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
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