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S01.E09: The RAMs


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Okay, that ending with that cover of the Fastball song was...eerie. And intriguing. I had a feeling Morgan might not heed Karadec's warning to be careful, but I also get her desperation, so...yeah. It'll be interesting to see what else she learns from this guy. 

Loved Karadec doing his part to help out with Soto's investigation, too, and his understanding about why Morgna hadn't brought him in on this case sooner. He had a lot of great moments this episode in general - his talk with the son at the end, when he was telling him about the photo on the desk, actually got me a little misty-eyed. 

Also liked Morgan and Ava's talk. I'm glad Ava's sharing in Morgan's trust that Roman didn't just up and abandon them. 

On a much lighter note, I enjoyed Oz looking after Morgan's baby :D. And I got a really good laugh out of the entire scene where Morgan was explaining how she nailed down their suspect, with the heart around his photo and then the cut to the whole dramatic romance novel style affair scenario XD. 

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I just realized that roughly half of the photos I posted and the photos ABC released for the episode, were not part of this episode, it makes me wonder how much of the story did they cut out (because that seems like an excessive amount of food on the table). Here are a few more photos for this episode that most likely have been cut out.

172169_0871-900x0.jpg

BEAU BILLINGSLEA

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MELANIE LIBURD

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GARRET DILLAHUNT

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I think this case was rather cut and dry. The episode seemed more focused on the Roman mystery so the case of the week felt a little paint by numbers to me. I also had a hard time believing Morgan would get into a car with Geo (Gio?). I get that she's desperate but she's not an idiot.

OK - so Karadec's ex is the DA? And he said he had two favors to ask. What was the second one? Sex?

Bye, Tom. Have they said where this show takes place?

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7 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

 

OK - so Karadec's ex is the DA? And he said he had two favors to ask. What was the second one? Sex?

Bye, Tom. Have they said where this show takes place?

LAPD a major case type squad. The other Lieutenant from the promo pictures that I don't remember in this episode was from the Robbery section.

I don't think the ex is "the" DA but rather one of the many Deputy DA's.

Edited by Raja
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Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public service announcement.  If, God forbid, you are facing an impending demise and would like to help the police identify the murderer, please try saying something that actually identifies him.  Like "Tiana's guy".  And not "tiddlywinks".

Tom can't be gone, can he?  What would be the purpose of him story-wise then?  Unless they started something with him and then changed direction during the hiatus and now he is going to join Morgan's elderly neighbor from the pilot who probably moved to San Diego too.  Is there a Tom in the French version of this?  And what exactly is "cubed meats" that Morgan associates with picnics for some reason?

15 hours ago, Annber03 said:

On a much lighter note, I enjoyed Oz looking after Morgan's baby :D.

The side-eye the baby gave Oz when Morgan dropped her off at his desk was hilarious :)!

 

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lol...the fantasy crowning of the murder suspect like a pageant winner 😂.

I kind of appreciated that the guy who was here illegally was from France and not a cliché Hispanic guy from Mexico or South/Central America.

(Another brain glitch related to the CA fires - Steve Guttenberg as the neighbor, after seeing him on the news talking about the fires and advising people to leave their keys if they have to leave their car so it can be moved if needed, apparently unrecognized by the reporter who was talking to him.)

3 minutes ago, shura said:

Tom can't be gone, can he?

I dunno; he did say something like San Diego's not that far away, so maybe they'll try a long distance thing...

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16 minutes ago, shura said:

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public service announcement.  If, God forbid, you are facing an impending demise and would like to help the police identify the murderer, please try saying something that actually identifies him.  Like "Tiana's guy".  And not "tiddlywinks".

Tom can't be gone, can he?  What would be the purpose of him story-wise then?  Unless they started something with him and then changed direction during the hiatus and now he is going to join Morgan's elderly neighbor from the pilot who probably moved to San Diego too.  Is there a Tom in the French version of this?  And what exactly is "cubed meats" that Morgan associates with picnics for some reason?

The side-eye the baby gave Oz when Morgan dropped her off at his desk was hilarious :)!

 

My guess is that the French original with many fewer episodes than US networks hope for, even with the new half season runs, had a Tom tease. 

Almost Paradise in its second season went from the  new partnership to quickly dropping the  boyfriends in the way and a possible relationship brewing at warp speed. I was thinking that with these 12 instead of 20 episodes runs the audience is just not used to how the industry  now presents their office romances.

