Sons of Nevada                                                Episode 21

Our drinking game comes to an end as CBS (expectedly??) cancels the show just hours before the season finale aired and became a series finale.

But before we get started, let’s get comfortable and because we know many of you were fond of the show, we’ll pass you some virtual Kleenex.

Let’s dig in!

At the beginning, Ralph goes out to check Kathryn’s car and sees an apparition of his dead wife. Is she jealous of Kathryn or does Ralph just feel guilty. Ralph is told that Kathryn is stable but not conscious. She tells the deputy he’s not the sheriff anymore.

Vince and Lady Heather, oops Mia’s mom, talk and she pushes Vince towards coming out on top.  Nice privacy screen on the balcony. I was more focused on that than the scene.

Porter Gainsley has gathered his troops in a scene that tries to pay homage to Michael  Corleone’s lake front property in Godfather II. If only the show was half as good as any scene in that film. Gainsley wants the Attorney General (the state AG, not Bobby Kennedy) to shut every hotel down and put the screws to the owners.

Jack shows up to Mia’s with an engagement ring. She’s in a talking mood and she calls Jack on the carpet for bugging Vince’s office. He tells her ‘everyone would go down except you”. They fight and once again she wants Jack out of her life. She tells him it’s over. This is what the 85^th time this season they’ve had a fight and broken up? Okay, at least the 10^th.

Ralph promises Kathryn that he’ll take care of the Gainsley business and he tries to tell her all the things he should have but the Feds interrupt and advises Ralph to keep a cool head.

Yeah, that will happen.

Ralph and Vince talk about killing Porter Gainsley. The tapes from the wire taps become Vince’s property if he helps and they are successful. Ralph is out for revenge because Gainsley killed his wife. Kathryn doesn’t come up in the conversation.

Jack wants the tapes and confronts Ralph about it. Ralph tells him that Vince has the tapes and explains to Jack that he needs Vince’s help in bringing down Gainsley. Ralph is taking the law into his own hands because to him, Gainsley is more of a problem than Savino and the guys from Chicago and New York.

Vince tells Mia he has the tapes and that he has made a deal with Ralph. At this point, if these guys don’t shut up everyone is going to know!

Vince and Ralph drive away leaving Red behind. Quaid smiles (DRINK!) after a manure joke.

Gainsley is selling all his cattle and Vince and Ralph decide to take him down as he comes out to inspect his cows. Ralph and Vince verbally spar and Quaid smiles again (DRINK!).

Jack tries to get Dixon on his side but Dixon wants Gainsley dead, too. Jack finally convinces him to help him. Dixon tells Miss Sanchez about Ralph and Vince and notices the ad for the cattle auction.

At the auction, Ralph and Vince are loaded for bear but Dixon tries to take Gainsley out himself and messes up, only wounding the guy but Gainsley realizes that Ralph was lying in wait for him.

“Cowboys and Mobsters teaming up” mutters Gainsley. In Bugs Bunny speak, this means war.

The Brothers Lamb argue. Jack tries to reason with Ralph reminding him that they are all involved. Miss Sanchez is not  happy with Dixon trying to kill Gainsley. She walks out on Dixon because she doesn’t want to watch him die.

To his credit, Dixon claims to have Gainsley in his sights but couldn’t pull the trigger. That’s because Jack raised him right.

Super FBI Agent tries to talk sense to the Attorney General but he’s not listening. The agent reminds the Attorney General not to get caught in Gainsley’s back pocket. Agents come to get Jack to supposedly take him into protective custody. A stand off ensues until Super Agent intervenes on orders of J. Edgar and takes Jack and Dixon into real protective custody.

“The Johnny Fed Trio” may be the best line of the whole show as Vince describes Super Agent, Jack and Dixon. Vince wants nothing to do with Ralph and his family because they are hot heads. Ralph reminds him that he, at least, is a man of his word.

Vince drives off and gets about as far as the end of the porte cochere and comes back spewing mad because he, too, is a man of his word and his word is gold. Good thing he did because ala Frank Rosenthal, Vince’s car blows up. Unlike Lefty, Vince wasn’t in it.

Mia and the Entertainment Director are coming back from lunch. She seems to have had one too many but somehow they missed Vince almost being blown up. The Entertainment Director wants to date. Their conversation is stopped by Mia noticing Vince’s blown up car.

Vince, Ralph and the posse go to see one of Vince’s friends. It’s Eyeglasses! Jack is not happy teaming up with a guy who killed one of their deputies. But Vince is confident that Eyeglasses can take out Gainsley quietly. And he bakes cookies!

