New episode of Vegas-Our REVIEW

Thanks again for your patience!!

Solid Citizens  Vegas 1.4

Last week, Vince Savino and Mr. Fowler, the Mormon banker based on real life Vegas banker, Parry Thomas,  circled one another. This week, they became business partners. Also, dropped into the conversation, Mrs. Savino was to arrive within a few hours.

The Stern and Nahm casino looked like it was supposed to resemble the old Northern Hotel and Casino where back in 1931, owner Mamie Stoecker got the first gaming license issued in Nevada.

As Savino waited for his wife to arrive and looked out over Downtown/Strip (all thrown into the stew of just being Las Vegas), there was a glimpse of the upper floor façade of the what the Apache Hotel used to look a bit like before it became Benny Binion’s Horseshoe Club. And I still maintain,  a character modeled after Benny (and his buddy Dobie Doc and his chauffer Gold Dollar and Florence Murphy and etc, etc) would have added some much needed characterization and color to this show. Call me crazy. This show could use some characters and some color.

Laura Savino was a looker and though she said she’s impressed with Las Vegas she didn't sell it very well. Once inside, she did like the swankiness. She was introduced to Mia who offered to show her around town.  That could be interesting.

Meanwhile Katherine and Dixon were trying to figure out what happened to Danny Cornero by going through boxes of arrest records. Don’t ask. It just allows a brief respite of what passes for levity on this show as Ralph, Katherine, Dixon and Jack trade bad one-liners before the mayor arrived to save us all.

The mayor was happy with the job that Ralph was doing and wanted him to run for the office of Sheriff. At least they got the part about the Elk’s Lodge being a political player back then right.

Cool mid-century modern home that was owned by Greg Parkman (sorry, that ‘s his character on Heroes), Milt Larson, a happily married highway contractor who was a gaming commission officer (casinos need his vote to get a license)whose son was just kidnapped while his wife tried to chase the car down the street. The kid left his hula hoop behind so we would know that it’s 1960.

Ralph and Jack were on the case in a really great looking MCM modern neighborhood that’s not in Las Vegas. They found the car that the kid was in but it exploded into flames as Jack kept Ralph from burning himself to death by rushing into the burning car. (Sorry, I know you had images in your head).

A title card told us the phone was ringing in Milwaukee while the soundtrack played “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” while a cigarette burned in an ashtray for all of us wondering where the smokers have been hiding for four episodes. A guy, looking like Willem Dafoe in Mississippi Burning answered the phone, identified himself as Jones and appeared to be a fixer of some kind. He said he was on his way to Vegas.

Meanwhile, Ralph was checking out the burned out car and trying to make sure that the kid was not in the trunk of the smoldering car. He told Dixon to call for man-power despite the fact that he has an entire department at his disposal. He coacheed Jack to talk to the parents and not to use past tense when talking about the kid. Because Jack, despite being an adult, must not be much of thinker despite the number of times we have seen him use his brain instead of his brawn.

The Savinos were in their suite. Vince was telling the missus about what he had planned for the evening (no, not that, this isn't HBO), including dinner at the Cadallic room at the Flamingo (what, they couldn't get the name of the gourmet room at the Flamingo right??????)and Sammy’s second show (that would be the late show at 1:00 am) and tomorrow they’d been invited to the Country Club by the banker and his wife.  Mrs. Savino wasn’t quite sure what to make of all this. She mentioned “the girls” (again, this isn't HBO so don't go there) and Savino in a piece of expository dialog informs us that ‘the girls’ are in boarding school and he wants Mrs. S to move to Vegas. She balked, that’s not “their arrangement”.  “It’s what I want”, he told her.

He reminded her that he promised her the straight life and now “it’s right in front of us” (Yeah, right, then there wouldn’t be a show unless this show is going to be about Savino trying to go straight.).  “Just think about it”.

