
Whit: "You're smart. An American woman with vulnerabilities".
Kitty's outburst has unsurprisingly become a bit hit on YouTube. It also got Red, White And Blue 20% more viewers.
Kitty: "Mom, what are you doing?"
Nora: "You'll understand if I don't get my hopes up"
Kevin: "I never thought of that".
Sarah (to Holly): "A few months is an affair. 20 years is a career".
With Nora and Saul both being Jewish was there any reason the latter doesn't celebrate it as much as before?
Warren (to Kitty): "I don't want to stare down at any Right Wing lunatic now that I've had the pleasure of embarrassing you".
Justin: "I love you"
Kevin: "You're so gay".
I wonder if Amber will end up replacing Kitty on Red, White And Blue. Could be fun to address that in a future episode.
Holly (re her/William): "It wasn't a long happy family like you but it was real Nora"
Nora: "Yes it was but I wasn't his ball and chain either".
Nora: "I'm sorry?"
Holly: "You're sorry?"
Nora: "For both of us".
Standout music: Sarah McLachlan's "Song For A Winter's Night" and Louis Armstrong's "Winter Wonderland".
Justin: "You gotta tell me that just happened?"
Kevin: "Yeah it did".
Sarah: "I don't know how my Mom is gonna deal with this"
Holly: "You don't give her enough credit"
Sarah: "Welcome to the family".
Chronology: December 2006, three months after "Patriarchy".
Holiday episodes can be a mixed affair and the combination of Hanukah and Christmas in "Light The Lights" did make for an unusual mixture but overall this was an emotionally charged episode, devoid of mawkishness and that to me, made it all the more enjoyable.moreless
