I got caught a little on the hop with the way Life is being aired right now, it's rather chaotic and honestly not a good sign. I'm a little concerned that the show might be counting numbered days.

In "Everything...All the time" Crews and Reese investigate the circumstances surrounding a man found tied to a chair and beaten to death. Outside of work Crews brings in the assistance of his ex-wife to try and get Rachel to open up.

Read about steroids, frozen man-sicles, big dogs, chimps, bananas and apples beyond the link...

This really isn't a case of the show I know and love, the first two episodes of Life have been very lack luster, the pilot episode was somewhat redeemed with plenty of stylish shots and a very clever fake out involving an acrylic box but this weeks episode has very little going for it at all. It involves rather stereotypical douche-bag spoiled kids being boring while acting like they're cool. It's exactly the kind of storyline that sends me to sleep and frankly it's a shame because I really liked the Life I experienced in the later part of the last season. It was a great show with real promise.

Fortunately the third episode is a lot better, but that's not a big help in getting through this episode. Which is frankly a chore to watch, essentially all you need to know is that Rachel isn't able or willing to talk, Jack Reese starts blackmailing Ted into reveal ling things about Crews and his ongoing personal investigation, Crews gets a new car, harasses Jack and bugs him. As for the rest of the episode, the main story is just well pretty ordinary.

I could go into it a bit more, but honestly I don't really want to. I enjoy this show no end and I want to see it develop into the show it promises it could be, but in order to manage that the other members of the cast are going to need to be fleshed out more. There's too much still being carried on Damian's shoulders and no man, not even Hugh Laurie, can carry an entire show of that length by himself (well Lance Henriksen nearly managed it). Donal Logue's character (Brian Tidwell) is being developed a little more but right now he remains nothing other than a superior who makes inappropriate comments.

I'm just going to brush this episode aside and move onto the next one, which is much better.

The Business of Miracles is more like the Life I used to know and enjoy back in the second half of the season. An elderly scientist is found frozen solid in his lab and Crews & Reese are assigned to investigate. It's the Life formula which works - unusual crime, interesting suspects and lighthearted comedy scenes mixed with some heavier stuff that deals with the ongoing conspiracy.

It also helps that the comedic moments are spread around a little more, Crews breaking the scientist was a good touch, Danni's comment was even better. Then the triple whammy of Crews being hit by the chimp then asking his Ex's new husband (Johnathan is it?) for permission to sleep with his wife, getting knocked down by him with a single punch (great prat fall there) and then again Danni capping it all off by mocking him in the lift. This is the kind of stuff that makes the show good. While Danni had some good moments Captain Tidwell needs to stop leching after her, the scenes where he does that really do not do him or her any favours at all, they're just uncomfortable, hopefully the writers turn a corner and close that particular interest - or have it just be playful (but mistaken) fun on his part without any real interest.

The case was solid (ha ha, ice cold) and had some great visuals, unlike the previous episode - which was a combination of confusing, annoying and who cares? This one had good guest stars, the chimp was definitely the best of them mind you, and a reasonable twist to the story. It's not the most memorable case so far - that's a tie between half a man in an empty house and the buried Buddhist - but it was fun.

Unfortunately I'm not sure how many people will have weathered the first two episodes to get this far, with the schedule all over the place for the show it's been hard to keep track and I've been actively attempting to keep on top of it. The casual viewer is even less likely to have bothered following up after Fridays atrocious offering. The show needs to deliver two or three more excellent episodes in a row if it wants to survive.

And I do want Life to survive, it's precious.