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I liked how the interaction with Tom this week highlighted how Morgan's mind works. I have known people like this, who don't do something and then seem to be very upset that they didn't do it, and it sure looks to everyone else like they blew it off and don't care. It's incredibly hard for people to believe if their brains aren't like that, but they played that scene like she really did like him and really did mean it. But she gets distracted, has executive function issues, and just didn't follow through.

I have no idea if they are just writing Tom off or setting him up for some kind of intrigue down the line, but that scene really showed how Morgan's strengths and her weaknesses come from the same place.

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1 hour ago, ams1001 said:

(Another brain glitch related to the CA fires - Steve Guttenberg as the neighbor, after seeing him on the news talking about the fires and advising people to leave their keys if they have to leave their car so it can be moved if needed, apparently unrecognized by the reporter who was talking to him.)

Yes, the neighbor of the victim, Phil Elko, who owned the car that was stolen to run over the victim, was played by this guy, Steve Guttenberg, who is currently volunteering to help with the fires in LA:

See also:

I fell asleep watching the episode, so saw the videos of actor Steve Guttenberg being interviewed as he was helping direct traffic (I guess?) around the LA fires. I didn't recall him, but when I rewatched this episode, I had the most unique H!ITG! (Hey! It's That Guy!) experience in all my too many years of hours of watching TV with H!ITG! experiences.

                     ********************************

I hope the show doesn't follow the French version too closely. 

Edited by shapeshifter
comma needed
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3 hours ago, Raja said:

My guess is that the French original with many fewer episodes than US networks hope for, even with the new half season runs, had a Tom tease.

I had to stop watching the French Version, since they were making major headway on Morgan's missing boyfriend by episode 2 and I felt I should really stop by episode 3 if I wanted to not spoil future episodes of the US version because I wasn't sure how similar they would be.

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That's impressive of Steve Guttenberg for helpinng. But how about moving those dogs and cats instead of just feeding them?

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

I liked how the interaction with Tom this week highlighted how Morgan's mind works. I have known people like this, who don't do something and then seem to be very upset that they didn't do it, and it sure looks to everyone else like they blew it off and don't care. It's incredibly hard for people to believe if their brains aren't like that, but they played that scene like she really did like him and really did mean it. But she gets distracted, has executive function issues, and just didn't follow through.

Morgan is so ADHD. My family loves it, to see themselves on screen in an accurate and not judgemental way. Morgan has "high potential' (on every ADHDers' report card) but has trouble meeting it because she doesn't know how to tone it down or how to talk to people so she's a cleaning lady instead of a university researcher.  it's also interesting to see Ava having trouble fitting in between her bright and different mother and brothers.

(Between Morgan and Will Trent and a local station playing Doc Martin, Tuesday is neurodiversity day at my house.)

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20 hours ago, Raja said:

Tom, dismissed. But don't worry Karadac has an ex girlfriend he's still friendly with.

I don't for a second think we've seen the last of Tom. I think when Morgan sees him next it will be in a "surprise, he's not who I thought he was" kind of way. 

Loved the episode as always. I think Morgan's obvious fear of him made the "concierge" more creepy.

10 hours ago, ams1001 said:

lol...the fantasy crowning of the murder suspect like a pageant winner 😂.

That whole sequence was awesome.

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11 hours ago, Raja said:

I don't think the ex is "the" DA but rather one of the many Deputy DA's.

No, she's supposed to be "the" D.A.

Soto: Tell me, are you still on good terms with the District Attorney?

Adam: A'Ja? I mean, it's complicated. But yeah, we're good. Why?

It also stands to reason that if she were just a random deputy D.A., she wouldn't have the juice to have a kid get a break without pulling more strings whereas THE D.A. could. 

10 hours ago, shura said:

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public service announcement.  If, God forbid, you are facing an impending demise and would like to help the police identify the murderer, please try saying something that actually identifies him.  Like "Tiana's guy".  And not "tiddlywinks".

Tom can't be gone, can he?  What would be the purpose of him story-wise then?  Unless they started something with him and then changed direction during the hiatus and now he is going to join Morgan's elderly neighbor from the pilot who probably moved to San Diego too.  Is there a Tom in the French version of this?  And what exactly is "cubed meats" that Morgan associates with picnics for some reason?

The side-eye the baby gave Oz when Morgan dropped her off at his desk was hilarious :)!

I will give the show this: The broadcaster seemed to have the sort of personality where he would be all dramatic and roundabout from the clips that we saw of him. So I could buy that he didn't just say "Tiana's guy."

