Now and Again
"Everybody Who's Anybody"

Airdate: February 26, 2000

Michael (Eric Close) dons a tux. There is a god!

"I think she likes you again." -- a dour Dr. Morris

When a general enlists Theo and Michael's aid on a mission of a more personal nature, our dynamic duo set out to pull a heist at a Senator's black-tie affair in a manner reminiscent of Cary Grant.

While "Everybody Who's Anybody" is satisfying on many levels, it can't quite live up to the near dramatic perfection that was last week's "Deep In My Heart Is A Song." For one thing, despite a few moments of quirky banter, the doc and Michael spend very little time together and while they are connected via ear and microphone, it's just not the same. Of course this provides quite a few humorous opportunities for Michael to bend his dietary rules a bit, but more importantly it allows him time to gaze rapturously at wife Lisa in her heart-stoppingly gorgeous red dress.

And if you've got the impression that I considered the heist plot the weak link in this episode, then you're utterly correct. Slow, plodding, and ultimately predictable, the true magic in "Everybody Who's Anybody" came from the interaction between the characters we've come to care about so deeply. Even Roger's mixed messages conversation with that "little pisher" Spence in the teaser was more adroitly handled than the mechanics of the robbery and its resolution.

Michael and Lisa meet again, though the circumstances could've been better.

But as it should be, this episode belonged to Michael and Lisa.

From his swaying in time with Lisa across a crowded room as the band played "Stardust", to his whipped-puppy dog expression, right down to his fastening his gaze on her much beloved face as he took the bullets that could have ended her life, Michael was the epitome of a spurned, but still devoted suitor. And while right up until the end she spoke nothing but words of derision to and about him, Lisa's eyes, thoughts, and -- one would hope -- heart kept returning to Michael again and again. Despite her resolution to forget the man, he sure seems to still have quite an effect on the lady.

I have to say that although it is frustrating at times, the series' handling of Lisa's emotions are right on the mark. Able to nimbly fend off the attention of other unwanted suitors -- like Ben -- and not blink an eye when they disappear back into the fog from whence they came, Lisa's reactions to Michael are of a more passionate nature. When she's charmed, she's bowled over, and when she's angry, she's hopping mad. He brings out the best and the worst in her nature, which, for a woman who is still in mourning for her late husband, is not good. And while the mysterious Mr. Newman may seem awfully familiar in some ways, that just makes him even more dangerous to her devotion to the memory of her Michael. But in spite of all of Lisa's good intentions, she just can't seem to stay angry or away from her sporadic, enigmatic, handsome admirer.

And such is the fresh, inventive manner in which Now and Again successfully sustains the unresolved sexual tension between Michael and Lisa.

Damn, they're good.

-- Linda M. Najera

Now and Again airs at 9pm EST, Fridays on CBS.

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