Tag: 220127

Community rinks

Find a local pond for skating and hockey

Many communities have ponds or outdoor rinks for ice skating, stick practice and pond hockey. Town- and city-maintained ponds are free to use, making it a fun outdoor activity that doesn’t cost a thing if you already have skates – and a hockey stick, if you want to play, which longtime hockey player and Black Ice Pond Hockey Association Board President Daniel Luker says can totally change your on-ice experience.

“Get a buddy, show up, bring a stick and a couple pucks … and get out there and you’ll automatically start playing hockey,” Luker said. “Once you start skating and once you pick up a stick, it’s a whole different ball game. … Once you pick up a stick, you can’t help but play, and you’ll chase the puck forever.”

Whether you want to give pond hockey a try or would rather just free skate, here are a few local rinks to check out. The open/closed status of the rinks can change from day to day depending on temperatures. Call or check the city’s or town’s website or social media for the most recent information.

• Amherst Middle School Rink, 14 Cross Road, Amherst, 673-6248, amherstnh.myrec.com. When open, hours are daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

• Beaver Meadow Pond at Beaver Meadow Golf Course, 1 Beaver Meadow Drive, Concord, 225-8690, concordnh.gov. When open, hours are daily from dawn until dusk.

• Bow Town Pond, next to the Bow Community Center, 3 Bow Center Road, Bow, 223-3920, bow-nh.com.

• Brown Memorial Field, 740 Swanzey Road, Swanzey, 352-4614, find it on Facebook. When open, hours are daily from dawn until dusk.

• Davis Lane Rinks, Davis Lane, Amherst, 673-6248, amherstnh.myrec.com. When open, hours are daily from 10 a.m. to dusk.

• Dorrs Pond, adjacent to Livingston Park, 56 Hooksett Road, Manchester, 624-6444, manchesternh.gov. When open, hours are daily from dawn to dusk.

• Four Corners, behind Holman Stadium, Sargent Avenue, Nashua, 589-3370, nashuanh.gov. When open, hours are daily from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m. for general skating, and before 11 a.m. and between 4:30 and 6 p.m. for hockey.

• Hood Park at 4 Rollins St., Derry, 432-6136, derrynh.org. When open, hours are daily from dawn until dusk.

• Ice Skating Rink at Watson Park, 441 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 882-1046, merrimackparksandrec.org/watson-park. When open, hours are daily from dawn to 9 p.m.

• Jeff Morin Fields at Roby Park, 126 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, 589-3370, nashuanh.gov. When open, hours are daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. for general skating, and from 8 to 10 p.m. for hockey.

• Kimball Lake, 47 Kimball Lake Road, Hopkinton, 746-8263, hopkintonrec.com. When open, hours are daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

• Riverside Ice Rink 223 Route 103, Warner, 491-9019, facebook.com/riversideicerink. When open, hours are daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information and to find out whether it’s currently open for skating, visit the Facebook page.

• Rollins Park at 33 Bow St., Concord, 225-8690, concordnh.gov. When open, hours are daily from dawn until dusk.

• Shepard Park, 418 Nashua St., Milford, 249-0625, facebook.com/milfordrecdept. When open, hours are daily from dawn to 9:30 p.m.

• White Park, 1 White St., Concord, 225-8690, concordnh.gov. When open, skating hours are daily from dawn until dusk. The Merrimack Lodge offers skate rentals for $5. Lodge hours vary; find it on Facebook for the most up-to-date hours.

Puddle Duck Pond

Puddle Duck Pond

This outdoor rink at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth is another option for those who want a better chance of getting on the ice even if weather conditions haven’t been great.

“Ice is maintained with a refrigeration system and Zamboni, which helps the rink remain open in warmer air temperatures,” Veronica Lester of Strawbery Banke Museum said via email. “Unless the ice is deemed unsafe for skating, Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond is open in rain, snow and sunshine. Opening and closing calls are made day-of by rink operations staff.”

