S04.E13: Sins of the Fathers

[thewhiteowl]

The team works together to hunt down a deadly band of mercenaries hired by a wealthy CEO.

[Leeds]

Who the hell names their child D'Ambria?

[MarquisDeCarabas]

I’ve only caught this show a couple of times. Do they always complain about the fact that cops are actually getting called out on things?

[Danielg342]

Uneven. That's the short answer to how this episode went.

There were some nice twists in the case that made this more than just a story of SWAT chasing after the con man, the best being the well-worked twist of the con man's right hand man taking matters for himself by kidnapping the con man's boy. For a moment, you actually saw the humanity in someone- the con man- who usually gets cast as a slimeball, so good work on the storytelling front there.

I also loved Tan's tumble, and the fight scenes were, in general, well done. Maybe Hondo got lucky not getting hit by the axe, but that my eyes were still glued to the wrestling match he had with the perp, who I believe was actually thrown into the tree. No pain no gain, I guess.

Aside from that there were parts that were underwhelming, generally due to pacing issues and some lackluster storytelling. Second time this year a Black law enforcement officer gets killed in the line of duty...uh, show, seriously?

The other storylines- like Hondo and Darryl, Deacon's issues with the school and Christina Alonso's mess- seemed to lack any real punch. They just seemed to go through the motions, which made them underwhelming. That said, it was nice to see Deacon bond with Durham and Christina seemed to have some genuine tenderness for Street at the end there.

Not the worst but something was still missing tonight.

[nittany cougar]

I liked all of the storylines on this one.  I thought it was cool that Deacon reached out to the new officer and is a solid mentor.  Yeah, he was upset about being uninvited from his kid's school, but his reaction makes sense for a proud SWAT cop.

The security company story was well done and showed the bad players in a high stakes business.  It was cold when they left the son's girlfriend bleeding on the sidewalk. The scene with the injured cop's mom and Hondo was nice.   Hondo takes care of everyone.

It was cool of Street to help Chris with her problems without lecturing too much or getting territorial.  I liked how she described the bartender one night stand as her friend and a safe choice.  It works with Lina Esco's portrayal of Chris as kind of fucked up but not completely lacking in reasoning.

[Danielg342]

14 minutes ago, nittany cougar said:

I liked how she described the bartender one night stand as her friend and a safe choice.  It works with Lina Esco's portrayal of Chris as kind of fucked up but not completely lacking in reasoning.

"Gotta ask questions about why the bartender is your friend".

Well, they'd actually make great friends for a drinker, because if anyone would easily recognize the signs of destructive drinking, it's a bartender.

[Sweet Tooth]

22 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Aside from that there were parts that were underwhelming, generally due to pacing issues and some lackluster storytelling. Second time this year a Black law enforcement officer gets killed in the line of duty...uh, show, seriously?

The other storylines- like Hondo and Darryl, Deacon's issues with the school and Christina Alonso's mess- seemed to lack any real punch. They just seemed to go through the motions, which made them underwhelming. That said, it was nice to see Deacon bond with Durham and Christina seemed to have some genuine tenderness for Street at the end there.

I thought the same thing. Like, seriously? You JUST killed off Erika. Ugh. 

But I guess nobody's life is changed for his death. 

 

Deacon's issue with the school was a total joke.

That hoity-toity school would not be acab. No way.

And second, he's S.W.A.T.! He's not dragging people out of cars during a traffic stop. He's not scanning the streets and racial profiling. That was completely ridiculous. 

"Cancel" the cops. UGH. The worst thing that was ever done was the phrase "defund the police," which completely misrepresents the actual meaning. It doesn't mean they don't want cops responding to violent crime (as Deacon pointed out about them calling the police if they were in trouble.) It's about not calling them for people who are not well mentally, etc. I can't believe this show is perpetuating that nonsense.

Reducing a complicated subject to that one scene made both of them sound not bright. I'm hoping the other dude comes off better in future episodes, because I wasn't too impressed with him. 

And the show having the school cancel Deacon, a freaking S.W.A.T. officer, was plain dumb. 

