"Las Vegas" 5x1&2

LAS VEGAS 5x1&2 "A Hero Ain't Nothin' But A Sandwich" & "Shrink Rap"

I may have been tied up all summer!

One of the things I look for at the beginning of the new season is the revised credit sequences. This year "Las Vegas" ditched a couple more people in the name of budget (Nikki Cox) and desire to move on (James Caan). Josh Duhamel got moved up to the lead spot, which is nice, and Tom Selleck took the last spot.

They started things off in fourth wall style befitting the slight wackiness of this show, and thankfully addresses all the dangling threads from last season's over the top cliffhangers (Sam's locked in a trunk! Who Shot Mary's Dad! The Hotel blew up! Delinda's preggers! Jillian's leaving Ed! The Casino's getting robbed!) any one of which would have been enough, but the confluence left me dizzy.

I'm glad they got the Sam in a trunk thing over with very quickly (though the promos totally ruined the suprise of Burgi flying out of the plane) And I guess by quickly clearing the decks of a lot of this stuff it paves the way for the new season. It's definately good they were able to get the departing cast to come back for these shows to tie things up well (unlike the departure of Nessa between seasons 2&3). The only thing that causes concern is that such major things sort of got easily dealt with.

You have to love the campy Marlboro Man way they introduced Tom Selleck's character. He actually bought the hotel on horseback... It actually feel like something got lost, the way they sort of skipped over any further attempts by Sam to raise the money, and not having the deadline be clear as to when the taxes were due.

The way that Caan exited was really nice, totally in character and just plain classy. I hope he comes back for a visit sometime. And now they've just 'explained' the fourth wall by having Sam be talking to her shrink. Clever.

Another good sign was that part two was Directed by Timothy Busfield, who has become a very talented helmer working on Aaron Sorkin shows. Nice to see Geoffrey Owens (Elvin from "The Cosby Show") as a potential card counter, it's been a while since I saw him in anything.

I actually kind of dig the cliche they're doing with Selleck, like the way he eschews the title 'Mr.' "Just Cooper" he corrects the errant staff. Then he surprises again, showing up turned out in a fine suit. Then he begins his new ideas of Casino management. This guy is acting like the Willy Wonka of casinos. I must admit I'm titilated and dying to see what he'll do next...

Love seeing Polly the spa manager grab Cooper and drag him to the spa for a mani-pedi. It put me in mind of 'Mr. Baseball' to see her call him a 'big strong man'.

Reflecting back on these two episodes, it's almost more like the first one is the final episode of last season, and the second is more like the premiere. This is going to be a great season. Anything can happen...

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