The rink is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission costs $12 for skaters age 5 and up. Skate rentals are available for $6, and skate sharpening is available for $7.

Chill fun

Winter Fest returns to downtown Concord

By Angie Sykeny

asykeny@hippopress.com

Coinciding with the Black Ice Pond Hockey Tournament is the fourth annual Concord NH Winter Festival on Saturday, Jan. 29. There will be indoor and outdoor festivities for all ages, including shopping, food, entertainment, tours and more.

“There are not a lot of family-friendly events this time of year, and that is what makes this event special,” said Jessica Martin, Executive Director of Intown Concord, which organizes the Winter Festival in partnership with The Hotel Concord.

Ice carvers will demonstrate their craft and compete in a live ice carving competition during the Winter Festival. Courtesy photo.

The highlight of the event is the live ice carving competition featuring “New England’s best ice carvers,” Martin said. It’s free and open to the public on the Statehouse lawn from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The ice carvers will also be there on Friday, Jan. 28, the day before the festival, doing live ice carving demonstrations from 3 to 9 p.m.

“This year we have seven carvers participating in the competition, which is the most we have had to-date,” Martin said, adding that the carvings will remain on display at the Statehouse for the week following the festival.

Main Street restaurants and retail shops will be open for a Winter Shopping Stroll; Red River Theatres will have a matinee screening of the animated family film Smallfoot (2018, PG) at 10 a.m. (tickets cost $5); and the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center will run games and interactive activities starting at 10:30 a.m.

Guided tours of the inside of the Statehouse will be offered, starting every 30 minutes from noon to 3:30 p.m. The tour lasts around 45 minutes and will include opportunities to see the Hall of Flags, which has more than 100 battle flags on display from the Civil War, World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War; the House of Representatives chamber and Senate chambers, which have national significance as the oldest continuously used legislative chambers in the U.S.; the Governor and Executive Council chambers and more.

“There are more than 200 portraits to view as you tour the building,” Martin said, “and it’s always fun to see the Visitor Center’s First in the Nation Primary display and Bicentennial dioramas.”

The Winter Festival Stage, which will be set up on South Main Street next to O Steaks and Seafood restaurant, will be a hotspot of activity, including an ice bar, complimentary hot cocoa, s’mores toasting and more. The stage will feature a variety of live entertainment, starting with a dance party with DJ Darren Roy at 11 a.m., followed by storyteller Ade Shields (11:30 to 11:45 a.m., and 1:35 to 1:50 p.m.), local singer-songwriter Jasmine Mann (11:50 a.m. to 12:05 p.m., and 1:15 to 1:30 p.m.), New England folk-rock band The Penniless Jacks (12:20 to 12:50 p.m., and 2:10 to 2:40 p.m.) and family-friendly drag performer ChiChi Marvel (1 to 1:10 p.m., and 1:55 to 2:05 p.m.)

A free shuttle service will be available, running between the Statehouse, the Hotel Concord, the Holiday Inn and the Black Ice Hockey Tournament at White Park throughout the day.

Martin said attendees should continue practicing Covid safety — masks are not required but are strongly encouraged for indoor activities — and should have no difficulty staying spread out.

“This outdoor festival will offer people the space they need to socially distance themselves,” she said.

Concord NH Winter Festival

Where: Main Street, Concord
When: Saturday, Jan. 29. Most activities will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ice carving demonstrations will take place on Friday, Jan. 28, from 3 to 9 p.m.
Cost: Admission is free. Certain activities may have a fee.
More info: Visit intownconcord.org or call 226-2150.

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of Black Ice Pond Hockey Association.

Games on

Black Ice Pond Hockey Tournament is (almost definitely) happening

The recent cold means the annual Black Ice Pond Hockey Tournament will likely take place as scheduled this weekend, with youth games kicking things off on Thursday, Jan. 27, and plenty of other games on the roster — along with concessions, family activities, public skating and fireworks — through Sunday, Jan. 30.

