S02.E05: Day 436

[tessaray]

Adrian and Diane serve as outside counsel for a broadcast network planning to air a controversial segment that would derail the career of a beloved male movie star. Maia and Lucca have vastly different experiences while on separate ride-alongs with the Chicago Police Department.

[MSterling]

I'm so happy they used a Rilo Kiley song at the end, Let Me Back In.

[Joimiaroxeu]

You'd think Lucca wouldn't want to go on a ride-along with her baby on board. (Yeah, that's old-fashioned but still, why take needless risks, especially with your first pregnancy?)

Andrea Martin looked fabulous. Francesca's going to be a messy grandma.

Well, so much for Colin needing to do the math. Wonder why Lucca picked that particular moment to drop the news? Jealousy?

[Linderhill]

I'm curious about how Tully is going to impact Diane's relationship with Kurt.  Its got to come out sometime.  

I've been on a couple ride alongs and they can be incredibly boring like that.  We never saw a duck in the middle of the street but there was a lot of riding around and around.

[Aulty]

For a moment I thought she wouldn't tell Colin and it's gonna be some back and forth over the next couple of episodes, but bless her, she did. It seems as if it will take them quite some time to figure things out though.

Uff Diane, I'm not keen on your new guy. I bet she'll finish the season as protester in chief and without Kurt. Also, is she micro-dosing all the time, or are those hallucinations all non drug related? They freak me out.

Apart from Colin's mum, who was hilarious, it was an ok episode - not nearly as exciting as last week's though.

[javaluvr]

I have a somewhat minor complaint about the lack of identifiable Chicago (or midwestern) accents among the characters. I know this is filmed in NYC and most of the casting is done there, but you’d think they’d find actors who could do a credible Chicago accent. The police captain was a case in point. A lot of other characters clearly have northeastern accents (I’m thinking of a few judges).

i imagine this complaint was made a number of times during the run of TGW, too.

[preeya]

I've just about had it with all the political innuendo.

ETA: I just read a piece whereby the upcoming episodes will be more and more political. Therefore, I'm out.

Sayonara!

[SomeTameGazelle]

I was annoyed with Colin for not having a better answer to being told that a baby was not a good enough reason to get married than "It's a start." If he had been presented as being really over Lucca it wouldn't have bothered me, but when he took her call he didn't know it could be about his mother, so the fact that he didn't let it go to voicemail suggests that he cares about what Lucca has to say. (And since he interrupted sex with a willing and available woman, we know it wasn't just that he would be open to a booty call.)

I didn't enjoy the resolution to Maya's story. What happened to the young guy the cops arrested to spite her? And if the dead cop died in his love nest, why didn't his girlfriend find him long ago? 

[UsernameFatigue]

6 hours ago, preeya said:

I've just about had it with all the political innuendo.

ETA: I just read a piece whereby the upcoming episodes will be more and more political. Therefore, I'm out.

Sayonara!

I haven't made it through a whole episode yet. I was hoping the characters would grow on me the second season, as I only ever cared for Diane in the first season. I still don't really care about anyone else, and barely care about Diane either. And all the political stuff bores me to tears. There is enough of it IRL, I watch fictional tv shows to escape it. I found it increasingly annoying on TGW, but at this point I would tune back into TGW if it were still on, ahead of watching TGF any longer. Oh well, I tried. 

[Sesquipedalia]

The duck made me lol.

I enjoy Diane's political visions, but since she may be dosing, I find it confusing whether or not they're real. The world we live in now is so surrealistic it's hard to tell the difference between reality and hallucinations. Maybe that's the point? As someone who has gained 15 pounds of "Trump weight" due to depression caused by our current political circumstances, I can identify with a character going through a similar crisis (though she remains skinny). 

Maia's story line was confusing. I don't think those cops should be taking valuables from a crime scene regardless of motive, but she seemed satisfied that everything was A-OK.

[2727]

What the hell was that with Adrian? Some rando former student was so upset that he -- among all her professors and classes -- didn't pay enough attention to her that she quit the law? What the fuck?