22 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

There were some nice twists in the case that made this more than just a story of SWAT chasing after the con man, the best being the well-worked twist of the con man's right hand man taking matters for himself by kidnapping the con man's boy. For a moment, you actually saw the humanity in someone- the con man- who usually gets cast as a slimeball, so good work on the storytelling front there.

Totally agree here. He just wanted to get away, he hired freaking mercenaries for the job he couldn't control, and things kept snowballing.

He wasn't a total monster. Just a desperate man who wanted to hold onto his freedom. 

Of course, now he's responsible for the death of a law enforcement officer, so he's going away for life. 

Whenever I watch Investigation Discovery, and someone's committed a crime they may go away a short time for, and then they commit all kinds of atrocities to get out of going to jail, I'm always amazed by the stupidity. The dude hired mercenaries. What did he expect?

15 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Well, they'd actually make great friends for a drinker, because if anyone would easily recognize the signs of destructive drinking, it's a bartender.

And Street. 

I was glad when she finally admitted she had a problem and let Street help her.

Because if they'd drawn this out, it would have gotten tiresome real fast. 

[Danielg342]

5 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

The show having the school cancel Deacon, a freaking S.W.A.T. officer, was plain dumb. 

I believe the show is trying to paint Deacon as the "not all cops" guy (which would be in character) who just doesn't "get" why anyone would have a terrible opinion of the police and police in general. I believe the show writers have done a good job making him at least sound rational and not just constructing him as a lazy strawman, but I do think the show may need to stop having this storyline be simply about Deacon ranting because that's getting old.

5 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

I was glad when she finally admitted she had a problem and let Street help her.

Because if they'd drawn this out, it would have gotten tiresome real fast. 

I like their dynamic more as best friends. Seems to work so much better for Street and Christina. I probably won't get my wish because Hollywood can never accept a good platonic relationship between a man and a woman, so I might as well enjoy this while I can.

[Sweet Tooth]

54 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

I believe the show is trying to paint Deacon as the "not all cops" guy (which would be in character) who just doesn't "get" why anyone would have a terrible opinion of the police and police in general. I believe the show writers have done a good job making him at least sound rational and not just constructing him as a lazy strawman, but I do think the show may need to stop having this storyline be simply about Deacon ranting because that's getting old.

I wouldn't have minded if, say, he knew a good street cop who that happened to, and he was comforting that dude.

It's not so much Deacon, it's that the show took such an easy jab at a complicated subject. The "cancel the cops" crap just made my eyes roll by themselves.

I love Deacon. I will always love Deacon. I have no beef with him. My beef is with the show and that they made him sound dumb and this subject too simplistic. It's a topic I don't mind them exploring, but this was a hugely cheap and not-well-thought-out way to do it. The whole thing didn't make sense. If he was supposed to speak at a normal university, maybe. But I can't believe the parents at a richy-rich school would be that het up about it. And again, he's S.W.A.T., not your average ticket-writing cop.

59 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

I like their dynamic more as best friends. Seems to work so much better for Street and Christina. I probably won't get my wish because Hollywood can never accept a good platonic relationship between a man and a woman, so I might as well enjoy this while I can.

Dude, strap in, because they are 100% going there. This is the setup. They're going to get close again like they used to be. She'll go to meetings, get sober, and then BLAMMO. 

 

 

[Maverick]

 Deacon was asked not to show up at his son's (public) school.  He was giving the demonstration there that he had already given at his daughter's private school. He discussed it with Hicks at the beginning of the episode. 

[Sweet Tooth]

46 minutes ago, Maverick said:

Deacon was asked not to show up at his son's (public) school.  He was giving the demonstration there that he had already given at his daughter's private school. He discussed it with Hicks at the beginning of the episode. 

Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. Makes a bit more sense that way. 

But I still would think they'd know the difference between garden-variety cops and a S.W.A.T. officer.