“In recent years we’ve been challenged by global warming,” said Dan Luker, Black Ice Pond Hockey Association Board president. “We hope for below-zero temps at night, and a perfect day for us is 20 degrees during the day.”

Photo Courtesy of Black Ice Pond Hockey Association

The weekend is a tribute to the capital city’s place in hockey history. Luker said the first organized hockey game in the U.S. took place at St. Paul’s School in Concord, and the games being played at the tournament harken back to that old-school style.

“It’s the way the game was played to begin with — no refs, no goalies, 4 on 4,” Luker said. “It’s all about just skating and moving the puck. It’s a different feel.”

The tournament started 11 years ago, when Capital City Hockey League retirees decided they wanted to keep the game alive, for themselves and for younger generations.

“We all grew up playing hockey in the rinks, in the open air,” Luker said. “It brings you back.”

As the years have gone on, the Black Ice Pond Hockey Association has tried to reinvigorate the board by encouraging younger people to join. And the tournament has gone from all adult games to having a full night of youth hockey.

“Part of the goal is to infect [younger players] with the outdoor enthusiasm,” he said. “We’re psyched to have the kids play … [and] the kids love to be a part of it.”

Luker said there will be about 80 adult teams with more than 500 players taking the ice, which includes women’s teams and rec league teams, competitive players and players whose good skating days are well behind them.

“There are people who shouldn’t be skating out there who are having a blast,” Luker said.

Along with the games, there will be open skating time, concessions, a warming tent and family games throughout the weekend, and Friday night will feature fireworks.

“It’s the middle of winter, and there’s not much else going on in Concord,” Luker said. “People drift down and come and watch. … [It’s] something to do on a Saturday afternoon.”

Black Ice Pond Hockey Tournament

Where: White Park, Concord
When: Thursday, Jan. 27, through Sunday, Jan. 20

Schedule of events

Thursday
Heated spectator tent with family games and concessions open from 5 to 8 p.m.
Youth pond hockey games with Concord Capitals, NE Wildcats, NH Avalanche, NH Junior Monarchs from 6 to 8 p.m.

Friday
Concessions open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Black Ice Pond Hockey games from 9 a.m. to 8:20 p.m.
Heated spectator tent with family games from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Public skate on White Park Pond Rinks & RBC Rinks 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ice sculpture at noon
Bonfires start at 5 p.m.
Concord Youth Hockey from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Dynomites & NH JR Monarchs practice on White Park Pond Rinks & RBC Rinks at 7:15 p.m.
Atlas Fireworks show

Saturday
Concessions open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Black Ice Pond Hockey games from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Heated Spectator Tent open with family interactive games from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Youth Hockey Shinny Tournament on White Park Pond Rinks & RBC Rinks 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Concord Area Transit Shuttle Bus Winterfest Shuttle runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Bonfires start at 3 p.m.

Sunday
Concessions open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Black Ice Pond Hockey games from 9 a.m. to noon

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of Black Ice Pond Hockey Association.

X-ponential

Prog rockers ready new album

After a long break since releasing 2015’s Oceans, Mindset X is readying Humanz— the band’s first album with guitarist Lucian Davidson. The son of bassist and keyboard player Paul Davidson, he joined in 2018, and his presence is noticeable on the new disc’s first song.

“For The Love Of War” is a hefty, toothsome number that recalls early Black Sabbath and proto Metallica; the single will drop on Feb. 22. Ahead of that, the Manchester quartet will celebrate a milestone on Jan. 29 at Angel City Music Hall.

“Eighteen years together,” singer, guitarist and primary songwriter Steve Haidaichuk said by phone recently. “It feels like we’re 22 again — just a little more achy.”

The new addition has refreshed the group.

