S02.E03: Leverage

[WendyCR72]

Airing October 24, 2021:

Quote

McCall is hired by a concerned mother who suspects her teen son has joined a local gang, leading McCall to the boy’s surprising motivation behind his spiraling behavior. Also, Delilah faces anxiety as she prepares to speak at her friend Jason’s memorial service, and Dante worries when the new detective pursuing McCall sets his sights on unmasking the people closest to her.

 

[paigow]

The gang has links to Saudi dissidents

Delilah is so upset about Jason that she thought a weekend of teen debauchery in Philly would soothe her nerves...

BTW How long ago did Jason die in show time?

[blackwing]

17 hours ago, paigow said:

The gang has links to Saudi dissidents

Delilah is so upset about Jason that she thought a weekend of teen debauchery in Philly would soothe her nerves...

BTW How long ago did Jason die in show time?

I think the Megan Thee Stallion ticket was bought a while back, so maybe Jason was supposed to go with the group.

I thought in the first episode they mentioned that Delilah has been living at her dad's place for the past month?  Maybe I misheard.  Perhaps the family had the funeral/burial fairly quickly (maybe it was a private ceremony) and now they are getting ready to have a memorial service for friends.

[paigow]

Maybe this was supposed to be episode 1...

[Starchild]

So, watching this it occurred to me that if this was the old Edward Woodward version, the story would have stopped with the first gang. The story would be McCall trying to help this kid get away from this gang.

But the 21st century version has to have every simple case turn into some big conspiracy involving multiple entities and/or international espionage and/or ultra-capitalist assholes manipulating the little guy. 

It's the simplicity that made the old show better. One of my favourite episodes was that one about the struggle between the community clinic and the street gang, and how the lady who ran the clinic didn't want McCall to use violence to help them, which meant he had to find another way.

Simple, human story. Those were the days.

[janeta]

I freely admit I lost track of which gang was which about halfway through.

That scene with Dante and Mallory in the car at the end was great. 😁

[WendyCR72]

2 hours ago, Starchild said:

So, watching this it occurred to me that if this was the old Edward Woodward version, the story would have stopped with the first gang. The story would be McCall trying to help this kid get away from this gang.

But the 21st century version has to have every simple case turn into some big conspiracy involving multiple entities and/or international espionage and/or ultra-capitalist assholes manipulating the little guy. 

It's the simplicity that made the old show better. One of my favourite episodes was that one about the struggle between the community clinic and the street gang, and how the lady who ran the clinic didn't want McCall to use violence to help them, which meant he had to find another way.

Simple, human story. Those were the days.

Well, that may have something to do with the writers/creators of Castle being involved as producers (along with the creator of the Edward Woodward version as yet another producer).

Terri Edda Miller and Andrew Marlowe, Castle creators (and husband/wife team), ruined Castle (IMO!) with making a simple death of the female lead's mother into some conspiracy where even the Big Bads had an even Bigger Bad behind them and so forth. And it dragged that show down.

Sadly, it looks like neither learned anything from that.

[possibilities]

I didn't hate Delilah this time.

 

[Trini]

Harry got a haircut! Yay!!

[paigow]

Water defuses bomb??? The Hurt Locker would have been a lot shorter...

[paigow]

The CIA seems to develop "Assets" - blackmail, entrapment, coercion- just like the DEA... yet McCall seems surprised... 

[Raja]

On 10/25/2021 at 5:23 AM, paigow said:

The CIA seems to develop "Assets" - blackmail, entrapment, coercion- just like the DEA... yet McCall seems surprised... 

Presumably those are foreigners so no harm to those the CIA and McCall was sworn to protect.

I remember a Law & Order murder was set were a kid sent in by NYPD got killed instead escaping. I guess the DEA agents remain free because Malik was technically  an adult in this story.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Raja

[mythoughtis]

1 hour ago, paigow said:

The CIA seems to develop "Assets" - blackmail, entrapment, coercion- just like the DEA... yet McCall seems surprised... 

Was she surprised or just disgusted ?  She’s commented in prior episodes that she quit the agency because she  found the CIA’s tactics not to her liking. 

[SnapHappy]

I didn't want to slap the crap out of Delilah this episode, so I guess that's progress. 

Mallory needs to just keep stepping on his dick, and I'll be happy.  Dante can go along for the ride with Robyn, as long as they don't get too close.  Feeding each other info so each is successful in their cases is the best of both worlds. 

