SouthLAnd Recap 3x07

Even when cops do everything right, things can still go sideways.  Learning to accept this is a big part of the job.

Lydia is driving while talking with Russ, who is sitting at some cafe.  She's upset by what has been said in a gossip magazine. "Who reads these things," Russ says as he pages through the same magazine.  He reassures her once again that nothing will happen to her because she didn't do anything.


It looks like a typical morning at Nate's except that Sammy is there instead of Nate.  Mariella comments about two guys (off-duty cops) that are outside doing some work.  Sammy tells her, "Everyone wants to help out."

Cooper and Sherman talk with a woman who had previously complained about a trailer next door that was used by addicts and hookers.  After talking with her at a community meeting, Cooper had told her that he would get the trailer moved.  It's a month later now and the trailer is still there.  A worker with the city had told John it would be moved; but it hadn't happened so far. 

As Cooper, Sherman, and the woman look down at the trailer, two plainclothes cops arrive, "just like clockwork," the woman says,  Cooper understands exactly what's going on with the trailer.  The other cops have no incentive to get the trailer removed because they know they can come by any time and get a felony arrest  Cooper asks the other cops about the trailer, they give him attitude, and basically tell Cooper it's not their job to get the trailer removed.  As the other cops walk away, Cooper gives a smirk and says to them, "We're done, huh?"  You know at that point that Cooper will take care of getting the trailer removed; one way or another.


Sammy is upset because Sal is keeping him out of the rotation of detectives that are taking cases.  Sammy thinks it's because the BSS shrinks don't think Sammy should ride alone. Very telling. BSS thinks that Sammy still isn't ready to be on his own.


Sal tells Sammy that some GIT cops brought in someone the previous evening that is a suspect for Nate's murder.  The cops have already gone through the suspect's apartment, but found little, if any, evidence to tie the suspect to the murder.  The snitch that gave the info to the police is a basehead, so he is not a very reliable witness.  Sammy wants to do a six-pack lineup so that he can identify Nate's murderer.  Although I don't see how Sammy can make that identification - his back was turned when Nate was hit.  And though the guy who did it continued to hold the pipe during the entire scene; who knows if Sammy ever saw the guy due to the chaos of the scene?  Sal emphasizes to Sammy that the ID needs to be, "squeaky clean."


Lydia and Josie are working a murder in a grocery parking lot.  The dead guy got caught in the crossfire of two arguing guys.  There is a witness that gives Lydia information, but she is concerned about the bleeding on the back of his head.  He says he hit the ground when the shooting started and bumped his head then.  He explains what he saw and then Lydia calls the paramedics over to check him out.  One of the regular uniform cops teases Lydia, "We think you're a lot hotter in person."  Lydia comes right back with, "Isn't there something else you could be doing; like traffic control maybe?"  The other cop laughs and says they don't think she did it.  The witness is being loaded into the ambulance and Lydia questions the paramedics about it.  It seems the witness doesn't just have a scrape; he's got a bullet in his head.


Cooper and Sherman are in their patrol car and Cooper is arguing with a city worker on the phone regarding the trailer.  "And we wonder why people go postal," Cooper says when he gets off the phone.  They pull up next to a park where two ice cream vendors are arguing over territory in front of a bunch of kids and their parents.  It takes both Sherman and Cooper, plus Cooper's excellent command presence, to separate and quieten the two arguing men.  Cooper asks them what they think they are teaching the kids by arguing like that. You should be teaching them "share and share alike."  Sherman suggests that they trade off days. So one of the vendors volunteers to take the weekends (which is when most sales take place).  This infuriates the other vendor who calls the first vendor a terrorist.  The second vendor accuses the first of selling guns; and they get into it again.  Cooper and Sherman separate the two and as Cooper cuffs one vendor he tells Sherman to cuff the other one.  "You know what? I need sugar," Cooper says, "Free ice cream!  Courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Department."  The kids run screaming to the ice cream carts as we watch Sherman pull the top off of a Push-up. And Cooper tells one vendor, "Here you go buddy; have a Bomb Pop."  Ha! He tells the vendor that accused the other of selling guns, to have a Bomb Pop.


