S03.E14: No Good Deed

[AnimeMania]

When a Venezuelan migrant is accused of murdering a prominent congresswoman whom he and his wife were staying with, McCall and the team work to uncover whether or not he was involved. Meanwhile, Aunt Vi tries to look after a student who seems to be experiencing distress at home.

Premiere Date: SUNDAY, April 16, 2023     8pm     CBS
Talia Robinson as Lacey Young

Hassan Singleton Jr. as Robby

[dwmarch]

I thought it was kind of funny when Harry and Mel starting getting suspicious about the "stolen" necklace. Do you two know which show you are on? We are never going to have an episode where a pro-immigrant politician is murdered by the immigrants she was sheltering because they wanted to steal jewelry.

Also had to laugh when Dee said she couldn't imagine being separated from her family. So that means she's going to get kidnapped next week, right?

Did Aunt Vi bribe a cop in front of a roomful of other cops? She gets style points for that.

And Dante is definitely right to be suspicious of that phone call he got from some "Detective". We all know Dante is the one and only Detective in all of New York!

I'm glad the team has started identifying themselves as Police-adjacent. Seems to be fewer questions that way.

Robyn's leather jacket had a really weird style to it. She had the jacket zipped up over a flap. Normally most jackets have the flap over the zipper. And the flap had a button on it but it was on the wrong side. I guess it gives you the option of zipping the jacket or buttoning it but not both. Weird.

[Trini]

Lots of great sweaters/tops in this one.

Nice swerve with the killer being the aide(?), but actually that was put in motion by the other congressman(?).

The necklace thing was stupid. The congresswoman should have sold it herself, and why didn't she tell her husband?

Another subplot with Aunt Vi doing her own equalizing! I liked it.

[milkyaqua]

12 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Also had to laugh when Dee said she couldn't imagine being separated from her family. So that means she's going to get kidnapped next week, right?

Don't give this show any ideas.  The less Dee in jeopardy nonsense, the better.

Agree that the phone call to Dante to back off seemed odd.  Why wouldn't you want another cop to try and find some scumbag drug dealer?  Unless there are cops mixed up in the drug dealing end of this or there's some sting the cops have set-up to take this guy down and they don't want Dante messing something up.

Edited April 17, 2023 by milkyaqua

[blackwing]

I feel like this plot could have been done without getting too political.  A woman who runs a community center takes in two people with no place else to go.  She gets killed and the husband is accused of murder.  Turns out, some guy who didn't like the community center was blackmailing the woman's aide and the aide killed the woman.

Because it was political, it was obvious that none of the husband, the wife or Carmen Santos was going to be the culprit.  Of course the powerful white guy and his white aide were behind it all.  The young black woman who was the aide to the congresswoman was the actual shooter, but all was instigated by the powerful white guy.

Not sure if the congresswoman was supposed to be a stand-in for Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, another young progressive congresswoman from the New York area.  And I noticed the show went out of its way to identify the couple and Carmen Santos as being Venezuelan instead of the actual country involved in the migrant busings.

If they were from Venezuela and highly educated and successful, I find it hard to believe they would simply just get on a bus.  They would have used their money and connections in Venezuela to find a way to get out.  Also, how did this woman who has barely been in the country know to dial 911?  Are American TV shows that prevalent in Venezuela?  I've watched a fair number of British cop/procedural TV shows and movies, and I wouldn't know what number to dial for emergency in England.

I liked the plot with Aunt Vi and her student.  Robby's smile was everything when he lit up when he saw his brother.  I also liked Dante continuing to work on the shooting of his friend.

Edited April 17, 2023 by blackwing

[12catcrazy]

I enjoyed this episode - seemed to have a better flow than some of the recent ones - and I enjoyed the side "case" with Aunt Vi. 

But did the guy who owned the gym who was shot by the drug dealer die?   That hadn't been apparent to me in the previous episode, and wouldn't you think that since Dee was going to that gym and saw "something" she would be able to tell what she saw to Dante?  What did I miss here?

