S03.E05: Lockdown

[WendyCR72]

Airing on February 14, 2021:

Officer Nolan is taken hostage by a man with nothing to lose while the station goes on lockdown and races to identify the suspect before time runs out. Officer Jackson and his training officer, Officer Doug Stanton, reach a tipping point in their relationship that could end Jackson's career.

[BooksRule]

I knew they wouldn't blow up the police station (or Nolan), so not much suspense there.  I hated to see Jackson get beat up like that, but when he reached for Stanton's body cam, I yelled 'yay! You got him!'  However, I'm guessing we haven't seen the last of Stanton.  He's not going to go quietly, I fear.

[paigow]

Get ready for a few weeks of I.A. hearings and mudslinging... Nolan is now the oldest college student in L.A. County....

[shapeshifter]

When racist TO Stanton told rookie Jackson to do the 3 clicks as a way of sharing a win of some sort, was that actually some sort of alert to the guys who beat up Jackson?

The show made a point of having a mixture of black and white guys who beat Jackson —which seemed a bit unrealistic for a gang or a neighborhood, but then so did it seem unrealistic in the earlier episode when Stanton had a former black trainee who he could count on to set up Jackson. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Netfoot]

10 hours ago, paigow said:

Nolan is now the oldest college student in L.A. County....

It doesn't take long to get a High School diploma in "The Effect of the LMNOPQ Movement on 16th Century Austrian Bakeries", does it?

I thought for a moment that the TO had set up the entire incident, but it seems like he took it as a fortuitous moment. Well done Jackson for flipping on the camera. (The earlier "Chekhov's Pistol" moment when they discussed the 2-minute rewind on the body cams, went straight over my head, but Jackson gambled that incriminating footage would show up in those 120 seconds.) I was a little surprised they didn't let Jackson arrest the TO. But then he wasn't arrested, rather placed on administrative leave. So, I assume that is something only a senior officer could do, hence Jackson had to be satisfied with watching from the sidelines.

Nolan has a very shiny badge!

[Clanstarling]

8 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

When racist TO Stanton told rookie Jackson to do the 3 clicks as a way of sharing a win of some sort, was that actually some sort of alert to the guys who beat up Jackson?

I think the three clicks were an actual thing, and not an alert.

I did find it a little hard to believe that only one pair of cops were out on the road during the lockdown.

I'm glad the Stanton story is progressing swiftly. As much as I like the themes, I rarely like stressful story lines that go on forever.

Speaking of which, I am glad Lopez's baby is healthy. I was a little surprised that they didn't follow up on that, but I guess it will probably be a bigger story in the next episode.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Clanstarling

[paigow]

Stanton was acting like the cops on Law & Order Mothership who intentionally refused to provide backup to a gay patrol cop that consequently died in a firefight with drug dealers. Stanton needs better info from his sources... how did he not know that West was linked to THE BOSS of I.A.????

Edited February 15, 2021 by paigow

[edhopper]

Coming soon, "The Freshman".

[madmax]

1 hour ago, paigow said:

 Stanton needs better info from his sources... how did he not know that West was linked to THE BOSS of I.A.????

Seriously.  How could he not know that West's dad was the HEAD of IA, not just a worker bee.

And I'm still a little confused as to the camera thing.  Do they automatically back up two minutes even if it had been recording?  Did Stanton not have his camera running?  How did it get from Stanton's camera to the phone so quickly?

[momo]

10 minutes ago, madmax said:

Seriously.  How could he not know that West's dad was the HEAD of IA, not just a worker bee.

And I'm still a little confused as to the camera thing.  Do they automatically back up two minutes even if it had been recording?  Did Stanton not have his camera running?  How did it get from Stanton's camera to the phone so quickly?

From Netfoot: "The earlier "Chekhov's Pistol" moment when they discussed the 2-minute rewind on the body cams, went straight over my head, but Jackson gambled that incriminating footage would show up in those 120 seconds."

I was confused too!