Sal explains the rules of the six-pack lineup and then turns the floor over to a detective that has no knowledge of the case.  She gives a few more instructions to Sammy before she places the six-pack in front of him.  He looks at it for a few seconds before getting up and walking out of the room. Sal follows him out to a courtyard.  Sammy says he saw the face, but he needed some air. Sal is compassionate and says take a few minutes before you go back in.   Sammy says he can't do it now, he wants to do the ID tomorrow.  Sal thinks Sammy isn't sure about who did it; but Sammy says he does know, he just didn't realize how hard this process would be.  Sammy asks Sal to stall so that he can do the line-up tomorrow.


So here's my theory on the Sammy ID storyline.  I think Sammy misidentified the suspect on purpose, and was pretty sure he knew which suspect murdered Nate. By delaying the ID until the next day, he hoped to get a live line-up where he could get a full view of the suspects bodies, he could ask to listen to their voices, and he could eliminate suspects based on physical appearance (the suspect with the withered hand).  By misidentifying the suspect, Sammy achieved two things:  the suspect would be released and therefore within Sammy's reach; and the suspect would not be on guard because Sammy hadn't identified him.  Also, after the line-up mis-identification, Sammy sits in the parking lot; watching to see which suspect comes out with the attorney.


Dewey has called Cooper and Sherman to the location of a unique accidental death.  "We went lights and siren for this?" Cooper asks as he walks by Chickie and another woman.  Dewey explains he had to get them there before the coroner moved the body.  The body is lying on a bed, partially covered by a sheet.  A big-screen TV has fallen on the top part of the man's body and killed him.  From the position of the TV and the fact that the TV missed her by only a couple of inches, we can all figure out what the woman was doing.  Dewey confirms this by telling Sherman and Cooper, "I always say; blow jobs can save lives."


Lydia is visiting the murder witness in the hospital.  She learns that he's an excellent artist since he has drawn his perspective of the murder scene.  He gives Lydia additional information - the suspects are light-skinned blacks. One had a tattoo and the other wore and Angels cap.  Josie pulls Lydia out of the room because the doctor wants to talk to them.  The doctor informs them the he doesn't have long to live and they're both very shocked.  The bullet lodged deep in his brain and surgery to fix it would almost certainly kill him.


Josie and Lydia are called back to work to see Detective Fernandez.  She tells them that they, along with the RHD guys and the first 6 officers on the scene of the celebrity murder are being suspended with full pay and full benefits. (Why wasn't Russell suspended?  He was at the scene at the same time Lydia and Josie were.)  Lydia is pissed and makes her displeasure known.


Sal tells Sammy that the suspect's attorney watched the video of the six-pack ID and now wants Sammy to do a line-up.  Sammy is happy with that since he'll be able to see the suspect right in front of him.  Sal gives Sammy a long, hard look; trying to see into Sammy's brain to see if Sammy's being honest or not.


Chickie, Dewey, Cooper, and Sherman are having lunch.  Cooper is on the phone about the trailer again, while the others are playing "Top This" with various death scenes they've worked.  This is Dewey's element and he tells a story about a bird flying in his face when he opens a door.  Ben, big-eyed, is paying rapt attention to Dewey's stories.  Cooper says, "Shit, she just hung up on me!"  Dewey asks, "Why do you even care, man?"  Cooper responds, "I find it novel, Dewey, every once in a while to give a shit."


