Episode Report Card Joe R: C- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Who's Sorry Now?
By Joe R | Season 1 | Episode 21 | Aired on 06.20.2007
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.After Simon's outburst to the press at the end of last week's episode, he's holed up in Danny's office where he has to deal with Jack for an hour. Jack wants Simon to apologize, Simon would rather lose his job than do so. Jack isn't about to fire him, though, and why? Because he doesn't want a repeat of what happened to Matt and Danny six years ago. Back in 2001, Harriet was adamant about Matt not doing the Rove sketch because it would be career suicide, but it got through rehearsal without objection from the ad guys, so Matt put it on the show. Of course, come the following Monday, a couple of conservative radio yahoos called for a boycott of the show because of the sketch, and Jack demanded Matt issue an apology. Matt wouldn't, Jack threatened to fire them both, and we leave off with a call being placed to Wes Mendel.
Matt, Mary, and Jack finally present the Trask option to Tom, as Trask is now in a position to make a move on the hostages. Captain Boyle's no dummy (or else clairvoyant) and sniffs out the plan. He warns Tom of the danger of funding terrorist organizations by paying their ransoms. But when they get word that the captors are claiming they've killed one of the other two airmen, even though Boyle says they're lying, Tom doesn't want to take chances. He says he's going to speak to his parents, then place the call to Trask.
Back at the hospital, Jordan's condition has become critical, though the doctor continues to claim it sounds worse than it is. They get the bleeding to stop, but then Jordan develops a bacterial infection. Harriet uses this opportunity to "teach" Danny how to pray, just in case we weren't sure exactly which of the female leads we want to be killed off this show. Meanwhile, Mary convinces Matt that, rather than risk losing his fiancée and his daughter in one night, Danny needs to get Jordan to sign something that confers legal guardianship of the baby to Danny. Not sure how Jordan's is a position to sign any legal documents in the condition she's in, but that's a question for next week: the last episode ever! Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously on Studio 60: Jordan's blood wouldn't clot, Mary told Matt about a security firm that could get Tom's brother back, and Simon went off on the press for turning a hostage crisis into entertainment. Also, despite the fact that this is now our fourth episode covering the same night's events, we are not told by a velvety voice-over that the following takes place between 2:45 and 3:45 AM.
In a sequence reminiscent of the pilot, Jack Rudolph is working his way through the bowels of the Studio, flanked by security officers and selected flunkies, finally arriving at the office of the executive producer. Only this time, he's not going to fire Wes Mendel. Simon's already inside Danny's office, looking contemplative but not all that concerned, considering the circumstances. He notes the guards standing outside, and Jack says they're for Simon's protection more than anything. Like the citizens of West Hollywood are going to storm the Studio like it's the Bastille because of what Simon said. Jack repeats one line from Simon's rant that we didn't hear last week: "No wonder those guys want to kill us. I live here and I want to kill us." Simon shrugs and says he honestly can't remember what he said. Jack says he can refresh his memory by turning on a television, because it's all over the news, and unless they can "do something now," it'll be on television a whole lot more. Um...really? A public apology is going to keep a controversial and public celebrity meltdown off the air? It should be noted that while Simon is currently giving the dictionary definition of "placid," Jack's remained remarkably calm as well.
Simon asks what Jack expects him to do, and Jack, sweet as you please, says he thinks Simon should kill himself. Only if he takes about half the cast and crew of the show with him, Jack. Simon offers an explanation by way of the unsubstantiated rumors about Tom being estranged from his brother and how Simon had to help set the record straight. Jack's only halfway listening, though, as he's currently rifling through Danny's cabinets for anything remotely resembling scotch. I have to say, one of the many, many benefits of Studio 60 getting cancelled is that Jack's latent alcoholism has become an amusing character quirk rather than a series of ominous portents of a looming storyline, like every time you ever saw Kirsten Cohen pick up a glass of chardonnay. "Danny's an alcoholic," Simon reminds Jack. That's right, but I'm certain Danny never got behind the wheel during one of his benders, right, Danny?