"Bright Boy" Quotes

I have been looking forward to getting to this episode to quote and screen cap for quite some time now; especially since it is one that I particularly liked. In fact, it probably makes my Top 10 list of LOCI favorite episodes.

I don’t usually cap and quote the opening set-up scenes, but after watching this episode for at least the hundredth time, I just have to comment on the smarmy Deputy Mayor. Specifically, after Kim gets out of the car to “fetch” his paper, his wife calls and he says he is just getting out of the restaurant and saying good-bye to some colleague of the masculine persuasion. Do all men lie that effortlessly to their wives? Guess it's a good thing I never married.

On to the story. This episode contains one of my "all time" favorite Goren/Eames exchanges, and it happens very early on in the episode. Goren is examining the dead Deputy Mayor and plucks a microscopic fiber from the man’s coat. He ponders his discovery for a second and says, “Looks like Webster had a passenger, sat close to him, wore a purple cashmere sweater.” To which Eames replies, “Tight-fitting, size two, with a plunging neckline.” And, without missing a deadpan beat, Bobby says, “Hmm. That I can’t tell from this.” Good stuff.

Who says LOCI can’t have some “light” moments? USA morons.

It is always interesting to watch Goren and Eames piece together the crime puzzles tossed their way. They start out thinking the Deputy Mayor was the target, but as they wend their way through the maze of clues, they ultimately learn that the social worker was the intended target all along…just so the perp can get his “Bright Boy” into some fancy-schmancy elite school.

You know, had I lived anywhere near New York City, I would have volunteered (begged, pleaded) to be the murder victim every week just so Bobby could “check” me out for clues. Ah, to be checked out by Detective Robert Goren…I need a moment.

“I only eat candy,” says the initial smarmy suspect…Adolph. I know that line is just “begging” for a comment, but nothing comes to mind at the moment. As for his statement when he says, “I got this condition. Oily ears. It’s like I got “bugs” in there,” well…all I have to say is, “EWWW!” Actually, Eames’ expression sums up my feelings quite nicely.

"Bright Boy" Slideshow - Part I


I do love this man...Bobby. I am referring to the scene when they go to the school to question the head mistress – or whatever they call her – about the enrollment procedures. When Goren sees the mathematical problem on the board, he becomes naturally curious. The schoolmarm tells him he is going to disturb the children, but does that dissuade our Bobby? It does not. He wants to know if “these little kids are going to solve that?" Dr. Leonard follows with, “These are very gifted children.” To which, Eames replies with one of the best lines of the episode; i.e., “You’ll have to forgive my partner. He’s feeling very humble right now.”

When Goren and Eames go to talk with one of the kids who was on the "bubble," it is evident that he's really "into" music, and he makes a comment that "hot babes" go for musicians. I’ve got news for the kid, Charlie. Hot babes – and I believe that my “hot flashes” qualify me as a “hot” babe – don't only "go" for musicians. This one goes for tall, dark, handsome, crusading detectives.

It’s interesting to watch Goren and Eames work together, how they have each other’s backs and anticipate each other’s moves. Like when Goren asks Robbie if he wants to show him his room, Eames is on her feet in a second to finagle a way to keep the dad occupied, so Bobby can have a few minutes alone to question Robbie without his dad around. While I appreciate that because it’s…well…Bobby, if I were a parent who had been thus bamboozled, I’d most likely pitch a fit.

I’m thinking the writers for the show...at this time anyway...must have been Derek Jeter fans. Remember the foot rub Eames wanted from him? And now the kid has a Derek Jeter rookie card…signed, no less. Jeter’s okay…it’s that damn Yankee uniform he wears that’s the rub.

I feel so sorry for this little boy. A "classic" example of a parent who could not cut the mustard in his own life, aspiring to live vicariously through his kid’s achievements. Only problem with that…the kid doesn’t get to be a kid.

Another reason I enjoyed this episode was all the “baseball talk.” I love baseball…it’s in my blood, but I bleed "Cincinnati Red," not Yankee pinstripe blue. So, for the record, the glove Bobby pulled from beneath Robbie’s bed was not a catcher’s mitt, so he did not “deduce” that was the position Robbie played by the style of glove the kid owned. But Bobby was most definitely right in his declaration that “catcher” is the thinking man’s position on a baseball team. I’ve got a “thing” for catchers. It started with Johnny Bench back in 1969 and has been going strong ever since.

And that brings us to one of the things that I love to watch Bobby do…study the situation…ponder the possibilities…contemplate the clues…deliberate the – I just like to “watch” him, okay? And, in case you're wondering, I'm talking about the scene when he is studying the white board in the interview room.

And now for one of the silliest lines I “evah” heard from Eames directed to Bobby, “You really need a million bucks that bad?” Hello?! Like…yeah. Doesn't everyone?

Did anybody else find it incredibly sad that a ten year old child could feel so completely lost and alone that he had thoughts of suicide? Of course, will all the atrocities one sees in the news these days, I suppose it may not be all that rare?

