S05.E13: Short Fuse

[thewhiteowl]

When a terminally ill inmate escapes from a hospital determined to settle old scores before he dies, SWAT must team up with a longtime rival of Hicks to protect the fugitive’s targets. Also, Nichelle faces a life-changing event that affects her relationship with Hondo.

[Danielg342]

This could have been a good episode...I just think this was too disjointed.

The subplots with Nichelle and Marta could have- and perhaps should have- been expanded upon. To have those stories inside of an episode where Hicks was, essentially, the "main" guy really muddied things.

This should have been about the bomber with a subplot of Hicks trying to figure out how to work with his erstwhile friend. There certainly was enough to make an entire episode about it and it certainly would have made the storytelling much tighter.

I also felt we got too much of a dose of Hollywood bombcraft in this episode. I admit, I'm not the greatest expert when it comes to bombs and how they work, but those bombs worked a little too conveniently for the plot. Usually defusing bombs isn't simply about cutting the "right" wire or putting a clamp in the right spot. They're far more complicated than that, and it would take a lot longer for Agent Kaminski to walk through Hicks into correctly defusing the bomb than it did on the show. It would probably take too long for Kaminski to explain everything in enough time to defuse the bomb anyway, so both he and Hicks would be toast.

Which is why, in real life, robots usually do the task of defusing bombs. Too risky to get a human involved...but then it's less dramatic.

As for the Nichelle subplot...well, Rochelle Aytes really nailed it. The only other thing I'll mention about it is that I'm not sure Hondo really thought through his response to Nichelle at the end there. Sure, they're serious but neither of them had- to my knowledge- even broached the idea of marriage, and now Hondo is saying he wants a kid with her?

To paraphrase the great Matt Riddle..."Bruh, seriously?"

Arguably, having a kid is more of a commitment than marriage is. Marriages can be annulled, a kid truly is forever. Once you birth one, there is no going back. You are stuck with that kid for the rest of your life, also meaning you are stuck with your co-parent for the rest of your life too, because you're supposed to raise the kid together.

This isn't a decision you make on a whim, like whether or not you want to try the new burger place down the road. It's a commitment, one you have to really be sure you want before you make it.

...and Hondo making the decision sure doesn't sound like he really understands the gravity of making that decision. He sounds too wrapped up in his love with Nichelle as well as the emotions of having to deal with the adoption going sideways, so he made a rash decision. Not that I think- or hope- it'll be a bad decision but it's a little cringe-y that Hondo went too much with his heart on this decision and not enough with his brain.

Side note- I don't think Hondo was acting out of character. It's totally in character for him to make emotional decisions...I'm just not sure he should have made that decision, right then and there, without thinking about it a bit more. Perhaps Hondo making the decision to want a kid with Nichelle should have been in another episode, because something like that should be a major event on its own.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Too much storylines, Chris’ story can actually be excluded from this episode.

Great acting by Patrick St. Esprit.👍🏻

Nichelle, it’s great that Hondo is finally willing to commit to a certain extent but please be careful girl. Having a baby is your dream, not his. Never ever forget how easy he broke your heart & changed his mind before. 

Edited March 15, 2022 by SnazzyDaisy
Spelling

[Danielg342]

1 hour ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

Nichelle, it’s great that Hondo is finally willing to commit to a certain extent but please be careful girl. Having a baby is your dream, not his. Never ever forget how easy he broke your heart & changed his mine before. 

Well, Hondo has at least told Nichelle that he's learned from his mistakes, and I'm sure he's well aware of the harmful effects of his own father leaving him and his siblings, so I would think Hondo would not want to repeat that.

(I also doubt the show would actually go the route of Hondo abandoning Nichelle and their kid, but that's a whole other matter)

Still, if Nichelle questioned it I would not be surprised. Given Hondo's history, how could she not? I just hope they don't play it up too much if they do go with that dramatic beat.

[nittany cougar]

On 3/13/2022 at 11:34 PM, Danielg342 said:

This could have been a good episode...I just think this was too disjointed.

The subplots with Nichelle and Marta could have- and perhaps should have- been expanded upon. To have those stories inside of an episode where Hicks was, essentially, the "main" guy really muddied things.

This should have been about the bomber with a subplot of Hicks trying to figure out how to work with his erstwhile friend. There certainly was enough to make an entire episode about it and it certainly would have made the storytelling much tighter.

I also felt we got too much of a dose of Hollywood bombcraft in this episode. I admit, I'm not the greatest expert when it comes to bombs and how they work, but those bombs worked a little too conveniently for the plot. Usually defusing bombs isn't simply about cutting the "right" wire or putting a clamp in the right spot. They're far more complicated than that, and it would take a lot longer for Agent Kaminski to walk through Hicks into correctly defusing the bomb than it did on the show. It would probably take too long for Kaminski to explain everything in enough time to defuse the bomb anyway, so both he and Hicks would be toast.

Which is why, in real life, robots usually do the task of defusing bombs. Too risky to get a human involved...but then it's less dramatic.

As for the Nichelle subplot...well, Rochelle Aytes really nailed it. The only other thing I'll mention about it is that I'm not sure Hondo really thought through his response to Nichelle at the end there.

...and Hondo making the decision sure doesn't sound like he really understands the gravity of making that decision. He sounds too wrapped up in his love with Nichelle as well as the emotions of having to deal with the adoption going sideways, so he made a rash decision. Not that I think- or hope- it'll be a bad decision but it's a little cringe-y that Hondo went too much with his heart on this decision and not enough with his brain.