Russel meets with Lydia at the hospital and they discuss her suspension.  She is also frustrated that the detectives who are supposed to replace her are not returning her calls.  Russel tells her it's not her case any more, so why make it harder on herself.  "Cause it's not just about me." Lydia's boss told the captain that Lydia would not stay at home during her suspension and the captain sent Russ to try to convince her to go home.  Lydia says, "Yeah, well,snap a picture and leak a photo of this," as she flips the bird with both hands.  Lydia tells Russ she can't believe this is happening; all her hard work, her rep.  Russ tries to soothe her by saying cases like this are hard to prove and this will blow over soon. Just wait it out.  Lydia asks him if he's wrong, will he be her lead rep and go through everything with her.  Russ thinks she should use an assigned rep, but Lydia says she doesn't trust anyone else.  Russ counters that he doesn't have any experience and Lydia says, "But you have my back."  Russ says, "Of course."  And he agrees to be her rep.  That whole conversation was just full of irony.  And that Russell is still holding on to his secret at this point is just mean.


Sammy is at Nate's house taking out the garbage. He challenges the guy in the front yard that's been helping do odd jobs around the house. Sammy accuses him of helping out in order to get in good with Mariella.  The other guy says that Sammy is the one who is staying at the house.  Sammy tells him that he was Nate's partner and he's helping out Nate's family the way Nate would have wanted.  The other guy tells Sammy that he needs to get some help.  As the guy leaves, Sammy looks up and sees that Mariella has heard the entire conversation.

Lydia watches as they wheel the gunshot victim, Henry Watts, to surgery.  They are going to place some burr holes to help relieve some of the  intracranial pressure that is building up in his brain due to the continued bleeding.


Sammy and Mariella are sitting on the patio, drinking a couple of beers after the kids are in bed.  She tells him he's good with kids and he says that's because the kids sense that he's one of them.  Mariella says he went after the guy that was helping around the house pretty hard.  Sammy apologizes and Mariella says she's sure it's because of the stress of the lineup tomorrow.  Mariella grasps Sammy's hands with hers and asks, "What are we doing, Sammy?"  But before Sammy can say anything, Petey comes to the door and says he's thirsty.  Then he asks, "Soooo, you're going to be my Dad now?"  Mariella goes into the house before Sammy can say anything.  Sammy really needs to get out of that house.  He's taken Nate's place almost completely.


It's early morning and Sammy has once again driven to the site of Nate's murder.  But none of the bangers are around at this time of day.  He walks over to the spot where Nate died and takes Nate's badge out of his pocket as he silently scans the area.


Lydia is back to see Henry after his procedure.  He now has a few more monitors, some new IV fluids, he's on oxygen, and he now has a one-on-one nurse sitting in the room with him; monitoring him at all times.  He's having a harder time speaking too.  He also has two new holes in his skull to help alleviate some of the intracranial pressure.  He tells Lydia the doctors don't seem to want to operate; or no one knows how.  He talks about how he met his fiancee and how lucky he is.   Then he asks Lydia what she would do.  Would she have the surgery for the one percent chance of survival, or would she try to hold on for a chance to say goodbye?  Lydia tells him she was in love once; with one of her training officers when she first started on the job.  But he was killed in the line-of-duty and she wasn't there to tell him goodbye.  So if Henry loves his fiancee, he should hold on.


Sammy is at the prison for the line-up.  He asks for #2 and #3 to repeat a phrase, then he asks for #6 to take his hand out of his pocket.  He identifies #3 as Nate's murderer, but after a few seconds he says no, I meant to say #2.  Sal informs him that #2 is an inmate at the jail.  Sammy is an emotional guy.  But he certainly didn't seem too upset about mis-identifying Nate's murderer.  And the guy who actually murdered Nate was #4 in the line-up.


Cooper has received the good news that the trailer has been taken care of that morning.  Sherman says, "So now we're going to double-check."  Cooper responds, "Well, do you trust anything the city tells you?"  "No," Sherman says.  So Cooper and Sherman are on the way to the trailer to verify that the trailer is gone. 

Chickie is talking on her cell phone as she and Dewey drive in their patrol car.  She tells Dewey about the murdered cop's partner picking the wrong guy out of the line-up.  They get a call for an armed robbery and speed off to the address.  They arrive just as the suspect, armed with a knife, runs out the door of the business. He turns and flees so Chickie runs after him.  

