S01.E06: To Protect and Serve

[MisterGlass]

10 hours ago, chaifan said:

I really like Selena Gomez in this.  I think her "flat" affectation is perfect for the character.

I agree.  When Oliver commented that the hummus she bought him expired yesterday, I thought she perfectly delivered "We both know you're going to eat it anyway."

[sskrill]

I did a rewatch because I'm not the most observant. 

So there is going to be another death - whoever Mabel is over when she says "I can explain", sort of looked like Cat Guy to me.  Also SWAT is running through the building at what looks to be the same time, so maybe there's an active shooter situation?  I mean, if it was just figuring out who the murderer is, why would SWAT be involved?

I'm going to say Deli Guy is not guilty as he was so excited that the podcast was mentioned on Jimmy Fallon, and would be heard worldwide.  Now maybe Deli Guy's son ... ?

I feel like people who fussed about the language have never lived in the tri-state area.  I grew up there but haven't lived there in 30 years and I still sound like that.  When people first meet me it seems to stun them a bit, but after knowing me for a while they end up sounding like me - at least when they're talking to me.

My favorite lines so far: 

"You know, there's a cat in your freezer?  It's just ... that she's next to your food ... touching it"

"I think the murderer is musical superstar Sting?"  "The guy from U2?"

"You pay for parking?!"

[sskrill]

6 hours ago, grandmabegum said:

She apparently had some bad health issues and this is a side effect.

From Wiki:

Gomez was diagnosed with lupus sometime between 2012 and early 2014. In September 2017, she revealed on Instagram that she had withdrawn from public events during the previous few months because she had received a kidney transplant from actress and friend Francia Raisa. During the transplant, an artery broke and emergency surgery was conducted to build a new artery using a vein from her leg.

In April 2020, she revealed she has bipolar disorder.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, sskrill said:

I did a rewatch because I'm not the most observant. 

…I'm going to say Deli Guy is not guilty as he was so excited that the podcast was mentioned on Jimmy Fallon, and would be heard worldwide.  Now maybe Deli Guy's son ... ?  
…

I also did a rewatch because I was sure I missed things, but who are “Deli Guy” and “Deli Guy’s son”? 
Or, at least: Which episode are they in, and in what context/scene?

[sskrill]

2 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I also did a rewatch because I was sure I missed things, but who are “Deli Guy” and “Deli Guy’s son”? 
Or, at least: Which episode are they in, and in what context/scene?

Nathan ... Lane? God my memory is so bad.  Chicken wraps or something?  Hummus and dips?  Maybe not deli, but food?  The guy who financed them - whose yiayia foundation had the "angel" link.  I can't believe he would be happy about his name being mentioned on Fallon if he was guilty. 

[grandmabegum]

Pretty sure it's a Greek deli, hence the hummus. Last name is Dimas. And yes, there's some sort of promo for chicken wraps.

Edited September 25, 2021 by grandmabegum

[shapeshifter]

19 minutes ago, sskrill said:

Nathan ... Lane? God my memory is so bad.  Chicken wraps or something?  Hummus and dips?  Maybe not deli, but food?  The guy who financed them - whose yiayia foundation had the "angel" link.  I can't believe he would be happy about his name being mentioned on Fallon if he was guilty. 

Oh! Thank you! I had glossed over the connection between the hilariously long podcast title that the advertising generated and Oliver’s financier (Nathan Lane) being in the delicatessen business:
“Dimas Chicken Wraps Presents: Only Murders In The Building”

Edited September 25, 2021 by shapeshifter

[chediavolo]

14 hours ago, sskrill said:

From Wiki:

Gomez was diagnosed with lupus sometime between 2012 and early 2014. In September 2017, she revealed on Instagram that she had withdrawn from public events during the previous few months because she had received a kidney transplant from actress and friend Francia Raisa. During the transplant, an artery broke and emergency surgery was conducted to build a new artery using a vein from her leg.

In April 2020, she revealed she has bipolar disorder.

