S01.E02: I'm a Pretty Observant Guy

[Pop Tart]

Quote

As the GBI continues its investigation on a missing girl, Will becomes frustrated with the suspect search, and Faith’s frustrations with her new partner reach unprecedented heights. Meanwhile, Angie is forced to evaluate her current relationships as she follows a new case with Ormewood and navigates her complicated history with Will.

Air date: 01.10.23

[AnimeMania]

[Starchild]

OK, still liking it, I'm in.

[heatherchandler]

I’m loving this show!

[Lady Calypso]

So, I think I went in with a better mindset of the show this time around, so I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would (I also rewatched the pilot with fresher eyes). I do think there's a lot of promise here with the show, and the characters.

Once again, though, the ONLY downside is Jake McLaughlin's character, who I figured would be hooking up with Angie and who I fear is set as her endgame. And with how much I actually like her, I would really rather not see her fall for the Bad Boy Who Probably Has a Sob Backstory To Get Audiences To Sympathize With Him. I liked her shutting his emotional speech down when they were in the dumpster, but now I'm very confident they're going that route with the two characters and I don't think I'll like it much. I really wish they didn't have him be such a massive asshole right off the bat.

Otherwise, I actually am intrigued by many of the characters. I'm very much into Will Trent as a character, who has some flaws but seems to be a good guy overall, similar to Angie. I'm not 100% sold on Faith but she has a lot of potential once we get more of her own backstory, especially given that she has a college-aged kid and the actress herself is in her early 30s (so either she's playing at least a few years older or there's some backstory there that will get us to sympathize with her). 

I would be very into see Paul Campano and his wife again down the line. Having him know Angie and Will allows him to potentially be a recurring character, which would be very nice to see. Even if Paul was kind of a jerk, giving him the foster care background allows us to see different perspectives and experiences. 

I liked how the case carried into this week and I did enjoy how it was solved. It was a little bit of everyone pitching in. 

Overall, I'm in (but they need to fix Michael as a character, and fast, because him purposefully misgendering someone just because he wanted to is a huge turn-off on his character).

[cardigirl]

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. It even had the feel-good of finding Will and Betty a dog-walker who is pretty cute, and in need of care themselves. 

There are just enough problems with Will to make it intriguing to watch to see if he can start accepting help (i.e., from his 'partner' and others on the force).

I like the strings between Angie, Will, Jake, and then between Angie, Will and Paul, because it's intriguing, and I don't want to think about endgames just yet. Show is barely started. LOL. Hopefully they will surprise us. 

Anytime spent with Will and Betty is time worth spending, in my opinion. I hope the show can keep that light touch going. It's my favorite thing about it for the time being. 

[AnimeMania]

6 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Once again, though, the ONLY downside is Jake McLaughlin's character, who I figured would be hooking up with Angie and who I fear is set as her endgame.

I think they already hooked up, even though he is married.

P.S. don't tazer someone pointing a gun at somebody.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Am watching this mainly because of Betty. She’s adorable. Hope to see her in every episode. She makes Will’s character a little bit more interesting. Not really invested in human characters so far. Faith could be interesting… we’ll see!

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by SnazzyDaisy

[HelloooKitty]

Did Will’s accent get more pronounced this episode?

[Trini]

I like the main character; but so far nothing else from these two episodes has really 'hooked' me. This isn't bad, but it's not going to be something I watch regularly.

I will say, this episode had slightly more humor; which helped, but not enough.

[Lady Calypso]

17 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I think they already hooked up, even though he is married.

They did, hence his emotional speech in the dumpster (which WAS funny), but it opens the door to them continuing to hook up. Which...for me, isn't ideal since Michael is a jerk of a character and Angie doesn't need to be sleeping with someone who: a) attacks kids for answers (which he did in the pilot when his partner had a stroke) and b) gleefully misgenders someone because he might disagree with their pronouns (which he did this episode with Niko by refusing to call them by their pronouns). That's not endearing and I think the show will attempt to redeem him from that but I think I just really hate when shows make someone so despicable right off the bat JUST to redeem them, especially when they're not main leads. It's just a tired trope I see way too often. 

[watch2much]

writing needs to get a little stronger.  as soon as the woman at the school was introduced, I knew she was in on it.

love Betty.

[peachmangosteen]

13 hours ago, HelloooKitty said:

Did Will’s accent get more pronounced this episode?

It comes and goes. It's hilarious.

I really enjoy this but I agree @Lady Calypsothat Michael is a real misstep. He's WAY too much of a dick.