But it seems like someone should have picked up on him using the term "tiddlywinks" to mean a "waste of time" if he did so as a repeated thing in his broadcasts for years. Like if Harry Caray or John Madden had been murdered, fans would recognize everyone of their common and not-so-common expressions.  

I know it's brings about a happy ending for Son, but I'm kind of mixed on the caretaker disclaiming Announcer's fortune to avoid suspicion that she played a role in Announcer's murder. I mean, it seems pretty possible that she did. Murderer had to get information from somewhere about the feud between Announcer and the neighbor. Maybe I'm being too unfair to him. After all, I don't know if we actually had hm say a word. But I don't think he concocted the frame-job of the neighbor on his own. The fact of Caretaker lying to the cops should be troubling, especially if we're to believe she actually did have some level of love for Announcer. The trade-off of "You're going to give up millions in order to avoid drawing suspicion for a crime you may have actually committed" doesn't strike me as great.

As to Tom, is it mere coincidence that he is leaving town at the same time that Gio (Herc from the Wire!) is also leaving town? You may have to fit me for a tinfoil hat here, but I am going to maintain that Tom has some connection to Roman's disappearance/death.

I have to say I was touched by the RAMs deal more than I thought I could be. I wish Gio wouldn't slow-walk whatever it is he knows, and I wish that it were not almost inevitable that Gio is going to get got before leaving just a bread crumb. 

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12 hours ago, shura said:

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a public service announcement.  If, God forbid, you are facing an impending demise and would like to help the police identify the murderer, please try saying something that actually identifies him.  Like "Tiana's guy".  And not "tiddlywinks".

At least it wasn't as obscure as "Rosebud". 😉

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

But it seems like someone should have picked up on him using the term "tiddlywinks" to mean a "waste of time" if he did so as a repeated thing in his broadcasts for years. Like if Harry Caray or John Madden had been murdered, fans would recognize everyone of their common and not-so-common expressions. 

I thought the same. Or at least she should have googled on the word and his name to see if a match came up anywhere. I would think if he was known to use it that much it would have come up on websites. I mean, all I had to do was google on "High Potential" and "Tiddlywinks" and I got several matches that discussed the word in this episode.

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3 hours ago, cfinboston said:
5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

You may have to fit me for a tinfoil hat here, but I am going to maintain that Tom has some connection to Roman's disappearance/death.

Is he old enough? Roman disappeared 15 years ago. 

Morgan said that Tom was older than her. So I don't see why not.

Here is one more great picture that didn't make it into this episode, this episode seems like it deserves a "Director's Cut". I would definitely want to see it.

HighPotential_109_519308_172353_1083.jpg

Edited by AnimeMania
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6 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I will give the show this: The broadcaster seemed to have the sort of personality where he would be all dramatic and roundabout from the clips that we saw of him. So I could buy that he didn't just say "Tiana's guy."

But it seems like someone should have picked up on him using the term "tiddlywinks" to mean a "waste of time" if he did so as a repeated thing in his broadcasts for years. Like if Harry Caray or John Madden had been murdered, fans would recognize everyone of their common and not-so-common expressions.

Also, since “tiddlywinks” was the word that came to his mind as soon as he recognized the guy, it probably means that that was what he referred to Tiana’s boyfriend as in his mind.  It wasn’t a one-off thing he came up with while being run over, it was the name he had for the guy, right?  If so, Tiana may have heard that name when the announcer was talking to her about her boyfriend.  And yet she said she had never heard the word before.  Yeah, she probably isn’t as innocent as she claims.

On a related note, is it possible to prove that you never learned how to drive?   Even if there is no record of you having a driver’s license or being in a driving school, and nobody can be found to testify that they’ve seen you drive, that’s just absence of evidence, not evidence of absence.  Or, from the police perspective, can they prove that you are lying and can, in fact, drive?

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In the thread for the previous episode @Chicago Redshirt commented on the weakness of the motive for murder (by the owner of the club), and I have the same feeling about the motive for murder in this episode. Maybe it's because the killer didn't have any dialogue (as far as I remember), but are we supposed to think he would plan such an elaborate crime so that his girlfriend would inherit a ton of money? Despite Morgan's imagined caught-in-the-act romance, I didn't get the impression that the girlfriend was wildly in love with the French guy. I may have missed some dialogue--did she admit she loved him and planned to marry him? She didn't seem too upset about his being arrested for the crime.

