Lethal Weapon just keeps getting better. “Fashion Police” sees the guys becoming tighter as partners and falling into a rhythm. In this episode Miranda, Riggs’ dead wife comes back to haunt his dreams. The message she conveys in each one is the same, “Join me.”
And Riggs still wants to.
“Fashion Police” had just the right amount of tragedy with Martin trying to fight off the urge to join his dead wife. There was plenty of action and a hint of romance in the air for Riggs.
Speaking of action, the flying through the air attached to a covered truck felt very Beverly Hills Cop, but it did not detract from the storyline at all. The two detectives stumble onto a DEA operation while they investigate a murder.
A man is shot and then has his legs broken to allow the body to fit in gym bag, sort of like Blindspot without the tattoos. Riggs notices that a couple are avoiding the crime scene. He and Roger speak with them and later discover a false wall in their place of business.
Behind the plasterboard wall, they find millions of dollars. While Captain Avery is impressed, DEA Agent Karen Palmer is not. The Korean couple’s son is responsible for the money and Palmer is using the man to catch Caldera, the man the son works for.
Riggs and Palmer strike sparks after Martin saves her life. Palmer reluctantly allows the two cops to join her investigation. Later, the two share a stakeout and when Riggs is not eating spray cheese, he dreams of Miranda.
Palmer seems to have a lot in common with Martin. She too acts on impulse. When Riggs goes to plant a bug on Bambi Mortenstern, Karen joins him and pretends to be his wife.
Away from the money laundering case, Roger is baby sitting his littlest child while Trish and the older kids are away. His scheduled card game does not happen and he ends up joining the Bambi stakeout.
Dr. Cahill and Riggs talk through his dreams and the fact that Miranda calls for him to join her. Martin tells the doc that it is hard not to go.
While the trio investigate Caldera, Martin has Cruz throw a scare into Bambi. She arranges a meeting with Caldera and Riggs stows away in the trunk of her car. At the meet, Caldera realizes something, or someone, is in the trunk.
He forces Martin out. Roger and Karen track the car down but when they get there Riggs is gone. Caldera has taken the detective and left the bug.
Caldera has hung Martin upside down. When he pulls a gun, Bambi starts to panic. She begins a short diatribe in protest and Caldera kills her.
He tortures Riggs by putting his head in a barrell of water. As the treatment goes on, Martin sees Miranda again. She asks him to join her and at one point Riggs tells Caldera to kill him.
When Caldera threatens Roger’s family, Martin manages to escape. He chokes the gangster and Caldera runs out of the building. Riggs chases after him. Caldera pulls a gun on him and once again Martin tells the man to kill him.
Karen and Roger arrive and the DEA agent knocks Caldera flying with her car and runs over Martin in the process.
Lethal Weapon is settling into a nice pattern here. In this episode alone the series gives a number of nods to the big screen Riggs. The “mutt” that adopts the cop and Martin’s, and apparently Roger’s, love for The Three Stooges, and the affection that Martin has for Murtaugh’s family.
There is a careful blending of humor, pathos and tears in this series. This is something that the films never managed to pull off in terms of Martin’s dead wife. There are two moments in this episode alone that will guarantee that there is not one dry eye in the house.
Cahill and Martin have a closer relationship in this verse of Lethal Weapon. The doctor cares about Riggs and he responds to her in a way the big screen version of Martin never could.
It would be nice to see Karen Palmer turn out to be a regular fixture on the show. Sort of like the small screen version of Lorna Cole who lights up Riggs’ life in the films. The chemistry is there and while this may be a one off, Palmer seems to be an equal that Martin could warm to.
This version of Lethal Weapon is knocking it out of the park. Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford are the perfect double act. This buddy film hidden in a TV series is just brilliant. There are enough car chases to keep any action addict happy and Crawford fills Riggs’ cowboys with ease.
Lethal Weapon airs Wednesdays on FOX. Tune in and see if this small screen version of Riggs and Murtaugh can compete with the film duo. We think they do and that they are surpassing the originals with ease.
Cast:
- Clayne Crawford – Martin Riggs
- Damon Wayans – Roger Murtaugh
- Jordana Brewster – Maureen Cahill
- Keisha Sharp – Trish Murtaugh
- Floriana Lima – Miranda Riggs
- Dante Brown – Roger Murtaugh Jr.
- Kevin Rahm – Brooks Avery
- Chandler Kinney – Riana Murtaugh
- Michael Raymond-James – Chad Jackson
- Richard Cabral – Cruz
- Michelle Mitchenor – Sonya Bailey
- Johnathan Fernandez – Scorsese
Guest starring Hilarie Burton as Karen Palmer, Megan Stevenson as Bambi Mortenstern and Alejandro Edda as Lewis Caldera.
Mikes Film Talk 