So the Southland premier season ended with a bang and the new episode launched without missing a step in this beautiful dance of Cop drama. Season One’s finale showed us what detective Lydia Adams (Regina King) could do when pressed, and she showed her quality in prime fashion with a shotgun, some focus and a whole lot of heart.
In the season opener Lydia is given a new partner in Rene Cordero (Amaury Nolasco) and has a hell of a time adjusting to the change. When she finds out that her long-time partner Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott) was shot and in the emergency room, she makes it a habit to schedule regular visits along with calling him numerous times during the day. It felt as if Lydia was giving the man more attention than even his own wife (what’s up with that?) And upon finding out that he doesn’t plan on returning to duty, she bursts into tears outside of his hospital room. Pause… what the hell Lydia, do you have issues, or do you have issues? While I speculated that the character has some deep rooted abandonment issues, a friend of mine eluded that she may have fallen in love with the man and with him gone it was an “opportunity lost” for her to rob him from his wife. This seems viable but far-fetched based on her consistency with being such a caring, moral individual.
The introduction of Rene as Lydia‘s partner is a welcome addition. His confident swag and bulletproof ego (at least to Lydia‘s insult shots) is enough to predict some future action in the tender way between he and she. I mean, SOMEBODY needs to sleep with this woman, all goodness aside – I do not question her character, but she needs to get laid badly! While I’m sexualizing the female cops did you get a look at Officer Chickie Brown (Arija Bareikis) in casual clothes? Chalk it up to her growing on me but she was looking pretty damn good! So good in fact that rookie Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) could not resist the urge to casually ask her out for a drink. I suspect a future romp in the bedroom between these two good looking Officers. Plus with the good ‘ol boy crew giving Chickie hell for ratting out that asshole Dewey (C.Thomas Howell), she needs a good friend right about now. Hell and who else would hit on her? It’s not like Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) would do her any good unless she came with some pain killers for his habit. Zing!
This episode detailed a homeless ex-con preying on old people to steal money for his crack habit. There was a semi-riot scene when Chickie’s worthless new partner accidentally shoots at a kid that stole a car. This led to herself, Cooper and Ben being swarmed by people in the neighborhood jumping on their backs, lunging at them and showing no disdain despite the 9mm’s pointed at them. It was an intense scene, but the best part of this episode was the severe lack of (can we get a moment of silence for this) no Tammi “psycho bitch” Bryant (Emily Bergl) – God I hate her! Can we put a bullet in her character please, she is the one downer on this show and I’m hoping they keep her screen time to a minimum.
We also get to see some jailhouse shanking and The Wire’s Wood Harris as a possible recurring crime boss. This was a great start to the new season and I look forward to tuning into it every Tuesday on TNT.
Written by Greg Dragon – who has written 365 reviews on Spicy Movie Dogs.
Cinephile and opinion writer, Greg Dragon has been a fan of movies since the 80's when Kung Fu theater was all the rage and Roger Moore was James Bond. As an opinion writer that has reviewed Box Office releases on a number of prominent websites, Greg is the founder and lead critic of Spicy Movie Dogs.
