S08.E06: Hot Button

[Danielg342]

Quote

When back-to-back shootings at women’s clinics leave two healthcare providers dead, Hondo and the team investigate whether the shootings were politically motivated

Via Paramount Press Express

[Danielg342]

I think we need to call this season- or at least the fall half of this season- the "M. Night Shyamalan Season", because the writing this season sure loves its twists.

It seems like every episode we're getting this season contains several episodes mashed together, with the episode starting with one premise before veering off into several different ones and leaving the original premise behind.

There's nothing in principle saying that kind of writing can't work- it just hasn't worked at all for S.W.A.T. this season at all.

Tonight, we got what appeared to be a story about a man with a vendetta against abortion clinics only for it to veer, halfway through, to a story about a man losing his kids and his wife, with the abortion workers only flimsily connected to him.

So, the UnSub's wife is preparing to leave him along with his kids, so he kills her and, in further retaliation, happens to also kill two abortion clinic workers just because they happened to take the same self-defence class as the UnSub's wife.

Huh?

Like Tan, said, "help me make it make sense."

You got me.

It seemed like the only reason why the abortion subplot was written in was so that we could have some "drama" between Deacon and Gamble, with Gamble getting a teachable moment about not letting her beliefs get in the way of her duties.

Great lesson...but did we need to waste half an episode with a story we weren't going to use just to get there?

Speaking of Gamble, I've been singing the praises of the acting of her portrayer, Annie Illonzeh.

I still think Illonzeh is doing a good job, but tonight's effort where she tried to talk to the UnSub felt off.

Now, I'm not sure if I can fault the effort of Illonzeh, since the story said she was attempting the task for the first time so it would make sense for Illonzeh to portray Gamble as tentative and unconvincing, but it doesn't mean the performance achieved the standard it was supposed to achieve.

Because, ironically, Illonzeh wasn't convincing that Gamble was unconvincing. If that makes sense.

As for the episode's other subplot...if you want to talk being between a rock and a hard place, meet Zoe Powell and her dealings with her biological son, Thomas. I'm sure there will be plenty of debate about whether Thomas' adoptive parents were right, whether Hondo was right in his advice and/or Powell was right in her ultimate actions, but I felt like the situation at the end was handled poorly.

I mean...Zoe...you got your biological son knocking on your door late at night having been kicked out of his own house. Whatever you may feel about Thomas' ambitions and whether or not it's right to step on Thomas' adoptive parents' toes...at least let Tommy stay the night or for a few days until you can sit everyone down and come to some kind of agreement.

I guess that would mean the writers would have to write another scene in this storyline and they just don't feel up to it...which I get...but...

They sure threw Zoe under the bus, and that's a poor way to handle her character.

Of course, these writers cutting corners in Zoe's storyline is par for the course for this season, so, while I'm disappointed, I'm sure not surprised.

[DanaK]

Thomas is being a jerk and really immature, but I guess it wouldn’t have hurt if Zoe had let him stay for at least the night and also contacted his parents to work through the situation. But the parents might have accused her of interfering again so she was definitely between a rock and a hard place. I do think the parents were right that Zoe shouldn’t interfere in family decisions. At best she should just continue to get to know her son and be a sounding board to him

I do like that the A plot took a turn as SWAT had to figure things out