S01.E04: There Goes The Neighborhood

[WendyCR72]

To the mod for this forum, I didn't see an episode thread for tonight's episode up yet, so I did the honors! If I overstepped feel free to let me know.

A string of burglaries turns deadly; Roger Junior reunites with an old friend who may be involved in illegal activities.

[Morrigan2575]

This is the episode where LW went from fun and entertaining to OMG I Love This Show!

Everything about it was perfect.  The shower fight sequence had me in stiches. The ending therapy session was extremely funny. The final barber shop scene was wonderful.

I actually yelled at the TV when Murtaugh laid into Riggs. I can't remember the exact line but it was so harsh.

The crime was a little simple, I knew the coach was involved from the minute we saw him.

[WendyCR72]

The punch Murtaugh threw at Riggs (enough to crack teeth?) was...kind of weak. But that's all that was weak. The sentiment behind it made me feel so sorry for Riggs. I mean, I get why Murtaugh acted as he did. That is his kid and he was angry and scared. But, still, that was harsh.

But the shower sequence made up for it, and I really do like the actor playing their captain, telling them to "get back to being your pain-in-the-ass selves" and ordering therapy. Even if it was with Dr. Cahill. The banter was spot on.

I hope RJ learned his lesson. I also liked Trish telling Roger they have good kids and good kids have good parents.

But I loved the ending barbershop scene. This show really is great. And the bromance aspect has become almost as great as the movie counterpart!

[shapeshifter]

The barbershop scenes were the best. I hope Murtagh wanting to protect his son doesn't mean an end to the barbershop for viewers.

Riggs' delivery of the episode title was perfect.

I was worried about Murtagh in the shower eith the stun gun. Too much chance of conduction.

[Amethyst]

This is the second ep I've seen and I'm really enjoying it.  The leads have good chemistry and it's not too over the top.  The fight scene in the shower had me in tears, especially when they were talking about Riggs being caught near the guy's "situation".

Murtaugh was out of line hitting Riggs, but the "you don't love anyone" remark was just dirty.  I can see why Riggs was hurt by that, even if he would never say so.  That said, I completely understood why Murtaugh was terrified.  He may be a cop and live in a decent neighborhood, but his son is still a young Black man on the streets.  All sorts of awful scenarios had to have been running through his head.  

Glad they made up in the end.  Although I do think Murtaugh owed Riggs a genuine apology for his rant and not just a half-hearted joke.  

[BooBear]

7 hours ago, Amethyst said:

That said, I completely understood why Murtaugh was terrified.  He may be a cop and live in a decent neighborhood, but his son is still a young Black man on the streets.  All sorts of awful scenarios had to have been running through his head.  

I was scared for him. At first, I was ready to puke when the cop just let them go but it was nice that the cop went right to Roger first. That made sense. As usual there was an aspect of truth to both hits that Riggs took this episode. Cahill asking if he was homeless and Roger being angry that Martin's irresponsible behavior had influenced his son.  But I thought Roger was a tad of an overreaction. And I kind of still didn't like that he didn't apologize better.  If I was Martin that might be the end of the friendship. 

I do have one problem though. Who is the new former gang member detective and how did he get a job on this show? He is a HORRIBLE actor and I have no interest in watching him try to befriend(?) Roger's mentee there. 

Edited October 13, 2016 by BooBear

[Happytobehere]

I caught up on this show On Demand when it was raining on Sunday, and am surprised to find I really like it.

Tonight's episode was great for all the reasons mentions.  I do however have to say that Jordanna Brewster can't act at all and she runs every scene she is in.  The actress or the character needs to be replaced.  But I guess she is there to be a possible love interest for Riggs and I am not looking forward to that as seeing more of Brewster is not a plus.

[TobinAlbers]

4 hours ago, BooBear said:

I was scared for him. At first, I was ready to puke when the cop just let them go but it was nice that the cop went right to Roger first. That made sense. As usual there was an aspect of truth to both hits that Riggs took this episode. Cahill asking if he was homeless and Roger being angry that Martin's irresponsible behavior had influenced his son.  But I thought Roger was a tad of an overreaction. And I kind of still didn't like that he didn't apologize better.  If I was Martin that might be the end of the friendship. 

I thought it was great/interesting/realistic that despite being a cop himself, Roger had no illusions that out on the street without him around his son is a black kid and the beat cop pulling him over isn't going to know that his father is a Detective just because.

