SouthLAnd Recap 3x04

This week we witness the genesis of Cooper's excellent Command Presence, the heartbreak of random violence, and the anguish of being powerless to help.


Most of us go to work every day with a pretty good idea of what’s going to happen.  As Det Bryant will be reminded of today; cops never do.

The initial scene with Sammy is repeated at the end so I'm not going to describe it twice.

Sammy folds the blanket he used on the couch as he slept at Nate’s.  Mariella is again asking Nate when Sammy is going to leave.  Nate’s son Pete brings Sammy a piece of toast and tells him his mother wants to know when he’s moving out.  So glad that bad words were not the last spoken between Mariella and Nate.  They kiss goodbye and Nate ruffles Pete’s hair as he and Sammy leave for work.  Mariella’s last words, “Have a good day boys.”

Lydia is trying to console her mom whose boyfriend has just dumped her (by text).  Lydia’s mom asks Lydia how she goes without.  Now how many of us ever expect to hear those words come out of our mom’s mouth?

In the patrol car, Cooper asks Sherman, “What?”  As in spill it.  Sherman doesn’t understand what Cooper wants to know.  “Did you finally knock up the Den Mother?” Cooper asks. Sherman scoffs at that and Cooper asks, “Seriously.  What’s going on?”  Ben denies that anything is going on, but Cooper isn’t buying it.  He could have left Sherman at home and ridden in a U-Boat by himself today.  So Ben confesses that he had a nightmare about his father. His father was dead and people were expecting him to --- “Punch him?” Cooper interjects --- say something good, but he didn’t have anything to say. Then when he looked into the coffin, it was Ben in the coffin, not his dad.  Cooper wants to know if Ben is unraveling, ‘cause they could swing by BSS.  Ben responds, “See why I don’t tell you shit?”

Sherman and Cooper respond to a family dispute call and find a man and woman fighting.  The woman is throwing anything she can get her hands on at the man.  Ben pins her arms while Cooper tries to contain the man.  Cooper repeatedly asks Ben to turn the stove off, but Ben is more worried about whether the man has hurt the woman.  Ben also doesn’t cuff her to restrain her.  The woman gets away from Ben and throws the pan of hot grease at the man, barely missing Cooper.  So Cooper has to cuff her to keep her from doing any more harm.  He yells at Sherman to call an ambulance.

Lydia is at the scene of a murder. The deputy coroner is with the body, but the two detectives assigned to the case are in one of the bedrooms playing a game on Playstation.  Lydia asks them to stop NOW and come to the living room.  They think the dead guy had a partner called Giz, but they didn’t get a description from anyone.  They admit they only canvassed 7or 8 houses.  The coroner gets a match to the victim’s fingerprint on the portable fingerprint matcher thingie.

Nate and Sammy are at another murder scene.  This one is outside a convenience store.  The victim lies on the ground next to the smashed birthday cake for his son.  Two males in white hoodies robbed and shot him. Sammy walks away from the scene to take a cell call.  No one saw the shooters faces and no one is claiming to have seen anything.  Nate asks the uniform cop to see if there were any security cameras that caught anything.  Sammy screams into the phone because Tammy is threatening to get a restraining order against him.  Nate tries to calm him down, then notices the kids in the truck.  The daughter and the son (whose birthday it is) apparently witnessed the shooting.  The little girls asks Nate if her papi is dead and Nate honestly replies, “Yes, mija, he is. I’m so sorry.  Nate carries both kids away as he asks Sammy to get SID to the crime scene and to cover the body.

Back at the domestic scene, the woman is apologizing over and over to the man she spattered with grease.  Cooper tells Sherman to keep chivalry out of their work – there’s no place for it on the street.  How many assumptions did Sherman make about the scene when they arrived?  Sherman realizes what happened and responds with an, “I know” to Cooper.  Uh-oh.  Wrong thing to say to an already pissed-off Cooper.

“What do you mean, ‘you know’.  You don’t know.  I ask you to control the situation and you fall prey to that women-in-peril shit that you got going in your head. You got to be sure of what you see – really see – or you’re going to get someone killed. You understand?” “I got it,” Ben responds.  Cooper stares at him for a few seconds as though he would really like to say a whole lot more; but instead he turns and hauls the suspect away.

Lydia is sitting in a patrol car talking on the phone with the last cop that arrested the murder victim, Artis Hayes.  The deputy coroner walks up and introduces himself as Chazz, stooping so that he’s at the same level as Lydia. He says he’s worked several scenes with those other detectives and he’s trying to figure out which one of Mutt and Jeff is the bigger idiot.  Lydia says she can’t help him with that.  Chazz says if knew the detective test was so easy to pass, he would have joined the force.  He touches Lydia on the shoulder and says, “We’ll see you.”  He was totally flirting with her and at this point, though we know very little about the guy, I say Lydia should go for it.  Lydia turns and looks down the sidewalk as Mutt and Jeff walk toward her and do one of those celebratory fist bumps.  She just shakes her head.

Nate is watching the murder victim’s kids in a nearby store.  An officer comes into say they found a video of the shooting from a camera across the street.  Nate goes back outside, only to find Sammy on the phone with Tammy again and Sammy hasn’t covered the body or called SID.  He’s upset with Sammy and asks, “Am I working this shit by myself?”  The wife and brother of the victim show up at this point and the brother wants to know why the body isn’t covered up yet.  Nate tells the wife she needs to be strong for the kids. They’re just inside.  Sammy uses his own coat to cover the victim’s head.

Lydia, driving in the car, talks on the phone to Mutt and Jeff, who are sitting at a café having coffee.  She wants to know if they have found out anything about Gizmo, an associate of Artis Hayes.  The other detective says there are several Gizmos in the system and they’re checking them out now (as they sip on their coffee and ogle a woman who walks by). They thank Lydia for going to talk to the wife – it’s probably better if a woman does that.   Side note:  GRRRR.

Lydia talks to the victim’s wife, but finds out the couple has not been together since before Artis went to prison.  They couldn’t afford a divorce.  Artis was proud of his son and helped pay for the private school his son attended.  The wife didn’t know any friends or associates; or anyone named Gizmo.  She didn’t want to know anything about Artis’ life.  The wife asks about Artis’s Golden Gloves necklace.  He always wore it and he promised it to their son.  Lydia tells her she didn’t see it at the scene, but she’ll watch for it.

Cooper and Ben are in the patrol car and Cooper is talking about death notifications, “The news should be given in a slow, controlled manner.  It gives the survivor time to adjust emotionally.” Ben doesn’t seem to be paying much attention.  Cooper asks Ben if he’s boring him.  Ben explains that they spent a lot of time on this subject at the academy. They brought in actors to represent different reactions that survivors might have to a death notification.  Cooper says that must have been very instructive as he gives this evil little grin.  Ben responds that it was a little silly and some of his class wasn’t very good at it.  Cooper says but not you, right?  Ben says he did OK.  The TO thinks now would be a good time for the boot to demonstrate what he’s learned.  Cooper tells Ben that today Ben is in charge and he is only there to ride along and observe.  Who knows, maybe he’ll learn something.  You just know things are not going to go well for Ben.

