Southland 2.01 and 2.02
Okay, so, I know we didn't have discussion time last week, but that's because I had side discussion time during the episode and then by the time it was over I was so exhausted mentally (I gave myself a headache with all the shrieking) and physically (you'be be surprised how many times you can fall off the sofa before you do yourself serious injury) that I just couldn't do it.
Items of note for 2.01 - Phase Three in my head mostly boiled down to:
- OMG! COOPER I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! DID YOU MISS ME TOO?!
- Cooper's arms got bigger. They're like ham hocks. And Michael Cudlitz looks VERY trim. Those personal training session did that body good. (Not that it wasn't good before, but DAAAMN).
- Ben and his yenta number are love.
- Ben and Cooper and Lydia in scenes together are DOUBLE LOVE. (I have not thought of a pithy saying yet, so double love it is).
- Amaury Nolasco. I know your name, you are too slick. Do not approve.
- Lydia crying over Russ. I had theories about involvement there. Russ is a dick. Nobody would deny that, but just because somebody's a dick doesn't mean you don't love them.
- AVON MOTHERFUCKING BARKSDALE IS ON SOUTHLAND?! Everything comes back to David Simon and The Wire. Don't believe me? Wait until Treme premieres in April on HBO. You'll believe me then.
- The ending scene with Cooper and Ben in the hallway when Chickie thanks them. Ben in his leather jacket and Cooper in the Black Shirt of Sex (TM somebody). I want that icon. I will drabble 100 words for that icon.
And now... now we can talk about Southland 2.02
OH HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT PEOPLE!!!
No, like, really, ask maurheti that was the end reaction there.
Fireballs, passive aggro, Ben and John apologizing to each other.
JOHN CALLED BEN HIS PARTNER!! Y'all just don't know what this does to my blood pressure. Don't tell my GP.
Here are mental notes that I took for this episode that I'll want for writing later. Feel free to ask me about them, expound, squee or just laugh at me. I don't care. I don't think I have ever appreciated or loved the realness of show the way I do with Southland
1. This episode was called 'Butch and Sundance' subtitled 'Only Paul Newman and Bob Redford were as slashy as John and Ben'. I admit the minute they went in that house and did their SWAT number I was like... hmmm. Extra knickers must be around here somewhere.
1a. Ben was lead on checking out the house... he was so nervous, and you know Cooper was ready to snatch his ass out of danger at any second. ♥
2. The storyline was... man, they don't fuck around on this show, do they? That's why I love it, but still. Har.row.wing. Fuckin' A.
3. Lydia, Cooper and Sherman in a scene together! Have a double shot!
3a. Lydia sees that Ben's upset and sends them home! OMG! I may have swooned. She did the mommy number on Ben! LOVE LOVE LOVE!
4. Avon Barksdale!
5. Cooper goes home and drinks. He has Knob Creek. I have had experiences with Knob Creek. That shit does not play. Cooper's home has changed from last season. The sofa is now camel leather instead of plaid cloth. I don't recall the second floor.
5a. Ben goes home and has insomnia.
5b. THIS IS WHEN YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DRIVE OVER AND GET/GIVE COMFORT PEOPLE!
6. The following day when John's asking about how Ben slept. Could be cause Ben slept on his sofa. Could be. At a stretch. No, I would but I already wrote that last season.
6b. John called Ben his partner!!!!
6c. And yelled at him about being passive aggro!
6d. And Ben threw up his arms, like, fine, you may've won this battle, but the war is still ON.
7. Who knew Sammy could run like that?
7b. At the end of the interrogation when Kevin Alejandro's whose character's name I can never remember pings that dude in the back of the head with a piece of bread? THAT is when I knew that this show was probably the best thing I've ever seen. Yes, better than The Wire. Yes, better than Generation Kill. Why? Because it's these little things... like getting pinged in the back of the head with a piece of bread that are so fucking REAL, that make this show real. Nobody puts this stuff on TV. Nobody. Except Ann Biderman and John Wells, so, thank you to them
8. We need to talk about Olivia and Tammy. First, Tammy. Tammy... should not be anybody's parent. Ever. She's a disaster. I just... she's too selfish. And her marriage to Sammy is too volatile. Too shallow. A kid... please no.
Second, this Olivia is not the Olivia from last season. Last season's Olivia was a teenager. 16 at the most. She was fun, smiley. She adored her older brother. This new Olivia is slick, too slick. Too old. Too caught up in her own shit. She invites Ben to dinner to set him up with the chick from Everwood and is surprised when he doesn't want to talk about a triple homicide? This new Olivia I can see being the daughter of Defense Attorney Ben Sherman. Last season's Olivia, that was the one I could see being the beloved half-sister of Officer Ben Sherman. Not the same at all and not any Olivia I would ever want to write about. I'll stick with the S1 incarnation.
ETA: I realize I wasn't specific here. This S2 Olivia is a different ACTRESS altogether. And I do not approve of her.
9. Ben apologizes during lunch for over stepping his bounds. John apologizes for yelling about his pills. Do you see what this is people? THIS IS COMMUNICATION. They are trusting each other. Building a relationship. Personal growth. The writers are building their relationship. Give props, they are due!
10. John's dealer thinks he has a problem. Wait. I'll repeat that. John Cooper's DRUG DEALER thinks he has a problem. Uh, Houston...
11. We end with Ben at the shooting range. The place we learned he was taken by a friend's father after he and his mom were attacked when Ben was 10. This is clearly a place where Ben feels safe. Where he feels he can be in control. Life is chaotic. If you think you're in charge, you're probably mistaken. Some of us work out. Some of us take drugs. Some of us shoot guns. But even those things can only do so much.
Sooner or later, Ben and Cooper are going to have let it out somewhere else.
I'll be waiting to see where.
ETA: Random trivia alert: the mostly bald doctor at the hospital was the dad from Beverly Hills 90210. The original one.
*I would like to give special love and adoration to maurheti who knows all good conversation happens during commercial breaks and to serialkarma and sparky77 who are nice enough to just let me shriek and keyboard smash until I'm hoarse.