"Identity Review" - SouthLAnd First

“LAPD officers spend every shift trying to help people who often don’t even know they need help. Some days the trying works better than others.”

Lydia is doing the same thing with her pregnancy as Cooper did with his back last season – doing risky things on duty that will affect the pregnancy and the back.

Ben’s jacket with the white stripe makes me think it’s Fleet Week or something.

So Lydia’s pregnant. Her mother, her partner, even Officer Tang has figured it out. Who is the baby’s father? We may never know. As of now, we don’t know what she’s going to do about the pregnancy either. It seems everyone she encounters during this episode has something to do with having kids. Even her own partner is giving her his views on motherhood.

I do NOT understand why Sammy is so intent on getting Ben to move out to Castaic. Sammy has mentioned this in every episode. Why does he care unless Sammy himself feels lonely? Does Sammy not have any friends where he lives? I really wish he would just leave it alone and I hope Ben doesn’t move out there.

Ben, off duty and ever the rescuer, helps a pretty girl whose ex-boyfriend was hassling her. Unfortunately for Ben, the girl doesn’t have a very favorable opinion of the police – especially the one policeman who punched that girl in the face for no reason.

Officers Tang and Cooper help a homeless man that they relocated within the last month. He is disrupting the customer flow to a business. While talking with him, they discover he’s a former marine. Tang identifies with him because her Dad was a marine. “Semper Fi, you know. Never leave anyone behind.”

Ben and Sammy chase after a guy who tried to steal a woman’s purse. Ben chases the guy down an alley while Sammy briefly stops to check on the woman. As Sammy tried to catch up with Ben, he hears something behind a dumpster. A dog charges him and Sammy shoots him, but doesn’t kill him. As Ben walks back with the robber, Sammy takes off his uniform shirt and his bulletproof vest, so that he can use his T-shirt to use as a pressure bandage for the dog’s wound. Sammy doesn’t put his vest back on, but he does button up his shirt, tuck it in, then button up his shirt again. The ambulance guys tell Sammy to take the dog to a vet clinic a few blocks away, but Sammy asks them to do it since he can’t leave the scene yet. Hmmmm. It didn’t bother Sammy to leave the scene last week when they were supposed to be watching Hood Day. The ambulance guys say they will take the dog to the clinic – for two Lakers tickets.

Tang is still on the phone apparently talking to yet another agency regarding the ex-Marine when a looney tune she calls Crazy Bob sticks his head in Tang’s window. He claims the cop car is his and runs around the front of the car. As Cooper gets out, Crazy Bob is making some crazy Kung Fu moves, then declares himself invisible. Pointing his finger at Cooper, he says, “You can’t see me”. Cooper immediately grabs Crazy Bob arm and bends him over the hood of the patrol car. “Oh! You can see me!” screams Crazy Bob.

Sammy, Ben, Dewey, and Dewey’s partner are having lunch at the ever-popular El Siete Mares. Everyone is giving Sammy grief over agreeing to pay for the dog’s surgery. He’s already agreed to pay for 2 Lakers tickets. Now this?

We learn that Regina had a miscarriage several years ago and at her age, the baby will be at increased risk for birth defects – especially Down’s syndrome. She’s three months along and the doctor says she has up to 16 weeks to decide if she wants to abort. The doctor also says that due to Lydia’s body’s low percentage of fat, that she may never conceive again. The doctor was surprised that Lydia conceived at all.

Ben wonders why Ben would want this dog, because doesn’t he already have a dog? Sammy tells him that his ex-wife got the dog, along with his kid and everything. “Your balls,” Ben says back to him.

Ben and Sammy chase down a couple of kids. One of them has quite a bit of weed on him; the other one is let go. The one they keep gives up the shooter of Abuelita in order to get a lighter sentence.

Tang is on the phone with the Marines when she and Cooper pull up to the scene of a person that’s been run over by a train. The sheriff’s department is trying to claim that jurisdiction is with the LAPD since most of the body is on LAPD’s turf. As the sheriff’s deputies argue with Cooper about jurisdiction, Tang gets louder and louder as she argues with the Marines. The deputies realize they don’t want to have to deal with Tang; so they agree to handle the body. Tang is pissed as she hangs up and asks Cooper if anything was decided. In the presence of an angry Tang, Cooper astutely replies quietly that the sheriff’s office is going to handle. Then he walks quickly back to the patrol car as Tang looks around for someone else to yell at.

We’re back to Sammy yet again telling Ben he needs to move. While they’re rolling Code 3 to an ADW call. When they arrive they get the woman holding a knife to drop it. Then Ben notices a little girl in the pool not moving. He dives in and brings her to the pool deck, then gives her CPR. She spits out the water and yells for her Mommy. A brief aside: SouthLAnd is so great at using correct police procedures, they should invest in a CPR training class. Neither Ben, nor Chickie especially, used very good CPR technique.

The scene where Cooper and Tang take the homeless Marine’s picture was excellent. The care they took with grooming him was great. When Cooper coaxed, “Are you serious? Serious Tom. Let’s get some serious Tom. Serious Marine Tom”; you could see the serious look come over Tom’s face. But his face got even more serious when Cooper said, “Serious Marine Tom.”

The scene where Dewey had put the get-well card and the toy dog with the bobbing head was priceless. The card read, Sorry you’re not well because Sammy shot you. Just as Sammy reads the card, Dewey rolls by in his patrol car, barking over the PA system. Heh. Sammy doesn’t think it’s too funny though. But he can’t hold back a smile when Ben uses the bobble-head dog and talks like Scooby Doo. “Rammy! Rammy! ” Hee.

Cooper knows a place that makes fake IDs. So he and Tang have some IDs made for Tom Smith. I liked this little scene because it shows that Cooper is trusting Tang more.

The murder case that Lydia and Ruben have been working comes to an end. Lydia and Ruben find Nicole with the help of Jamaica. Nicole takes off and Lydia chases after her. She finally catches up to Nicole, who seems recalcitrant at first, but then lunges at Lydia, cutting Lydia’s arm. Nicole runs to a truck and starts to flee, but a patrol car pulls up at the end of the alley, cutting off an escape. Nicole rams it anyway and backs up for another go. Ruben shoots and hits Nicole, which prevents another try at the patrol car.

When Cooper and Tang present Tom Smith with the new IDs, Tom Smith yells “That’s not me!” repeatedly and throws the IDs down on the sidewalk. Tang and Cooper decide to move him down the street a little ways so that Tom Smith no longer bothers the store owner.

When Sammy goes back to check on the dog, he discovers the owner of the dog, with the owner’s granddaughter at the vet’s office. The owner thanks Sammy profusely, but he can’t afford the bill. Ben starts laughing as the vet gives Sammy the bill for the dog. Sammy is now out $1300 for the dog and two Lakers tickets.

Ben is looking at a house in Castaic. He stands in the middle of the street, staring up at the house. Please, please, please, don’t do it Ben. You won’t be happy out there. But what you could do, Ben, is get rid of that old sweater with the white stripe you’ve been wearing lately. It makes me think you’re a sailor.