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, momo said:

From Netfoot: "The earlier "Chekhov's Pistol" moment when they discussed the 2-minute rewind on the body cams, went straight over my head, but Jackson gambled that incriminating footage would show up in those 120 seconds."

I was confused too!

I still am confused. Heh. But no more than usual with this show. If not for Fillion’s on-camera charm, I would not be watching. 

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, momo said:

I was confused too!

My understanding is, from what was said / observed, that the cameras constantly maintain the last two minutes in a ring-buffer, even when switched 'off'. When switched 'on' again, they immediately dump the last two minutes from the ring buffer into permanent storage, and continue recording from there.

I think some dash-cams do a similar trick (with a smaller buffer?) to protect against someone bumping your car in a parking lot. If someone bumps your car, the last 8-10 seconds is dumped from the ring-buffer to the permanent record, so you can see the bump coming when you play back the recording. Not 100% sure about this, because my dash-cam is nothing so fancy!

[madmax]

 

4 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

My understanding is, from what was said / observed, that the cameras constantly maintain the last two minutes in a ring-buffer, even when switched 'off'. When switched 'on' again, they immediately dump the last two minutes from the ring buffer into permanent storage, and continue recording from there.

But how did Grey and Bradford know to watch it at the scene?  Jackson turned the camera on (off?  who knows) and we saw the footage reverse, but who told Grey and Bradford to watch it.  And did Stanton never have his camera on?  Wouldn't that have been grounds for censure prior to all this?

12 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I still am confused. Heh. But no more than usual with this show. If not for Fillion’s on-camera charm, I would not be watching. 

This season, Fillion's charm is even getting to be a hard sell for me.  

I get that they have to address the problem, but when you have an episode like La Fiera, where every plot line was some kind of learning about discrimination moment, it gets really exasperating.

I want to be entertained, not preached to.

 

[paigow]

4 minutes ago, madmax said:

But how did Grey and Bradford know to watch it at the scene? 

They knew a veteran like Stanton could never "lose" a partner for that long, so reviewing and comparing both cameras would solve the problem. 

[HurricaneVal]

25 minutes ago, madmax said:

But how did Grey and Bradford know to watch it at the scene?  Jackson turned the camera on (off?  who knows) and we saw the footage reverse, but who told Grey and Bradford to watch it. 

I think those at the scene saw West make the effort to reach up and deliberately do something with Stanton's camera even though he was in terrible pain, so that clued them in to do something with the contents of the camera.  If it was important enough for West to stay conscious enough to do it, then it must be critical.  Bradford and Grey would know instantly what it meant, and would go to review the footage as soon as they could.

The scene between Grey and West in the hospital was nice, and a good bookend to their other scene in Grey's office. 

Bradford's desperation to find Stanton and West was quite palpable, and it shows that he's got really good instincts.  I continue to find his character fascinating.  In the beginning, Bradford was very one dimensional--or just seemed to be.  I like how what could just be your standard procedural show "star vehicle" for Fillion isn't afraid to give nuance and facets and backstory to peripheral characters, and let them be on the forefront with the stories and plotting.  Nolan might have had the "Oh noes, I'm held hostage!  And there's a bomb!" A-plot, but the ongoing B-plot of West's bad seed TO was given some good screen time.  I like that this is turning into an ensemble show, and not just a showcase vehicle for a star with an established fanbase.

I thought Will LaMontagne, JJ's ex-husband from Criminal Minds, was looking a little rough, but then I was relieved to find the character had cancer, and presumably the actor is well.

The comment upthread about the shiny badge cracked me up.  I noticed when Nyla walked into the squad room to join Nolan at the top of the show that her badge seemed very large, very shiny, and very up-front-and-center hooked to her waistband.  I even made a mental note to look and see if maybe they have fancy "court badges" to wear when in plainclothes vs. everyday badges to clip to a uniform shirt.  Turns out Nolan's badge came in handy, and it was indeed very shiny.  However, when Fillion got his "idea face" and grabbed the badge off his chest, I thought he was going to try and pick his handcuff lock with it, then when that wasn't the case, use it to dig at the hole in the side of the truck, but then he took it in another direction entirely.  Later on, when he picked up that piece of wire I thought, "Now what's he going to do with that?  Rewire the bomb?" because I wasn't going to fall for that misdirection twice.  Then it turned out to be direct-direction.  😆

[paigow]

4 minutes ago, HurricaneVal said:

Later on, when he picked up that piece of wire I thought, "Now what's he going to do with that?

