Client: Chloe, a young woman asks Robyn to find the person(s) who murdered her surrogate mother.
Li Wong, known to the neighborhood as ‘Ms. Li’, was the owner of a local bakery, who took care of her neighbors especially the kids.She was killed in a fire that’s officially labeled as electrical. But she’d been the target of hate crimes. And Chloe doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence.
Chole’s determination is driven by her guilt over letting Ms. Li talk her out of walking her home the night she died.
Ms. Li’s bakery had been dealing with vandalism and racially charged hate speak on Yelp™.
Once again the show presents an important current topic to their audience. As usual I appreciate the fact that the writers never forget the story.
Sorry, I’m still bitter about the original MacGyver’s nearly full season of preachy topic episodes. (Usually about gun violence.)
But I have to say that this episode felt a little more paint by numbers than usual. I knew, when they mentioned the reviews, that they would point to a major competitor, and that all associated with the business would be innocent.
It was obvious that the vandals would be the killers.
I did like the twist that the major reason for escalating the attack was a bully’s bruised ego.
He’d attacked Ms Li prior to the fire, and this 70-year-old woman beat him when she stabbed him in the eye with a key.
For me the best element of this episode was the character work and the stand out was the retired cop, Ray Lai.
People from all cultures have joined police forces all over the country, in an effort to improve the system. But rarely does film touch on the reality of being one of the first couple of generations to do that job.
Ray’s main purpose in the episode was as a catalyst for putting together a case that could stand up in court.
His approach was a teeny bit extreme. His plan was to walk into the lion’s den wearing a wire, then provoke them into killing him.
Most of the plan worked. Robyn, Mel and Dante got there before they could kill him. He got his confession though.
Family Life: Delilah blows off her Aunt Vi.
A lot of families have traditions that are rooted around food; recipes your Mom taught you that have an element of nostalgia connected with them.For Vi, it’s cassoulet.
She and Delilah have been planning to make the family recipe for a week, but Delilah got a better offer. At least she asked permission and didn’t just blow Vi off.
This wasn’t a big element of the episode, but the reality of the situation resonated with me.
Delilah, like a lot of teens, never considered that making that cassoulet was about more than just cooking.
It was one of those moments that you look back on as an adult and wish you hadn’t take that precious time with your family for granted.
I’m glad that, while Robyn schooled her daughter, she left the decision about how (or whether) to fix it up to Delilah.
Extra: Robyn supports Kisha Griffin.
I’m mentioning this because I really liked the actress when she first appeared in The People Aren’t Ready. I was really happy to see her back.Kisha is required to speak to a high school class about her experiences, and, I’m assuming, how she wound up in the system.
She’s nervous because she remembers her reaction when she was in high school.
Robyn gives her the pep talk she needs. Later she reminds Kisha that she has a safety net if she needs one.
I hope this means that she will appear again this season.
Overall, I’d describe this episode as comfortable. As I said, the character elements of this episode made the episode worth watching. The case was too predictable and didn’t pack the punch that some episodes have.
What did you guys think of the episode?
