S05.E11: Old School Cool

[thewhiteowl]

Hondo and the team race to locate the hacker responsible for accessing LAPD’s computers and revealing the identities of undercover officers before the leaked intelligence has fatal consequences. Also, Street is forced to reckon with past misdeeds.

[Danielg342]

According to The Futon Critic, this episode is now scheduled to air February 27, 2022. A bummer, but at least there is a return date.

[Danielg342]

That was fun. Disjointed and jarring because the pace was off, but it still held my attention throughout.

Surprised Wil Wheaton didn't turn out to be the bad guy, but methinks he'll be back and, hey, it's always great to see Wesley back on TV again.

Pretty sure we'll also see more of Ortiz vs. Deacon. I don't believe we've seen Ortiz before but something tells me that we're not done with him. It was also great seeing Deacon's Catholic side in action.

The hazing storyline was also a great one. I'm glad Deacon stepped up and put the dummies in their place. I also appreciated the nuance of seeing just how bad hazing can affect people. There might be those who will be disappointed that Street and Amanda Ross didn't make up at the end, but I thought it was fitting. Those wounds run deep and a few words won't fix it. At least Street was man enough to go there in person and own up to what he did, even if he didn't get the desired result.

As far as I can tell from The Futon Critic's listings, we should get a nice run of episodes throughout March before there's a break (likely for the NCAA men's basketball championship game) before the 100th episode, scheduled to air April 10.

[BooksRule]

18 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Surprised Wil Wheaton didn't turn out to be the bad guy, but methinks he'll be back and, hey, it's always great to see Wesley back on TV again.

Me, too.  I fully expected him to turn out to be Shadowboxx (or whatever the guy's name was).  I would like to see Wheaton come back now and then as part of the cybercrime team. 

Edited February 28, 2022 by BooksRule

[Danielg342]

2 hours ago, BooksRule said:

Me, too.  I fully expected him to turn out to be Shadowboxx (or whatever the guy's name was).  I would like to see Wheaton come back now and then as part of the cybercrime team. 

Maybe that was part of the thinking behind casting Wil Wheaton- to play with the idea that the famous guest star has to be the suspect. There certainly were moments where I expected Wheaton to be revealed to be Shadowbox or the one who is directing Shadowbox, and maybe the show wanted to go there at first before deciding otherwise. I'd also love to see Wheaton come back every now and then- maybe not as a regular cast member but as a dedicated cybercrime expert the team calls when they need to. Certainly they can't have Wheaton's one appearance be in this episode.

[Sweet Tooth]

3 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Maybe that was part of the thinking behind casting Wil Wheaton- to play with the idea that the famous guest star has to be the suspect. There certainly were moments where I expected Wheaton to be revealed to be Shadowbox or the one who is directing Shadowbox

Usually when a person who's supposedly always been around just kind of shows up out of the blue, I'm immediately suspicious. But when they're played by a recognizable face, that suspicion goes up quite a bit.

I'm glad they didn't go in that direction, as I really like Wil, and I wanted him to stick around. When someone is the bad guy, I know they have a much shorter shelf life.

On 2/27/2022 at 8:18 PM, Danielg342 said:

The hazing storyline was also a great one. I'm glad Deacon stepped up and put the dummies in their place. I also appreciated the nuance of seeing just how bad hazing can affect people. There might be those who will be disappointed that Street and Amanda Ross didn't make up at the end, but I thought it was fitting. Those wounds run deep and a few words won't fix it. At least Street was man enough to go there in person and own up to what he did, even if he didn't get the desired result.

I liked this, too. I also thought it was realistic that the new recruit acted in a way so many women do who don't want to appear weak. They're so desperate to prove they're "one of the boys," that they'll put up with tons of crap and keep saying everything is fine.

I also really loved Chris' talk with Street at the end. The character growth she displayed with the part about learning how you can't change the past while also commending Street on going there and apologizing.

The Ortiz story took a terrifying turn. Agree that we haven't seen the last of him. He definitely threatened Deacon's family, and you do NOT get away with that in Deacon's world. 

My guess is that it will show back up in the finale. 

 

[nittany cougar]

On 2/27/2022 at 11:18 PM, Danielg342 said:

That was fun. Disjointed and jarring because the pace was off, but it still held my attention throughout.

Surprised Wil Wheaton didn't turn out to be the bad guy, but methinks he'll be back and, hey, it's always great to see Wesley back on TV again.

Pretty sure we'll also see more of Ortiz vs. Deacon. I don't believe we've seen Ortiz before but something tells me that we're not done with him. It was also great seeing Deacon's Catholic side in action.

The hazing storyline was also a great one. I'm glad Deacon stepped up and put the dummies in their place. I also appreciated the nuance of seeing just how bad hazing can affect people. There might be those who will be disappointed that Street and Amanda Ross didn't make up at the end, but I thought it was fitting. Those wounds run deep and a few words won't fix it. 

