S1 E7; The Ride Along

It looks like Nolan is going to have to deal with someone kind of like Castle!

I thought sure you'd make this one a puzzle, Tycho

Review - Spoilers

This was a really good show. My favorite part was right at the beginning when there is a big man hunt for the desperate criminal, John Nolan! The LAPD allows a Make-a-Wish kid to be a cop and Nolan plays the part of the criminal. The kid has her own little uniform and they stage a chase so she can arrest the 'criminal'. She brings him in handcuffs back to the station where everyone is on hand to applaud, take pictures, and give her an award. That was neat, but the neatest part was that the Make-a-Wish kid was a real life Make-a-Wish kid whose wish was to be an actor. She did a great job and everyone seemed to truly enjoy having her there. Most importantly, she seemed to have a wonderful time.

Later Bishop and Nolan have a celebrity ride-along. This is not a fun thing for police to do. They have to try to make things interesting for the celebrity but they were ordered to keep him out of danger. This celebrity is a Hollywood director, Rupert Payne. Nolan is a huge fan. He is rich and entitled and tries to pay to get more exciting calls. Of course Bishop wants nothing to do with that.

They take a domestic disturbance call, that quickly becomes quite dangerous when a young (but big) mentally challenged man became upset and struck his mother and was waving a knife around. His brothers are concerned that the cops will shoot their brother since he was confused and upset and didn't seem to understand that he needed to put down the knife. Bishop was the real hero. She calmly took control and got everyone to calm down. Then she spoke quietly to Tyson to help him calm down so he would understand he needed to put the knife down. Payne suddenly escalated the situation by filming Tyson's arrest upsetting his brothers. Nolan realizes that his hero is actually kind of a jerk and the guy can't even remember John's name.

The ride along seemed to open Payne's eyes and he seems to realize that these are real people with few options. He decides to reach out to the brother and offers some money to get Tyson into a program to get help. This infuriates his brother and he and his friends decide to rob Payne. Payne manages to break away and call Nolan for help, then he is grabbed again but shot by a responding officer after he wrestles the gun away. Fortunately, he survives and thankfully he wasn't doing the ride-a-long with Bishop and Nolan when he was shot. The captain was mad enough as it was that he got hurt.

This was a tough episode for Bradford. His wife was arrested on possession and dealing drugs. She pleaded with him to remove the other drugs her boyfriend stashed at her place so she won't get more time. She says she'll change and go to rehab and they can have another chance. A junkie promising anything to get what she needs. Bradford actually breaks into her place to remove the drugs but in the end he doesn't do it. The other TOs stick with Bradford at the end since they know how awful it was for him. 

Nolan's still having a tough time after his breakup with Lucy and doesn't even hang out with West and Chen any more. He calls his son and asks him to come out for a few days after his mid-terms. He had told Payne how much his movies meant to him and his son and he bragged to his son about meeting their favorite director. At least we'll get to meet his son soon.

The theme this week seems to be that everybody needs somebody.
1) During Nolan's 1st call they discover an old lady in her house that has been dead so long she seems to be mummified and no one noticed and they couldn't locate any family.
2) Without Lucy, Nolan has become a hermit sleeping on the couch and not cleaning up the place. His landlord tells him to get out in the world and make some connections. He attends the director's party but that's not really his thing so he's starting with his son.
3) Bradford's situation with his wife weighs heavily on him but the other TOs are there to help.
4) Lopez makes some poor decisions but West has her back.
5) The Make-a-Wish kid is going through some tough times but everyone works together to give her a great day.