Cooper and Sherman arrive at the trailer site, not surprised to see it still there.  Cooper says, "That's it!"  as he and Ben get out of the car.  Cooper surveys the trailer before walking next door to get a sledge hammer.  He smashes the concrete blocks the trailer's tongue is sitting on. Looks like Cooper's back is just fine today. He showed no signs of back problems this entire episode. Then with the help of Ben and the neighbors; they roll the trailer into the alley, blocking traffic.  Cooper calls a tow service to move the trailer.  Didn't we all know Cooper was going to get this resolved?  Sherman and Cooper hear Chickie's radio transmission about being in a pursuit and they run to the car so they can be backup to the pursuit.


The pursuit continues with Dewey and Chickie.  The car they're chasing suddenly veers to the left, revealing a woman in the crosswalk straight in front of them.  It's too late for an evasive maneuver and they hit the woman, throwing her up on the hood of the patrol car.  When the patrol car stops, she rolls onto the pavement.  Cooper and Sherman race by since they are now the primary pursuit car.  Chickie does CPR (not very well, I might add), but it's too late, the woman is dead.  The car with the suspects crashes into another car and Sherman and Cooper secure the suspects and call for an ambulance for the injured in the other car.


Sammy sits in the parking lot of the jail.  He watches as people leave the jail and finally sees what he's been waiting for.  Suspect #4 walks out, followed closely by the attorney from the line-up.  They say a few words, then shake hands.  If Sammy didn't already know which suspect killed Nate, he does now.


Henry Watts is going downhill fast. Lydia is at his bedside and asks him if he wants anything.  But Henry is carrying on his own conversation that doesn't make sense.  His fiancee arrives and when she talks to him he recognizes her.  Lydia and the nurse leave the room to give them some privacy.


Cooper goes to Chickie as she is getting in her car after the shift.  She's obviously very stressed from what happened and she feels it's partially her fault.  Cooper tells her they did what they were supposed to do - it was a tragic accident.  Chickie insists she is partially responsible since they were the primary car and they lost air support.  She could have called off the pursuit.  Chickie tells Cooper she wasn't going to be a cop - she just wanted to surf or bartend. But she had a kid to support. She needed a job and that's all this was supposed to be.  "How many surfers run toward gunfire? Teachers? Bartenders? They just jump in their car and go after these assholes? Cut yourself a break.  Who deserves to be wearing that uniform?"  Cooper is showing one of the reasons he is considered such a great TO.  He knew or saw that Chickie was having a hard time after the accident that killed a woman.  He tries to make her see that she wasn't responsible.  And that she deserves to wear the uniform more than a lot of others.

Lydia is in the cafeteria of the hospital when the nurse that was taking care of Henry Watts approaches her to tell her that Henry's fiancee was right beside him when he passed away.  The nurse also tells her that what Lydia told Henry was beautiful and she's sorry Lydia had to go through that.  Lydia tells the nurse that she made it up - cops are good storytellers.  I personally think part of Lydia's story about being in love is true.


Sammy goes back to his old house where Tammy is living with her boyfriend.  At first, Tammy is not happy that Sammy is there and tells him that was their agreement.  Sammy says, "I got no place to go."  Tammy walks off the porch and when she gets to Sammy, she realizes that something is causing him to be very emotional.  She asks him what's wrong and he responds that he fucked up; everything he touches turns to shit. "What did you do," Tammy asks. "It's what I didn't...it's what I couldn't....it's what I couldn't do...I couldn't." Sammy says crying.  Tammy brings his head to her shoulder and comforts him.  Since I think Sammy purposely didn't ID the correct suspect in Nate's murder, I think what he's talking about here is that, like Nate, he couldn't let things go.  He wouldn't identify the correct suspect and let the guy go through the criminal justice system.  He has revenge plans for the suspect and he wouldn't get to follow through on those plans if the suspect was in jail.


