S01.E08: The Swatting Game

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

Tommy and the LAPD race to find an online "swatter", a digital criminal targeting the LAPD and a rising online gamer by making dangerous fake 911 calls.  As Tommy deploys the departments full resources to the search, the perpetrator threatens to reveal private information about members of the police force. 

Original air date 2020.04.10

[12catcrazy]

Ok, I like this show but it seems in the Tommy universe almost all white men are assholes at best and walking evil at worst.  The only decent white guy is the nebbishy speech writer (or whatever he is) with the arm in the sling.  Mayor Buddy can still go either way.   After a while you get sick of being hit over the head with this.

I'm still sick and tired of the daughter draaama and the going back and forth of "please come live here", "move out now!", "move back in".  Enough already!  Tommy must make enough money to afford her own place (even in L.A.), and now she has the hot lover - is she gonna sneak her in at 1 am?

I totally love the techie cop even though they had to get rid of the original male techie guy (because you must have a young Asian woman on this team "somewhere").  

 

[LisaM]

I like this show and I particularly like Edie Falco in this role. Diaz and the daughter likely getting together? 

[Dowel Jones]

I would have thought that Tommy had the good sense to go along with the legal counsel's recommendation in the beginning, and square things up later.  She's supposed to be a skilled chief and had at least some experience in dealing with a difficult situation.  I mean, yeah, the PD guy that shot the father was completely out of line, but you don't admit something like that, even tacitly.

Wouldn't a search warrant be easy enough to obtain to convince the game operator to hand over the IDs of the players?  There was certainly some exigent circumstances there.

I wonder what the two officers' body cameras will show if that student they arrested decides to bring a lawsuit against the city.  Not to mention the story about how they arrested Tommy's daughter.  I don't give her any points for saying "The Chief of Police is my mother".  To me, that's whining.  Take the arrest, call an attorney, and let the press know.

Phone call from the Mayor at the end.  Hmmm.  We know he/his agents are spying on her.

[Gothish520]

Kinda think the Chief of Police shouldn't ignore calls from the Mayor.

The diplomacy that one must display in a position of power and influence must be maddening. Tommy couldn't help but apologize during her statement on the main case, yet had to have remarkable restraint when dealing with those POS officers. I would have been livid and wanted their badges.

[shapeshifter]

33 minutes ago, Gothish520 said:

when dealing with those POS officers. I would have been livid and wanted their badges.

This makes me think of my father's words of advice: "I don't get mad; I get even."
I doubt this show will have anyone creatively making those cops get theirs, because there aren't any characters like my dad in this show. 
Most likely we won't see them again. But I won't be too surprised if I'm wrong and they do show up getting just desserts. I just do not want to see the black honor student ruining his life by going after them. Even if he organized an orderly civil rights protest, the odds that it would not screw up his life IRL are slim. But it would be cool if he got some sort of scholarship for his activism. But, again, I just don't think this is that kind of show, and he's not a main character, nor are the 2 POS officers.

[Dowel Jones]

I did a quick search and found the MOU (contract) between Los Angeles and the LAPD.  The section I quoted below is from the contract:

"The Chief of Police has the authority to transfer and assign employees of the Department. Such transfers and assignments are not grievable and are not arbitrable regardless of the reason for the transfer."

By "not grievable", it means the Union cannot file a complaint or otherwise stop a transfer of police officers.  So, the Union guy's threat to sue Tommy and the department if he heard about any transfer or action against the two dickheads cops is basically toothless.  And Tommy should take some action because the case is certain to become public very soon and inaction is not going to sit well with the public.

[Raja]

On 4/10/2020 at 2:26 PM, 12catcrazy said:

Although they had to get rid of the original male techie guy (because you must have a young Asian woman on this team "somewhere").  

 

I am trying to figure out why they work at the computer in uniform with a full field belt complete with taser. No strips on either of them so practically rookies with less than 3 years experience but  running the shop

[Dowel Jones]

3 hours ago, Raja said:

I am trying to figure out why they work at the computer in uniform with a full field belt complete with taser.

Hey, you never know when you might get a 404 error on the computer.  You gotta be ready.

[shapeshifter]

On 4/10/2020 at 10:08 PM, Dowel Jones said:

I would have thought that Tommy had the good sense to go along with the legal counsel's recommendation in the beginning, and square things up later.  She's supposed to be a skilled chief and had at least some experience in dealing with a difficult situation.  I mean, yeah, the PD guy that shot the father was completely out of line, but you don't admit something like that, even tacitly.

