S01.E17: Pound of Flesh

[DearEvette]

Quote

The 7-4 investigates the suspicious death of the patriarch of a neighborhood barbecue joint who has a close connection to Suarez. Also, Haywood receives an unexpected request from her father.

Airdate: 03/26/2023

[Snazzy Daisy]

East New York | 1x17 Promo "Pound of Flesh"

 

[DanaK]

I was expecting the murderer to be one of the brothers; that it was the mother surprised me

[kwnyc]

Well that was a feel-good episode (not...) The brothers lose both parents in the space of a couple of days (and one of them wasn't even the kid's bio-dad). Oh, and Regina finds out HER father may have had something to do with a murder when HE was a cop. 

On the other hand, I'm really appreciating Richard Kind as the Captain. Those Italian lessons paid off! And there's no way he's going to betray his agoraphobic wife.

Also a salute to old-school cop shows/foot chases, complete with cute young cop leaping a car hood and sliding across it. Also: glitter bomb.

I really hope this show gets picked up, because I think it's finding its feet.

[possibilities]

I love how Regina handled Suarez apologizing to her for that interview. She doesn't trust him anymore, is unfailingly polite and correct and by the book, and no longer is being frank with him or sharing how she feels. I could feel the freeze through my TV. Even though he didn't actually take credit for the foot patrols, he's gotten too involved with untrustworthy politicians and is not media savvy enough to handle communications without things going wrong, so she's steering clear. 

I like Kind's character, but his attraction to the woman whose package was stolen meant he devoted way more resources to her case than anybody else would have gotten. And this is nice for her, but is a bad way to handle the neighborhood in general. I wish everyone got that much help, but we know they don't. I wonder if they are now going to explore corruption on the force that starts with good intentions, and show how wrong it is, alongside showing the corruption that comes from even worse motives.

Convenient mattress and bags of(leaves? shredded paper? it didn't look or sound like trash on impact) right where they tackled the thief! No actors were harmed in the filming of this takedown!

I felt bad for the brothers. It sounds like both their parents were more wrapped up in their own drama than they were concerned about the bros.

 

[mythoughtis]

The expressions on the brother’s faces when they first came upon mom being arrested - and then when Smits obviously told them that Mom had confessed.  The actors really nailed the shock that a person would feel hearing that. 

[shapeshifter]

14 hours ago, possibilities said:

I like Kind's character, but his attraction to the woman whose package was stolen meant he devoted way more resources to her case than anybody else would have gotten. And this is nice for her, but is a bad way to handle the neighborhood in general.

But did you see how many packages were in the thief’s garage? 
I think Kind as Captain Yenko very carefully walked the line of seeing the value of a crime victim who wanted to work with the police, while not (literally) stepping over her threshold into her private life. 
I was relieved his character was not sullied.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Not being able to find the right words to describe what’s exactly going on. 😥 

[Daff]

Nice capture, Snazzy! Those pics demonstrated mythought’s post.

[possibilities]

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

But did you see how many packages were in the thief’s garage? 
I think Kind as Captain Yenko very carefully walked the line of seeing the value of a crime victim who wanted to work with the police, while not (literally) stepping over her threshold into her private life. 
I was relieved his character was not sullied.

I would think anyone who reports a theft would be willing to cooperate wth the police to resolve it, though. 

[NJRadioGuy]

Just like a good BBQ rub, this episode was a nice mix of sweet and heat. I really found it enjoyable, especially Yenko and the Italian lady—I really like what his character has matured into. I'm glad that he mentioned his wife was waiting for him, though. Part of me was afraid the writers were prepared to forget about her completely. Like others, I figured it would have been one of the brothers, especially the younger one at first, but as they interviewed him in the box, I really wasn't feeling it at all.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the restaurant interiors were shot at Hometown BBQ in Red Hook. I'm a barbecue fanatic (especially brisket); I was only at Hometown once but man was that good stuff. I rarely find any restaurant barbecue that's better than what I turn out of my own smoker :) :)  But pro-tip, you put briskets on at 7pm, not 7am! Show me one Q joint that doesn't have its smokers running overnight and I'll show you a crap Q joint. And when they came for the mother, they could have at least taken that food to-go! 

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, possibilities said:

I would think anyone who reports a theft would be willing to cooperate wth the police to resolve it, though. 

Right. 
I had been thinking that she is the only one who did report the porch pirate. 
But most likely at least some others did report package thefts (based on the huge stash in the garage).

But now I think this was just the only time Yenko got involved because of the "speaks only Italian" coming across on his car radio, and Yenko wanting to try out his Italian language skills. (Nice call back to earlier in the season.)

And Yenko likes to solve things.
Likely at least some other victims did report the thefts and the other police (of lower rank and lesser imagination) just said there was nothing they could do.

However, often Amazon will just send out another item for free, and the police are not generally contacted, which might be why the teen porch pirate didn't seem to think he was doing anything morally wrong. Illegal, but (in his world view) not "wrong." 
And most USPS packages include $50 of insurance, and additional insurance is only a dollar or 2.

The cremains of the dog, of course, are not replaceable, so serve to demonstrate that this is not a victimless crime. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by shapeshifter

[dshgr]

13 hours ago, possibilities said:

I would think anyone who reports a theft would be willing to cooperate wth the police to resolve it, though. 

I was burglarized a couple of years ago and did everything asked of the police and the SA's office.  I was told on numerous occasions that most victims are not very cooperative.  I am mid to upper middle class and college educated, whereas most of the population of this city barely graduated from high school.  It was culture shock for me when I moved here (a level of ignorance and racism reminiscent of the 1960s).  

The perpetrator was found guilty of a felony, but the judge allowed him to report to the "day reporting center" for drug rehab instead of prison time.  He reported once, missed the next day, a warrant was issued and he died of an overdose about 6 weeks later.

Will I do all that work the next time it happens?  Probably not.

[mojito]

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

But now I think this was just the only time Yenko got involved because of the "speaks only Italian" coming across on his car radio, and Yenko wanting to try out his Italian language skills. (Nice call back to earlier in the season.)

I thought Yenko also sympathized with the woman, like maybe he suspected that she had stuff going on in her head, much like his wife did. Also, he had to be flattered by her attention, too.