Day Break—Final Wrapup

What if He Walks Away?

Fed up that his day is still repeating (and I don't blame him, because it really doesn't make any sense anymore now that he's solved the case), Hopper takes Rita to Vegas. And then Mexico. Over and over. When he finally goes back, he's arrested not only for Garza's murder, but also for the murders of Chad and Rita.

What if She's the Key?

The mystery surrounding Rita deepens as Hopper tries to find out what she's hiding from him, and how it fits in with the Garza case, in order to prevent her death.

What if It's Him?

The last pieces of the puzzle come together as the truth comes out about who really set Hopper up for Garza's murder. In addition, Hopper discovers the truth about his father's death, finally makes it into tomorrow...and beyond.

I really like that they wrapped up this storyline in the 13 produced episodes. There were a few missteps along the way, I thought--things got a bit too convoluted, and the last three episodes really felt like added on padding, especially Rita's subplot, but overall it made for a satisfying, complete story. Of course there were a few loose ends--why was Hopper repeating, and could it happen to him again being the main question--but only enough to allow for the story to have continued if the series had been picked up. The last shot, of the formerly crazy inmate who was apparently also repeating days, now cleaned up and looking like he knew something about Hopper, was a nice way to segue into what could have been more story.

Overall, an enjoyable show. It's too bad it didn't do better in the ratings. I haven't heard anything about a DVD release, but I hope they do go ahead and make this available.

Day Break

When last we saw Detective Brett Hopper, he was still having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, over and over and over. But he'd finally gotten Chad to think maybe he wasn't entirely nuts, and had managed to change a couple of things permanently, which could be considered progress. Then ABC rudely canceled his show, leaving him stuck in limbo forever and ever.

But lucky for us, we have the Internet now, and the remaining episodes of Day Break were made available on abc.com not long after the cancellation was announced.

In the additional, unaired episodes, the story continues to build, with various pieces falling together as the day changes based on Hopper's activities.

What If He's Not Alone?

Hopper's starting to lose it as the constant repetition begins to wear on him. Hopper meets another man who's also reliving days--a man he encountered earlier in the police station, who appeared to be crazy.

What if She's Lying?

Brett looks for a medical reason for his experiences. Jennifer's involvement with Detweiler is revealed; she's in possession of a briefcase with incriminating evidence about the Isabella Contrares case.

What if They're Connected?

The day changes again as Jennifer asks Brett for help straight off, thus taking her out of danger. Isabella's murder is traced to Tobias Booth, a political figure who had her murdered because she was pregnant. Brett finds evidence Garza's murder is tied to a building gang war.

By the end of this episode, it seems Hopper has made significant progress toward clearing himself of Garza's murder.


What if He's Free?

Brett finally proves Miguel Dominguez killed Garza, and clears his own name. Relieved, he waits for tomorrow to finally come...but it doesn't. We should have known things would go bad when the Yellow-Eyed Demon showed up (Frederic Lane in a guest role).

I have a feeling that having Harper's day start over yet again, even after he's solved the Garza case, is going to be a bad move, story-wise. We'll see. There are still three more episodes--I'll talk about them in an upcoming post.

Day Break Now Online

Four additional episodes of Day Break are now available at ABC's website, along with the episodes that were originally aired last year.

And in other good news, the ABC player decided to behave itself tonight, so hopefully I'll be able to watch these. I caught "What if They Are Not Alone" tonight and enjoyed it very much. More on the additional episodes of Day Break later.

Day Break at ABC Online

Starting January 29, Day Break will be appearing with a new episode every Monday. Details here.

Fandom Collisions

In today's news:

According to Tim Minear.net, Amy Acker has been added to the cast of Drive. The Angel alum joins Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), for a Whedonverse Trifecta.

From various sources--Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) and her giganamous breasts will be appearing on Supernatural. Undoubtedly Dean is already stocking up on breath spray. Or rock salt, depending on her role.

Speaking of Day Break--oh, we weren't? Oh, well. Also according to various sources (not the same various sources--some other various sources), Day Break will be appearing in its 13-episode entirety on abc.com. Let's hope the streaming video software there cooperates better than it did when I was trying to sample Brothers and Sisters. But that's an entire post of its own...

Day Break Officially Cancelled

Okay first--WEEPS PROFUSELY.

This makes me very sad, but according to futon critic, Day Break has been pulled from ABC's schedule:

"ABC is shuffling its deck chairs once again, pulling both Wednesday newcomers "Show Me the Money" and "Day Break" from its schedule effective immediately.

"As for their replacements, ... various repeats of "The George Lopez Show" and "According to Jim" will fill the network's Wednesday schedule on December 20 and December 27."