MacGruber style impale thumb to the detonator...

[Driad]

Presumably Nolan will study law enforcement. What do the classes involve? IIRC, he had some college in the past, and was planning to study law.

[madmax]

2 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Bradford's desperation to find Stanton and West was quite palpable, and it shows that he's got really good instincts.  I continue to find his character fascinating.  In the beginning, Bradford was very one dimensional--or just seemed to be.  

I have noticed that they have given most of the supporting characters some serious growth, none more so than Bradford.

2 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

However, when Fillion got his "idea face" 

You really did have me laugh out loud at this one and now I'll never see it any other way.

 

 

 

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

Quote

 IIRC, he had some college in the past, and was planning to study law.

You're right - I don't remember what he was studying but he and Grace met in college and I believe he dropped out when his ex-wife got pregnant.

[Raja]

22 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I think the three clicks were an actual thing, and not an alert.

I did find it a little hard to believe that only one pair of cops were out on the road during the lockdown.

I'm glad the Stanton story is progressing swiftly. As much as I like the themes, I rarely like stressful story lines that go on forever.

Speaking of which, I am glad Lopez's baby is healthy. I was a little surprised that they didn't follow up on that, but I guess it will probably be a bigger story in the next episode.

Real world LAPD has a relatively light presence of patrol cars out. Just 10 in the divisional area where I live. But even if the watch was all at roll call they do stagger the change of watch to prevent that very scenario. And when the Watch commander called a tactical alert the past watch would stay out on overtime and you would expect the next level of command to send reinforcements from other areas besides SWAT and the bomb squad.

Being focused on patrol I guess that is it for Stanton, no need to follow his story just as they don't go to court except for the special go to court episode. I couldn't help back flashback to Training Day where Ethan Hawke's character talking about we were told never to enter the area in under platoon strength.  15 years after that film single traffic division cops would set up in radar traps in an ally from that very neighborhood.

 

I guess the Lopez family drama was just filler until the next Nolan girlfriend as well to give her something to do until maternity leave sidelines the actress.

On 2/15/2021 at 1:01 AM, shapeshifter said:

When racist TO Stanton told rookie Jackson to do the 3 clicks as a way of sharing a win of some sort, was that actually some sort of alert to the guys who beat up Jackson?

The show made a point of having a mixture of black and white guys who beat Jackson —which seemed a bit unrealistic for a gang or a neighborhood, but then so did it seem unrealistic in the earlier episode when Stanton had a former black trainee who he could count on to set up Jackson. 

I agree that 3 clicks thing was probably something grabbed from real LAPD culture like "shop" and "boot".  They missed "RA" when Officer Bradford called for an ambulance.

The gang at the housing projects did feel like the afterschool special multi ethnic thing. Although LA is less segregated than it was 20 years ago still.

 

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

The gang at the housing projects did feel like the afterschool special multi ethnic thing. Although LA is less segregated than it was 20 years ago still.

Even in the 20th Century, some gangs were progressive... Colors

[Raja]

6 minutes ago, paigow said:

Even in the 20th Century, some gangs were progressive... Colors

Well less progressive than true as the few Blacks in East LA did join the local Latino gangs and in smaller numbers Latinos were joining the Black gangs of South LA until more Latinos moved in. While Cambodians and Samoans might ally with either local majority group. 

