S04.E16: Real Crime

[WendyCR72]

Airing March 13, 2022:

Quote

Desperate to reset the way the world sees him, Officer Thorsen reluctantly decides to be a part of a reality show to help rebrand his image, only to be thrust back into yet another deadly situation. With cameras rolling, the show's producer is found murdered and the team must investigate before Aaron is made suspect number one.

 

[edhopper]

I thought it was a clever way to resolve the Thorsen storyline. Lots of misdirection, but you know it had to be one of the friends.

[shapeshifter]

The episode description is a little confusing, but we all know Thorsen's decision to do the reality show started at the beginning of the season, right?
Or maybe the episode description is referring to the reality show about the new murder? Now I'm confused. Was there a reality show about the reality show after the reality show guy was murdered?

Anyway, even though I've hated the reality show bit in all the previous episodes, I actually liked it in this one.
—But not enough to make me want to watch a real reality show, heh.   

I especially enjoyed the pairings of partners mildly arguing in front of the "camera."

I guess they had to make the Killer Friend (or is he "Friend Killer"?) look shady in the beginning or we'd be complaining he didn't seem like a killer?

Am I the only one who didn't notice until this episode that Mother Thoreson is played by Tamala Jones, aka Lainie on "Castle"?

 

Edited March 14, 2022 by shapeshifter

[chaifan]

OK, I know I criticize this show a lot, and at first I was rolling my eyes at this episode.  Then Bailey comes on, and I'm all, seriously?  She manages to interject herself into the story of the week again???  She just happened to be the EMT on call?  Oh, come on!  And then they pull out the hip hop dancer stuff, and then the capoeira instructor...  and then it hits me.  They're finally, finally!, letting us in on the joke.  The whole "Bailey can do everything" has been building, gradually, even with the oh, maybe she can't because she's a sucky artist thing last week.  But the writers are having a ball with this, and this is supposed to be funny.  Not ha ha funny, but deliberate over the top uber Mary Sue funny.  I think this was the first time I actually enjoyed having Bailey on screen.  I hope they just build on it, and every week adding one more crazy thing she's done/is good at.

And then Smitty!  O!M!G!  Smitty as Q.  Whatever the writing room was smoking that week, please, I want some.  That was Smitty gold.  I really don't know how they are going to top that, or even keep Smitty on the force after that revelation.  And the fact that Q was essentially born out of, oh crap, what was it... cough syrup (?) induced haze.  Whatever, it was damn funny.

I called the friend as the killer the moment he got out of the car, but it was fun to see how they got there, and what the motive was.  I'm glad they finally wrapped up that plot line.  Aaron and Nyla are great together.  I'm assuming Nyla will be out for some episodes for maternity leave (in real life and for the character), so I'm guessing they'll pair him with Nolan.

Other good things...  the Nolan & Lopez actors, and how much younger Nolan's guy was.  Wesley didn't irritate the hell out of me, for the second time this season.  Chen & Bradford - this is the only Chenford that I want in this show.  Her true crime geekiness wearing off on him by the end was great.

 

[shapeshifter]

I agree, @chaifan, that the writing on this episode was much more enjoyable. 
The pairings reminded me of the great "carguments" of the earlier episodes of  the Hawaii Five-0 reboot.

[Sandman]

Wade’s “Lord, give me strength” facepalm might be the most I’ve ever liked the character. Can you even imagine having Smitty “work for” you? 

Also, the very first words out of Gilles Marini’s Detective French Dude’s mouth are “Your accent is terrible”? Snerk. This show abandoned subtlety a long time ago, didn’t it?

Edited March 14, 2022 by Sandman
“Il n’y a pas de quoi!”

[MrWhyt]

of course Smitty is Q.

[Raja]

True Crime show must love it here. In the great city everything still happens and everyone lives in Mid-Wilshire. I think Detective Lopez was the most out of character moment, I would expect her to be a like Detective Harper certainly not being filmed in her home. And where was internal affairs detective to just sit in the room during the interview with Officer Thorsen, are we still with COVID protocols or just saving money.

I do wonder for the Sergeant Grey rookie picture did they just digitally remove the NYPD patch from his Brooklyn South season. I hope they keep Tim and Chen as a brother and sister relationship. The powers that be over at SWAT failed me with Street and Chris on that level. Of course Bailey was once a dancer.

A high Smitty outing himself as Q, there is a story down the line coming from that

Edited March 14, 2022 by Raja

[Netfoot]

First reaction: Ugh!

Second reaction: No more Aaron the Wrongly Accused, Murdering, Reality Star!!!

 

[HurricaneVal]

12 hours ago, chaifan said:

OK, I know I criticize this show a lot, and at first I was rolling my eyes at this episode.  Then Bailey comes on, and I'm all, seriously?  She manages to interject herself into the story of the week again???  She just happened to be the EMT on call?  Oh, come on!  And then they pull out the hip hop dancer stuff, and then the capoeira instructor...  and then it hits me.  They're finally, finally!, letting us in on the joke.  The whole "Bailey can do everything" has been building, gradually, even with the oh, maybe she can't because she's a sucky artist thing last week.  But the writers are having a ball with this, and this is supposed to be funny.  Not ha ha funny, but deliberate over the top uber Mary Sue funny.  I think this was the first time I actually enjoyed having Bailey on screen.  I hope they just build on it, and every week adding one more crazy thing she's done/is good at.

