S01.E10: Reckoning

[WendyCR72]

Airing May 23, 2021:

Quote

McCall’s personal and professional lives collide when Delilah and her friends are threatened by a European crime syndicate for being eyewitnesses to the outfit’s execution of a drug cartel boss.

 

[NYGirl]

I can't watch this show.  I cannot stand her daughter.  She really bugs me.

I do love the Queen though!  I love how badass she is.  

[McKavity]

The pacing on this show is truly terrible!

I’ve only kept watching for Queens Latifah…

[Raja]

I was asking myself how could the NYPD not know what Hacker Harry found out about the victim or his gang prepping for war let McCall walk up on their war room. Or a kid being among multiple people is shot and nobody is at the hospital with a victim to ID McCall when she is on top of the local DA's get her list. And then the line up where they might as well as have one of each a White a Black and an East Asian, one guy with a goatee and ponytail, no way the Law & Order New York Supreme Court judge doesn't throw that out

With more people in on the secret I wonder how the second season will play out.

[Good Queen Jane]

So NYC only has one set of detectives that investigate all crimes in the city? And super spy Robyn McCall doesn't notice her daughter sneaking out of the house behind her and hiding herself in the trunk of her car? And it just takes a push on the wall to open the door to her Batcave, which apparently doesn't have any security system to notify her when it's been breached? Okay then.

Couldn't they have gotten to same place by Delilah just asking her mother why her picture was on Detective Dante's desk?

[paigow]

12 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

So NYC only has one set of detectives that investigate all crimes in the city?

20 years of Law & Order Mothership - All the high profile murder cases happened in the 27th Precinct

Edited May 25, 2021 by paigow

[Raja]

1 hour ago, Good Queen Jane said:

So NYC only has one set of detectives that investigate all crimes in the city? And super spy Robyn McCall doesn't notice her daughter sneaking out of the house behind her and hiding herself in the trunk of her car? And it just takes a push on the wall to open the door to her Batcave, which apparently doesn't have any security system to notify her when it's been breached? Okay then.

Couldn't they have gotten to same place by Delilah just asking her mother why her picture was on Detective Dante's desk?

One set?  Try one, the rest of the detectives sit at their desk. I guess that is the problem wit equalizing in New York City instead of Sparta Mississippi.

I guess after his talk with daddy who used his badge to steal from drug dealers, like Vic Mackey started out on The Shield, that Detective Dante is now all in

[IndiaCat]

1 hour ago, Good Queen Jane said:

And it just takes a push on the wall to open the door to her Batcave, which apparently doesn't have any security system to notify her when it's been breached? Okay then.

How did the girl know where to push? Or even that there was a reason to push? She was curled up in the trunk. All she would have heard is the motorcycle leaving.

I thought the plan was to get the two gangs in one place and have NYPD find them dealing, not for Robyn to massacre both gangs and leave a pile of bodies for the police. I prefer my ex-CIA vigilantes to be more clever, less murdery.

[milkyaqua]

Yes, the standard TV trope where only one precinct catches all the big, high profile cases.  And yes, with the police that were at the hospital, how was Robyn not identified?  Just how slow are the police anyway to not be able to get to the port before everyone was taken out?

So Dante's dad was a bent cop so he's trying to be the righteous one but we see that being chipped away at.

As for her daughter, yes, she's a pill and I was waiting for her to corner her mother at home not hide in her car.  And yes, how did she know to lift the hammer to open the secret room since she was in the trunk the whole time?  Whatever show.  I do at least hope Robyn just spills the beans and somehow convinces the daughter to stay quiet about it.  Though I can see the show adding this as another form of friction between them because you know, teens and their parents...  But if that's the case, they aren't reading the room because a little of Delilah goes a long way.

I do hope TPTB can tighten up the loose parts of this show for next season.

[Linda956]

I was a fan of the original series and Robert McCall's son found out about his dual identify as well.  He was always a jackass!

[tennisgurl]

I admit I didn't see it coming that they would have Delilah figure things out relatively soon, I thought they would drag this out for way longer and have her find out in a much more dramatic way. I am interested to see where this goes, I hope they don't backtrack and have Robyn give her some ridiculous fake reason she has an entire secret armory in the backroom and Delilah buys it. 

The case of the week felt sort of unfinished, like all of the sudden a kid we have never met who's friends with Delilah is shot in front of her and then her friends mom is a racist and the mob threatens them to keep quiet, its just a whole lot of moving parts that never really came together. I kept waiting for a lot of the plot elements to return, like racist mom or the gangsters girlfriend, and the only part that really came back were the other drug runners who were in conflict with the European gangsters. I think trying to tie so much with Delilah made the case feel less complete then previous cases. 