“We fell in that prog-rock niche over maybe the past 10 years,” Haidaichuk said. “Lucian’s background is a lot more metal, so it brings our aggressiveness to the forefront. Not to say that I’m not a metal guy, but, like, I dabble. … Lucien grew up on the big metal bands.”

“We were looking to add more to the sound of Mindset X,” Paul Davidson said. “A guitar player seemed to be the natural of what we’re looking for, which actually was great — it brings Steve to the front of the stage, instead of hanging back with us. So he’s more of a front man now.”

While Oceans was a concept album featuring a primary character, Humanz has other ambitions.

“It kind of ties back to the square root of what we are as a species,” Haidaichuk said.

“It’s almost like part two, but it takes it in a little different angle,” Paul Davidson said, adding that the new effort reflects the many challenges of the recent past — lockdowns, dread and endlessness. “You’re caught in a box for so long; you just want to break out of it, just let it all go.”

“I think every soul has probably written about their time in Covid-town,” Haidaichuk said. “This really isn’t about that, but it did make me reflect on the way society handled it, from an outsider looking in perspective [of] us as a species; really seeing our good points and our bad points.”

Keeping with the math-themed title of Humanz, the release of “For The Love Of War” on 2-22-22 will be followed by a video of the song two weeks later, with a “two by two” cycle repeating every other week until the full record is out.

“When we first started doing this, we released too much music over the course of a year, then as we got farther down the line as a band we released too little,” Haidaichuk said. “I think we learned from both of those experiences what kind of works and what doesn’t. … Some people still like CDs, and some people don’t even own a CD player anymore.”

They’re excited to perform at Angel City, one of their home city’s newest venues.

“It’s a classic club and for Manchester to have one of these, I think it’s about time,” Paul Davidson said. “Especially because you’re limited when you’re playing original music as well … it’ll be nice to have almost like a welcoming show.”

They’ll play two sets, featuring new songs mixed with old favorites, occasionally reworked. Haidaichuk stressed that their aim is to shake things up and remove expectations.

“At the end of the day, we’ve always taken the music side of us extremely seriously; we like to write things that we feel mean something, and maybe make a statement or two,” he said. “But on the flip side of tha t… we want you to have fun while we get you to think; that’s pretty much what Mindset X has always been.”

Mindset X w/ The Graniteers

When: Saturday, Jan. 29, 7 p.m.
Where: Angel City Music Hall, 179 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $10 at the door, 21+

Featured photo: Mindset X. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 22/01/27

Local music news & events

• Open-ended: A monthly series of improvisational rock, The Cyrus Sessions is hosted by Slack Tide’s Chris Cyrus, who brings the bona fides for a night of jamming. The upcoming gathering features a fellow band member of Cyrus’s, drummer Jake Smith. The venue is an Italian steakhouse offering craft cocktails and “elevated pub fare,” and the event takes place in a recently renovated music and function room. Thursday, Jan. 27, 6 p.m., Luk’s Bar & Grill, 142 Lowell Road, Hudson. See slacktideofficial.com.

• Real deal: Settling into New England like a weather front, Keb’ Mo’ performs several shows in the region over the next month, including one in downtown Portsmouth. Following that, he’ll join fellow bluesman Joe Bonamassa on a cruise to the Bahamas. The five-time Grammy winning singer/guitarist’s shows are soulful, evocative affairs; he recently released a new album, Good To Be, with an infectious title track. Friday, Jan. 28, 8 p.m., The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, $48 to $159 at themusichall.org.

• Tom tribute: Anyone looking for the heart of Saturday night will enjoy the Tom Waits Tribute organized by Granite State of Mind maven Rob Azevedo, with local musicians covering the L.A. bard. Todd Hearon will do “Ol’ 55,” while Chris Peters takes on “Downtown Train” and “Jersey Girl.” Other performers include Keith Sanders, Chris Howe, Joe Clark Beaupre, Paul Driscoll and the lovely duo Rockwood Taylor. Saturday, Jan. 29, 4 p.m., Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/theshaskeenpub.