7 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I'm kind of mixed on the caretaker disclaiming Announcer's fortune to avoid suspicion that she played a role in Announcer's murder. I mean, it seems pretty possible that she did. Murderer had to get information from somewhere about the feud between Announcer and the neighbor. Maybe I'm being too unfair to him. After all, I don't know if we actually had hm say a word. But I don't think he concocted the frame-job of the neighbor on his own. The fact of Caretaker lying to the cops should be troubling, especially if we're to believe she actually did have some level of love for Announcer.

I agree, it did seem unlikely that the murderer's girlfriend played no role in the murder. Even though she seemed sincere in expressing her feelings for the victim, it's possible that she told the French boyfriend about her inheritance and the feud with the neighbor in the hope that the boyfriend would independently decide to do the murder and make it look like the neighbor did it. But that just seems too complicated. It would make more sense if she asked the boyfriend to kill her employer before he changed the will to benefit his son. 

Also, this will sound classist and snobby, but the French auto mechanic seemed a bit scuzzy to be the lover of such an elegant woman. How did they even meet? Not that it matters, but I didn't even find him attractive, while she was quite beautiful.

I actually suspected the housekeeper who let the detectives in as being the murderer, but there wasn't any dialogue that supported this idea. 

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58 minutes ago, shura said:

Also, since “tiddlywinks” was the word that came to his mind as soon as he recognized the guy, it probably means that that was what he referred to Tiana’s boyfriend as in his mind.  It wasn’t a one-off thing he came up with while being run over, it was the name he had for the guy, right?  If so, Tiana may have heard that name when the announcer was talking to her about her boyfriend.  And yet she said she had never heard the word before.  Yeah, she probably isn’t as innocent as she claims.

My assumption would be that Announcer only met Killer the one time when he caught him and Caretaker in the act, and that the words he used to describe Announcer were less than PG at this point.

In later conversations with Caretaker, he referred to him as a waste of time repeatedly. It's possible that he ALSO referred to him as Tiddlywinks or to tiddlywinks to emphasize how much of a waste of time he was, it's possible that he didn't. It's possible if he did, that Caretaker just lied about the Tiddlywinks reference -- she clearly lied about her boyfriend's whereabouts without hesitation until told she could be considered an accessory if she stuck with her false story. 

55 minutes ago, Paloma said:

In the thread for the previous episode @Chicago Redshirt commented on the weakness of the motive for murder (by the owner of the club), and I have the same feeling about the motive for murder in this episode. Maybe it's because the killer didn't have any dialogue (as far as I remember), but are we supposed to think he would plan such an elaborate crime so that his girlfriend would inherit a ton of money? Despite Morgan's imagined caught-in-the-act romance, I didn't get the impression that the girlfriend was wildly in love with the French guy. I may have missed some dialogue--did she admit she loved him and planned to marry him? She didn't seem too upset about his being arrested for the crime.

I agree, it did seem unlikely that the murderer's girlfriend played no role in the murder. Even though she seemed sincere in expressing her feelings for the victim, it's possible that she told the French boyfriend about her inheritance and the feud with the neighbor in the hope that the boyfriend would independently decide to do the murder and make it look like the neighbor did it. But that just seems too complicated. It would make more sense if she asked the boyfriend to kill her employer before he changed the will to benefit his son. 

Also, this will sound classist and snobby, but the French auto mechanic seemed a bit scuzzy to be the lover of such an elegant woman. How did they even meet? Not that it matters, but I didn't even find him attractive, while she was quite beautiful.

I actually suspected the housekeeper who let the detectives in as being the murderer, but there wasn't any dialogue that supported this idea. 

Here I at least can project logical/emotional motives for going to murder in the way he did without straining too much.

1. Announcer's discovery led to the possibility that Boyfriend would get in trouble, such as by being deported or having his apparent sugar mama decide to stick with Announcer and break things off with him. So he killed to protect that.

2. Boyfriend knew of Tiana's potential multimillion-dollar inheritance and either jumped to the conclusion or was explicitly told by Tiana that she stood to be disinherited thanks to Announcer catching them in the act. So he either independently or with Tiana devised a plan to kill him while keeping the suspicion off of him. 

I suppose on further reflection, I should critique the murder some. It makes sense to frame the neighbor given the ongoing feud. But it was dumb to do so by stealing his car a week in advance. Obviously he is going to report the theft of a classic expensive car, given a week. And that would make it dumb for him to use that car as his murder weapon. Because it would be calling unnecessary attention to the car when really running him over in any old car would do (as would killing him in any number of ways that had no obvious ties to neighbor).

