Major Crimes premieres this Monday on TNT at 9/8 C.
When Major Crimes last left off, Philip Stroh was fleeing LA after escaping in the middle of the chaos of another serial killer case. The same serial killer that Julio wailed on in violation of his probation with IAB, that is. Picking up 5 months after the season 3 finale, life has pretty much gotten back to normal. Rusty is in college, Detective Oderno joins the team in Julio's stead, Julio completes anger management and is scheduled to return, and people still kill each other. In this case they kill two people, a mother and her neighbor. Since the murders take place in a neighborhood dealing with a rash of unsolved robberies, Major Crimes is called in much to Provenza's chagrin. He wants to turn the murders over to the local police force because he is determined for Oderno to be gone before Julio reports back to work that afternoon. It becomes a real bone of contention between Provenza and Andy, given that Andy prefers to work with Oderno. Meanwhile Rusty decides to try his hand at journalism, another thorn in Provenza's side. Luckily Buzz gives Rusty some great advice and a subplot that starts off tiresome becomes far more interesting.
Major Crimes has a way of backing into a season a bit slowly and this is no different. It's a typical case of the week and less salacious than the season 3 opener. Still the real power of the episode comes in the ties between the case and Sharon's personal life. She starts off the case in a rocky position because she hasn't been sleeping well. She's also a bit obsessed about Philip Stroh but who can blame her on that? While adamant in her own perspective in the beginning, she slowly changes her mind as the case progresses. At the end she also re-examines a relationship although the episode doesn't hint at which way it will turn out. In other highlights, Sykes really takes one for the team, Julio gets into an intense situation that tests how far he's come, and Lt. Cooper is back. The only real downfall in the episode is Rusty, who comes off more whiny than usual. Also people who have watched a lot of crime shows may guess the killer partway through. In the end, this episode is on par with other Major Crimes episodes but nothing spectacular. It's just nice to have the team back.
Major Crimes airs Mondays on TNT at 9/8 C.
Grade: B
Best Reason to Watch - connection between the crime and the characters
Best Scene - the interrogation room with Andy and Julio
Best Reaction - Provenza to Rusty wanting to report on their current crime for his college newspaper
Biggest Conflict - Provenza vs. Andy concerning Julio returning to the job
Best Advice - Buzz to Rusty
Biggest Hero - Sykes
Most Grumpy - Provenza of course
Biggest Moron - the actual killer
Biggest Whiner - Rusty
Biggest Huh? - Why can't Oderno be there when Julio comes back? Is Provenza concerned about hurting Julio's feelings? It's not like he doesn't know that someone filled in for him.
Best Consistency - the ?????? from last season is still ?????
The "Welcome Back" Award (character) - Lt. Cooper and Detective Oderno
The "Welcome Back" Award (actor) - Skyler Maxon from Faking It
Great Quotes -
"And when do mothers decide their children are out of danger?"
"Are you okay?" "Yeah, I think so. Have we met?"
"Hard to pick up rose stems with your hands full of other people's stuff."
"How do I start a conversation with a guy the day after his mother was murdered?" "Well if I were you, I'd try lying."
"I want to focus on catching the bad guy, not be worried the cop next to me is about to explode."
"I've been looking after my own best interests for a really long time..."
"There is nowhere safe. Nowhere."
"This girl is going to be in therapy for the rest of her life. A few more hours with us won't hurt."
"What can we charge Mr. Norton with so far?" "Um, felony floral arrangement."
"When have you ever seen me freaked out?"
Want a review of season 3 episodes? Want to rank the episodes yourself? Check out my rankings here.
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You Search,
Starry Mag,
TV Addict, and
TV Guide.
About the Author - Dahne
One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for
SpoilerTV, where she recaps, reviews, and/or creates polls for Teen Wolf, The 100, Grimm, Younger, Major Crimes, and others. She's addicted to
Twitter, live tweets a multitude of shows each week, and co-hosts the
Sleepy Hollow "Headless" and
Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Currently she writes a
Last Week in TV column for
her blog and SpoilerTV.
~ "I speak TV."
So are you excited about Major Crimes' return? What would you like to see this season?
ReplyDeleteMondays are going to be great. I love Major Crimes. The cast is outstanding. The story telling keeps the fans alert and each episode ending isn't predictable. It's intriguing to hear the investigators discovery and solve most cases!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I love the character interactions best.
ReplyDeleteMajor Crimes Grade a B! WTW. Even though, the episode hasn't aired! No way it gets a B. Come on guys! It will have some of the best story telling and acting on TV. B Please. You give some of the most sorry shows on cable and network tv A's!
ReplyDeleteCannot wait to have the show back. I really want this season to be the end of the Stroh case either kill him or send him back to jail.
ReplyDeleteI rarely give a show an A. You can check out my column and see that. For me this is a typical episode of Major Crimes so it is a B. Rusty and the ending brought it down from a B+.
ReplyDeleteI really want the Stroh stuff to be done too. It's been dragged out far too long.
ReplyDeleteOk, fair enough. Thanks for responding.
ReplyDeleteAwesome review. Would this be a good jumping on point for Major Crimes then? I've been interested in checking it out for a while.
ReplyDeleteI think like with most prodecural shows you can jump in at any time. The only character you need a little background on is Rusty. A short character synopsis is here: http://majorcrimesdivision.wikia.com/wiki/Rusty_Beck
ReplyDeleteUnless they bring back Stroh sooner rather than later, this is a good time to jump in for Rusty as well because they seem to be rebooting his character. Just know that he had a hard childhood, his biological mother is an addict and generally horrible, and he was adopted by Sharon last year even though he's 18. He also has spent a large part of his time at the police precinct for the last 3 years so everyone there thinks of him as family.
I highly urge you to try Major Crimes, especially if you like crime procedurals. The cases are twisty like usual but it is the character interaction that really sells the show.
Awesome, thanks for the heads up! Will give it a shot for sure.
ReplyDeleteCool. Let me know what you thought.
ReplyDeleteSykes is my reason for watching
ReplyDeleteMany times i am like Provenza and I kind of side eye new characters until I am sure that they fit in. Since she wasn't on The Closer, she felt like a new character walking on to an old set. I was surprised by how quickly I came to like her. She's definitely an asset to the show and she gets a nice scene with Provenza in this premiere.
ReplyDeleteFinally had the chance to watch it and it actually looks pretty fun. Will stick around for more.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I'm glad you liked it. I think the team works well together and I like all the characters except Emma, who drives me nuts but only seems to show up in Stroh episodes these days.
ReplyDelete