Southland 2.01 and 2.02
Mar. 9th, 2010 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hackthis_archiveOkay, 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
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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.
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no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 04:50 am (UTC)202: Is it wrong that even when people were dying, I kept thinking, "JFC, his ARMS!"? It happened a lot with both Cooper and Ben. I'm really enjoying their partnership. They remind me of a little married couple. Now they just need to start hanging outside of work so that my brain can go to even naughtier places.
Agreed on the new!Olivia front. I don't like this change. Also, I was pretty excited to see Tammi at first. There's usually a part of me that enjoys her crazy but this time, I was just annoyed.
Kevin's character is Nate Moretta. <3
Oh and I loved that they had the balls to actually kill a kid and show it. Though the blurred out body of the third victim bothered me. It sort of took me out of the moment for a bit. I think they could have just shot around it.
I think my favorite scene of the entire show (even though it didn't completely fit) was the one with Det. Salinger breaking into his daughter's bedroom. My dad has done things like that to me before. Crazy cops are crazy.
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Date: 2010-03-10 06:17 am (UTC)What you said, yes. Also, word to the bit about the Arm!Porn (as
It's clear that the theme for tonight's episode was daughters. I got that, but Salinger... your dad did that? Uh huh.
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Date: 2010-03-10 04:57 am (UTC)As much as I love The Wire, the writing on that show was always quite, um, textual. Literary. In the best sense of the word and of unique, possibly unprecedented quality, but at the end of every shot I could sort of hear "...and scene" - know what I mean? Whereas Southland doesn't focus on the crafty cognitive as much as getting into your BLOODSTREAM. I am always gut-punched by this show.
Cooper's dealer is the tallest man in the world, right?
The thing with Russell is: Lydia's capable of loving him while also being aware of all his shortcomings. And she's intensely loyal. They might have saved each other's lives a few times, for all we know. But it is SO AWESOME that we see her care for him outside of any forced, emotionally manipulative character disclosure - like, no flashback to some memory of him being totally awesome or whatever. Her care stands independently; it's not supposed to make us like Russell more, it just shows something about that relationship and about Lydia as a person. Because THIS IS SOUTHLAND, GODDAMN.
YAY SHOW.
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Date: 2010-03-10 06:20 am (UTC)Her care stands independently; it's not supposed to make us like Russell more, it just shows something about that relationship and about Lydia as a person.
Trufax!
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Date: 2010-03-10 05:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 06:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 05:14 am (UTC)12. I LOVED the continued development of Lydia's relationship with her new (temp) partner. It's not like everything's easy or perfect or like Russ now, it's just what happens when you work a case together and discover that maybe he's not totally incompetent.
BEN AND COOPER. They are looking fine, oh shit. Did you see Ben on Ellen today?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NKDZy_BpGY
I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS SCENE NOW. Also, subtext.
Also also THE PACIFIC on Sunday! It is a good week.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 06:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-03-10 05:28 am (UTC)A commenter said, "I'd like to propose a new Internet law: Simon's Law. At any given moment, some commentator on Gawker Media is referencing the work of David Simon. Usually it's from The Wire, but Generation Kill works, too. And when Treme gets going, Godwin watch out." (This was in a discussion of the casting for the action movie about Captain America. Someone posted a photo of Eric Nenninger and all the cool kids laughed.)
So you are right. Everything, everywhere leads back to David Simon. And now it's a law.
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Date: 2010-03-10 06:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 05:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 07:36 am (UTC)Also, re item 10: yes, I think that's when you know you REALLY NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE, John. Because, I mean.
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Date: 2010-03-10 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 07:51 am (UTC)Also... WTF Olivia? Did we see both Olivia and other sister Chloe? I liked the scene, the Cooper-ization of Ben, realizing that the others around him just wouldn't understand but really Olivia?
Thanks again, for loving Southland as much as I do.
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Date: 2010-03-10 11:44 pm (UTC)I think there is only one Olivia and that they are trying to pretend that this chick is her. No, not buying it.