A lot to have gone thru for this young girl☹️🙏🏻❤️

[Sakura12]

I kept hearing about this show, so I decided to give it a shot. I love it. I obviously know who Steve Martin and Martin Short are but I checked this show out for Selena Gomez, since I haven't seen her in anything since her Disney days. I think the monotone delivery is a character choice. Her mother said she turned in a ghost from grief. And now she lost another friend. Being from Disney I know she can be more animated because they send their actors to the school of yell acting. It's nice to see her in a quieter role. 

I like the age difference it adds something different to the show, that Mabel is from a completely different generation but they still are becoming friends over their love of true crime. I'm glad the guys finally found out that Mable knew Tim Kono. So now they can focus on the case. Cinda making fun of them on Jimmy Fallon was the best publicity they could get. A bunch of people would go check out that podcast just to see if was as much of train wreck she made it seem like it was. 

I also liked seeing the Detective's home life. It's nice to see the overworked detective and pregnant wife trope as two lesbians of color. I do wonder why she gave the phone to Mabel though. How did she know who she was? Isn't Mable only staying in her aunts apartment. She doesn't live there.  

[DoctorAtomic]

You can see in the flashbacks that Mabel was much more animated with her Hardy Boys group. Her mother put the bow on it, but she's been sleepwalking through life since then. Until these 'randos' showed up. 

[Abra]

15 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

I do wonder why she gave the phone to Mabel though. How did she know who she was? Isn't Mable only staying in her aunts apartment. She doesn't live there.  

I didn't even think about that. My guess is the detective listened to the podcast and understood that Mabel is likely to be the most tech-savvy due to her age, so addressed it to her? I'm guessing she knew her to be living in the building from the podcast as well, and just dropped it off at the front desk instead of mailing it because...well, not having to deal with postage, delays in USPS, etc.

[shapeshifter]

I'm just a tad confused. 
Detective Williams did not fail to send the evidence to the right place resulting in the suicide resolution to Tim Kono's death, right?
It was TPTB who stopped the evidence from getting examined to squash the case, right?
But then how did it wind up back on her desk?

Here's the dialog with bold added by shapeshfiter/me:

• [Detective Williams looking at Tim Kono's cell phone in the evidence bag from a pile on her desk] Wait, what? "Not submitted"? Oh, I thought I sent you to IT.
  ...

• [Later at her apartment, Detective Williams' pregnant life partner and fan of the podcast]You missed something, didn't you? 

• [Detective Williams] The tox reports... they weren't submitted. And the victim's phone... never made it to IT. 

• [pregnant life partner] Oh my God, yes! So now, you swoop in there and reopen the case like a goddamn hero boss, and just... 

• [Detective Williams] Baby, no. When they don't submit something, that means they want all hands off, and I can't get up to sergeant by opening a case that I already closed. No. That's not how it works.

[grandmabegum]

48 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

 Detective Williams did not fail to send the evidence to the right place resulting in the suicide resolution to Tim Kono's death, right?
It was TPTB who stopped the evidence from getting examined to squash the case, right?

But then how did it wind up back on her desk?

 

That's what she said. Seems like she'd know who she would have to submit it to who would send it to toxicology if she didn't directly do it herself. I do not know how that chain of command works.

Maybe it didn't end up on her desk. Maybe her wife's interest in the podcast got her thinking and she pulled the file. The file I believe, TPTB wouldn't destroy as that would look suspicious and since Detective Williams called it a suicide, perhaps they didn't think anyone would dig it up or that anyone would ask questions. So maybe she pulled the file herself? The phone is a little stranger cause that seems like something TPTB could destroy and claim it got lost or something.

But it seems like the tox report is probably lost cause if they destroyed any samples as Tim's body got a ticket to Japan quickly. That also seems slightly fishy to me as they'd still have to prep the body for the flight. Don't know all that involves. Man I feel like Jon Snow knowing nothing.

Lot of maybes and perhaps in this post.

Itching to see what Tim's password is. I hope it's Evelyn.

