Welcome back gumshoes! Now that we’ve shaken off the first episode jitters, let’s talk about the second outing of ABC’s Cobie Smulders vehicle Stumptown. I was somewhat mixed on the first episode of the series, but, as I noted in my review, pilots are tough. With that in mind, let’s stump some more towns with a new series of questions: Was the pilot really the best this show can do? After an episode of setup, is Dex ready to go full PI? Will they manage to work the name “Stumptown” back into the dialogue, or will the show disappoint me in a brand new way?
1. On the Right Foot
Right off the bat we have a sequence that I loved more than anything in the pilot, with a flashback that shows Dex first meeting, and then immediately sleeping with, her future best friend and confidante Grey (Jake Johnson). This series of scenes is a little bit of a lay-up–both Smulders and Johnson are ace performers–but their chemistry is stellar.
We’re treated–and I say treated, because each of these scenes is a delight–to a series of flashbacks throughout the episode that give some depth to their relationship. These early relationship moments are charming, but more than that they round off some of the sharper edges of the characters, giving dimensionality and life to a relationship that the pilot took for granted.
2. Comic Booky Goodness
I’m choosing to believe that the creators of Stumptown both A) read my review last week and B) went back and recut their episode to cow to my whims. Since that’s obviously what’s happening, I’d like to personally thank the showrunners for their new scene transitions, featuring a freeze frame on a colorful, pop-y rotoscope of the scene before sliding to the next shot.
It’s a nice nod to the series’ comic book origins, which I noted last week felt underplayed. In fact, the series spent the episode answering each of my gripes individually, even taking a moment to mention Dex’s bisexuality, an element from the books that I noted was missing from the pilot. What I’m saying is, this episode is much better than the first and you’re welcome, America.
3. Procedure as Character Development
The best procedurals manage to weave together the case-of-the-week and the inner lives of the characters. Stumptown, thankfully, is smart enough to examine Dex’s life while also using the episode as a chance to consciously build the supporting cast’s relationships. We get several moments like Detective Hoffman (Michael Ealy) and Lieutenant Cosgrove (Camryn Mannheim) comparing notes, and Grey and Dex’s brother Ansel (Cole Sibus) getting a visit from Grey’s past.
For this episode Alan (Jay Duplass) hires Dex to look for a woman named Katrina (Zosia Mamet) that he connected with at a bar. Shockingly, the initially simple case turns out to be more complicated than it seemed at first glance. Katrina may or may not be a conwoman, and Alan may or may not be a mark. As Dex works through her first case, their confusing Missed Connection–see, I can work in the title too, Stumptown–gives the episode it’s main propulsion.
It’s not a particularly complicated mystery, but it’s importantly an active one. In what will surely be a theme across the series, Dex gets into multiple fist fights. What I love about the fights isn’t just that Dex kicks ass, it’s when she doesn’t kick ass–every fight Dex has makes it seem like she might lose. I love the fact that Dex is kind of bad at being a PI, even when her instincts are in the right place. It gives her the room to grow into the job rather than immediately making her the smartest, most talented person in the room.
4. Trust
This is an episode not just about who we trust, but about why we trust. Dex and Grey made an instant connection in the past, and their flashbacks mostly detail how over the course of one day that was built into a bedrock of trust. Katrina and Alan’s meet cute somewhat echos Dex and Grey’s, allowing the episode to give those flashbacks some resonance in the present-day arc.
I like that “Missed Connections” leaves that trust–both the burgeoning trust of Katrina and Alan and the older, seemingly more reliable trust had by Dex and Grey–in an unstable place. Grey’s past (more on that below) threatens his and Dex going forward, and we never get a straight answer about what Katrina really wants. Maybe she does want a relationship with Alan, or maybe she’s still playing a con; the answer isn’t that essential. Trust, the episode suggests, is a choice.
Continued below5. The B-Plot Plays the Long Game
Grey is given more to do this episode, including a bit of development about his criminal past. I definitely expected this to go somewhere this episode, but instead we only get a couple of scenes, setting up what might end up being a season-long B-Plot rather than a one-off side story.
It’s a smart move in an episode full of smart moves, guaranteeing Grey an interesting narrative and putting him on a collision course with Hoffman and the cops–presumably with Dex right in the middle. Will Dex side with her best friend, or with her new police allies? Will Hoffman side with Dex and protect Grey from the law? And how will both of Dex’s will-they-won’t-they relationships survive this upheaval?
There groundwork is laid for some fun, tense storytelling. I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re cooking up, even if this episode let me down in one key area: no one says Stumptown.