Lydia does a death notification to the nephew, Brian, and sister of Artis Hayes.  The sister is not surprised by what happened to Artis since he was such a crackhead.  Lydia mentions that the house that Artis was murdered in was listed in Brian's name. The sister thinks that Artis is using Brian's identity.   Brian states that Artis stole his Playstation too.  The mother doesn’t know anything about Artis’ friends or associates.  She says that he’s spent more time locked up in the last ten years than he’s been with his family.  Nobody is going to cry over him and the county can bury him.

Sherman and Cooper go to give a death notification to the mother of a car accident victim.  Sherman scans the mailboxes, finds Williams, and heads up the stairs.  When he knocks on the door the woman refuses to come out.  Ben tells her it’s very important, but she refuses to open the door without a warrant.  She yells at him, tells him to go to hell, no warrant no entry, etc.  She is saying all this as Ben continues to tell her it’s very important that they talk.  He’s frustrated and his voice is getting louder and louder until finally he yells, “MRS WILLIAMS YOUR SON IS DEAD!  [OMG I laughed so hard when he yelled that - so much for the slow, controlled manner Cooper talked about]  Mrs Williams opens her door and Ben says softly, “I’m sorry ma’am, Doug was in a car accident.”  “Doug?” she says, “Who’s Doug?”  Oops. Cooper asks if she doesn’t have a son names Doug.  No, her son’s name is Bobby.  She turns on Ben, “What the hell is wrong with you?”  She shoves Ben as she says, “You scared the hell out of me. Are you a damn moron? What kind of shit-for-brains fuckin’ weasel are you?  You don’t have any training?  Get the hell out of here.”  Ben and Cooper return downstairs and see that there’s another Williams on the first floor.  Cooper gives Ben several examples of how going to the wrong address could have had a much worse outcome.

Sammy, Nate, and Sal watch the security video from the earlier shooting.  They see the shooter with the white hoodie and then notice there’s a witness standing beside her car.  Once they get the info from the plates, they will pay her a visit.

Sherman and Cooper roll up behind a car and Cooper asks if Sherman notices anything about the driver.  Sherman doesn’t see anything so Cooper explains.  The driver isn’t moving except to watch them in his rear-view mirror.  “And his tires look bald,” Cooper says; giving the probable cause for pulling the guy over.  Ben gets the driver out of the car, handcuffs him, stands him against the fence, and says, “Stay here.”  Are you kidding me?  Even I know better than that.  Then Ben turns his back on the guy to help Cooper search the car.  Ben finds a huge bag of marijuana and proudly shows Cooper.  Cooper admires it and then asks, “Where’s the suspect?”  Ben turns to see the suspect running, almost out of sight.  Ben gives chase and Cooper, being thoroughly entertained by this, laughs as he strolls back to the patrol car.

Ben is running full tilt after the suspect as Cooper casually drives by and catches up to the fleeing suspect.  “Hey shithead, yeah, you’ve got my partner’s cuffs.”  Distracted, the suspect falls to the ground.  Ben, breathless, catches up and pulls the suspect up off the ground as Cooper says, “Why run when you can drive?  One more thing they didn’t teach you at the academy,” Cooper says sadly with a grin in his voice.

Cooper and Ben take the driver who tried to escape, Watkins, in for booking.  As Cooper talks odds for a Lakers game, he apparently reads about the missing Golden Gloves necklace.  Which just happens to be hanging around the neck of their suspect.  So now Watkins is also a suspect for the murder of Artis Hayes.

Sammy and Nate go to talk with the witness to the earlier murder.  She’s a young woman and doesn’t want to get involved.  Nate builds some rapport with her, but Sammy gets pissed that she’s not willing to just tell them who the shooter was and then his cell phone goes off.  The witness tells them she has to be some place and leaves.  Nate is upset with Sammy.  He felt that he was getting somewhere with the witness until Sammy “lost his shit.”  Sammy just says that they should do it his way now.  As they drive away, in a very grim fore-shadowing, Nate says, “You know, I’ll be glad when this day is over.”

Cooper and Ben are having lunch with a couple of other uniforms.  This lunch place must have wonderful food.  This is where Lydia and Josie argued over lunch last week. We've also seen Nate and Sammy there in a previous season.  Cooper is telling the other officers about Ben.  “He’s starting to think he knows what he’s doing,” Cooper says, “So I’ve been letting him step on his dick.”  The other officers, along with Coop, razz him over letting his suspect and cuffs get away from him.

In the background you can see two patrol cars pulled into parking spots.  Do LAPD cops park that way all the time?  Because in this part of the country, all the cops back into parking spots.  Anyway.  Cooper has a new name for Ben, “You know, Super Boot, he may lose control of his prisoner, but there’s never a hair out of place.”  Ben is not very amused.

Sammy and Nate spot Spider hanging with his homies and pull over.  Spider runs, and Sammy and Nate give chase.  Sammy catches Spider with no problem and Spider can’t believe the cop is such a fast runner.

Mutt and Jeff are interrogating Watkins when Lydia arrives.  She tells Watkins that his room has been searched and they found a gun with the same caliber that killed Artis Hayes. Ballistics is running tests right now.  Watkins wants to deal and Lydia says it depends on what info he has to give.  He says he can give them the person who paid him to murder Hayes - Gizmo was the one who paid him.  The house where the murder took place was Gizmo's and Gizmo took care of Hayes when Hayes got out of prison.  But Hayes thought Gizmo was a punk and didn't treat him well - even stole Gizmo's playstation.  At that point Lydia realized that Gizmo was Brian, Hayes' nephew, and that Gizmo had Hayes killed over the Playstation.

Sammy interrogates Spider, but Spider asks for a lawyer.  Sammy loses it and shoves Spider up against the wall, yelling at him about murdering the father while his kids were looking on.  Sal and Nate rush in to pull Sammy of the suspect.

Cooper and Sherman arrive on the scene of a guy on PCP in a standoff with the police.  All the guy is wearing is a pair of tighty whiteys, some boots and four or five tazer prongs. He's asking the cops to hit him again with the tasers.  There are 20 or more cops and an RA already on scene; waiting for this guy to calm down.  Ben walks toward the guy saying repeatedly, "boryoku-tekina kodo o hikaeru." Cooper and another cop look on in disbelief.  The guy noticeably calms down and he and Ben bow toward each other.  I swear when Ben raised his leg to step over the taser wire, I thought Ben was going all Sumo on us.  The guy is now calm enough for Ben to cuff him.

Lydia and Mutt & Jeff are trying to figure out a way to verify what Watkins has told them about Gizmo.  Because at this point it's the word of a fourteen year-old vs a crackhead killer.

Nate approaches the young female witness to the earlier murder and gets her to allow him to take her to her boyfriend's. She tells him her mother is too hard on her and Nate tells her about his own daughter that is about the age of the witness.

