Ok, first of all? Scott William Winters with short hair and a clear diction seems to appeal to producers looking either for an officer or... well, an officer, I suppose; heroes and villains alike. At least by now I am able to recognize his features and have stopped confusing him with Robert Duncan McNeill. Go me! *eg*

Second, no rolled up sleeves on Don Eppes this time, but at least a short-sleeved shirt and what others call The Jeans of Justice. Ok, he does fill them out quite nicely. Ok, I looked. So what. I like the hair, I like the forearms, I like the laugh lines crinkling around his eyes, and I forgive him for being a bit short. Plus, evidently Rob Morrow wears glasses, and in an extremely short shot of Don entering the Eppes house directly after the opening credits, he is shown with glasses which he takes off immediately and pockets - with his back to the camera. Was that deliberate? Has Don ever been shown wearing glasses (and did I miss that)? Damn, am I shallow.

And hasn't this been the most subtext-heavy episode ever?! Alan tries to fix up his boys, Don remarks that his father has pretty much given up hope of him ever marrying, and neither Don nor Charlie seem too upset over their former crush/prom date marrying another man, but rather come back to the impact the whole thing in high school had on them as brothers.

No matter how geeky and awkward Charlie was in high school, I still think Don had it at least as bad if not worse during that final year they were in the same grade. Being in the same class as your 5-years-younger genius brother who shows you up in class again and again, who brings home the better grades and has all the teachers fawning over him while they use his work as an example? Plus being responsible for no one picking on him too much unless he came home distressed and your parents were all disappointed? So not fun.

I think their parents would have been much more understanding of their sons' dilemma if they'd sent them to separate schools.

But back to "Soft Target" - the plot twist at the end looked awfully much like a rabbit pulled from a hat. Still, as long as they keep providing me with my favorite kind my eye candy, I'm not complainin'. *g*