Television: Intelligence, "The Rescue"

Despite the addition of Peter Coyote—and yes, I did in fact say aloud as I watched, "Hey! It's Peter Coyote!" (you know him when you hear him, if not when you see him)—I found it difficult to keep my attention on this episode.

It began with the abduction of a couple college girls; as it turned out, one of the girls was the daughter of a senator, the other being her luckless roommate. Once it became clear the whole thing was about a Mexican drug lord, I sort of tuned out. I've mentioned before in my Elementary write-ups that I'm not really a mob or drug lord kind of girl; those kinds of stories just don't interest me. So maybe this was a fantastic plot, but just not my thing.

The drug lord wanted to stop the sale of a satellite from the U.S. to Mexico, something that would interfere with his operations. The plot thickened, however, once it was revealed that the U.S. actually bankrolled this guy. That is, he was on the payroll as an informant. And yes, the U.S. did know he was a drug lord. But a useful drug lord is, apparently, worth something.

Gabriel and Riley got lost in the shuffle in this episode. Their job was pretty straightforward: find and rescue the girls. Meanwhile, Lillian wrestled with her conscience and her dad Leland (that would be Peter Coyote, the one who worked with the drug lord—I missed and/or wasn't clear on his actual position in the government).

The big finish came when the girls were safe and Gabriel had a clear shot at the drug lord but Leland said no. And for once Gabriel followed orders and let the baddie go. Lillian wasn't loving that, though, and took matters into her own hands by having the drug lord killed by . . . Who? A woman Lillian had bought off? A new evil? Unclear. The debate being, of course, whether replacing an old devil with a new one does anyone any good.

BTW, I had to wonder at Gabriel using the alarm system to cause a distraction so they could rescue the girl . . . Didn't he do something very similar in the last episode? Learn some new tricks, buddy. (Or, I guess, if it works . . . Still, I'd like to see the writers be creative. It's too early in the series for them to be lazy about these things.)

Pretty standard fare overall, though the introduction of Leland and the potential friction between him and his daughter may add yet another layer of interest as things progress.