Gorgeous cream fleck V-neck Robyn wore in the beginning, with the leather jeans. I'll assume very cashmere & very expensive.  And a fabulous Givenchy hoodie.  Never thought I'd ever type that, but it rocked.  *LOL*

[Silver-hyren]

On 10/21/2021 at 5:23 PM, blackwing said:

I thought in the first episode they mentioned that Delilah has been living at her dad's place for the past month?  Maybe I misheard.  Perhaps the family had the funeral/burial fairly quickly (maybe it was a private ceremony) and now they are getting ready to have a memorial service for friends.

I got the impression it was a memorial the school was putting on.  The funeral was definitely at the end of last season so could have been the end of the school year. School admins may have wanted to give the kids the summer to process/grieve so planned the memorial for the start of the next school year.

[dwmarch]

I think it's kind of hilarious how Det. Dante and the other cop have this low-level conflict going on which is mostly fueled by this show's NYPD consisting of a single office where everyone is always in earshot of everyone else. It reminds me of 24 where the only times anyone went to the bathroom was to make sneaky phone calls. But at least with CTU the characters were all locked in together. Here they just ignore how absurdly vast the NYPD actually is. I remember one post 9/11 New Years celebration where it was mentioned that there would be 10,000 cops in Times Square alone. That's more than the population of the town I grew up in and that would make for one very crowded precinct.

3 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

Gorgeous cream fleck V-neck Robyn wore in the beginning, with the leather jeans. I'll assume very cashmere & very expensive.  And a fabulous Givenchy hoodie.  Never thought I'd ever type that, but it rocked.  *LOL*

That was a great look. I also loved Melody's looks in this episode too. I don't think long leather skirts are meant to pair with flannel shirts but she made it work. Same with the leather shorts which I think are difficult to make look good with anything. Her DEA agent garb was great too. You could totally buy that she's on the take because style like that doesn't come cheap!

[milkyaqua]

I wondered when Mallory would get a clue that Dante was probably his best way to Robyn since he probably has no idea who her actual associates are.

Delilah was tolerable this epi (more of this show) but it probably won't last.

Yes, this scheme was a bit byzantine but it got the result needed.  Those DEA agents didn't look too happy at the end there.  Also, how did the kid not suffer any blowback from that article about the DEA?  He was so worried about his scholarship but the DEA didn't respond back or were the kid and his mom kept anonymous?  Did any other folks roped into the DEA's plans come forward as well?

I'm still amazed that no one has been able to ID Robyn.  Seriously, her picture hasn't been sent to every law enforcement agency there is?  If NYPD can release a press statement, why not the picture that was captured of her?  Seriously show?

Also, standard TV/movie practice, there's only one police or fire precinct that responds to EVERY call.

Edited October 25, 2021 by milkyaqua

[possibilities]

I have no idea what the real life offices look like these days, but I've been watching old Barney Miller episodes, and the contrast between their squad room and the one on this show makes me laugh a lot.

[SnapHappy]

4 hours ago, dwmarch said:

That was a great look. I also loved Melody's looks in this episode too. I don't think long leather skirts are meant to pair with flannel shirts but she made it work. Same with the leather shorts which I think are difficult to make look good with anything. Her DEA agent garb was great too. You could totally buy that she's on the take because style like that doesn't come cheap!

The flannel shirt was awesome, especially with the huge statement necklace & shorts.  I love her style. And yep, the Miss DEA look was spot on for an agent that *ahem* may look the other way at a bust.....

[blackwing]

I too lost track of which gang was which.  I get that they were rival gang leaders trying to encroach on each other's territory.  Malik went to a party in Jersey and accidentally came home to Queens with drugs.  So the DEA wanted to turn him into their mole.  How did they explain how he could just start showing up to the one gang leader's house (Lorenzo?) and what was he supposed to do there?  New kid who wanted to buy drugs?  Or was he supposed to be selling the drugs on the street for Lorenzo?  Then I guess they wanted to test him so sent him in to kill the other leader in the barber shop?

I did like how Robyn and Mel each got one of the gang leaders to trust them.  I liked the amazement of the DEA agent that she got them to both wear a wire.

So what happens to Malik and his mom now?  Are they going to be put into protection?  Those gangs should be huge, surely the feds/cops didn't arrest every single person in those gangs.  Somebody is going to be able to track down Malik eventually.