So they're taking a really good, well-written, intricate drama and replacing it with reruns of George Lopez and According to Jim. *headdesk*

Please note, though: "The network is expected to stream the seven remaining episodes of "Break" on ABC.com."

I'll be there watching.

Damn, I need coffee...

Day Break--What If They Find Him

I'm still liking this show a lot. The story is moving along briskly, and each episode brings a take on the day different enough to hold our attention, yet with enough elements carried over to keep us oriented. And I like that things that have been stated as solved on previous episodes, such as the situation between Andrea and Eddie, remain solved here, thus enforcing the conclusion that Hopper is, indeed, able to make cumulative changes and, presumably, will be able to eventually resolve his situation.

This week, Hopper had to deal not only with some new twists and turns to the conspiracy he's slowly uncovering, but also with the unexpected consequences of his actions last week. Because Hopper stole the murder book--and continues to do so--both Damien and Chad are killed.

These two events comprise the whole of this episode's Day One. On Day Two, Hopper tracks down Damien to question him about Miguel Dominquez. Damien knows him as a sort of mythic boogieman figure, and won't have anything to do with him. He does, however, offer to help ID the Jane Doe. This leads them to a nun who's been safeguarding illegals for a long time. They find her picture in a box of photos--her name is Isabella Contrares. Damien then bails on the investigation. Chad is once again gunned down, only this time the killer is revealed as Hopper's sister Jennifer.

On Day Three, Hopper is able to snag the picture right away, and tracks down Isabella's mother, who is living in her own world where her daughter is still alive. The conversation with her leads them to a Mr. Detweiler, who got Isabella a job at a high-class club. Because he's with Damien, Hopper is able to prevent his death, but Damien leaves without him, apparently not all that grateful. Hopper discovers Chad was killed.

Day Four. Hopper tracks down Detweiler, who proves to be one of the guys from the gravel pit. Hopper goes postal on him and is threatened by Detweiler's wife. On Day Five, Hopper manages to stay calm for a while, but then threatens him, leading to Day Six, in which Hopper hands over the murder book and the hourglass to Detweiler and asks him to just make it all stop. Detweiler says it's not that simple, and apparently it isn't, because when he turns the evidence over to his boss, said boss is not pleased. Hopper has planted a bug with the evidence, though, and hears the boss order everyone killed. Hopper puts the pieces together--this is why Chad was shot. With several phone calls, he is able to abort the planned murders of Damien and Chad. At the quarry, Detweiler is buried in a dump truck load of sand. The shadowy boss then lectures Jennifer about the difference between a warning and an example.

So we get yet another layer of the mystery. Hopper's father is brought up again several times, but his connection to the past case, as well as the current, is still not made clear. Jennifer's reveal as a cohort of the bad guys is a surprise. This leads me to believe that the bruises on her arm weren't caused by an abusive husband, after all, as Hopper assumed, but were a result of something that happened between her and the shadowy boss or perhaps Detweiler. If Hopper's father was involved in the old Jane Doe murder, how is his sister involved in the current conspiracy? All questions I hope the show will be given enough time to answer. Unlike some other shows currently on the air, I have the feeling the writers know exactly where they're going with this one, and if they just get the opportunity to air enough episodes, we'll see some satisfying answers.

Day Break—What If They're Stuck

This show just gets better and better, making me even sadder about what seems to be imminent cancellation. But maybe if it does get cancelled, it'll get a break, like Smith, which just showed up on iTunes. I haven't watched Smith at all, but at $12.99 for the entire series plus a booklet outlining the last five unaired episodes, it's damned tempting.

Anyway, back to Day Break.

Day One this week is a quickly executed series of missteps. Hopper takes the hourglass to the police lab to have the print pulled. Unfortunately, his timing goes awry, and not only is he unable to get any information about the print, he's arrested and again ends up at the quarry. This time Rita is there, and is executed within his hearing.

On Day Two, Hopper prepares better, getting Dodgers tickets to bribe the lab guy with so he can get his information. Trying to get his hands on the murder book for the case, Hopper ends up pulling a gun on Chad.

The rest of Day Two revolves around this hostage situation. He demands that Rita and Jennifer and her kids be brought to the station so he'll know they're safe. In the process of trying to get Chad to tell him where the book is, Hopper ends up spilling his whole story--that he's repeating this day, that he's seen Rita die three times and can't bear to see it happen again. That he's afraid that if he just decides to give up and let a day reset so he can try again, it'll turn out to be the last day, and Rita will end up dead forever. Chad doesn't buy this crazy story...but maybe he does. Completely calm through his ordeal, but visibly sheened with sweat, Chad seems to gradually begin to believe, particularly after Hopper's impassioned speech about not wanting to lose Rita. And, at the very last, Chad tells Hopper that, if he's right about the day repeating, the murder book is in the front seat of his car.