The scene cut to Ralph talking to the Larsons and trying to keep their hope up. “You have something that they want and they don’t have it. Which means Tim is alive” Ralph told them with a grim look on his face. Parkman Larson promised to cooperate, he just wanted his boy back.  (Hmmm, which  hotel owner could need something favorable from the gaming commission. They want us to think it’s Vincent but that seems rather obvious).

The extra man power that Ralph asked for was the Indian tracker/ranch hand that we haven’t seen since the first episode. He was going over the car pointing out clues to Dixon.

Speaking of Savino, Ralph went to The Savoy to ask Savino which one of his mob friends might have done the kidnapping. Ralph got paternal and then reminded Savino that he’ll need the Gaming Commission’s permission to take over the Tumbleweed. Savino reminded Ralph that in the long run a “suitcase full of cash” would probably work better than kidnapping the kid. Ralph’s not happy. (Imagine that).

Another phone call, Jones from Milwaukee had arrived and Savino was not happy (Imagine that). He went downstairs to welcome him. Jones was in town looking for Davey. Savino said the heat was on Davey and maybe he split town. Jones wssn’t buying it (imagine that). And he doesn’t drink. Savino was not happy (imagine that) that Jones was there because whenever he shows up “bodies start dropping” and that wouldn’t  look good with the missus in town.

Mrs. Larson was a crying mess and Jack was trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. We were about 15 minutes into the show and the drama felt really flat. The phone rang (the motif of the week) and with the call being traced, the kidnappers demanded $80k and ‘to keep the law out of this. Cross us and it’s the last time you hear his voice.” (Yes, every cliché of every kidnapping drama since television began is checked off).

Back at the Sheriff’s Office, we learned that the call had been traced to Eastland Heights. We had a lot of subdivisions in Las Vegas back then, but Eastland Heights wasn’t one of them. That’s one of the big problems I have with this show is the fact that they don’t even try to get the details, big or small, right. Don, the tracker,  showed up and showed Ralph a lighter with a military insignia that he found and that started the fire. Ralph was fired up.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Savino and Mia were having cosmos and talking. Mrs. Savino told us how she met Savino (imagine ever mob drama since television began and you get the picture).

Jones interrupted a couple making whoopee. He was, of course, looking for the sandwich (the drop) that didn’t make it to Milwaukee when Davey went missing. Jones said the envelope felt light. The woman promised to pay it back. The woman dropped the sheet hoping she can square the deal right then and there. If Jones doesn’t drink, he probably isn’t going for that.

The Lambs were still trying to find the Larson boy. They headed to the Kings Motel out off of Cypress (again, how hard would it be to get it right). Jack and Ralph butted heads over Dixon. Jack reminded Ralph that while Ralph was in the army, Jack was running the ranch  and raising Dixon. Ralph just got mad. Ralph only seems to have two emotions, mad and not so mad.

A shoot out at the Kings Motel (nice art and set direction) commenced with Jack pinned down because despite the whole Sheriff’s office, Ralph only ever seems to bring his brother, son and Don with him for back up. The guy they were looking for was killed in the shoot out.

They showed pictures of the dead man to the Larson family. They didn’t recognize him. Since Tim wasn’t rescued, Parkman Larson was afraid it would get his son killed. Mrs. Larson recognized the kidnapper as “the floor man who worked for my father”. The Lambs got kicked off the case. As they walked out, the two brothers talked about the brief case they saw (because everything about this show is better told to us than shown) and how the Larsons must have been planning to handle this on their own. Ralph, of course, won’t let that happen.

I wonder if the MCM neighborhood they shot the Larson home in is the Eichler neighborhood in Woodland Hills because it’s a great looking neighborhood.

Savino and friends discover that Jones had killed the girl in the sheet and Savino’s fears of his dinner at the country club with his wife and the Fowlers was going up in smoke. He wanted it taken care of.

While they waited for the car, Mrs S mentioned that Vince was nervous. She told him to believe in himself.  When she got in the car, she noticed a bullet has grazed the interior. She wanted to feign sickness but Vince wouldn't let her. He grasped her hand tightly. (Because this is Television 101).