Edited September 26, 2021 by grandmabegum

[chediavolo]

On 9/26/2021 at 3:18 PM, shapeshifter said:

I'm just a tad confused. 
Detective Williams did not fail to send the evidence to the right place resulting in the suicide resolution to Tim Kono's death, right?
It was TPTB who stopped the evidence from getting examined to squash the case, right?
But then how did it wind up back on her desk?

Here's the dialog with bold added by shapeshfiter/me:

• [Detective Williams looking at Tim Kono's cell phone in the evidence bag from a pile on her desk] Wait, what? "Not submitted"? Oh, I thought I sent you to IT.
  ...

• [Later at her apartment, Detective Williams' pregnant life partner and fan of the podcast]You missed something, didn't you? 

• [Detective Williams] The tox reports... they weren't submitted. And the victim's phone... never made it to IT. 

• [pregnant life partner] Oh my God, yes! So now, you swoop in there and reopen the case like a goddamn hero boss, and just... 

• [Detective Williams] Baby, no. When they don't submit something, that means they want all hands off, and I can't get up to sergeant by opening a case that I already closed. No. That's not how it works.

It sounded like Detective Williams fucked up and forget to submit the evidence. Then at the apartment is was less clear or she was trying to cover? Whichever, I think this job is too stressful for her. Child on the way who does not need a parent on edge. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I didn't get that. She said out loud, 'why wasn't the tox report/phone submitted?' It sounded like she did it and then someone else blocked it. In the last convo with the spouse, she said to the effect that someone wanted the case closed so she's leaving it closed because she wants to be promoted. That's why she sent the phone out anonymously. If it wasn't filed, no one else knows it's there. 

[Ilovepie]

The ongoing Gut Milk references are killing me! I actually did a spit take when they were talking:

Charles: This Gut Milk......is so good! It's 13% alcohol!

Oliver: I know! I think it's making my abs grow!

HA HA HA!!!!! Seriously, I hope they keep the Gut Milk humor coming!

Oliver eating the expire hummus also made me laugh ;-o

I like the grumpy detective - the backstory with her podcast loving wife explains her disdain for our trio at the crime scene.

And I love the trio. Individually they would be kind of annoying, but together they are magic. This show just keeps getting better and better!

[QuinnM]

Quote

The ongoing Gut Milk references are killing me! I actually did a spit take when they were talking:

Charles: This Gut Milk......is so good! It's 13% alcohol!

Oliver: I know! I think it's making my abs grow!

HA HA HA!!!!! Seriously, I hope they keep the Gut Milk humor coming!

I loved that Oliver didn’t even blink after hearing it was 13% alcohol just said Cheers.

[SlovakPrincess]

On 9/25/2021 at 1:09 AM, sskrill said:

My favorite lines so far: 

"You know, there's a cat in your freezer?  It's just ... that she's next to your food ... touching it"

 

Steve Martin's delivery on that line just killed me.  

I also loved the detective and her wife in this episode ... especially where the detective is going on about how annoying the true crime podcast is, and the wife goes " .... ok, but what about the cat?"  

[QuinnM]

5 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

I also loved the detective and her wife in this episode ... especially where the detective is going on about how annoying the true crime podcast is, and the wife goes " .... ok, but what about the cat?"

And the detective’s sharp intake of breath was so good you really didn’t need any dialogue. 

[Milburn Stone]

On 9/27/2021 at 3:09 PM, chediavolo said:

It sounded like Detective Williams fucked up and forget to submit the evidence.

That was my conclusion as well.

[shapeshifter]

On 9/27/2021 at 4:09 PM, chediavolo said:

It sounded like Detective Williams fucked up and forget to submit the evidence.

And officially reporting her screw-up would endanger her future of making sergeant, whereas being able to share privately with her SO that she had secretly sent the phone to the podcasters could greatly enhance their fun, if not the entire relationship --while also perhaps assuring that if there was a killer on the loose, they might be found out.

Edited October 2, 2021 by shapeshifter

[chediavolo]

10 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

And officially reporting her screw-up would endanger her future of making sergeant, whereas being able to share privately with her SO that she had secretly sent the phone to the podcasters could greatly enhance their fun, if not the entire relationship --while also perhaps assuring that if there was a killer on the loose, they might be found out.