Several tidbits are dropped, pieces to add to the expanding puzzle. Something bad happened with Hopper's father back in the day--the clues tonight seem to indicate some kind of mental illness. Was Hopper Sr. caught in a repeating day, as well? This would be a bit like Tru Davies (Tru Calling) finding out her mother also repeated days, so maybe that's not where they're going. But obviously the 1991 case and Hopper Sr.'s involvement in it is an important part to Hopper Jr.'s story. The fingerprint from the hourglass, however, proves to be that of a criminal who's been in prison since 1989, so the connection there isn't immediately clear.

Another interesting note--the crazy guy from lock-up in the police station, whom Hopper's encountered before, seems to recognize Hopper the third time they run into each other. Is he tuned in to the repeating day somehow? Just because he's off his nut, or because he's part of the unfolding conspiracy?

And at this point, some kind of conspiracy seems likely. The first time the SWAT team moves in on Hopper, Chad spies a .45 leveled at Hopper's head and pushes him out of the way, saving him from death at the shot. When Hopper asks him why he did it, Chad says because the hostage team wasn't following protocol. The second time the SWAT team converges, a gun has been trained on Rita, and the targeting light doesn't disappear until Hopper confesses to Garza's murder. All this implies to me that the police are deeply involved in whatever's going on.

On Day Three, Hopper gets the book out of Chad's car, setting off the alarm. In a nice touch, he also leaves the money Chad said Hopper owed him, because when they were partners, Chad bought coffee twice as often as Hopper did.

So Chad has come around, just a bit. And may I take a moment to wax fangirlish about Adam Baldwin? Because he's just doing a bang-up job with this role. I was a bit disappointed at first, because it seemed like they'd just tossed him into another brutish bad guy part, but damn, Chad actually has layers. He's rough and arrogant and more than a bit of a prick, but tonight we finally got to see exactly why Hopper trusts him to take care of Rita, and why Rita would have fallen in love with him in the first place. I applaud some well-written character development, executed nicely by a very underrated actor.

Day Break--What If His Ratings Suck?

Sadly, TV Squad and others are reporting that Day Break is conspicuous by its absence from ABC's latest scheduling announcements, covering the period after the first of the year. This isn't entirely unexpected, as the ratings have been horrible. But it's sad, as this is really a very good show.

I think, however, that it was doomed from the start. The plan to supplant Lost with thirteen episodes of an entirely different show to appease the viewers who didn't want so many re-runs didn't make sense in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, an entertaining and well-written show has borne the brunt of the failed experiment. I'll still hold out hope that we'll get to see all thirteen episodes, or, barring that, a DVD set at some time in the near future.

Day Break-—What if He Can Change the Day

Hopper's day takes a very different turn today, as, true to last week's title--What if He Lets Her Go--he temporarily abandons his quest to save Rita in a quest to save Andrea. Andrea, it seems, has gotten mixed up with Eddie, a former cop who's now having drug issues. It was his body we saw at the end of the last episode, and now I feel dumb that I didn't recognize him, because he was Batmanuel Nestor Carbonell.

In any case, Hopper pursues parts of his usual pattern, but drops others, as he goes through two more full days and part of another. A second package enters the picture--it was sent to Hopper's sister. So the days focus on helping Andrea with Eddie and her situation with Internal Affairs, and on working out the meaning of the second package, which contains a photograph from a crime scene from 1991.

Hopper focuses on gathering all his evidence in this episode, spending a day at a bar writing down everything that has happened so far and trying to make connections. Since all these notes presumably disappear the next time he wakes up, he must be developing a heck of a memory--although the repetition probably helps.

More and more details about Andrea's IA situation and her relationship with Eddie accumulate over days Two and Three. On Day Three, Hopper is offered a deal by one of the men from the quarry--bring the pictures and he'll get all the answers he needs. But in the end he chooses to help Andrea, instead. The picture from the package turns out to be from a case Eddie was involved in--Hopper's father was the lead on the case and evidence disappeared, leading the case to fall apart. At the beginning of Day Four of this episode, Hopper goes to get the first package and this time finds a fingerprint on the hourglass.

So we have a few more clues, and in the end Eddie is saved. But I have to wonder how all this will help. Hopper can spend an entire day changing something, but when he wakes up the next day, the clock is reset, and if he isn't there to facilitate each situation, how will it play out differently?

