Director: Michael Katleman
This fifth episode is probably my favourite of a disappointing batch, not least because it's an original plot. After an African-American girl called Keisha (Emerald Young) is pushed off a high-rise building to her death, the local community blame a Puerto Rican painter called Angel Ramirez (Jesse J. Perez), after witnesses claim they saw him push her. The detectives of the 125 get involved, hoping to bring Angel to justice for his alleged crime, but matters are complicated when Angel goes on the run…To be frank, none of the police investigations have captured my imagination in this series. The same was true of the British original to some extent, but the chemistry between the actors made the crime-fighting great fun to watch unfold anyway. That isn't the case with LOM:USA, but this episode compensates by teaming Sam (Jason O'Mara) with a new partner; a young black cop called Fletcher Bellow (Edi Gathegi), who Sam recognizes as his police mentor "Clams" from 2008.
Sam and Clams resemble a clichéd black-and-white cop duo, but with the twist that Sam regards young Clams as a father figure and trusted friend upon meeting him, while Clams thinks Sam's adoration is just a strange personality quirk. Combine this odd friendship with '70s era racial difficulties and societal prejudice, and you have yourself an engaging double-act. Indeed, Gene Hunt (Harvey Keitel) is missing for long stretches, and the episode actually benefits from his absence. It really shouldn't be this way (as any fan of the original LOM will attest), but the American version of Gene is just a dour, dislikeable, crabby idiot (see: the radio caller scene.) Can we kill him off and keep the Sam and Clams partnership, please?
As Sam and Clams try to find Angel, who has gone underground and put his life in danger -- particularly if the Black Liberation Army (B.L.A) get to him first -- this episode finds the time to dip into some religiously-themed oddities for Sam to chew on. More than the BBC series, ABC's remake is keen to keep Sam's situation as vague as possible, and this installment leans heavily on the supernatural -- with the possibility Sam's arrival in 1973 is part of a divine plan. After all, dead Keisha was the girl who cycled past Sam in a recent episode (coincidence?), Sam spends this episode looking for an "Angel", he's been partnered with his 2008 proxy dad, and a creepy homeless man keeps appearing throughout the episode as a "guide".)
"Things To Do In New York When You Think You're Dead" isn't very successful at making us believe the city is hours away from interracial fighting (no matter how much stock footage of '70s riots they shoehorn into the story), which is unfortunate. The series is more successful whenever it's having fun with the time-travel concept -- typified here when Sam and Clams are caught by the B.L.A, and Sam "freestyles" himself out of trouble by rapping Vanilla Ice's 1990 hit "Ice Ice Baby" to impress his captors. LOM:USA is more successful at the silly, anachronistic, fantasy-tinged oddities than anything else right now.
A guest starring role for Whoopi Goldberg as underground D.J Brother Lovebutter was fun, if slightly unnecessary, and the door is left open for her return. If anything, it made me ponder what the hell happened to Whoopi's film career. If her character does return, I won't be complaining, but hopefully she'll get more to do. I quite like the idea of a female pirate radio broadcaster pretending she's a baritone male, spreading the word to a city of disaffected black people.
Overall, I really liked the Sam/Clams partnership, which cemented my dissatisfaction with Keitel's performance as the uncharismatic Gene. The episode was once again impressive in the smaller moments and more fantastic, silly scenes. An emotional climax (where a 2008 funeral bleeds into a 1973 church) was a fine example of how LOM:USA can sometimes hit some real highs. Unfortunately, in-between these imaginative scenes and funny throwaway moments, there's a dawdling police procedural and the wrinkly specter of Harvey Keitel to contend with.
6 November 2008
ABC, 10/9c
Cast: Jason O'Mara (Sam), Gretchen Mol (Annie), Jonathan Murphy (Chris), Michael Imperioli (Ray), Harvey Keitel (Gene), Edi Gathegi (Young Fletcher "Clams" Bellow), Whoopi Goldberg (Brother Lovebutter), John Cenatiempo (Sizable Ted), Lisa Bonet (Maya), Shirley Rumierk (Marta Ramirez), Emerald Young (Keisha Davies), Steven Marcus (Wino), Chris Bauer (Father Tim), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Denise Watkins), Chad L. Coleman (Suede), Jesse J. Perez (Angel Ramirez), Greg Butler (Pipe Bomber), Babs Olusanmokun (Perp #2), Clarke Peters (Captain Fletcher "Clams" Bellow), Nancy Franklin (Elderly Bible Bearer), Caleb Wallace (Young Sammy) & Christian Wallace (Young Sammy)