Jack is not happy being in bed with Vince and his men. Ralph apologies for getting Jack and Dixon involved. Jack knows Dixon wouldn’t go and Jack ain’t leaving Ralph to do it alone. It’s all for one and one for all!

Vince drops Eyeglasses off on the road to Gainsley’s. Luckily it’s night time. The bad news is that for as much as I like Eyeglasses, I would have preferred to see him as Dewey Crowe on Justified this season. Eyeglasses walks up to Gainsley’s gate and announces he is for sale to the highest bidder. He is invited in.

Girl talk. Mia and Lady Heather, oops Mia’s mom, have a talk. Mia is still in love with Jack (are you surprised? I thought not). Mom advises forgetting Jack.

Vince, Red and the Lambs ready for the fight while Gainsley gives Eyeglasses ten seconds to explain himself. Eyeglasses tells Gainsley a plan, that Ralph and his brothers are on the property. Eyeglasses wants 20k and offers to go with Gainsley to kill the Lambs and Vince so he can get paid. (Do you smell a set up? I thought so.)

It’s, of course, a set-up and the Lambs and Vince spring the trap. Eyeglasses expects transportation to the border without any interference. Vince instructs his one of his men to give Eyeglasses the keys to a car. Ralph reminds Eyeglasses not to come north of the border ever again.

With the drop on Gainsley can Ralph kill him? Nope. Vince is not happy that Ralph is just taking him into to face justice. Jack is happy but Dixon isn’t sure. Vince tries to talk Ralph into letting him kill him. Super Agent shows up and takes Gainsley into custody.

Vince is not happy but was there anyone out there who thought Ralph would actually kill a man in cold blood. He goes to the hospital to be with Kathryn. Dixon finds him there and they have a father/son talk. Quaid kind of smiles one last time (DRINK!!!).

Father and son reconcile. Miss Sanchez is waiting for Dixon as he comes out of the hospital room. She tells him not to be so reckless ever again. Lots of nevers being bandied about. Miss Sanchez and Dixon are a team.

Jack goes to see Mia and shows her the ring. He wants to marry her.  The Entertainment Director, in a towel, comes out looking for wine. It’s not to be, Jack.

As Bobby Darin sings Mack the Knife, Vince and Ralph talk. The Tumbleweed will be opening in a few weeks. Vince asks Ralph to come work for him as head of security. But Ralph is back as Sheriff. Quaid smiles one last time (DRINK!!!!!) and they agree to be friendly adversaries.

The wonderful set of Fremont Street all lit up is the last thing we see of Vegas.

It was a solid episode but not enough solid ones or enough eyes on the show convinced CBS to cancel the show.

I will miss seeing the set.

How about you? What will you miss? And what was your favorite part of the series?

Hit the comments and tell us!

UPDATE:  Well, there's blood all over the floor as my favorite critic Tim Goodman likes to say! 

CBS announced late today, ahead of their upfront presentation in the week ahead, that it was cancelling Vegas. Along with the retro drama, CBS lowered the axe of CSI: NY, Rules of Engagement and Golden Boy. Las Vegas is still represented on the CBS schedule thanks to original recipe CSI, coming back for its 14th season this fall.

NBC also lowered the boom on a number of their comedy shows as well as 30 Rock with Brian Williams.

ABC lowered the boom on Happy Endings, Body of Proof and Malibu Country.

TNT cancelled critical darling and the best cop show on tv, Southland and the medical drama, Monday Mornings.

Unfinished Business    Season 1, Episode 20

After a couple of weeks of far-flung travel (hello, TCM Classic Film Festival), we are back with a recap!

At the top of the episode:

The Tumbleweed is about to “come under new management”.  Mining tycoon Porter Gainsley’s ownership of the Tumbleweed not only has Vince’s panties in a bunch but and wants him out. Gainsley thinks he can up Vince. We know better.

The chorus line at the Savoy is expensive, costing the hotel  $25,000 to bribe a gaming commissioner.

Agent Byrne,  who was shot by a rogue woman  last week is recovering. He hates jello cubes. Don’t we all.

Lady Heather, oops, Mia’s mother, Lena, is on her way to Tahoe for the weekend but runs into Mia and Jack before hand and has eyes for Jack. Mia is not happy.

The brothers Lamb find the body of a lawyer, Milton Krull, in the trunk of a car with a canary in his mouth. Can we say foreshadowing? Yes, we can.

Katherine thinks Krull is working both sides against the middle. Are you surprised? No, we thought not.