Sherman and Cooper are following the RA that the PCP guy is in.  Sherman is saying that when he took karate as a kid, the sensei made them repeat "boryoku-tekina kodo o hikaeru" at the end of each class and he doesn't remember the exact translation, but it was something about refraining from violence.  Cooper sarcastically starts razzing Ben about the nice schools Ben went to when he was young, "Oooo, I heard one kid one time threw a notebook at someone."  We actually learn a whole lot more about Cooper's teenage years in this scene. Dorsey, the first high school Cooper mentions is off of Rodeo Rd (not ritzy Rodeo Dr).  Cooper mentioned Rodeo Rd earlier in the episode - that's where the domestic disturbance call was.  So Cooper was familiar with this area.  After his father was sent to prison, "We moved in with my uncle."  I wonder who that inclusive "we" means.  Cooper and his mother?  Cooper, mother, siblings?  Cooper and siblings?  We still don't know anything about his family except that his father went to prison.  So they had to move into a rougher neighborhood when Cooper was a sophomore in high school.  Sherman wants to know how Cooper stayed out of trouble and Cooper responds, "I didn't. Sometimes you just get sick of running."  Ben says that's why he thinks his Dad enrolled him in karate - to toughen him up.  Cooper zings sarcastically, "Well, that worked."  Ben doesn't blink an eye at the insult and says. "Hey. You try breaking a 2x4 with a hammer fist. Not easy."  Cooper razzes Ben again, "I can just picture you in your cute little white robe, your little stance. Let me guess; everybody got a trophy and you all went for sushi afterwards.  Dorsey was a little different.  If they didn't see see in your eye, that you were willing to go all the way....It was kill or be killed.  You might not make it home."  So this is when he started developing his command presence.  Ben is ready to razz back.  "You're not going to start rapping now are you?  'Cause I think Eminem already made that record."  Hee.  Cooper grins.  As Cooper and Sherman pull up to the ambulance stopped at a traffic light, the PCP guy suddenly opens the back doors of the ambulance and takes a big leap onto the hood of Sherman's and Cooper's patrol car.  When the patrol car stops, the PCP guy slides down the hood and onto the pavement.  Didn't Sherman secure the patient to the gurney, Cooper wants to know.  Sherman says the paramedics strapped him in.  "What's Japanese for I screwed up?"  Cooper asks.

Nate and the witness are driving by the murder victim's house.  He's telling the witness about the dead man's family.  About his kids. And the fact that the family was supposed to be celebrating the little boy's fifth birthday, but instead they're having a wake for the father.

Sammy is at the police station on the phone with Tammy and asking to talk to Victor.  Sammy apologizes to Victor and promises it won't happen again.  When Tammy gets back on the phone, Sammy pleads with her to get the DNA test done when she has the amnio done. He hangs up with her when he sees the witness to the murder come in accompanied by her brother, a priest.  The witness obviously identifies the shooter because in the next scene we see Nate and Sammy arresting Spider.

Lydia goes back to the home of Artis' sister and nephew.  She calls Brian, Gizmo, and puts him on notice that even though the police don't have evidence to arrest him right now, they're going to be watching his every move.

Cooper and Ben leave the station after their shift.  Cooper says, "Tough day for Super Boot."  Sherman has had enough, "You know, man.......I get it, all right?  I got some things to learn. But this fraternity hazing shit is getting pretty fucking old."  Cooper responds, "Some things to learn? You're not even close to being out here on your own. You boots are all alike.  Nine months in you start to think you know what you're doing."  Cooper continues, telling Sherman that now, not the beginning, is the most dangerous time for boots to be responsible for getting their TOs or someone else killed.  In ninety days, Sherman will be on his own and he won't have Cooper to back him up. So Sherman better get his shit together. Because, whoever ends up riding with Sherman is counting on him to keep them alive.

Nate and Sammy are driving in their car.  There's no explanation as to what they are doing or why they are driving through this particular neighborhood at this time of the day.  Sammy says that he's moving in with Sal who is renting a house in Van Nuys (since his separation or divorce).  He thinks it's time to get off of Nate's sofa.  As they turn the corner you can see that there are quite a few people standing around on the sidewalks and yards.  Suddenly their windshield is hit by a bottle. Nate starts backing up and Sammy says to just let it go.  But Nate replies, "We can't let it go, man."  And gets out of the car.

Nate recognizes a few of the bangers standing around and calls out to them by name. They say they didn't throw the bottle; it came from the roof.. One of the bangers says, "Hey.  We know you guys, man."  A police helicopter flies overhead, shining its spotlight down on the scene.  Nate raises his hand and gives a Code 4 (no assistance needed) signal to the helicopter. If you look closely, right after that you can see a guy in a white T-shirt with a heavy chain necklace on the far left side of the screen holding the murder weapon.  Nate turns to the bangers and says he has heard that one of them has some new tats and wants to see them. He and Sammy take a quick look and start to leave.  Again you can briefly see the head of the guy with the murder weapon just to Nate's left.  Nate tells the bangers to be good and tells one of them to wipe the lipstick off his face. As Nate and Sammy walk away you see the back of Nate's head explode as he is hit with a sledge hammer or metal pipe. The sound as it hits Nate's head is unforgettable.

Sammy turns around to see what the sound was and is stunned at what he sees. He scrambles to get to Nate even as some of the bangers try to hold him back. Bangers start crowding around trying to kick and hit Nate some more.  Sammy fires into the air and the bangers move back a little.  They ebb and flow after each shot Sammy fires.  One banger tries to take Nate's gun, but Sammy shoots him.  Sammy screams in helplessness and frustration as he tries to protect Nate.  You can see the guy who hit Nate in the mob - his face and T-shirt are covered with Nate's blood.  Sammy manages to drag Nate's body over next to the car, reaches in for the radio, and calls for help just as you hear sirens approaching.  Several police cars race up and the officers try to get the mob under control.  One officer helps Sammy get Nate in one of the police cars and the car takes off for the hospital.  Sammy is holding Nate in his arms and screaming at him to hold on.  Personally, I think the blow killed Nate and at the most he might have lived a few minutes.  If he had survived, he would have probably been brain dead or extremely low functioning - little movement, no speech, no vision, no cognitive function, etc.  I wonder if we will see anything about organ donation next episode.  He would be a good candidate for that.

Sammy is sitting in a chair, head back, eyes closed, looking like he's mumbling a prayer.  The light glares brightly as the window shades move. He hears a woman scream and brings his head forward as he starts to cry.  You can still see Nate's blood on his jacket. He gets up as Mariella walks toward him.  She collapses in his arms as they cry together.

SouthLAnd Recap 3x03

All cops have to make judgment calls, they hope they won’t regret.  No cop bats a thousand.

Tonight’s episode is brought to you by the number four; whether spoken or signaled.

Every pair seems to be disagreeing about something going on with their relationship.

Sammy is sleeping on the couch at Nate’s.  His ringing cell phone wakes him and it’s bad news.  A witness they were responsible for has fled.  He goes upstairs to get Nate, and Nate’s son Pete warns him to knock first.  This is a good thing, since Nate and Mariella are getting in a little morning action.  Mariella is not happy about the interruption since Sammy has already been here over a week.  Nice bod, Kevin.  Sammy informs Nate that a witness they are responsible for is gone.

Ben it at his Mom’s fixing her TV that has somehow gotten in to the wrong mode.  I have to say I occasionally have this same problem with all the remotes.  I would probably have this problem more often if I had someone like Ben to come over and fix it.  After fixing the TV, Ben discovers that she hasn’t paid some of her bills.  Sherman told Cooper last season that his Mom is a bit of a ditz.  Then he sees the Dept of Corrections letter and finds out his Mom’s rapist has served his time and is out of prison.   Did his Mom purposefully do something to the TV so that Ben would have to come over?  So that Ben would find out about her rapist?  Ben glances at the tissues on the counter and asks if she’s all right.  Then he insists on staying the next couple of nights.