I did like the Delilah storyline, she was having a rough time with her friend's death, especially how people would say things and they didn't even know him.  I liked how Robyn was there for her and encouraged her to let people know who he was.

23 hours ago, Raja said:

I remember a Law & Order murder was set were a kid sent in by NYPD got killed instead escaping. I guess the DEA agents remain free because Malik wastechnically  an adult in this story.

That whole part didn't seem realistic to me.  Are they getting fired because they used Malik in their operation?  They technically gave him a choice, they could have charged him or he could be their mole.  Which seems a bit heavy handed, but I would assume this operation wasn't solely run by these two.  Surely someone higher up would have approved of it.  Or more people would have been involved than just these two.

[paigow]

31 minutes ago, blackwing said:

That whole part didn't seem realistic to me.  Are they getting fired because they used Malik in their operation? 

They are getting fired / demoted because the operation was off-book / unauthorized.

[possibilities]

1 hour ago, paigow said:

They are getting fired / demoted because the operation was off-book / unauthorized.

...and it led to bad publicity. 

 

[milkyaqua]

52 minutes ago, possibilities said:

...and it led to bad publicity. 

Never under estimate bad publicity.  Although sometimes it does nothing at all.  If not those two, someone else at the DEA will be back to doing the same thing as soon as the dust settles.

[Evagirl]

Would you believe I'm still on the fence about this show?  I want to like it b/c I loved the movie version with D. Washington.  I think I would like the TV series if they had made the Equalizer a lone wolf - like in the movie.  No family ties to get in the way.  There's just no way Robyn can do all the stuff she does and remain anonymous.  She's all over the place.  There's even a video or two of her out there somewhere.  IMO, the series would be better had they given her a real job (like in the movie) and let her moonlight the equalizer stuff (off the grid so to speak).  This in your face thing just doesn't cut it.  Now the cop who's out to bring her down knows what she looks and sounds like - its crazy and totally unbelievable.  All a person has to do is tail Dante for a while and they will eventually see he and Robyn talking.  After that it's just a matter of following Robyn home or to the secret tech den she's fond of visiting.  However, this is television and it is entertainment.  If I want real stuff, there's always the ID channel.

[WendyCR72]

36 minutes ago, Evagirl said:

Would you believe I'm still on the fence about this show?  I want to like it b/c I loved the movie version with D. Washington.  I think I would like the TV series if they had made the Equalizer a lone wolf - like in the movie.  No family ties to get in the way.  There's just no way Robyn can do all the stuff she does and remain anonymous.  She's all over the place.  There's even a video or two of her out there somewhere.  IMO, the series would be better had they given her a real job (like in the movie) and let her moonlight the equalizer stuff (off the grid so to speak).  This in your face thing just doesn't cut it.  Now the cop who's out to bring her down knows what she looks and sounds like - its crazy and totally unbelievable.  All a person has to do is tail Dante for a while and they will eventually see he and Robyn talking.  After that it's just a matter of following Robyn home or to the secret tech den she's fond of visiting.  However, this is television and it is entertainment.  If I want real stuff, there's always the ID channel.

But the formula with Robyn McCall/Queen Latifah and Robert McCall/Edward Woodward was the starting formula. It was the movie that changed things. But if it is the lone wolf quality you like, I suggest finding DVDs of the original 1986 CBS series (with its very '80s instrumental theme - I miss show theme songs!). Yes, Robert McCall had a grown son that would pop up, but it seemed to be infrequent. Other than that, he worked for CONTROL (some shadow organization) and did his Equalizer bit via want ads (ah, the '80s!) and basically alone.

[WendyCR72]

I just saw that there is a complete series package of the original '80s series for $39.99 on Amazon, for anyone curious and/or interested

 

[Raja]

4 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

But the formula with Robyn McCall/Queen Latifah and Robert McCall/Edward Woodward was the starting formula. It was the movie that changed things. But if it is the lone wolf quality you like, I suggest finding DVDs of the original 1986 CBS series (with its very '80s instrumental theme - I miss show theme songs!). Yes, Robert McCall had a grown son that would pop up, but it seemed to be infrequent. Other than that, he worked for CONTROL (some shadow organization) and did his Equalizer bit via want ads (ah, the '80s!) and basically alone.