[DanaK]

Generally good episode, but besides Deacon’s too simplistic view of peoples’ views of cops, I’m annoyed that they threw away the last episode’s poignant ending by throwing in a line that Hondo’s dad was fine

[Raja]

2 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

 

But I still would think they'd know the difference between garden-variety cops and a S.W.A.T. officer.

Why? Along with other political concerns is the over reliance of S.W.A.T. or the militarization of police. That make work is found in order for S.W.A.T. drive up in an armored vehicle and  throw flash bang grenades.  In real life Los Angeles residents know when Metro Division is supplementing the normal divisional cops in their area, they wear shoulder patches were most cops in LAPD don't, as there are not enough hostage rescues for stand by tactical squads to spend all day training and waiting they do patrol just not in T-shirts at least in real life Los Angeles.

Of course the show is based on the S.W.A.T. elite bias again shown with newest recruit, Erika's replacement having a speaking role of why he joined. And episodes before with Hondo talking about S.W.A.T., not LAPD, are now to well trained for such and such to happen like it did back in the day. I know COVID protocols but where was the partner of the officer who stumbled across the kidnapping of the son?

On the other side of the elite bias we had the US military equivalent of the multiethnic street gang among the mercenaries. A Navy SEAL leader, a Marine Raider a "Green Beret" and a "Delta Force" guy left behind. An Army Ranger who quit the company we were just missing an ex USAF Combat Controller or Pararescue Jumper and an ex British SAS trooper to round out our elite all star team.

[Sweet Tooth]

5 hours ago, Raja said:

On the other side of the elite bias we had the US military equivalent of the multiethnic street gang among the mercenaries. A Navy SEAL leader, a Marine Raider a "Green Beret" and a "Delta Force" guy left behind. An Army Ranger who quit the company we were just missing an ex USAF Combat Controller or Pararescue Jumper and an ex British SAS trooper to round out our elite all star team.

Sorry. I wasn't implying anything "elite" about them.

In my above post, what I was talking about is that these people are mainly against the guys who pull people over, drag them out of cars, harass people, etc. When I say "garden-variety" cop, that's what I mean.

Their jobs are different .S.W.A.T. is only called in for certain circumstances, when there's no doubt the perpetrator is dangerous. They don't patrol the streets or anything. 

I do not differentiate that they're elite or special in any way. What I mean is that their jobs are distinctly different in terms of when they're called in.

There might be stories of SWAT shooting an unarmed person, but it's more rare, again, due to the circumstances of when they're called in.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Sweet Tooth

[momo]

On 4/8/2021 at 3:58 AM, Danielg342 said:

"Gotta ask questions about why the bartender is your friend".

Well, they'd actually make great friends for a drinker, because if anyone would easily recognize the signs of destructive drinking, it's a bartender.

Wasn't Street saying that because Chris sees the bartender all the time because she's drinking all the time? Sorry if I misunderstood your reply.

[Sweet Tooth]

1 hour ago, momo said:

Wasn't Street saying that because Chris sees the bartender all the time because she's drinking all the time? Sorry if I misunderstood your reply.

Yes. That's exactly what Street said to her. Basically...uhhhh...maybe you should look at why the bartender is your friend, while Chris was trying to make the case about how awesomely "safe" she was being.

[Danielg342]

18 hours ago, Raja said:

Why? Along with other political concerns is the over reliance of S.W.A.T. or the militarization of police.

My experiences with "defund the police" has been around people asking why the police needs military grade equipment. In that vein, it makes even more sense that the public school wouldn't like having Deacon around, since his job embodies the militarization of police more than any regular police officer.

I still think it's understandable even if the teacher didn't make that connection. Just knowing that Deacon works for the LAPD would be enough- someone who hates the police probably isn't going to think about (or, rather, care about) what department he works in.

11 hours ago, momo said:

Wasn't Street saying that because Chris sees the bartender all the time because she's drinking all the time?

Yeah, and I understand what he said too. I would just respond to Street- if I had that chance- that Christina shacking up with the bartender is better than some other rando, since the bartender should have a better understanding about the perils of drinking.

