Review: Elsbeth, “A Bad Lie” | Season 4, Episode 4 / Cupertino, "Celeste" | Season 1, Episode 5
*Is* it odd that it's called a shrimp cocktail?
“What’s wrong with being interesting?”
A good chunk of media coverage of the other show I cover in these recaps has emphasized how delightful and novel it is that the Silicon Valley-based legal drama Cupertino gets 20 episodes in its inaugural season. The journalists and critics mentioning this aren’t acting like this is new, exactly. Until very recently, pretty much every network TV show would, if it received a full season, air 22 episodes between September and May. But the advent of streaming has made even a 20-episode season seem rare. Yet when I’ve read articles covering the show that mention its episode count, I'm reminded of the bit from Suzy Eddie Izzard’s absolutely brilliant Dress to Kill standup special, in which she talks about how Americans act like recent history is ancient, like someone talking about a building being redecorated to look like it was "over 50 years ago."
The references to Cupertino getting a full season also feel a little strange to me because, well…it's not quite as novel as you think. What about Elsbeth? I kid somewhat, but if you’ve been watching this show across its four seasons, you know that 20-episode seasons can be pretty common. (Presuming this season has a full run, the show will have 70 episodes in all by May.) I don’t imagine working on any of these network shows as a writer is easy, per se, but I do wonder if working on a full-season show like Elsbeth presents a bit more of a hurdle than those folks working on Cupertino.
The latter show has its procedural aspects, but is also balancing any case-of-the-week details with much longer arcs that can be spread out across plenty of installments. Elsbeth does technically have season-long subplots, but those are often subservient, in a way, to each week’s case. Those subplots can be hit-or-miss, but also end up feeling only mildly diverting because of their brevity. Cupertino has a handful of series regulars, some of whom may show up in fewer episodes than others. Elsbeth has just two, and really leans on just one of them, relying heavily on its guests and new settings.
