S01.E10: Flesh and Blood

[WendyCR72]

On Captain Andersen’s orders, Officer Nolan and Sergeant Grey are paired up for the day on patrol. Additionally, Nolan’s son and Grey’s daughter visit their dads on the job and see them in action. Meanwhile, Officer Chen is paired up with Captain Andersen, and Officer Bradford tells Chen to protect her at all costs.

[mxc90]

The writers tried to throw every situation they could think of in this episode (only thing missing was defusing a bomb with seconds to spare). I guess they must have decided the captain was behind the scenes way too long and needed to unleash her badassness for the world to see tonight.

Was it necessary for the captain to scold West and the others? I cheered a little when she got socked in the face.

Nolan started the episode with blunders and embarrassments but ended with saving Grey ( I hope this ends his hostility towards him) and a nice moment with his son. 

Bradford didn't get enough skunk spray for my liking (Damn skunk let him off easy). 

It was pretty silly to see the TOs unable to work together.

How Lopez and the lawyer got together was forced and lazy writing.

[break21]

This episode was just "meh" for me.   Most of the situations were predictable.  I would have laughed if Nolan's safe word was "apples" but they didn't go there.  I like the actor who plays Nolan's son.

[Pop Tart]

I loved this one for the funny bits, sarge trying to kick in the door, Nolan getting taken out by the old lady, etc. Also loved how the rearranging of characters made the scenarios they ran into more interesting and the chemistry was so good with each pair. Felt like actors who’d been working together for years. This is a solid cast one and all.

Nice job on the casting of Nolan’s son. Not only did he resemble Fillion, but the actor was doing a good job with mannerisms and facial expression so that he really did work as the son.

[ketose]

I'm finding that the episodes with outrageous scenarios are less interesting than the ones with more typical police work. I liked the winter break episode about how a cop deals with killing a suspect, but didn't like the whole siege in an apartment building that followed. This episode was about in the middle of the two.

I found it interesting (but not all that surprising) that the Captain would be some kind of supercop / badass.

[madmaverick]

Maybe my favourite episode yet.  I don't know, it was one of those feel good episodes that gelled together well.  The humourous notes are working better with each episode.  I liked the mix up of the pairings and felt the writers did something with each pairing to grow the dynamic and shed more light on characters like Grey and the Captain.  With some procedurals, you can go multiple seasons without finding much about some characters but here I feel the show has done a good job of telling us more about all the characters.  I'm most curious about the Captain's marriage gone bad and West's mystery with his mom and okay the story with the cat.  Nolan seems like a mostly open book and that's OK too.  The storyline with the son here was a valid one.  Nathan really is well suited to play a father characters and has good chemistry with the kid again.  Didn't really care about Lopez and the lawyer which felt a bit forced but that was the only turd.  West seems a bit oblivious to when people are attracted to each other so that's maybe why he didn't see anything with Nolan and Chen.   Bradford and Bishop both trying to be alphas together made sense to me.  It would be interesting if they had an evaluation of the TOs as well as the rookies by Grey/The Captain down the line. 

 

42 minutes ago, ketose said:

I'm finding that the episodes with outrageous scenarios are less interesting than the ones with more typical police work.

I'm with you on that.  And even better when they inject some pathos into the typical police work as well as humour.

[WendyCR72]

2 hours ago, ketose said:

I found it interesting (but not all that surprising) that the Captain would be some kind of supercop / badass.

As TV has a fascination with youth and beauty, I get why, but still, the actress playing the captain still seems awfully young to have that rank already. Maybe it's just the actress herself having a young appearance and she is older in real life, in which case, she can't help that.  :-) But, otherwise...

Maybe because they were just playing a failing couple for a scene or two, but when the husband offed himself in the master bedroom, it felt more melodramatic than really tragic to me. Or maybe I'm just a cold bitch.  :-)

I also think Fillion and the actor playing his son have a good vibe. I agree Nathan does the daddy role quite well.

