S02.E14: Double Shot of Baileys

[dargosmydaddy]

Quote

When Detective Bailey's sister, Jess (guest star Alisha Wainwright), runs into trouble with the law, Bailey must decide how far she's willing to go to protect her family. Meanwhile, with Trish away on a company retreat, Murtaugh is left to help Riana navigate boy problems, and Riggs deals with the fallout of a night of heavy drinking 

[MissLucas]

Well, they did write Riana as the true daughter of her father. Her freak-outs were pure Dad and I enjoyed seeing Roger for once on the receiving end of the crazy. This was probably my favorite Murtaugh familiy shenanigans plot.

I also enjoyed Bailey and her sister. I hope sis will come back. The plot gave us a pairing we haven't seen so far: Riggs and Bailey. They had an interesting dynamic - the moment Bailey told Riggs that it was about family he had her back no matter what.  You could read that as a sign of his unwavering loyalty to his team or as a convenient distraction for him so that he did not have to deal with his own issues. What made the plot really work was Bailey not simply going along with it but realizing that she was on a slippery path and pulling the breaks. 

Although I think the show has a tendency to go too dark this season I was okay with Riggs' plot because we got context for his behavior. We saw what triggered the drinking spree and we got some more insight into the causes for his self-loathing. Riggs finally admitting to Murtaugh that he needed help and the last scene in the garage were great - if the show manages to build on that emotional momentum then the preceeding darkness was somewhat earned. (It still doesn't negate the fact that someone as unstable as Riggs should not carry a badge and a gun - but what else is new?)

Edited January 28, 2018 by MissLucas

[jewel21]

I did enjoy Murtaugh having to deal with his daughter. It was hilarious when he got all that spy equipment and they went on a stakeout together, heh.

The Bailey/Riggs dynamic was interesting. I liked seeing the teams switched around a bit, although I will always prefer Riggs and Murtaugh together the best.

Hopefully, after admitting he needs help, Riggs will tone down the crazy a bit for the remainder of the season.

[Orbert]

I liked this one a lot more than the previous episode.  This season still hit-or-miss for me, with the misses unfortunately outnumbering the hits.
Hopefully the idea is that Riggs needs to hit rock bottom before we'll accept a real recovery from him, and this is the rock bottom.  All the "dark" stuff is getting pretty tough to bear.  The show doesn't have to be all sunshine and roses, but man, they could lighten up a bit.  Something's gotta give.

When there was no episode thread for a few days after it aired, I wondered briefly if *anyone* was still watching the show, and chuckled a bit.  Is that wrong?  It was a sad chuckle, if that helps.

[jewel21]

2 hours ago, Orbert said:

When there was no episode thread for a few days after it aired, I wondered briefly if *anyone* was still watching the show, and chuckled a bit.  Is that wrong?  It was a sad chuckle, if that helps.

Nah, I thought the same thing. And then promptly felt sad.

[niklj]

Where did Molly go?

Too much Bowman for me.

Good fight scenes this week.

Edited January 31, 2018 by niklj

[Akenta]

I enjoyed this episode, but are we now supposed to start to feel sympathetic towards the dad?

[Orbert]

I think Molly is out of the picture for now.  That last conversation they had seemed pretty "this isn't working" to me.

Dad is confusing.  I try to believe that no one is 100% good or 100% evil, but we're all a combination of each, obviously in wide-ranging ratios.  Dad was abusive and an alcoholic, and a lot of Martin's issues are a result of that, but I don't think it hurts to understand *why* Dad was the way he was, and what he was going through.  Martin's Mom killed herself to escape the pain of (I'm not if we know what disease/condition she had), and this affected both Martin and Dad deeply.  The visits from the social worker seemed pretty realistic and believable to me.