Mikes Film Talk

The hints come fast and furious in this episode of “Stitchers” (and that is not a pop culture reference) and “The Dying Shame” has a few comedic moments as well as  awkward ones and that red cap comes off “mid-stitch.” It is becoming pretty apparent that the “young Cameron” is, in actuality, Daniel Stinger.

Sidenote: This episode was written by the ever talented April Fitzsimmons who just became my favorite writer ever and was directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado  who is now my favorite director…ever. 

This week had an international flavor with the murder of Chinese pop star Coco Soo.  Her bodyguard Mei Ling (Pamelyn Chee)is drugged  allowing Soo to be killed. The Chinese authorities want the minder arrested, Quincy takes her into  “temporary” custody and the two bond over pizza and conversation.

The kid in the red ball cap finally reveals himself, sort of, when he takes control of the stitch from Cameron and the team.  The anomaly admits that he is not Cameron and in the flashbacks at the beginning of the episode, in the Goodkin stitch, one can see the boy in the stitch wink (very quickly) when he introduces himself as Cameron to the young Kirsten. (Oh you Stitchers writers are so good…)

After telling Kirsten that he uses the name to make it easier for her to trust him, “Cameron” tells her to keep their conversation secret.

Liam makes a move on Camille after asking about Kirsten. While the assignment is going well the girl from Bakersfield gets caught out when Linus learns she lied to him.  Goodkin and Nina are moving into “cute couple of the year” status.

Kirsten tracks down Stinger’s first wife Elizabeth Brown, who is apparently dead.  At the dinner party, Nina finds Kirsten’s “Stinger Wall” and is impressed by the brainpower of Ms. Clark.

Nina;  the Perfect Woman:

Nina has got to be every nerd’s definition of the best girlfriend, and most perfect woman ever.  Beautiful, and knowledgeable about all the right  things (comics, video games, movies and very good with pop culture references) this young lady seems way too good to be true.

Cameron is bewitched by his new flame and later when “Chippy McChipper” has obviously “gotten some” (as Maggie so indelicately puts it) Kirsten is not impressed. In fact, after meeting Nina (Jasmin Savoy Brown) Ms. Clark is less than friendly with Goodkin, either through jealousy or annoyance that Cameron has found what seems to be the perfect mate. 

“Mary Poppins man” Liam Granger (Jack Turner) may rumble that Camille is “playing him” and it is still unclear just who the Brit is really working for.  

Relationships:

The biggest “personal” mystery of the episode has Quincy telling Mei Ling that he is working on someone more understanding than his ex.  Who could that be? Fisher is sort of the resident big brother to the females in the lab, but with Camille he does seem to be expressing a bit of interest as they bond over Krav Maga.

Linus walks away from Camille when she fesses up to lying about the library. After the first season’s discontent will this be thing that breaks them apart?

Kirsten is clearly not happy about the “Nina Situation.”  Despite giving Cameron’s new squeeze the okay, her cold shoulder the morning after their dinner speaks volumes.

Comedic Highlight:

The clear winner was Fisher being  handcuffed to the bike rack by Mei Ling.  A splendid moment that built up the amusement factor  with the detective’s grumpy “I don’t want to talk about it” and then both Maggie and Kirsten bringing it up.

Linus comes a close second with his “sinophile” moment at the Coco Soo brief. Although Kirsten’s telephone conversation at the start is funny:

“S as in…Sam.”

Sci Fi Cool Factor Moments:

The ability to understand Chinese while in the stitch was “way cool” and felt feasible.  (So too did the reading of the language.) The stitch hijack also registered 9.5 on the science fiction scale with the “not-Cameron” construct explaining that he could “hear” Kirsten’s mental communications. Also the residual effect of the stitch has Kirsten able to speak Chinese.

Favorite Pop Culture Reference:

“Big Trouble in Little China” – Cameron quotes Jack Burton’s line to Kim Cattrall’s character Gracie Law. “And if we’re not back by dawn, call the president.”

Tissue Moment:

Kirsten and Coco Soo’s father after the killer is caught.

Final Thoughts:

The clue left by the red cap kid, quoting the conversation between Coco and her father “Hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once” is clear. The conversation in the stitch had to do with Coco’s dad professing his innocence.  The kid is obviously Stinger, Kirsten’s dad, and he too is protesting his innocence or,  at the very least, declaring his good intentions as everyone else, including Kirsten,  believes him to be the villain.

“The Dying Shame” was a great episode in terms of storyline and pop culture references, the game at the start between Nina and Cameron was brilliant, and guest star Pamelyn Chee was excellent as the kick-arse bodyguard.

Challenge:

In January when I stopped by the Stitchers set and talked to Executive Producer Jeff Schechter he put a challenge to Mike’s Film Talk regarding a pop culture reference in this particular episode. The answer has to be “Big Trouble in Little China.”

“Stitchers” airs Tuesdays on Freeform.  Watch this show.