There is something wrong with Rosewood this season. The show has become quite dark, or at the very least muted. The bright bold colors of season one have given way to a yellow muting of…everything. It looks like a crayon wash gone sour.
“Prosopagnosia & Parrotfish” suffered lighting problems of the yellow sort as well. The big question here is why have the show’s producers opted to throttle the luster of Rosewood?
The lighting is not the only thing about Rosewood that has changed. The Villa/Rosie will they, won’t dynamic they has been put on the back burner. As a result the chemistry between the two characters has dissipated to the extent that it is nonexistent.
Introducing Tawnya and her youngster, Kayla feels forced and annoying. (Rather interestingly the single mother opts to move things back a little in the episode. She feels, as do the audience, that things are moving too fast.) This move to make Rosie into more of a father-figure comes out of left field somewhere and should go back there.
The banter between Villa and Rosie has also diminished. Both characters had the perfect amount of give and take last season, this go around it has, like their possible romantic entanglement, lost its power.
Captain Slade is still an odd fit. This episode tried to establish the transplant as a hometown boy, apparently the new cap grew up in the mean streets of Miami, but he still feels like a intruder. Ira was conspicuous in his absence this week and although the Gerald storyline was included, Donna felt “less there” also.
The murder this week on Rosewood was that of a food truck chef killed in a local park. An eye witness has some sort of “faceless syndrome” which means he cannot identify the man he saw murder the victim.
Slade takes point on this one and shows, yet again, that in the interrogation room he plays by his own rules. The investigation pulls up a number of suspects until, finally, Villa and Rosie work out who the real killer is.
It is “faceless syndrome” guy. Unfortunately we do not really care. This case feels too much like an excuse to make Slade fit into the scenario. The new captain is still an uncomfortable fit, just was Tawnya and Kayla are.
Another awkward bit was Pippy almost flinging herself at Tawnya’s kid. While she does match Rosie’s own “trying too hard” demeanor it still feels, like the presence of Captain Slade, forced.
Each episode of Rosewood this season has distanced itself from what worked so well in season one. The cute interaction between Morris Chestnut and Jaina Lee Ortiz is missing and there is far too little Ira Hornstock.
The killer this week was caught with a bit of forensic reconstruction and a touch of Rosie’s medical expertise. (It all had to do with peanut oil allergies and the marks on the witness’ arm. Which was all too similar to an earlier crime suspect who had chemical swelling on his arm.)
*The other arm “rash” was in episode 206 – Rosewood: Tree Toxins and Three Stories*
After catching the killer, who was the eyewitness, Rosie finally gets permission to exhume the other victim that Gerald was supposed to have killed. They open the grave and find the body missing.
The episode had too much Slade, too little Rosie and Villa and way too much yellow…everywhere. For some odd reason the vibrancy that made Rosewood so beautiful to look at last year has vanished. Look at this still from last season:
Rosewood had a splendid formula that worked last season. This time something has definitely changed. Show creator Todd Harthan needs to put his foot down and bring back the things that made Rosewood so special. Lose the yellow look and get back that vibrancy and boldness that made the series so special in season one.
Rosewood airs Thursdays on FOX.
Cast:
- Morris Chestnut – Dr. Beaumont Rosewood Jr.
- Jaina Lee Ortiz – Det. Annalise Villa
- Eddie Cibrian – Captain Ryan Slade
- Gabrielle Dennis – Pippy Rosewood
- Anna Konkle – Tara Milly Izikoff (TMI)
- Domenica Lombardozzi – Det. Ira Hornstock
- Lorraine Toussaint – Donna Rosewood
- Sam Huntington – Mitchie Mendelson
- Robert Wisdom – Gerald Kelly
- Leroy Luckett – Tawnya
- Eric Winter – Adrian Webb
- Lisa Vidal – Daisie Villa
- Camille Spirlin as Kayla
Gosh! I totally agree about the yellow tint. It’s distracting and makes all the characters faces look jaundice.
Please bring make the chemistry and quips and lose the new captain and the new girlfriend !
That appears to be the general consensus…
The Special Effects person, Frank Ceglia, was also the Special Effects person on CSI: Miami. Is he the one to blame for the disgusting yellow filter?
Do not like the yellow.
Audio/video guy here.
That yellow cast is not lighting. There aren’t scenes where a lot of it is in correct color but some part of it is lighted yellowish. This looks like overall color balancing (misbalancing in this case). Someone is making a color choice and tinting everything with that yellow. Someone needs to stop it because it is distracting, especially when it changes intensity from scene to scene.
People, you have extremely accurate video equipment. Don’t take high definition video and stain it up in a bowl full of piss before you let us see it.