[Sweet Tooth]

On 4/10/2021 at 12:17 AM, Danielg342 said:

Yeah, and I understand what he said too. I would just respond to Street- if I had that chance- that Christina shacking up with the bartender is better than some other rando, since the bartender should have a better understanding about the perils of drinking.

The only problem is, he went to bed with a woman who was clearly black-out drunk. A rookie might not be able to tell, but a bartender would. 

 

On 4/10/2021 at 12:17 AM, Danielg342 said:

My experiences with "defund the police" has been around people asking why the police needs military grade equipment. In that vein, it makes even more sense that the public school wouldn't like having Deacon around, since his job embodies the militarization of police more than any regular police officer.

I still think it's understandable even if the teacher didn't make that connection. Just knowing that Deacon works for the LAPD would be enough- someone who hates the police probably isn't going to think about (or, rather, care about) what department he works in.

I've mainly seen it in the vein of not calling them out for things that aren't their job.

Most people I talk to definitely know how to differentiate between what a uniformed cop does and what S.W.A.T. does. 

I just wish they hadn't made it some tagline in the show. It would have been nice if we'd been able to explore this a little better. Have Deacon go and talk to the school and for the administrator to give him some valid reasons. Like perhaps she called the police due to an autistic student, only for them to escalate the situation and nearly get the kid killed. And then Deacon could talk about what they do and how they're trying to change things.

On The Rookie they're also dealing with the issue, but what they did is have someone come on a ride-along who was dissing them, while the main characters explained about their job and how they're trying to change things. 

Instead, we got this surface-y "people are trying to cancel the police" nonsense.

[AnnA]

I couldn't believe Deacon was surprised by the school cancelling his presentation.  I often think Deacon and his wife live in Fantasyland.  I'm also  disappointed that he gave in to Annie and sent their kid(s) to that private school.   I'm not an Annie fan for a slew of reasons but the school choice was the icing on the cake. 

[Danielg342]

10 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

The only problem is, he went to bed with a woman who was clearly black-out drunk. A rookie might not be able to tell, but a bartender would. 

I don't know if we actually know that. Christina simply said she woke up in the motel room and didn't know how she got there. For all we know, the bartender could have just got her the room and laid her to bed without, you know, "laying" her.

10 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

I just wish they hadn't made it some tagline in the show. It would have been nice if we'd been able to explore this a little better. Have Deacon go and talk to the school and for the administrator to give him some valid reasons. Like perhaps she called the police due to an autistic student, only for them to escalate the situation and nearly get the kid killed. And then Deacon could talk about what they do and how they're trying to change things.

On The Rookie they're also dealing with the issue, but what they did is have someone come on a ride-along who was dissing them, while the main characters explained about their job and how they're trying to change things. 

Instead, we got this surface-y "people are trying to cancel the police" nonsense.

On this I agree. It's time to move the topic beyond the surface. The storyline needs more than just Deacon telling us what's happening- let's actually see a scenario play out in front of our eyes. If all we wanted was a rant, we'd listen to a podcast or watch a YouTube video. It's time to actually go somewhere with this.

[BravoAddict72]

9 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I don't know if we actually know that. Christina simply said she woke up in the motel room and didn't know how she got there. For all we know, the bartender could have just got her the room and laid her to bed without, you know, "laying" her.

On this I agree. It's time to move the topic beyond the surface. The storyline needs more than just Deacon telling us what's happening- let's actually see a scenario play out in front of our eyes. If all we wanted was a rant, we'd listen to a podcast or watch a YouTube video. It's time to actually go somewhere with this.

When she was telling Street what she remembered she said she remembers having sex. 

[Sweet Tooth]

3 hours ago, BravoAddict72 said:

When she was telling Street what she remembered she said she remembers having sex. 

That's right! Nice memory. And she was clearly getting dressed.

If the bartender had just laid her down, he would have left her a note, like, "Your car's at the bar. Call me if you need a lift." 

