S06.E08: Guacaine

[thewhiteowl]

When violence erupts at a popular food truck festival, the team must contend with a deadly cartel determined to recover a large lost drug shipment at any cost.

[Danielg342]

Food trucks, you say? Is Luca's food truck going to make an appearance?

[Danielg342]

Well, the guy at the beginning sure didn't remember "never bring a knife to a gun fight". Glad he's going to live to tell that tale.

I'm also glad Luca rediscovered his love for his food truck. I'm also glad that the show found a meta way of admitting they forgot about that truck with a nice story about Luca getting reamed by his underlings about forgetting about the truck.

Yeah, it was kind of easy how that story was wrapped up...but it was the right choice after all.

Speaking of guns...I wonder how the wider audience will take the way the show handled Nischelle wrestling with the choice about whether or not to get a gun. I thought it was well-handled and Nischelle's ultimate choice made sense the way it was told...but I could see how others may not see it that way.

As for the case itself...as crazy as it sounds, stuffing avocados with cocaine is actually a real tactic used by smugglers. So credit to the show for using that to make a reasonably engaging storyline that naturally extended past something simply about food trucks.

Aside from wondering "is that how a grenade would really work?", I have few faults with the cartel storyline, even if it wasn't exactly that intricate.

Sometimes, keeping it simple really does work. You don't always have to "change the world" with every episode.

[Danielg342]

I realize I didn't bring up Deacon's storyline, so here's a few words on it.

First, I think this is the first time we've met Matthew. I could be wrong, but I don't believe the show ever named Deacon's four kids other than Lila and now Matthew, meaning we still have two kids without names.

That said, it was an interesting story, especially with the swerve about bullying. You can sense the camaraderie that Deacon has with his kids, and we also got a sense of how he uses religion to teach them lessons. Maybe the storyline was a bit idealistic, but I found Deacon's disappointment with Matthew and Matthew's remorse for Deacon's disappointment, as well as how it was all ultimately handled, to be believable.

I guess we'll see if Matthew turns into "the troubled teen", which he could turn into, but for now he looks like he's got a good head on his shoulders at least.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Cocaine in avocado (and pineapple) - next level concealment!

Deep down, does Hondo know that Nichelle will not fire a gun? He doesn’t give her proper PPE for eyes and hearing protection.

After 3 seasons, it’s time to revisit story about Luca’s food truck and his passion for foods. Yay! We will hear about these again in season 9. 😂

1 hour ago, Danielg342 said:

I could be wrong, but I don't believe the show ever named Deacon's four kids other than Lila and now Matthew, meaning we still have two kids without names.

➡️ Matthew Kay  
➡️ Lila Kay   
➡️ Samuel Kay
➡️ Victoria Josie Kay

[Danielg342]

19 hours ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

➡️ Matthew Kay  
➡️ Lila Kay   
➡️ Samuel Kay
➡️ Victoria Josie Kay

I had forgotten about the episode where Annie had a kid...that was a great ending.

I'm not sure where Samuel came up but I'll take your word he was at least mentioned at some point. Still, other than Lila and now Matthew, I feel like I hardly know Deacon's kids. Yeah, they're not a focus of the show but they do feel underserved by the writers.

[mojoween]

On 12/11/2022 at 9:20 AM, SnazzyDaisy said:

Deep down, does Hondo know that Nichelle will not fire a gun? He doesn’t give her proper PPE for eyes and hearing protection.

I MEAN.  Come on, show.  I hope that gun had a completely empty chamber and if she pulled the trigger nothing would happen and it was a big fake out.  I expect better from a cop handing someone a weapon for the first time in a shooting range.

[callie lee 29]

On 12/11/2022 at 9:20 AM, SnazzyDaisy said:

Deep down, does Hondo know that Nichelle will not fire a gun? He doesn’t give her proper PPE for eyes and hearing protection.
➡️

That instantly stood out to me as well. I've been shooting since I was a kid and even in the backwoods of Florida we were taught ear protection (not so much eye).

[Danielg342]

As much as I don't like giving writers the benefit of the doubt (as I believe a writer worth their salt doesn't leave anything unintentionally unexplained), perhaps what Hondo was doing with Nischelle was simulating the situation where she's actually dealing with an intruder. In those situations, she wouldn't have time to put on ear protection or eye protection- she would have to grab the gun and, in a split second, determine if she needed to fire or not.

...and Nischelle realized she just couldn't.

The lack of proper PPE was jarring but I'm not going to let it detract from the bigger message in the scene.

[Sweet Tooth]

I really like how they did a close-up of the gun and made a big deal of him taking the safety off.

Too often in movies and TV, guns are shown as no big deal. Like, blam-blam, bad guy dead, YAY!

I also liked the bigger message, and that Hondo, though he's a S.W.A.T. officer who pretty much sees the gun as an extension of himself within his job, wasn't pressuring her to get a gun or getting excited that she wanted one.

[auntiemel]

I bet Fields Market (a real grocery store) was excited to be namechecked in the script and have it plainly said that they buy illegal produce. 
 

They’re like…we agreed to rent out the location for the day, not have our entire supply chain practice maligned! 🤣