• London calling: Performing via livestream from London’s Docklands District, The Smile is Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, along with Tom Skinner of British jazz group Sons of Kemet. Playing in the round, it’s the first time the trio will do new music live. Yorke said the name comes from a Ted Hughes poem – “Not the smile as in ‘ahh!’, more ‘The Smile’ as in, the guy who lies to you every day.” Saturday, Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m., O’neil Cinemas, 24 Calef Highway, Epping, $20 at oneilcinemas.com.

• Shock rock: Among music’s many subgenres, horror punk is exemplified by Blitzkid, a West Virginia band led by TB Monstrosity, a singer-guitarist who calls to mind Popeye’s Bluto at the end of a long weekend. The group formed in the late 1990s and broke up 10 years ago, but they’re back for a reunion show at a venue that on Saturday, Jan. 29, will also host a benefit for an employee who lost all her belongings in a house fire. Wednesday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m., Jewel Music Venue, 61 Canal St., Manchester, $17 to $250 at eventbrite.com.

At the Sofaplex 22/01/27

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania(PG)

Voices of Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez.

Also voices of Kathryn Hahn, Jim Gaffigan, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key and Fran Drescher. Adam Sandler, who voiced main character Dracula for the first three of these movies, has passed the microphone on to voice doppelganger Brian Hull.

The movie gives you the gist even if you’ve never seen any of these Hotel Transylvania movies before (or, if, like me, you’ve definitely seen some of them but can’t remember much of anything about them): Drac and his vampire daughter Mavis (voice of Gomez), her human husband Johnny (Andy Samberg) and their son Dennis (voice of Asher Blinkoff) run a monster-serving hotel in a creepy Transylvanian castle that does such a brisk business Drac employs many a zombie and ghoul. Newly married to human Ericka Van Helsing (voice of Kathryn Hahn), great-granddaughter of The Van Helsing (voice of Gaffigan), Drac has been planning to officially turn the hotel over to Mavis and Johnny. But Johnny is such a stone cold goofus that Drac backs out at the last minute, telling Johnny that it’s because the property can only be passed to another monster. Johnny, desperate to truly be part of the family, uses Van Helsing’s monster-ray to turn himself into a monster. When Drac attempts to turn Johnny back into a human, he accidentally turns Frankenstein, the mummy and Wayne the werewolf human, creating all sorts of people who need to be returned to their former form — including Drac himself, who finds himself becoming human and losing the power to turn into a bat mid-fall.

Because the McGuffin-ray is broken in the process, Drac and Johnny set off on a quest to find a crystal that will repair it and set things right. What they don’t know when they head off is that, while Drac can eventually adjust to being human with some sunscreen and a shower, Johnny is in danger of having his monsterness constantly mutate until he becomes a giant, mindless, brightly colored destructo-saur.

If you have Amazon Prime, you have access to this movie for free — which is probably its principal selling point. This movie doesn’t feature nearly enough monster hijinks and physical comedy and is way too talky and focused on the plot of Drac handing off his hotel. (I’m sure there’s a joke in here about this being Succession for kids but with literal monsters instead of psychological monsters, but this movie doesn’t really warrant that much cleverness.) I don’t think my younger kids care about father-in-law/son-in-law relationships and they probably would have liked more with the swarm of werewolf puppies and the comedy based on the Blob. But this movie isn’t, like, actively offensive or particularly violent and I think my older kid would watch this if it were the only thing available or if it was the alternative to some kind of chore, so, C? Available via Amazon Prime.

Munich: The Edge of War (PG-13)

George MacKay, Jannis Niewöhner.

Jeremy Irons also stars in this adaptation of a Robert Harris novel which is surprisingly suspenseful despite the fact that it is about two guys running around in 1938 not preventing World War II. I mean, spoiler alert? Not really, and that’s kind of an interesting creative challenge when you set up your characters to complete a mission the larger outcome of which is already known to have failed.