And put her job in jeopardy if anyone finds out. Bad cop. I would say her leaving out evidence would be detrimental to the investigation but I’ve been watching  many true crime cases & the police fuck up A LOT. We should  all be concerned. 

[sistermagpie]

On 9/23/2021 at 1:23 PM, Irlandesa said:

I also liked seeing the detective but especially for the conversation she had with her wife because it showed how she reacted to the podcast and the "clues" that true crime aficionados latch onto.  Like "honey, I know you're a trained professional but what about the CAT PRINTS?" 

 

16 hours ago, chediavolo said:

And put her job in jeopardy if anyone finds out. Bad cop. I would say her leaving out evidence would be detrimental to the investigation but I’ve been watching  many true crime cases & the police fuck up A LOT. We should  all be concerned. 

Exactly. Even a little exposure to True Crime stories leads you to the idea that people who are actually interested in evidence and solving crime unfortunately become True Crime fans since the police so often come across so badly--like sometimes they seem to be actively working for the bad guy. 

In this case I didn't think the detective had screwed up by not sending the evidence. Somebody else had stepped in to cancel her request. Her part in it was just that she'd closed the case as a suicide without noticing that, so it would be even harder, if not impossible, to try to get it done now even if somebody higher up wasn't trying to cover things up.

And she screwed up by just deciding it was an open-and-shut suicide right away. The cat footprints *are* clues.

[bybrandy]

14 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

 

In this case I didn't think the detective had screwed up by not sending the evidence. Somebody else had stepped in to cancel her request. Her part in it was just that she'd closed the case as a suicide without noticing that, so it would be even harder, if not impossible, to try to get it done now even if somebody higher up wasn't trying to cover things up.

And she screwed up by just deciding it was an open-and-shut suicide right away. The cat footprints *are* clues.

That was my take on it as well.  If she'd screwed up by not sending in the phone and tox screen I don't think she'd risk the potential blow back of the podcast guys getting and making public that they had access to the phone.  She'd bury it.   She feels guilty about jumping too quickly to the suicide conclusion and so throws the podcasters a major clue because she feels she can't reopen the case that somebody higher up wants closed without her career being in jeopardy and she has Kareem's (he'll always be Kareem to me) future to think about.  

If the podcast solves it, great.

If the podcast gets enough traction that the case is reopened without anybody finding out she nudged it that way?  Great.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, bybrandy said:

If she'd screwed up by not sending in the phone and tox screen I don't think she'd risk the potential blow back of the podcast guys getting and making public that they had access to the phone.  She'd bury it.   She feels guilty about jumping too quickly to the suicide conclusion and so throws the podcasters a major clue because she feels she can't reopen the case

Another possibility:

If the detective screwed up and failed to send the phone to IT, then perhaps there’s no record of it? 
She doesn’t want to reopen the case and admit her mistake, so she anonymously slips the phone to Mabel in hopes that the podcasters will eventually announce the phone on their podcast, which the detective can then “discover” from her life partner, and then, if necessary, reopen the case without being blamed for failing to process the evidence. 

I guess she’ll also have to deal with the toxicology screen?

 

Edited October 3, 2021 by shapeshifter

[dleighg]

On 9/22/2021 at 2:55 PM, kirkola said:

her deadpan responses to the guys tickle me. 

I loved when she used the term "randos" and Oliver explained it to Charlie. Charlie says "I got it from context, but... thanks." As a mother of millenials, I'm well acquainted with "getting it from context." And when Mabel's (I loved that Oscar called her Bella-- makes sense) mom says "what are you guys, 80?" and Oliver says "I'm in my early mid-60s" (Short's actually in his early 70s and Martin is almost 80.

Edited November 4, 2021 by dleighg

[aradia22]

Loved the depiction of the cop's home life and using the horticulture guys and the podcast as a way of getting her back on the case.

