Life: It would be rude to just throw it away

After an interminable seven weeks, Life has returned, and based on the brilliance of this episode, it was more than worth the wait. Of course not many people probably know that Life is back, because NBC has done nothing to promote it. Crass, sloppily-constructed disposable fluff like Chuck and Knight Rider (and from what I hear, Heroes) get all kinds of promos and gimmicks, but Life gets nothing. Chuck and Knight Rider aren’t bringing in the ratings either, so if NBC is going to promote a ratings-challenged show, why don’t they promote the one that is actually good?

Hopefully someone besides me still watches the show. If they do, then they know that the last episode of 2008 ended with the socko cliffhanger of Charlie getting shot in his front doorway by a mystery man. This episode begins with Charlie bathed in white light, and for a second, because this show is so offbeat and inventive, I actually thought he might be dead, and the show would continue with Charlie from beyond the grave. But it turns out Charlie survived, much to the relief of his partner Dani Reese, not that she would ever show it. The downside is, Charlie claims he can’t remember who shot him.

After eight weeks, Charlie gets out of the hospital and makes sure he gets to hold on to the bullet that nearly killed him. The doctor says it’s an odd request, but Charlie is an odd guy. Actually, as he explains it, keeping the bullet makes a lot of sense: “Well, someone gave it to me. It would be rude just to throw it away.” Oh yes, Charlie clearly has plans for this bullet (side note: in every other glowing review I wrote of this show, I referred to Charlie Crews by his last name, but I have now decided to forsake continuity and call him by his first name, because I feel closer to him than ever…deal with it).

Charlie’s plans have to wait though, because he returns to active duty and is presented with another impossible murder case: a retired Space Shuttle pilot named William Ellis is found shot to death after managing to land his private plane. Was it suicide or murder? No one else was in the plane when it landed, and no gun was found. But if it was suicide, why didn’t he just crash his plane? Turns out Ellis was rich too, as he started a rocket fuel company that went big after he retired. He was even planning to go into space again. Didn’t sound like suicide to me, and Charlie felt the same way.

Ellis’s son works at his father’s company…as the garbage man. He seems like a good suspect at first, but he turns out to be a nerd who spends all his time with other nerds flying model airplanes, being afraid of heights himself. Charlie and Reese have to look elsewhere. They start with Ellis’s right hand man at the company, who tells him that about a year ago, Ellis returned from climbing K-2 with his partner but didn’t seem the same. They keep investigating and find out that an incident just like the one in Touching The Void (2003) occurred between Ellis and his climbing partner. Did the climbing partner do it? Well as viewer(s) know, life in Life is never that simple.

I don’t want to ruin the episode for anyone, but let met just say that Charlie keeps fighting to get wrongfully imprisoned Ted out of prison and puts his souvenir bullet to immensely satisfying use. We also learn a new dimension to love-to-hate Agent Bodner. As usual, there are more than a few lines of very funny, memorable dialogue, and the plotting is incredibly creative and artful, written at the caliber of a dynamite movie script. Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi, Adam Arkin, and Donal Logue remain in peak form. There is no better group of actors working on a better show on network tv. Please watch the show and keep it on the air. Please. That’s it until next week, when hopefully we’ll get an update on Rachel, Rayborn and Roman…there’s some alliteration even Charlie would be proud of.

Season 2, Episode 13: Re-Entry (originally aired February 4, 2009)

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