Gainsley was a friend of the former, dead sheriff and that causes Ralph to raise an eyebrow.

Katherine knows that Jack has been taping the phone calls and Mia may be in the cross hairs of the Feds. Jack assures her that’s not the case. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Seems the dead lawyer had an in with Ralph’s dead wife. Her brother was involved, business speaking, with the dead lawyer. Seems the brother sold the ranch to Krull and the payments ran out. The brother thinks that Ralph thinks he might have killed Krull. He claims he didn’t. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Dixon and Miss Sanchez find out that a company, Nevada Land Consortium, was interested in Marilyn’s family’s ranch before her death. Ooops!

Dixon goes after his uncle. The uncle claims he is innocent and gets the drop. Are you surprised? We thought not.

The Lamb brothers really aren’t all that good no matter how much the show runners want us to think they are.

Dixon and his uncle talk about Marilyn, the missing piece that is supposed to be at the heart of this story. Do you care? We thought not.

Agent Byrne, it seems, is making inroads with the investigation and with Katherine. He is being made Special Bureau Chief and wants Katherine to join him outside Las Vegas. She sees through the transparent attempt to derail the investigation. And we are sure you did, too!

Dixon wants to investigate what happened to Marilyn and enlists Ralph’s help. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Jack sees a future where he and Mia own a 500 acre ranch. Have you stopped laughing? We thought not. But, this being Vegas, she’s thinking about it.

We find out that Vince got out of Havana just ahead of Castro. He wants to be his own man. The Tumbleweed is that opportunity. That and Lady Heather, oops, Mia’s mother, Lena. They have plenty of heat. And someone tries to blow them up. Doesn’t look good for Lady Heather. Luckily, for whoever planted the bomb, she lives.

Katherine and Ralph think Gainsley double crossed Vince.

Vince, of course, wants revenge.

Jack believes that Gainsley wants Vince dead. He wants Mia out of there. She ain’t leaving cause, well, because it serves the overall plot. What’s that plot? We have no idea. Something about Chicago wanting Vince dead and Vince wanting his own place and all this happens under the watchful eye of Ralph Lamb.

Gainsley goes to Katherine because she has questions. He has no answers. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Katherine thinks she can lower the boom on Gainsley. You think that will happen? We thought not.

Seems Nevada Land Consortium was looking for water rights. There is a straw man at the heart of it. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Jack has competition with the Savoy Entertainment Director who has eyes for Mia. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Katherine is driving home on a dark road and gets run off that road. Are you surprised? We thought not. Will you be surprised that Ralph is upset? We thought not.

Vince discovers he’s been bugged not by the Feds but by Jack and the local sheriff’s office.

Looks like Gainsley put out the hit on Katherine which causes Ralph to attack him. Ralph gets replaced by the state attorney general and relieved of duty.

Gainsley is implicated not only in the accident that has put Katherine in the hospital in critical condition but the death of Ralph’s wife (and he had to turn in his badge). Are you surprised?  We thought not.

Ralph goes to Vince to get his help in bringing down Gainsley. Ralph offers up the tapes vis a via Vince and Chicago to bring down Gainsley. Are you surprised? We thought not.

How does this lead to the season finale?

 A showdown between Ralph and Vince vs Porter Gainsley.

Who do you think will win?

Yeah, we thought so.

The big question at this point is not how they accomplish that but will the series be renewed.

Stay tuned!

Hollywood Ending  season 1, episode 17

A tale of two cities.

We are in Hollywood and Miss Sanchez is all googly eyed about her singing audition at Capitol Records.

Back in Vegas, DA Reynolds is not having a good evening. He’s not happy about being Savino’s bag man. “You either carry your weight or become dead weight”, Vince tells him. While he is talking to Savino, Mia and her guys take the briefcase full of money out of the DA’s trunk.

Savino makes a call. Ralph, Jack and Kathryn are listening. Unfortunately, the DA isn’t on the phone so no one realizes he is the avocado (the one getting the skim out under the nose of the Feds).

A mystery woman shows up at the Savoy. Lady Heather fans rejoice. She and Vince get hot and heavy quickly. The mystery woman is Lena Rizzo, Mia’s mother.

Kathryn tells DA Reynolds about the tap in passing. Again refers to the bag man as the avocado. And she tells him that the Feds and Agent Burns are involved as well. The DA almost lurches. Kathryn notices but the DA laughs it off.

In Hollywood, Dixon is trying to crash the gates of the studio to get in to see Violet.

