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 2nd 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 5th.” 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment