S02.E10: Wreck the Halls

[Guest]

Quote

It’s Christmas time and the Murtaugh family is headed to Hawaii. However, Murtaugh’s vacation is put on hold when he and Riggs are called to a homicide and the victim is an old friend. Meanwhile, Riggs gets a surprise phone call from a relative.

[Guest]

Overall, I thought it was a very weak episode. I will say though that I did NOT see that ending coming at all!

[AnimeMania]

I wonder what he is in prison for?

[Happy Harpy]

Loved the shout out to the movies, with the car destroying the living-room.

I'm glad that Riggs shared stuff about his father with Roger, but I'd have expected their moment to be the crux of the episode and it was rather accessory. I also regret that Trish and Roger didn't have a longer conversation about Diego. Roger's storyline took a backseat again.

Bowman is MIA. Bailey doesn't have much to do. Avery and Scorcese are barely there. Trish was away (awesome, but away). Cahill wasn't even in the midseason finale. Cast integration is lacking, lately.

Riggs remembers his friend and wants the boy to understand and love Jack, that's something. As I said I like Molly. But based on their interaction and the absence of romantic staples (kisses, etc.) I feel that she and Riggs aren't going to last long, so I regret even more that they got together in the first place. I think that parenting & danger of Riggs' job are going to do them in before the end of the season. Kids is cute, domestic scenes were dull.

Well played, though, re: convincing me that Riggs' dad was dead. It gives more sense to the flashbacks, at least a direction is set.

3 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I wonder what he is in prison for?

For beating his son and trying to kill him? They had to find out after Jack shot him. But it's probably more complicated than that, and linked to his racist connections.

[jewel21]

I loved every single minute of it. It was funny, intriguing, action-packed, and the ending was a complete shocker. I had no idea that Riggs' father was still alive. My favourite episode this season and definitely in my Top 5 overall.

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Happy Harpy said:

For beating his son and trying to kill him? They had to find out after Jack shot him. But it's probably more complicated than that, and linked to his racist connections.

I was thinking that he didn't get much time for beating his son, especially not enough to still be in prison (over 20 years?). Also that would not explain how he became so deeply respected by the Aryan Fraternity (enough to call off the hit on his son, even after at least 5 Aryan Fraternity members had been killed). I am guessing he met the Aryan Fraternity while he was in prison and later after being released, rose up through the ranks to become a top member.

[dargosmydaddy]

Huh. I was going to post a few episodes back that Riggs' dad's injury, while gruesome, didn't look particularly fatal, but then I figured what did I know, and kept this observation to myself...

2 hours ago, Happy Harpy said:

Riggs remembers his friend and wants the boy to understand and love Jack, that's something. As I said I like Molly. But based on their interaction and the absence of romantic staples (kisses, etc.) I feel that she and Riggs aren't going to last long, so I regret even more that they got together in the first place. I think that parenting & danger of Riggs' job are going to do them in before the end of the season. Kids is cute, domestic scenes were dull.

I'm wondering if the relationship wasn't set up (show-wise/ dramatic-purposes-wise) simply to give Riggs a kind of surrogate son for awhile. We had all the father-son anvils dropped in the flashback episodes, including the dad saying "you have me in you" or however he phrased it when Riggs was having the terrible nightmares... I'm wondering if Riggs doesn't end up hurting Ben in some way, either emotionally or physically. Not on purpose, obviously, but through some aspect of his Riggs-ish (immature/ reactionary/ drunk) behavior, leading to more Riggs angst.

[emma675]

I feel like this season has been very uneven, but I enjoy the actors so much I've stayed on board. Murtaugh has become almost a caricature of himself and his issues with Trish are practically the same every week. Riggs can't seem to learn from his past and move on even a little.

I did like bits of this episode--Murtaugh's grief over the victim, Riggs' bonding with Molly's kid, the phone call between Murtaugh and Riggs during the shoot out, the reveal that Rigg's dad is still alive. Hopefully they'll keep the Murtaugh family in their house, I adore their kitchen.

[dwmarch]

I was so happy to see Juan Redinger in this episode even if he was playing a drug-dealing dirtbag. He was one of the main characters on a CBC spy drama called The Romeo Section and I am glad to see his work in Hollywood North has brought him to acutal Hollywood even if he is being typecast as a druggie dirtbag.