Ralph and the Mayor had a go-around.  Ralph was in over dramatic mode (How can you tell from his other modes???). It would be  nice if Quaid had some actual material to work with. Ralph blamed coming to the job every day and “how it changes a man and the people it brings with him”.  Well, Crime Story told a similar story with more verve, more characterization and better scripts and didn’t have to hammer us over the head in episode 4 about it.

“This city needs you” the Mayor told Ralph.

Katherine and Ralph interrogated Wade Wilson who gave the kidnapper $20k. Ralph threatened to reach up inside of the guy and pull it out. The story gets convoluted. Long story short, the guy who loaned the kidnapper the money wanted his money back (Are you surprised????). The payback was supposed to take place tomorrow.

After the commercial break, we were back in Ralph’s office with Ralph, Jack, Milt Larson and his brother. Ralph strong armed the brother and reminded him that a kid’s life was at stake. (Now remember, we haven’t seen this kid since the top of the show so any empathy we might have for him is all based on exposition instead of drama).

Parkman Larson realized his brother screwed him over and was responsible for his son being kidnapped. Ralph was now even more unhappy and even angrier (if that's possible).

So, at this point we had a kidnapping, Jones in town looking for Davey and Mrs. Savino in town with Vince trying to convince her to move to this desert oasis.

Ralph dressed up as Larson and did the drop. Luckily the kidnappers were as dumb as rocks.  Jack took out one of the bad guys and Ralph fought the other and threatened to shoot the guy into being a paraplegic the rest of his life. (Imagine that, the bad guy gave up the kid's location. I'm stunned.)

Ralph went to save the kid. (Would it be any other way???) and found him in a basement. The soundtrack was a modern song by Ryan Bingham. The family was reunited. Larson apologied for doubting Ralph. Mother and son had a reunion without the help of Paul Simon.

Jones found Davey’s car at the Mojave Airport, oops McCarran Airport. It was a set up. (You’re stunned, right?)  Seems Savino set up the red herring of the car.

With Dino singing “You’re Nobody”, we found out the details of the set up. Jones had left town for the City of Angels in his futile search for Davey.

Vince told us that everything went well with Fowler at dinner and the Tumbleweed is essentially his. He was thrilled Mrs. Savino had decided to move west but she had a hitch. (You’re stunned, right?) Vince has to be completely honest going forward. (Raise your hands if you see this being an epic fail.)

Katherine and Dixon were still trying to track Davey. They, too, knew he didn’t make it back to Milwaukee. Dixon said there was corn shaft in the undercarriage of Davey’s car. There was some talk about the corn but my DVR messed up for a few seconds so I didn’t get all the details of the Anthony Spilitro like death that befell Davey.

Dixon wasn’t happy being chained to a desk. He and Ralph butted heads. Ralph thought Dixon shouldn’t be in the line of fire and wanted him to stay out of the Savino business. (Raise your hands if you think that will stick.)

Ralph and Savino met way out of town. Ralph invited him out to the boonies. “You crossed a line.” Ralph told him. “Secrets don’t stay buried, neither do bodies.”

Vince told him “We all end up in the ground some day”

"It matters how we got there” Ralph retorts. “Chew on that.”

As Savino drove away, I guess we will have to chew on our cheeks because next week is pre-empted due to being Election Night.

I’m thinking there is a drinking game in this show (especially every time Ralph grimaces). By the time the show returns in two weeks, I should have that figured out.

In the meantime, I’ll be posting in the days ahead about what I think works and doesn’t work on “CBS’s #1 new show”.

How about you?  Hit the comments and tell us what you think of this week's show!!!

Review of this week's "Vegas"

Good news for Vegas fans--CBS has ordered a full season of episodes.

Vegas 1.3  (Ill)Legitimate

Vegas 1.3

I could get all technical and point out that the 100 year old oak tree in Ralph’s yard isn’t exactly historically correct but hey, I understand the need for the occasional dramatic/artistic license. It was a beautiful tree.

