 by snicks |
IMHO "Southland" (1.7): Season Finale
The season finale of the NBC cop show Southland aired last night, and it was a terrific ending to the season, with a tense shootout and more insight into the gay character of John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz). And if you missed it, no matter: Watch the episode below and join the debate about John and his "friend". John and his cop partner Ben (Ben McKenzie) are fielding more "garbage calls", including the inevitable "crazy lady calls 911 because fast-food joint is out of chicken nuggets." The conversation turns to the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, and John says he'll be finishing building the wall in his backyard, with help from his friend Caesar. Hmm ...
Meanwhile, my other favorite character, Lydia (Regina King), has offered to babysit the teenage witness to the drug/gang slaying story that started when the series premiered. She'll end up having to single-handedly fight off a home invasion by gang members, in a segment filled with tension and dim lighting. Even though it's a great segment, there is one part that rings false. When she shoots the guys with her big shotgun, they ... fall down. Excuse me, but I've seen enough Michael Bay films to know that when someone is blown away by a shotgun, they fly backwards through the air in slo-mo and through a plate-glass window (whether or not there was a window there to begin with). So I have to call B.S. on that scene. Anyway ... there were other great things about this episode: the performance of the fabulous character actress Lupe Ontiveros as the monstrous matriarch of the drug gang; the annoying C. Thomas Howell character finally going off the deep end; guest star Denise Crosby giving her finest TV performance since being killed by an evil talking oil slick on Star Trek: The Next Generation; and the cliffhanger of Tom Everett Scott being gunned down in a doorway as the holiday fireworks explode overhead.
The biggest complaint I've had about this series is the lack of focus. The episodes meander and ramble, and just when you're getting into a scene and the characters, it yanks you away and deposits you somewhere else. With a large cast it's probably unavoidable, but it just seemed unusually abrupt on this show. Last night, however, all the pieces came together to create a more unified episode, which I think is what the show should strive for when it comes back in the fall. The final scene between John and Caesar will be much debated, but I think it's pretty clear. The affection they show towards each other is fairly obvious. Decide for yourselves ... So what did you think about the finale and the season as a whole? Is it just me, or are there times in the episode when Ben gives John strange looks, as if he knows there's something's "different" about his partner? So, will you be coming back this fall to see more of John? Are you as outraged as I am that Southland will be directly up against Ugly Betty on Friday nights? Submitted by on Fri, 2009-05-22 13:33. |
|
Welcome to AfterElton.com!
- Login
- Join Now!
News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media
I can't watch this hulu videos
Same here
Sucks royally!
"I walk with dignity. I step with pride."
http://hotspotshield.com/
http://hotspotshield.com/
Was pointed to this only a couple of days ago. Totally free and works like a charm.
Hulu is weird once you take away the access denied message thing!
If you can't see the video here...
you can go to the NBC web site. They put up the full episodes usually the day after it's been shown. I've caught up with a lot of shows that way.
Have a great weekend
Loved it, as usual. The
Loved it, as usual. The Cesar reveal was subtle, but how could anyone not see it? I'd like more, but subtle can someonetimes be good too, as it was here.
And it did turn out to be a pretty nice wall they built.
Unamibiguous
I know I'll get shouted down, but I don't think straight guys walk up, snag their buddies beer in the dark, take a swig, and stare at fireworks. Convincing enough? More than covered it for me.
Regina is so good, it's really almost not fair to the other actors. And it was super fun to see her go all badass with a shotgun.
As for how Ben looks at Cooper, I think that's drug related. He's worried. I think it's sweet.
Denise Crosby seems to be uncredited in this episode, and I missed it. Where was she?
While I hope the editing next year is closer to this episode, I'm great with how the show is progressing. I am totally ticked about it being opposite Ugly Betty and Dollhouse though - something is going to have to be done on Hulu.
One of the wives
The guy with the daughter on X.
I have to say, she looked pretty good; she's lost some weight and had her face freshened up since the last time I remember seeing her, on an episode of Dexter.
My fear is
In the new timeslot (since 10PM is now property of Jay Leno) they're going to have to tone down some of the "grittier" elements, like the language and some of the ultraviolence. Which is fine, except those are the things that make the show interesting and not just a cookie-cutter cop drama.
Two shows in the same slot are the reason DVRs were invented, my only fear is that Friday's already more dilute audience is going to trend more here, and that UB will get killed.
Ben's strange looks...
I'm guessing that Ben's strange looks were driven by the fact that when a man such as John says something like "I'm building a decorative retaining wall around my boundary garden." it is equivalent to saying "I'm gay" in straight guy language.
Yep.
