SOUTHLAND
MOZAMBIQUE
04-16-2009 10:00PM

OFFICERS INVESTIGATE THE CASE OF AN ABANDONED BABY -- When officers John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) and Chickie Brown (Arija Bareikis) rescue a baby girl found alone in the middle of an LA intersection, the hunt for her mother begins. Detectives Lydia Adams and (Regina King) and Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott) examine the scene looking for clues and soon Lydia finds herself affected by the search and must deal with past issues. Meanwhile, officers Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy) and Nate Moretta (Kevin Alejandro) are unable to find the financial resources to put a juvenile in police protection and decide to place her in a student police program. Michael McGrady also stars.

Show Cast: Michael Cudlitz, Regina King, Tom Everett Scott, Michael McGrady, Shawn Hatosy, Kevin Alejandro, Arija Bareikis, Ben McKenzie

That explains the trailer where there is a baby in the road!

Clips for this episode have been posted at nbc.epk.tv, you can view them here, for a limited time.

Just once I would like to see a freaking TV show that portrays social workers in a realistic light- they are constantly portrayed as uncaring, unsensitive people. I thought this show might be different but once again- they show cops as angels and social workers as evil!

In one of the last scenes of the episode one of the female cops goes to a house where she knocks on the door and a child answers. She asks for someone and a man comes to the door. Who was the actor playing that man?

Wow, can't say enough about the top-notch acting of Michael Cudlitz and Regina King. Great show in a great Thursday night lineup (no pun intended).

WOW and I thought last week was a great episode !! This show just builds from one episode to the next.

What secret is Ben hiding??

NBC, this show is a winner !!!

I had Kevin Alejandro 'Detective Nate Moretta' on my radio show on Thursday and you can tell the whole cast really loves being a part of this series..

Here is the link, Kevin is on during the last 45 minutes http://s7y.us/ocm

Shaun

Great episode, good to get a glimpse into Ben's past. Funny to see all the cops congratulating Ben on his marksmenship and then see he still has so much to learn. Glad Dewey at least made a quick reference to his making a "mistake".
Not sure of the timeline though, Dewey is recovered and Ben has almost completed his therapy sessions so assuming some time has passed......
Can't wait until next week, hope ratings were high!

I'm liking this show a lot so far! Keep up the good work!

I was throughly impressed with last nights Southland. I see this show really capturing the hearts of the American public. The show is raw, gritty and emotional. There were a few things I thought were a little off (such as wouldn't the store owner know how to at least say 'my store, my store!!') but otherwise 90% of the show was amazing. Good work to all involved- I can't wait to see what happens next!!

Gotta say.... I'm hooked! The cast is great! I'm sitting watching and all I can think is I want to know MORE. Everybody seems to have so much going on and I love the fact that I don't know what it all is! I laughed out loud when it showed the two detectives living across the street from eachother and talking about how their wives are talking to eachother on the internet... classic LA! Cudlitz and King are stand-outs, but the rest of the cast is growing on me. NBC you have a real winner... congrats!

I thought it was another great episode, but there were two things that bugged me. First, why were Cooper, Sherman and Chickie all riding together? I understand that Chickie and Dewey aren't partners anymore, but I don't think that they would just put the three of them together like that. Chickie would be riding with someone else. Kinda weird. Secondly, Chickie said that their callsign was "6A-47", which is a Hollywood Division unit, but in the first episode, the patrol officers worked out of North Hollywood Division (15A-85). Just some observations by a cop nerd, but I really did think it was an excellent episode.
I think it was funny how Sal was arguing with his daughter and she told him to stop yelling and he shouted back " I'M NOT YELLING! "
Also glad to see that Sammy and his wife are keeping Richter after he claimed that she hated the dog so much.

Wow...I'm surprised at the posts on Mozambique. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the first episode (I made a post)...and was really looking forward to the second episode. TOTALLY disappointed with it. It was slow, it dragged. It didn't seem realistic...keeping a play pen with a baby in the office...cmon. That baby would go to CPS almost immediately. The best part of the first show was the interaction between the rookie and the FTO...totally realistic...great dynamics...this show was just FLAT, FLAT, FLAT. I sure hope it gets back on track with episode 3...

So was the guy Ben talking to in the bar his shrink? I rewound that scene a million times trying to figure out what Cooper was asking Ben. All I could get was 'is that your BSS?'. And I knew it wasn't your BFF...LOL!!!

Thought the same thing myself about Chickie riding with Cooper and Ben, and also noticed that she called in the different number. How does that work, is it the car number?
And I do agree with posts that I have read that it was a slower moving episode but there is alot of non-action story to tell, so it can't always be action driven. Everyone involved in the show have always emphasized that it is a show about how the job effects the characters, not a typical cop show. Looking forward to watching again tonight and next Thursday.

Watched Kings and Southland Saturday night..WOW a great line up these two would be if Kings would survive to the fall..unlikely..

But Southland was great. Seeing Ben get the compliments and then make the mistake at the liquor store was great.

Seeing Cooper ask about Ben's past..At one moment I was wondering if Cooper was getting interested in him on a personal/sexual nature given his sexual orientation..

Probably not..

Cudlitz is doing a fantastic job in this role, Emmy award winning work not only for him but the entire cast and producers.

A solid and gritty police drama..

The previews for next week, show Dewey still on the force..maybe the retirement party was a bit before he actually leaves the force..we will see..

Hope NBC does not air episodes of this series out of order..

I almost thought the same thing, but I really think Cooper takes a patronizing role toward Ben--like Ben's the son he never had.

I wonder: what is Ben is hiding from Chickie? and why Chickie can't cowboy up and admit her feelings for Ben?

SOJ

I doubt NBC has the guts to start a relationship bet. Ben and Cooper. Network shows aren't usually controversial or particularly original. And if they are, they get canceled.

And Chickie was interested that way about Ben? I thought she was just curious about his past.

I'm 95% sure it was Michael Jace from FX's "The Shield"

I freaked out when he came on-screen since "The Shield" has been my favorite tv show for the last 7 years.

I didn't think that the social worker was displayed in an unflattering or unrealistic way. I think that in the bigger cities, such as L.A. - the workload for a social worker is sky high. And, I think the social workers sometimes have to make a decision that is pretty hard such as not returning a child to their parent(s). From this episode, I really don't know whether that poor boy would be better off with his mom or not. Its a tough call. Any social workers, I give them my respect. They have a hard job. And it would be hard not to take your work home with you or take it to heart.

SOUTHLAND
MOZAMBIQUE - VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED
08-07-2009 8:00PM

OFFICERS INVESTIGATE THE CASE OF AN ABANDONED BABY -- When officers John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) and Chickie Brown (Arija Bareikis) rescue a baby girl found alone in the middle of an LA intersection, the hunt for her mother begins. Detectives Lydia Adams and (Regina King) and Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott) examine the scene looking for clues and soon Lydia finds herself affected by the search and must deal with past issues. Meanwhile, officers Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy) and Nate Moretta (Kevin Alejandro) are unable to find the financial resources to put a juvenile in police protection and decide to place her in a student police program. Michael McGrady also stars.

Show Cast: Michael Cudlitz, Regina King, Tom Everett Scott, Michael McGrady, Shawn Hatosy, Kevin Alejandro, Arija Bareikis, Ben McKenzie

Sally in the Alley was my first, and almost last, episode, so tonight was the first time I saw Mozambique. My husband started watching last week when we saw the pilot, and he was hooked. We were really looking forward to this episode, but we were both pretty disappointed. I guess it left us kind of flat. I know we were supposed to be learning about Lydia, but some of those scenes with the baby felt really drawn out and the same story could have been told in a shorter time. We were losing interest, but we were waiting to learn about more of Ben's story and how he was coping and if Cooper had accepted him more. At least the Sal scenes weren't too long, but the whole affair and reporter part was annoying.

Last week, Ben and Michael had a chance to show some great chemistry and there were some really powerful scenes that were very memorable. We were especially waiting to see what would happen with Ben after the shooting, starting with Internal Affairs after the way Cooper described them. We thought all of the officers would be interviewed. Then we wanted to see how the second day with Ben and Cooper would go and how they'd act with one another right after Ben's day from hell. Cooper knew he'd made his own mistakes, so it wasn't so great for him either. Jumping ahead however long was a disappointment, especially without following up with Ben, not even with the therapist who was just a shadowy figure. We're hoping for some juicy stuff dealing with that next week.