 

[possibilities]

There must have been some big sports thing last night, because CBS was running half an hour late and thus I missed the second half of the episode. I'll try to catch it on demand later, but I was hoping that they would keep Dante a little more nuanced for a little while longer. I liked seeing him trying to find a way to do things legally. Having him coming to the conclusion that it's impossible so quickly, given how corrupt his colleagues are, strikes me as a way to justify Robyn's behavior rather than a genuine interest in the moral argument.

This is a problem I have with a lot of "heroic but lawless" shows. It implies that no matter how violent you are, no matter how many rules of due process you toss out, that you were justified to do so, had no choice in the matter, and there's no point in having any kind of rights to protect people from abuse anyway, since apparently the good guys never make mistakes and the bad guys are always exactly who they think they are, and no innocent people ever get harmed by vigilantes.

[howiveaddict]

I set my DVR to always record an extra 30 minutes because CBS sports usually run over on Sundays. Yesterday it was a record setting golf tournament.

[AimingforYoko]

4 hours ago, Linda956 said:

He was always a jackass!

Actually, I thought that was one of William (Billy) Zabka's most sympathetic roles of the '80s.

[AnimeMania]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

I liked seeing him trying to find a way to do things legally. Having him coming to the conclusion that it's impossible so quickly, given how corrupt his colleagues are, strikes me as a way to justify Robyn's behavior rather than a genuine interest in the moral argument.

Dante's policeman father who was sent to prison for using the crooks money to help the police officers fight crime, came to the same conclusion. If you want to do the most good, you may have to break/bend the rules.

[wanderingstar]

I like that the cliffhanger was about Robyn's relationship with her daughter. 

Ended up enjoying this show a lot more than I thought I would. 

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I admit I didn't see it coming that they would have Delilah figure things out relatively soon, I thought they would drag this out for way longer and have her find out in a much more dramatic way. I am interested to see where this goes, I hope they don't backtrack and have Robyn give her some ridiculous fake reason she has an entire secret armory in the backroom and Delilah buys it. 

The case of the week felt sort of unfinished, like all of the sudden a kid we have never met who's friends with Delilah is shot in front of her and then her friends mom is a racist and the mob threatens them to keep quiet, its just a whole lot of moving parts that never really came together. I kept waiting for a lot of the plot elements to return, like racist mom or the gangsters girlfriend, and the only part that really came back were the other drug runners who were in conflict with the European gangsters. I think trying to tie so much with Delilah made the case feel less complete then previous cases. 

 

Yeah, I really thought it would come back to the racist mom or her daughter since the daughter was the reason she was in there. I don't think we ever found out why. I do think we should have seen Jason a lot sooner to make more of an impact of his death. 

[leighdear]

One more episode to see if Delilah is able to keep her trap shut about now knowing a ton of compromising Robyn info.  Maybe she'll think mom is totes badass, and want to be just like her. 

Of course, she'd have to finish 9th grade first before getting her first AR-15....

I hand-wave so much, because I really like the characters and the show overall.  I'm happy seeing a strong woman in a leading role where she doesn't have to ONLY be "sassy" or a total bitch.  

[Netfoot]

13 minutes ago, leighdear said:

Of course, she'd have to finish 9th grade first before getting her first AR-15....

Surely not an AR-15? Much more likely some sort of military grade assault rifle. 

[ribboninthesky1]

I've always liked Delilah.  There was a shot of her and Robyn in the hospital, when she was leaning into her, that made me realize that the actress was good casting - she looks like she could be Latifah's daughter.  And I thought the actress held her own in this episode as well. 

The last few episodes were off-kilter. I think that was because the attempt to put Marcus (did we know his 1st name before?) and Robyn at moral odds was clunky.   

In other news, I hated Latifah's hair, heh. But I get it, no-nonsense ponytail when you're scorching the earth. 

 

[rtms77]

sigh D knowing Roybn is off the grid is going to get annoying. I hope it's wrapped up soon.

At least McCall was willing to let the police find the exchange and arrest everyone, but of course this becomes the one episode where she's not prepared or doesn't think ahead and gets caught. At least she's only responsible for a few deaths.

Dante is a mixed bag. He's flipped flopped all season on whether to accept the vigilante stuff or go by the book.  Going all in i think is a mistake. Like he said someone will find out, and the DA is ambitious.