But aha! The writers have worked this out. On Day Four, Hopper gets a phone call from Andrea first thing in the morning, which hasn't happened before. His meddling on the previous day has carried over, and now Andrea is able to handle her situation herself. So as Hopper works through each piece of this puzzle, presumably it'll get to a point where his changes all carry over, and the mystery is finally solved, everything fixed, all wrongs righted. Finally there's a light at the end of the tunnel--an indication that Hopper can, indeed, eventually escape the endless loop. It's a neat twist, and I assume gives us an idea of how Hopper will approach his dilemma in upcoming episodes.

As an aside, why does Nestor Carbonell always look like he's wearing eyeliner?

Thanksgiving Tidbits

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it.

Some tidbits for Turkey Day:

Creative Screenwriting Weekly has a nice two-part interview with Anne Cofell Saunders of Battlestar Galactica.

Part One
Part Two

Unfortunately, it looks like the Lost fans aren't hanging around for Day Break.

Sad Story Here

This makes me sad. Weh.

Okay, off to eat pie.

Day Break—What If He Lets Her Go

I'm even more impressed with this show after this episode than I was after the pilot. Rather than retreading old ground already covered in last week's show, this week Hopper manages to go off on a completely different tack, investigating different layers of the complex story of his Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. A completely different plot is thus spun out of these new elements, showing us entirely new information about the characters and the case. A "previously on" segment is narrated by Hopper, orienting us to where we are in the story, and quick flashbacks help us remember where we've seen people before (or, in my case, that we're supposed to remember where we've seen them before but we can't because the short term memory is the first to go). This worked well, I thought.

Tonight we discover that Hopper can heal during his repeating days, as his gunshot wound isn't bleeding as badly when he wakes up at the beginning of this episode. However, this precludes a repetition of the shower scene from last week, which is a bummer, although he does spend some time shirtless in front of the mirror bandaging himself up. He convinces Rita to take the day off so he can keep her close, then he saves Coffee Shop Lady, but Rita insists on helping the victims of the bus accident. Hopper retrieves the package mentioned on his voice mail and finds an hourglass inside. I'm thinking Time Turner here--maybe if he turns it upside down at the right time, he can save Buckbeak.

At the hospital, Rita is seeing to the accident victims when Chad drops by to check on her. He tells her Hopper killed Garza, and that she's wanted for questioning. Hopper arrives and sticks a gun in Chad's back and tries to get Rita to come with him, but she refuses. He runs.

Hopper meets up with Andrea. They trace the call regarding the package to the home of US Attorney Nathan Baxter, who was involved in one of Hopper's previous cases involving a gangbanger turning state's evidence, then getting nabbed from the safe house. They go to Baxter's house and find a dead woman in the swimming pool. Hopper thinks this is who called him.

Chad convinces Rita to let him take her home. He offers to check her house and spend the night to protect her, but she refuses. After she leaves his car, his phone rings (an aside--who the hell has the William Tell Overture as a ringtone?). It's Ominous Bearded Guy, who's been surveilling Hopper's place. He wants to meet Chad at a bar for hot sexy boy loving unknown reasons.

Rita confronts Hopper over his weirdness and finally asks him to leave when he refuses to explain. Hopper is abducted by Damien, who's bit annoyed that he ratted for Hopper and then got abducted out of his safe house. Damien has Baxter in the trunk of his car. Damien is sure either Baxter or Hopper gave him up at the safe house. Hopper asks for more time to find out what exactly happened, and who really ratted Damien out. Damien agrees, and then shoots Baxter dead.

DAY TWO

Rita wakes up alone at 6:25. Hopper is already dressed. And morose. This time he catches the soap dish with hot sexy vampire-like reflexes. He tries to explain his dilemma to Rita in generic terms. She tells him to solve the case rather than trying to protect the target, of course unaware the target is her. He heads out and saves Coffee Shop Lady again, then goes to get the package. This time he confronts Ominous Bearded Guy and his crony in their car Their backseat tussle ends with Hopper being tossed out of the car onto the street, but he's snagged OBG's phone.

Trying to keep the woman at Baxter's house (Eva) from dying this time around, Hopper finds out Garza told her to call him about the package. OBG's phone rings (and what is with the lame ringtones? Dixie? Wtf?) and finds Baxter on the other end calling OBG to tell him Hopper is in his house. Of course Hopper knows this, and confronts Baxter. While they're in each other's faces, Damien and his sidekick show up and shoot the woman, who flies out a window into the pool. Hopper ends up in the trunk with Baxter. Baxter admits to Hopper than he ratted out Damien.

