S01.E11: Redwood

[WendyCR72]

An unscheduled visit by the vice president of the United States puts the station on high alert. The Secret Service tasks Nolan and Bishop with checking out a possible threat to the vice president while the rest of the team tries to keep the streets safe for his visit.

[mxc90]

A very weird open.. a big explosion outside the station (any casualties? Who knows) and cut to the open.

After getting shot (saved by the plate) last week and now stuck with a needle, Chen better start wearing body armor from head to toe.

What a dumb truck driver, he couldn't see a group a of cops a few feet away and decides to pull a shot gun and shoots. This show makes sure their criminals are blind and stupid.

So being vomited on helped save West. Lucky man.

The doctor took her sweet time flipping to page four to tell nervous Chen her results. Pages one through three were the doc's sudoku game, list of single male doctors, and her grocery list.

I almost thought the doctor was going to tell Chen she was pregnant.

Edited January 23, 2019 by mxc90

[rhys]

17 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

 

I almost thought the doctor was going to tell Chen she was pregnant.

Me too. So glad they didn't go there.

[shapeshifter]

21 minutes ago, rhys said:

41 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

I almost thought the doctor was going to tell Chen she was pregnant.

Me too. So glad they didn't go there.

Me three. They must've expected us to go there. 

So Chen did have a staph infection that could be antibiotic resistant. I wonder if they'll revisit that.

Nice PSA about mental health, even if it was totally unrealistic.

I agree with Ben (Currie Graham), Nolan should put the door jamb with the height measurements in a nice shadow box frame.

Edited January 23, 2019 by shapeshifter

[stonehaven]

A rather enjoyable episode...went by fast..

[mxc90]

Chen must hold the record for most uses of a taser in a season.

My unofficial count is 3.

[shapeshifter]

2 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

Chen must hold the record for most uses of a taser in a season.

My unofficial count is 3.

More tasering less shooting by cops on TV. Sounds/looks good to me.

[Netfoot]

11 hours ago, mxc90 said:

I almost thought the doctor was going to tell Chen she was pregnant.

I was SO sure that was going to happen...

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

More tasering less shooting by cops on TV.

Boo !   More blood and guts please!  I just love the smell of Cordite in the morning!

[Loandbehold]

13 hours ago, mxc90 said:

I almost thought the doctor was going to tell Chen she was pregnant.

Totally with you here. Which would have been very disappointing. The last thing the show needs is Chen pregnant at all, never mind with Nolan's baby.

Another fun episode. The show is picking up steam.

i did feel bad for Lauren Stamile's character. Well, more for the actress in a thankless role. As the secret service agent in charge of VPs security, his safety is her sole responsibility. She actually was doing her job and got shit for it. Any number of things could have happened where Lopez and West might have been needed on the detail.

I'm really liking the chemistry and give-and-take b/w Nolan and Bishop. Bradford is still a little too dickish, but it was nice to see that he does care about Chen.

[mojito]

I liked the opening scene. I had a feeling Alma was going to come with some deadly weaponry. I like when shows open with humorous but unrelated to the main plot scenes. Remember Six Feet Under? Some of those deaths were comical.

Geez, that Secret Service agent fit the captain's description. Now that's two sets of women who look similar to each other. Is Bishop going to get a dopelganger, too?

Enjoyable episode. All that OTT action is silly, but this isn't one of those gritty cop shows either. Liked seeing the New Bishop (I noticed Talia and Tim had first names on this show, not sure I've heard the boots call them by their first names before) and had they didn't end the show with her going back to being hard.

West's phone should've been confiscated and he should've gotten a reprimand, I think. But I'm glad he's toughened up. Man, does he have impressive soup coolers, or what?

[Driad]

I missed a few minutes.  Did Bishop tell Nolan why she was being so positive?

[mojito]

She's seeing a counselor. I don't think she stated why. I guess that's something we'll eventually find out, although the woman is so wound tight I don't find myself wondering why. 

[mxc90]

6 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

i did feel bad for Lauren Stamile's character. Well, more for the actress in a thankless role. As the secret service agent in charge of VPs security, his safety is her sole responsibility. She actually was doing her job and got shit for it. Any number of things could have happened where Lopez and West might have been needed on the detail.

She should have gotten into a heated argument with Grey at the end of the episode ( I wouldn't mind if the episode had gone over the allotted time for this fight). He clearly stated at the meeting: follow your assignments, don't field calls from dispatch, and the day shift would handle other matters. The day shift should have responded to Nolan/Bishop but as usual they were 8 minutes away (probably taste testing the food for Redwood).

Just to nitpick: the actress that was tasered could have given a better "tase shake". Was her heart into that scene?

