Greetings,
And welcome back. Today, I will be discussing my Top Ten favorite episodes of The Commish. If you've been reading what I've put up with this week already, there really is no need for too much introduction. Still, I will say it again - MAJOR SPOILERS! Also, get ready for me to make mention of some more of those sweet guest stars. Now let's get to the list.
#10. "Dying Affection"(Season 3) - So, imagine this scenario. You're dating Kevin Sorbo, you break up with him, you think he's stalking you. Well, that is exactly what happened to Cyd in this episode. Now you may be thinking, 'Why would anyone break up with Kevin Sorbo? He's awesome'. Unfortunately, he is very different in this universe, what with the short hair, suits and glasses. Yeah, that's right! Glasses! In short, not Hercules! Seriously, though, he was kind of whiny and obnoxious here. So THAT is why she broke up with him. Aside from all that, this episode had some good and unexpected twists in it. Also, I do, in fact, commend Kevin Sorbo for his performance here. I've always really liked him, and he made me kind of want to smack him. So good acting, Sir.
#9. "Head Case"(Season 4) - Say, do you remember Dan Lauria who played the dad on The Wonder Years? He's great, isn't he? And what about Barbara Mandrell? What a lovely, sweet woman she has always been. Yeah. Well, FORGET THAT! Because NOW they're trying to KILL you! Okay, maybe they didn't try to kill anyone, at first. It might have just been an 'Oopsy-Daisy, we killed someone' situation. Too bad for them, though, that Tony found out. So, did they try to explain that it might just have been an accident? Nope, they kidnap him and lock him away in their nuthouse. Okay, I'm not usually a person who calls a facility in which those with mental problems are cared for a 'nuthouse', but here, I call it that due to the people running it. I'm not wrong on this one.
#8. "Working Girls" (Season 4) - This is a good episode. Acting's good, writing's good, and the title is quite accurate to what is being dealt with in it. But, seriously, let's get to the reason why I really love this episode. Besides the main plot of this episode, we are also seeing that Tony is trying to decide on a new detective to hire, and he is having no luck whatsoever. Then, right at the end, he is reading a resume that is just right. But, wait! There's no name on it. Who could it be? Well, according to Officer Ronnie, it is someone who The Commish knows. What? It's also someone that he fired? Gasp! Is it...is it who I think it is? Could it be? Cut to a shot of the empty door to Tony's office and in ... walks ... Paulie! Now, I have made it abundantly clear that I am not a squealer. I may have squealed a little bit when this happened. What! He had been gone for two years (more on that later) and after what I had been going through in the previous several episodes (again, more on that later), I deserved to be 'School Girl' excited about this. Sue me.
#7. "Out of Business" (Season 2) - Telly Savalas plays a gangster. More? Fine, if you think you need it. So, this is actually the third and last episode wherein Telly Savalas, being his fantastic self, appeared as this character, Tommy Collette. It was a small arc, but a great one, nonetheless. I enjoyed Telly Savalas a lot, and, since this is one of the last things he did before he passed away, I think this episode is pretty special.
#6. "Officer April" (Season 1) - I know most shows tend to have an A plot and a B plot for their episodes. The Commish was no different. However, sometimes, for reasons I cannot understand, they would name the episode after the lesser plot line. Such is the case here. Anyway, the main story is about Officer Stan having shot a woman who pulled a gun on her husband, and the husband wanting revenge on Stan for what he did. It's actually a pretty heavy story, and I always liked it when Stan got to be the main focus, being that he was one of my favorites. However, whilst that was going on, a woman (played by Kim Alexis, by the way) visits the precinct in order to find police officers for her - and I'm not kidding about this - "Hot Cops Calendar". Alrighty, then. And guess, just GUESS who she thinks would make a great "Officer April"? Yes, it's exactly who you think it is, and it's where we got this title. Still, love this one. Oh, and did I mention that this also has an amusing C plot concerning Rachel's brother, Arnie, played by the amazing David Paymer. He's off doing some word traveling with unfortunate, but still funny results. And that ends up tying into the opening scene wherein Tony arrested a diplomat, saying that the guy had no immunity since he wasn't in America but Tonyland. Yep. Holy crap, does that mean we also have a D plot! Good grief.
#5. "Video Vigilante" (Season 1) - So, that thing I mentioned about A and B plots? Well, this one has that and also another C plot, too. But I think no D plot, so, progress. And, again, our title comes from the B plot, though, it does end up tying in to the A plot. Anyway, the main story has to do with a college girl getting beaten and left for dead in her dorm room, which leads to some professors and students being investigated. And while that's going on, The Commish is having to deal with some guy running around after criminals, punishing them and videotaping what he does. A tough job, considering that this was in the early nineties, when cameras were ever so slightly bigger than they are now. And while THAT was going on, Stan and Carmela were undercover as pawn shop owners, trying to catch people with stolen goods. All that. ALL THAT in one episode, and, miraculously, they managed to do it in such a way wherein it didn't feel like too much. That made it very enjoyable. Oh, and "Hi,young Donal Logue". Yes, before he made everyone's list of most underrated actors, he did this. Good way to start, if you ask me.