[statsgirl]

13 hours ago, IndiaCat said:

I thought the plan was to get the two gangs in one place and have NYPD find them dealing, not for Robyn to massacre both gangs and leave a pile of bodies for the police. I prefer my ex-CIA vigilantes to be more clever, less murdery.

As soon as Robyn told the Cartel where the Brigade was going to be, a shoot out between them was inevitable. They were far beyond working together.

It was dark but my impression was that Robyn shot to defend herself and to make sure that Kotya, who killed the boy, and his boss, who ordered the hit, were dead.

[blackwing]

I enjoyed this episode, even if I wasn't 100% clear on what exactly happened.  There's a Mexican gang and a Russian gang, Mexican gang killed one of the Russians, so the Russians went to kill one of the Mexicans, and Delilah and her friends got caught up in the crossfire?  How were the drugs involved, were they competing for the same drugs?  How was that dockworker involved?  Someone at the police station is dirty and tipped off the Russians about the kids' names, but the detective in charge doesn't care and just says Internal Affairs will figure it out?  

I liked how Aunt Vi covered for Robyn.  I liked how Delilah's first instinct was that she wanted her mom to come to the police station and to comfort her at night.  Aunt Vi was there but it was obvious Delilah preferred her mom.  I am glad that Delilah figured out the secret and will be interested to see how this plays out.  I hope that Delilah is understanding but I would not at all be surprised if she will be angry and resentful.

[blackwing]

14 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Yeah, I really thought it would come back to the racist mom or her daughter since the daughter was the reason she was in there. I don't think we ever found out why. I do think we should have seen Jason a lot sooner to make more of an impact of his death. 

I agree that the fact we had never seen this kid before made me care less about him.  But I am glad at least that they didn't kill her friend from community service

[Raja]

41 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I enjoyed this episode, even if I wasn't 100% clear on what exactly happened.  There's a Mexican gang and a Russian gang, Mexican gang killed one of the Russians, so the Russians went to kill one of the Mexicans, and Delilah and her friends got caught up in the crossfire?  How were the drugs involved, were they competing for the same drugs?  How was that dockworker involved?  Someone at the police station is dirty and tipped off the Russians about the kids' names, but the detective in charge doesn't care and just says Internal Affairs will figure it out?  

I liked how Aunt Vi covered for Robyn.  I liked how Delilah's first instinct was that she wanted her mom to come to the police station and to comfort her at night.  Aunt Vi was there but it was obvious Delilah preferred her mom.  I am glad that Delilah figured out the secret and will be interested to see how this plays out.  I hope that Delilah is understanding but I would not at all be surprised if she will be angry and resentful.

If I followed it correctly the Russians were trying to force themselves on the Mexicans as their wholesaler of the drugs and the Mexicans said we run our own shop.  Somehow the longshoreman could get the shipment past Customs and he was used to tip NYPD on the Mexicans normal shipment and knew when the next Russian shipment was coming in.

Yes someone inside of NYPD leaked the witness information and then the Russians intimated them into recanting their testimony. Presumably the local precinct didn't have the resources to try to figure out who so the commanding officer just shipped it off to Internal Affairs to let them do what they do off camera.

[Trey]

23 hours ago, possibilities said:

This is a problem I have with a lot of "heroic but lawless" shows. It implies that no matter how violent you are, no matter how many rules of due process you toss out, that you were justified to do so, had no choice in the matter, and there's no point in having any kind of rights to protect people from abuse anyway, since apparently the good guys never make mistakes and the bad guys are always exactly who they think they are, and no innocent people ever get harmed by vigilantes.

The main reason I quit watching Hawaii 5-0

[possibilities]

29 minutes ago, Trey said:

The main reason I quit watching Hawaii 5-0

Me, too. They didn't even try to make the heroes harm only the bad guys, either. They routinely were wrong in who they suspected, shooting off the kneecaps of total innocents and not even feeling bad about it. Disgusting.

[Sweet Tooth]

The difference I see with Hawaii 5-0 is that they had badges. Essentially, they were law enforcement who could tie someone to a chair and question them in a basement without giving them due process, not even sure if this person was a bad guy or not. And yes, they didn't even feel bad for a second when they found out the person didn't do anything.

That always bugged me, too. 

Here, I think they are showing that she sometimes goes too far. 

But also, she tries to give people a chance to do the right thing before she moves in.

For instance, with the guy holding Dante, she didn't just go in there and shoot him. She tried to talk him down. But when she felt like Dante was going to get shot, she had her friend do her thing.

In this episode, she went to the bad guy and said to let the guy take his lumps and warned him what would happen if he didn't.

With the shooter, she just tied him up and called Dante.

