S03.E05: The LBC

[thewhiteowl]

A joint investigation with the Long Beach PD  over stolen assault rifles reconnects Street with his estranged foster brother. Hondo buts heads with his father regarding the older man's health. 

[Kelda Feegle]

I just cannot stand Hondo's Dad, not only do I have NO interest in this story arc I want to face punch him every time I see him.

[Evagirl]

3 hours ago, Kelda Feegle said:

I just cannot stand Hondo's Dad, not only do I have NO interest in this story arc I want to face punch him every time I see him.

I kinda feel the same way. I do NOT like this story arc at all!  When he was yelling all loud and everything, I wanted to throw something at the TV!  This guys left his family for another woman, now he's living (probably rent free) with the son he left behind. The son loves the old coot, but the old coot has some serious guilt things going on, so he rejects the son's love.  Okay, fine.  Get out of my house and don't come back!

[Danielg342]

"We're not ready to say goodbye".

Oh Hondo...way to hit me in the feels. No I'm not crying- you're crying.

It's a treacly storyline but both Hondos are selling it very well. Senior may very much be a scumbag, but he's a remorseful scumbag who feels like he's too old to repair the damage he's done. Junior is telling him that as long as Senior is alive, he's got more than enough time to fix everything.

There's nothing like a dying father storyline that puts things in perspective. I just wonder how it's all going to end- unless it's going to end with Senior's cancer being terminal, I'm not sure there can be a "workable" solution. It feels like Senior is there to remind Junior to "appreciate what he has before it's gone", so I'm not sure Senior surviving makes the best sense story-wise because then what is there for the character to do?

I mean, it's not like the show can have Senior survive only to have another "health scare" storyline- you can't play that card twice.

So there does feel like there's a sense of inevitability regarding Senior's fate that takes the air out of the story somewhat. Hopefully I'm wrong and they'll find something else for Senior to do after he survives, but this does feel like a "dead end story".

As for the rest of the episode...Luca had a nice fakeout making his teammates believe they'd have to pay more to get in on the food truck. I mean, he does have a point that they turned him down originally and now seem like opportunists...but Luca's too good of a guy to stiff his buddies. So I guess we'll have a SWAT food truck later in the episode.

Which hopefully becomes a real thing because I would so buy food from it.

Then there's Street who had nice camaraderie with his old foster brother...the "reluctant reconnection" storyline was a bit rushed, but those two have nice chemistry. Hopefully Street's foster brother will be back.

Piper sure sounds like a duplicitous woman...the show couldn't lay it on any thicker with the injured Detective's wife saying "she's not a good soul" right before showing Piper openly lie to the suspect she was interrogating. I still don't know what she adds to the show...we don't need a "corrupt main character", and that glimpse of warmth she displayed with the fallen cop convinced me they really are using Amy Farrington wrong.

As for the case...nice fakeout with the false information, which happened right after I thought, "why would the criminal be helpful to the cops at all?" (it never ceases to amaze me how many times on TV criminals fail to realize they actually hold all the power in an interrogation, not the police). Other than that...a bit "paint-by-the-numbers" and pulling clues out of their behinds, but it was well-paced and it was the first time the show used Jamaican criminals, if memory serves me correctly.

[Rabithed]

Eh, this was boring. As soon as the Piper character shows up I lose interest. I’ve never trusted her. Why is she there? I laughed my ass off a few episodes back at Deacon’s disgust when she got some intel from some dude “who used to want to get into her pants” barf. She always looks like she just rolled out of bed and wandered into SWAT by mistake. 

I also do not like the dying dad storyline. We had heavy emotional scenes last season and I enjoy watching his home life with mom and the boy he adopted. He can die off anytime  

Sadly this is not so much a must see show for me anymore. 

[Danielg342]

4 hours ago, Rabithed said:

I laughed my ass off a few episodes back at Deacon’s disgust when she got some intel from some dude “who used to want to get into her pants” barf.

SWAT has never really satisfactorily solved that part of the show's equation. They're always constantly getting leads by pulling things out of their behinds- usually because someone on the team "knows a guy"- and it's getting tiresome. This show is screaming for a "detective" character a la Jim Brass from CSI, and Amy Farrington could have played that character...but, no dice.

On 11/1/2019 at 12:13 PM, Evagirl said:

I do NOT like this story arc at all!  When he was yelling all loud and everything, I wanted to throw something at the TV!  This guys left his family for another woman, now he's living (probably rent free) with the son he left behind. The son loves the old coot, but the old coot has some serious guilt things going on, so he rejects the son's love.  Okay, fine.

I don't know if it's ever been explicitly mentioned that Hondo Sr. left Junior and his family for another woman. It's probably implied, but I don't think it's been explicitly stated.

The show has been particularly vague on why Senior left and how he actually treated his family- probably to better sell his "redemption". I'm kind of on the fence with the story- the characters sure act like they don't want Senior around, but we're getting beautiful acting work from Shemar Moore and Obba Babbatunde (who, by the way, is only 68) so I'm willing to give it a chance.

[mythoughtis]

I really am not interested in Hondo or his family   at all.   I watch for the rest of the cast ( minus Lynch).   I loved Shemar Moore in Criminal Minds, but this muscle bound testosterone filled Hondo leaves me cold.   

Edited November 4, 2019 by mythoughtis