RJ actually handled the situation really well with how calm and respectful he was in explaining who he was and handing over his get out of jail free card.

And the cop was actually very nice all things considered. But it was just the mere image of the white cop approaching the car with his hand on his gun before he even spoke that got your stomach in a knot. The conversation between him and RJ was how you'd want/expect a reasonable officer to approach the situation. He even complimented him on the sweet ride before walking away.

And I also liked that the cop did check in with Roger to let him know what happened. It really did feel like a brother in blue type of thing. The irony is that Roger was peeved because as he told RJ, he didn't know this cop and he rolls up to him telling him about his son (who he actually took care of) and yet still mad that Riggs (who really is like family) also did the same thing. Basically it was bad enough a cop he didn't know knew something about his son, but in as many hours he learns a second cop had helped out RJ too which had to make Roger feel why couldn't my son feel like he couldn't come to me? But Roger is very fortunate that his son has people looking out for him in a good way. As we saw with Marcus' story, the people you'd expect to be looking out for your kids can be exploiting them.

I felt bad for Marcus despite his realistically being accessory to murder (he gave the address of the home where the young woman was killed) but he really seemed like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. No doubt he was forced into the gang and to give up names, etc. and then he was forced into a 'promotion' of armed robbery and murdering two more people or be killed along with them. And all this by someone who was supposed to be a mentor to help keep them out of that ish. Sad.

Roger did some nice old school 'detecting' in goading the Black Hulk about his knee injury to figure out where and who with he hung out with.

I like the touches of Riggs' Texas background. First with the ribs a few eps back when Roger was going on and on about his ribs and Riggs is like 'I'm from Texas. Stop embarrassing yourself' and then tonight with Roger trying to talk to him about the awesomeness of team sports with Riggs bragging about his Football skillz.

And if Riggs is the fun Uncle, that means Roger sees him as his brother in spite of riding him all the time on his hobo-ishness.

I do like how Roger's old partner is his boss and instead of Roger being jealous and there being animosity or friction between them, they support each other. He's someone Roger can talk to about Riggs who isn't trying to undermine them or anyone.

I wish we got to see the running tab of Martin and Roger's property destruction tab with the city. The chase through Roger's neighborhood had to cost a couple of thousand at least.

Edited October 13, 2016 by TobinAlbers

[Raja]

12 hours ago, Amethyst said:

 

Murtaugh was out of line hitting Riggs, but the "you don't love anyone" remark was just dirty.  I can see why Riggs was hurt by that, even if he would never say so.  That said, I completely understood why Murtaugh was terrified.  He may be a cop and live in a decent neighborhood, but his son is still a young Black man on the streets.  All sorts of awful scenarios had to have been running through his head.  

Glad they made up in the end.  Although I do think Murtaugh owed Riggs a genuine apology for his rant and not just a half-hearted joke.  

I am thinking we are back to the FOX suits once again showing episodes out of the intended order. The fury with which he threw out that you have no family to love doesn't jive with his being informed of the tragedy the Riggs family has gone through.

[Racj82]

Just addressing the non apology. I honestly don't think that's what a person likes Riggs needs. He knows Roger's character and why he was upset. Also, why he went out of pocket. Saying Riggs is like family and taking him somewhere that means a lot to him was his apology. He not only said he was like family, he showed it. I like subtle writing like that instead of a stereotypical heart to heart. I remember exactly conversations from the movies where they could literally never say how much each other meant to them but they showed it through actions all the time.

[Racj82]

6 minutes ago, Raja said:

I am thinking we are back to the FOX suits once again showing episodes out of the intended order. The fury with which he threw out that you have no family to love doesn't jive with his being informed of the tragedy the Riggs family has gone through.

We've seen him mistakenly bring up Riggs wife or inadvertently rub it in on every episode so far. This is the first time he brought it up in legit anger and it makes sense that he did because he meant for it to hurt in the moment. The moment doesn't work nearly as well without establishing that pattern first.

[ohjoy]

I don't know where they got the kid(s) playing the baby, but she continues to be too precious for this world, holding the spoon out to Martin as he approached to feed her.

Count me in the group wishing Murtaugh had truly apologized to Riggs for lashing out at him over RJ. I didn't have to be long/drawn out, but a straightforward, "I'm sorry I said that, man. I was out of line," would have sufficed. I get that he was angry and terrified (trust me, I get it), but it felt like he crossed a line there. If I were Riggs after that I'd always have it in the back of my mind that no matter how friendly Roger may be towards me, one false move and he'd be right back to shutting me out and trying to kick me where it hurts.