[FinnishViewer]

Quote

the actress playing the captain still seems awfully young to have that rank already. Maybe it's just the actress herself having a young appearance and she is older in real life, in which case, she can't help that

Mercedes Mason will be 36 this year. Her character explained to Chen, how she she rose quickly through the LAPD ranks, when they got back to the precinct, that she used to be an MP, and then in some Pentagon's Criminal Investigation Division before moving to LA and joining the LAPD.

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, madmaverick said:

I'm most curious about the Captain's marriage gone bad and West's mystery with his mom

I thought they were revealing the "mystery" in this episode with the information that West's dad had been shot and almost died in the line of duty, which suggests that the mom would *not* want her son to become a cop, which it looks like Daddy West encourages.
I share a lot of the thoughts in your entire post, @madmaverick.

4 hours ago, madmaverick said:

Didn't really care about Lopez and the lawyer which felt a bit forced but that was the only turd. 

Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) was like that as Dariela on Zoo, too. The camera loves her, but she doesn't seem to inhabit the characters she plays.

[Moose135]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I thought they were revealing the "mystery" in this episode with the information that West's dad had been shot and almost died in the line of duty, which suggests that the mom would *not* want her son to become a cop, which it looks like Daddy West encourages.

Did that come out in this episode? I don't remember it.  Sgt. Grey told Nolan he had been shot in the  line of duty, and that's why his wife didn't like him riding patrol. That drove the conversations with his daughter about not letting the wife know he had been out on patrol that day.

[cathmed]

12 hours ago, break21 said:

I would have laughed if Nolan's safe word was "apples" but they didn't go there. 

Too funny - you must be a Castle fan as well as I thought exactly the same thing at that moment!!

[cathmed]

14 hours ago, ketose said:

I'm finding that the episodes with outrageous scenarios are less interesting than the ones with more typical police work. I liked the winter break episode about how a cop deals with killing a suspect, but didn't like the whole siege in an apartment building that followed. This episode was about in the middle of the two.

I found it interesting (but not all that surprising) that the Captain would be some kind of supercop / badass.

No surprise with the Captain (reminiscent of badass Beckett) but that's to  be expected with  Alexi Hawley at the helm!    The Captain and Chen looked like sisters or mother/daughter.

UPDATE (S1, E9):   I somehow did miss episode 9 but have now caught up (deleted my original questions below).    It wasn't a bad episode; a bit more action than normal so that was a nice departure.   I couldn't quite make out what the ex-cop woman said.   Obvious he was going to be cleared after going in with the West's dad.  All I can say is that Nolan and Chen should have NEVER been together from the beginning.    I think it  could have been just as interesting--perhaps even more so--if he and the Captain were having an affair (I don't believe she's married).  

Edited January 16, 2019 by cathmed

[BlakesMomma]

9 minutes ago, cathmed said:

Did I miss an episode somehow?   I though the episode on Tues., 1/15 would pick up from Nolan's apartment--after hearing the shot fired.  Was that resolved as this episode just jumped to something entirely different with him back on duty?  I'm a bit confused about that outcome /storyline as to whether he was placed  on administrative leave pending investigation after the shooting?  What about Chen -  did  she fire the shot?   What  did miss here?

No surprise with the Captain (reminiscent of  badass Beckett) but that's to  be expected with  Alexi Hawley at the helm!    The Captain and Chen looked like sisters or mother/daughter.

You obviously missed Ep 9 last week. 

[Loandbehold]

I enjoyed this episode the most. A number of funny moments, and changing up the teams allowed for more natural backstory reveals of the Captain and Grey. Nolan and his son were good together. Nice chemistry between NF and the actor.

I have a feeling we're going to see more of Diaz and the attorney (new game: Guess which Ashmore. Even imdb doesn't know).

[TWP]

This episode was much better than last week.  TR finds it's note when it doesn't go all serious and arc-ey.  It's really set up as a comedy with a few dramatic scenes.  Of course, all the predictability was still there, but without quite as much of the sense of trying too hard.