It seemed strange to spend so much time on all the angles of the baby story when last week's story was just dropped, except for quick comments. The way the cops talked about it made it pretty clear that what Ben had been involved in was a big deal, or they wouldn't have given him the time of day. Dewey had some of his story continued, and his party went on and on at times, or it felt that way! I guess there wasn't time for everything, but assuming there'd be more with Ben coping and how he and Cooper got along was wrong. The robbery did make it obvious that Ben was really on edge and not dealing well. It looked like he got the message from Cooper that he wasn't wanted and was on his own. That was last episode's lesson when he ended up fending for himself facing a gun. Without knowing how much time has passed, it's hard to tell if Ben's been taught that he's part of the team.

That brief glimpse at Ben's past was great, and that was a good scene with Ben and Chickie outside the party. She seems to care and she's right on. Ben wasn't telling more than what would be absolutely necessary to get Cooper to back off for the time being. He wanted Cooper to know he wasn't like his father and he wasn't some spoiled kid. He didn't even respond to Cooper's bait about the "scumbag" comment.

This was a letdown after such a strong one last week. There was a chance to learn more about some characters, like Janilla, Lydia, the dog and a little about Ben, but it seemed like we learned the most about the baby's mother and it felt more like a typical detective show.

I felt the same way when I saw Mozambique the first time, and that hasn't changed. Much of it left me disinterested and the A plot felt flat to me. I'm not sure how much of that was some sort of unconscious comparison to the pilot, which had a very different feel, focus and rhythm, and how much was a reaction to what was on screen- as well as a reaction to what was missing. Like you, I tuned in anticipating more of Ben's story and I was eager to see how he was coping- or wasn't coping- in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Part of me thought the show might open with some sort of Internal Affairs interviews for Ben and the others, and I was curious how he'd be treated by the notorious "burn squad" and what any questioning of everyone involved might reveal. I wanted to see Ben and Cooper's dynamic when they started their next shift together and what had changed- or not- for them both. That unknown gap in time wasn't what I expected and I was disappointed with all the holes.

The baby plot was supposed to teach us more about Lydia, but even when I was paying attention, it seemed to move too slowly and wandered in directions that ended up being more about background characters, like the boyfriend and the mother, etc. So much time was devoted to the investigation and the background characters that the lack of follow through with Ben's and Cooper's ongoing, or what should have been an ongoing story, was even more glaring. It didn't make sense, at least to me, to drop such a compelling story and then concentrate on so many details of a much less engaging one instead. I was hoping for some continuity since I was invested in Ben and Cooper and really couldn't imagine that the shooting wouldn't be pursued to show how that process was handled by the LAPD officials internally and by the officers involved in more personal ways. I was invested in those characters right away in the pilot and was hoping to pick up with them where we left off- or close to it. If there wasn't time for such an intensive breakdown of the baby plot and follow up to the first day and the shooting, then why not shorten some of the longer scenes to include both?

As you say, Ben was struggling, even if his determination to make the grade didn't waver. Only the robbery really gave some indication of how high-strung and upset he was under the facade. The missing therapy scenes would have been great additions and perfect tools to teach us about Ben's personality and some of his background. Even if he was evasive, he would have been providing insights to us. There's no doubt Ben McKenzie would have done an incredible job with that sort of material.

The scenes with Cooper and Chickie at the party were highlights. They were short, but the closest thing to what I was hoping to see. Cooper and Chickie showed how different they are and their motivations are with the approaches they took when they interrogated Ben. And Ben might have been obligated to give Cooper something, grudgingly, as his superior and training officer, but when Chickie asked him in a more personal way, not even her more concerned and gentle tone had Ben biting.

You're right that this was a letdown because it had the formulaic, predictable, dry feel of the overdone detective drama. That's not a show I would watch and it's not what I had seen the week before, so it was an unpleasant surprise with a few good moments. But we did learn more about Richter!