Stitchers - Connections - Review

For me this episode wasn’t as good as the last episode. They delved into one of the side effects of Stitching but between the directing and performances I felt they were less successful than they could have been.

I did not like the cold open. These kinds of ‘end first’ opens only work when the tension is so high the viewer has to keep watching so they can out what is happening and how the story got to that point. This scene had zero tension. It’s obvious that Kirsten has lured the killer to this location and she’s laying out the case against him. She, as usual, isn’t afraid of the situation. There are no questions raised that we need to watch to get the answers to. This isn’t a case of them trying to create tension and failing, it’s a poor choice of scene to open the episode with.

For me the episode would have been better served by opening with the Kirsten and Camille. Camille has convinced Kirsten to start bringing some of Ed’s boxes into the house and going through them. She envisions a treasure trove of interesting old stuff…that they can sell. They find an old tube style stereo system and another clue to the arching mystery; a torn picture of Ed, Kirsten’s mother and…who? This scene was far more interesting than the previous scene.

Kirsten goes to Maggie about the photo. Maggie guesses the person ripped out of the photo was someone Ed didn’t like very much. She does tell Kirsten that her mother, father and Ed worked together on the Stitcher technology. We get another fun cat & mouse scene between Kirsten and Maggie. Kirsten wants to know why Maggie insists on withholding selected information. Maggie withholds that information. I’m waiting for the day Maggie lets something go.

Linus shows the young men watching how NOT to woo 21st century woman. He insults Kirsten and Camille by implying they couldn’t possibly figure out how to fix that old stereo system without the big genius men to do it for them. Linus is clueless. Even after Cameron tells him he needs to learn how to talk to women (his mother doesn’t count) Linus seems confused.

Its time for our Stitch of the week. A young newlywed, Lilly, was robbed and killed at the Santa Monica Pier. Her jewelry was stolen. This isn’t the first robbery but it is the first murder so they get the case.

In the Stitch Kirsten sees that the husband lied to Lilly just before he walked off and left her alone. While he was on the phone she’s attacked. Lilly’s memory is affected by the blow to the head so her memory begins to jump around. Kirsten is dropped into an earlier memory. It’s a bit of a jumble and she gets several snippets of the last days of Lilly’s life. What she sees leave her suspicious of the husband. Kirsten bounces and announces that the husband, Scott, had enough cash on hand to pay for a hitman but for some reason she still feels he’s innocent.

Kirsten and Camille explore why Kirsten believes this guy is innocent as they work on the old radio. Camille finds an old cassette tape left by Ed that says “For When I’m Gone.” Kirsten has a flashback from when she was a little girl and Ed gave her the cassette. We don’t get the full picture of this flashback yet.

I think this is the moment that I realized that not all of my issues with the episode were performance related. Kirsten’s look up and away ‘I’m having a flashback’ signal was heavy handed and cliche. I would have expected the director to fix that.

Det. Fischer, our new resident cop, brings Scott in for questioning. Kirsten wanted to be present because Scott’s actions in the Stitch don’t match up with how Lilly felt about him. The questioning frustrates Kirsten because Fischer never asked about the clues Kirsten picked up during the Stitch. His response that if he can’t explain how he knows something he cannot ask the suspect about it.

Kirsten’s tries to convince Fischer that Scott is innocent by pointing out Scott didn’t ask for a lawyer. ‘Guilty people ask for a lawyer not innocent people.’ (One of the reasons so many innocent people wind up having to fight to prove their innocence. Innocent people should have lawyers too!) Kirsten being Kirsten charges into the interrogation room and starts questioning Scott. She freaks the poor man out by asking questions about things no one could know.

Kirsten’s certainty of Scott’s innocence is built upon left over emotions she picked up from Lilly. We are told several times during the rest of the episode that Kirsten was feeling residual effects of Lilly’s emotions. Cameron tells her that the Stitch has changed her; made her different.