Here, we get our spy thriller tension in part from the fact that British translator Hugh Legat (MacKay) is rather spectacularly not a spy. He seems like sort of an aide to prime minister Neville Chamberlain (Irons), who is sent on a delegation going to peace talks in Munich in part because years earlier he went to college with German Paul von Hartman (Niewöhner). A similar mid-level government type, Paul worms his way into the German delegation by serving as a translator for Hitler (Ulrich Matthes). Paul is part of a small group of German government types who think that, if Hitler illegally invades Czechoslovakia, they’ll be able to get the support of the German military and oust Hitler from power. Instead of invading, Hitler agrees to first meet with the British and French and his ally Italy to discuss a means of avoiding war — or, as it plays out here, a means by which the other countries can let him take chunks of Czechoslovakia without them having to intervene.

But Paul has different plans. He wants to use the conference as a cover for passing documents to Hugh, his old Oxford buddy, that prove that Czechoslovakia is just the beginning and that Hitler is planning a war of conquest throughout Europe. He gets a guy to get a guy to get Hugh included in the British delegation so that they can work together to get the documents to the right people and prevent the countries from appeasing Hitler. But while Paul, a former ardent Hitler-supporter who has become disillusioned with the Nazis, is used to sneaking around, Hugh, just a guy who regularly gets yelled at by both his boss and his neglected wife (Jessica Brown Findlay), is not great at skulduggery. For example, he “hides” important papers in a desk drawer in his hotel (why not staple them to the door, Hugh) and is so bad at following Paul without being seen that they might as well be holding hands and singing.

I wish the movie had played that aspect — Paul as the weary citizen of a police state, Hugh as a neophyte — up a bit more, because it did help ramp up the tension. Weighing in at over two hours, I think the movie could have lost some of the side stories and focused on a streamline tale of two men trying to desperately do some real world-saving behind the scenes of some hot-air diplomacy. We take a lot of detours into Lenya (Liv Lisa Fries), a mutual college friend who had formerly been together with Paul; Hugh’s shaky marriage and stalled career, and Paul’s relationship with his assistant, Helen (Sandra Huller). Shaved down by about half an hour and more singularly focused on the diplomacy-spy angle, Munich: The Edge of War could have been a more energetic noir-ish suspense film. As it is, it is occasionally pokey but watchable history drama fare. C+ Available on Netflix.

Swan Song (R)

Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris.

Also Glenn Close and Awkwafina.

In the cleanly designed, tech-filled future, Cameron (Ali) is terminally ill but hasn’t yet told his family, including wife Poppy (Harris). This gives him a rare opportunity: He can tell them about his condition and live out his final days with them or he can essentially download his memories and personality into a healthy but otherwise identical clone who will slip into his life. Either way, Cameron won’t be there to see his young son and the baby Poppy is currently pregnant with grow up, but a Cameron can be there for them.

Dr. Jo Scott (Close) is the doctor performing this strange, secret procedure at what feels like a beautiful, modernist spa out in the woods where Cameron also meets Kate (Awkwafina), a woman who is essentially waiting for her end while her replacement has been living her life. His wife is just getting over a prolonged period of grief over the death of her brother and has previously stated that she would be happy to have such a real version of her mother back, especially if she didn’t know it wasn’t her “real” mother. These are Cameron’s arguments for going through with the swap. But he is also bothered by the deceit and the loss of his life before his death by basically giving it away to someone else.

Most of this movie is Ali’s performance and, as you’d expect, he gives a solid one, one that allows for enough suspension of disbelief about the sci-fi aspects so that you can swim around in the bigger picture life questions with his characters. This isn’t some twisty thriller; the movie is more concerned with the internal journey Cameron takes and as that kind of contemplative tale it is engrossing. A Available on Apple TV+.