Back in Las Vegas, Kathryn and Mia talk. Anvils begin falling from the sky. Kathryn tries to get Mia to realize that the screws are tightening on Savino. Kathryn wants Mia to roll over on Savino. Mia ain’t buying. She gets all huffy with Kathryn.

In Hollywood, Dixon and Miss Sanchez finally crash the gates and see Violet. She has plans she can’t cancel but she really wants to see Dixon.  But not yet. They end up getting invited to a party that Violet’s manager/lover is throwing.

In Vegas, the DA is missing. A bad guy he put away was paroled and he knows that the law knows about the skim. Is he legitimately missing or has he planned his escape?

Lena and Mia meet.  Do we care? Mia is not happy to see her. Seems all these years, Mia thought she was dead.  Daddy Rizzo thought she was fooling around.  She wasn’t but Daddy threatened to kill her if she ever came back. Now that he’s dead, it’s safe to come around, I guess.

In Hollywood, we have no idea how Miss Sanchez’s audition went as we never saw it. But we see her and Dixon at the party (so it’s the next day).  Miss Sanchez gets the chance to sing a Cuban duet at the party. Does Aimee Garcia have another gig?

Dixon is too busy kissing on Violet to notice how well Miss Sanchez sings.  But Violet’s manager notices and tells her to come by his office the next day to audition. She sees the manager and one of his goons assault a photographer.

Back in Vegas, Ralph smiles (DRINK!!!) and the search continues for the missing DA.

There’s too many stories going on. Dixon, Miss Sanchez and Violet, Mia and her mother, the missing DA, the skim and the investigation.

Vince gives Mia the ledger with all the skim info in it because she came up with the right idea to keep Chicago happy while they try to find the missing avocado, er, DA. This will come back to haunt him.

Seems the DA set up the paroled bad guy to mislead the cops. So, Reynolds staged his own kidnapping.

Agent Burns is the one who realizes that Reynolds is the avocado. You think that sounds silly reading it, imagine the actors reciting it. Come to find out, Savino wasn’t saying avocado, he was saying Italian for lawyer.

But, unfortunately, for Reynolds, Ralph catches him coming out of the bank with his money as he is about to hit the road into oblivion.  Oh well.

Kathryn is so disappointed in Reynolds and she lets him know. They even shout-out to the poor, dead sheriff from the first episode. Agent Burns wants Reynolds to be their inside man. Go back to Vince, get back in his good graces and rat him out.

In Hollywood, Miss Sanchez tells Dixon he can do better and, like everyone else in this show, he doesn’t listen to reason. Miss Sanchez goes to see her studio audition.  The manager offers her a drink. This can’t end well.  It’s the old casting couch. Miss Sanchez tries to leave, he calls her a derogatory name and starts to smack her around. She hits him with a crystal ashtray.

Lena and Mia have another reunion and more anvils fall from the sky about how Savino and his boys will screw Mia over when the Feds close in.

Vince and crew find the DA tied up in a motel room. Will Vince buy his story? This is Vegas, of course he will! Reynolds tells them Bade, the paroled bad guy is responsible.  The skim is safe in the trunk of his car, in his drive way. He had to wire Bade all the money from his personal account in Ely. Why does the DA have a bank account in Ely and not Vegas? Who knows.

Dixon discovers that Barry, the manager, hit Miss Sanchez. He wants to kill him. Violet and Miss S talk him out of it.

Back in Vegas, the plan with Reynolds and the law goes forward. There is a shout-out to the local cemetery, Woodlawn. Ralph, of course, does not like the idea of Woodlawn, too isolated. Agent Burns is all for the drop. Did he just oversell his eagerness?

At the Savoy, Mia begins copying (by hand, this is the early 1960s), the ledger by hand. She goes downstairs and talks to Lena and puts her drinks on a tab. The ice is melting.

Watch those anvils, Mia. They can hurt.

At Woodlawn cemetery, the mausoleum is fit for a city the size of Los Angeles in 1960, not a city the size of Las Vegas. Vince brings Bade with him and tells Reynolds to kill him. Vince isn’t buying anyone’s story. Bade says he’s innocent, Reynolds says he’s not. Vince says kill him to prove he is telling the truth. At the last minute, Reynolds flinches and points the gun at Savino. It’s empty and Vince knows that Reynolds lied. That’s probably the last we saw of Reynolds.

In Hollywood, to the strains of Frankie, Dixon is beating the crap out of Barry.

In Vegas, they discover that the avocado has been killed.

RIP DA Reynolds.

This could have been a really good episode if there hadn’t been the side story in Hollywood. Oh well. It’s Vegas, baby.

Hit the comments and tell us what you think!