I don't see someone who just runs in, guns blazing. She also makes sure the bad guys are the bad guys before she does anything.

But also unlike 5-0, this is about a vigilante. So, there are certain things to expect in a show like that. "Heroic but lawless" could be the tagline for the show. It's the very theme of it. The whole reason for the show's being.

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Sweet Tooth

[Netfoot]

21 hours ago, Trey said:

The main reason I quit watching Hawaii 5-0

The main reason that *I* quit watching Hawaii 5-0, is because McGarrett v2.0 is a dick. 

[paigow]

Quoting another famous Queen - i.e. Oliver - "Detective Dante, you have failed this city"

Is there a big moral / ethical difference between Arrow, Batman and The Equalizer?

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, paigow said:

Is there a big moral / ethical difference between Arrow, Batman and The Equalizer?

Besides Batman being drop-dead cool, and the others being totally meh? Because someone as cool as Batman is morally & ethically justified in doing WETF he wants!

[milkyaqua]

4 hours ago, Netfoot said:

The main reason that *I* quit watching Hawaii 5-0, is because McGarrett v2.0 is a dick. 

Ha!  I could never get into the reboot.  I spent too much of my childhood watching the original in syndication and even if he was a jerk in real life, Jack Lord has always been McGarrett to me.

Edited May 26, 2021 by milkyaqua

[love2lovebadtv]

On 5/24/2021 at 8:51 AM, Good Queen Jane said:

So NYC only has one set of detectives that investigate all crimes in the city? And super spy Robyn McCall doesn't notice her daughter sneaking out of the house behind her and hiding herself in the trunk of her car? And it just takes a push on the wall to open the door to her Batcave, which apparently doesn't have any security system to notify her when it's been breached? Okay then.

Couldn't they have gotten to same place by Delilah just asking her mother why her picture was on Detective Dante's desk?

At least the people on the case aren't all related like on Blue Bloods lol. 

I did think it was odd that Robyn didn't notice her daughter sneaking out behind her. Same in the episode where they was someone sitting in a car behind them. In a residential NYC neighborhood where people are parked in a mixture of driveway/in front of their house, you notice a car you've never seen before when you leave the house in the morning. Even if it's nothing, you notice. Especially if you're Robyn. But we have to hand wave a lot so we can enjoy a show like this. And I do so gladly. I assumed it would be corny and it has its moments but it's way better than I expected. There are some good actors on this show and it helps that the lead has a LOT of chemistry with a LOT of people. That's why she's the Queen. I'll watch Season 2. 

On 5/25/2021 at 9:24 AM, blackwing said:

I agree that the fact we had never seen this kid before made me care less about him.  But I am glad at least that they didn't kill her friend from community service

I was thinking the same thing. But I guess it wouldn't have made sense with her childhood bestie. And her friend Nicki (I think that's her name) from community service is great and I wouldn't want to see her gone. 

[andromeda331]

18 hours ago, love2lovebadtv said:

At least the people on the case aren't all related like on Blue Bloods lol. 

I did think it was odd that Robyn didn't notice her daughter sneaking out behind her. Same in the episode where they was someone sitting in a car behind them. In a residential NYC neighborhood where people are parked in a mixture of driveway/in front of their house, you notice a car you've never seen before when you leave the house in the morning. Even if it's nothing, you notice. Especially if you're Robyn. But we have to hand wave a lot so we can enjoy a show like this. And I do so gladly. I assumed it would be corny and it has its moments but it's way better than I expected. There are some good actors on this show and it helps that the lead has a LOT of chemistry with a LOT of people. That's why she's the Queen. I'll watch Season 2. 

Those were odd. My dad's been out of the military for decades but still very aware of his surroundings. Its part of his training he can't turn off. Robyn easily should have noticed both.

[love2lovebadtv]

9 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Those were odd. My dad's been out of the military for decades but still very aware of his surroundings. Its part of his training he can't turn off. Robyn easily should have noticed both.

Yes, definitely odd to me. I've never been in the military but I've been a NYer. When you live in a NYC neighborhood like Robyn, you notice your neighbors a whole lot more. But I understand this was for the sake of the plot. 

 

[statsgirl]

On 5/26/2021 at 11:15 AM, paigow said:

Quoting another famous Queen - i.e. Oliver - "Detective Dante, you have failed this city"

Is there a big moral / ethical difference between Arrow, Batman and The Equalizer?

I think that we're more able to dismiss ethics and body counts when it's a comic book show, we're used to a high body count of villains. A show that's more realistic brings out the realistic ethical thoughts.