[Raja]

5 hours ago, mojito said:

Enjoyable episode. All that OTT action is silly, but this isn't one of those gritty cop shows either. Liked seeing the New Bishop (I noticed Talia and Tim had first names on this show, not sure I've heard the boots call them by their first names before) and had they didn't end the show with her going back to being hard.

 

In both cases the partners were in very traumatic situations, the accidental murder she just witnessed and I might have just been killed in slow motion. As far as Talia asking about counseling, Nolan just killed in the line of duty. You would think that they would have been in department mandated counseling

8 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

 

i did feel bad for Lauren Stamile's character. Well, more for the actress in a thankless role. As the secret service agent in charge of VPs security, his safety is her sole responsibility. She actually was doing her job and got shit for it. Any number of things could have happened where Lopez and West might have been needed on the detail.

 

I am with the LAPD on this one. If  somehow  a Secret Service Counter Assault Team is taken out what would the extra two street cops standing behind them supposed to provide beyond two more bodies that a terrorist force took out on their way to the snipers. Meanwhile Nolan and Bishop and a lot of shooting was going on near the VP's route and while waiting for backup to get through the motorcade jam a stray bullet can go towards the VP from that.

 

I noticed Bradford's line telling the hospital staff to prepare for a bullet wound reminded me of the 9-1-1 promo's where the Sergeant calls for a recue mbulance for the suspect who was about to get hurt.

[TWP]

What was asked of West was a very personal choice and decision and one that shouldn't be judged so harshly by his mother.  If anyone is at fault for their poor relationship, it's her.

This was another entertaining episode, fast paced and fun, although with it's typical (and for me, higher than average) need to altogether forget sense and reality.  For instance, regarding Chen's needle stick.  From a friend's health care HIV exposure, I know that you cannot get a reliable HIV test the same day as exposure.  The typical protocol is to do PEP (prophylactic antiretroviral drugs) for 28 days and test at 4-6 weeks and then at 3 and 6 months after exposure.  BTW, my friend was fine.  Why they couldn't have said, "well you have to start prophylactic anti-AIDS drugs as a precaution, but so far you're fine and probably will be" is beyond me.  It's so easy to keep things real sometimes that it amazes me that shows don't do it.  I guess I should be thankful that Chen wasn't pregnant, LOL. 

I appreciate that the training officers are respecting the "boots" more.  I find it strange to attempt to knock down someone's spirit and then expect them to back you up under gun fire.  The kind of hazing they do should be limited to training school.  Once rookies have passed and are on the beat, the hazing should stop and the confidence building begin.

From next week's preview, they're taunting us with revisiting the lying about Chen's presence at Nolan's house during the home invasion.  These shows sweep so many unresolved issues under the rug.  Why they have to ressurect such an artificial and head-slapping premise, I'll never know.  I'm going to skip next week and hope that by the following week the scenario is truly dead and buried.

Edited January 24, 2019 by TWP

[madmaverick]

What was asked of West was huge, but I can see how what happened would have really affected the mother-son relationship.  The Academy would always be there, but there was no guarantee that his brother would be without a transplant.  And honestly, anyone who requires a transplant....well, time is of the essence.  Now that they've given us this backstory (and it's actually more interesting to me than making him gay in 2019), I hope we'll get to see his mother and brother down the line.  He'll probably heroically save his brother from flying bullets in a Very Special Episode. ;)  Hope they'll be more original than that.  West getting over his gunfire fear so easily isn't realistic at all to me, but oh well.   I did like the scene between West and Chen and it solidified their friendship for me.  They've kind of given more focus to the T.O.-boot relationship that sometimes I feel the boots' friendships are a bit neglected.

As for Chen, I thought the actress did a fair job of her HIV freakout although there wasn't much real suspense for me in that I didn't think this was the kind of a show that would give her HIV.  I did like the needle storyline even if I've seen it on other shows before, and I do like that they are not sweeping the very serious problem of homelessness in L.A. under the carpet and that they are showing quite diverse neighbourhoods.

They have done a pretty good job of building up trust in the T.O.-booth relationships.  Almost all on first name bases occasionally by now, I think.  It was huge for someone like Bishop to share that she was seeing a therapist with Nolan.  Almost too soon if we're being realistic.  I look forward to learning more about Bishop's background. Seems like it's the opposite of an idyllic childhood.

Was Nolan's friend wearing the same hiking outfit in the first scene and the last?  Lazy if the case.  Not all plaid shirts are born equal.  Hope the costume designer gives Nolan some nicer looking ones.  So the guy isn't a secret millionaire but he can still have taste.

