S02.E05: Hometown Hero

[AnimeMania]

Working for a bad minor league baseball team, Charlie suspects foul play in the death of a player.

Premiere Date: May 22, 2025   Peacock 

Spoiler

Simon Rex as Russ "Rocket" Waddell, a washed-up minor league baseball pitcher

 

Brandon Perea as Felix Domingo 

Carol Kane as Lucille Lubinski 

Gil Birmingham as Skip Dooley

B.J. Novak as Hiram Lubinski, son of Lucille, a chemically impaired mascot

[Snazzy Daisy]

Charlie talks about binging The Office before starting her admin job. Then BJ Novak conveniently appears in her hallucinations as Hiram Lubinski.

Wait a minute. How on earth would the coroner be able to determine such a precise speed of the fastball — over 100 MPH? 🤔

[EtheltoTillie]

Ego Nwodim had such a -- hem -- minor league part! 

Was the rival pitcher actually high?  I still am not sure. 

Kind of a meh episode for me. 

 

[possibilities]

"Velvety Canned Cheese Park" made me laugh.

Also: "the secret of the sphere". 

Will Charlie stay put, at the same job? They didn't really give a reason for her to leave, and she said she wants to settle down. Is the entire season going to stay there? Have there been any media reports suggesting how they will structure the season?

[shapeshifter]

I liked the twist at the end that was shown through closeups of exchanged looks without real dialog that Rocket appreciated that Charlie did what it took to get his mojo back, in spite of her turning him in.

It's always about the coverup, isn't it? 
He started to call 911, and would have if not for their scam.
Will he get a lighter sentence because it was manslaughter, or will the coverup and cheating/gambling negate all that?

Charlie and Rocket did have "chemistry."

[merylinkid]

I liked this one.   although it took forever for Charlie to show up

Spoiler

(well she was there all along apparently)

Carol Kane !!!!!!!!  OMG.

Charlie had the hots for Rocket.   I think he might have liked her too.  Too bad he turned out to be murderer.   And yes @shapeshifter it will totally be worse because he killed the guy to cover up the illegal gambling.   It is also a crime to spike someone's food.   

Those guys were MORONS though.   Oh hey, we just won a ton of money on illegal gambling let's buy new grills, gold rings and fur coats, no one will suspect a thing.  Also they were very bad at throwing games.  Like obviously bad.

Charlie tripping was hilarious.   

 

[PurpleTentacle]

This one was fun. 

There was a bit of a red herring in there. They really wanted to make us think that Charlie was the mascot, with how long they always held the camera on it. But as always she was just off screen.

15 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

(well she was there all along apparently)

Why did you put that in spoilers? She is always there all along. That's an essential part of the show.

[possibilities]

I'm thinking about it, and maybe she stays because (besides that she likes it there), she also hasn't "saved the team/ballpark" yet. In fact, she just exposed 5 players as part of a criminal conspiracy. They were on the verge of bankruptcy already, and now they need to rebuild the team and the image of the team. 

Maybe she will use her lie detection ability to do something other than solve murders. I'm not sure what, though. But if the team was in bad shape before, it's in worse shape now. And she really liked the owner. I wouldn't want to see a murder every episode all in the same ballpark. But... I dunno. Maybe there's some other angle.

Edited Friday at 03:32 AM by possibilities

[tennisgurl]

I liked this one a lot, I am such a sucker for baseball themed episodes. I was sad that Rocket ended up being a killer, he and Charlie had great chemistry, and even after the game fixing and killing the rookie player, I still felt bad for him. I like that at the end he didn't even seem mad at Charlie for catching him, he just tipped his hat to her and threw one more great pitch. 

This one was even more stacked with great guest actors than usual, I loved seeing Carol Kane show up! She and Charlie could play relatives, they have such similar husky voices. 

The guys who fixed the game were possibly the dumbest criminals we've ever seen, maybe don't buy rims and a fur coat the second you get rich off an illegal scheme. I have no idea if the baseball team survives this, the team was already failing and now one of their former stars is going to be arrested for killing another player, half the team will be kicked off after fixing a game, presumably causing a scandal, and no way will their record improve. 

Glory Days was a perfect song for this episode. 

"I seem to have stopped seeing the color green?"

[possibilities]

It really is hard to see the team coming back from that. Maybe Charlie will be moving on every episode because solving a crime leads to collapse of wherever she was working, so instead of fleeing bulelts she's wandering looking for work.

I did remember that she has used her gift for more than solving murders, though. She used it to suss out bluffs among gamblers, too. I don't want to see her go back to that, though.

[catrice2]

I am not sure why I am not connecting to this season as before.   Everytime Charlie comes on the scene I see a combo of Popeye and Olive Oyl and the murders have just been meh. 

