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Steele Searching
Aug. 17th, 2006 12:18 amSo, just finished the two part opener for season 4 of Remington Steele. I keep hearing about how the show went consistently downhill after season 1, but, aside from prefering Murphy and Bernice to Mildred, I haven't seen that. Yes, the show becomes more adventure and not as much mystery, but that's more a shift in attention than a decline in quality. The real strength in the show is the sharp, witty dialogue and the chemistry and relationship between Laura and Remington(and, quite frankly, while it's not a high priority for me, I doubt any female viewers object to babyfaced Pierce Brosnan, and I'm sure the guys have just as few problems with Stephanie Zimbalist)
A major bonus in these episodes is having Felicia and Chalmers guest star. They're 2 of the 3 characters I really wish were in the show more(the other being Detective Jarvis, but he probably would have ended up being a rival for Laura's affections if he was in it more, so maybe it's best he's not there much...) I love how both know perfectly well that they'll never win Steele back from Laura, but they just can't help but try. They both know perfectly well that they've completely lost him to Laura, and they just can't stand it.
Another thing I love about the show is that, normally, the girl faithfully pines after the male lead and rejects what suitors she gets, while the guy gets distracted by other possibilities but comes back in the end. In Steele, while he gets more chances, he never notices unless it's directly in the best interest in the case(and therefore, Laura) There's been 1 instance of an ex actually being a contender and 2 instances of one of them meeting and considering someone new, and they've both been on Laura's part(of course, she always makes the right choice in the end...) While Felicia and Anna(I think that was the chick in season 2's name) both still have Steele's affection, Anna was very clearly in the "former love" category and it never occurred to him to consider choosing her or taking her word over Laura's, he just got a little blindsided by learning she was still alive. And with Felicia, he makes it clear that, while he's still fond of her, he can't even consider "what is Laura wasn't in the picture" because Laura is in the picture, even though he doesn't know where he stands. And the reason I love Felicia is that she accepts that with considerable grace and class, though she can't resist egging Laura on. He had a few flings early on(or tried to...I suspect that we saw every actual attempt, and they all failed...) that was before he actually started caring, and that's over with around mid-season 1.
And I love how Steele's priorities have been so completely rewritten since the beginning. At first, he was just there for the free ride and the hopes of getting Laura into bed. Somewhere along the way, though(I'd say between seasons 1 and 2) it shifted to where his sole priority is Laura, and because the agency is what's most important to her, it's success became his chief goal. Any doubts about that were settled with the end of season 3. It works both ways, of course. While Laura's priority is always the agency(as it should be, considering the work she's put into it) she can't imagine it without him, and I loved how desperate she was for Steele to have found his father in the second part of "Steele Searching." I really don't think he ever cared about his past until he met her, and then it became important because he knew he couldn't have her unless he could give her something solid to believe in(course, that's changed...or had until he pulled his disappearing act...)
Ok, time for ep 3...
A major bonus in these episodes is having Felicia and Chalmers guest star. They're 2 of the 3 characters I really wish were in the show more(the other being Detective Jarvis, but he probably would have ended up being a rival for Laura's affections if he was in it more, so maybe it's best he's not there much...) I love how both know perfectly well that they'll never win Steele back from Laura, but they just can't help but try. They both know perfectly well that they've completely lost him to Laura, and they just can't stand it.
Another thing I love about the show is that, normally, the girl faithfully pines after the male lead and rejects what suitors she gets, while the guy gets distracted by other possibilities but comes back in the end. In Steele, while he gets more chances, he never notices unless it's directly in the best interest in the case(and therefore, Laura) There's been 1 instance of an ex actually being a contender and 2 instances of one of them meeting and considering someone new, and they've both been on Laura's part(of course, she always makes the right choice in the end...) While Felicia and Anna(I think that was the chick in season 2's name) both still have Steele's affection, Anna was very clearly in the "former love" category and it never occurred to him to consider choosing her or taking her word over Laura's, he just got a little blindsided by learning she was still alive. And with Felicia, he makes it clear that, while he's still fond of her, he can't even consider "what is Laura wasn't in the picture" because Laura is in the picture, even though he doesn't know where he stands. And the reason I love Felicia is that she accepts that with considerable grace and class, though she can't resist egging Laura on. He had a few flings early on(or tried to...I suspect that we saw every actual attempt, and they all failed...) that was before he actually started caring, and that's over with around mid-season 1.
And I love how Steele's priorities have been so completely rewritten since the beginning. At first, he was just there for the free ride and the hopes of getting Laura into bed. Somewhere along the way, though(I'd say between seasons 1 and 2) it shifted to where his sole priority is Laura, and because the agency is what's most important to her, it's success became his chief goal. Any doubts about that were settled with the end of season 3. It works both ways, of course. While Laura's priority is always the agency(as it should be, considering the work she's put into it) she can't imagine it without him, and I loved how desperate she was for Steele to have found his father in the second part of "Steele Searching." I really don't think he ever cared about his past until he met her, and then it became important because he knew he couldn't have her unless he could give her something solid to believe in(course, that's changed...or had until he pulled his disappearing act...)
Ok, time for ep 3...