Is the gun buyback program a real thing in the U.S.?  I hope so.  It's what saved Australia back in the day after one horrific massacre.  I guess the scene with the crazed driver shooting people was another reminder that people carrying guns around just isn't a good idea. 

But I guess the writers can't live without one episode without gunfire.  Maybe they have a budget for it they have to use. ;)

Pacing is getting quite good for this show.  It may not all be compelling, but I'm not bored. 

[rhys]

I had to go look up "soup coolers." Yes, I'm old. Is it obvious?

[Reality police]

3 minutes ago, rhys said:

I had to go look up "soup coolers." Yes, I'm old. Is it obvious?

Apparently we are the same age. 😆

[Loandbehold]

1 hour ago, madmaverick said:

Is the gun buyback program a real thing in the U.S.? 

Yes. Not in every city, but many places do have gun buy-back days. And, they are "no questions asked." I don't recall reading about anyone bringing a claymore to one.

[Waterston Fan]

This episode was okay. 

I'm glad it's not West is gay as to the issue but I would think West could have texted his mom before he got to the station unless she doesn't like texting. 

So, do you think West and Lopez should have stayed where they were? 

I liked how Bradford was caring for Chen but I thought he could have stayed with her while she waited but then we wouldn't know about West's issue. 

I wondered if taking the lady out of the car after she got shot made her pass on faster or if it would not matter. 

[Reality police]

1 hour ago, Waterston Fan said:

This episode was okay. 

I'm glad it's not West is gay as to the issue but I would think West could have texted his mom before he got to the station unless she doesn't like texting. 

So, do you think West and Lopez should have stayed where they were? 

I liked how Bradford was caring for Chen but I thought he could have stayed with her while she waited but then we wouldn't know about West's issue. 

I wondered if taking the lady out of the car after she got shot made her pass on faster or if it would not matter. 

I think West and Lopez made the right call. 

[shapeshifter]

The kidney story seemed to me to be a retcon, as well as something out of a soap opera, and then I remembered Nathan Fillion did a lot of soap operas back in the day.

[jhlipton]

19 hours ago, Waterston Fan said:

do you think West and Lopez should have stayed where they were? 

I wondered if taking the lady out of the car after she got shot made her pass on faster or if it would not matter. 

No, I think they made the right call.  They might have called the sergeant to back them up, but they were just standing there, not actually doing anything.

The woman in the car was shot at close range with a shotgun blast to the chest. I sincerely doubt there was anything Bishop and Nolan could have done to save her.

[Aliconehead]

Would West be allowed to be a cop with out one kidney?  I have a friend that always wanted to be a firefighter and was not permitted because he only had one kidney.  

[Raja]

6 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

No, I think they made the right call.  They might have called the sergeant to back them up, but they were just standing there, not actually doing anything.

The woman in the car was shot at close range with a shotgun blast to the chest. I sincerely doubt there was anything Bishop and Nolan could have done to save her.

This also came up in the Jack Ryan miniseries. West and Lopez don't work for the Secret Service. The primary mission is to protect Los Angeles and if they were close to an actual gunfight standing in a room while CAT team snipers covered their sector someone needed to do something about a  gunfight close by.

[jhlipton]

5 hours ago, Aliconehead said:

Would West be allowed to be a cop with out one kidney?  I have a friend that always wanted to be a firefighter and was not permitted because he only had one kidney.  

I think that's why West didn't want to donate.  He could have applied after the transplant if it was allowed, but not if it wasn't.

[TaurusRose]

I really liked this episode. The humor, the way the teams are jelling and interacting with each other, and Nolan’s relationship with his son are very easy to watch. I haven’t read any other comments so I don’t know what everyone else thought yet, but I’ll post again if I have anything more to add.

ETA: I must be one of the few who didn’t think Chen might be pregnant (would have been totally out of character for her) or West might be gay (because there are way too many reasons for family drama).

Edited January 26, 2019 by taurusrose

[torqy]

Does anyone else outside of LA know about Phillippe's? We ate there almost 30 years ago during a layover on the recommendation of an Amtrak car attendant. Good eats and a short walk from Union Station, as I recall. I enjoy writers putting little details like this in shows.

Like @rhys and @Reality police I had to look up "soup coolers"

edited to add: I believe West being gay was indirectly disclosed in an early episode. 

Edited January 27, 2019 by torqy

[Raja]

6 hours ago, torqy said:

Does anyone else outside of LA know about Phillippe's? We ate there almost 30 years ago during a layover on the recommendation of an Amtrak car attendant. Good eats and a short walk from Union Station, as I recall. I enjoy writers putting little details like this in shows.