Brazen (TV-14)

Brazen (TV-14)

Alyssa Milano is a mystery writer who must solve her sister’s real-world murder in Brazen, a relaxing mug of “Lifetime thriller plus TV procedural” from Netflix.

Grace Miller (Milano) is a rich and famous mystery writer who rushes home when her sister Kathleen (Emilie Ullerop) calls her saying she needs help. What she needs is for Grace to allow her to mortgage her half of the family home the girls own together (and where Kathleen currently lives) so that Kathleen can hire a lawyer to fight for custody of her young son. Kathleen had to leave him with her estranged husband when she went to get treatment for her substance misuse issues but is now sober, working as a high school teacher and ready to fight for her son.

Even teaching at a fancy private school and money from a mortgage won’t be enough to afford the lawyer she’ll need to fight her rich and powerful ex, which is why Kathleen also has a side gig as a webcam performer. In a hidden room behind her closet, she performs as a dominatrix named “Desiree.” Desiree has a flowing brunette wig (Kathleen is a blonde) and wears a partial face mask (a sort of sparkly lace thing, not, like, an N95) so it’s clear Kathleen is hoping this part-time job stays a secret. But of course somebody is able to hack in and learns the real identity and location of Kathleen.

When Grace goes on a date with Kathleen’s neighbor, handsomely scruffy-beard-having police detective Ed (Sam Page — much improved from when he was Joan’s awful husband on Mad Men), Kathleen is home alone, doing one quick performance as Desiree. When Grace returns, she finds Kathleen dead on the floor of her bedroom.

As the first person on the crime scene, Ed, along with his partner Ben (Malachi Weir), gets assigned the case — which feels like one of those standard “but isn’t this some kind of conflict of interest thing, especially since you’re letting the victim’s sister crash on your couch, Detective Ed” TV conceits that you just gotta go with if you’re going to commit to watching an Alyssa Milano made-for-streaming thriller. Ed wants Grace to stay safe and out of the way while he and Ben do their investigating, but Grace, with her “knack for getting in killer’s heads” or something that has helped her solve real-world crimes as she does research for her books, convinces their boss, Captain Rivera (Alison Araya), to let her join in the investigation. And if you’re thinking “wait, the police are letting some fiction writer who is also a family member of the victim be part of the official investigation?” then maybe you didn’t see the “an Alyssa Milano made-for-streaming thriller” part earlier.

Brazen isn’t an especially good movie but it is a good watch. It is basically doing a Castle, with a little Law & Order-universe and just a touch of The Closer. It has that same easy-drinking quality of a story that can keep you watching without being so taxing you have to pay super close attention. It has the standard red herrings, no-nonsense police lady boss and partner banter. (Weir’s Ben and Araya’s police captain are perfectly serviceable supporting characters.) And because there is also some romance business here, Grace and Ed have an extremely from-the-shoulders-up love scene that was kinda charming for its lack of heat or chemistry. (What they lack in romantic chemistry, though, Milano and Page adequately make up for in mystery-partner chemistry.) It’s like “yes, we know we have to have this scene but let’s get you back to the mystery as soon as possible.”

Look, I’d like to pretend that I want to relax in the evening with a good book — a literary novel that’s been nominated for an important prize or perhaps a weighty and important history. But if I happen upon a Bones or Major Crimes or heck even a CSI in a pinch while flipping mindlessly through live TV, I’m probably going to stop there and fancy myself clever for figuring out whodunit. Brazen is that exactly — in fact, in a different era, it could have been the two-part premiere to some Wednesday-night network series. A Wednesday-night network series that would win no awards but that I would happily watch, both in first run and in syndication. B-

Rated TV-14. Directed by Monika Mitchell with a screenplay by Edithe Swensen and Donald Martin and Suzette Couture (based on the Nora Roberts novel Brazen Virtue), Brazen is an hour and 34 minutes long and available on Netflix.

Featured photo: Brazen.

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