[wendyg]

That whole thing reminded me of the episode of TRANSPARENT where Maura meets Leslie Mackinaw and is forced to realize that as Mort she had hurt people. Similar case: Leslie spent ten years trying to get on the editorial board of a journal, and Maura blocked her and a group of other women every time and took only men except, as Leslie went on to remind her, one woman with big tits Mort couldn't take his eyes off. I think TGF was trying to get at the idea that even men who've never done anything actively wrong may still have exercised unconscious but damaging bias. But it was a bit ham-fisted, especially compared to TRANSPARENT's handling of it. As presented, it didn't make much sense: if there was only one spot, someone was going to lose, and they didn't seem to be suggesting that the woman who got the position was underqualified. But maybe that was just one piece of a pattern that didn't get clearly spelled out for us.

[Medicine Crow]

Was anyone else confused by the convoluted explanation the cops gave for taking the dead cop's jewellery & picture?  I'm still wondering about it!!???

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, Medicine Crow said:

Was anyone else confused by the convoluted explanation the cops gave for taking the dead cop's jewellery & picture?  I'm still wondering about it!!???

It was supposedly just that they had taken the picture because it showed him with his girlfriend that they didn't want his wife to know about, and the jewellery because it was his girlfriend's that they didn't want his wife to know about. The story struck me as . . . unconvincing. But I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to take it as hopeless Maia misinterpreting everything and making the wrong decision about when to take action, or hopeless Maia stupidly taking the male cop's lying word that what they had done was actually noble when obviously it wasn't. Did anyone other than the one cop say anything about the dead guy being a cop? When they got the call the female cop just referred to it by number. No one said anything about being especially concerned because the apartment was known to belong to another cop. The corpse was not exactly recognizable. I suppose it's possible that the female cop found the photo and put two-and-two together and explained it to the male cop out of Maia's earshot, but why not just take the jewellery in front of Maia, tell her they were taking it as evidence, and then do whatever they were going to do with it later without having to explain anything to her? What if Maia had told their superior officer instead of confronting the male cop one-on-one for no particular advantage?

I didn't see anything that convinced me that the cops had known the deceased alleged cop. If he was accustomed to meeting his girlfriend there, why had he been there without her and why hadn't she noticed he was missing? If it was because he had broken up with the girlfriend, why wouldn't his wife have noticed he was missing? And if he had lavished jewellery on the girlfriend, why would she have left it at the apartment and stayed away for however long it took the corpse to get into that state?

[Medicine Crow]

Thanks @SomeTameGazelle, you added some color to my thoughts.  Much appreciated!!!

[wendyg]

I thought they also said he and his wife were separated...so why shouldn't he have a girlfriend?

[CrashTextDummie]

I liked this episode. The show can be a bit on the nose about current politics and Trump but all the storylines in this episode where very much of the times and so it didn't feel overindulgent to me.

I also didn't get the impression that the writers were trying to push a political agenda. It's no secret where the Kings stand on the political spectrum but I thought this episode displayed appropriate restraint. The two ride-along storylines ultimately didn't have any grander point to make than that the letter of the law does not (should not?) necessarily apply to real life as it happens. It's a somewhat refreshing take on a show that is all about lawyers and the law. Both Maia and Luca ended up rather casually turning a blind eye and I liked that those decisions were presented without much emphasis on the morality of it all. This is just how the world works.

The #MeToo case I thought was cleverly constructed. In real life, this is an issue that is very much being judged in the court of public opinion and I thought the episode reflected that. Not only was there not a single judge involved, but it also emphasized the media's role rather than having the firm represent either the accuser or accused in such a case, which could have easily come across as salacious. It also gave us more insight into the Reddick/Boseman history, which I appreciated.

Overall a very somber episode with only Colin's mom on hand to privide some (bitter-sweet) levity, which worked for me as a change of pace. I can understand if people don't want to see current events seeping into their Sunday night's entertainment, but I personally don't mind and I thought it was handled well enough.

[John Potts]

I liked that we had a ride along on which no major lawyerly things happened. You'd imagine that most night shifts are boring AF (in fact having worked a few nights - not as a cop - mostly it's about drinking lots of coffee to stay awake).