(Thanks @Raja for the reminder about the episode order. I hope that's the case, because that would make me feel a lot better about that scene.)

I did really like the rest of the episode though. I'm not crazy about the new detective, but as long as they dial WAY back on the animosity Roger's protege has for him, then that will be tolerable. Riggs/Murtaugh = fun bickering (most of the time). Protege/New Detective = not. And I don't think I'm ever going to really warm to the therapist unless they make it clear that she's not a potential LI for Riggs. Just, no. Sorry Jordana. That last therapy scene was actually fun though, when she yelled for them to get out of her office. (Now that I think about it, if they decided to do a mini-version of Common Law (short-lived USA buddy cop show) within the show, that would go a looonngg way in my enjoyment of the therapy dynamic. Just no more solo sessions with Riggs.)

[BooBear]

40 minutes ago, RandomMe said:

Count me in the group wishing Murtaugh had truly apologized to Riggs for lashing out at him over RJ. I didn't have to be long/drawn out, but a straightforward, "I'm sorry I said that, man. I was out of line," would have sufficed. I get that he was angry and terrified (trust me, I get it), but it felt like he crossed a line there. If I were Riggs after that I'd always have it in the back of my mind that no matter how friendly Roger may be towards me, one false move and he'd be right back to shutting me out and trying to kick me where it hurts.

Another thing that kind of got me was that he seemed to do it out loud in a very public area. I mean be harsh in a private room not at your desks in the middle of the detective desk area.  But I am not counting out the idea it was out of order. It did have a very different feel to it. This was kind of the first episode where we didn't have some major storyline dealing with the dead wife. On the other hand they specifically referenced the new "gang" detective that was introduced last week as joining them.

It is too late now but perhaps a good way to integrate Dr. Cahill would have been to have her talk with Roger more to see how Riggs was doing.  Maybe get friendly with Trish.. maybe Dr. Cahill's boyfriend works with Trish.. some hook. But I did like the joint session at the end.  Still awkward.

[magdalene]

I actually find the former gang member detective interesting and that includes his "look".  I don't think everybody on TV needs to be handsome or pretty.  IMO there are too many generically pretty faces on American TV, which is bland and boring to me. 

[BooBear]

9 minutes ago, magdalene said:

I actually find the former gang member detective interesting and that includes his "look".  I don't think everybody on TV needs to be handsome or pretty.  IMO there are too many generically pretty faces on American TV, which is bland and boring to me. 

Ok but, to be clear if this was directed my way. I didn't say anything about his look. He is actually quite handsome. I thought his acting was super bad. Like he never had a day of acting before in his life. Really distracting.

[Chaos Theory]

I think it was Lethal Weapon 3 they had the scene with Murtaugh and his sons friend doing that gun point stand off thing.  Off course it went differently in the movies.   I was curious throughout the episode how that scene would playout and I thought it was done well considering.  

I like Cahill and I think she fits in well with the series.  I am still not sure why people aren't liking her but whatever there is always at least one character on a show....anyway fun episode even during the serious moments.  

[Racj82]

Also about the order thing, that doesn't track with the former gang members character just being introduced last week to set him up to join the squad this week. It's in order. 

[Watermelon]

2 hours ago, magdalene said:

I actually find the former gang member detective interesting and that includes his "look".  I don't think everybody on TV needs to be handsome or pretty.  IMO there are too many generically pretty faces on American TV, which is bland and boring to me. 

It's not that he's unattractive, for me he just has a spirit of shiftyness. Like, I wouldn't trust him either, and while I think lady cop is being a little too petty, I would be skeptical of him off looks alone, too.

[Raja]

32 minutes ago, Watermelon said:

It's not that he's unattractive, for me he just has a spirit of shiftyness. Like, I wouldn't trust him either, and while I think lady cop is being a little too petty, I would be skeptical of him off looks alone, too.

There have been precious few lady cops or any other career who were not too pretty. 

[Netfoot]

Is it just me?  Or does it strike anybody else as unwise to be rolling around in a shower, soaking wet, and using a taser?

If your kid sneaked out one night, found themself in questionable surroundings and called one of your friends to come rescue them, would you want that friend to refuse, leaving your kid in those same questionable surroundings?  If one of your friends kids called you, and asked to be rescued, would you refuse?  I don't understand Murtaugh's anger at Riggs.  He did the right thing:  he rescued the kid, and persuaded him to come clean to his parents.