Josie, Lydia, and Russell are having breakfast.  Lydia and Russell are discussing Lydia’s mom and her mom’s new boyfriend. And the fact that her Mom is getting more sex than Lydia is.  To which Russell says, “She couldn’t be getting any less.”

I don’t know what is going on with Josie, but she is in a snit practically this whole episode.  Is it just the friction between her and Lydia, or is it something else?

Cooper and Sherman arrive at the scene of a drug bust at a crack house.  When they get out of the car, Sherman takes the opportunity to receive a cell call.  It’s obviously about his Mom’s rapist.  Cooper discovers that Sherman is not at his side and charges back over to Sherman just as Sherman is saying goodbye.  Cooper demands, “Who was that?”  To which Sherman lies and says, “My mother.”  “Is she in the hospital?” Cooper asks.  Sherman is puzzled by the question, “What?”  Cooper says, “Unless she’s had a stroke or her uterus is falling out; you tell her you’re at work and hang up the phone.  I get out of that car; you are on my hip.”  Ben apologizes. Saying he was talking to his Mom is his just the first lie he’ll give to Cooper this episode.

They spot a young guy walking down the alley next to the crack house.  The guy has just spotted all the police at the house where he was headed and he starts to turn around.  But it’s too late – he’s been spotted by Cooper.  He starts making excuses to Cooper, but Cooper doesn’t want to hear it. Cooper wants to know if he has anything on him and the guy again starts talking about something else.  Cooper interrupts and demands, “Do you have anything?”  “Yes, sir. A pipe in my pocket.”  Cooper gets in his face and tells him to hand it over; then lectures him on what will happen if he ever finds him back at this address.  Cooper drops the crack pipe on the ground, makes the guy step on it, gives him the Laser Death Ray Glare, and tells him to get out of there.  As he turns back to Ben, he explains that he didn’t want to do four hours of paperwork on the guy.  “It’s called discretion. You just gotta know when to use it.”

Sherman has brought Cooper to an out-of-area restaurant to eat – and to watch for his Mom’s rapist, David Morgan, who lives across the street.  Cooper complains about the food, “You bring us out of area for lunch and you’re going to give me e.coli? The fries are slimy, the sandwich is, like, it sucks!  I swear if I end up pukin’ my guts out, I’m gonna wind up kickin’ your ass.”  Sherman spots David Morgan leaving his apartment, tells Cooper the guy looks suspicious and that there are a lot of burglaries in this area of town.  Cooper thinks Sherman is doing well since he noticed the guy and says proudly, “Little boot’s growing up.”

Cooper and Sherman jump in their car, follow David Morgan, and pull him over.  Before Cooper can say anything, Sherman jumps out of the car saying, “I’m contact you’re cover,” before crossing to the driver’s side of David Morgan’s car.  Sherman tells Morgan that he failed to signal a turn.  Then he demandingly asks, “Do you know who I am? I’m Linda Sherman’s son.”  Morgan looks very concerned as Ben says things are different from when you knocked out my teeth. Sherman practically spits the word teeth at Morgan. “If I did that to you, I am sorry,” Morgan apologizes.  Sherman warns him to, “stay away from her or I will bury you alive.”  Cooper is getting concerned so he yells, “Ben.  Ben. You OK?”  I’m almost positive this is the first time we’ve heard Cooper call Sherman, Ben.  Cooper has used a lot of names for Sherman, but never Ben.  After giving the “no assistance needed” hand signal to Cooper; Ben tells Morgan that he’s a parolee and Ben’s going to be watching for him, because he know Morgan will screw up; and when he does, he’s going back to jail.  Sherman smacks Morgan on the shoulder, tells him to have a nice fuckin’ day, and walks back to the car.  Cooper asks, “What was that?” and all Ben says is, “Nothing. He’s good.”

Cooper is pissed at Sherman.  He thought Ben had been doing really well and then he backslides like this.  Cooper pauses and then hits the steering wheel with both hands.  He is good and pissed.

Sherman and Cooper get a radio call about a 211 (robbery) in progress. They head to the scene and find the robber already gone and the daughter of the owner with a busted lip.  As Cooper talks to the family, Sherman checks out the back room of the restaurant.  As he turns from the back room, he notices a gun in the drawer of the cash register. He motions for the restaurant owner to come back to him and asks him about the gun and whether he erased the gun’s serial number. Sherman explains that it’s a felony just to be in possession of a gun like this, but (using his discretion) he’s just going to confiscate the gun.  The owner protests, how will he protect his family?  Ohhh.  Way to push Ben’s number one button.  So Ben, at his discretion, lets the man keep the gun, but only until he gets a legal gun (which takes ten days).  Sherman will be back to make sure the restaurant owner complies.

Sherman is at headquarters and sees David Morgan leaving after talking with Sherman’s boss.  The sergeant calls Ben into his office, telling him that Morgan just filed a harassment complaint.  Sergeant Hill wants to know if Ben stopped Morgan for no reason.  Ben responds that he stopped him for failing to signal.  The sergeant sees right through this and asks Ben if he thinks he can just work out his own problems, putting all the other officers at risk.  Sherman says it wasn’t his intention.  The sergeant asks Sherman if he really wants to let his feelings screw his career.  No sir.  Does the sergeant need to keep Ben off the streets, take Ben’s gun, and refer him to BSS?  I imagine that’s a pretty big threat since Ben has already been to BSS about a year ago.  Ben says, “I’m OK on the streets, sir.”  The sergeant asks if Ben will leave Morgan alone and Ben responds, “Yes, sir”.  The sergeant doesn’t take the complaint; but he does file a comment card in Sherman’s file. Ben thanks him and leaves. In a side note, I really like the guy playing Sergeant Hill. I hope they keep him around for the role.

Sherman and Cooper are in their patrol car.  Cooper asks Sherman if there’s anything on his mind. “We’re allegedly on patrol here.”  Ben says, “Yeah. Sorry. I’m uh, haven’t been sleeping well lately.”  In previous episodes, when Ben described what happened with the attack when he was ten, he mentioned not being able to sleep for an extended period of time after it happened.  Maybe this whole thing with the release of his Mom’s rapist is causing that sleeplessness to recur.

Cooper and Sherman get a call for an unknown trouble call.  As they get to the hotel the dispatcher tells them that it’s a couple fighting on the 2^nd floor.  They hear people shouting as they climb the stairs.  When they turn the corner, they see a huge guy hitting a man in a blond wig in the hallway. The wig goes flying as Cooper orders him to stop, but until he gets close to the couple, the guy keeps on beating on the other man.  The guy then turns and runs into one of the rooms and starts digging in the dresser drawers.  Ben runs up, gun drawn, and yells at the guy to get out of the drawers, to show his hands; but the guy keeps digging.  A couple is on the balcony across from this room and Cooper shouts, “Background.  Background,” to remind Ben not to shoot when there are people close enough to hit if Ben fires.  So Ben throws himself at the big guy and the big guy tosses Ben through the sliding glass door.  Cooper hits the big guy with a taser and the perp hits the floor.  Ben gets up, comes back inside, and starts pounding on the guy.  Wow, this is the second time Ben has hit someone who can’t hit back.  It takes Cooper and two other officers with huge arms to drag Ben off the guy.  Ben is shouting, “Die you motherfucker! Fuck you!”  I think there’s a liiiittle bit of transference there.