Mandy Gonzalez was a great casting choice.

I didn't need an explanation for why Mabel is so stylish but her being interested in design does fit. 

If this was Agatha Christie, I'd say Zoe wasn't the body that fell from the building but I don't think that would work these days with dental records, DNA, etc. 

I really wasn't expecting the heaviness from Nathan Lane this episode. The man is a damn fine actor. Do I have to watch Penny Dreadful now?

[aradia22]

Quote

I think suspicion has been cast on Nathan Lane too early for him to be the murderer, but maybe there's a connection with the son? I'm not a fan of making the deaf man a killer, but his appearance in this show hasn't been justified yet, so that's where my mind is going. 

I agree about the son and also the iffy-ness of making the deaf character the murderer. I'm always suspicious of the suspects who are seeded early but get no attention but it's equally possible it's just another red herring.

[Summerday]

The only thing that I didn't like about this episode was the detectives' pregnant wife 1) scraping paint off the wall 2) not wearing a mask while doing so and 3) wearing a pretty nice outfit to do dusty, dirty manual labor.  Anyone who's scraped paint knows how hard it is to do and how messy it gets with paint chips and dust everywhere. I don't think a pregnant woman (or anyone really) should be breathing in that dust. Totally unrealistic moment; I don't know why she needed to be scraping paint anyway, why couldn't she just be assembling the crib or something?

Anywho, besides that I enjoyed the episode.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Summerday

[LeGrandElephant]

Mabel and Oscar are cute but I can’t get over the fact that he was one of her best friends and she firmly believed he was innocent and yet apparently never visited him or even wrote to him in prison! 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 10/3/2021 at 2:46 PM, bybrandy said:

That was my take on it as well.  If she'd screwed up by not sending in the phone and tox screen I don't think she'd risk the potential blow back of the podcast guys getting and making public that they had access to the phone.  She'd bury it.   She feels guilty about jumping too quickly to the suicide conclusion and so throws the podcasters a major clue because she feels she can't reopen the case that somebody higher up wants closed without her career being in jeopardy and she has Kareem's (he'll always be Kareem to me) future to think about.  

If the podcast solves it, great.

If the podcast gets enough traction that the case is reopened without anybody finding out she nudged it that way?  Great.

Didn't she have to sign out the file from the Evidence Room?  Isn't she leaving a trail that will lead straight back to her if the phone becomes important to the case and honest police other than herself step back in? (Also, the phone has left the chain of custody, and can no longer be used as official evidence, although I suppose since it was languishing in the files, it wasn't going to be useful at all.)

On 1/4/2022 at 4:01 PM, Summerday said:

The only thing that I didn't like about this episode was the detectives' pregnant wife 1) scraping paint off the wall 2) not wearing a mask while doing so and 3) wearing a pretty nice outfit to do dusty, dirty manual labor.  Anyone who's scraped paint knows how hard it is to do and how messy it gets with paint chips and dust everywhere. I don't think a pregnant woman (or anyone really) should be breathing in that dust. Totally unrealistic moment; I don't know why she needed to be scraping paint anyway, why couldn't she just be assembling the crib or something?

Anywho, besides that I enjoyed the episode.

Standing on the ladder concerned me the most.  

She was scraping paint because she had given up on waiting for her wife to do it.

Edited August 18, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse

[shapeshifter]

11 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

She was scraping paint because she had given up on waiting for her wife to do it.

She could have hired someone to scrape paint. But when I was pregnant (3 times) I tended to get single-mindedly focused on projects that required a lot of physicality. Like building furniture. Or planting a little lawn in the desert. Both with hand tools. It's probably a kind of therapy for the anxiety of the new levels of responsibility.

Anyway, I just rechecked, and, yes, she was scraping paint, not wallpaper. 😔
I was hoping it was wallpaper, which is relatively safe. But in an old NYC apartment, a pregnant person will be ingesting lead while scraping paint. Dammit. I wish they had shown wallpaper.

Okay. I'm going to tell myself the paint she was scraping was all post-1978 paint.
There.
All better.