[tennisgurl]

I like this so far. I'm in the market for a decent procedural, and they seem to be doing a decent job at mixing comedy with mysteries and character work. I watched both this and the pilot back to back, I think it helped the main mystery flow better than if I had watched them over two weeks. I wonder if they will keep to the "one mystery over two episodes" format or if they will be more case of the week? 

[isalicat]

I am really enjoying this so far, despite the oddness of the physical casting for the main character (although I love the actor and his portrayal, having read the first book in the series recently I still see an Alexander Skarsgaard type in that role as the very tall, blond persona was a main feature of the book Will Trent). I thought the second episode moved along smartly and look forward to many more!

[akg]

8 hours ago, watch2much said:

writing needs to get a little stronger.  as soon as the woman at the school was introduced, I knew she was in on it

I couldn't decide if it was the writing or the acting. I was not impressed by her character at all. What exactly was her plan for Emma? Did she not realize the car was stuck there? Was the creek supposed to rise enough to drown her? Or was she supposed to die of dehydration/hunger?

Betty continues to be the best. I'm so happy she has someone to take care of her during the day! And that the runaway (I loved their blue hair) found a weird family with Will and Angie (that is what's going to happen, right?)

I think my second favorite character is Will's boss.

[peachmangosteen]

25 minutes ago, akg said:

Betty continues to be the best. I'm so happy she has someone to take care of her during the day! And that the runaway (I loved their blue hair) found a weird family with Will and Angie (that is what's going to happen, right?)

I hope so. I really want to see Nico again. And as I was typing this I thought, hey, look them up on IMDb and see if they're in any other eps lol. Nico is listed as being in 3 episodes at least so that's good news.

[Rickster]

40 minutes ago, akg said:

I couldn't decide if it was the writing or the acting. I was not impressed by her character at all. What exactly was her plan for Emma? Did she not realize the car was stuck there? Was the creek supposed to rise enough to drown her? Or was she supposed to die of dehydration/hunger?

Betty continues to be the best. I'm so happy she has someone to take care of her during the day! And that the runaway (I loved their blue hair) found a weird family with Will and Angie (that is what's going to happen, right?)

I think my second favorite character is Will's boss.

I got the impression she could not go through with more extreme measures to get rid of Emma once the car got stuck, and was hoping the car would eventually fall in the river.

Like the trio of characters from the foster homes/orphanages, Sonja Sohn and the dog. The rest of the cast, not so much.

I find Will’s accent way overdone, especially when the rest of the cast is basically accentless.

 

[AnimeMania]

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I wonder if they will keep to the "one mystery over two episodes" format or if they will be more case of the week? 

I think it is more one episode and done, since they are starting to show the episodes out of order, next week is the episode originally #4 and after that is #5, still no sign of when the original episode #3 will air. I hate when shows do this since it typically causes some type of continuity error.

[Starchild]

42 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

I think it is more one episode and done, since they are starting to show the episodes out of order, next week is the episode originally #4 and after that is #5, still no sign of when the original episode #3 will air. I hate when shows do this since it typically causes some type of continuity error.

Blech, shades of Firefly. Can never forgive Fox for that.

[twoods]

I am still enjoying this show but worried that Angie will get paired with her married partner, especially after it was implied that he cheated on his wife with her. I preferred her with Will. 
I agree that it’s odd that Will has such a heavy southern accent while the other two he was in foster care with don’t have one.

They had such great guest stars for the two week storyline, that I’m wondering if they are going to be recurring in later episodes. I like Mark Paul Gosselar and Jennifer Morrison so hope to see more of them.

Edited January 14, 2023 by twoods

[Clanstarling]

On 1/11/2023 at 12:33 PM, AnimeMania said:

P.S. don't tazer someone pointing a gun at somebody.

For a second I thought Will was hit. Yeah, not a great move.

On 1/12/2023 at 6:13 PM, AnimeMania said:

I think it is more one episode and done, since they are starting to show the episodes out of order, next week is the episode originally #4 and after that is #5, still no sign of when the original episode #3 will air. I hate when shows do this since it typically causes some type of continuity error.

Amen. The worst of the lot (Firefly aside) was an Alan Cumming series called "Instinct" - from week to week his relationship with the other detectives changed - very noticeably. It may be one reason it failed.

I'm liking the show a lot. The dog is a nice touch, even though she's not the kind of dog I like in general (I'm always afraid I'll trip over them or crush them). But she definitely adds to the show.

[Angeleyes]

On 1/11/2023 at 7:07 PM, HelloooKitty said:

Did Will’s accent get more pronounced this episode?