No signs of flirtatious behaviour between Riggs and Cahill.  Yet.

[magdalene]

I don't get the Cahill hate.  She has been perfectly nice and helpful and hasn't been making inappropriate googly eyes at Riggs.  I guess it's the actor who rubs people the wrong way - which I don't get either (I am not familiar with her).

I agree that Murtaugh should have been grateful to Riggs for trying to help his son out of a pickle, instead of pissy with him.

And yes, rolling around in the shower tasering the bad guy was dumb dumb dumb. 

For all I know former gang detective is shifty as hell - I haven't made up my mind about him. My point was that I don't mind either his look or his acting.

[BooBear]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

If your kid sneaked out one night, found themself in questionable surroundings and called one of your friends to come rescue them, would you want that friend to refuse, leaving your kid in those same questionable surroundings?  If one of your friends kids called you, and asked to be rescued, would you refuse?  I don't understand Murtaugh's anger at Riggs.  He did the right thing:  he rescued the kid, and persuaded him to come clean to his parents.

Agreed but I think when Murtaugh blew I don't think he knew that Riggs had persuaded his son to come clean and I think he believed that Riggs had kept the incident from him. Which actually didn't make a lot of sense because Riggs had been very much the Debbie Downer during their initial dinner when the son wanted to go into the military. I believe there was a little bit of irrational concern that the good kid liked Riggs better because he was "fun" while Roger had to be the mean one to keep him on the straight and narrow.  But I agree, it was an overreaction and I think Roger owed Riggs an apology. 

[Last Time Lord]

This show is a national treasure. One thing I really liked about this episode was how solving the case was truly a team effort; not just Riggs and Murtaugh, but the others that work with them, everyone independently discovered something that assisted the team in solving it

2 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Is it just me?  Or does it strike anybody else as unwise to be rolling around in a shower, soaking wet, and using a taser?

Especially when one of those rolling around in the water fighting has a pacemaker!

[CountryCrazy]

5 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I think it was Lethal Weapon 3 they had the scene with Murtaugh and his sons friend doing that gun point stand off thing.  Off course it went differently in the movies.   I was curious throughout the episode how that scene would playout and I thought it was done well considering.  

I like Cahill and I think she fits in well with the series.  I am still not sure why people aren't liking her but whatever there is always at least one character on a show....anyway fun episode even during the serious moments.  

I like Cahill too and like her dynamics with Riggs and Murtaugh ! I'm not shipping her and Biggs but if it goes that way I'm okay with it ???

[dusang]

I straight up respect this show for having Marcus instruct RJ how to appear non-threatening to the cop (including "don't take anything out of your pocket" and "stop moving") and Murtaugh, a black police detective, openly acknowledge that his son, as a black teenager, was at risk in an interaction with an unknown police officer.

[snarktini]

5 hours ago, Netfoot said:

If your kid sneaked out one night, found themself in questionable surroundings and called one of your friends to come rescue them, would you want that friend to refuse, leaving your kid in those same questionable surroundings?  If one of your friends kids called you, and asked to be rescued, would you refuse?  I don't understand Murtaugh's anger at Riggs.  He did the right thing:  he rescued the kid, and persuaded him to come clean to his parents.

Riggs didn't get any credit for that as far as I saw, and I thought that was a missing piece. He made sure RJ was safe AND talked him into coming clean. That's a good thing! Yes, he could have called Murtaugh right away and perhaps he should have. But from an all's-well-that-ends-well POV, this outcome was actually better for RJ. He learned that there's another adult who has his back. And he received guidance from Riggs that pushed him to own his mistake and set the situation right himself. I thought Riggs handled it well. 

[jewel21]

I loved this episode. Hell, I've loved them all. The shower scene had me laughing out loud, and the confrontation between Riggs and Murtaugh had me feeling so sad.

I remember thinking to myself, would Murtaugh have been happier had Riggs left R. J. to find his own way home? The kid was stranded and in a bad neighborhood. Riggs wasn't happy about the situation, but he stepped up and helped his partner's kid. And, he told the kid to come clean to his parents. The punch from Murtaugh I felt was uncalled for and made me feel for Riggs.

I like that they made up though at the end, and the therapy and barbershop scenes were great. I'm really loving this show. It's my favourite show this year. It's even taken over the number one spot which I held for Lucifer last year. I'm happy it's gotten an 18 episode order and I can't wait for next week.