As a religious person myself, the Deacon storyline was the best part of the episode because  Deacon was just using his religion to try to help people but be wasn't preaching in their faces.   It was interesting how his instinct to help the prisoner conflicted with his professional obligation to maintain a distance from the people in his prayer group.  I liked his prayer about the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings.  Also, Jay Harrington looked hot as hell.

I liked the intent of the hazing storyline, but I do not buy that a nice guy like Street would steal a woman's clothes in the locker room.  Nevertheless, I think that it was cool of Street to seek her out and apologize.

i wish that they would either show a Chris and Street relationship or move on and have them just be friends.  Their interactions were so much more interesting before they became a non-couple. I realize that they cannot date and be in SWAT, but, even so, I feel that they should have had some more meaningful interaction at this point besides chatting about women's issues in the hallway at work. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by nittany cougar

[Danielg342]

32 minutes ago, nittany cougar said:

I liked his prayer about the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings.

I liked that too, though I do wonder what he does on days the Clippers and Lakers have to play each other. Thinking about it further, he did miss the Ducks- perhaps a local can clarify it for me, but I always thought Anaheim was close enough to Los Angeles to be considered part of the "local LA area".

38 minutes ago, nittany cougar said:

I liked the intent of the hazing storyline, but I do not buy that a nice guy like Street would steal a woman's clothes in the locker room.  Nevertheless, I think that it was cool of Street to seek her out and apologize.

I could see a younger Street perhaps bowing to peer pressure and wanting to "fit in among the guys" and thus feeling the need to pull a prank like that. Let's not forget Street began the series as an immature hotshot who not only took unnecessary risks in the field but also believed he could lie to Hondo and get away with it. Street has grown immensely since the series began, so I could see him getting away from his childish antics as part of that growth. Certainly him realizing he needed to find the woman he pranked and apologize in person is an indicator of the person he is now than what he was before, because I'm not sure even the Street of S1 would owned up to what he did the way he did in this episode.

[Sweet Tooth]

13 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I could see a younger Street perhaps bowing to peer pressure and wanting to "fit in among the guys" and thus feeling the need to pull a prank like that. Let's not forget Street began the series as an immature hotshot who not only took unnecessary risks in the field but also believed he could lie to Hondo and get away with it. Street has grown immensely since the series began, so I could see him getting away from his childish antics as part of that growth. Certainly him realizing he needed to find the woman he pranked and apologize in person is an indicator of the person he is now than what he was before, because I'm not sure even the Street of S1 would owned up to what he did the way he did in this episode.

I was going to say the same thing. When the series started, Street was a cocky S.O.B. I'm sure back in the day he would think that this was a harmless prank, not even recognizing for a moment that it would be demoralizing. 

So many of the characters have really grown throughout the series, and I really appreciate that, unlike other shows, they don't rely on them constantly backsliding to create drama.

[mythoughtis]

I would have  liked a scene at the academy where the story of the female cop leaving  to open a surf shop was discussed.  Street didn’t have to be revealed as being involved, but the story needed to be told.  People need to understand what affect hazing ( or bullying) can have. It’s not harmless 

[Raja]

On 3/1/2022 at 4:33 AM, Danielg342 said:

I liked that too, though I do wonder what he does on days the Clippers and Lakers have to play each other. Thinking about it further, he did miss the Ducks- perhaps a local can clarify it for me, but I always thought Anaheim was close enough to Los Angeles to be considered part of the "local LA area".

 

The Ducks are covered as local but hockey itself doesn't have a large local draw, especially with its season running at the same time as basketball. The Kings got over for two reasons in my opinion, secondarily Wayne Gretzky ending his career here like the soccer greats coming to America at the end of their careers as sort of a missionary for their sports. But more importantly changing their uniforms from Laker colors to Raider colors when gangsta  fashion became big. If the Ducks win a cup you will find people jumping on board.

Wil Wheaton the definition of being type or genre casting. He can't just play a role anymore as we all saw him as too big for a bit player and saw him as a mole.

It always surprises me knowing that they got Al Capone for taxes  that when hoods find an undercover amongst them instead of feesing false information as they risk going to prison for drug trafficking they will risk going to prison for murder.

[Danielg342]

8 hours ago, Raja said:

If the Ducks win a cup you will find people jumping on board.

The Ducks did win a Cup...in 2007. I know it has been almost 15 years (and this year's team likely won't break the drought), but I didn't think the effects of that would have worn off so quickly.

8 hours ago, Raja said:

The Kings got over for two reasons in my opinion, secondarily Wayne Gretzky ending his career here like the soccer greats coming to America at the end of their careers as sort of a missionary for their sports. But more importantly changing their uniforms from Laker colors to Raider colors when gangsta  fashion became big

Ah. That makes sense, though, minor quibble, Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Blues in March 1996 and actually ended his career in New York with the Rangers.