[Chaos Theory]

I thought the point of the episode was in large part to show why Charlie still travels from town to town.   The idea that when you have this weird gift (like throwing a ball fast or knowing when someone is lying) and finally get a chance to use it in a meaningful way it is hard to give up.    Charlie no longer has to run and I don’t think she truly understands herself why she just doesn’t pick a spot on the map and settle there.   When the truth is that Charlie likes using her gift the way she has been.   

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I thought the point of the episode was in large part to show why Charlie still travels from town to town.   The idea that when you have this weird gift (like throwing a ball fast or knowing when someone is lying) and finally get a chance to use it in a meaningful way it is hard to give up.    Charlie no longer has to run and I don’t think she truly understands herself why she just doesn’t pick a spot on the map and settle there.   When the truth is that Charlie likes using her gift the way she has been.   

Maybe she will mention her motive for moving in the next few episodes.
It could just be that after folks find out about her "gift," she always feels like they try to avoid her, which, as she mentioned at the beginning of this episode, is the opposite of what she is seeking.

[paigow]

Her CB Good Buddy lives a wandering lifestyle... Charlie seems to want something like that... 

[AnimeMania]

Ego Nwodim as Gilda Deacon
Anthony Carvello as Hunter
Noah Segan as Lew Dundee
Jacob Lynn as Carl Sandberg
Ruffin Prentiss as Goose
Lance Roberts as Benny Caudill

[EtheltoTillie]

The Good Buddy is played by Steve Buscemi. 

The scene where they show up with new grills and fur coats is an homage to one of my favorites, Goodfellas.  Remember, the gang was supposed to lay low after the Lufthansa heist, but those lunkheads couldn’t resist buying jewelry, fur coats, and Cadillacs. 

[iMonrey]

One of the things that really bugs me about this show is the way Charlie constantly confronts people she knows to be murderers without anyone else present. I mean, she knows they killed someone in cold blood and covered it up. Why on earth would she risk being alone in the room with them and telling them she knows? She may have some weird power that allows her to tell when someone is lying but she doesn't seem very bright otherwise. Nor does she have superhuman strength - she's fairly small versus most of the killers she's confronted. It's amazing she hasn't been killed herself at this point. 

[DearEvette]

Another fun episode. For me it was the little things:

-Charlie's fight with the printer

-Simon Rex has really pretty eyes

 -The new kid deciding he wanted to retire and do drugs. 

-Carl being the absolute worst co-conspirator in every way

-The concept of Velvety Canned Cheese

-Ego Nwodim eating it and soliciting medical assistance over the loud speaker describing her ever escalating symptoms.

-Charlie deputizing a young fan so she can sit and heckle

On 5/23/2025 at 10:52 AM, possibilities said:

It really is hard to see the team coming back from that. Maybe Charlie will be moving on every episode because solving a crime leads to collapse of wherever she was working, so instead of fleeing bulelts she's wandering looking for work.

I did remember that she has used her gift for more than solving murders, though. She used it to suss out bluffs among gamblers, too. I don't want to see her go back to that, though.

This is my thought as well.   I think it would be kinda funny if by solving a crime tied to wherever she is working, she inadvertently manages to put her job out of business and that is the impetus for her moving on.  It seems like she is still getting the most random, low paid jobs.   When Beatrix was still on her trail, I get it she was getting paid under the table -- apple picker, corpse extra, looked like she was even a parking booth attendant.   With her having to keep moving on, it maintains that aspect of the show that Charlie really is the only regular character and through her we get to meet all types of people in all types of places in all types of life situations.

This is what, the second ep she hasn't been on the run? It sounded like she really liked the ball park and felt it was a nice to place settle for a bit. But we are left with the possibility that the ball park will end up closing. Their star pitcher is going away for murder, one of the guys will probably get some time for spiking the gum,  and the rest of team will probably end up tossed out of the league for the betting scandal.  So they'd have to build from scratch and probably don;t have the resources to do that right away, hence Charlie has no job.

I assume she can't go back to gambling where the money stakes have a great pay out because like she said in the very first episode, gamblers gossip and she was kinda notorious in that world. So she would not be able to stake into a game even if she wanted to.

Edited Sunday at 01:21 AM by DearEvette

[ofmd]

19 hours ago, iMonrey said:

One of the things that really bugs me about this show is the way Charlie constantly confronts people she knows to be murderers without anyone else present. I mean, she knows they killed someone in cold blood and covered it up. Why on earth would she risk being alone in the room with them and telling them she knows? She may have some weird power that allows her to tell when someone is lying but she doesn't seem very bright otherwise. Nor does she have superhuman strength - she's fairly small versus most of the killers she's confronted. It's amazing she hasn't been killed herself at this point. 

I keep forgetting to bring this up!