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Date: 2010-03-10 12:40 pm (UTC)oh, show! (avon barksdale! oh man!!)
no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 11:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:My random explosion of thoughts, let me show you them
Date: 2010-03-10 12:43 pm (UTC)And if doing her job well means adapting to a new partner, she'll find a way to make it work. If it means thinking about what he said and changing her mind, she'll do that too. She's not afraid to say she's wrong. The give-and-take in their budding working relationship is awesome.
That phone conversation she has at the doctor's bedside was amazing. She felt so bad for him the moment before, and she takes the news in stride, all 'Wow, my worst thoughts about humanity have been confirmed, okay, I've got this under control.' You know she's going to get up tomorrow and go to work and deal w/ whatever, because that's what the job requires and she loves her job.
Okay, now, dude. The drug dealer thinks John has a problem, and I just. I didn't even look at that moment as 'wow, dude, might want to reflect on what that might mean about you, John.' To me it seemed more a reflection of what a good man John is that even his drug dealer would rather see him succeed than make money off him. To me as a viewer, I think John radiates a certain solidity, a certain calm rationality that is both reassuring and really makes me like him. He's a dick sometimes, but mostly in ways and to people who kinda deserve it.
He's kind to people who are vulnerable. He genuinely cares about people and about doing his job, and yeah, he's kinda fucked up and buttoned up and whatnot, but I think he's clearly a good guy. I can't imagine any drug dealer anywhere giving a good rat's ass about the well being of assholes, you know? The only way that interaction makes sense is if the dealer thinks John is one of the good guys, by which I don't mean 'cop.'
I don't know, I have many unformed thoughts about how the dealer might have come to this conclusion. What might he have seen that led him to think John was worth saving from himself? I'm thinking John kindly dealing w/ an underage queer kid from the 'burbs who wandered into a gay bar for the first time in his life and desperately wanted to be noticed and liked at the same time he had the self-preservation instincts of a suicidal squirrel in fall. Or John getting mouthy and sarcastic at some assholes who were harassing guys leaving the bar, or or or John intervening in the back alley when some wanna-be-straight dude got his rocks off with a gay boy and then started beating him up to prove his manhood or something & John sort of picked him up by the scruff of his neck and tossed him into a wall and then, when the threat was neutralized, went back to the gay boy and helped him pull himself together and asked if he wanted to report it and was understanding and caring and careful when the kid said no. He got the kid a cab, told him to call a friend, maybe gave him some very cop-worthy advice about how to size up a potential hook-up and figure out who to avoid.
I don't know, whatever, the point being I like that John Cooper and I want him to be okay! Fortunately he's got, like, a drug dealer and a rookie at his back so what could possibly go wrong? O.o
And despite the passive aggressive approach, I like that Ben is starting to say something to John about the pills. I can't help likening it to the exchange they had about Chickie and Dewey, all 'you get your partner some help before it ever gets that bad!' Ben's totally losing sleep at night thinking that John needs his help. You know it.
Er. And now I am done hijacking your journal with my rambling, unformed squeeful thoughts about the show.
Re: My random explosion of thoughts, let me show you them
Date: 2010-03-10 11:50 pm (UTC)As for John and his drug dealer, considering that John mocked the hell out of him for getting picked up for trying to get action in Barnesdale Park in episode 1.02, I find the whole thing rather surreal. I trust the writers though and am happy to see where they're going with this.
Re: My random explosion of thoughts, let me show you them
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Date: 2010-03-10 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 01:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-03-10 03:06 pm (UTC)Yeah. Still no coherency from over here.
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Date: 2010-03-10 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 10:54 pm (UTC)Kevin Alejandro is fucking HOT.
Lydia WINS!
That is all.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 11:54 pm (UTC)Also, I see you wroted something! I am essited!
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Date: 2010-03-11 01:33 am (UTC)And while I'm not a huge fan of the scrub on his face, they might have had Kevin Alejandro grow it because it emphasizes the center of his face; it makes him look more like the actress playing his daughter/used-to-be-sister.
I thought Regina King was fucking boss - but then again, she always is. The partner thing with Russ held true for me because working that closely together for so long is bound to make you either love or loathe the person you're tied to. And as we've already seen, she feels things pretty damn deeply. And for once, I liked her new partner. He was less media-hound and more bloodhound this episode.