Ralph and Jack go to the Savoy to find Vincent Savino requesting that they arrest a couple of card cheaters. Jack makes eyes at Mia Rizzo (Sarah Jones).

Angelo’s nephew is being sent out under the guise of being the courier for the skim. And we discover that Savino has a new plan for expanding, taking over the Tumbleweed Club and building “ a place twice as good as this one”. He also reveals that he isn’t using Chicago money but once the deal is done, he’ll deliver the new hotel in a neat bow to Angelo.

From there we briefly meet a couple of maids in the laundry room of the Tumbleweed and from there we go to a union meeting and talk of a wildcat strike against the Tumbleweed. Estelle makes an impassioned plea for getting ‘what’s right’. Again, dramatic license because the Culinary Union back in the day was the union to work for in Las Vegas. My mother was a union member for over ten years beginning in 1961. In addition, Al Bramlett was touring the deep South talking to young African-American men and women who were toiling in the cotton fields that life in Las Vegas as a member of the Culinary Union could change their lives dramatically.

As Estelle is walking home (and no, you couldn’t easily walk from downtown Las Vegas to the Westside because of the train tracks), she is killed by a hit and run driver (should I point out that NCIS: Los Angeles had a similar death in the first fifteen minutes of that show an hour earlier?). Jack interviews a couple of Estelle’s friends who spill the beans about the union meeting and that Estelle was the first female shop steward. What what’s that on the effects track, a train whistle and a coyote? Plus that’s a lot of greenery for a desert.

The next day, Savino visits the Tumbleweed and talks to Mert Hays (William Russ) about buying the Tumbleweed. Savino shows him design plans that would turn the Tumbleweed into what looks like the Fremont Hotel. He talks about doing with legit money,not mob money. This paves the way for Savino to go talk to a real banker, Mr. Farwood.  This banker character is based on Parry Thomas, the Mormon banker who with Jerry Mack ran the Bank of Las Vegas. Thomas provided legit money to casino owners, he didn’t need a hood like Savino to convince him of that.

Ralph, in the meantime, is trying to track down Estelle’s killer while Jack is busy flirting with Mia Rizzo who comes in for her work card. She flirts back. Ralph breaks up the flirt fest and Jack gives her a work card. An older white guy, Randell, and his son, Terry, come in, they tell Ralph they are family friends of Estelle’s. Her mother was their housekeeper and she and Terry grew up together.

At the Tumbleweed, Ralph and Jack track down their suspect in Estelle’s death and he tells them that Estelle was trouble because she liked “white men”. On the way out, Ralph runs into Katherine (Carrie-Ann Moss is the one person on this show who looks comfortable in vintage clothing.)

As Ralph and Katherine are talking, we cut to the exterior of Fremont Street and see a car coming at the camera and a guy throw a Molotov cocktail into the Tumbleweed.  Ralph throws himself on Katherine to shield her from the explosion.  A fireball explodes out the door of the Tumbleweed.

Katherine and Ralph flirt until Jack and Dixon come up and give Ralph the update on injuries, make and model of the offending car and wait, there’s the Sahara sign and is that supposed to be the Landmark in the far background?  Grrrrr!  Fremont Street and the Strip aren’t interchangeable!!!!

Katherine offers to help with the investigation.

Savino and Hays meet. Hays is unhappy about his place getting bombed and says Cornero is applying pressure to get him to sign a deal. Savino calls Cornero a goon. If they are talking about Tony Cornero, whose ties to Las Vegas go back to the 1930s when he owned the Meadows nightclub and the Tony Cornero who built the Stardust, they are talking about a dead man because Cornero died at the craps table in 1955. Grrr……

Savino promises to get Cornero off Hays’ back and Hays tells him he has to the end of the day. Savino goes to visit Davy Cornero (perhaps a distant cousin of Tony’s). Savino tells him to back off and offers to cut him in but not his bosses in Milwaukee. Cornero agrees.

Ralph talks to a desk clerk from the Blue  (what originally sounded like a jazz club is now a motel????) who tells him that Estelle was arguing with a white man.  Jack reports that he checked out Estelle’s bank account and she was getting $500 a month “regular like clock work”.

