There are, as usual, several threads in this episode, all up to the usual standards in terms of suspense, audience/character involvement and satisfactory outcomes.
However, there is one aspect of the script which seriously grates with me - Frank's relationship with his staff. I have made this point already in previous reviews, and my feeling just becomes stronger. Frank has his three close personal staff supporting him, without any one of whom he would have difficulty surviving a day.
The COMPSTAT sequence is unconvincing - Sid Gormley lays into Captain Simms. OK, Sid's on the Commissioner's personal staff, but he himself is still only a Lieutenant. Having a Lieutenant lambast a Captain in that manner would have been a bad move.
Garrett is Frank's voice to and from the public and advisor on public policy, and is a Deputy Commissioner. Sid is his voice from the body of the Police Force, his voice to them when he is not using his own and his advisor on policy in relation to his army of 35,000. Why should Sid not also be a Deputy Commissioner?
He has to interact and impose on Captains in the course of his daily duties - we know he has been accelerated from Sergeant to Lieutenant in the past, but why is he not by now at least a Captain himself, if not Deputy Commissioner to reflect his function? Garrett is a Deputy Commissioner and is not even a member of the Police!
As for Abigail, I am almost speechless. The character of Abigail Baker is a supremely competent Adjutant, ensuring that the Commissioner's day always flows as best it may, smoothing over any immediate public or professional glitch in his life not caught by Garrett or Sid, and sometimes before them, organising or blocking meetings for Frank as she sees fit, and holding or permitting his appointments in the same way. She protects him from unwanted meetings and events while facilitating those she believes good, whether he does or not. In fact, she organises his life in a way impossible to any family member or anyone else.
At the same time, she has shown herself to be a skilled detective, living up to her official rank. It has always been clear that she wants to be more out in the field, not confined to the office. On a couple of occasions she has been allowed out as an undercover operative and has acquitted herself well. Abigail Baker is a good detective and a good undercover operative, and should be scripted as such - why don't the writers make use of such a fruitful character?
On the basis of her professional performance as a detective and her administrative capabilities as the Commissioner's Adjutant, she should be ranked at least Lieutenant, if not Captain.
At any rank higher she might have difficulty in going undercover in any future storyline.
As for the other Abigail - Abigail Hawk - as an actress she fitted so skilfully into her initial role as the Commissioner's receptionist that we may not have noticed her transition into the stronger character she now clearly fills - perhaps it was just laziness by the writers or carelessness by the producers in transitioning from Melissa Baker in Season 1 to Abigail Baker in Season 2? However it happened, the character portrayed by Abigail Hawk now has a strong and undeniable role in the story, and deserves a stronger position in the script. Give more to Abigail Hawk!
However, there is one aspect of the script which seriously grates with me - Frank's relationship with his staff. I have made this point already in previous reviews, and my feeling just becomes stronger. Frank has his three close personal staff supporting him, without any one of whom he would have difficulty surviving a day.
The COMPSTAT sequence is unconvincing - Sid Gormley lays into Captain Simms. OK, Sid's on the Commissioner's personal staff, but he himself is still only a Lieutenant. Having a Lieutenant lambast a Captain in that manner would have been a bad move.
Garrett is Frank's voice to and from the public and advisor on public policy, and is a Deputy Commissioner. Sid is his voice from the body of the Police Force, his voice to them when he is not using his own and his advisor on policy in relation to his army of 35,000. Why should Sid not also be a Deputy Commissioner?
He has to interact and impose on Captains in the course of his daily duties - we know he has been accelerated from Sergeant to Lieutenant in the past, but why is he not by now at least a Captain himself, if not Deputy Commissioner to reflect his function? Garrett is a Deputy Commissioner and is not even a member of the Police!
As for Abigail, I am almost speechless. The character of Abigail Baker is a supremely competent Adjutant, ensuring that the Commissioner's day always flows as best it may, smoothing over any immediate public or professional glitch in his life not caught by Garrett or Sid, and sometimes before them, organising or blocking meetings for Frank as she sees fit, and holding or permitting his appointments in the same way. She protects him from unwanted meetings and events while facilitating those she believes good, whether he does or not. In fact, she organises his life in a way impossible to any family member or anyone else.
At the same time, she has shown herself to be a skilled detective, living up to her official rank. It has always been clear that she wants to be more out in the field, not confined to the office. On a couple of occasions she has been allowed out as an undercover operative and has acquitted herself well. Abigail Baker is a good detective and a good undercover operative, and should be scripted as such - why don't the writers make use of such a fruitful character?
On the basis of her professional performance as a detective and her administrative capabilities as the Commissioner's Adjutant, she should be ranked at least Lieutenant, if not Captain.
At any rank higher she might have difficulty in going undercover in any future storyline.
As for the other Abigail - Abigail Hawk - as an actress she fitted so skilfully into her initial role as the Commissioner's receptionist that we may not have noticed her transition into the stronger character she now clearly fills - perhaps it was just laziness by the writers or carelessness by the producers in transitioning from Melissa Baker in Season 1 to Abigail Baker in Season 2? However it happened, the character portrayed by Abigail Hawk now has a strong and undeniable role in the story, and deserves a stronger position in the script. Give more to Abigail Hawk!