I view it as Hondo trying to be a responsive partner to Nichelle and perhaps going overboard with that because he is afraid of losing her.

My question is, if they are getting into Hondo and Nichelle having a kid, are they going to talk about the challenges of having a kid in your forties (or whatever age these characters are)?  I don't see someone as uncommitted as Hondo , with such a high stress law enforcement job, suddenly turning into a soccer dad.

On the Chris storyline, I think that she is that she is in some way working out her own issues by taking care of the women at the safe house.  Chris has a history of assault, which has been brought up on the show at least twice before.  Maybe she is trying to heal herself by helping others who have been assaulted. It seemed to me that she was avoiding the date with Street.  Court should not have interfered with her date, as courts usually run 8-5-ish. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by nittany cougar

[Danielg342]

20 hours ago, nittany cougar said:

My question is, if they are getting into Hondo and Nichelle having a kid, are they going to talk about the challenges of having a kid in your forties (or whatever age these characters are)?  I don't see someone as uncommitted as Hondo , with such a high stress law enforcement job, suddenly turning into a soccer dad.

I can see this going in one of two ways, and it depends on the show's ultimate future.

If the show gets to a S7- and I think that's a mighty big if- I doubt we will eventually get anything more than, a few times per season, a line or two about Hondo having an issue with his kid with at most Hondo getting advice from Deacon who's successfully managed to juggle family life with his job.

If, though, the show is done after S6 (running as a full season or a series of episodes just meant to bring the series itself closure), perhaps Hondo's kid is going to lead to Hondo's eventual exit from SWAT, as he retires and devotes himself to full-time duties as a father. It would be similar to how Shemar Moore's character on Criminal Minds departed that show, so I could see this show perhaps reprising that storyline, especially considering Rochelle Aytes also played Derek Morgan's girlfriend on that show too.

(Don't know if Morgan and Savannah legally married on CM or just stuck with the common law designation...my memory is hazy on that front. I also wonder if S.W.A.T. will decide to name Hondo's kid Hank, just like Morgan did on CM)

That's as far as I can see the show eventually exploring Hondo's fatherhood. I don't think we'll get real drama for a variety of reasons. One, Deacon can juggle four kids and his job, so there's no reason why Hondo couldn't. Two, the tone and the setting of the show just doesn't jibe with Hondo facing real difficulties in raising his kid. Even though Hondo is the central character and his life beyond work has been expanded far more than you might expect on a procedural (and far more than his supporting characters' lives have been), the show's premise is still about telling the stories about the team, so there's a limit to how far they can really explore a character's personal life.

Plus, despite some of its subject matter, this show is very sunny and optimistic...idealistic, if you will. Hondo facing real issues with his child would greatly upset that balance, maybe even irreparably so. S.W.A.T. fumbled badly when they tried to have a deep, impactful storyline with Erika's death so I don't know how much I'd like the show to go, tonally, down that road again.

Finally, and maybe most importantly from a storycraft standpoint, is the fact that S.W.A.T. has spent so much time establishing that Hondo was deeply hurt by how his father abandoned him as a child, purportedly because Hondo Sr. couldn't handle the stresses of being a father. The show has taken that man, a person who was utterly despised by his own children and one who I openly questioned could be redeemed as a character, and morphed him back into the wholesome, loveable father and family man that he should be. With his family also happily reunited again.

I don't know how the show could put in that much work into reviving Hondo Sr., doing so over the course of five seasons, emphasizing that family really does win out in the end...and then turn around and have Hondo Jr. abandon his kid.

It just wouldn't feel right.

The most I could see the show doing in this regard would be having Hondo Jr. think about abandoning his wife and his kid, only to change his mind after Hondo Sr. gives him a pep talk (which Senior might appreciate considering the pep talks between him and Junior have been all one-sided so far, with good reason) and tells his own kid, "don't make the same mistake I did, son."

Anything more...and it would feel like a total regression and a betrayal of his character. It'd be cheap drama, plain and simple. We can't have a narrative that emphasized how hurt Hondo felt by his father's betrayal, meaning Hondo would know the impact of a father abandoning his kid, as well as a narrative that worked so hard to reunite the Harrelsons and finally give them the committed father they lacked, only for that same narrative to have Hondo Jr. ditch his kid and betray the family that he was making?

What good does it do Hondo to work so hard to repair his father's family only for him to destroy the family he created?

Sure, there's the old adage, "we become our parents", but here's an opportunity for Hondo to actually prove that he can do better than his own father. I can't see a man as driven as Hondo is not taking that opportunity.

Perhaps if this show was just beginning we could have had Hondo abandoning his family, like his own father did, as a backstory.

Perhaps, too, if this was a show about Hondo and was considerably darker and more cynical, perhaps Junior making the same mistake as Senior does might be a beat to play just to see where you can go with it, but, even then I'd be cautious about doing it.

So if anyone was looking forward to some serious family drama...well, sorry to burst your bubble. The most we'll get is likely some amusing scene where Hondo stumbles into work because the baby kept him up all night, with the gang laughing at him because they knew that would happen. Hondo shrugs it off as he drinks the entire coffee pot, just to drive the point home more, and then we get back to the explosions and the car chases and the wannabe militias the show is hunting this week.

Idealistic? Sure. Realistic...well, I don't know. Could the show do it any other way? Maybe, but I don't think they really can nor should they even try. Here's an opportunity to display some real growth in the Hondo character...the show really can't afford to mess that up.