I thought the same thing
I'm with you also
But i expected the conversation would go somewhere. Ben looked like he was about to say something considering how confused he looked. In his mind it was probably "is he gay? or is his sarcasm getting poor?". I though the scene was really funny.
Glad to see they will definitely go more into Cooper's sexuality as they introduced a obvious partner/boyfriend and it was more prominent than previous episodes. The end scene made it pretty obvious what the writers were trying to convey.
Agave Garden. And there's cactus, too!
I think that was Ben's first clue. Then, you'll notice that he answered John's question about his girlfriend's music with, "It's kinda K.D. Lang meets Joni Mitchell." That's when he was very intently focused on John's reaction and his response of, "Cool," elicited that sexy fish-hooked eyebrow.
You know Ben was totally thinking, "I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER, GIRLFRIEND!!!"
In other news, Lydia is BAD-ASS!!! I wanna be her, when I grow up.
Except, ya' know, minus the crapy, thankless job that involves people shooting at you. ;Þ
Thank you
I was uncertain as to that one word. Agave didn't spring to mind because very few people grow it in my locale. Certainly not entire gardens of it.
But yes, Cooper was simply oozing a gay vibe with Ben in this episode. Also note the slightly breathy way he said Cesar's name. In a way it is a shame that they didn't just go there and have the conversation. However, that might have been just a little too 90's for me.
That said, I wouldn't have objected to seeing Cooper try and swallow the Tequila worm if you take my meaning. But that's my perversion and problem.
Lydia was definitely channeling Sigourney Weaver in Aliens! Girlfriend is a serious force with that shotgun in hand! The kind of pump action she had going on, that stupid ex of her's clearly didn't appreciate it. Or deserve it.
More Linda Hamilton to me
Ben says he does not know
I just accidentally caught an interview Kirsten at E!Online had with Ben about the show, and she asked him straight-out if his character knew that John is gay. "Ben does not know. It's going to interesting to see how that affects the partnership when he finds out."
So now we know that for the strange looks, yes, we're reading too much into it.
http://www.eonline.com/videos/v23861681001_watch_with_kristin_ben_mckenzie.html
Ben's point of view
That's not very surprising. Some people on the Southland message board are still unsure if it's true or not, and they see the snippets of John's private life that Ben (Sherman) does not.
It's interesting because John is very far from being a stereotypical gay, and he gives away so few details about his personal life that Ben doesn't really know him well. As we saw this episode, John may let slip statements that imply the truth but he hasn't gone ahead and said it. That may indeed become the issue when it comes out (literally), as Ben may feel that John has learned a considerable amount of information about Ben without giving anything back.
As for the strange looks, they are probably simple puzzlement. John says slightly odd things and Ben doesn't know how to interpret them. Like I said, it's not obvious that John is gay. Which merits kudos to Michael Cudlitz, who apparently hasn't felt the need to try and insert any "gay" affectations into Joh.
Brokeback Mountain
Remind me of Brokeback Mountain's scene(Firework)
http://gayguideblog.blogspot.com/
But it's not only two
The show has found its pacing and story structure
Quote:I know I'll get
Considering that's the extent, for the most part, of showing K/S as a couple on Brothers&Sisters [giving other half his beer bottle or glass of wine as other half approaches], I agree.
eta
It's one of the 'couple cues' that makes K/S as a couple so believable.
Re Shot out scene with Regina King's character
Thoroughly enjoyed this
Thoroughly enjoyed this episode. A few highlights -
* Lydia Adams... She was smokin' with that shotgun. Dang. The way she took charge of the situation & sent those punks running for their lives... Loved it. I was seriously thinking that the witness, Janila, would not be so lucky this time around, what with the two prior attempts on her life. Good thing the poor kid was in good hands.
* Clarke getting shot at the end... sucked. I guess we'll have to wait and see if he makes it to Season 2. I personally wouldn't mind if they got rid of the Dewey character instead.
* Cooper was definitely looking a lot more chilled out this episode.
Snicks, I agree with you re: Ben giving John strange looks at times; like in the scene you mentioned...
Cooper initially asks Ben what his weekend plans are... when Ben says he would be hanging out with his "friend" and attending her concert, Cooper laughs and teases him into admitting that she is actually his girlfriend (poor guy didn't know how the evening would turn out). So, when Ben in turn asks Cooper about his weekend & if he would be building the wall by himself, Cooper says he would be getting help from his "friend". Caesar. It seems like Ben was expecting Cooper to say more at that point. When Cooper doesn't, Ben looks a little confused and leaves the matter at that. I think Ben figured it out, if he didn't already know Cooper is gay. =]
Like Psionycx said, perhaps Ben thought the whole "decorative retaining wall" comment a little 'gay' for a straight guy; OR perhaps he couldn't understand why Cooper had that look in his eye when he said the name Caesar... =]
All in all, another great episode.