Lydia pulls up in front of her house.  As she gets out of the car, Russ pulls up behind her. "You came to check on me?" Lydia asks, "Come on, I need a drink."  Russ follows her to the porch but doesn't go any further. They talk about the big stories of the day - the cop that killed a pedestrian; and the bad ID of Nate's murder suspect.  Lydia says, "And now I'm about to lose my job for leaking  photos of a dead celebrity.  All these years of being a good cop and that's my Google hit."  Her voice shakes as she talks about being up all night and the rage she feels.  "Who could do this? Not just to me, but to us?"  Lydia wonders.


"I did,"  Russel says, "I, uh, gave them a couple of photos and they paid me half a million bucks."  He apologizes to Lydia, "If I had known the photos were from your phone, I wouldn't have done it."  He has admitted to Detective Fernandez and the Captain that he was the one who sold the pictures to TMZ; and he has been fired for doing so.  Russ tells Lydia at least he has money in the bank.  You can tell from Lydia's face that she is hurt and devastated.  Russell apologizes again for all that Lydia has gone through and he wishes he had told her sooner. Lydia's lips tremble as all sorts of emotions scroll across Lydia's face:  denial, anger, weariness, hurt, strength.  "I don't even know you," Lydia says, "I don't even know you, dude."  Lydia turns and walks in the door as Russell pleads with her to stay and talk.

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."


 

SouthLAnd Recap 3x05

SouthLAnd cops know when the Santa Ana winds blow, you learn just how close you are to the edge.

I thought Cooper was falling asleep at the wheel, but we find out differently at the end of the show.

I'm doing the recap a little differently this week.

The Lydia and Josie storyline was boring this week.  How many times have we seen it in other shows?  I'm sure every flavor of CSI and Law & Order have done it.  Seems like it anyway.


Lydia and Josie are working a rape.  Why?  Don't they work homicide?  Or have they been pulled into a special task force about the rapist?


This is the classic story of a woman who covers up an affair by saying she was raped.  The victim is having sex with the tennis pro from the club. [Man, it's always the tennis pro - so cliche']  Her husband comes home 3 days early and the tennis pro has to jump out the window.

The victim tells Lydia and Josie that the guy was Hispanic and wore a dark uniform. She later identifies a man who is a gardener, as the rapist; from a six-pack line-up (not caring about how much it will affect this man's life).  Lydia doesn't think they have enough evidence, but Josie is ready to convict.  Lydia tells Josie, "Creating a ruse to get a criminal to confess is one thing, but to coerce a rape victim into IDing somebody...that's wicked."   He gets bailed out of jail by another wealthy client of his and goes on the run.  Lydia and Josie catch up to him at a bus stop and he flees. He runs into traffic and is hit by a car.


Lydia's & Josie's boss inform them that another rape has occurred, the rapist was caught, and that the rapist confessed to all the rapes except the one Lydia and Josie are working. They decide there's something hinky going on with their case and investigate further.  When they get in their car, they have an argument that displays the differences in their attitudes about work.  I liked Josie at first, but this week she seemed a little to eager to fit the suspect into the known facts. And in other recent cases, she seems to just want to get the case over with in the least amount of time.


The truth comes out that the wife had an affair and cried rape to cover it up.  So now she's being arrested for filing a false police report.  She got what she deserved.  And hopefully the man she ID'd as the rapist will sue her ass off.

Cooper is lying prone on a doctors exam table without his shirt on; acupuncture needles sticking out of his lower back.  His head is propped on his fisted hands as he stares into space and listens to what the therapist has to say.  This is the last of a series of twelve acupuncture treatments.  He tells the therapist that he's not really getting any relief from his symptoms.  The therapist says that it's probably not muscular since he's getting no relief.  The problem may be degenerative, or a ruptured disk - it's time to look at other options.  Has he considered surgery?  He should at least consult a surgeon.  Cooper continues to stare into space.  Is he thinking he's maxed out all benefits and that the only remaining recourse is surgery?  I think I need to rewind that scene some more to get a good look at Cooper's arms and shoulders.  :)


Roll call.  Ben turns to look at Cooper and sees that Cooper is not paying attention and wonders what's up.  The sergeant mentions the funeral for Nate and says he expects everyone to be there.