Who else thinks the knee in the 'nads was Nathan's idea ;-)?

Nolan's son was so well cast that I'm not entirely sure that the kid isn't related to Nathan.  And yes, Nathan playing dad is fine television for me.

+1 for me. 

[madmaverick]

9 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

As TV has a fascination with youth and beauty, I get why, but still, the actress playing the captain still seems awfully young to have that rank already. Maybe it's just the actress herself having a young appearance and she is older in real life, in which case, she can't help that.  :-) But, otherwise...

She does seem a bit young to be Captain, but this is TV and I like the actress/character so far so I'm excusing it. :P  But it seemed more incredible to me that she made Captain so young when not rising from the ranks, or is it more likely for an outsider to be promoted quickly in real life? Does being a Marine give you extra cachet at the LAPD? I have no idea.  I thought it would be more likely that she spoke Arabic instead of Farsi if she were in the Marines. (Quick wiki search revealed that Mercedes Mason speaks Farsi so I'm guessing maybe she comes from a Swedish Iranian American background.)

9 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Maybe because they were just playing a failing couple for a scene or two, but when the husband offed himself in the master bedroom, it felt more melodramatic than really tragic to me. Or maybe I'm just a cold bitch.  :-)

Then I'm a cold bitch too. :P  In our defence, the short argument scene before was hardly enough to build up much pathos.  Maybe if the husband had offed the wife. ;)

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I thought they were revealing the "mystery" in this episode with the information that West's dad had been shot and almost died in the line of duty, which suggests that the mom would *not* want her son to become a cop, which it looks like Daddy West encourages.
I share a lot of the thoughts in your entire post, @madmaverick.

Huh? They revealed Watch Commander Gray had been shot on patrol in this episode not the Internal Affairs Daddy West.  Don't think they revealed anything re West this episode.

22 minutes ago, TWP said:

 Of course, all the predictability was still there, but without quite as much of the sense of trying too hard.

That seems to be the bar network shows aim for these days. ;)

[meira.hand]

1 hour ago, Loandbehold said:

I have a feeling we're going to see more of Diaz and the attorney (new game: Guess which Ashmore. Even imdb doesn't know).

According to this, its Shawn :)

https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/1574539/the-rookie-1x10-flesh-and-blood

[cathmed]

4 hours ago, BlakesMomma said:

You obviously missed Ep 9 last week. 

Yeah, I did and thanks.  Guess I thought this show hadn't returned yet.  I updated my post before I saw your reply (I'm all caught up now!)

[MrWhyt]

6 hours ago, madmaverick said:

She does seem a bit young to be Captain, but this is TV and I like the actress/character so far so I'm excusing it. :P  But it seemed more incredible to me that she made Captain so young when not rising from the ranks, or is it more likely for an outsider to be promoted quickly in real life? Does being a Marine give you extra cachet at the LAPD? I have no idea.  I thought it would be more likely that she spoke Arabic instead of Farsi if she were in the Marines. (Quick wiki search revealed that Mercedes Mason speaks Farsi so I'm guessing maybe she comes from a Swedish Iranian American background.)

Then I'm a cold bitch too. :P  In our defence, the short argument scene before was hardly enough to build up much pathos.  Maybe if the husband had offed the wife. ;)

Huh? They revealed Watch Commander Gray had been shot on patrol in this episode not the Internal Affairs Daddy West.  Don't think they revealed anything re West this episode.

That seems to be the bar network shows aim for these days. ;)

She was military police in the USMC and then Criminal Investigation Division at the Pentagon, she didn't join the LAPD as a boot. Her experience was what led to her rising quickly in the ranks. 

also: hey someone on the show knows something about guns, even though it was clunkily delivered the line about glocks not having a safety to turn on/off is true.

[ketose]

8 hours ago, cathmed said:

No surprise with the Captain (reminiscent of badass Beckett) but that's to  be expected with  Alexi Hawley at the helm!    The Captain and Chen looked like sisters or mother/daughter.