Elsewhere, Rita has agreed to an interrogation by AD Skinner Detective Spivak. Chad prevents a line of questioning they apparently want to use against her. She is obviously appreciative, and this time when he takes her home she accepts his offer to stay the night--just to make sure she's safe, you know. Hey. He's Adam Baldwin. He has huge hands. He can sleep on my couch any time, even if he is a Republican.

There is a car accident (from the POV of the two guys in the trunk--cool!) and a lot of gunshots and Baxter and Hopper are liberated from the trunk by OBG, who slugs Hopper in the face for taking his phone. After an Angel-reminiscent blipvert to make us think we're moving on to day three, Hopper wakes up in the trunk. He finds Baxter dead in the front of the car, and he's been left with a gun. So now he's been framed for two murders instead of just one. He eludes the cops in a musical montage to "Unbound" by Robbie Robertson.

Hopper calls Rita from outside her house and assures her she's okay, and that he'll see her tomorrow. He of course hears Chad being Chaddy in the background. Hopper gets a call from Andrea, who has apparently just killed somebody and I think I was supposed to recognize the body but I couldn't make out the face even on pause with the DVR because the eyesight is second to go after the short-term memory.

The previews look like the next episode will focus on Andrea, and apparently will guest star Nestor Carbonell, aka Batmanuel from The Tick. (Shut up. The Tick was WAY better than Suddenly Susan.)

Day Break—What if They Run (Pilot)

Last season, viewers of Lost registered a good number of complaints that they didn’t like having to sit through reruns, and that they wanted uninterrupted first-run episodes instead. ABC’s response to this? Run 6 episodes of Lost in a row, then pull the show completely off the air until February, after which they would run the rest of the season uninterrupted. Now, of course, Lost fans are complaining that their show is off the air for twelve weeks.

In any case, for the hiatus we’ll be treated to a new show, Day Break. The premise: Taye Diggs and a collection of ex-X-Files-ers team up to turn “Monday” (a season six X-Files episode in which Mulder relives the same day over and over until he is able to stop a bank robbery and save Scully from blood splattery death) into a thirteen-part mystery. (Or it could be the season eight X-Files episode “Redrum”, but I liked “Monday” better.) The production staff is stellar, including Rob Bowman and Jeffrey Bell from The X-Files (and, in the case of Bell, Angel). In front of the cameras we have Taye Diggs, also serving as a co-producer, Adam Baldwin (The X-Files, Angel, Firefly), Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files), and, in a minor role, John Rubinstein (Linwood Morrow from Angel).

Wednesday night’s two-hour introduction presented a nicely convoluted tale, but for me the highlight was Diggs and Baldwin wrestling repeatedly in the elevator. I’ll tell you what, I could have watched that for the entire two hours. Well, with a break or two to look at Taye Diggs shirtless, another definite highlight of the episode.

Anyway, our story starts with our hero, Detective Brett Hopper, waking up with his girlfriend Rita. Several odd things happen so he’ll have a way to realize his day is repeating once we get to that point—there’s a car accident outside the apartment, he breaks the soap dish (remember Mulder’s waterbed leak and how he kept tripping over his shoes?). And of course we get all the background we need to set up our basic story. Assistant DA Alberto Garza has been murdered, and our hero has been framed for that murder. He’s taken in and interrogated. We find out his sister’s husband abuses her, and that his girlfriend Rita was once his ex-partner’s wife, and his ex-partner is now leading an Internal Affairs investigation against Hopper's new partner, Andrea. Then he’s kidnapped by goons who tell him he has to confess to the murder or they’ll kill his girlfriend. Well, actually they’ve already killed his girlfriend, and they show it to him on tape, then demonstrate that they are prepared and positioned to kill his sister and her kids, as well. They also tell him in a dramatically echoey manner that every decision has a consequence. And then he wakes up back in bed with Rita, faced with reliving the entire horrible day. Just to add insult to injury, rather literally, he wakes up with all the wounds he received on the previous day. This could be a problem.

Thus is our hero’s dilemma. Everything he does or doesn’t do creates a chain reaction throughout the day (and his major choice determines the title of the episode, talk about pressure), with different end results. Hopper acts based on knowledge gained in the previous repetition of the day, but he doesn’t know what the right mix is. In this respect he’s a lot like Tru Davies in Tru Calling, but he doesn’t have to run everywhere and he lacks Eliza Dushku’s cleavage.

Overall, this all worked better than I expected, given the difficult premise. Each repetition of the day reveals a few more details behind the conspiracy surrounding Garza's murder, adding layers to the mystery and the plot. I’m still curious to see how they manage to play it out over the full 12 episodes (13 if this one counts as 2), but so far, so good. And as long as Diggs keeps taking off his shirt and wrestling with Adam Baldwin in the elevator, I’m all good.

Day Break Official Site.