They should have just had the theft be the night before for plausibility's purposes. 

Also, a week is a dangerous amount of time if the motive was to prevent him from changing the will. There would have been plenty of time for him to do so. 

Oh well. One of the things I love most about the show are Morgan's random bits of trivia. I really wish I could spy on the writer's room to see what obscure factoids they want to incorporate in a given episode.

On another topic, I have to say, I've watched a fair number of murder mystery type shows, and I cannot remember an episode of one in which the murderer literally has no dialogue. Maybe they felt the actor had the right look, but could not pull off the accent? Also, for a 6'5" hunk, he got taken down rather easily, no?

 

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I am guessing since the caretaker lived in the house the only time her lover really saw her was when the announcer was out of town, probably for several days, and then her boyfriend would have an extended visit. Now that the announcer knew that the boyfriend was showing up, he may have forbidden her from letting him in the house. The boyfriend might also think the announcer might have him deported.

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5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

On another topic, I have to say, I've watched a fair number of murder mystery type shows, and I cannot remember an episode of one in which the murderer literally has no dialogue. Maybe they felt the actor had the right look, but could not pull off the accent? Also, for a 6'5" hunk, he got taken down rather easily, no?

French. . . .lovers not fighters.

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5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

My assumption would be that Announcer only met Killer the one time when he caught him and Caretaker in the act, and that the words he used to describe Announcer were less than PG at this point.

In later conversations with Caretaker, he referred to him as a waste of time repeatedly. It's possible that he ALSO referred to him as Tiddlywinks or to tiddlywinks to emphasize how much of a waste of time he was, it's possible that he didn't. It's possible if he did, that Caretaker just lied about the Tiddlywinks reference -- she clearly lied about her boyfriend's whereabouts without hesitation until told she could be considered an accessory if she stuck with her false story. 

Here I at least can project logical/emotional motives for going to murder in the way he did without straining too much.

1. Announcer's discovery led to the possibility that Boyfriend would get in trouble, such as by being deported or having his apparent sugar mama decide to stick with Announcer and break things off with him. So he killed to protect that.

2. Boyfriend knew of Tiana's potential multimillion-dollar inheritance and either jumped to the conclusion or was explicitly told by Tiana that she stood to be disinherited thanks to Announcer catching them in the act. So he either independently or with Tiana devised a plan to kill him while keeping the suspicion off of him. 

I suppose on further reflection, I should critique the murder some. It makes sense to frame the neighbor given the ongoing feud. But it was dumb to do so by stealing his car a week in advance. Obviously he is going to report the theft of a classic expensive car, given a week. And that would make it dumb for him to use that car as his murder weapon. Because it would be calling unnecessary attention to the car when really running him over in any old car would do (as would killing him in any number of ways that had no obvious ties to neighbor).

They should have just had the theft be the night before for plausibility's purposes. 

Also, a week is a dangerous amount of time if the motive was to prevent him from changing the will. There would have been plenty of time for him to do so. 

Oh well. One of the things I love most about the show are Morgan's random bits of trivia. I really wish I could spy on the writer's room to see what obscure factoids they want to incorporate in a given episode.

On another topic, I have to say, I've watched a fair number of murder mystery type shows, and I cannot remember an episode of one in which the murderer literally has no dialogue. Maybe they felt the actor had the right look, but could not pull off the accent? Also, for a 6'5" hunk, he got taken down rather easily, no?

 

Excellent summary of all the plot holes, @Chicago Redshirt!👏
I guess when a show has enough experienced and charismatic actors to carry the story, we viewers are happy to just spend the handwavium.

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I thought Tom was laying a guilt trip on Morgan she was probably busy with her kids that's why she didn't call back. Announcers often have catch phrases that's where Tiddledywinks came from. I don't see any chemistry between Morgan and Karadec they are better off as partners. I think it's refreshing that Morgan and her ex-husband are still friends. I love Kaitlin Olson on this show I can't stand Dee from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I think the kids are great I didn't mind Ava being upset about her dad.

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I didn't want to trust Gio at first, but I'll admit that that's mostly because Domenick Lombardozzi plays a certain type, and he was recently a real dirtbag on Tulsa King.  Plus we got a warning about him, and that was after we'd already seen that he seems pretty sketchy.  Then he mentioned "The RAMs" and how he knew, and had Morgan drop him off at... a church?  I guess that was supposed to make us realize that we were wrong about him and he's obviously okay, right?  Right?

Maybe.

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