 

 

Maybe someone on the VP's advance team clued him into the things to do and the French Dip. They needed an excuse to get him into fictitious South Wilshire Division area for the Angelino snarking that no one has gone down there since President H.W. Bush was touring the post Rodney King Riots damage.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Raja

[Clanstarling]

On 1/22/2019 at 8:43 PM, shapeshifter said:

Me three. They must've expected us to go there.

 

I never go there, on any show. Maybe it's a mental equivalent of putting my fingers in my ears and going "la la la la la."

On 1/23/2019 at 12:24 PM, mojito said:

I liked the opening scene. I had a feeling Alma was going to come with some deadly weaponry. I like when shows open with humorous but unrelated to the main plot scenes. Remember Six Feet Under? Some of those deaths were comical.

West's phone should've been confiscated and he should've gotten a reprimand, I think. But I'm glad he's toughened up. Man, does he have impressive soup coolers, or what?

I thought a grenade - but that has been done before. A claymore is a nice change of pace.

I don't know if West let his mom know he was called in, but if he did she shouldn't have kept calling/texting him. I would never call a police officer on personal business during his work shift. You never know what they're in the middle of doing. The officers I know have their phones at the ready, but they only pick them up when it's work related (when I'm in meetings with them, anyway).

 

On 1/24/2019 at 2:37 AM, TWP said:

This was another entertaining episode, fast paced and fun, although with it's typical (and for me, higher than average) need to altogether forget sense and reality.  For instance, regarding Chen's needle stick.  From a friend's health care HIV exposure, I know that you cannot get a reliable HIV test the same day as exposure.  The typical protocol is to do PEP (prophylactic antiretroviral drugs) for 28 days and test at 4-6 weeks and then at 3 and 6 months after exposure.  BTW, my friend was fine.  Why they couldn't have said, "well you have to start prophylactic anti-AIDS drugs as a precaution, but so far you're fine and probably will be" is beyond me.  It's so easy to keep things real sometimes that it amazes me that shows don't do it.  I guess I should be thankful that Chen wasn't pregnant, LOL.

 

That bothered me too. I foolishly thought that the syringe would be tested, because there's no real time for any infection to raise its ugly head in that time period.

On 1/24/2019 at 6:45 PM, shapeshifter said:

The kidney story seemed to me to be a retcon, as well as something out of a soap opera, and then I remembered Nathan Fillion did a lot of soap operas back in the day.

I don't know that I would call it that - unless I've missed something, we've been told nothing about West's background other than he's a cop's son and his mother has a beef with him. So that just added information, it didn't change it.

I can see West's story from both points of view, though I lean toward his perspective, even being a mom. I know I wouldn't be that keen on giving up a kidney. Sure there are two of them, but there are two of them for a reason, even if you can survive with one - until that one starts malfunctioning. Plus, surgery is always a risk.

Edited January 28, 2019 by Clanstarling

[TaurusRose]

47 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I never go there, on any show. Maybe it's a mental equivalent of putting my fingers in my ears and going "la la la la la."

I thought a grenade - but that has been done before. A claymore is a nice change of pace.

I don't know if West let his mom know he was called in, but if he did she shouldn't have kept calling/texting him. I would never call a police officer on personal business during his work shift. You never know what they're in the middle of doing. The officers I know have their phones at the ready, but they only pick them up when it's work related (when I'm in meetings with them, anyway).

 

That bothered me too. I foolishly thought that the syringe would be tested, because there's no real time for any infection to raise its ugly head in that time period.

I don't know that I would call it that - unless I've missed something, we've been told nothing about West's background other than he's a cop's son and his mother has a beef with him. So that just added information, it didn't change it.

I can see West's story from both points of view, though I lean toward his perspective, even being a mom. I know I wouldn't be that keen on giving up a kidney. Sure there are two of them, but there are two of them for a reason, even if you can survive with one - until that one starts malfunctioning. Plus, surgery is always a risk.

 

1

1

True on both points. Storytelling is like an onion, sometimes you peel back layers slowly instead of revealing everything all at once. I only have one kidney and that thought is always in the back of my mind like a ghost.

Edited January 28, 2019 by taurusrose

[HurricaneVal]

On 1/22/2019 at 8:05 PM, mxc90 said:

A very weird open.. a big explosion outside the station (any casualties? Who knows) and cut to the open.

Though the details were different, this exact thing happened to Mr. HV when he was a young police officer many, many years ago.  There was no gun buy back, no big explosion, Mr. HV wasn't left holding the claymore, but there was a two block radius evacuation while the bomb squad they called in took care of the unstable claymore mines that had been transported nearly 50 miles by car to the station.  The person who brought them in found them while cleaning out his grandfather's house and brought them to his local PD for disposal.

