SouthLAnd Recap 3x06

The celebrity culture makes police work in Los Angeles different from any where else in the country.  But ask detective Lydia Adams about it and she'll tell you, Celebrity's a bitch.

Lydia lies in the bed, awake at 3 am due to the bed in her Mom's room knocking against the wall. Lydia's mom is not wasting any time finding someone new to replace the guy who dumped her.

Cooper wakes and makes an aborted attempt to sit up, but his back stops him.  He mentally braces himself and sits up slowly. Once upright, he lets out a long breath, trying to ease the tension of pain.  Cooper stands up and behind him in his bed we see a man lying on his stomach.  He rolls over, looking concerned while watching Cooper leave the room. It's Cesar!  Cesar from the finale of the first season.  Has Cooper been seeing him all along? Or is he back?  There's no way to know really.  But Cooper's night stand has personal items on it, while Cesar's doesn't.  So I don't think they're living together.

And now we see why Cesar is watching Cooper leave the room.  As Cooper walks slowly and stiffly into the bathroom we see his fine backside on display.  He reaches in to the medicine cabinet and we hear the rattle of pills.  He hesitates, looking at the pills and grimacing as he leans his forehead against the cabinet door. Does he have to have pain pills this morning?  Can he get by today without taking them?  I think he decides he can do without, since he's obviously very stiff through the remainder of the episode.

Ben is running with ease on a treadmill.  Great juxtaposition to the previous scene where Cooper is obviously in pain just walking from the bedroom to the bathroom.

Sammy is still sleeping on the couch at Nate's.  Petey wakes him up and is concerned for Sammy since today is the first time since Nate's death that Sammy is going back to work.  "Are you going to get killed like my Dad?" Petey asks.

Lydia and Josie arrive on the scene of a double murder involving a popular singer.  A detective from RHD is also there and he and Josie discuss whether the house was used in a Snoop Dogg video.  When the RHD detective asks Lydia whether she likes Snoop Dogg, she cuts him off with, "Snoop Dogg is the first thing on my mind at the scene of a double axe murder.  Russell pulls up and Josie immediately starts needling him.  He tells Lydia and Josie that they are primaries right now, but after they brief Wilson, the case will be transferred to RHD.

The famous singer has been beheaded next to her swimming pool.  Lydia takes some pictures with her own cell phone and Josie notices and asks what she's doing.  Lydia says she likes to take pictures just in case there's an angle that SID misses.  They look at the singer's body before checking out the body of her bodyguard/lover.  From the tattoo, the detective from RHD realizes he was British Special Forces at one time.  They all see movement in the house that they thought was cleared, and go to investigate.  They find two small daughters who were in the home during the murder.

Sherman and Cooper, along with numerous other uniform cops are doing security and traffic control in the streets around the celebrity murder.  And wearing those awesome bomber jackets again.  A car pulls up to Cooper and the driver says the he lives on the street that's blocked off. Cooper doesn't buy it for one second and asks to see the man's license.  The driver hesitates and that's all it takes for Cooper to send him on his way.

Cooper is not happy to be assigned to this detail. He rants to Ben about the waste of using cops that could be out doing actual police work. Cooper asks Ben, "You know how many cops were deployed when Michael Jackson died?" "Bet you're gonna tell me," Ben responds resignedly.  Cooper thinks it was a big waste for a "freak".  Ben tells Cooper that no matter what he may think of MJ, there were zero crimes in South Central during MJ's funeral. "Even the gangsters were home watching it on TV."

 Lydia, Josie, and Det Wilson interview the husband of the dead singer.  They were going through a divorce but it hadn't been finalized.  The husband says he was at home during the murder but no one can confirm this The cops see his bandaged hand and they notice a missing sword. Combined with the fact he has no alibi, they arrest him.  He is handcuffed and then escorted out of the house.  They have to brush through all the paparazzi and bystanders to get in the car.  

Ben asks Cooper, "So what do we do now?"  Cooper explains that they wait, even though the house is empty.  Because, "Mr Dreaworks himself lives at the end of that street, and Rocky Balboa lives at the other end. If one of these paparazzis step on their azaleas, the mayor's phone is going to ring. The chief's phone after that and the watch commander's phone after that.  So you tell me, which direction does this shit storm roll in?"  You may as well get used to it, Cooper tells Ben.

Josie is looking at a gossip magazine while she and Lydia are waiting.  Neither of them can believe that they're looking at Billy Stearns for the murders.  Though Lydia has her doubts that he's guilty.  The kids of the murdered singer come out of the police station, accompanied by their grandparents. They get a police escort (including Josie and Lydia) to wherever they're going.