The money was coming from Randall, who it turns out is her father. His wife is not happy about that.

The next scene takes us to a parking garage where a couple of thugs try to take out Savino but lucky for all of us, they are bad shots.

Randall visits Ralph and Jack at the Sheriff’s Office and tells his sad story. Estelle wanted him to publicly acknowledge her paternity. He balked. He was paying for her to go to Nevada Southern University (they got that right) and he had agreed to tell his wife and son that he had an affair with the housekeeper and Estelle was his daughter.

Savino and the DA are talking. Savino is filling him in on the hit gone wrong when Ralph interrupts them. The DA covers by saying he was there to tell Mr. Savino that if “he wants a mob war in this city, he’s going to hear from us, see he understands” he says as he walks out. But Ralph is now suspicious of him.

After the DA leaves, Ralph and Savino talk. Savino underplays the hit. “You fellas want to kill each other, don’t do it in my town”. “It’s my town, too” Savino tells him.  “We’ll see.” Says Ralph on his way out.

To their credit, it was a well acted scene.

Mia comes up to Ralph and Jack as they are leaving the Savoy and Ralph tells Jack that his interest in Mia is not a good idea.

Looks like Terry is the one who ran down Estelle. He knew Estelle was his sister. Ralph realizes that the kid is a junkie. Terry cops to loving Estelle, he bought her an emerald necklace and bracelet but took them back from her apartment and pawned them the day before. He still has the jewelry box and Ralph discovers pictures hidden in the box. The pixs are of her and Randall, someone was watching them and she was being blackmailed.

Katherine and Dixon interview the kitchen staff of the Tumbleweed and discover that Hays was talking to Milwaukee guys.

Johnny Rizzo is back in town and back in the Savoy. He and Savino talk and Savino tells Rizzo about his idea of taking over the Tumbleweed. Johnny wants half the take from the Tumbleweed to keep him from telling Angelo that Vincent was going behind his back. That partnership can’t be long for the world.

Ralph and Jack discover that one of Estelle’s co-workers from the Tumbleweed was the person who was following her and blackmailing her. The maid was jealous and that led to Estelle’s death.

Katherine comes by to wrap up the case and tells Ralph that Cornero is currently missing. Over at the Savoy, Mia apologizes for not knowing that her dad was coming to town. The Mormon banker has invited Savino and his wife to the country club. “to be a fly on that wall” says Mia.

“Must not be easy trying things your way.” She tells Savino. “The old ways were never easy either. Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.” Savino tells her.

To the strains of Dino singing “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”, Savino’s guys take out the Milwaukee guys. “Be sure you bury them good, I don’t want any guest appearances.”

“You make the rules, we just got it take it” Jack tells Ralph back at the ranch when he discovers that Ralph didn’t tear down the tree.  After Jack leaves, Ralph looks out the window and in his dream, he sees his wife hanging laundry.

Back on Fremont Street, Jack approaches Mia, they flirt and he asks her to dinner but she has plans. The DA is there and he is going to show her around. You just know that Mia would rather stay and have dinner with Jack. Maybe another time.

This episode was interesting and had some good scenes. But the writing is still overall lackluster and could definitely use a big injection of drama and character. Because  the cases of the week aren’t interesting enough and the overall story arc of the conflict between Ralph Lamb and Vincent Savino isn’t compelling enough.

 What do you think? Hit the comments section and let us know!

All That Glitters, Vegas episode 1.3

A young boxer, just back from the Olympics, is found dead. Ralph investigates. In the larger story, the owner of the Savoy, Angelo and his first lieutenant, Johnny Rizzo, arrive in town and chaos ensues.

“One federal witness , two federal agents and the last Sheriff of Clark County” Jack Lamb in reciting the ways Savino has broken the law since coming to town.