But the beatdown crew still looked like an afternoon special gang

[MoreCoffeePlease]

Set design nit-pick: at West's apartment, which he shares with the female cop (why am I so bad at names?!?!) , why do they have their TV placed on the wall perpendicular to the couch? Makes it really hard for both of them to watch TV at the same time.  (Interior design pet peeve is TVs above fireplaces where you have to crane your neck to watch the TV.)

Kudos to the makeup department on West's beat-up face.  Ouch. 

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

(Interior design pet peeve is TVs above fireplaces where you have to crane your neck to watch the TV.)

I'd guess that 90% of all "flatscreen" TVs are installed way too high.

The center of the screen should be at eye-level as you sit. This assumes you sit up straight and look straight forward. If you lean back 10-15° and your sight line is angled upwards, then the screen should be moved up to suit, and angled down by the same 10-15°.

[PamelaMaeSnap]

20 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

I thought Will LaMontagne, JJ's ex-husband from Criminal Minds

THANK YOU!!! This was driving me crazy. I knew he was familiar but couldn't place it. 

[paigow]

Edit Fail

Edited February 17, 2021 by paigow

[femmefan1946]

2 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

 

Kudos to the makeup department on West's beat-up face.  Ouch. 

That was shockingly brutal!

[paigow]

3 hours ago, PamelaMaeSnap said:

THANK YOU!!! This was driving me crazy. I knew he was familiar but couldn't place it. 

He was in Dark Knight Rises; Punisher (series); Shooter (series)

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

Set design nit-pick: at West's apartment, which he shares with the female cop (why am I so bad at names?!?!) , why do they have their TV placed on the wall perpendicular to the couch? Makes it really hard for both of them to watch TV at the same time.

Yeah, IRL the TV would be parallel to the couch, not perpendicular, but it's the same as families and Friends having everyone sit around the table with one side empty so the television viewing audience can see their faces. 

 

 

9 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

Kudos to the makeup department on West's beat-up face.  Ouch. 

Yes, Kudos for actual facial swelling rather than a tidy butterfly bandaid. And he also mentioned a few loose teeth
--although IRL he would be minus a bunch of teeth and have a totally rearranged nose and internal organ damage from kicking. 
Still, I did appreciate an effort to depict realistic consequences to such violence on prime time, network TV. I think they made the effort as part of the BLM focus of the season.

 

[bros402]

11 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

Kudos to the makeup department on West's beat-up face.  Ouch. 

Yeah, I was thinking "damn, he probably spent a while in makeup for that - but it is so good"

[eel21788]

20 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

(Interior design pet peeve is TVs above fireplaces where you have to crane your neck to watch the TV.)

That's my pet peeve, too, except because it totally ruins the esthetics of your fireplace.

[Loandbehold]

13 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Yeah, IRL the TV would be parallel to the couch, not perpendicular, but it's the same as families and Friends having everyone sit around the table with one side empty so the television viewing audience can see their faces. 

Or in paintings.*

* And now I'm hungry. 

[Netfoot]

1 minute ago, Loandbehold said:

* And now I'm hungry.

Lockdown #2, Day #15. I'm hungry too.

I've already had breakfast, brunch, elevenses and luncheon. Looking forward to tiffin, then tea and finally dinner. And a midnight snack before bed. But I might have some fruit in between, if I feel peckish.

 

[shapeshifter]

7 minutes ago, Loandbehold said:

Or in paintings.*

* And now I'm hungry. 

How did I, who have been obsessed with Leonardo since early childhood (drew flying machines when I was 12) never notice that TV shows set up dinner tables the same???

[paigow]

2 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

How did I, who have been obsessed with Leonardo since early childhood (drew flying machines when I was 12) never notice that TV shows set up dinner tables the same???

Blue Bloods sits everyone around the family dinner table

[shapeshifter]

7 minutes ago, paigow said:

Blue Bloods sits everyone around the family dinner table

Perhaps the exception that proves the rule?

[femmefan1946]

10 hours ago, eel21788 said:

That's my pet peeve, too, except because it totally ruins the esthetics of your fireplace.