Cooper and Ben walk to their patrol car.  Cooper is having allergy problems due to the Santa Ana winds. Ben asks Cooper if he wants Ben to drive.  "Do I want you to drive?" Cooper asks. "Let's see.  Last shift you gave a death notification to the wrong person and lost a handcuffed suspect.  Until you can stop stepping all over your dick; I'm driving, you're keeping books."


I don't think Cooper says a kind word to Ben this whole episode. I think it's due to all of Ben's screw-ups from the previous two episodes, plus all the crap that is going on in John's life right now.


Ben and Cooper are riding in the patrol car.  Cooper, on the phone tells the caller he will see him tomorrow.  Ben asks, "Where you going?" and Cooper ignores him.

Again, Cooper and Ben are in the patrol car.  John, on the phone, says, "I've got my gate pass and directions.  I'll see you tomorrow."  At first, I thought he said he had his gay pass - ha!  Sherman asks him where he's going and Cooper ignores the question.  To fill the silence, Sherman starts talking about the fires started by the Santa Ana winds.

Sherman and Cooper are flagged down by a woman who is evidently Kathy Griffin's good twin.  The woman says her dog is under the porch in the back yard and is going to be killed by a snake.  The snake is some sort of constrictor and is squeezing the life out of Precious.  I don't think Ben likes snakes.  First he asks if they can tase it; then he wants to call animal control.  Cooper says they don't have time; the dog is being suffocated.  "I'm going under," Cooper says. [I've never seen such a clean, spider and cob web free area under a porch.].  Cooper grabs the head of the snake and asks Ben, "You gonna help here?"  Ben says, "Yeah, I'm going to tase it."  Which he does and the snake lets go of the dog.  Cooper carries the dog out and tells Ben, "Get the snake."  Ha! The look on Sherman's face!

Cooper gets a call and thanks the person for calling back.  He tells Sherman the dog just got out of surgery; had a few fractured ribs, but is going to be okay. Sherman wonders how much that's going to cost the owner - his Mom paid $7000 for chemo for their Schnauzer; what a waste.  Cooper replies, "Can't put a price tag on man's best friend."  And Ben responds, "Sure you can. Didn't know you were such an animal lover."  "I like dogs, all right?" Cooper says.  I would be willing to be that Cooper's father killed the family dog when Cooper was a kid.  And Cooper doesn't have a dog now because he's away from home too much.  Plus he doesn't want the responsibility - if he can't take care of himself, how could he take care of a dog too?

Ben and Cooper arrive at the scene of a suicide.  The Santa Ana winds are blowing strongly.  Dewey and his partner are already there. Dewey says the guy didn't leave a note. "Poor bastard. Wonder why he hung himself?"  Cooper says, "Hanged. Hanged, not hung."  Dewey replies, "Really?.... Genius?.... Google it Boot."  Sherman gives Dewey a look like WTF? I'm not going to .....Dammit, I'm still a boot - have to do what they say.  Sherman checks Google and determines that hanged is correct.  Cooper to Dewey, "Told you asshole."  Dewey starts to demand to see Ben's phone, but as he walks toward Ben, the suicide guy falls to the ground, causing Dewey to jump back.  Cooper and Sherman get called to a burglary.and leave the suicide scene.

Cooper and Sherman find an abandoned kid instead of a burglary.  The parents had told him to stay at a friends for the night, then moved without even leaving a note for him.  The kid says, "They left two things behind.  Me and the trash."  Cooper and Sherman take the kid with them.

Ben has someone cuffed and sitting on the curb.  Cooper and Richard, the kid , are sitting in the patrol car.  Richard thanks Cooper for the burger and when Cooper says that Richard inhaled it; Richard says that it has been several days since he ate - his Mom never cooked.  Cooper says, "My parents were assholes too."  Richard wants to know what's going to happen to him and Cooper says that they will take him to the station where a social worker will see him and then place him with a foster family.