Sammy is at his locker, dressed in a street cop uniform, getting ready to go back to work.  He is on loan to a special gang task force, so he will be riding in a patrol car with a new partner.  A fellow cop welcomes him back.  Sal stops by and tells Sammy since it's only been six weeks; he should go slow for a while.  But Sammy, having nothing to lose right now, is ready to hit the streets. "They need to see that they didn't win," he tells Sal. Through this entire conversation, Sammy's voice is a little shaky.  Sammy stands in front of a mirror adjusting and re-adjusting his uniform.  It's been a long time since he wore this uniform.

Josie is kidding Lydia about pictures of her appearing online.  A secretary comes up and tells Lydia she has 30 messages from media relations.  Quite a few media outlets want to talk to her.  Lydia still doesn't think Stearns did it.

The RHD detective arrives with Bethany's (the murdered celebrity) attorney.  The attorney has information about the divorce settlement. When it was finalized, the husband would get 25 million dollars cash and Bethany would get full custody of the children.  But with her dead, the husband gets everything.  The kids, her 300 million estate, royalties from her records, clothing, and perfume lines, etc.  Then the attorney plays a message that was left on Bethany's phone. In the message, the husband is yelling, calling his wife a bitch, and threatening to gut her like a fish.

Lydia and Josie are watching the husband, Billy Stearns, on closed-circuit TV, while he sits in a room.  Russell comes in, showing a picture of Lydia on his cell phone and calling her superstar.  He came by just to get a look at Billy Stearns. Russ turns to Josie and asks, "Det Ochoa, do we have a problem?"  Josie responds, "Yeah, I don't like you very much."  Russ asks, "Any particular reason?"  Josie replies, "No, not really."  Billy Stearns gets released due to not enough evidence, and this really pisses Russ off and he turns and stalks off.  Josie wants to know if Lydia is sure that Lydia and Russ never hooked up.  Lydia assures her that that never happened.

Sammy meets his new partner, Officer Jones, who is impressed by Sammy's past work with CRASH. Sammy just turns and walks toward their car without saying a word. As they patrol, Officer Jones keeps talking, even though Sammy doesn't respond much.  Though Sammy has apparently spoken at least once, because he directed his partner to drive through a particular neighborhood.  As Officer Jones prattles on, Sammy asks him if he ever shuts up.  "Hell no," Officer Jones responds. Sammy keeps clenching his hands together.  I don't know if that's supposed to be a metaphor for "Out, out damn spot," or maybe they're shaking a little, or what.  Sammy sees a banger and jumps out of the car and chases the kid on foot. You just know Officer Jones is thinking by this time, "Shit. What have I got myself into?"

Cooper and Sherman are still doing security at the scene of the murders.  They listen as a dispatcher asks for any available units to respond to an armed robbery.  Sherman says this is the second time they've heard that call and Cooper says it's the third.  Nobody's going to respond - there's not enough manpower with so many cops tied up with the celebrity murder.

Sammy catches up to the banger he was chasing and they splash into a big puddle of water.  Sammy asks him his name and which gang he with before deciding that the banger was at the scene of Nate's murder.  He throws the banger into the puddle, asking him if he knew that a person could drown in an inch of water. Sammy pushes the banger's head into the water, while looking around to see if anyone's watching.  He asks the banger if he was there the night Nate was murdered.  After pushing the banger's head under water again, the banger admits that he was there. So Sammy tells the banger, "I'm your worst fuckin' nightmare.  When you're awake, you'll see me, when you're asleep, you'll see me. You tell all the rest I'm back. Sammy Bryant is back."

Lydia and Josie are having lunch.  A man sends them drinks because he saw Lydia in the paper. Josie tries to get Lydia to talk to the guy, but Lydia is having none of it.  They see a report on TV that has exclusive new photos of the crime scene. As they watch, both their cell phones ring.

Sherman says, "I'm telling you - sit down" to Cooper. "If the job called for a chair, they'd have gave me one. It's part of the job; stand where they tell you for however long they tell you," Cooper responds. He tells Sherman that he's seen a lot of domestics turn to murders.  The police should have taken Billy Stearns to jail after the second call-out.

Cooper and Sherman hear a small crash and discover that one car has rear-ended another.  Sherman gives a big sigh as he resignedly tells the car owners, "Be right back. You're gonna have to fill out some paperwork."

Sammy gets the results from the lab that tells him that he's the father of the child Tammy is carrying.

Josie and Lydia walk into Det Fernandez' office and she asks for their cell phones.  Someone has leaked photos of the crime scene to the media and they are suspect until it is determined who leaked the photos.  Lydia has pictures on her phone, but she does that on almost all their cases.  Josie smugly turns her phone over to Det Fernandez.  Lydia is not suspended, but she is off the case.

