S02.E04: Clementine

[Trini]

After finding himself in a bind, Dennis turns to Nicky for help, leading them to uncover an auto theft ring in Chinatown. Elsewhere, when an argument about family causes Henry and Nicky to have their first real fight, Henry reluctantly reconnects with his estranged father. Finally, Evan is forced to make a difficult decision that could cost him his job.

Richard Speight, Jr. directed the episode written by Richard Lowe.

Airdate: 3/30/2022

 

 

[paigow]

The explosives were on a timer???? WTF??? What if douchebag changes his mind and the car blows up before some other douchebag bids???

[Trini]

WHAT?! Oh man. Everyone thought extra DRAMA was going to be with Sebastian or Dennis, but it's with Henry! Well, I'm glad it's not Dennis, I want Althea's marriage to stay mostly drama free. Whatever Henry's father is into, I don't think it's connected to any of the stuff with the Tans, but we'll see, I guess.

See? I knew Nicky committing crimes (and involving everyone else) was going to come back to bite them! It was so obvious that it was a trap for Evan, though. Tan already has his own security footage of Nicky and Co. (is there a team name for them yet?), I wonder if he'll actually press charges? Probably not, because that's too boring for TV; but I can see him using that as leverage.

I just wonder what they're going to do with Evan if he's not the law enforcement liaison.

I was iffy about bringing Dennis into Team Nicky shenanigans, but it was fun seeing him with in the main plot. Poor Clementine, though.

Wow, it was kinda refreshing to see security guards be security guards and not thug/ninja/assassins. How often on TV do you have them actually tell their boss they're not doing whatever illegal thing.

No actual Mia in the episode, but we got some forward movement on finding her, so that's good.

[paigow]

Law & Order does not apply in San Francisco... The D.A. investigates AND prosecutes crimes....

[paigow]

8 hours ago, Trini said:

I just wonder what they're going to do with Evan if he's not the law enforcement liaison.

He will shoot bad guys with his hunting rifle

[william0102]

I thought that having just about everyone in on the main plot was great., and it mostly made sense in the ways that people were able to help. Love that Althea and Dennis got caught, making it a twist that Althea couldn't help with the jammers. So of course the car blows up, lol. Some of Nicky's lines worked, and she had the best lines, up and until, Althea's speech about Dennis not being perfect, that actually made me laugh out loud.

I appreciate that we didn't have little scenes with Mama Tan telling grandma, some of Evan dejected after getting fired, or Ryan trying to lie to get Mia's medical records. One, they probably just would have been ridiculous. Two, probably wouldn't have been covid shooting safe anyway trying to get footage of two of those shots. And three, it definitely helped with keeping the plot and everything focused around Nicky. I actually cheered when I realized Nicky was gonna fight the bodyguards. Seriously, this season has done so much for my love of Nicky. 

The only thing that bugged me was the initial exchange/fight between Nicky and Henry when his dad called. I know Henry was at an 11, but I can't remember them ever talking about his dad, so him yelling at her so quick when Nicky was just trying to talk really made me frown. And then he was asking his dad about the ring and saying he knew she was the one? Bro, you literally hid your dad from her, yelled at her and stormed out, but she's the one? I digress, anyway, the preview for next week made me excited at the idea of Nicky and Zhilan interacting, which is the complete opposite of how I felt about their scenes last season.

[Camera One]

It was nice to have a lighter episode, though some of the lines were a little hokey, either as written or as delivered.  I'm not sure I bought the whole Althea/husband heart-to-heart at the end.   The start-up in the living room without even a table or two to work on was just awkward.  

Poor Clementine.  I was on pins and needles that she might suddenly explode and it actually happened.  

I too was cheering when Nicky was about to fight the security guards.  It was frustrating how she somehow managed to let that guy get away to jump into the car, though.

11 hours ago, william0102 said:

The only thing that bugged me was the initial exchange/fight between Nicky and Henry when his dad called. I know Henry was at an 11, but I can't remember them ever talking about his dad, so him yelling at her so quick when Nicky was just trying to talk really made me frown.