It bugs me, too. And she always tells tons of peple she knows they're lying... might want to keep it to yourself for a while...

Even though this time, I'd argue it wasn't in cold blood. Manslaughter, but otoh, a killing for cover-up makes it murder, right?

[Chaos Theory]

 

One of the co-conspirators said that off season was coming soon.  So unless the ball park had other uses it’s likely the job of ball girl was a temporary job regardless.  The stadium probably hosted other stuff but being the home field for the worst minor league baseball team in the league was probably its wiki page claim

to fame

Edited Sunday at 12:24 PM by Chaos Theory

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, ofmd said:

Manslaughter, but otoh, a killing for cover-up makes it murder, right?

But he didn't kill for the cover-up. He covered up the manslaughter — perhaps to also prevent the gambling from being discovered during a manslaughter investigation — but would there be much investigating in that town? 
If he had just continued to dial 911 instead of rigging the ball-pitching machine to appear to be the cause of death, a lawyer could argue that he didn't think he could still throw a ball that hard. But again, did that town have lawyers capable of defending someone in a manslaughter case to get a dismissal? 

In an alternate ending:
Rocket calls 911.
It gets deemed an unfortunate accident.
Rocket gets his fast ball back, is a hometown hero with a tragic past, and he and Charlie shack up for a time. 
But there's still the pesky gambling winnings to explain.
Maybe Rocket gives his to the dead rookie player's family, and is sentenced to community service for the rest of his life?

[merylinkid]

22 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

lawyer could argue that he didn't think he could still throw a ball that hard

Doesn't matter, it still killed him.   It's still homicide.   Everyone in law school learns the case of the thrown ink stand.   yeah an ink stand was determined to be a deadly weapon because it killed him.   If the object killed it, its death by deadly weapon whether or not the person believed the object would kill him.   

What Rocket should have done, is take the notebook and spiked gum (which he did do, that was smart), set up the ball machine.  Let it run.  THEN call 911 claiming he found the kid that way.   

[shapeshifter]

27 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

Doesn't matter, it still killed him.   It's still homicide.   Everyone in law school learns the case of the thrown ink stand.   yeah an ink stand was determined to be a deadly weapon because it killed him.   If the object killed it, its death by deadly weapon whether or not the person believed the object would kill him.…

Humph. Didn't know that.
So what if Rocket takes “the notebook and spiked gum (which he did do” and says he thought the victim was going to catch the ball, but there was a distraction, and when the victim turned away, the unexpectedly fast ball accidentally hit him in the head, killing him?

 

 

[merylinkid]

that might work.   Say the rookie asked for some tips, they were just practicing and he threw the ball and the kid got distracted.   No one has to know how hard he threw the ball.   

[iMonrey]

It's a blurry line. He did deliberately throw the ball at Felix's head. I know he didn't mean to kill him but he did mean to harm him. It was just an impulsive move out of anger. I think a lawyer could get the charge down to manslaughter.

[Chaos Theory]

See that is where I think this show differs then other murder mysteries.  It isn't really about justice for Charlie.  Its about the truth.  She just can't abide by lies or liars.  So she points the finger at whoever did whatever and then moves on.  She isn't that girl who will remain for months and years going to court every day to make sure justice gets done.  Whatever happens after she leaves happens.   She pointed the finger and might even have gotten enough proof to well prove it but whatever the justice system does next isn't really Charlie's motivation.

[Orbert]

At first I came away from this one thinking that it was a bit lightweight.  There weren't really any twists, no big reveal.  "Rocket" Russ was the only suspect from the beginning, we knew he did it and how, and the only question, as always, was how Charlie was going to trip him up.  And even the usual conundrum (How can this statement be true while that statement is bullshit?) only had the one real catch.  Something happened to give Rocket his mojo fastball back.  And Charlie did seem to figure that part out almost too easily.

But... I did find myself laughing a lot.  Gilda (the announcer) was killing me with her calmly describing how she can no longer see the color green, and then seemed to lose feeling in her arm, even though she'd stopped eating the canned cheese, and asking if there was a doctor somewhere who'd be willing to stop by the broadcast booth.  Carl, Goose, and the others really were not the brightest.  Charlie's trip was amazing, especially the discussion with Lubinski, and the philosophy of baseball and how players just want to get safely home.  Ahh... so nice.

So okay, this one had a little different vibe and rhythm to it, but it was entertaining.  That's all I'm looking for.

I'm still not sure what to make of "Good Buddy".  CB radios have a pretty good range, but this isn't shortwave.  He does need to be within 20-25 miles or so, tops.  As Charlie continues her journey down life's highway, it doesn't really make sense that she'll be in contact with "Good Buddy" for very long.  But I guess with the mob off her tail, they needed some kind of ongoing arc.