Sherman checks a town car that approaches and discovers that it's Billy Stearns.  Cooper give the stink-eye to the car as it passes by.  "So he's out on bail," Cooper says, "Fuck this shit."  A call comes over their radio for an "unusual smell" call.  "Buy it," Cooper tells Sherman.  Sherman says it's probably just a dead body call.  Cooper doesn't care.  There were so many 911 calls that were ignored just because of all the hoopla surrounding the celebrity murders.  "And the watch commander?" Ben asks. "What's he going to do, arrest me?" Cooper says. "You drive."

Sammy and Officer Jones are on a break. Officer Jones shows Sammy his kids.  Then he tells Sammy he's acting like a loose cannon and he doesn't want his kids wearing black, holding a flag at his funeral. Sammy gets defensive, "Are you saying I got my partner killed?  Let's go.  I'm driving."

Sherman and Cooper arrive at the unusual smell call; mysteriously in different seats in the patrol car from when they left the previous location.  (MC was razzed online about this all week- he said they stopped for a manicure).  Sherman smears some Vicks Vapo-rub under his nose before they enter the house to help mask the odor of the dead body.  Was that Billy Stearns on the TV as they searched the house?

They find a man dead, leaned back in a chair. As they look over the room, Sherman closes the open refrigerator door to discover a small child sitting on the kitchen floor.  Sherman bends over to talk to the kid and we get a nice close-up of his butt.  Then he helps the kid to stand before picking him up, and we get a great display of his muscly arms. 


Sammy and Officer Jones are at the scene of Nate's murder. Sammy recounts what happened as gang members start to gather.  He talks about how Nate changed his mind about gangs.  A helicopter flies overhead and you know that reminded him of the night Nate was murdered.  The kid that he dunked in the water earlier shouts, "That's him!"  The gang leader comes out and confronts Sammy. Officer Jones calls for backup. Sammy and the gang leader exchange pleasantries, getting closer to each other until they are forehead to forehead. "I'm coming for everything you've got," Sammy says, "You hear me? I ain't going anywhere."

Lydia and Russ are walking down the sidewalk discussing the trouble she is in.  She wonders if it was Josie or RHD.  Russell thinks she should just go home. Lydia says that she's been on the job 16 yrs, worked in several divisions, and protected the little girl that was going to to testify against some drug dealers. Now the department is questioning her loyalty?  Russ tells her not to worry, they'll check her financials, look at her computer, and they won't find anything since she didn't do anything. Lydia wonders what will happen if she's not a cop any more. "All I have is this job."  Sounds like another cop we all know and love.  Cooper.  At first I thought Russ took the pictures; mainly because I remember an interview Regina did where she said Russ does something bad.  Very bad this season.  As a lot of others, I think it could just as well been Josie. Time will tell.

Cooper and Sherman are in a conference room at the station after dropping off the kid.  The kid was alone for three days after his grandfather died.  Sherman wonders why the kid didn't leave and Cooper says it was because the kid had nowhere else to go.  

Sgt Hill comes in and wants to know why Sherman and Cooper are not at their post. He briefly looks at Sherman but they both know it was Cooper's decision to leave their post.  Cooper?  Cooper tells the sergeant what he's been telling Ben all day. He feels it's idiotic to waste time at the murder location when that prevents the police from doing the real work of protecting the people.  Sgt Hill orders them back to Billy Stearns house now.  Cooper wants to know why.  "They just found his body," Sgt Hill says. This scene didn't ring true to me.  I know Cooper was pissed and in pain, And he sometimes breaks rules. But leaving an assignment?

Sammy pulls up to Nate's house, sees the garbage cans are still at the curb and takes them back to their usual place just outside the kitchen.  Nate's family is having supper and he watches them from outside.  Petey sees him and yells, "He's home!"  Running outside, he jumps into Sammy's arms.  Mariella asks him how it went and Sammy says, "It was okay. It was emotional."  Sammy is gradually taking Nate's place with Nate's family.  He needs to get out of there ASAP.

Sherman and Cooper watch as Billy Stearn's body is removed from his house and placed in the coroner's van.  Cooper thinks Billy Stearns' saved a lot of money by taking his own life.  Sherman asks Cooper if he thinks Stearns killed his wife and her lover.  Cooper said Stearns claimed he was innocent in his suicide note; but he still thinks he did it.  Cooper asks Ben what he thinks, but before Ben can answer, they get an unknown trouble call. Cooper says, "Let's go do some real work."

Lydia is listening to the TV at the station.  The news says that Stearns may be innocent after all, despite committing suicide.  Police arrested someone at the airport after they violently disputed their bill.  In that person's car they found a samurai sword, a pair of bloody Nikes, and a camera with hundreds of photos of the murdered couple taken without their knowledge."