It was pretty heavy in the pilot as well. As someone from the south, he sounds more like someone from New Orleans vs someone from Atlanta. (Unless I missed something and he’s from there originally?) I’d rather he just drop it entirely. 

[possibilities]

What's wrong with me? I didn't even notice Will's accent. 

I was all proud of myself because I thought I'd finally learned everybody's names, but then I realized I still only know a few of them

Will = Our Hero

Betty = dog

Nico = new dogwalker

Faith= WIll's partner at work

That's it. I have no idea what Sonia Sohn's name is. 

I know Will's on/off not girlfriend is Angie but only because of reading it in the forum.

I was really disappointed that Angie ended it with Will (again). I really liked them together and I wish TV would explore relationships that work, instead of always going for triangles and UST and unrequited whatever. Longing is over-rated. And I don't really think it's true that you can't have a healthy relationship with someone who you've been through hard times with. I think that's BS.

I was really upset about Will yelling at Betty. I'm glad he changed his mind and decided not to treat her badly anymore. I seriously question a person who actually has to ask if dogs have feelings, though. I think it was a big mistake to start him there, as big a mistake as what they did with Angie's obnoxious work partner who, I agree, is awful. 

I think the car was supposed to go over the cliff and drown the kidnapped girl. I think the killer was too squeamish to do it in a way she had to witness, and she didn't stick around to watch it happen, so she didn't realize it hadn't worked. 

I'm really interested in the group home/children without families aspect of the show. It adds a dimension beyond "rote procedural". I'm glad they added Nico and I hope they stay around. Approximately 40% of homeless and runaway kids are LGBTQ or NB. Their families either kick them out or make their lives so miserable that the street is better. So I hope Nico sticks around because I think that's a story worth telling. Plus, they're awesome with Betty and it will add another layer to the network of Will, Angie, and (maybe) Paul. Though I don't like Paul.

And yes, Paul got out of jail in 2 days. And doesn't seem at all worried about going back. They just kind of slid that in there, without making a big noise about it. 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by possibilities

[mrsbagnet]

4 hours ago, Angeleyes said:

As someone from the south, he sounds more like someone from New Orleans vs someone from Atlanta.

I thought so, too. So much so that I was wondering if that was part of his backstory. They haven't said so yet.

Edited January 15, 2023 by mrsbagnet

[Rickster]

My theory was the actor playing Trent might have a natural Hispanic accent, and he’s trying to disguise that. (I don’t know the actor or the book character).

[peachmangosteen]

45 minutes ago, Rickster said:

My theory was the actor playing Trent might have a natural Hispanic accent, and he’s trying to disguise that. (I don’t know the actor or the book character).

Yea, there's an article on TV Guide that says: "For the role, he worked to educate himself about dyslexia and the foster care system and tried to shed his own New York accent to adopt a more Southern/Georgian twang."

He's just not doing a good job with the accent at all. It's a bad accent and he also goes in and out of it. I wish the director/show runner/someone would have steered him away from doing it, especially since none of the other actors are.

[Clanstarling]

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

 And I don't really think it's true that you can't have a healthy relationship with someone who you've been through hard times with. I think that's BS.

In general, I agree with you. But given the terrible backstory they gave Angie in this episode, that her horrible mother sold her to men as a small child, her damage prior to foster care/group homes is still a major issue (the alcohol - or was it drug- problems are signs that she's still struggling). I'd guess that's the reason she has trouble with sticking to a relationship. As she stated to Will, she doesn't want to be reminded of the past (even though she clearly cares for him).

Edited January 15, 2023 by Clanstarling

[possibilities]

I agree that her damage could make it hard for her to commit. But her sponsor also told her he thought it was a bad idea to be in a relationship with Will. I From what we saw, they were good together, not reinforcing brokenness, so it bothered me that the sponsor was saying that, just based on knowing the two of them had come from similar backgrounds.

[mrsbagnet]

I just saw an interview with Ramón Rodríguez, and he said that Will's accent was inspired by Atlanta native Andre 3000. Not that he was trying to copy Andre's accent, but that Andre has a distinctive cadence when he talks. I do think Will's accent is convincingly Southern. It's just from the wrong location in South; not Atlanta at all. Atlanta has so many transplants that I'm not surprised by the lack of Southern accents in the characters. It doesn't make sense that Will has a strong Southern accent, but Angie and Mark-Paul Gosselaar's character don't, if they all grew up together.