It was well acted, but the actor went a bit too intense, to the point where it felt like Henry transformed into some other character who was much angrier.  

We know nothing about Henry's father, so I can't even imagine what "mission" he is involved in.  

There's no way Evan would think he could just delete the footage and get away with it.  I also wonder what they would do with his character without his "in" at the DA office.  Though there seems to be a little too much of people making a few "calls" and getting insta-answers (Ryan somehow getting hospital records from a Canadian hospital, for example).

[possibilities]

8 hours ago, Camera One said:

It was frustrating how she somehow managed to let that guy get away to jump into the car, though.

That ruined the entire episode for me. She turned her back on him, didn't have him subdued in any way, and then didn't react fast enough to catch him before he took off? C'mon! That's just sloppy and stupid. Did she think he'd just sit there waiting patiently to be arrested?

[thuganomics85]

Glad to see Dennis take front and center, even if it was him kind of screwing things up a lot.  Granted, Althea can be quite intense at times, but it definitely would have been better for him to just come clean earlier and not attempt to keep it hidden (if nothing else, Althea's tech skills might have helped them in some ways.)  But despite the loss of Clementine (RIP), I'm glad that Althea and Dennis had a heart to heart and not only helped him with his insecurities, but even led to Althea finding a better way to communicate with her new team now.  I hope she can pull it off!  Shannon Dang continues to be a highlight here.

Kind of hope we see Leif again, because no one can play a sleazy scumbag like Richard Speight Jr. can!  Plus, even he seemed touched by Althea and Dennis, so he's not completely inhumane!

I did love how the hired henchman were like "Dude, we were hired to protect this party: not commit murder and cover it up."  If others would only follow his example, maybe so many nameless goons would quit getting the shit kicked out of them throughout television land.

Always great seeing Terry Chen.  Even if he's playing Henry's dad who not only was apparently a deadbeat who abandoned his child, but seems to be in league with the Tans.

Evan really should have saw that betrayal coming.  Curious to see what's in store for him since he's no longer going to be Nicky's inside man in the D.A.'s office.

Liked the opening scene: it's always nice when it's just the family playing off one another.

Fun episode all around.  The character dynamics and chemistry amongst the cast really help this show stand out compared to others.

[tennisgurl]

Poor Henry, his deadbeat dad shows up and it turns out he's in league with the bad guys. I was expected some family drama, but I thought it would be between Althea and Dennis, but their conflict was easily resolved, being the cuties that they are, and instead its with Henry's dad. Cheer up Henry, finding out that a parent is in league with the villains (or is the villain themselves) is a time honored hero tradition! 

I really like that Dennis is getting more involved with Team Nicky, even if he is still clearly trying to catch up. He's such a sweet guy, he and Althea are a good contrast with the more intense Nicky and Henry. Glad he and Althea finally had a heart to heart, they continue to be absolutely adorable. 

Evan really should have caught on that this was a set up, I am actually glad that Nicky and company did manage to get caught doing their many illegal activities, it makes everything feel a little more real. So what is he going to do now? 

Poor Clementine. Best character of the episode had to be the security guy who was like "I signed up to provide security to a bunch of rich weirdos, not to murder people, I'm not a damn assassin" which cracked me up, why don't more security guys working for sketchy guys do this when the sketchy guys really reveal themselves? I kind of hope we see the main sleaze again, he actually seemed to be getting into the talk between Althea and Dennis, he even gave them a thumbs up when Dennis announced how brilliant Althea is. We need more bad guys who can also be fun. 

Fun episode all around. 

[paigow]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Cheer up Henry, finding out that a parent is in league with the villains (or is the villain themselves) is a time honored hero tradition! 

This makes Henry & Kerwin bros from a different father...

[Linderhill]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:55 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Kind of hope we see Leif again, because no one can play a sleazy scumbag like Richard Speight Jr. can!  Plus, even he seemed touched by Althea and Dennis, so he's not completely inhumane!

I do too along with his wife played by Briana Buckmaster, she's always a hoot.  The two were great as husband and wife crooks.