"Bright Boy" Slideshow - Part II


I’m with Carver on being incredulous over the concept that a man would kill two people just to get his kid into an educational program. But, then I remember that the world is, you know, “insane” and I understand how it could happen.

After Carver works his magic and finagles a search warrant for Goren & Eames to execute at Robbie’s house, I love the scathing look Eames gives the dad when he says his son would tell him if he was unhappy. Can you spell clueless? It just dawned on me that this egomaniac father demonstrates all the disparaging traits of a “stage mom.”

And the jerk has the “nerve” to call Bobby a know-it-all. Yeah, yeah…I know, I call him that, too. But I say it with “love.” Bobby, bless his heart, just smiles at Bishop and asks him if he’s dyslexic. Which leads to a question? If Robbie's dad was dyslexic, how could he develop and implement a curriculum designed to teach a genius? How could he prep this kid for his SATs and all those other tests they talk about in this episode? Just wonderin'.

Okay, I don’t know about you, but I’m an adult, and can’t say that I could remember what happened to me “last Wednesday” without giving it some serious thought. So, when Eames asks Robbie if his dad read to him last Wednesday, and he answers...without missing a beat...well, I find that…not very believable. Even for a genius; maybe even especially for a genius.

I felt so sorry for Robbie. He just wanted to have fun and be a kid. Why is it that so many parents muck-up their kid’s life before they even get a chance to live it? Poor Robbie, all he wanted to do was play baseball. How was this child supposed to know that his crazy dad would kill someone over his little “white” lie?

I loved the scene when Goren and Eames are going over Robbie’s file and Bobby asks for the MMPI test results, and they find out they both had to take the same test their senior year in high school. Bobby had to go see the school shrink and Alex gets elected prom queen, or so she says. It was cute…the witty banter. USA Network should take a look back at some early episodes and learn a thing or two...or three. And I don’t know about you, but my high school barely had a couple of guidance…and I use the term loosely…"counselors," let alone a school “shrink.”

"Bright Boy" Slideshow - Part III


As much as I love the scene when Bobby talks to Robbie at his “school,” I have a lot of problems as to how they “orchestrated” this meeting. First, I would “think” that they would still need the father’s permission to talk with the minor child at the school, but then what do I know?

“I imagine I could persuade her,” says Carver in regard to getting Dr. Leonard’s permission to speak to Robbie at the University. Yeah, right. “Threaten” is a more appropriate term as to what took place. I have to say I agree with Dr. Leonard on this one. Oh, and – like I have to tell you this – watch Bobby in the background as the exchange between Carver and Leonard progresses. He is beside himself, waiting for the opportunity to get his “two cents” in…which he eventually does, of course.

I love the little maneuver/toss he does with the baseball to entice Robbie into conversation. And for the record, I – for one – would LOVE to play a game of “catch” with Bobby. I also love watching the nervous “leg bounce” when Bobby sits beside Robbie at the desk. Hmm? Wonder if I could come up with a way to harness all that nervous “energy?”

Poor little guy. As much as I wanted the dad caught for what he did, I hated that his kid had to “rat” him out. And talk about a parent putting undue pressure on a child…Robbie was in way over his head. It was nice to see Bobby try to comfort Robbie when he broke down in tears.

While, in my humble and completely “unbiased” opinion, no one has any better facial expressions that the redoubtable Detective Goren, Eames can sometimes give him a run for his money. Case in point, when David answers the door to find Bobby, Eames, and a couple of other detectives in the hallway, the “smile” with which Eames greets him is…priceless. Speaking of expressions, Bobby doesn’t look too pleased when David informs him he doesn’t have to answer his question about going to Colorado.

"Bright Boy" Slideshow - Part IV


Which leads us, as it invariably does, to the “gotcha” scene at the precinct. Although, they don’t question Bishop in the interrogation room, but the interview room. And, as I’ve said on numerous occasions, Bobby’s ability to lie “convincingly” and “effortlessly” at the drop of a hat is both amazing and a little...off-putting. I mean, I know it’s an effective police investigative tool, but I cannot help but wonder if Detective Goren can differentiate between lying at work and lying off duty.

How easily David believed Bobby when he told him that Robbie had solved the Riemann Hypothesis. This poor sap looked so happy… elated…thinking his son had solved this impossible math problem and then, “Bing! Reality!” From the heights of unbridled ecstasy to the depths of unbearable misery in the blink of an eye. That’s what our Bobby can do to a person. Although it did serve the purpose of convincing the dad to confess to avoid a trial, so Robbie need not know that his lie is what led his dad to murder the social worker.

"Bright Boy" Slideshow - Part V


So, that brings me...at long, long last...to the end of another episode and a most excellent episode it was. Up next is "Anti-Thesis," and -- yes -- I should warn you now, there will be"sightings" of that most despicable of all creatures...Elizabeth Hitchens/Nicole Wallace. I almost used the term "nemesis" when describing her, until I was reminded that Nemesis was a Greek goddess unsuccessfully pursued by Zeus, and I almost wretched all over my laptop. Can't have that now, can we?