UPDATE (S1, E9):   I somehow did miss episode 9 but have now caught up (deleted my original questions below).    It wasn't a bad episode; a bit more action than normal so that was a nice departure.   I couldn't quite make out what the ex-cop woman said.   Obvious he was going to be cleared after going in with the West's dad.  All I can say is that Nolan and Chen should have NEVER been together from the beginning.    I think it  could have been just as interesting--perhaps even more so--if he and the Captain were having an affair (I don't believe she's married).  

I used the captions. She said "I didn't know rock bottom had a basement."

[cathmed]

16 minutes ago, ketose said:

I

 

16 minutes ago, ketose said:

I used the captions. She said "I didn't know rock bottom had a basement."

Thanks - appreciate it!

[MoreCoffeePlease]

I'm getting really mean in my old age, but I was so happy when the husband shot himself, and only himself. It seems like every day there is a story about a husband/fiance/boyfriend who kills his partner, and then maybe kills himself. Just kill yourself!  (Then you have the stories where they kill their kids too.

Enjoyed the episode a great deal. "Girl crush" between the rookie and the captain.  How nice to have a boss and potential mentor who recognizes your work.

[andipandi]

did I miss something or they air these out of order? The end of last episode with the threat not to lie to the investigation, the home invasion... and it's this episode that he realizes his kid might find his job dangerous because his sleeve got ripped?

[Waterston Fan]

I thought it was okay but I just loved it when Bradford got skunked. :)

I liked the actor who played the son and I hope he comes back. 

Maybe they haven't done more on West's mom yet. 

[Emma9]

On January 16, 2019 at 12:55 PM, Loandbehold said:

(new game: Guess which Ashmore. Even imdb doesn't know).

He was already on an episode of this (Ride Along). It seemed weird to me that they didn't mention it.

[BlakesMomma]

10 minutes ago, Emma9 said:

He was already on an episode of this (Ride Along). It seemed weird to me that they didn't mention it.

I don't think he interacted with Lopez/West in Ride Along so I'm not sure why it would have come up in this episode.

[jhlipton]

The Disney/ABC page has lots of good pics with the names of the actors (including the hostage, but oddly none of Shaun).  Jade Peyton is sooooooo cute (I loved her (too small) role on iZombie as well.

On 1/17/2019 at 10:23 AM, MoreCoffeePlease said:

I'm getting really mean in my old age, but I was so happy when the husband shot himself, and only himself. It seems like every day there is a story about a husband/fiance/boyfriend who kills his partner, and then maybe kills himself. Just kill yourself!  (Then you have the stories where they kill their kids too.

I told my wife "How nice to have 'murder-suicide' that does it in the right order!!!"

[Raja]

On 1/16/2019 at 10:31 AM, madmaverick said:

She does seem a bit young to be Captain, but this is TV and I like the actress/character so far so I'm excusing it. :P  But it seemed more incredible to me that she made Captain so young when not rising from the ranks, or is it more likely for an outsider to be promoted quickly in real life? Does being a Marine give you extra cachet at the LAPD? I have no idea.  I thought it would be more likely that she spoke Arabic instead of Farsi if she were in the Marines. (Quick wiki search revealed that Mercedes Mason speaks Farsi so I'm guessing maybe she comes from a Swedish Iranian American background.)

Then I'm a cold bitch too. :P  In our defence, the short argument scene before was hardly enough to build up much pathos.  Maybe if the husband had offed the wife. ;)

Huh? They revealed Watch Commander Gray had been shot on patrol in this episode not the Internal Affairs Daddy West.  Don't think they revealed anything re West this episode.

That seems to be the bar network shows aim for these days. ;)

Real life, think The Closer where to bring in a detective to do a Lieutenant's job they had to make her a chief. Outsiders come in as politically appointed chief or must go through the academy and be a boot for a year before starting the climb. Thus they are not outsiders but more like a FBI agent who may have had previous law enforcement experience in addition to his law degree. As for being a Marine, there does seem to be a lot of Marines in LAPD,  However I doubt prior service means much, just like the Marine Corp where you still go through boot camp even if you did military service in another branch and reenlisted as a Marine. Given her age and probable military service along with Arabic, Farsi could be of use for some Afgani dialects as well for other military intelligence uses.