Cooper is leaning on the patrol car at HQ as Sherman walks up.  Cooper asks, “Why didn’t you just shoot him?  That’s what I’d do if he’d done that to my mom.”  “Sergeant Hill told you,” Ben responds.  Time for a lesson from the TO.  Cooper gives a very descriptive account of a call he went on years ago where he found a big guy raping an 89-year-old woman.  Seeing that, he never wanted to shoot anyone more in his life.  But he was afraid he would hit the old woman also. Cooper tells Sherman, “There’s things you gotta forget.”  Ben says, “I can’t.”  Cooper leans in toward Ben and says, “Don’t lie to me again.”  Cooper’s eyes are so piercing during this part of the scene. They almost look like wolf eyes. He leans in closer and speaks quietly, but forcefully, to Ben.  “You beat the shit out of a suspect cause you needed some release.  No.  I will not risk my job and my pension over you.  Are we clear?” Ben looks up straight into Cooper’s eyes and responds, “Yes, sir.”

Sammy and Nate are looking for El Flaco at a fight.  The fight turns out to be a cock fight and Nate and Sammy chase El Flaco, holding on desperately to his prize chicken, out of the fight and down a hill.  Nate radios, “I got a suspect running with his cock in his hand.”  Nate laughs as he continues, “On Cherokee east of 5^th.”  Sammy catches the guy and knocks him to the ground.  El Flaco is only concerned about one thing, “Don’t hurt my cock, man!  Don’t hurt my cock!” Sammy and Nate laugh.

There’s been a shooting at the Chinese restaurant where Sherman let the owner keep the illegal gun.  Cooper and Sherman return to the restaurant and find that the owner has shot someone with the illegal gun.  Cooper takes the gun from the owner as Sherman gives aid to the person who was shot.  Sherman gives a hard glare to the owner and with that look tells the owner ‘I gave you a break with the gun and this is how you handle it?’  Ben helps hold pressure to the wound as the EMTs roll the guy that was shot to the ambulance.  Cooper tells Ben that the owner will be on the hook for murder if the guy dies due to the illegal gun with no serial number. “Too bad we didn’t see that gun earlier,” Cooper says as he surveys the scene.  Ben looks around as well, thinking about the results of his decision.

Ben is sitting in his car across from David Morgan’s apartment. He’s been there for several hours. Ben is totally surprised when his mother, Linda, shows up and knocks on the window.  She wants to know what he’s doing because Morgan called her saying he could see Ben watching him.  Morgan is afraid Ben is going do something to cause him to go back to jail.  Ben is stunned by the fact that Morgan called his mom.  Linda explains that Morgan wrote to her while still in prison, asking for forgiveness because he had found God. Confusion is written all over Ben’s face – he’s trying to figure out the facts as he knows them versus what his mom is saying. She says that she’s tried to forgive Morgan for her sake, not Morgan’s.  So that she could try to move on.  Ben doesn’t think she’s moved on since she drinks three screwdrivers for breakfast and lets Ben’s father hang around.  Ben is so upset he slams his hand into the steering wheel and yells, “Bullshit!”

Linda goes on to say that Ben’s dad was into a lot of bad stuff like gambling and drugs; and she was no saint either because she went along with a lot of it. She starts talking about the night of the attack.  Morgan came over, high, saying that Ben’s father owed him money. Ben’s eyes dart everywhere as he tries to make sense of what she’s saying.  Then she drops the big bombshell on him, “I knew him. I thought I could handle him.”  Wow, her attacker was not only someone she knew, but she let him in the house. By doing that, she is partly culpable for what happened.  Ben's dad is no longer the only person responsible for the attack. Will Ben continue to ostracize his father?  It wasn’t some stranger that attacked them. You can tell Ben is starting to realize that his memories do not match what Linda is telling him.  How did his parents, especially his mom, not tell him what really happened?  Linda says, “Then you came downstairs........sweetheart, can you forgive me?” “You didn’t do anything,” Ben says as he starts crying.  Yep, ugly crying.  But when you’re trying to keep from crying it’s always ugly.

This is just so tragically heartbreaking.  Linda and Ben were both attacked, but apparently were never able to talk with each other about the attack.  Ben internalized it, and Linda, being the ditz she is, never realized how much it affected Ben. And also she was going through her own recovery from the attack.  We know Ben went through therapy, but info about the attack didn’t come out then either.  The attack affected Ben so profoundly.  To have the facts come out the way they did and to realize that the foundation for his personal beliefs, for the reason he became a cop, is crumbling; has to be devastating.

That his mom drinks so much has to have an impact on how he feels about Cooper’s pain pill addiction.  He’s been monitoring her alcohol addiction for years, gauging how she handles her day-to-day life and now he has a partner who has a pill addiction and he’s watching out for him too.  Ben needs to get a break and have someone care for him for a change.  If he would let them.

Hopefully Lydia and Josie have resolved their issues with this chainsaw case. I’m back and forth as to whether I like Josie or not.  Josie is certainly willing to listen to all of Lydia’s conversations, but let Lydia ask her something and her response is, “it’s none of your business.”  There must be some reason Josie is bouncing around from division to division.  Or maybe that’s normal when you’ve been a detective for so many years.

Sammy is getting ready to really screw himself if he doesn’t take the Tammy situation down a notch.  Tammy has already screwed him out of the house; is he going to let her screw him out of his job as well?  Even Nate is getting tired of it.

Lydia and Russell have good, friendly, chemistry together.  But Russell is willing to bend ethics rules a little too easily. I hope he doesn’t pull Lydia into anything that might result in a suspension or loss of job for her.  

I was out of town for part of the week, so I’m not going to expand further on Lydia, Nate, Russell, etc. [everyone reading – “Thank God!].  No time for pictures this week either.

SouthLAnd Recap 3x02

Most good cops are passionate cops. Put enough of them together, and occasionally those passions explode.


Lydia shoves Dewey and everyone jumps to pull them apart.  Can't wait to see that again in 13 hours.


This week's program is brought to you by the word Ese. We have three drive-bys this week, but it's still one of the most humorous episodes so far.


Frosty has been shot and Sammy learns from a witness that nobody shot Frosty.  Frustration eats at Sammy and he yells at the witness about having to do 3 or 4 family notifications every week.  Nate pulls Sammy away and notes from the graffiti on a nearby wall that Nobody is actually somebody.

We see Cooper smile as he watches Ben kiss the redhead in the Porsche.  Chickie walks up, sees what Cooper is looking at and rolls her eyes as she walks off.  Cooper is still grinning as he, too, walks away.  Ben gets out of the Porsche and walks into work as he smiles, then purses his lips like, "Hoo boy! What a weekend of hot monkey sex".  In the background we see the redhead purse her lips in the same manner.

