Week of August 11 – 15.

The big event of last week was Rafe returning to Springfield. Following one of Alan’s visions, he slipped away from Harley and jumped on a plane only to discover Daisy with Grady. The two boys started fighting over her. It was a battle of acting styles while the frequently manic Kane Manera (Grady) still tries to settle into the more laid back, yet still intense, naturalistic acting style favored by his co-stars. It serves for an interesting contrast. Daisy is insistent on staying devoted to Grady, yet another bad choice, though not as bad as deciding to become friends with Ashlee again. Grady promptly reported Rafe’s return to the cops and they quickly surrounded him. Poor Rafe, not only did his saintly mother report him to the cops, so did the local hitman. I’m still sure that even prison is better than being trapped with Harley though.

Anyway, once again, Springfield’s citizens, even its criminals, ended up doing most of the work for local law enforcement. Mallet and Marina bickered through most of the week and the series has introduced a nameless cop who seems to show up occasionally just to make a show of how lazy he is. I’m not complaining about this, I just find it to be a strange choice. It is something of a relief that they choose to emulate Barney Miller instead of CSI when it comes to the law and order aspects of the series. Soon they’ll be making endless jokes about toilet paper. I guess that would be a good opportunity for some P&G product placement.

In more serious matters, Dinah was right to call her brother out, pointing out that, “Your soon-to-be ex-wife is in a mental hospital and you’re worried about Alan Spaulding?” Bill, as usual, is doing everything he can to manipulate Lizzie who, as usual, has no idea what to do and, as usual, will change her mind half a dozen times and make herself into a victim. It’s painful. The only thing I enjoy about this now is the fact that Dinah has decided to get revenge on her brother, but, as with most of the “business” plots, this seems unnecessarily rushed and not properly thought through.

Bringing the entire mess to a head, we finally discovered that there’s something wrong with Alan’s brain. I think we all saw that coming. I only hope that this means that he and Dinah can form some sort of bond. That could be interesting, though doubtful.