Sherman and Cooper are patrolling and listening to a radio broadcast about the fires. Sherman hopes they get the fires under control and Cooper says he hates cleaning the ash out of his pool because it clogs the filter.  They get behind a van that is weaving in its lane of traffic and pull it over.  The driver was weaving because he had taken prescription xanax and oxycodone for a bad knee. Every word that Cooper directs toward the suspect he should be directing toward himself.  Ben stands there, staring at Cooper, wanting so desperately to say something - to call Cooper on the BS double standard.

They take the suspect to the station and see that Richard is still there, the social worker hasn't been there yet.

Ben is counting the pills that were confiscated from the van driver.  Cooper comes in and tells Ben to go finish processing the driver while he finishes the property report.  Ben hesitates because he doesn't want to put any temptation in Cooper's path.  But Cooper insists.  Later, Ben is in the locker room and Cooper comes in with a copy of the property report.  He wants to make sure Ben knows that he didn't take any of the pills. "I've been a cop since before your balls dropped.  So you wanna start passing judgment on me; you try wearing a Sam Browne for 19 years."  Cooper lowers himself slowly to sit on the bench as Ben walks out the door; slamming it behind him.

Cooper sees that Richard is still at the station playing a video game and decides to join him.  They play for a few minutes before the social worker finally shows up.  Cooper gives Richard his card and holds his hand out for Richard to shake; but Richard hugs him instead.  Cooper hadn't expected that and after a momentary delay, he wraps his arms around Richard.  Cooper's hand is much bigger than the back of Richard's head.  He leans his head down, rests his chin on the top of Richard's head, and whispers, "It's gonna be all right."  I don't know about anyone else, but a hug and whisper like that from Cooper would make me forget most of my troubles.

Ben is sipping coffee in the patrol car the next morning; waiting for Cooper to get there.  Cooper gets in the car and Ben hands him a cup of coffee.  As Cooper throws the coffee out the door, he says, "We're not buying any bullshit calls today - we gotta clock out on time.  There's somewhere I gotta be this afternoon."  Throwing the coffee away was a little rude, I think.  And from the expression on Ben's face;  I think he was calling Cooper a few choice names silently.

Ben knocks on the door of a house, Cooper standing a few steps behind them.  Someone from this house had called the police and reported that child abuse was taking place here.  The woman who answers the door denies that she called, but her son admits he called because she hit him with a belt.  Ben asks the woman if that's true and she says she found out from school that her son has been skipping class.  And when she questioned him about it, he lied.  So she hit him.  Ben is a little hesitant and before he can say anything, Cooper ask the kid to come outside.  He leads the kid down to the end of the sidewalk and asks him about what happened. From the kid's answers, it's obvious there was no abuse - just the belt to his butt three times.

Cooper takes the belt "into evidence" and walks back toward the mother.  She wants to know if she's going to jail.  Cooper turns to the kid and asks, "You called the police on your mom because she disciplined you for skipping school?"  "That's child abuse," the kid says. "I've got rights."  When Cooper asks who told him that, the kid says his friends did.  Cooper turns to the Mom, holds the belt out and says, "Hit him again."  The mom and Ben eye each other and Ben turns toward Cooper with an, "Oh shit. What's he going to do next?" look.  Cooper tells the kid that he got some bad advice from his friends on the playground.  "You don't ever call the police on your Mom.  Had that been my mom, you'd be calling me from the floor.  I gotta be back here again, 'cause you're ditching school?  I'll peel this big belt off and hit you myself.  You got it?"  The kid nods yes fearfully and Cooper says, "Get inside."  The kid runs into the house.  Cooper walks up to the mother, hands her the belt, and says, "Have a nice day," before turning and stalking back to the patrol car.