Edited January 16, 2023 by mrsbagnet

[HelloooKitty]

In the pilot, I got New York from Wills accent. In this episode I got sort of general southern that was sometimes stronger and sometimes less pronounced. But as a southerner, I’m used to most actors lumping all regional accents together into southern. Unless they are going for Cajun. 
 

 

I also liked Angie and Will, but I think they are both not heathy enough for a relationship right now. I think there’s a lot of codependency there and very old roles that they fall back into when they are together.  Each feels “safe” with the other bc of their shared trauma but not in a positive way. More like, I don’t need to work on myself or my issues bc he/she knows what and why they are and will excuse them. So there’s no encouragement to grow. 
I’d  like them to be eventual endgame, but I hope there’s a lot of therapy between now and then. 

[akg]

15 hours ago, mrsbagnet said:

It doesn't make sense that Will has a strong Southern accent, but Angie and Mark-Paul Gosselaar's character don't, if they all grew up together.

If both Angie and Paul were put in foster care as children rather than babies (according to this episode, Angie was 7), I would think their accents would be affected by the time they spent with whoever was their guardian prior to the state stepping in. Will wouldn't have had that. Maybe the handkerchief carrying woman who ran their group home was from New Orleans? I have cousins who moved from Michigan to NC as kids. The oldest's speech didn't change much but his younger brother sounds very southern.

(yes, I know I'm overthinking this)

On 1/14/2023 at 10:21 PM, possibilities said:

I'm glad they added Nico and I hope they stay around. Approximately 40% of homeless and runaway kids are LGBTQ or NB. Their families either kick them out or make their lives so miserable that the street is better. So I hope Nico sticks around because I think that's a story worth telling. Plus, they're awesome with Betty

I agree. As soon as Nico was introduced, I was sad they were probably only going to be around for this one case.

On 1/14/2023 at 10:21 PM, possibilities said:

I was really upset about Will yelling at Betty. I'm glad he changed his mind and decided not to treat her badly anymore. I seriously question a person who actually has to ask if dogs have feelings, though. I think it was a big mistake to start him there

Considering how Will grew up, I'm going to give him some understanding here. This is probably the first time in his life he's had a real experience with a pet. And he does seem to be learning (he felt bad about yelling, right? That was one of the reasons he sent Angie (and Nico) over?).

[DearEvette]

This was a good episode.

The actor for Evan was good because I flat out hated his guts from the moment he was lucid enough to speak.  I was never so happy for someone to be caught.  I liked that Paul saying 'we recognize predators' made both Angie and Will pause from thinking he was just being gung-ho and hot headed without thought to considering he might be right because of their shared experience.  Speaking of, I really like that element of three of them and that connection.  Even though the Emma storyline is over, I hope we see Mark-Paul Gosselaar again.

I do like Angie and holy man, but her back story is horrific.  Explains her addiction issues more than just being a vice cop who got caught up.  I will say, though, that I am getting uneasy vibes.  Her addiction feels like a Checkov's gun ready to go off.  I felt like when her sponsor was telling her she needed to get to a meeting that she was giving 'Yeah, Yeah..I'll get to it." without really planning to. 

I am enjoying the very slow gel of Faith and Will.  Her coming in with the Taser and saying "this is why you keep me in the loop" was fun as was her praising herself in his voice.  And yes, she was rocking that outfit.  I noticed it right off!

A couple other light moments I appreciated:  The Homicide cops learning about Angie and Will and being gossipy about it.  And the super awkward hug Paul gave Will at the end.

 

[seacliffsal]

Okay, it's probably just me, but I wondered why Emma's mom never had any issue resulting from the death of the young man at the house.  Was it because he would have died anyway from the stab wound?  Even though she believed he was attacking her wouldn't there still be some kind of investigation and charge?  I have probably given this way too much thought, but it did seem like they just brushed his death aside.

Overall, I like this show.  Really like the shared group home background as one of things that always affected me while I was teaching was the strength that so many students had to even come to school with the horrific backgrounds/home life so many of them had, so to see this background to some of the characters makes me hope that some with similar backgrounds may be encouraged to continue to move forward with their lives.  

[akg]

18 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

Okay, it's probably just me, but I wondered why Emma's mom never had any issue resulting from the death of the young man at the house.  Was it because he would have died anyway from the stab wound?  Even though she believed he was attacking her wouldn't there still be some kind of investigation and charge?  I have probably given this way too much thought, but it did seem like they just brushed his death aside.

It would have been nice if they'd mentioned the kid again but I just figured, even if the police considered arresting her, they would have known a rich white lady wasn't going to be given a guilty verdict. Her husband got drunk, drove to the teacher's house with a gun, and shot the guy and there were no consequences to that (even though Paul's suspicions were right, he still broke a few laws that night).

