At the start of "(Il)Legitimate" all I could think was that Ralph Lamb was taking his speak-softly-and-carry-a-big-stick routine a little too far. He's so stoic that I found it hard to connect with his character. That was before he fought to keep a tree.

Even if his focus had actually been preserving the 100-year old oak, I would have taken his side. That tree was majestic and once it's cut down, it's not coming back. But the tree wasn't really the issue.

It was the memory of a woman, who I'm assuming was his late wife. The look in Dennis Quaid's eyes as he remembered the beautiful lady hanging laundry under that tree almost brought me to tears.

Okay. Maybe being the quiet type works better than I thought.

The murder of the week wasn't all that thrilling but it did throw in its fair share of twists. I figured Randall was the young woman's father the moment we met him, but I wondered if the son or wife could have been the ones to run Estelle down.

The other maid being the murderer felt like it came out of nowhere. To be honest, though, I'm not tuning in to Vegas for its great who dun it stories.

I was far more interested in watching Savino try once again to expand his power base in Las Vegas. He's not about to let the bosses in Chicago, the local bank, or rival mobs shut him out from what he knows will one day be more than just a few casinos. As Vince told the Tumbleweed's current owner in this Vegas quote…

 You can lose the sawdust and Roy Rogers and come with me or you can get buried under the avalanche of asphalt that's coming. | permalink

Savino plans to control the avalanche, not be buried underneath it, which made me wonder how long he's going to put up with Johnny Rizzo coming in and stepping on his toes. It wouldn't surprise me if one day in the near future Rizzo ends up just another body buried in the desert.

One of the most interesting developments was Jack and Mia. Of course Ralph was right. No good could come of this but that doesn't mean I don't want to see it happen. These two have nice chemistry, which is why I was thrilled when Jack manned up and asked her out... and then thoroughly disappointed when the DA showed up in his red convertible to whisk her away.

I found myself hoping Mia would tell Jack to ask her again sometime soon. Then again, she's quite an independent woman. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she took the lead and did the asking herself. Either way, I've got my fingers crossed we see more of these two sometime soon.

There's nothing but good news on the horizon for Vegas. Because CBS just picked the series up for the full season, we should be seeing lots more of these great character moments in the weeks to come.

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.