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OK, before I post this: a warning that I'm making all of these comments knowing Matt Devlin's fate, although I have not seen "Survivor's Guilt." Those who have seen "Deal" and aren't sure of which way things are going to go, I'll just warn you that there is an episode description for "Survivor's Guilt" on the web (*cough* BBC America *cough*) right now which gives it away, so IF you really don't want to know, be wary of that. And don't read any further in my comment thread below. Chest. Stuff. To get off it. Liek RITE NOW. ;)
Another warning: I'm going to be talking. A whooooole lot. Get a pillow. And a snack.
(obligatory SPOILER WARNING space...)
On "Deal" as an episode:
Well, granted I'm assessing this knowing that it's one half of a two-episode arc and I might feel differently once I've seen it play out to its actual conclusion. I will say that, as it stands alone - outside the context of any and all Bamber-related baggage (Bambage? ;) ) attached to the turn of events at the end - it's a pretty fantastic episode. Very dark, very topical (particularly as concerns the recent events in London and the disenfranchisement of the urban lower classes in that part of the city). In its unflinchingness it reminds me most closely of "Broken" which I still feel is Emilia's best episode. None of the darker parts are ever taken less than completely seriously, even though there are some wonderful moments of unexpected humor (The tea moment in Shannon's flat when Ronnie and Matt are just willing to sit there and wait is an absolute classic. "Got any biccies?" Boys, our lovely lovely boyssss. *dontcryDONTFUCKINGCRYKEEPITTOGETHER*)
Also, finally, felt as though Henry had a moment where he was brought into the game plan along with Alesha and Jake and it really felt like a proper Team CPS for the first time in this entire series, for me. So yeah... all in all, I don't have a whole lot to critique negatively about the episode *itself*. Which brings us to...
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(continued)
On "Great. He's dead again. :(":
Here's where I'm so terribly torn on giving this episode a completely objective judgment. Don't all look so shocked. ;) And let me start out by making a couple of important points: I don't always feel as though killing off a main character in the last five minutes of an episode is a bad thing. I've seen shows do it well, and I've seen shows do it poorly, and most of those times I haven't had any sort of outstanding gripe about the target being portrayed by an actor upon whom I have a dopey fangirlsh crush, either. Also, back to my previous point, it's hard to issue a complete assessment without seeing "Survivor's Guilt" which I won't get to see for at least another six weeks. (Thanks a fucking lot, ITV. You've been useless all along with this show, why stop now? Wankers.)
I take comfort in one thing and one thing only, and that's that Matt goes out in a heroic fashion: Pushing a kid for whom he just busted his ass to give him some shot at a life worth living out of the way of a bullet. This... is not out of character. This is EXACTLY in-character. We know Matt has always had a soft spot for kids in peril, so it makes perfect sense that in that moment he'd react that way, damn the consequences. If there's one thing I was hoping to see w/ regard to Matt and Kaden that we didn't get, it was some kind of moment where Matt could relate to the kid something of his own background, underlinging exactly why he was going out of his way to nail Ellis and help him do the right thing. I was really hoping we'd see that heart to heart, and about 40 mins. into the episode I realized we weren't going to get it. Shame. Jamie would have nailed it. Which isn't to say that Jamie didn't nail EVERYTHING ELSE about this episode - yeah, I didn't mention him in the first paragraph up there because it belongs here, in relation to My Big Selfish Beef, because I'm kinda bummed that it'll be hard for me to watch this episode again any time soon. Seeing as how it's some of the best work Jamie's ever done. No gilding the lily (he's been pretty solid all season, but hasn't particularly been given a chance to shine; boy, does he ever here.)
And yet, we did get a lot more little Matty moments, the sort of which on any other night would have been cause for grade-A giggle-squee from the likes of us. On any other night. But not tonight. Biiig, sad sigh when he was flirting with the blond at the shooting range. A few moments where I was able to let everything go and giggle at him and Ronnie bantering outside the chicken shop until the line "I prefer my arteries with blood flowing through them" came up and I just kinda sank back into the pillows and facepalmed. Wait, what... he has a cat? WTF is going to happen to the poor cat?! (OK, maybe that's taking it a bit far. ;) I mean, poor kitty obviously... but I'm a hell of a lot more concerned about Ronnie at this point. More on THAT later...)
And then... the chuffed nod to Alesha when the jury handed in the guilty verdict. THAT is when the bleary-eyes started. And then Ronnie bursts into the court room a beaming granddad, and... not going to lie, I just fucking burst into tears. UGLY CRYING, people. I sobbed like a sad sack for that entire scene and pretty much didn't stop until the very end. Look, we bitch and moan (and occasionally joke, because we're not without a sense of humor, dammit) about how often Jamie's characters get bumped off. And honestly, most of the time I find it easier to joke about than most; Hell, I wouldn't be able to write the Character of the Month posts if I didn't. ;) But this... this hurt. This hurt like a punch in the face. If I'm perfectly honest, it felt a little bit like an unnecessary twist of the knife to have that Ronnie/Matt moment happen just before the shooting; I don't want to come down too hard on Emilia, because let's be honest, it's the little moments of unexpected clash between joy and pain that makes good drama what it is. But that still didn't make it any easier to take.
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Well that was depressing. I actually shed a tear, which I rarely do at TV shows and even though I was spoiled. If Matt had to go I'm glad we got that many great moments with him. We got to see him in court, flirting a bit, connecting with kids and even being on the road with Alesha, which was great, and most importantly some brilliant banter with Ronnie.
At the same time those moments made it even more depressing to me. Especially when Matt and Ronnie were asking for tea and smiling adorably and then when Ronnie ran in to tell Matt about the baby. It's so sad how that partnership's gone now. I think I never expected to like Law and Order as much as I did when I heard they had cast Jamie and it's mainly due to Ronnie and Matt. I don't want to be petty and say I won't watch without Jamie but I'm not sure I will without Ronnie/Matt. BTW do we know yet who replaces Jamie?
I have to say as far as death scenes go I loved how Matt pushed away both Kaden and Alesha. But I will have to reserve judgement on the whole thing until I've seen the fallout. I guess we won't get anymore hospital scenes since Jamie won't be appearung anymore (which really makes me think he died).
Finally I did appreciate how they made the boys look sympathetic. Especially at a time like this it's good not to demonise these kids completely. On the other hand lots of bad mothers in this show, not sure how I feel about that. However, they do make you feel a bit sorry for the mothers too and that's what I like about this version of Law and Order, everyone's in a bit of a predicament, there are not only good and bad people.
Sorry for the rambling, I'll go back to mourning now!
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Previously on...
zegeekgirl and I have plans this afternoon (we were as shocked as you are) and won't be around when 'Deal' airs. But since I don't wish to break a five week old tradition and not have a post open for discussion at 
