SouthLAnd Recap 2.3 – U-Boat

This episode of SouthLAnd featured the core group of Lydia (Regina King), Rene (Amaury Nolasco), Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and Ben (Ben Mckenzie). Chickie (Arija Bareikis) is still getting harassed by the boys and getting crap duty so she confronts John Cooper about forcing her to turn Dewey in – thus causing her fall in popularity. This sets up an awesome sequence of teaching as punishment by Cooper. After lamenting to Chickie about how much she had turned into a soft Cop that hid behind her partner, he proceeds to running her through rookie training as if she was fresh out of the academy. I say it’s an awesome sequence because by the end of the episode Chickie had gotten so pissed at being undermined that you could see the fire in her eyes. Maybe this means she will do more than look frustrated in future episodes? She always seems so out of place, like a thug could slap her and she would break out crying. Way to light that fire Cooper, if I had a bottle of pills I would hand em to you.

Ben continues his spiral south as the job brings him more harsh reality in this episode. While Cooper takes Chickie out on their reigniting lesson, Ben was made to go it alone for the first time in his career. As he made his rounds playing do-boy for random people and being the green nice guy that he is – passing out business cards and what-not., he meets a cute chef chick who was in danger of a stalker boyfriend. She all but throws the booty at Ben but he keeps it professional and as I expected she begins to blow his phone up (calling him all day) whenever she suspects her boyfriend was coming after her.  A young boy being forced to wear a bra as punishment for losing his shoes to bullies who threw them up on the street cables and a baby Korean girl who wanders off from school are just a few more highlights in his day and at the end of it all Ben sits in shock on a couch with bloody fists from beating the tar out of a guy. Poor Ben, the women seem to love him but this Cop job is really tipping his emo meter.

At the beginning we witness Lydia’s nightmare of shooting her former partner in the stomach with a shotgun and it turns into a desperate need for her to reconnect with him throughout the episode. But that bullet in the stomach is no easy thing for poor Russell (Tom Everett Scott) as he is now hooked up to tubes, having to get assistance for the bathroom and yelling at his wife for blogging. Lydia calls and calls but he is wounded, angry and the last thing he wants to see is a woman who will only remind him of the days when he was cracking jokes and scamming on strange booty. Rene is becoming one of my favorite guys, dude is cool, zen-like in his patience and understanding and he even puts up with Lydia’s sporadic behavior. I’m telling you folks I see a future between these two, and I don’t mean in the Cagney and Lacey sense… I think patience will get Lydia that lay that she so desperately needs. Please Rene take it easy on her, don’t kill it brother, don’t kill it.

The episode culminated with vet and rookie John and Ben hooking up at night to sit on a curb to discuss the trauma of Ben’s day. As usual John compassionately shares a personal story from the past to show Ben that it’s all part of the learning process. His memorable monologue included the line “we live in the gray” referencing the abstract reality of police work. In the background we see a fire truck pull up with the ladder extending to retrieve the boy’s shoes from the cables. It’s 100% fantasy but a beautiful ending nonetheless to a hectic day for Ben and an awesome episode for us viewers.