Edited January 20, 2019 by Raja

[shapeshifter]

25 minutes ago, Raja said:

Real life, think The Closer where to bring in a detective to do a Lieutenant's job they had to make her a chief. Outsiders come in as politically appointed chief or must go through the academy and be a boot fort a year before starting the climb. Thus they are not outsiders but more like a FBI agent who may have had previous law enforcement experience in addition to his law degree. As for being a Marine, there does seem to be a lot of Marines in LAPD,  However I doubt prior service means much, just like the Marine Corp where you still go through boot camp even if you did military service in another branch and reenlisted as a Marine. Given her age and probable military service along with Arabic, Farsi could be of use for some Afgani dialects as well for other military intelligence uses.

I was surprised to just discover that in season 1 of The Closer that Kyra Sedgwick was 40, and that Mercedes Mason (The Rookie captain) is now 35. I was guesstimating a 10 year difference instead of 5.

[Raja]

I asked a retired detective  friend and she says at minimum four years to make Detective or Sergeant and another two years to make Lieutenant.  After that Captain, Commander and the Chiefs are command staff and that is normally about a 20 year process and city politics play a role. So given The Rookie I will pretend that Captain Anderson got assigned to special units after her boot year. got "the tap' at year 4 and moved right on up.

[newyawk]

I completely forgot about the Rookie last week. :/

 

Off to find a source.

 

Well, I don't think it was a coincidence that I forgot it was on.  I don't feel like I would have missed anything had I not seen this episode.  Most of the characters still feel flat to me.  The only exceptions are Nolan, his son, Grey, his daughter, Jackson and Bishop, The captain is too much of an emotionless action figure for me to care about, and I can't see her having chemistry with anyone on this show thus far. Which is fine, this show should not be about hookups and love lives.  Don't care about Angela and the unappealing, obnoxious lawyer, either.  I watched that scene and all I saw were two actors playing out a script, not two characters with any spark.

I jumped when the "dead" guy jumped up and grabbed Nolan's arm, even though it was telegraphed very loudly that these men were not dead.

Cute chemistry between Nolan's son and Gray's daughter.

I don't think Castle ever got kicked in the crotch in all eight seasons. 

I don't think I'm long for this series, and I still don;t think this series is long for the airwaves. It's something to watch when there isn't anything else on that I want to watch, but it still doesn't grab me.

  . 

Edited January 20, 2019 by newyawk

[politichick]

On 1/17/2019 at 4:01 PM, andipandi said:

did I miss something or they air these out of order? The end of last episode with the threat not to lie to the investigation, the home invasion... and it's this episode that he realizes his kid might find his job dangerous because his sleeve got ripped?

It's the first time the kid is being exposed to it up close and in person. He probably did not tell Henry about the previous incident. Don't ask, don't tell.

[chaifan]

Am I imagining things, or is the apartment building with the skunk the same set used a few episodes ago with the big shoot 'em up scene with the drug dealers, baby delivery, etc.?  Hallways looked the same and the basement looked the same to me.  Also, how does a skunk end up in a closed cabinet? 

I like Nolan's son, and agree that Fillion plays the dad role really well.  I liked getting the Captain out of the office.  What I was hoping for with the guy wanting to go back to jail is that the Captain would have said that assaulting a police officer would get him back in for XX years, and offer him the other side of her face to punch. 

[FinnishViewer]

Quote

As for being a Marine, there does seem to be a lot of Marines in LAPD,  However I doubt prior service means much, just like the Marine Corp where you still go through boot camp even if you did military service in another branch and reenlisted as a Marine.

I don't think it about just being in the Marine in general, but also in the MP and in the Criminal Investigation Directorate at the Pentagon.