And, yeah, Cooper just gets hotter every damn episode. Aside from that bit with his dealer - which was hilarious, by the way - no, okay, even then, I wanted to hug him the entire episode. And Sherman, because, really. Is there any word other than adorable that fit them and their interactions this week?
The only thing I didn't really like was their use of the Cheshire murders as a base for the plot; I'm not a fan of the ripped-from-the-headlines thing, but it really fits with the faux-doc shooting of the show. And that's more of a personal complaint than it really is legit, so.
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Date: 2010-03-11 09:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-03-11 04:57 am (UTC)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.
Ha!!!!!!!! I so knew you were cataloging his alcohol preferences for future fic writing.
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Date: 2010-03-11 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-11 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-11 02:55 pm (UTC)And the way John decides to shut him up is by suggesting they get out of there. Personally, I thought that was the interesting bit. ;)
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Date: 2010-03-11 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-11 03:41 pm (UTC)My favorite bot of 2.1 is when they're in the car and Be's driving, and Cooper sarcastically asks if ben's been studying the map. Ben says yes, and Cooper turns his head so his face can't be seen and smiles with pride. I loved that bit. I also loved Cooper going home with his dealer in 2.2. That sounds like an incredibly stupid move.
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Date: 2010-03-13 04:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-11 07:38 pm (UTC)Lydia is breaking my heart on so many levels. I didn't like Russell at ALL and I am pulling so hard for him right now it is disgusting.
AND AND AND yes, the shirt on the Coop is The Shirt of Shirts, and those arms are like fucking magical ponies. They shouldn't exist and be able to do the things to me that they do. UNF.
Also, I cannot tell you how little I care about Nate Moretta's problems with his daughter right now, mostly due to the fact that I'm not speaking to him until he shaves his face and stops making Sammy have all these FEELINGS. Aside from the Coop and the Sherman I spend most of my time running circles around Tammy and Sammy drawing happy happy hearts because their dysfunctional relationship makes my life. They are so bad and so good together it makes my teeth itch.
AND YES TO THE BREAD TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD. It almost made me want to talk to Moretta again. Almost. But that was probably from my glee at Sammy being a little sprinting badass.
Okay, I'll stop! I'm sorry! I just love this show and I love you and your love for show!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-13 04:14 am (UTC)Nate needs to pick a plan and go with it. But first, the facial pubes must go. TODAY. And yet, c'mon, him with the sunglasses and the hat and the throwing food. It was hot. I cannot tell a lie.
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Date: 2010-03-12 12:38 am (UTC)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.
When I read this I thought YES! And in my head, I could already see Sherman and Cooper no longer riding together because Ben's training had ended and he was in his own car, but when Ben comes home, smelling of gun powder and he doesn't immediately attack John's mouth with kisses and the unbuckling of belts, John knows that Ben was at that scene. The scene everyone had been talking about over the radios. And he knows that Ben needed to take it out on the gun range and that he still needs someone to pull him out of his head and so John grabs Ben for a kiss and drags him into the shower to wash off the blowback and give him a blow job. *guh*
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Date: 2010-03-13 04:29 am (UTC)Anyways, I didn't have a chance to comment when you first posted this, but I'm confused by you saying Olivia is a new actress. I think I may have missed something. The woman we first saw in the restaurant is I guess Ben's second sister, although I never caught a name my CC said her name was Chloe, and the blonde who comes in with the guy and brunette girl is Olivia, the same one as season one I thought. I checked imdb, and the same actress is listed for last season and this season as Olivia. Did imdb and I get it wrong? I could totally have, I admit, but I'm all confused now. :/
no subject
Date: 2010-03-13 09:04 am (UTC)This was my reaction.
Also, Mr Walsh.
And yes to pretty much the rest of this post.
Also Ben must have two sisters, because sister at the restaurant mentions "Ward and Olivia are coming too" and in walk the two from last season. Which makes me wonder if Sister 2 with the very funky ring is a full sister. Ben, explain your family to me please. Better yet, explain it to Cooper, when you're both naked.
That would work for me.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-16 06:48 am (UTC)