Cooper, Ben, Dewey, and his partner are having lunch and discussing the kid who called the police on his mother for child abuse. Cooper thinks today's parenting is not as good as it used to be.  Parents have been hitting their kids for 10,000 years. "That's the trouble with society today.  Two kids get into a fight on the playground, they go to counseling.  Getting a beatdown builds character.  Worked for me."  Dewey says, "Oh yeah,  You're the picture of mental health."  The Dewey wants to know how Ben's parents punished him - did his dad pick the marshmallows out of the hot chocolate, or were his parents just really disappointed.  Cooper's phone rings as Dewey is wondering where Cooper's sense of humor has gone.  Cooper doesn't like the news he's getting and he stands up to walk away for some privacy.  His chair gets in the way and he throws the chair in frustration. Dewey asks Ben what's wrong with Cooper and Ben says, "I think the Santa Ana winds blew a stick up his ass."  They all laugh and then Ben sees Cooper coming back and gives an "Oh shit. The teacher is coming back.  Be quiet!" panicked  look at the others.  Another chair magically appears for Cooper to sit in.  Dewey asks Cooper if he's going to Nate's funeral on Sunday.  "Yeah. Another fucking happy day."

Sergeant Hill calls out to Cooper at the station.  He tells Cooper that Richard ran away from the family he was placed with.

Cooper is back at the station and hears Richard call out to him.  Cooper goes into the room, concerned with the bandage on Richard's face.  Richard tells Cooper that another kid hit him; so he left.  Cooper lets him know that he can't do that kind of crap.  Richard is upset, thinking Cooper is mad at him.  Cooper tells him he should have called.  When Richard says he's not going back there, Cooper asks him where he's going to go.  Richard says, "With you. You can adopt me."  "No. I can't."  Cooper replies.  "Why not?" Richard tearfully asks.  'I gotta go," Cooper says as he backs out of the room.  Richards wants to know why he can't take him and Cooper tells him that he's done all he could.  As Cooper walks away, Richard yells, "Man, fuck you."   What an emotional scene to go through as you're on your way to your abusive father's parole hearing.

Cooper pulls up at the gate to a prison and receives instructions on what to do with his various cop toys. He is led through the prison to a conference room.  He walks with confidence, his back straight, no matter how much pain this is causing him.  His father is led into the room and they both give each other a glance.  A parole board member reads off the accomplishments Cooper's father has made while in prison.  He seems to have been a model prisoner and when asked what he has learned from his counseling, he gives a two-sentence answer about God being gracious, and everyone being worthy of forgiveness, even him.

But Cooper has no forgiveness for his father.  He gives a very eloquent speech about why parole should not be granted; especially the part about growing up with him and how he doesn't want him to be "given the opportunity to inflict this kind of pain on another person ever again.  Monica's last moments on this earth were filled with torture, suffering, and pleas for mercy.  My father should stay in here until the day he dies."

As Cooper drives home from the prison, he is following a utility truck across the desert. He takes his pain pills out and tries to shake a couple of pills out of bottle onto the seat between his legs.  A ladder suddenly falls of the truck in front of him and he has to take evasive maneuvers which result in a blown tire. He pounds the steering wheel with his hands in frustration.  The last few days have been very emotional.  He has been constantly reminded of his not-so-great childhood.  Richard, who wanted Cooper to adopt him,  the bratty kid who should be grateful for a Mom who actually cares; the parole hearing and seeing his father.  Added to that was the van driver who has very similar pain and pill issues as Cooper; the boot who believes Cooper would steal pills, and he has to go to the funeral of a fellow cop in a few days..  He was moving a little slowly due to his back problems,  but he was trying to get to those pills while driving because he was suffering so much emotional pain

Cooper gets out of the car and the pills fall in the dirt.  He immediately goes to his knees, searching frantically for the pills he dropped.  When he finds one, he shoves the dirt-covered pill in his mouth, spitting the dirt back out.  He yells in anguish, sobbing as he falls onto his hands and knees. 

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.