From This Day Forward  Episode #12

Where an old flame of Ralph’s returns and blindsides the boys by asking for help.

Well here we are, Daddy Rizzo walks into Mia’s room (luckily Jack’s under the bed- it’s best left at that) to tell her about this new fangled contraption called television that broadcasts presidential inaugurations (there’s JFK being sworn in). Daddy Rizzo is happy because JFK is the son of a bootlegger and if he can be president, well anything is possible. Daddy Rizzo for President, anyone?  I thought not. Mia just wants to get rid of Daddy so she can go back to having fun with Jack so she agrees to meet Daddy for breakfast. “Don’t you dare eat my bacon before I get there” she tells him.  Man, this dialog is so good.

We cut to the Sheriff’s Office where Miss Sanchez has asked Dixon to accompany her to a family wedding. The discussion is cut short because Barbara Kent is waiting to see Ralph. Seems she is Dixon’s old teacher and left Ralph for a man of more means. Everyone looks like this can’t bode well. Are you surprised? I thought not. Drink! Because we all know where this story is headed.  Maybe we’ll get lucky and the story will surprise us. Drink! If you think that is possible.  I thought not.

Ralph smiles when he sees Mrs. Kent (Drink! Because Quaid is smiling a hell of more these days than when the show began). Seems Mrs. Kent has a problem. It’s been eight years since she broke Ralph’s heart. She’s in Ralph’s office because her and her husband were robbed last night of $5000. They didn’t report it because, well Mr. Kent isn’t all that thrilled with the fact that the Sheriff is his wife’s old flame. Or at least that’s what she thinks. Drink! If you think it’s because the husband is tied up with people he shouldn’t be.

Dixon is going out on a call because a body has been found on a ranch up north. Jack goes with him. A woman, with manicured nails and dressed like a Hollywood cowgirl, is dead.  Seems she was at a divorce ranch.

The shady DA meets with Vince to discuss that someone is feeding info to the DA on the death of the songbird. Vince wants the snitch found and killed. The shady DA refuses to take Katherine off the case knowing it will only make her dig in more. Vince  vows to find the snitch and shut them up.  If he only knew.

Vince’s secretary catches the Missus going through Vince’s drawers, his desk drawers. Missus says Vince forgot to leave her money. She asks the secretary to set her up with a hair appointment.

Dixon and Jack arrive at the Divorcee Ranch and Dixon is in female heaven. Seems the dead Hollywood cowgirl has been divorced twice and is the life of the party at Divorcee Central.  The female owner of the ranch offers up a suspect.

Back at the Sheriff’s Office, Mrs. Kent is looking through the mug books and flirting with Ralph. Ralph smiles. Drink! Is it just me or is Quaid using his smiles as a crutch? Mrs. Kent recognizes one of the mug shots. Ralph asks Miss Sanchez for info on him.

Jack replies, “She ain’t here about no mugger, Ralph”. Ralph smiles (Drink!)

At the Savoy, Jack, Mia and Daddy Rizzo meet. Mia tells Daddy they are dating. Jack says he is in love with Mia (she looks surprised) and they all need to get along. Daddy ain’t buying it. He says “we’ll talk about this later” and walks off. Jack and Mia kiss.

Ralph walks into a small poker game. Seems Mr. Kent is in a coma, according to Ralph. The two players come clean and tells Ralph Kent wanted a loan and left a diamond bracelet as collateral.  Ralph gets the money back.

Vince and Red have a Leroy Gibbs moment (is it just me or does this seem like a rip-off of NCIS?) when he stops the elevator between floors and asks Red point blank if he is talking to the Feds. Red proves Vince wrong, seems he has powered rhino horn because he has a 26 year old showgirl. Vince doesn’t want Daddy to find out about the snitch.

Daddy wants Vince to fire Mia, no questions asked. Vince reluctantly agrees. Nothing anything these characters does makes much sense nor does it add to the characterization or the over all story arc. In fact, is there an over-arching story arc?

Jack and Dixon break down a motel room door and question one of the divorcees. She’s kicking boots with someone new but she takes time to explain that the Hollywood cowgirl had them playing a female version of Bingo. Seems the suspect got back together with her ex much to the Hollywood cowgirl’s disproval.

Jack is back at the Savoy with Dixon questioning another pretty girl. That leads to a guy named Tony who drives a red Caddy. It looks nice with the neon of Fremont Street bouncing off it. Hollywood cowgirl’s purse is in the car with a receipt for $2500.