This is actually more common than you think.  Just this last summer, Mr. HV and I were settling down to a nice backyard BBQ with friends when our neighbor from across the street brought his 20yo old son over with a question.  A half hour later, we had the bomb squad across the street destroying the very old dynamite the son had brought home after helping a friend clean out his grandfather's barn 30 miles away.

My takeaway from all this is: beware of grandfathers.  🙂

[Netfoot]

While at college in England in the late 70s, I watched a TV Show called Danger UXB, one episode of which focused on the highly dangerous, WW-II vintage anti-personnel Butterfly Bomb.  The next afternoon, there unexpectedly came a loud blast which shook the house to it's foundations.  Apparently, someone in the next street who also watched the TV episode, realized they'd had a Butterfly Bomb sitting on their mantle for over 30 years, just waiting for some idiot to pick it up and fiddle with it!  The Royal Engineers were called in, who removed the item to a hardened container in the street, whereupon they performed a controlled detonation.

[Raja]

21 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

While at college in England in the late 70s, I watched a TV Show called Danger UXB, one episode of which focused on the highly dangerous, WW-II vintage anti-personnel Butterfly Bomb.  The next afternoon, there unexpectedly came a loud blast which shook the house to it's foundations.  Apparently, someone in the next street who also watched the TV episode, realized they'd had a Butterfly Bomb sitting on their mantle for over 30 years, just waiting for some idiot to pick it up and fiddle with it!  The Royal Engineers were called in, who removed the item to a hardened container in the street, whereupon they performed a controlled detonation.

My local PBS aired Danger UXB many times, first as a Masterpiece Theatre then repeated for many years.

[Clanstarling]

I loved Danger UXB - and it's the first thing I thought of when reading @HurricaneVal's post.

[femmefan1946]

There was an episode of Hamish Macbeth, in which a spritely old woman accidentally stood on a bomb that would, at least for the purposes of the plot, explode if she stepped away.
The woman was played by Phyllida Law, mother to Emma Thompson.
Spoiler- British TV.  Hamish Macbeth was basically a comedy. She got blown up.

[Clanstarling]

7 hours ago, femmefan1946 said:

There was an episode of Hamish Macbeth, in which a spritely old woman accidentally stood on a bomb that would, at least for the purposes of the plot, explode if she stepped away.
The woman was played by Phyllida Law, mother to Emma Thompson.
Spoiler- British TV.  Hamish Macbeth was basically a comedy. She got blown up.

One of the reasons I loved Hamish Macbeth. Unpredictable.

[Loandbehold]

10 hours ago, femmefan1946 said:

There was an episode of Hamish Macbeth, in which a spritely old woman accidentally stood on a bomb that would, at least for the purposes of the plot, explode if she stepped away.
The woman was played by Phyllida Law, mother to Emma Thompson.
Spoiler- British TV.  Hamish Macbeth was basically a comedy. She got blown up.

They killed Emma Thompson's mom? Those bastards!

[CessnaDriver172]

A couple of notes: the French Dip sandwich was named that at Phillippe's after a police officer known as Frenchie. He was apparently a bit of a legend. 

Other note: old dynamite sweats nitroglycerin. It's been a problem in SoCal, especially in the desert, because of high heat. 

Edited February 13, 2019 by CessnaDriver172

[Moose135]

On 1/24/2019 at 5:37 AM, TWP said:

This was another entertaining episode, fast paced and fun, although with it's typical (and for me, higher than average) need to altogether forget sense and reality.  For instance, regarding Chen's needle stick.  From a friend's health care HIV exposure, I know that you cannot get a reliable HIV test the same day as exposure.  The typical protocol is to do PEP (prophylactic antiretroviral drugs) for 28 days and test at 4-6 weeks and then at 3 and 6 months after exposure.  BTW, my friend was fine.  Why they couldn't have said, "well you have to start prophylactic anti-AIDS drugs as a precaution, but so far you're fine and probably will be" is beyond me.  It's so easy to keep things real sometimes that it amazes me that shows don't do it.

Because then, sometime in a future episode they need to address it, and people here (and no, I'm not pointing at you) will complain if they don't.  Yes, it's not true-to-life, but it wraps up the storyline so we know we won't have it hanging over her in the future.

I was more annoyed that they used stock footage of a VC-25 (the 747 normally used as Air Force 1 for POTUS) rather than a VC-32 (the 757 used by VPOTUS).  I don't know that they ever used the VC-32 for VPOTUS travel, especially domestically.