I've seen the fireplace wall (or at least the part of it that is the fp) painted black so the TV disappears. Also a bookcase with the same trick.
And there are (probably expensive) TVs that have a screen saver that is a picture, or a series of pictures, like the ones in restaurants.

But I digress....

[ctlady]

Does Nolan have eyes in the back of his head?  From where he was sitting handcuffed to the floor of the van, how did he notice the chemo tube on the guy's chest?

I'm glad the racist Stanton storyline is done.  At least I hope it is.  And I was praying that nothing was wrong with Lopez' baby in order to segue into a possible abortion storyline.

They didn't show what happened to the driver's girlfriend.  I would think she'd be arrested for her part in all this

I agree with everyone's growth (Nyla and Tim especially) but I just can't with Chen.  I don't know if it's the actresses portrayal, but she comes off kind of childish to me with an annoying vocal fry where the last word of every sentence trails off to where it can't be heard

This is how I thought it was gonna go down:

Gray:  "Nolan, just put the idea of making detective out of your mind"

[Nolan McGuyver's Morse Code with his shiny police shield, keeps his calm and thwarts a faux-bomber]

Gray:  "I guess this exceptional work puts you in the running for detective

Buuuuuut, now the goal is TO and college. 

[Clanstarling]

2 hours ago, ctlady said:

I agree with everyone's growth (Nyla and Tim especially) but I just can't with Chen.  I don't know if it's the actresses portrayal, but she comes off kind of childish to me with an annoying vocal fry where the last word of every sentence trails off to where it can't be heard

I love the actress, but I first saw her on Dark Matter, where she played a bad ass. So although I'm not keen on the portrayal here, I've got to give her props for being completely different.

[zapper]

what was it that the SWAT team called Nolan? the "trouble magnet?"

[bros402]

10 hours ago, ctlady said:

Does Nolan have eyes in the back of his head?  From where he was sitting handcuffed to the floor of the van, how did he notice the chemo tube on the guy's chest?

I'm glad the racist Stanton storyline is done.  At least I hope it is.  And I was praying that nothing was wrong with Lopez' baby in order to segue into a possible abortion storyline.

They didn't show what happened to the driver's girlfriend.  I would think she'd be arrested for her part in all this

I agree with everyone's growth (Nyla and Tim especially) but I just can't with Chen.  I don't know if it's the actresses portrayal, but she comes off kind of childish to me with an annoying vocal fry where the last word of every sentence trails off to where it can't be heard

This is how I thought it was gonna go down:

Gray:  "Nolan, just put the idea of making detective out of your mind"

[Nolan McGuyver's Morse Code with his shiny police shield, keeps his calm and thwarts a faux-bomber]

Gray:  "I guess this exceptional work puts you in the running for detective

Buuuuuut, now the goal is TO and college. 

Obviously Nolan has port-radar

3 hours ago, zapper said:

what was it that the SWAT team called Nolan? the "trouble magnet?"

Yes

[Brian Cronin]

 

On 2/16/2021 at 2:10 PM, MoreCoffeePlease said:

(Interior design pet peeve is TVs above fireplaces where you have to crane your neck to watch the TV.)

That's why my wife and I got one of those mounts that extends the TV out and down so you can watch it at normal level and then put it back on to the wall when you just want to enjoy the fireplace. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Brian Cronin

[SnarkySheep]

Am I the only one who wondered where West's boyfriend was?? He hasn't been mentioned since they returned, but I'm assuming they're still a couple since nobody mentioned otherwise. Certainly the guy would have shown up at the hospital....

[EtheltoTillie]

On 2/28/2021 at 9:47 PM, SnarkySheep said:

Am I the only one who wondered where West's boyfriend was?? He hasn't been mentioned since they returned, but I'm assuming they're still a couple since nobody mentioned otherwise. Certainly the guy would have shown up at the hospital....

Same place as Nolan’s girlfriend?  Maybe someone could explain that. I am watching the series for the first time. A couple of episodes ago didn’t they leave it a cliffhanger whether she would leave the husband after the confessions of love?