On ‎03‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 1:56 AM, SomeTameGazelle said:

I was annoyed with Colin for not having a better answer to being told that a baby was not a good enough reason to get married than "It's a start."

I think he was just in shock. If I'd been told at 3am that I was going to be a dad,  it would take me a few hours to come up with a coherent response (OK, I'd also wonder how it had happened!)

On ‎03‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 8:15 AM, Sesquipedalia said:

I don't think those cops should be taking valuables from a crime scene regardless of motive

It wasn't a crime scene. There'd been a call of an "awful smell" from the love shack, which turned out to be the ex cop, who had (probably) died of natural causes.

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, John Potts said:

I liked that we had a ride along on which no major lawyerly things happened. You'd imagine that most night shifts are boring AF (in fact having worked a few nights - not as a cop - mostly it's about drinking lots of coffee to stay awake).

I think he was just in shock. If I'd been told at 3am that I was going to be a dad,  it would take me a few hours to come up with a coherent response (OK, I'd also wonder how it had happened!)

It wasn't a crime scene. There'd been a call of an "awful smell" from the love shack, which turned out to be the ex cop, who had (probably) died of natural causes.

How would anyone know if it was a crime scene without any investigation at all?  Especially when the victim is a cop who wasn’t elderly or sick.  

Was the implication it was suicide?  Was he sitting on the toilet?  It was a weird scene.  

[John Potts]

9 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

How would anyone know if it was a crime scene without any investigation at all?  Especially when the victim is a cop who wasn’t elderly or sick.

True, it might have been foul play, but it looked like natural causes (he was dead sitting on the toilet - a la Elvis Presley) - there were no signs of struggle in the place, so (from my degree in TV Medicine!) it was probably a heart attack. Undoubtedly they were breaking several regulations by removing stuff before reporting it, but I think his fellow  cops were being honest in just wanting to cover up the affair. The dead cop was retired, so presumably (relatively) elderly and/or sick.

Did like that Adrian realising (and admitting) his own bias re. the TV reporter. People at notoriously bad at spotting their own faults. (Except me, of course - I'm perfect!)

[PreBabylonia]

On 2018-04-03 at 2:08 PM, 2727 said:

What the hell was that with Adrian? Some rando former student was so upset that he -- among all her professors and classes -- didn't pay enough attention to her that she quit the law? What the fuck?

I liked this episode, other than the storyline about the joirnalist giving up law school because Adrian DIDN'T PAY HER ENOUGH ATTENTION. WTF show? Seemed very tone deaf. She wouldn't have made a very good lawyer, giving up when things don't go her way. Not that she's a very good journalist either. She should have vetted the two accusers more thoroughly herself, and given the full background to the lawyers. It doesn't sound like she was being fully forthcoming, by hiding the first woman's actual motives. Melissa got far more out of her in just one day than she did during her interviews. The legal decision over whether to allow the story to air seemed secondary to developing what was going on between Adrian and the journalist. Although I know it was designed to make us think that Adrian might have been another instance of Me Too, I felt it was heavy handed and too obviously made to make us think much less of his character until it was explained.. I love the women on this show (well, probably not Maia), so it is disappointing to see such a weak character. I can't even remember the character's name, that's how little an impression she made on me. 

Really enjoyed Luca's ride-along. Very funny. I don't mind her character being pregnant although I am not sure what her rationale is for going along with it. I find Colin to be a boring twerp, so I am hoping they give her a much better love interest later on. I still find Maia annoying, although I was amused that I could hear her true accent coming out as she was rocked side to side in the police chases and general mayhem It's too bad that they didn't just explain that she was raised in England by her wealthy parents, so she could speak in a more natural tone.

[Milburn Stone]

On 4/9/2018 at 3:21 PM, CrashTextDummie said:

I liked this episode. The show can be a bit on the nose about current politics and Trump but all the storylines in this episode where very much of the times and so it didn't feel overindulgent to me.

If the last four years had been full of drama shows that actually take place in the nightmare we've been living through, I could see being critical of this show for being too on the nose. As it is, however, this is the only one that acknowledged that reality.