12 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

On this I agree. It's time to move the topic beyond the surface. The storyline needs more than just Deacon telling us what's happening- let's actually see a scenario play out in front of our eyes. If all we wanted was a rant, we'd listen to a podcast or watch a YouTube video. It's time to actually go somewhere with this.

EXACTLY! This was all a telling, no showing moment. A cheap and easy way of making some heavy-duty social commentary. And that they made Deacon say it just made it worse.

Agree that it's starting to look like he lives in an alternate universe. 

[Danielg342]

9 hours ago, BravoAddict72 said:

When she was telling Street what she remembered she said she remembers having sex. 

Ah OK. I was just going by memory.

Although, in my defence, I was speaking in more general terms. This bartender is clearly not up to standard, I'd expect better.

6 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

EXACTLY! This was all a telling, no showing moment. A cheap and easy way of making some heavy-duty social commentary. And that they made Deacon say it just made it worse.

Agree that it's starting to look like he lives in an alternate universe. 

Maybe this would be a good time for SWAT to get involved in that gang-infested neighbourhood Street and Luca live in where it's established that they hate the cops. It'd be powerful commentary where cop skeptics can see the actual benefits of the police.

[Sweet Tooth]

1 hour ago, Danielg342 said:

Maybe this would be a good time for SWAT to get involved in that gang-infested neighbourhood Street and Luca live in where it's established that they hate the cops. It'd be powerful commentary where cop skeptics can see the actual benefits of the police.

Yes. Definitely.

Or where they revisit the school thing in a more comprehensive way.

Deacon isn't afraid to get in touch with his feelings. Having a real conversation with that administrator would go a long way in rectifying this situation.

1 hour ago, Danielg342 said:

Although, in my defence, I was speaking in more general terms. This bartender is clearly not up to standard, I'd expect better.

HA. Yeah. Speaking in terms of a gentleman. That's a nice concept.

[Danielg342]

9 minutes ago, Sweet Tooth said:

Yes. Definitely.

Or where they revisit the school thing in a more comprehensive way.

Deacon isn't afraid to get in touch with his feelings. Having a real conversation with that administrator would go a long way in rectifying this situation.

Can we do another episode with a school shooter? I know we had one in S2 I think (where Lila just stole my heart there) but maybe it's time to have another episode with one.

10 minutes ago, Sweet Tooth said:

HA. Yeah. Speaking in terms of a gentleman. That's a nice concept.

At least I can see why Christina would trust the bartender. That he abused it is another matter.

[Sweet Tooth]

1 hour ago, Danielg342 said:

Can we do another episode with a school shooter? I know we had one in S2 I think (where Lila just stole my heart there) but maybe it's time to have another episode with one.

The only problem is, it would have to be his kid's school, and one of them was already almost shot. His kids would never leave the house again.

1 hour ago, Danielg342 said:

At least I can see why Christina would trust the bartender. That he abused it is another matter.

Totally agree with this. That in Christina's world, this was the safest bet for her situation, regardless whether that bartender took advantage of the situation.

[Danielg342]

1 hour ago, Sweet Tooth said:

The only problem is, it would have to be his kid's school, and one of them was already almost shot. His kids would never leave the house again.

Maybe it can happen when the kids are away from school, because they're sick (though not with COVID-19 since then Deacon couldn't be at work) or they were away visiting relatives or doing something else and Annie couldn't take them back home in time for school for some reason.

In fairness to the writers, it's not like a prospective shooter would know (or even care) that Deacon's kids were nearly shot up before.

[Sweet Tooth]

On 4/13/2021 at 12:28 AM, Danielg342 said:

Maybe it can happen when the kids are away from school, because they're sick (though not with COVID-19 since then Deacon couldn't be at work) or they were away visiting relatives or doing something else and Annie couldn't take them back home in time for school for some reason.

In fairness to the writers, it's not like a prospective shooter would know (or even care) that Deacon's kids were nearly shot up before.

I just mean that the kids constantly being shot up would have to blow back in a big way. I mean, if they're shot at in their home and potentially shot up at school (even if they weren't IN the school at the time), then Deacon would be building a bunker at that point. The kids would never see the light of day.