Dewey makes a grand entrance to roll call on his first day back to work.  The sergeant shoots him down over being late.  The sergeant pairs Sherman with Chickie and Cooper with Dewey. "Hey, you and me Romeo," Chickie teases.   Cooper checks with the sergeant to see why Dewey is partnered with him.  The sergeant explains that since Dewey has been off for four months they can't put him in a UBoat.  And Cooper is the best for getting Dewey caught up.  Cooper smiles and shakes his head.  Chickie teases Sherman over the redhead and he must not know yet just what the redhead is.

Nate and Sal give Sammy grief over Tammy's pregnancy.  Sammy plays with Sal saying they have nobody for the shooting.

Cooper and Dewey in the patrol car together; this is going to be good.  Dewey has seen the light and he wants everyone else to see it too.  Cooper must be having a relatively pain-free day because he doesn't say a word as Dewey goes on and on about a higher power.  He does throw a couple of LDR (Laser Death Ray) glares to Dewey, but Dewey is oblivious.

They catch up to a van that is weaving and pull it over.  Dewey orders everyone out and out comes eleven mariachi band members.  With their instruments.  And their big sombreros. The driver explains that they usually use 2 vehicles, but one of them broke down.  Dewey's response?  "You know Cielito Lindo?"

Nate and Sammy are talking to a former banger and after a little convincing he tells Sammy and Nate what happened. It seems the drive-by was over a girl.  He invites Nate to a car show coming up this weekend.

 

Now we're back to the mariachi band, Dewey, and Cooper.  Anyone else singing along?  ...Ai Yi Yi-Yi.  I am the Frito Bandito.  No?  Dewey and the driver of the van become best buds when they discover they are both recovering alcoholics.  Cooper has had enough.  He tries to get things moving along by telling the van driver to get another vehicle because they can't legally drive the van with eleven people in it.  Dewey thinks he and Cooper should haul some of them, but Cooper is having none of it - the van driver needs to handle this on his own. Dewey interrupts because the band is playing his favorite part of the song.  Cooper walks off in disgust, saying with a wave of his hand that he's through with this.  Dewey just directs the band as they play.

We now have the first drive-by of the episode.  Nobody has been shot by somebody.  Sammy and Nate investigate the sidewalk scene.

Dewey is still spouting AA doctrine as he and Cooper investigate a complaint at a motel.  When the pass key fails to open the door, Cooper decides to kick the door down.  I don't understand why he did that.  I understand him lifting the car in 2x06.  And I understand why he lifted the injured cop into the car in 3x01.  But there is just no reason he had to kick the door down. The maid's pass key worked - why didn't they use it?  They find a man with his arms and legs tied to the bed.  A sock is stuffed in his mouth, Cheating Bitch is written on his stomach, and the only thing covering him is a small towel over his genitals. The girlfriends and wife have found out about each other and decided to teach him a lesson by gluing some of his private parts together.  This is based on a real incident from 2009 in Wisconsin (you can google "penis glued to stomach", but I would be careful about some of the results).  Dewey puts a protective hand in front of his own genitals as Cooper calls an ambulance for the "sticky situation."

Josie and Lydia discuss their earlier murder-suicide.  The daughter wants to talk to them, but Josie sees no reason for this - the case is solved.  She saves her empathy for the families of the cases that don't get solved.  Does Lydia want to go to a weekend sale at Nordstrom's?  

Chickie razzes Ben about Sally, aka The Den Mother.  She tells him that Sally wanted her to do a threesome once.  Ben looks at her curiously.  Then Chickie asks Ben if Sally still has that autographed poster of Dirty Harry by the front door.  Ben's expression is priceless.

They notice a guy standing on the corner, bleeding from his arm.  The guy says his girlfriend did it, and she's over there in the car.  When they look in the car it turns out his girlfriend is a blow-up doll.  They return to the guy who continues his story that the girlfriend dresses inappropriately and that he has to get in fights to defend her.  Oooookaaaayy. The guy asks Ben, "You ever been in love? Love's a bitch, Ese."  After the guy is patched up, they will be taking him in for a psych eval.

Nate and Sammy talk baby names and Shawn gives his own dad a shout-out when he says they will name it Wayne if it's a boy.  Sammy is concerned about his future kid as he talks about a father being present and good parenting is what so many of these bangers need. It's the same scene over and over.  When they notify the mother it's always, "Why? Why? Why?"

Sammy and Nate look at the scene of the second drive-by. In an echo of the previous scene the mother comes to the scene and cries, "Why? My baby. Why? Why?"

Sal has called Lydia and Josie in to help with the case - third body in 10 hours.  Josie and Sal obviously have some history through Sal's (ex?) wife. Sammy and Josie have some words over the need for Lydia and Josie to help with the case.

Chickie, Ben, Dewey, Cooper, and 3 other officers are having lunch at Grand Central Market.  They are all razzing him about red-headed Sally. Dewey is driving Cooper nuts and Chickie says she dealt with him for five years.  You can't take it for four hours?

A quinceanera is taking place and everyone is having a good time dancing, drinking, etc until a Suburban rolls by spraying bullets.

Lydia and Josie are getting info on the last drive-by from Sammy and Nate. Sammy and Josie argue (again) over whether the victim is a banger or not.   Josie shows a picture of her sons - all with shaved heads, earrings, nice SUV.  They are all successful - one is a captain in Afghanistan, another is a P-2 LAPD officer, and the other is attending Berkley. Sammy and Josie continue to argue until everyone's cell phones start ringing.   

All of the main characters are at the scene of quinceanera drive-by. It's very rare for everyone to be at the same crime scene.  Ben and Cooper are containing the scene as the detectives investigate.  Sal's TV reporter girlfriend has evidently been replaced by Marie Osmond.  She asks Sal questions, but he ignores her.  Dewey, Cooper, and Sherman look for evidence.  Dewey is being his usual obnoxious self, insulting the kid that was killed, the kid's parents, and Lydia.  Uh-oh. He shouldn't have done that.  Lydia objects and Dewey condescendingly tries to calm her down.   Lydia puts her hand on his face and shoves him away.  Dewey starts back toward Lydia, telling her to get back in her tuna boat and calling her a bitch. Everyone else runs to pull them apart.  Dewey better be thankful for the others separating him from Lydia because I think Lydia could totally take him.

Cooper and Dewey are in their patrol car and Dewey is very angry and is spewing all kinds of racist and sexist remarks.  Cooper sits silently and lets Dewey carry on.  They stop to get coffee where Ben and Chickie are already stopped.  Dewey and Cooper get out of the car and Dewey goes in to get coffee.  Cooper comes around to where Ben is leaning against the rear of his and Chickie's car, chewing on a toothpick.  Cooper pauses, lets out a deep sigh, tells Ben, "Let's roll."  As Cooper heads back to the car, Ben stares after him in confusion, "What?"  Cooper yells over his shoulder, "Come on!"  Ben glances over his shoulder at the store before his eyes get big and round.  And eagerly, with no hesitation, he scrambles after Cooper and gets in the car.  You can tell Ben is thinking, "Yay, I'm back with Cooper."  Chickie runs out of the store pissed at what Cooper and Ben have just done.  Maybe she'll keep Ben's duty bag hostage.

Sammy & Nate hand out info on the quinceanera drive-by and Sal gives his "Punching Water" speech.  The objective is to punish evil everywhere by going after the bangers in the neighborhood for the least little infraction.

