Life: Life As A Bunny

It’s hard out there for a bunny. Badge bunny I mean-a policeman groupie-though I’m sure it’s hard out there for regular bunnies as well. I wonder if bunnies consider their lives difficult. Yikes, I’m starting to sound like Charlie Crews now. Given he’s one of the most original television creations in quite some time, I suppose there are worse things to sound like.

But yeah, Life kicks into gear this week when Crews and Reese are called to the scene of a drug dealer found dead under an overpass. The detective duo is initially confused because the drug dealer was shot only once, but they find several more shell casings. Quickly they discover there is another body, that of an elementary school teacher…with cocaine pouring out of her nose. I think the notion of schoolteachers snorting coke is generally frowned upon, though I’d bet vital parts of my anatomy that at least fifty percent of the teachers I had growing up were snorting something.

The plot thickens when Crews and Reese discover the victim was not only a teacher but also serially dated cops-a member of the prestigious L.A. Badge Bunnies. Gee, sure wish I could join. In the victim’s address book, Crews finds a series of numbers and realizes, along with Reese and Captain Tidwell, that these aren’t just addresses…they’re badge numbers. Which means that the cops those badge numbers belong to are all suspects. Tidwell urges them to tread lightly; it’s always potentially lethal when cops go after one of their own. As if that weren’t enough, Crews’ old partner Bobby tells him that he didn’t know the victim, but in asking around, his name might come up. What does that mean? Bobby asks him to let him know when that happens (luckily it turns out Bobby isn’t involved or dirty in a way you’d think, which is good, because I like Bobby).

The detectives decide to look for their suspects at the victim’s wake that is being attended by a crapload of cops. Apparently, cops aren’t afraid of badge bunnies like they should be. Rather, they treat them as family. Crews and Reese gain access to the six cops whose badge numbers were in the victim’s address book, but no one candidate sticks out as the culprit. They also have to look at fellow badge bunnies, who may have killed the victim off out of competition.

The crime isn’t quite as interesting or innovative as it usually is, but it’s at least mildly provocative and absorbing to see Crews having to wade through his own world. After all, here’s a guy who was wrongfully accused of being a bad cop now charged with finding an actual baddie. One of the show’s consistent strengths is how it weaves subtexts underneath the crimes that affect Crews on psychological levels.

There’s no Jennifer or Rachel this episode, but the lovely Christina Hendricks returns as Olivia, Crew’s soon-to-be stepmother whom Ted is in love with. She shows up at his class (which now consists of a single student), and in a satisfying turn, mild-mannered, loveable Ted asserts himself and tells her off for not returning his nine phone calls. But as usual, there’s more to the story. Why can’t these damn romance things ever work out? Why is Olivia marrying some boob instead of Ted? He’s such a sweet guy, he almost makes me want to rethink my orientation for crying out loud.

Also on the romance front, more sparks fly between Reese and Tidwell, who, in a fun scene somewhat reminiscent of the original Lethal Weapon, give whole new meaning to target practice. The episode ends with a cliffhanger involving Mickey Rayborn that I won’t reveal for anyone who hasn’t seen it (I still like to nurture the hope/delusion that someone else watches this show besides me). Suffice it to say that it made me cry out at the screen, and if there isn’t another episode next week, I may very well have my first psychotic breakdown of the holiday season.

Season 2, Episode 2.9: Badge Bunny (originally aired November 19, 2008)

For another review of this episode, check out “Even Cops Have Groupies” by Elma Rahman.

For more on Life, click here.

Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC
Photographs courtesy of NBC