Unfortunately, this element of the episode was difficult for me to watch because it left me feeling that Emma Ishta wasn’t up to the job. I needed to see a change in Kirsten’s character. Instead I was told that’s what I was supposed to be seeing. The change was in the dialog but not in the performance.

Kirsten Stitches again and begins to understand the flashes she saw earlier. She now knows that Scott was telling the truth when he explained that the lies she saw in the first stitch were him setting up surprises for his new bride. In addition, Kirsten emerges with a new suspect: the couple’s limo driver. Everyone is startled when the LA PD finds the driver and confirms his alibi.

Cameron is more concerned about Kirsten than he was last week. His guilt over what happened to Marta is causing him to try to force Kirsten to be careful; something Kirsten is not inclined to do.

Kirsten talks to Scott, but her efforts to comfort him only upset him further. She does find out who ordered the limo. This gives her an idea.

Camille invited Linus and Cameron over to help put together the old radio. Cameron is off trying to keep Kirsten out of trouble so they’re on their own. They get the radio working then have one of those meaningful near kiss moments. Moments later they’re going at it on the floor. Given that these actors have no chemistry whatsoever I do not buy the ‘we couldn’t keep our hands off of each other scenario.’

Cameron, as usual, goes along with Kirsten’s plan. This time she places for them to set themselves up as bait. Her plan works. But they may not have the back up they think they have because instead of texting Fischer that they’re with the killer, Kirsten texts Camille, who is a teeny bit preoccupied, and asks her to text Fischer.

Kirsten is a little off with her theory. The limo driver isn’t the killer. His partner is. For a change Cameron doesn’t just stand back and let Kirsten handle the situation. He knocks the killer out with a bucket (extra lucky because Cameron needs to excuse himself to vomit.)

Kirsten says goodbye to Scott by fixing his collar in the way Lilly always did. I am convinced the man thinks the ghost of his dead wife was watching over him. Not a bad thing from Scott's perspective.

Kirsten and Cameron return to the house to find a very awkward Camille and Linus. After dinner Kirsten finds the cassette tape and puts it in the machine. Ed made it for her, when she was a little girl, so she wouldn't miss bedtime stories while he was out of town on business. Young Kirsten drops it in the garbage. (It wasn’t clear if this was because she was angry with Ed for leaving or if she just didn’t care. Given that her father dumped her it could have gone either way.) Grown up Kirsten finally plays the tape.

As Ed reads the story (Sleeping Beauty) I thought it was a nice way to clue the audience in on how happy Ed and his wife were to have Kirsten with them. (Too bad her personality quirks seem to have frequently hurt their feelings.)

Ed reading Sleeping beauty plays over several short scenes:

Maggie reveals that she has the rest of the photo. Maggie is the third person in the photo. I understood that Maggie knows more about the program than she’s let on but I hadn’t expected Maggie to be friends with Kirsten’s father.

Marta wakes up in the hospital.

There were some nice things about the episode. Unfortunately, I had some real issues. The backbone of the episode was Kirsten being affected by the Stitch and I just didn’t think the actress was up to the job of making me believe it. I wanted to like this episode a lot more than I did.

I liked the initial discovery in Ed’s belongings and the fact that Camille and Kirsten are becoming friends. I still like the scenes between Kirsten and Maggie. I like the energy of the two of them having a battle of wits. Cameron and Kirsten are gelling into a team and it's really nice that what happened to Marta is still with him. Kirsten isn't a throwaway tool for him to use to get his job done. I also like the way the murder mystery worked out. The three person robbery ring worked well in a show that needs to keep some mystery when the investigator has the best witness of all...the victim.

I hope that they’re able to get back to the level of the second episode (or better.) What did you guys think about this episode? Did you enjoy it?

About the Author - Prpleight

Prpleight is a screenwriter and senior software engineer with solid geek cred. When not writing code, screenplays, or watching TV (sometimes she does all three at the same time), she uses her broadsword Bessie to battle evil. She's been a frequent contributor to the SpoilerTV discussion boards for several years now. Currently, she's reviewing Stitchers.

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