Side note and quibble- Ralph Lamb was the sheriff of Clark County, not Las Vegas. Clark County begins at Sahara (San Francisco Street back in the day) but this show takes place, almost exclusively, downtown where Ralph didn’t have any jurisdiction. Metro (the combining of the City Police Dept with the County Sheriff's Dept) didn't happen until the 1970s.

Well, things could be looking up, Jonathan Banks joins the cast. Been a fan since his days on Wiseguy (first William Russ, now Jonathan Banks and loved him as Mike on Breaking Bad). As the owner of the Savoy, he brings some menace.

Mia (Sarah Jones) is the daughter of Johnny Rizzo (Michael Wiseman), the man who brings the big money in and seems to be Angelo's favorite.

A dead body (the boxer) on Fremont Street.  Why can I see portions of the Sahara sign and the original Stardust sign next to the Savoy?  WTF???  The Savoy is not on the Strip. As I mentioned last week, you can see the Golden Nugget from his office. The Savoy is on Fremont Street. The geography is all over the map and not in a good way.

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing these recreations of the signs and casino fronts but how hard is it to at least distinguish between the Strip and downtown. It was only 50 years ago and there are plenty of photos, news articles, film footage (from the Las Vegas News Bureau archives as well as network news archives like CBS) and postcards that show what hotels were where.

Fremont Street

And no one who has seen them would believe that Fremont Street and the Strip were on the same County block.

Courtesy of LeavingLV.net- Fremont Street 1960s

Courtesy of LeavingLV.net- The Stardust from the era of the show

On the show, Johnny Rizzo is in the black book. If he’s in the black book, he not only can’t be on the gaming floor he can't stay in the hotel. It’s what got Sinatra’s license pulled when he owned a portion of the Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe. He hosted Sam “Momo” Giancana and the Gaming Commission found out. Sinatra had to give up his points in the Sands as well.

Talking about skimming from the boss in his own hotel. That takes cojones. Too bad there's no weight in the words.

A gourmet restaurant, women’s clothing stores, in 1960s these are novel ideas? Every hotel on the Strip had them. These are not novel ideas for the era. No matter where the damn hotel is supposed to be located. The sawdust joints downtown had gourmet restaurants but space was valuable on Fremont Street so women’s shops, etc not necessary because the whole street had them (Ronzoni’s, Fanny’s, Chic Hecht’s, CH Baker Shoes) and women only had to walk a block to them vs on the Strip where you had to drive a half mile or more to get to the next property.

It’s stuff like this that takes me out of enjoying the show.  Well, that and the lack of character and story development.

Ralph vs Rizzo on the floor of the Savoy conjures up memories of Ralph vs Lefty Rosenthal. But Ralph had more gravitas. Or at least the stories do. These are still archetypes not real characters so no one’s words carry any weight.

The original wiseguys were smart enough to keep the violence to the outskirts of town, not the floors of the casinos and while they may not have liked Lamb, they likely didn’t entertain the idea of whacking him.

Rizzo advocates for the removal of Lamb, the more violent the better. He takes his case to Angelo and Savino must defend the idea of letting Lamb live because the bottom line is, killing him is bad for tourism. “If we take him out, best case scenario the feds don’t come after us, they don’t revoke our gaming  license but we still have two dead sheriffs in less than a month. What man is going to take his wife to a city without any law? Without tourism, there’s no money, there’s no suitcases coming home. Whatever we think of Ralph Lamb, we need him alive, for now. Otherwise we have another wasted opportunity, another Havana in the desert.”

Angelo sides with Savino which only serves to make Rizzo mad and you can tell by the commercial break, the bad blood between Rizzo and Savino just got worse.

The scene of Chiklis delivering the above speech is the best acting we’ve seen so far by any of the characters. The main cast is trying hard but they need a story that is about these characters and not about archetypes.

The idea to kill Lamb felt more like a Rosenthal and Tony the Ant move than a Moe Dalitz move . But Lefty and Tony were almost 20 years later than the era the show is set in. You can’t just trade one era for the other.

Well, maybe you can. CBS is touting the show as its “#1 new drama”.

No show next week as the presidential debate takes place.

See you in two weeks!