WHAT AN EPISODE, PEOPLE! We had it all, shandy flirting, Rusty making progress with his not-so-little side-project, Provenza/Flynn antics, shandy flirting, Julio’s one liners, Hobbs, Hobbs, Hobbs, shandy flirting, the BIG reveal of Dr. Morales’ first name (check Rusty’s vblog if you somehow missed it), and, of course, Reserve Officer Watson’s very shiny shoes! More on that, under the cut. I fear this is gonna be a long one... Like really really long.
The episode began with several close ups of Buzz enjoying the supreme glide on his shiny new shoes... If Phillip P. Keene ever decides to bow out of acting, I’m pretty sure the runway will be waiting. ;) He could totally rock it as a shoe model!! Did anyone else feel like the close ups of Buzz’ badge and the uniform and his adorable little goober face were just an excuse for Duff to get his husband in a uniform and show him off? Because I did! :D
Julio’s teasing ‘did you get a haircut?’ as Buzz stood in the murder room, clad in all his uniformed glory, was so totally on point. It’s nice to see Julio casually knocking out one liners and joking with the team again after his rough patch.
And speaking of uniformed glory...
Lieutenant Andrew Flynn was looking mighty fine in those navy blues. He pulled off that uniform (take that as you will) like no one’s business! I mean, really, holy crap! No wonder Sharon couldn’t resist reaching out for that pesky little tie ‘readjustment.’ ;)
I think I can safely speak for all the shandy shippers when I say: AKDHFHGHGFJS!
I honestly thought I would never see the day when SHARON FRAKKING RAYDOR flirted with a SUBORDINATE at work. AT WORK! But it happened... and in the middle of the murder room, surrounded by the squad, no less!!! Oh yeah, this ship is sailing.
I loved seeing Sharon showing interest in Andy for a change - took me all the way back to the moment that started it all when she basically dumped Rusty off on Provenza and invited herself along to Nicole’s wedding. Good times. :D
Moving on, and the Flynn/Provenza bickering bromance continues! Provenza turning up late, in uniform, and assuming he was giving Buzz his first ride along cracked me up! As did the glares bouncing back and forth between Provenza and Flynn. TD and GWB have comedic timing down to a fault, and the entire ride along scene was golden.
“You wanna explain to me how Reserve Officer Buzz Watson gets The Batmobile while I still drive a car from the 90s?” - Flynn.
Buzz was so fresh faced and by-the-book and green in his duties that he made me wonder what a young Sharon Raydor would have been like during her first ride along... but I digress. Let’s review Flynn and Prozenza’s words of wisdom to the LAPD’s shiniest reserve officer and, indeed, anyone else wanted to make it in the force:
1) “The most important decision you have to make on patrol is where to eat dinner” (Flynn)
2) “Just because you know how to drive some tripped out explorer does not make you a cop” (Provenza)
3) “One of the things Flynn and I have learned from our combined 70 years on the job is to get people to focus on hating you so they will forget about how much they hate each other” (Provenza)
4) “All fights between husbands and wives begin with a few phrases... like: you don’t listen, you’re too cheap, you don’t drive, where do you think you’re going dressed like that, would it kill you to ask for directions, would it kill you to not sleep with the babysitter” (Both)
5) “The first rule of policing: avoid paperwork” (Provenza)
6) ”You know when there are coincidences? On the 4th of July when we’re about to go to the Dodger’s game!!” (Flynn)
And let’s not forget the world’s worst greeting card:
A love like ours must have been fated,
even when it’s so belated.
Pour a bath, I’m so frustrated,
gonna drown myself while I’m sedated.
Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that the first 11 minutes of Turn Down were pretty frakking brilliant. The next ten were great too. Sharon getting flustered and angry on the phone was cute. She was so worried about “losing the whole holiday weekend.” Got any plans, Sharon? ;)
While Rusty typed away on his laptop to the mysterious ‘TJ’ (potential bf, perhaps? Please, God, don’t let it be Stroh), Sharon was shouting down the phone, “trying to get us to this Dodger’s game.” N’awwww, she’s so totally got it bad.
Rusty definitely seems less whiny to me of late. I think it’s to do with him having is own agency separate to the squad. I was SO VERY PROUD of the way that he and TJ figured out the code Alice’s voicemail!! I’m sure we’ll see more of Journalist!Rusty in the eps to come.
Down in the morgue, Sharon and the gang pulled a Frankenstein’s Monster on Morales, much to his chagrin:
“You want me to shock a corpse?” (FERNANDO)
“Why not? He’d not getting any deader...” (Tao)
I do wonder how many takes it took for Michael Chan to catch the phone... ya know, especially since the flower outtake from S3. O:)
Anywho, back to shandy, because who am I fooling- those two idiots are the reason I write these things; I love-love-loved the undercurrent of anticipation bubbling below the surface of this ep. Was it just me or did Sharon touch Andy waaay more than usual. Talk about staking a claim!
I feel like this bled through into her interactions with the team too. Her “I’m glad you spoke up: we couldn’t enjoy this ballgame if a murder gets to walk... Of course, it would be nice to go” to Buzz, and her joke to Amy about Provenza needing the tranquilizers seemed indicative of a definite paradigm shift... or it could just be wishful thinking and down to the light-hearted ep...
Either way, the line of the season (so far) goes to Provenza:
“IF YOU COULD ASK THE CAPTAIN OUT *WITHOUT* DRAGGING EVERYONE ELSE WITH YOU...”
And the best part is, Andy didn’t even deny it!
“DRAGGING? IT’S BASEBALL! WHO GETS DRAGGED TO BASEBALL?!”
Yup, denying it didn’t even cross this goofball’s mind. Another paradigm shift towards shandy. No more “we’re friends!” crap.
I like to think that Andy asked Nicole for help in asking Sharon out properly, and that’s how she ended up coming by tickets for the whole team to the Dodger’s match.
Flynn’s easy agreement to the fiance’s (rubbish at names) “when I asked you to be my wife it meant that we shouldn’t keep any secrets from each other” shows just how far he’s come since the closer days. He’s a tad idealistic perhaps, but that’s a good balance for Sharon’s sometimes overly-grounded nature.
Anywho, the closing scene shows us the whole team pilled up on Sharon’s sofas, listening (or watching, I wasn’t quite sure) to the game. Andy was so totally smelling Sharon’s hair. I’m convinced!! And you can’t tell me that the Dodger’s cap Sharon was wearing wasn’t originally Andy’s :D
It’s no surprise that we didn’t get to see the fireworks from the roof of the condo ourselves, but it mattered not- there was more than enough progress in Sharon and Andy’s relationship to keep us going til the next week.
Tune in next Tuesday, if any of you are still alive after Flynn finally makes his big move!!!
