When all is said and done with Las Vegas, this episode - the season one finale - may prove to be it's magnum opus.
A lot happens in the pre-credit sequence: there is a major amount of counterfeit cash springing up in drop boxes all over the Montecito; an old timer from Vegas (Fast Tommy Palone) turns up with a deed claiming he owns the ground the Montecito is on, having won it in a poker game with one 'Bugsy' Siegel; Sam tells Mary that someone claiming to be her father is waiting to talk to her, which promptly freaks Mary right out - we find out why later, piecing together another piece of the Mary Connell puzzle - and Danny, with CCR's 'Fortunate Son' in the background, is given orders by two men wearing the khaki of the United States Marine Corps - he is being deployed to active duty, ships out in twenty-four hours and his destination is classified.
What follows is a rollercoaster of emotions. The episode races by. Mike is convinced by Ed to join surveillance whilst Danny is away. Danny and Mary confront her father, the counterfeit ring is busted...all leading up to Danny's final goodbye in Vegas. Jeez, did that sequence hit me in the feels or what? Seeing Danny embrace his friends and his father, and then Ed, who knows more than he is telling with regard to where Danny is going, packs an emotional wallop. When Danny asks Ed to be the executor of his will, and to make sure his body is brought home to America if the worst happens...I swear someone was cutting onions whilst I was watching. Danny and Mary? Of course. Finally, the creative team behind Las Vegas gives the people what they want. Danny and Mike driving down Las Vegas Boulevard to the strains of CCR's 'Long as I Can See the Light', sending Danny off into the Great Unknown of active duty. The "Godspeed, Danny McCoy" sign on the Montecito. All of it...wow. Not sure it could have been done any better.
What a forty-two minutes of television that was. So, so good.
A lot happens in the pre-credit sequence: there is a major amount of counterfeit cash springing up in drop boxes all over the Montecito; an old timer from Vegas (Fast Tommy Palone) turns up with a deed claiming he owns the ground the Montecito is on, having won it in a poker game with one 'Bugsy' Siegel; Sam tells Mary that someone claiming to be her father is waiting to talk to her, which promptly freaks Mary right out - we find out why later, piecing together another piece of the Mary Connell puzzle - and Danny, with CCR's 'Fortunate Son' in the background, is given orders by two men wearing the khaki of the United States Marine Corps - he is being deployed to active duty, ships out in twenty-four hours and his destination is classified.
What follows is a rollercoaster of emotions. The episode races by. Mike is convinced by Ed to join surveillance whilst Danny is away. Danny and Mary confront her father, the counterfeit ring is busted...all leading up to Danny's final goodbye in Vegas. Jeez, did that sequence hit me in the feels or what? Seeing Danny embrace his friends and his father, and then Ed, who knows more than he is telling with regard to where Danny is going, packs an emotional wallop. When Danny asks Ed to be the executor of his will, and to make sure his body is brought home to America if the worst happens...I swear someone was cutting onions whilst I was watching. Danny and Mary? Of course. Finally, the creative team behind Las Vegas gives the people what they want. Danny and Mike driving down Las Vegas Boulevard to the strains of CCR's 'Long as I Can See the Light', sending Danny off into the Great Unknown of active duty. The "Godspeed, Danny McCoy" sign on the Montecito. All of it...wow. Not sure it could have been done any better.
What a forty-two minutes of television that was. So, so good.