And I guess Tommy never saw the "Violations" episode of Cagney and Lacey that re-aired yesterday on Start TV:

Quote

Cagney & Lacey "Violations" 3/18/1985,  S4.E21
After a teen is sent to prison for a petty crime, he is raped, forcing Cagney and Lacey to testify against the inadequacies of the justice system when he names them in his lawsuit against the city.

--in which Lacey tells the mother of the prison-raped minor something like "there's no excuse for that" at which point Cagney grabs her arm and they make a hasty exit, but Lacey's line is later said to have added "an extra zero" to the family's lawsuit.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

And I guess Tommy never saw the "Violations" episode of Cagney and Lacey that re-aired yesterday on Start TV:

--in which Lacey tells the mother of the prison-raped minor something like "there's no excuse for that" at which point Cagney grabs her arm and they make a hasty exit, but Lacey's line is later said to have added "an extra zero" to the family's lawsuit.

 

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Cagney & Lacey "Violations" 3/18/1985,  S4.E21
After a teen is sent to prison for a petty crime, he is raped, forcing Cagney and Lacey to testify against the inadequacies of the justice system when he names them in his lawsuit against the city.

So these writers are going back as far as 1985 to steal previously scripted stuff.

[Gothish520]

15 hours ago, preeya said:

 

So these writers are going back as far as 1985 to steal previously scripted stuff.

Plot lines are recycled constantly on tv. 

[JayDub]

If you ever watched The Closer or Major Crimes they had female lead characters that were interesting to watch and not this tripe.

Edited April 13, 2020 by JayDub

[buckboard]

14 hours ago, JayDub said:

If you ever watched The Closer or Major Crimes they had female lead characters that were interesting to watch and not this tripe.

To each his own.  I like Tommy. 

The Closer and Major Crimes were department heads, not chiefs of police, which brings its own problems.  I like the supporting characters -- well, not the daughter so much -- and I like that Tommy is a lesbian.  
 

Edited April 14, 2020 by buckboard

[LisaM]

15 hours ago, JayDub said:

If you ever watched The Closer or Major Crimes they had female lead characters that were interesting to watch and not this tripe.

I loved The Closer and Major Crimes and I am enjoying Tommy as well. I like Edie Falco in this role and I like the supporting characters at police headquarters. Seeing Tommy's social life with Katrina Lenk and possibly with Lila from Arrow is a bonus -- treating Tommy's personal life just like we saw Brenda with Fritz and Sharon with Flynn. 

[jabRI]

I generally like the show, but I agree the writing really suffered in this one, way too heavy handed, nothing nuanced at all.  Not liking the daughter.

[The Ringo Kidd]

On 4/10/2020 at 5:26 PM, 12catcrazy said:

Ok, I like this show but it seems in the Tommy universe almost all white men are assholes at best and walking evil at worst.  The only decent white guy is the nebbishy speech writer (or whatever he is) with the arm in the sling.  Mayor Buddy can still go either way.   After a while you get sick of being hit over the head with this.

I'm still sick and tired of the daughter draaama and the going back and forth of "please come live here", "move out now!", "move back in".  Enough already!  Tommy must make enough money to afford her own place (even in L.A.), and now she has the hot lover - is she gonna sneak her in at 1 am?

I totally love the techie cop even though they had to get rid of the original male techie guy (because you must have a young Asian woman on this team "somewhere").  

 

Great points. This is the norm for mainstream entertainment these days. 
 

This is why the networks are dying and the streaming services are taking over.

[Kayz Opinion]

On 4/13/2020 at 10:32 AM, Gothish520 said:

On 4/12/2020 at 6:41 PM, preeya said:

 

So these writers are going back as far as 1985 to steal previously scripted stuff.

Plot lines are recycled constantly on tv. 

And now that SO MANY are watching-watching-watching network shows, there will probably be more complaints after memories are jogged.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, Kayz Opinion said:

And now that SO MANY are watching-watching-watching network shows, there will probably be more complaints after memories are jogged.

When I was watching this episode after having just seen the Cagney and Lacey episode referenced above, I wasn't annoyed; I was intrigued by the different treatment of the subject (a teen being abused in jail because of police error), which was somewhat easy to compare across generations since both featured female cops. In the 15-20 years since, there was little difference.

But you're right, @Kayz Opinion, (even as witnessed above) most of the time these seeming retread of plots gives viewers a reason to scoff.