The Case of ... what was I watching, anyway?

So I probably won’t have a chance to see The Shooting Star until next week. As for last night’s movie, which I missed the first few minutes of (and hence, the title) . . .

Man, the murder victim was definitely among the top sleaze of Perry villains. I couldn’t feel too sorry for the guy, if any, when he was dead. Even less so when the truth finally came out. He just drew his gun and fired on the General’s friend without even letting him speak! No wonder the killer reacted fiercely to disarm him and ended up killing by accident. It certainly wasn’t good of him not to speak up when an innocent person was then arrested, but I wonder what would happen to him since it was an accident and there most definitely was provocation. I’m also not entirely sure he had all of his marbles, judging by some of what he said in his confession and moreso, how he said it.

Overall, the mystery was mostly unremarkable and not a standout to me. Paul Jr., as usual, bumbled his way through things and managed to get beat up, punched, and attacked by a car. It was interesting to see him interact with the defendant, though, and the scene where he exclaims about his mother enjoying the tabloid rag was amusing. But it would definitely hint again that Paul Sr. is probably dead, even though they’re so careful not to say. If Paul Sr. were alive, it would seem Paul Jr. might have mentioned him too and not wanted him to see or hear about the trumped-up picture and article.

It was slightly amusing when Della noted that Perry likes getting on Paul Jr.'s case and he agreed. He liked doing that with the boy's father as well, although that was never outright noted in the series as it is here. I still think that sometimes he takes it too far with both of them.

Della’s secret admirer subplot was sweet. When there didn’t seem to be any candidates around that were introduced for the movie, I figured it was Perry doing all those things. And after just watching part of that recent interview with Barbara Hale where she mentions how much she loves roses, the gift of the roses in the film takes on even more significance. I’m sure the shippers are delighted by that element of the film, and especially the ending scene.

It is quite delightful. How nice to see Perry so thoughtful, especially after everything he asks of Della throughout the movies and more especially the series. Sometimes it seems like he takes Della for granted, just as he does Paul, but then there’s a nice epilogue where he thinks on his own of taking Della for lunch or dinner after a big case. This is sort of an extended version of that.

And although the victim was a true slimeball, I imagine shippers also delighted in him telling them he had gathered plenty of evidence that they were having a romantic relationship.

Those are the most standout scenes to me. And of course, it was enjoyable as always to see Michael Reston prosecuting.

I look forward to seeing what tonight’s movie will be like. But I look more forward to watching my uncut copy of A Place Called Midnight. I finally have the season 8 and the latter half of season 9 DVD sets, and I’ve been watching the season 8 ones as the episodes progress on MeTV, in order to finally again see (or see for the first time, in some cases) the uncut versions. So far, most episodes have only been missing a little bit, save The Bullied Bowler and The Grinning Gorilla, the latter of which I watched when I first got the set instead of waiting for its arrival on MeTV. There are many scenes missing from those episodes on television, so I’ll need to do posts on them soon. And, I suspect, there is also a great deal missing from A Place Called Midnight. It’s always looked like a very chopped-up episode to me.