He did have his reoccurring associates like Kostameyer being his sniper instead of Melody.  "Control" was his former handler/boss like M in the James Bond series Bishop would be the nearest counterpart.

Of course in the 80s McCall couldn't be caught on camera like Robin. But walking into a DEA office and daring them to run her non existing prints would blow away an real keeping of a secret 

[michelec]

56 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

I just saw that there is a complete series package of the original '80s series for $39.99 on Amazon, for anyone curious and/or interested

 

Thanks for the heads up. Just added it to my wishlist.

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

He did have his reoccurring associates like Kostameyer being his sniper instead of Melody.  "Control" was his former handler/boss like M in the James Bond series Bishop would be the nearest counterpart.

Of course in the 80s McCall couldn't be caught on camera like Robin. But walking into a DEA office and daring them to run her non existing prints would blow away an real keeping of a secret 

Robert did have help, but by and large, it seemed like he was alone with the one needing help more often? But then, I was 14 or so when the original series aired, and it has been a while since I dug out my DVDs.

What strikes me is the number of well known/up and coming actors that would appear on the original, i.e. Tony Shalhoub, JT Walsh, Vincent D'Onofrio (if I recall, he appeared twice as two different characters; one as a villain, one as needing McCall's help), Michael Moriarty (the last two here later becoming part of the Law & Order franchise), John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and so many more.

And Stewart Copeland of The Police really did a kickass theme. Wish this version used a riff from it.

[EtheltoTillie]

3 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Robert did have help, but by and large, it seemed like he was alone with the one needing help more often? But then, I was 14 or so when the original series aired, and it has been a while since I dug out my DVDs.

What strikes me is the number of well known/up and coming actors that would appear on the original, i.e. Tony Shalhoub, JT Walsh, Vincent D'Onofrio (if I recall, he appeared twice as two different characters; one as a villain, one as needing McCall's help), Michael Moriarty (the last two here later becoming part of the Law & Order franchise, and so many more.

And Stewart Copeland of The Police really did a kickass theme. Wish this version used a riff from it.

This is really true of any vintage show, but it's always been one of my favorite things about watching old shows.  The other week I caught young Beau Bridges on My Three Sons. 

[Daff]

23 hours ago, Evagirl said:

There's just no way Robyn can do all the stuff she does and remain anonymous.  She's all over the place.  There's even a video or two of her out there somewhere.

My thought on this is that between Harry and the CIA, anything “searchable” is washed fairly quickly. It’s never been addressed explicitly, but her continued contact with Noth’s character is a sure sign they don’t want her burned (yet). 

[possibilities]

She's crazy reckless, but I also think part of her strategy is to use that bravado (here are my fingerprints! go ahead, I dare you to find them in file somewhere!) to intimidate. She wants them to think she's not just a vigilante, but that she's actually an operative for an agency more powerful than they are-- so they will leave her alone. It's a risky bluff, but if she has Harry AND the CIA trying to cover her tracks, I guess she has reason to think it's worth the risk. 

[paigow]

Only boss badass spies are erased. If the prints come back as a dead 85 year old lady from Albany, then that person is a mini boss....

[Johannah]

On 10/26/2021 at 9:28 AM, blackwing said:

...

So what happens to Malik and his mom now?  Are they going to be put into protection?  Those gangs should be huge, surely the feds/cops didn't arrest every single person in those gangs.  Somebody is going to be able to track down Malik eventually.

...

I can fanwank that they won't bother him.  The head guys are arrested, the new guys will be building their own empire and they might not even be sure Malik had anything to do with the previous boss's downfall.  Melody played FBI with the gang that saw Robyn with Malik and Robyn played FBI with the gang that couldn't connect them. [Wait, did either gang see Malik and Robyn together?  or were they only together at the FBI office?]  I doubt the bosses will be comparing notes in prison.  I also doubt the reporter named names - probably not Malik's or either of the gangs and if the article was vague enough, nobody would make the connection - especially gang members that don't read the paper.

Not that I would take the chance and would hightail my ass out of town ASAP.

[possibilities]

They put Malik and his mother in a "safe house" so to me that means witness protection. But I guess it wasn't formal witness protection, since it was Melody and Robyn doing it, and not the feds. It wasn't clear to me whether they meant to keep them underground til things blew over, or if it was meant that they were permanently getting new lives.