[AnimeMania]

2 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

Okay, it's probably just me, but I wondered why Emma's mom never had any issue resulting from the death of the young man at the house.  Was it because he would have died anyway from the stab wound?  Even though she believed he was attacking her wouldn't there still be some kind of investigation and charge?  I have probably given this way too much thought, but it did seem like they just brushed his death aside.

I am thinking, until the Police determined the kid's role (definitively) in the kidnapping, they shouldn't be too quick to rush to judgement. The dead girl and the the kid may have been in on the kidnapping plot. Looking back on it, the dead girl may have been in on the kidnapping plot or just a spy for the kidnapper, giving them access to Emma (copy a key, leave the door unlocked or a window open), give them updates on Emma's location or just to change Emma's behavior enough to start skipping school.

[xfuse]

On 1/20/2023 at 6:30 PM, DearEvette said:

This was a good episode

I didn't think so. I thought the writers were lazy.  Cops do not bring parent to a scene to maybe where their child is dead. They do not let the dad reach into the car and take his daughter out. 

They dropped the story about the boy who the mother killed. They dropped everything about him after they went to the college. The girl that died wasn't really apart of the school. 

The GBI and Atlanta PD are totally two separate things. One doesn't get to decide to keep a member of another.  

On 1/20/2023 at 6:30 PM, DearEvette said:

I do like Angie and holy man, but her back story is horrific.

Her back story is even worse in the book. I don't like Angie but I understand why she is the way she is.

I find the character of her and Michael useless in the show.

[possibilities]

I mean, why NOT have a non-binary character? Why would that be considered a flaw or "to fill in a checklist"?

[Anela]

I'm not surprised they're off again. He asked her to drag up the worst part of her life, that we know of, anyway. They found the girl alive, but that has to be hard. 

I liked Nico, and I like his partner, and his boss. I'm glad the missing girl didn't take up the entire season. I also knew the woman at school, was in on it. She looked guilty from the start. The guy who was sleeping with her, is gross, and reminds me of someone I loathe, who is married to a family member. Kidnapping and murder is bad enough, but that setup looked like a porn setting, too. 

The show is amusing, and has good people at the centre of it, so I'm in. 

[LuvMyShows]

On 1/12/2023 at 9:08 AM, watch2much said:

writing needs to get a little stronger.  as soon as the woman at the school was introduced, I knew she was in on it.

Here's what confused me.  I thought that as soon as he heard the connection to the chaperone for the recording studio sessions, that he figured out she was the accomplice.  But when he got to her house, it didn't look like he had figured it out, until he saw the background decor of that wood pattern that had been visible in the hostage video.  He's supposed to have these great instincts, and he couldn't make that connection?

On 1/12/2023 at 6:03 PM, akg said:

I think my second favorite character is Will's boss.

With her weird, kind of hushed yet gravelly voice, she reminds me of the Murtaugh character in Mad TV's spoof from years ago of Lethal Weapon.

On 1/15/2023 at 9:36 AM, peachmangosteen said:

Yea, there's an article on TV Guide that says: "For the role, he worked to educate himself about dyslexia and the foster care system and tried to shed his own New York accent to adopt a more Southern/Georgian twang."

He's just not doing a good job with the accent at all. It's a bad accent and he also goes in and out of it. I wish the director/show runner/someone would have steered him away from doing it, especially since none of the other actors are.

Very frustrating, and exactly as peachmangosteen said, it's not a good accent (agree with others that it's not at all Southern/Georgian but is more New Orleans if anything) and there was absolutely no need for it at all!

On 1/23/2023 at 10:23 AM, akg said:

It would have been nice if they'd mentioned the kid again but I just figured, even if the police considered arresting her, they would have known a rich white lady wasn't going to be given a guilty verdict. Her husband got drunk, drove to the teacher's house with a gun, and shot the guy and there were no consequences to that (even though Paul's suspicions were right, he still broke a few laws that night).

I don't know, but I watch a lot of Dateline and Investigation Discovery true crime, and there are plenty of rich white men and women who are arrested for, and convicted of, plenty of crimes.

[Atlanta]

I gave in and am watching. The actor who plays Will is driving me nuts. No one in Atlanta talks like that. You will rarely find a Georgia or Atlanta native here. Even they don't sound like an extra from "Gone With the Wind." Despite my username I did not grow up here and my husband is from the midwest. He's on Foghorn Leghorn levels.