Will be tuning in to catch the show in the fall, no doubt.
Ben knows
Of course Ben knows that John is gay. As soon as they were paired up, I'm sure there was someone who couldn't wait to tell Ben that his new partner was gay. That's just how it is in real life. I think the strange looks that Ben has been giving John are because he keeps waiting for John to open up to him. John knews that Ben was dating someone, and Ben's just looking for the same openness from John. As I recall, the first of the strange looks came when John mentioned that he had an ex-wife. Not something you'd expect to hear about your gay partner.
As for the slow reveal that John is gay - If not for you kind folks at AE, I would never have known. Last nights epi would have been my first inkling. It wasn't just the beer and fireworks scene, there was also something about the morning coffee scene that suggested their relationship was more than platonic.
Episode 2
In episode 2, I thought I had missed someone saying something about Coop to Ben when they were coming out of the diner. I re-watched the ep on Hulu and it turns out it was bleeped (just like they do with all the swearing).
What the other cop said to Ben about Coop was, "He's a *bleep,* but he's one of us."
Now, it could have been what was bleeped was a curse word. Or, perhaps it was a not so nice euphemism for a gay guy. It could have easily been either, but if it was the euphemism, then Ben's look after Cooper mentioned the decorative wall was probably him putting 2 & 2 together. AND, it would also would have been a pretty clever bit of writing/subtlety to keep us guessing.
Either way, I'm sure Ben has figured it out and the whole thing worked (at least for me). I really am liking this show more each week. Even the camera work is growing on me.
Actually...
I don't think Ben does know
Excellent stuff
The show's focusing way too
The show's focusing way too much on Lydia. She's always the center piece of every episode, not a good thing. Oh, and as much as I like the shootout at the end...please, her gun has, like, 20 bullets in it?
Why are all the criminals either blacks or latinos? Seriously?
I can't stand that Tammy, kill her off. And Sal, kill him off as well. T E Scott's character is under used.
I was ok with Cooper in the beginning...but really starting to like his character and the actor who plays him.
Is Caesar the same guy who was in the same gay bar in ep #1??
the story is supposed to
Yes, BUT....
here's a link
This has bothered me from
Lydia is a true badass
still too many characters
There are still too many characters for me. It's difficult for me to focus. I'm not a big fan of the older cop with the teenage daughter. Both overbearing, bossy fathers, and dumb, bratty teens are impossible for me to relate to. Some of the story lines have a lot of heart to them, though. I can't remember names, but I loved both cops who took care of the witness girl.
At this point, it was clear to me that Ceasar is more than a friend to John Cooper, mostly because of the conversation in the car. The way he teased Ben about refering to his girlfriend as his "friend" was there to remind people that "friend" can mean "more than friends". I think some people won't recognize it, though, because they won't be looking for it. I'm guessing it will get more obvious with time. I suppose this is what it's like for people who work with John. Initially they have no idea that he's gay because they're not expecting it, and then once they get to know him better, the learn a bit about his personal life.
Cooper's boyfriend Cesar
I love that they chose the name Cesar for Cooper's boyfriend. LOL. That can't be unintentional. And the BB fireworks reference. It's like they're winking to those in the know without spelling things out. Or is it just their coy way of having their cake and eating it too... nodding to us while not alienating other demographics?
The show is still on the bubble for me. Lots of elements I like but it's not quite coming together.
"Southland" does NOT mean "South Central"
I lived in Los Angeles for 3 years in the late 90s and early
me too.......
belinda
It really really make me mad,many great video clip i can't watch on Hulu..............
WHY?it about a copyright or ???.can some help me ?thanks!
Who cares! I love the show!
Southland fighting stereotypes
Lydia is certainly noteworthy. It's good to see a black, female police detective who is strong and competent, while at the same time compassionate. I also think it's a little noteworthy that she's from suburbia, rather than the inner city. The idea that all black people have to be "street" is more than a little tired. Lydia is an example of a more modern black character. If Regina King gets kudos they're well-deserved for her and the writers.
Cooper, already breaking the mold as the macho gay cop.
Ben, also an interesting diversion, as he's the kid from Bel Air who doesn't act like it.
Moretta is a Latino cop with a decidely typical middle class bent, again a novelty for TV.
They're doing pretty well here.
I don't have a tv, soI have
I don't have a tv, soI have
Since Caesar and John are obviously good at DIY...
next season, they need to put in a pool together.
Shirtless.
And then have frequent Rock Hudson-style pool parties.