The Movie Journal

  Stumptown: Season 1, Episode 4 "Family Ties" October 16, 2019  Hold on to your popcorn because there is a lot that happens in “Family Ties.” It is a direct continuation of the previous episode where Dex enlists the help of Artie Banks to get her PI license. We also learn more about Grey’s past and how he fits in with his former boss, Wallace Kane. The forty minutes of the episode flew by thanks to the great performances and assured directing from Marc Buckland. My biggest takeaway is that Artie Banks may have a conscience after all. There is some important backstory and we learn that Banks is a former cop who stole money from the department for a life-saving medical surgery for his child, but the procedure failed resulting in the child’s death. Banks turned to the dark side in order to hide his grief, but past feelings erupted when a child was kidnapped in this episode. Talk about a dark past, geez. Stumptown uses its secondary characters well here. Tookie, played by Adrian...

  Stumptown: Season 1, Episode 3 "Rip City Dicks"  October 09, 2019  “Rip City Dicks” is a reliably engaging episode of Stumptown . It does come across as a filler episode, but I mean that in a positive way. Characters are introduced and existing characters are developed in a way that will mean something further down the line. I found Dex’s storyline fascinating. She actually lost her case because of her vulnerability. She cares too much about the people of the cases that she gets involved with. That is what the experienced yet double-crossing PI Artie Banks told her towards the end of the episode. I liked this character (who comes across as a bit smug) who is played by Donal Logue. It is almost like this character was plucked from a noir setting.   Using her skills of persuasion, Dex convinces a veteran PI named Artie Banks to take her on as his apprentice. Banks seems to sympathize with and has some modicum of respect for Dex. Their first case together involves...

  Stumptown: Season 1, Episode 2 "Missed Connections"  October 02, 2019  After a strong premiere, Stumptown improves on itself with a very strong second episode. It builds on the information that was given to us in the first episode. One of my few complaints were that Jake Johnson’s character was not up to snuff, especially compared to the other characters. Despite the charm, he was only seen as a potential love interest. Well, the writers must have heard my complaints. He and Dex were given a backstory about how they first met…which was a one-night stand. Given their platonic relationship in current day, it was clear that they did not have the spark. I thought it was a fun idea to develop a platonic, asexual relationship although I do not think that will continue. We also learn that Grey may have had a checkered past with the introduction of Austin Amelio’s character. While the set pieces may be toned down in comparison to the premiere, the writers remain as ardent as ev...

  Stumptown: Season 1, Episode 1, "Forget It Dex, It's Stumptown" September 25, 2019  I gotta say…I really liked the premiere episode of this private investigator series Stumptown . I was worried because the first ten minutes didn’t really do it for me. Then I was able to warm up to Cobie Smulders’s sarcastic, barely-able-to-do-her-job character, Dex. Her character, or the show itself, is nothing revolutionary but Smulders’s charm is able to make her character easy to root for even if she makes bone-headed mistakes on the job or in her personal life. Her character is surrounded by a likable cast whom we mostly get to meet in this episode. Michael Ealy plays Detective Hoffman, an immediate romantic interest for Smulders. Jake Johnson plays Grey McConnell, her best friend and potential slow-burn romantic interest. His character is interesting enough, but is not fleshed out enough. Thankfully, Johnson is another underrated actor who knows how to be charming. The cast is roun...