Next (accompanied by music!) we see Sammy and Nate putting the heat to the bangers in the neighborhood.  One clever banger has arranged chairs next to the fences in his neighborhood so that he can make a fast escape.  Sammy and Nate patiently wait near one of the chairs and give the go-ahead for the other cops to burst into a house.  The banger runs and after hopping a few fences, lands at the feet of Sammy and Nate.  This guy gives up the name of the shooter at the quinceanera.

Cooper and Sherman are back in the patrol car together.  Sherman wonders if Dewey was always this screwed up. Cooper says, "No, he was passionate and focused like you."  (Cooper just gave Sherman a compliment!) "The job doesn't make you something, just brings out who you already are."  Ben can't believe that dead babies don't bother Cooper anymore.  Cooper responds, "You gotta be able to turn off the camera inside your head."  "How do you do that?" Ben asks.  "Well when you learn how to do that; you're ready to be a training officer,"  Cooper responds.  That was a nice little teaching scene between a TO and his boot.

Sherman and Cooper chase a blue Suburban that they suspect was involved in the last drive-by.  The chase reaches a dead end and two guys in the Suburban bail out and run.  Cooper tackles one before he gets too far and Sherman chases down the other guy, who turns out to be G-Ron, the shooter in the drive-by.

Lydia and Josie interview G-Ron, who has no remorse.  In fact, the only thing he would change is next time he would use a Mac-10 to take even more people out. "Fuck 'em all, and anyone who's down with them."

Next we see Nate at the car show the banger invited him to earlier. In a break from the usual, there's some peaceful, lazy-day music accompanying this scene.  The music fits, it's just noticeable because music is rarely used on this show.

Sherman and Cooper are leaving work. Sherman asks Cooper, "You don't have a Sally story?" as he looks back at Cooper with a smirky grin. Cooper acknowledges what Ben is saying with a slight smile before replying, "No."  Ben is being a smart-ass to Cooper! Grasshopper has learned well.  It's too funny that Ben had to ask a gay guy to find the first person that hasn't slept with Red-headed Sally.  Sherman left his car at Sally's and just as he's starting to ask Cooper for a ride to her place, she pulls up. Ben heads for her car as Cooper says, "You have been warned my friend.....You have been warned."  "What can I say?  Love's a bitch, Ese,"  Ben responds.

Sammy pulls up in front of his house, noticing a strange car next to the driveway and a strange man near his front porch. The guy is Tammy's photography instructor, Victor Cifuentes (insert your own LA Law/Jimmy Smits joke here), and he says he's in love with Sammy's wife.  Not only that, he and Sammy should be adult about this and work things out in the best interest of the baby.  Wow.  First the guy says he's in love with Sammy's wife; and before Sammy can finish processing that; he brings up the baby and puts the fact out there that this may not be Sammy's baby.

I have to say, my first thought after that scene was not, poor Sammy, this is awful.  No, it was, two people are in love with Tammy???  But as much as I love Sammy, he never supported her photography as anything other than a little hobby.  He didn't take it seriously.  So I'm not surprised something happened with a guy who understood her love of photography.  However, in no way do I condone what she did.  This is just another example of her immaturity and selfishness.  Shawn is so good in this scene. You can see the devastation on his face.

Chic Daniel, the show's ex-LAPD technical adviser was in two scenes. He asks Nate, "Wouldn't they just toss the gun?" in the Punching Water scene.  He's also the only P-3 in that scene.  And he's the one who yells to Nate that they've recovered the gun.  He is second from the left in the picture below.

All photos courtesy of TNT.

SouthLAnd Recap 3x01

Now those are some nice briefs, John Cooper.  The body in them isn’t bad either, Michael.

The differences in Cooper’s and Sherman’s physical capabilities are contrasted very well.  First we see Cooper slowly, painfully walking into his bathroom.  Cut to Sherman running some steps very fast.  Old beat-up cop vs new young cop.  And Cooper is at the end of another bottle of pills.

Cooper is riding shotgun and calling his doctor to try to get more pills.  Ben asks if he’s all right and John ignores him.  So Ben talks about the weather and then asks if Cooper’s back is acting up.  John changes the subject, asking Ben what he did for New Years’.

According to info released by TNT, the new season starts 6-8 months after the last one ended.  Ben has obviously become more confident in that time.  Sitting in the driver’s seat (physically and metaphorically), he is way more relaxed, as he and John discuss Sherman’s sister’s engagement.  Ben laughs out loud at Cooper’s reaction.

The next scene is all business as they talk with the boss and the daughter of a missing woman.  Sherman and Cooper peg the boss as an asshole from the beginning. Despite numerous calls from the daughter, the boss has done nothing to check on the missing woman.  The boss whines quite a bit through the scene and after he asks, “Do you know how much work that will be?” Cooper is fed up and forcefully says, “Do I look like I give a shit?”

Russell and Lydia meet for coffee.  Lydia is both describing and complaining as she tells Russ all about her new partner.  When she mentions that the new partner doesn’t even ask where she wants to go for lunch; Russell reminds Lydia that she never asked him where he wanted to go for lunch either.  Lydia is taken aback.  She never realized that she did that.  I don’t know if Russell wore a wedding ring in previous seasons, but he wasn’t wearing one in that scene.

They may have their differences, but Josie and Lydia seem to be working well together.  So far I like Josie. Maybe she and Lydia will rub off on each other.  Can you imagine a detective made up of a combination of Lydia and Josie?  That would be one kick-ass cop.

Sammy and Nate are at the scene where two dead bangers have been discovered.   The bangers were noticed when a park worker noticed some crows and dogs.  Nate tucks his tie into his shirt so that it doesn’t get any blood and gore on it – or contaminate the scene.  

The scene where the woman is trying to get her money back is funny in all kinds of ways.  It’s funny because the police have been called for someone returning a doll and getting short-changed three dollars.  It’s funny because Cooper recommends, “The Victoria. She’s pretty smokin’.”  It’s funny because Ben is trying to stay out of it.  It’s funny because the customer has the nerve to try to jump the clerk with Cooper standing right there – she even glances at Cooper before she lunges.  I think Cooper is a little stunned that she did it in front of bad-ass Cooper as well, “What is wrong with you?  It’s a friggin’ doll.”  It’s funny because you can almost see the steam come out of Cooper’s ears when the clerk says the customer has to fill out a form.  And there’s Cooper’s deadly don’t-fuck-with-me glare.  Love it.  It’s laugh-out-loud funny when Ben says, “I’ll be in the car.”  And finally it’s funny to see the sheriff hats that Michael and Ben were wearing in a tweeted picture from Michael, prominently displayed in the scene.

Lydia and Josie swing by a suspect’s home to get a DNA sample for the murdered woman’s case.  During the first interview with him he had claimed he got the scratches on his neck from his dog.  Now at his home as Lydia swabs his cheek for the DNA, she asks, “Juan Pablo, where’s that dog?”  Ha!

Nate and Sammy check out a suspect in the murders of two bangers.  The suspect is a well-known gang boss.  The dead bangers were acquitted of the rape of the daughter of this gang boss.  As they walk into the business that the gang boss owns, workers surround Nate and Sammy.  Very tense situation.  The suspect was very uncooperative and being outnumbered, Sammy and Nate left.  Sammy wanted to stay, “We look like pussies.”  Nate responds with, “Better live pussies than dead heroes.”