I know.  I did the same thing.  I was like "Oh.  Of course Bailey just happens to be the on-duty EMT for the crime scene." Then came the rest, and I just died laughing.  I hope they do build on it, and next week she'll be a retired race car driver, and the week after a deep sea salvage diver--whatever the case-of-the-week needs so far as expert help.  Bailey is like Debbie Wammer from Survivor 32 and 34 who was a little....odd....and claimed to have had multiple professions.  The editors had a running gag where they would put up a chyron with her occupation "Debbie - Chemist" then "Debbie - Dog walker" then the next episode "Debbie - part-time model" right after she'd have a confessional or other scene where she claimed a new occupation.  It was hysterical.  She, herself, was a wee bit unhinged as well.   

This has made the whole Bailey thing much more palatable.  Now I just think of it as Nolan dating Debbie from Survivor, and I'm good.

 

Smitty is Q.  That is all.

[milkyaqua]

3 hours ago, Raja said:

I do wonder for the Sergeant Grey rookie picture did they just digitally remove the NYPD patch from his Brooklyn South season.

I was hoping I wasn't the only one to notice that.

And yes, the Bailey is everywhere and has done everything is obviously TPTB having fun at this point.  I loved them interviewing her and adding all the different things she'd done to her description.

Smitty is Q (for Quigley for goodness' sakes!).  That explains so much.

 

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Am I the only one who didn't notice until this episode that Mother Thoreson is played by Tamala Jones, aka Lainie on "Castle"?

I kept saying I know I recognize her but from where.  And Don Franklin, it took me a minute to recognize him as well but I got him before Tamala.

I'm just glad this (seemingly) wraps up Thorsen's storyline and he can just be a rookie.  I like he and Nyla working together.

Lucy was her annoying self but as long as she and Tim are work friends I'm okay with that.

I was also surprised that Lopez let the reality folks into her home as well.

[Snazzy Daisy]

A more decent episode than last week. Good storytelling and concept.

Gilles Marini - yummeh! 😍

Lucy rapping and being her annoying self with Tim in the interviews are fun to watch.

Still don’t care about Angela and her husband.

So, no more “Aaron the killer” storyline, thank god!

2 very lame things: Bailey the hip hop dancer and stand-in EMT; plus Smitty the Q.

Stop forcing Bailey on us! It’s not a likeable character with mediocre actress. 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

[TAG42481]

I'm just glad it appears the reality show storyline is gone.  It.  Was.  Awful.

[auntiemel]

8 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Smitty is Q.  That is all.

It cracked me up even more that it was This is Us fan fiction gone awry. LOL.

[LaylaGirl]

On 3/14/2022 at 11:30 AM, milkyaqua said:

On 3/13/2022 at 9:25 PM, shapeshifter said:

Am I the only one who didn't notice until this episode that Mother Thoreson is played by Tamala Jones, aka Lainie on "Castle"?

I kept saying I know I recognize her but from where.  And Don Franklin, it took me a minute to recognize him as well but I got him before Tamala.

Thank you so much! I knew I should know her from somewhere and it was driving me crazy. I cheated on Don Franklin and saw his name in the credits...

[Sake614]

On 3/17/2022 at 2:49 AM, LaylaGirl said:

Thank you so much! I knew I should know her from somewhere and it was driving me crazy. I cheated on Don Franklin and saw his name in the credits...

Ditto! I kept looking at her and trying to figure out where I knew her from.

[juliet73]

I guess I'm in the minority because I thought this episode was stupid! The only parts were watching were Smitty being Q and Bradford being annoyed with the interview, Chen and the investigation in general.  

I liked Jackson and was disappointed when he left.  Thorsen is not a good replacement, IMO but at least his murder storyline is over. 

NO NO NO with Bailey.  She is the worst!  I don't understand why she is being forced on us so much!  None of Nolan's other girlfriends were so active in every episode and they were all so much better than Bailey. SO. MUCH. BETTER! 

 

[bros402]

I also did not like this episode - I just don't really care for episodes formatted like this. Honestly I would've liked it much more if they had made up a conspiracy theory instead of using one that is... way too close to home/violent - but I did like how he made up Q writing a This Is Us fanfic in a drug induced haze.

[mojito]

On 3/21/2022 at 8:48 PM, juliet73 said:

The only parts were watching were Smitty being Q and Bradford being annoyed with the interview, Chen and the investigation in general.  

I liked Harper being annoyed, too. She wouldn't repeat the dumb(bleep) title of the show or something like that. Wanting to know when the show would air because she said good things about Aaron but wanted to keep him hungry. I loved Lucy and Tim in another TV interview together. I'd enjoy Tim and Harper doing one together, too. 

Otherwise, I couldn't care less about Aaron's backstory. They could have depicted him as a normal cop, and I would've forgotten about his murder charge. 

[catsitter]

Up until this episode, I thought that Smitty was a nickname, not his real name.