[milkyaqua]

11 minutes ago, 12catcrazy said:

But did the guy who owned the gym who was shot by the drug dealer die?   That hadn't been apparent to me in the previous episode, and wouldn't you think that since Dee was going to that gym and saw "something" she would be able to tell what she saw to Dante?  What did I miss here?

The gym owner is fine.  As for Dee telling Dante about the drug dealer, the gym owner told Dante about the guy when he was in the hospital so technically Dee doesn't need to be involved.  But that's not saying that at some point the dealer couldn't wrangle up some more trouble for the gym owner and the young boxer.  At that point, I think Dee would bring her mother into it.

[marceline]

I love Lorraine Toussaint and Vi. I really liked her story but can we please dial her hair back a little? I feel like I can barely see her face anymore.

Also, what kind of car was she driving?

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by marceline

[Stevie Nicks]

6 hours ago, marceline said:

I love Lorraine Toussaint and Vi. I really liked her story but can we please dial her hair back a little? I feel like I can barely see her face anymore.

Also, what kind of car was she driving?

 

I was thinking the same thing about her hair. A little shorter would work. 

She was driving a Mercedes. Not sure of the exact model. 

Loved Harry and Mel having their "argument" at the shooting range. And Mel kicking ass. 

Queen Latifas clothes are just fabulous. That sweater! 

Edited April 18, 2023 by Stevie Nicks

[Daff]

On 4/17/2023 at 3:04 PM, blackwing said:

I liked the plot with Aunt Vi and her student.  Robby's smile was everything when he lit up when he saw his brother.  I also liked Dante continuing to work on the shooting of his friend.

I would have been happy if the two cases were like this one. As you say, these aren’t exactly appropriate times for viewer’s escape fiction to be ripped from current events headlines.

[possibilities]

I wished they'd told the older brother why they were picking him up, though. Him thinking he was being arrested was really cruel. I understand they wanted to show the moment of reunion and surprise, but still-- at the price of cruelty? Not my idea of good storytelling.

There were plenty of ways to find him and unite him with his brother without having the cops pick him up and scare him liket hat.

[andromeda331]

As a former Guiding Light fan I was expecting a different Carmen Santos to show up. 

I liked Aunt Vi's storyline. 

[kwnyc]

As a side note, some people may remember the Staten Island congressman, who was a former FBI agent, who ended up doing time for tax fraud.

[Impish Dragon]

On 4/17/2023 at 2:04 PM, blackwing said:

Are American TV shows that prevalent in Venezuela?  I've watched a fair number of British cop/procedural TV shows and movies, and I wouldn't know what number to dial for emergency in England.

From https://www.gov.uk/guidance/999-and-112-the-uks-national-emergency-numbers

999 and 112 is the national emergency response service in the UK. 112 is the pan-European equivalent to 999 and can be used in the UK.

I'm fairly certain I learned about 999 from tv or a movie a long time ago.  I wanted to see if I remembered correctly and found out about 112.

[snarktini]

I was puzzled why Vi didn't automatically realize McCall & Co could track down the kid. Of course you can help this boy find his brother. Even with partial knowledge about what Robyn does, if she's family you should pretty much assume any problem you have can be solved.

Edited April 23, 2023 by snarktini

[mythoughtis]

On 4/22/2023 at 9:21 PM, snarktini said:

I was puzzled why Vi didn't automatically realize McCall & Co could track down the kid. Of course you can help this boy find his brother. Even with partial knowledge about what Robyn does, if she's family you should pretty much assume any problem you have can be solved.

Why didn’t Robyn offer to find the kid?  Reinventing the wheel I suppose.    The brother looked a little old for foster care at this point.   I think they leave the system at 18.  Of course, they could just let him stay unless they then fail some room/ square footage requirement for foster care. 

Edited April 27, 2023 by mythoughtis

[andromeda331]

On 4/23/2023 at 7:11 PM, mythoughtis said:

Why didn’t Robyn offer to find the kid?  Reinventing the wheel I suppose.    The brother looked a little old for foster care at this point.   I think they leave the system at 18.  Of course, they could just let him stay unless they then fail some room/ square footage requirement for foster care. 

It was weird of Robyn not to offer.