Sherman and Cooper are cruising in their patrol car.  Cooper is calling someone on his cell, trying to find some pain meds.  Sherman asks Coop about his back and Cooper asks Sherman if he’s watching the road.  Yeah, why?  “The silver Porsche just switched lanes without signaling.”  Sherman disbelievingly says, “You serious?” and gives a big sigh.  He knows John is again changing the subject.

So Sherman pulls the car over.  The driver is a beautiful redhead with a skirt up to there and a shirt down to there.  He asks for her license and registration.  She wants to know if he really has to give her a ticket.  Sherman hesitates, thinks hey! I don’t have to give her a ticket.  Take that Cooper – for making me pull over someone just so you can get on your cell and try to find drugs.

As Sherman walks back to the patrol car, Cooper asks if Ben wrote her up.  Ben sorta happily:  “Nope.”  So Cooper asks if he checked her registration. “Nope.”  Did you get her phone number?  Ben just grins at Cooper.

As Cooper and Sherman get back on the road they get a call about a bank robbery in progress and quickly respond to the call.  As they get to the bank, shots ring out and they slide through the intersection brakes smoking.  They park the car in a defensive position and pile out of the car.  They quickly return fire and Cooper grabs his sunglasses and throws them off.  Good.  I hated that pair.  Cooper injures or kills one of the robbers. 

When Chickie and her boot arrive, Cooper takes charge and they decide to make one of the police cars a rolling armored car by taking their bulletproof vests off and hanging the vests so that they cover the windows.  Ben volunteers to go get the fallen officer but Cooper says to just take his vest off.  Cooper tells the boot to, “stick with us”.  Ben again says, “John, I can get him.”  But Cooper says, ‘I’m stronger than you.  All right. Hey, I’ll get him.”  Ben responds forcefully, “Yes, sir.”  That was a harsh thing to say to Sherman (I’m stronger than you), and I don’t know if it’s true at all due to Cooper’s back.  But Cooper may have said that due to all the adrenaline running through his body at the time and didn’t mean it the way it came out.   Think about it.  This is the second time we have seen Cooper injure his back by lifting something heavy.  He doesn’t stop to remember that he has a bad back.  Could Ben have pulled the downed cop into the car as easily as Cooper?  The injured guy seemed to be a fairly big guy.  So who knows.

As they rescue the officer, the remaining bank robber makes a break for it.  He was a husky guy, breathing hard, and he had Sherman running after him.  Odds were not in the robber’s favor. Sherman was chasing the robber without his Kevlar on and nothing really identifying him as a cop, other than his duty belt.  Before Sherman rounds the last corner, he pauses, trying to catch his breath and slow his heart down so that he can make an accurate shot if he needs to.  He rounds the corner and the robber is sinking to the ground.  But you can’t see his left hand.  Does he have a gun in that hand?  Sherman screams at him to show his hands, but the robber just stares at him.  Ben closes to within 15-20 ft and still can’t see both the robber’s hands.  Again, Sherman is not wearing any body armor and this is such a tense moment.  It turns out there is a gun in the robber’s hand, but he uses it to kill himself.

Nate and Sammy have returned to the gang boss’s garage and this time they’ve brought back-up in the form of quite a few uniform officers.  The first one gets out and racks his shotgun; then gives a glare that’s almost as good as Cooper’s.  Sammy and Nate are now wearing their Kevlar vests.  It’s still just as tense as the earlier visit, but this time the numbers are in favor of the police.  None of the police leave their backs toward any of the gang members.  Sammy finds blood in the trunk of the car and the gang boss is arrested.

It’s night time now and Cooper is sitting at the scene of the shootout. Sherman asks if he’s ready to go.  Cooper responds with, “Hang on. Just a minute.”  Then, “All right; help me up.”  Sherman is surprised, “What?”  Cooper has never asked for physical help before. Cooper, gritting his teeth says, “Gimme your goddamn hand!”  Sherman helps him up and Cooper is just barely able to shuffle along. Sherman angrily tells Cooper that he needs to get to a hospital, “You need help.”  Cooper comes back with, “Shut up!” as they slowly cross the street.

Sammy and Nate watch a couple of officers escort Reyes into an interrogation room.  They wonder why Reyes used his own car to transport and dump the bodies.  Sammy thinks he did it so that if he got caught it would show he was taking care of his own.

Cooper walks painfully and slowly to his car.  Sherman comes up; looking all kinds of hot in that leather jacket; and asks Cooper several times if he wants Sherman to give him a ride home.  Cooper gives one-word answers as he lowers himself slowly into the car.  The Challenger sits low, so I wonder how he’s going to get out of it when he gets home.  You can tell Sherman is concerned about his partner when Cooper backs out of his parking slot and burns rubber as he peels out.  Chickie walks up to Sherman and asks if Cooper is OK since he was moving a little slowly.  In the background you can still hear the Challenger’s motor as Cooper revs the engine.  Sherman quickly assures Chickie that Cooper is fine – covering for him once again.

Sherman declines to go have drinks with Chickie and some other officers and turns to leave.  As he walks across the parking lot, the redhead in the Porsche pulls up.  She’s thirsty and she wants to know if Officer Sherman is thirsty too. Also, apparently she cannot drive a Porsche and keep her knees together.  I wonder if she is doing a Sharon Stone and that Sherman is seeing a whole lot more than we are.  Sherman’s automatic response is to turn her down.  But as he looks away, his face changes and you can see him change his mind.  Now he’s thinking, “F*ck it!  Why shouldn’t I go?”  And so he climbs in the car.  After looking at her for a few seconds, he tiredly lays his head back and closes his eyes. 

Cooper leans tiredly against his car as Laura walks up.  Laura has ignored his voice mails today because she knew what he wanted.  She knows they will never get back together, but she still cares so much for him; and she’s not going to enable him any longer.  She had refused to get him meds once before, but the next time he asked, she gave in.  As a nurse, she knows what can happen with his back, and with his addiction.  She knows that everyone has to reach their own crisis point before they are willing to admit they have a problem and do something about it. She just doesn’t know if Cooper is going to reach his before he does irreparable damage to his health and his career.  So now she again refuses to get him anything.  Cooper puts his hand in Laura’s hair (I think this is a ploy that he has successfully used on her in the past – I know it would work on me ;) and asks for just some sample packs.  She pulls his hand down and away from her and pleads with him to get help.  Frustrated, and in pain; Cooper throws her hand away from him and she walks away.  Powerful, powerful scene.  And very well acted by both of them.

Ah, God.  It’s the Sammy and Tammy Show.  She’s crazy, selfish, and whiny.  And he’s clueless about their relationship.  She says she’s having a last cigarette, but when she hands the cigarette to Sammy and he throws it on the ground; there are several cigarette butts already there.  Either the baby isn’t his or she will terminate the pregnancy.  In any case, I do not foresee a calmer relationship for these two anywhere on the horizon.

Next week:  Dewey is riding with Cooper, but somehow it's Lydia that punches Dewey.  Dead bodies everywhere.  Cooper is once again trying to re-injure his back by kicking down a door.

all photos courtesy of TNT