Katherine and Missus Savino meet. The Missus gives Katherine  some items from Vince’s desk, implicating Daddy Rizzo. Katherine seems to think that the Savino family can relocate like in an early witness protection program kind of thing. The Missus says Vince won’t leave Vegas. Katherine points out thinking like that could get him killed.

At the Lamb ranch, Mrs. Kent and Ralph kiss. Ralph reminds her she is married. She’s not convinced that Ralph doesn’t want her.

Vince and Red try to figure out who the snitch is. Maybe Vince’s secretary? Red gets her out of the office and Vince checks his desk and finds the appointment in his book that the secretary made for the Missus. Vince realizes who the snitch is.

He confronts the Missus. They argue. The Missus shows Vince the witness protection booklets. He’s not doing it. The Missus agrees with him but they are out of plans unless Vince has something up his sleeve.

We know he must because otherwise there is no show.

After the commercial, we come back to Katherine and Vince meet, she was expecting the Missus. Vince thinks he knows Katherine. She pulls a gun on him. She has the upper hand. “People like me can kill people like you and no questions asked.” Game point to Katherine.

Ralph goes to question Mr. Kent.  He is not happy to see Ralph. Seems there were bad investments made. The two men spar about Mrs. Kent who was/is best for her. We know that Ralph isn’t over the late Mrs. Lamb so this is really a moot point and filler.

Dixon and Miss Sanchez spar about what he is wearing to the wedding. Jack comes in to tell him that the Hollywood cowgirl owned the land she was found dead on. Her hubby isn’t a suspect because he was at the opera where hundreds of people saw him.

Vince fires Mia blaming Chicago. He tells her Daddy “fought like hell to keep you here”. Mia knows Vince is lying. Mia knows Daddy is behind it and it’s because of her relationship with Jack.

After Mia leaves, Vince bitches to Red and says “if he wasn’t around here anymore all this would go away”. Red reminds Vince if they kill Daddy without permission from Chicago there will be hell to pay.

Are you still watching? If so, Drink! Because you knew where this entire episode was going from the very beginning.

Mia confronts Daddy Rizzo. He tries to weasel out of it. She doesn’t believe him and tells him that she can’t get a job in a legit bank because of Daddy’s name. Mia says she’ll go to work at the Golden Nugget but she won’t leave Vegas or leave Jack.

Jack and Dixon are close to closing the case of the dead Hollywood cowgirl. Mrs. Kent puts the moves on Ralph. Quaid smiles ruefully (Drink! A smile is a smile).  They talk about their shared past. Quaid smiles again (Drink!).  They kiss goodbye. She can’t compete with the memory of the dead wife and we all want Ralph with Katherine. Mrs. Kent drives away.

Jack and Dixon question the head wrangler who was marrying the dead Hollywood cowgirl.  Jack’s not buying the wrangler’s story. He shows Jack a note from the dead cowgirl. Seems someone forged the dead woman’s signature. Seems the owner of the Divorcee Ranch had it in for the dead Hollywood cowgirl because she was in love with the wrangler, too. That’s a reason and motive for murder. Case closed.

Dixon arrests her.

Back at the Savoy, Vince tells Daddy Rizzo about the snitch. He tells Daddy that Mia is the snitch. Vince tells him he has an affidavit of dates and Mia didn’t work those days. He blames Jack. Daddy Rizzo blames Jack and threatens to kill him.

Vince plans on letting Jack know that Daddy is coming for him. No one will question a righteous kill. Unfortunately, Jack doesn’t get the call from Vinny.

Vinny and the Missus are driving in the desert. They mention their daughters. Vince tells the Missus to get out the car and signals another car. Vince is sending her away and their relationship is over. The Missus isn’t going quietly. “Anyone who threatens your rise is expendable, just so you won’t end up a washed up carpet salesman like your father” she tells him.  Their marriage is over and the Missus goes away.

At the wedding, Dixon comes dressed in a suit and gets a compliment from Miss Sanchez. Her former boyfriend is not happy seeing her with Dixon.

And the episode ends there. With a whimper, despite the mediocre set-up.

There is no episode next week and only eight episodes left this season so I expect more pre-emptions.

We’ll be back next week with our thoughts on the show and where it might be going.

Hope to see you then!

Till then, hit the comments and tell us what you think!