S08.E01: Vanished

[Danielg342]

Via SpoilerTV:

Quote

SWAT tackles a mission with personal ties for Hondo when they race to find a group of missing students and their bus driver, Hondo’s former high school football coach. Also, Hicks has reservations regarding Hondo’s new 20-Squad team addition, Devin Gamble (Annie Ilonzeh), a cop with a family background deeply entrenched in crime

 

[Snazzy Daisy]

S08 premiere airs on October 18, 2024.

Annie Ilonzeh as Devin Gamble.

[Danielg342]

The "Miko" business was pretty funny. I knew at some point we'd pull into Niko Pepaj's actual roots (he is Serbian) at some point.

It was also a nice way for us to learn how "Deacon" really started. Maybe Miko will learn to get used to it too.

The case...well, there are some good marks for the relationship between Hondo and his old football coach but otherwise it was dull. I appreciate the attempt by the writers to do something a bit "different" with the usual "save-the-kids" storyline, but this one made not a lick of sense.

For supposedly really smart and really trained terrorists, you'd think they'd have a better plan than to kidnap a bunch of kids- ensuring that all of the state's resources are out after them before anyone knows who the terrorists really are- as a diversion to robbing a bank one of the terrorists used to work for. I mean, with hacking the way it is, they don't even need to kidnap the kid or the mother of the bank's security expert- they can just get that information themselves.

Now, maybe I've missed a few points because the story didn't engage me enough for me to really pay attention to it, but that appeared to be their (nonsensical) plan.

Worse, really, the story balance was just...off. The writer placed so much emphasis on the kids while the main part of the robbers' narrative was the bank. The kids were really incidental to the whole plot. It would have made for a far better episode and a far stronger story if the writer picked one plot- the bank heist or the abducted kids- and leaved it at that.

Heck, a story wrapped around homeless protesters kidnapping kids of barely-getting-by parents just to further their agenda would make a great story and should be the kinds of stories that this show should pursue.

There's no need to reinvent the wheel, even in Season 8.

Lastly, there's the new girl. Devin Gamble, played by Annie Ilonzeh. Annie did well enough and she seems to have some nice chemistry with Miko, but the character needs some work. I'm just not buying her supposed "flaw"- the fact her family are criminals- as one that will make her character really interesting. It just feels like a character detail the writers lazily put on her thinking it gives her depth when it adds nothing to her character because it will hardly show up in stories.

Unless Gamble starts to use criminal instincts in episodes- and they're shown to both be positive and negative at times- there's not much there to make Gamble truly interesting.

Of course, it's still early, so we'll see if things get better.

Especially for Miko. :P

[Snazzy Daisy]

The origin of Deacon. 😉

A mediocre start to season 8. I have seen similar COTW in various episodes of FBI and FBI Most Wanted. The reunion between Hondo and Coach Kincaid is heartwarming, that’s about it.

Operationally and logistically, it makes more sense to deploy 2 different SWAT teams to the bank robbery scene and the mine rescue.

As a newbie, Devin Gamble is considered lucky because she’s not being introduced in an arrogant & insufferable way like they did with Powell, Cabrera and Alfaro.

Please stop trying to make and mould Miguel Alfaro into Jim Street 2.0. The “Miko” stuff is just annoying. 🙄

Gilles Marini is truly underused here. What a waste of that handsome face!

 

[Boofish]

As a 57 year old "Boofish" just go with it Miko.

I like the new team but I don't think everyone needs a gold medal in the struggle Olympics. Just give them a personality and get back to work. 

I love this show but this week's crime was laughably bad.