#4. "The Iceman Cometh" (Season 3) - Okay, so in the episodes leading up to this one, we follow Stan on his journey to become a sergeant. To do so, he investigates this shady guy. Shady Guy has a wife, as they do, and she is played by Leah Remini, fresh off her stint on Saved By the Bell. Moving up, are we? The wife and Stan actually become kind of close. Of course, Shady Guy doesn't like this, so he puts out a hit on Stan and succeeds. Yes, Stan is dead. Blown up in his car, and I, the big fan of Stan that I was, totally let the idea that maybe he survived enter my head. He did not. Anyway, this episode is the aftermath wherein Tony has to deal with two things. First of all, Shady Guy also put out a hit on Tony and his family. Because, ya know, why the heck not? Second, he feels a lot of guilt over Stan's death because he was the one who assigned him the case. Look, I don't care if you're a fan of Michael Chiklis or not, but watch the scene where he reads a letter that Stan sent to his father, in which Stan says some truly touching things about his boss, Tony, and I dare you not to cry, at least, a little. Go ahead, I really dare you. This is why, of all the words used to describe Mr. Chiklis' acting abilities, "meh" will never, EVER be one of them.
#3. "Adventures in the Skin Trade" (Season 2) - So, in my #8 episode here, I mentioned that it marked the return of Paulie after having been fired by Tony and absent for two years. Here's where it happened. In the season 2 opener, a two-parter, mind you, Tony and Paulie have to delve into the seedy world of porn films. Oh, goodie. Yeah, I know that technically porn films aren't illegal, but in this case, there are some underage girls involved. Now this would obviously upset anyone, even cops who have seen it all multiple times over, but Paulie is extremely affected by having to deal with this, saying that kids still have goodness in them, and he hates to see it stolen away. All of this gets to him so much that he starts easily losing his cool with a lot of people, and the episode ends with him, let's say, overreacting a bit. It is this incident which causes Tony to have to fire him. He fired his best friend. Again, what the heck? Oh, well. At least, we got a good episode, and Paulie got to go out with a bang. And if you've seen this episode, you'll know that wasn't a metaphor.
#2. "Brooklyn" (Season 4) - I like a good flashback episode, and I do not mean a clip show. No, here we get something of an origin story for Tony and Paulie, at least, as cops, as we head back to Brooklyn with them. They're going there to re-investigate the murder of their closest friend, Vinnie, which happened twelve years earlier. The plot is that a witness, who is now clean and sober after years of drug abuse, was going to come forward to exonerate the man who was in jail for the murder. But things go awry. Very awry. They run into this guy named Reggie, who they grew up with, but who put himself on a different path than that of our cop friends. He was also a suspect in Vinnie's murder back in the day, which, of course, makes suspicions against him be raised again. And they also meet up with Vinnie's widow, Gina, played by the perpetually adorable Nancy Allen. I could sit here and tell the whole plot, but let's just say that a lot of secrets are revealed. And, let me also say that, whilst I thought John Cygan's acting was fantastic in the "Skin Trade" episode, he really nailed it something fierce in this one. I could easily say that, from the perspective of pure quality at his craft, this was his best performance for his time on the series.
#1. "Skeletons" (Season 1) - Hey, you wanna talk about Paulie some more? Great, this is his first episode. In season one, after having lost another detective, Tony's best friend, Paulie shows up. He's just there for a visit, but Tony ropes him into helping with an investigation. This eventually leads to him just saying, "Hey, why don't you just come work with me?" Why not? There's a lot that makes this episode great. First, we get appearances from some great character actors like Dion Anderson and Micole Mercurio, and Ann Dusenberry, who you may remember as Tina in Jaws 2, the greatest sequel of all time. And, in a hilarious side plot, David Paymer returns as Arnie, still world traveling, still getting into trouble that makes us laugh. Actually, he didn't return as traveling Arnie, since this one came first, but you get it. I can't even get into what happens, because it's so good, but it does go well with the other hilarious side plot concerning Stan looking for a missing child. Okay, I know that doesn't sound funny, but when you see the picture of the kid, it will be. So factor all of that in and you get my all-time favorite episode.
And there you have it. This was tough to do. I admit it. But reminiscing through all these fantastic stories just makes me even more curious as to how this show didn't last longer. I guess we just have to appreciate what we were given when it comes to this fine series. But I'm not done yet. Come back over the next few days for my analysis of the three Commish television movies.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
