"Breaking Bread"

A review by Jenni:

What I love about this episode:
As with "Children of the Night," I'm impressed by TBAA handling topics that I don't recall getting much airtime back in the 90s.  Hate crimes are a touchy issue but here they tackled the topic from the first scene on.

This may seem a minor issue but I loved Monica's answer to Tess asking her if she was ready to handle this case.  Monica's answer was something to the effect of being prepared but how could one every be ready for something like that?  There's so much in life that I feel that way about but I never really made the distinction.  I think the angels must feel prepared but not ready for a lot of stuff.

Andrew's eyebrows.  I was trying to be serious but...  Wow!  They are crazy awesome in some scenes in this episode.  They're all over the place!  I love them!  I love him!  I also think I must have a thing for cops and similar.  Cause Andrew's not even in a uniform here but I think he looks even more attractive than usual.  I'm just gonna guess it's cause he's an investigator with the State.  Or maybe cause his sweater was green in one scene.  Always nice. 

The camerawork during the scene after Stan's copy shop has been vandalized reminds me of Law and Order.  Awesome.

Also awesome is Derek.  Obviously I mean how he was written/performed, not the character himself!  No offense to the writers or Mr. John Schneider but I'm not crazy about his Satan in "In the Name of God."  I like Derek cause he seems so nice!  I mean he defends Monica against those thugs!  So it's more effective when it turns out he's evilness itself.

Tess' tough love-style encouragement of Matt is great.  I love how she seems to be there every step of the way for him.

Finally, every time I watch this episode I get goosebumps during their walk to the automechanic's.  Still happens 10 years after I first saw this!

What I didn't love about this episode:
There's nothing I have a huge problem with here.  Just a few minor issues of my own:

It creeps me out when Andrew is standing by Derek in the copy shop.  I want to grab him and run.  Okay, I should grab the other people, too.  This is not a complaint about the episode at all.  Just saying it creeps me out.

Maybe I'm just having a weird day but it was really hard to watch the beatings at the beginning.  I'm no fan of violence, period.  But usually it doesn't affect me quite so much as it did.  I guess because TBAA so often simply alluded to violence, when it shows it it's a lil shocking.  And because this crime was so revolting it made it doubly so.  Or maybe it's cause, unfortunately, since the last time I watched this episode there was a racially motivated murder only blocks from my house.  I guess that was in the back of my mind.

My only real "gripe" is I'm not a big fan of Derek's deep voice at the end.  Strikes me as corny.

Lingering questions:
Why could Andrew tip off Monica about the bakery exploding?  He certainly hasn't been able to do that at other times.

What does one get for a gift that says "I'm sorry we thought you were crazy.  Thank you for saving our town from Satan"?  Cause I think those people better have done something nice for Matt!  Maybe they rebuilt his bakery.

Parts that made me feel swoony:
 Whenever Andrew was on.  Yes, it was *that* ridiculous.  Okay, not at the very beginning but from his second scene on...  First, he's wearing a long coat!  I love long coats on guys!  And then he's trying to get people to band together to combat the racists...  I mean how is that not awesome!?!  Then there's his green sweater and me getting freaked cause he's standing by Satan unknowingly.  So, of course, I feel a lil swoony there cause it's a green sweater coupled with my fears of his vulnerability.  And then there's another long coat and then he's part of the totally inspiring confrontational walk.  What's not to swoon over???

Random thoughts:
I'm amused by Matt's wife being played by the same actress who would later appear as Rudolpha Claus in John Dye's Christmas movies.  Of course, I'm also amused that Michael Chiklis is in this as a rather meek (at first) character.  Matt wouldn't get very far on The Shield.

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