[MaggieG]

I Loved Roger holding the phone close to his face while doing the video call with Trish.

I also liked Mcneely in the strip club and then at Roger's house.

[Orbert]

Another episode that had some good stuff and some not-so-good stuff, but came down on the good side in the overall picture, so I'll take it.

I don't remember thinking we didn't know whether Martin's dad was alive or dead; I was sure he was dead.  I suppose if I went back and re-watched all the Ghost Daddy episodes, I'd find that it was never explicitly stated, but if it was supposed to be ambiguous, it failed, because there wasn't any question in my head.  I usually like twists like this, but somehow I didn't like this one, even though it's a good one.

I think Riggs and Molly still aren't quite on the some page regarding their relationship, and it's neither one's fault.  I get the feeling that this will end up being something that they tried and it didn't work out, but hopefully they stay friends.  And if that's how it ends up, then it's actually being pretty well written and executed, because it's kinda working and kinda not working and that's realistic.  Relationships aren't easy; they're complicated and they can be hard.

Riggs didn't tell Ben any specifics about Jake shooting Riggs' dad.  He kept it intentionally vague, like when he simply told Roger that he was in a bad place and Jake saved his life.  You don't need the details to understand the debt.  In a similar way, Martin wanted Ben to know what Jake meant to him, and that there's at least one guy who doesn't think he's all bad.  But Molly got all upset, presuming Martin had given details that he really hadn't.  I don't think Martin did anything wrong.

I can't believe Trish convinced the kids to come home and not stay in Hawaii for their vacation because Trish just had a feeling something was wrong.  It was a nice heartwarming family moment at the end there, but I'm not sure that they'd earned it.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Orbert

[MissLucas]

Dad being alive was a major twist - like others I had assumed he was dead but in hindsight it's clear that it was never stated as fact. Well played.

I like the writing for Molly and Riggs. Molly is clearly ready to move on and I can understand that she insists on Riggs leaving his Jake baggage at the door so to speak. Not sure how it will play out in the end but I find it realistic and intriguing. Riggs not wanting to jump after the perp was a major moment.

The show tried to give Roger a more serious plot here - showing his loyalty and how he cares. It wasn't a complete success but it was better than previous episodes. I also took the scene of him taking shelter in the bathtub as a movie shout-out.

Kevin Rahm did not have much to do but he sure made the best of it, he!

[dargosmydaddy]

I thought this was an awesome Riggs/ Murtaugh episode, and the the lack of/ absence of other characters didn't bother me whatsoever. I loved the scene on the roof where Riggs admitted he didn't want to die today. Loved, loved, loved Riggs finally telling Roger about his dad (although it was interestingly phrased that he definitely led Roger-- as well as viewers-- to believe the dad was dead... to the best of my recollection, Jake did not shoot the father "in the back of the head"-- which sounds like it would almost certainly be fatal/ nonrecoverable-- but rather in the side of the face). And the phone call during the shoot out was also great, particularly the mutual "see you soon" (or however they phrased it) at the end.

[TobinAlbers]

Didn't realize how much I've become attached to Rigg's truck until it smashed into the concrete barrier. I actually yelled 'oh hell no!' when it crashed.

Roger's 'Mmm mmm mmm' at McNeile at the strip club was great.

Miranda and Riggs both having parents in deep with cartels/racist brotherhoods is crazy. 

Roger and I were thinking the same thing when he was initially inspecting the kitchen and was like 'Cool, just cosmetic. Nothing structural..' and then BAM! In slammed Martin. I just laughed and shook my head. You were so close Roger. So close. 

Man, Roger's kids kind of suck. Your father was in a shoot out at your house and you're bitching about it being smokey? I choose to believe they were covering their fear with bitchiness. They really take for granted that he's always gonna be there. Maybe they dealt with their issues when he had his heart attack or they began emotionally protecting themselves from that point on. And I love Trish,  but again, Roger has nothing to apologize for in 'ruining' the family vacation. He was doing his job, which nearly got him killed, and he managed to avoid it. 

Interesting parallels of Riggs being told to let go of his debt to Jake who saved his life by shooting his father (which in many circumstances would split them as friends since it was his father) and who he sees as his hero and his father who also saved his life and normally a son would see as a hero for doing so but who Martin feels is a complete POS.