[paigow]

The couples therapy reminded me of Common Law, with Michael Ealy, Warren Kole and Sonya Walger ...

[Anela]

I'm still loving this. That baby is too gorgeous, and was so cute when she suddenly showed interest in the food, once Riggs had had a few bites. 

I don't mind the therapist. 

[nemesis]

I also felt bed for Riggs when Murtaugh punched him, said he didn't love anyone, and told him to stay away from the family.  That was awful.  I think Riggs did the right thing in rescuing the kid and getting him to come clean about it himself.  It was an important lesson for the kid (who needs to learn to take responsibility for his own actions, especially since it's not like there is always going to be someone around to tell his parents what he has been up to).  It irritates me that Murtaugh never found out that Riggs got the son to own up.  In the end he believes that Riggs was basically just helping his son cover up the incident and he eventually forgave him for that.  However, it makes perfect sense that he doesn't know the truth since neither the kid nor Riggs brought it up.

[Wryly]

Sometimes when writers are trying to throw emotions into a scene to build up a dramatic charge, they really pour it on too thick. Characters hit below the belt to a degree the situation doesn't seem to call for. I felt like this was one of those times with Murtaugh's "you don't have anyone to love but yourself" comment. I understood why Murtaugh was upset, but didn't feel it really justified a remark that penetratingly vicious. "You're not a father, you couldn't understand how I feel" might have been more appropriate, for me.

I think it was made worse by the fact that it was Riggs who encouraged RJ to be straight with his parents and tell them what happened. That's never addressed. Murtaugh was mad because he felt deceived, but Riggs was anti-deceit, pro-truth with RJ. It really seemed like he was just giving the kid a chance to own up to mom and pop himself.

[dargosmydaddy]

16 hours ago, Wryly said:

I felt like this was one of those times with Murtaugh's "you don't have anyone to love but yourself" comment. I understood why Murtaugh was upset, but didn't feel it really justified a remark that penetratingly vicious. "You're not a father, you couldn't understand how I feel" might have been more appropriate, for me.

Would have been more appropriate, and still would have been the emotional punch to Riggs that the writers seemed to want. Not sure the physical punch was necessary at all. And as others have pointed out, Roger's complete lack of apology was just wrong.

I wondered how RJ came to have Riggs's number... Riggs doesn't seem like the kind of guy to randomly give his number to this kid he barely knows. Which means RJ specifically took the number from his dad's phone because he thought he might need Riggs to get him out of trouble at some point? Or maybe I'm reading too much into this.

Has adorable baby girl Murtaugh ever been called by name?

[emma675]

Quote

Has adorable baby girl Murtaugh ever been called by name?

According to the Lethal Weapon Twitter account, her name is Harper.

[snarktini]

4 hours ago, dargosmydaddy said:

I wondered how RJ came to have Riggs's number... Riggs doesn't seem like the kind of guy to randomly give his number to this kid he barely knows. Which means RJ specifically took the number from his dad's phone because he thought he might need Riggs to get him out of trouble at some point? Or maybe I'm reading too much into this.

 

Total conjecture... I could see the family knowing how to reach their cop parent's partner in case of emergency. It also seems like he's been around enough to be seen as a family friend.

RJ doesn't strike me as a terribly sneaky kid. Seems unlikely he swiped Riggs' number in case he got in trouble. More likely the writers just needed him to have the number so, voila!, he does. Plot handwavium.

[paigow]

36 minutes ago, snarktini said:

Total conjecture... I could see the family knowing how to reach their cop parent's partner in case of emergency. It also seems like he's been around enough to be seen as a family friend.

Next time, RJ will have the Father In Law's number.....

[dargosmydaddy]

23 hours ago, snarktini said:

RJ doesn't strike me as a terribly sneaky kid. Seems unlikely he swiped Riggs' number in case he got in trouble. More likely the writers just needed him to have the number so, voila!, he does. Plot handwavium.

Yeah, I kind of figured this. Also wasn't quite sure whether Riggs's "RJ who?" was sincere (which I initially thought, and which supported my theory he doesn't know RJ well/ didn't give him his number), or him messing with RJ (which, now that I think of it, certainly sounds like Riggs...).

[romantic idiot]

Could he have called the station and asked to be connected?

[bethster2000]

Was Marcus ever held accountable for holding two innocent homeowners at gunpoint, thinking that they were living the final moments of their lives?