S05.E02: Madrugada (2)

[thewhiteowl]

Still in Mexico, Hondo teams up with a local cop for a dangerous rescue mission, only to find himself with a target on his back. Also, back in Los Angeles, Hicks considers disbanding the team for good.

[Danielg342]

I'll give this episode credit on a few things.

One, even though it still followed the tired "the American teaches the locals how it's done" storyline, at least Charles (the young cop) wasn't useless and was actually an equal of sorts to Hondo.

Two, the episode having some actual stakes- saving Delfina- gave it some urgency and made it at least watchable, no matter how ridiculous it turned out to actually be.

Three, the acting was, overall, stellar across the board.

Oh, and four, Deacon calling back to the episode where Hondo stood up for Hicks was a fantastic reminder to Hicks not to be so smug about his own job.

Those are the positives.

The negatives...yikes. There were a lot to list, namely how implausible a lot of the situations were in this episode. Yeah, S.W.A.T. has played loose with reality many times before, but it didn't really detract from the plot too much.

Here, seeing Hondo- and, technically, Charles- commit murder in cold blood really strains the plot's plausibility. I don't care that the men Hondo and Charles shot were villainous and the pair were heroic in their actions- murder is still murder.

Not sure how the town's police chief could overlook that, especially when Charles said, in the last episode, that the chief would never look the other way over murder.

More importantly, though, Hondo wouldn't be able to just waltz back into the U.S. after committing murder and the Mexican officials would at least investigate why two citizens killed several men and shot another one.

Also, even though Arthur Novak wasn't a well-liked guy in the town he wouldn't get to where he is without having a few allies in high places across the town. No doubt those guys would have something to say before Novak's influence over Soldadera is gone for good.

(Oh, and before I forget- another curiosity I have: where did Hondo get those explosives?)

Perhaps if the episode didn't waste so much time with the drama of "will 20 Squad break up for good?" (which could have easily been an episode all on its own) we could have had a more coherent and more believable story.

At the very least, a few of the rank-and-file officers could have joined Hondo and Charles and defied the police chief...that could have made some of the operations (such as procuring the explosives) a bit more believable.

As for the side story about 20-Squad...I mean, it was great seeing the team wrestle with the emotions of perhaps realizing the team they'd known for so long would be gone for good, but it seemed like an exercise in futility.

This isn't a show about Hondo's life...it's about SWAT (Earth-shattering, I know). So it's false drama to have a story where the base question is, "will 20-Squad be gone for good?" because we know it won't be.

Otherwise, you'd have to rename the show.

(OK, so I guess 20-Squad could just shift to 50-Squad so you wouldn't need a whole new cast...but in that case, it wouldn't be so dramatic)

At the very least, the departmental restructuring storyline should have been its own episode. There's easily enough material there to make it work, and if they needed to pad it out, perhaps we should have had Hondo come back home and live back in LA while still on his time off, still unsure of things but perhaps realizing he missed home too much.

Then we could have actually seen the conversation Deacon and Hondo had to have had before Deacon decides to take over the team- and perhaps convince Hondo to come back.

It feels like a great disservice for the talk Deacon and Hondo had to occur off-screen. That's too important a narrative point to wave off.

Of course, that was then. It seems like now we'll have a team with Hondo on it but with Deacon in charge. For how long, I don't know.

...and I guess "Streelonso" is a thing now. Oh well.

I'm just glad this mess of a two-parter is finished. They still need to clean up the rest of the messes they've made though.

[Raja]

I consider S.W.A.T. a cousin to gun porn, being tactical porn. Maybe I missed an earlier explanation but C-4 does not explode when shot.  Being extremely stable under battlefield conditions is what made it a ground breaking and long time in service munition.

[DanaK]

I enjoyed the 2 parter in spite of the implausibility of 2 people taking on a group of paramilitary soldiers and winning. Those guys should give whatever they were paid to charity for such poor work

[Snazzy Daisy]

Charro to Hondo:

“If we wait for our leaders to show us honour, we will be waiting too long.”

Yeah, Hondo is back baby! 😘

Chris x Street - KIV 👍🏻

So, who will be the next Commanding Officer after Luca said no?

[nittany cougar]

I don't understand how Chris and Street were holding hands at work knowing that they would both be in huge trouble if someone walked in saw them.  I thought that part of their deal was trying to keep their relationship professional while at work.

[WinJet0819]

1 hour ago, nittany cougar said:

I don't understand how Chris and Street were holding hands at work knowing that they would both be in huge trouble if someone walked in saw them.  I thought that part of their deal was trying to keep their relationship professional while at work.

Unbelievable. This show is going to devolve into being unwatchable with this crap happening. Same with SEAL Team. Christina, the only female member of the SWAT team, being relegated to this. Shame.

[Sweet Tooth]

On 10/8/2021 at 6:37 PM, Danielg342 said:

Not sure how the town's police chief could overlook that, especially when Charles said, in the last episode, that the chief would never look the other way over murder.

To be fair, he said that before he became disillusioned with his boss when he brought him the hammer that killed the dad, and he was like, "So what?" And basically he only did the right thing at the end to save face, not because it was the right thing to do. Charles thought he wasn't corrupt and then found out how wrong he was.

That chief was so corrupt, that once the big cheese lost all his power, he didn't care who did what. His officer could say he killed the kid, and the chief would be like, "Okay."

I didn't see the chief caring much about anything except looking good, so that was a handwave for me.

On 10/8/2021 at 6:37 PM, Danielg342 said:

Oh, and four, Deacon calling back to the episode where Hondo stood up for Hicks was a fantastic reminder to Hicks not to be so smug about his own job.

That was an excellent moment. he really was patting himself on the back there, before Deacon put him in his place. Deacon really is the parent of everyone, scolding those who need to be scolded. 

On 10/8/2021 at 6:37 PM, Danielg342 said:

It feels like a great disservice for the talk Deacon and Hondo had to occur off-screen. That's too important a narrative point to wave off.

I didn't get the feeling they talked. Deacon was just about to hand out the new assignments and was going on about what Hondo WOULD say. He seemed just as surprised as everyone else. 

On 10/8/2021 at 6:37 PM, Danielg342 said:

...and I guess "Streelonso" is a thing now. Oh well.

Like we ever had a doubt. We'll see what happens now that they know they're staying on the same team.

Sorry. Was away for a bit and was catching up on the episodes.

[Danielg342]

On 10/18/2021 at 4:47 AM, Sweet Tooth said:

I didn't get the feeling they talked. Deacon was just about to hand out the new assignments and was going on about what Hondo WOULD say. He seemed just as surprised as everyone else. 

I assumed when the episode aired that Deacon assumed the role of 20-David because, in order for 20-Squad to remain, they would have needed a Sargent to lead them and Deacon was the only one. They made no indication that someone else was coming in take charge of the team.

[Sweet Tooth]

26 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

I assumed when the episode aired that Deacon assumed the role of 20-David because, in order for 20-Squad to remain, they would have needed a Sargent to lead them and Deacon was the only one. They made no indication that someone else was coming in take charge of the team.

I can see where that assumption could be made. It was all a bit ambiguous.