Major Crimes

Major Crimes - Season One Episode Ten - Long Shot

The Season finale for Major Crimes centred on an assassination at a press conference in front of police, press and cameras.  When the FBI take the case from the team Raydor surprises them all when she continues looking for a witness to the shooting.  Meanwhile she also deals with Rusty's situation with his father with the support of the team.  Overall the season finale rounded out the season well and showed the cohesion of Raydor and the rest of the Major Case Squad which was as expected.  It also had a sense of closure to the Rusty storyline which has been one of the most interesting narratives to the season.  There wasn't any big explosions, large action set ups or over the top dramatic situations which are often found in freshman season finales.  However, this would not fit the style of Major Crimes and actually stayed true to the realistic style of the show.  I am very happy that the second season has been confirmed and will contain fifteen episodes.  Now the team seem to have met their stride season two should develop the storylines further and I for one cannot wait. 

Major Crimes - Season One Episode Nine - Cheaters Never Prosper

This week the case involves a dead cop from Las Vegas who died from a drug overdoes but it isn't what it first appears. The other narrative develops the Rusty storyline and his developing relationship with his father which due to some strange events both Rusty and Captain Raydor begin to wonder if he should have met him in the first place. The storyline development of the Rusty narrative has been an interesting draw to Major Crimes. At first it felt a way to humanise a fairly abrasive and unemotional character as Raydor was the rule follower who always tried to reign in the Major Case squad in The Closer and so did not have a lot of opportunity to explore her emotions. With her taking in Rusty and giving him someone to depend on she not only enamoured the audience but also some of the team who were not her biggest fans, mainly Finn and Provenza. Mary McDonnell has brilliant skill conveying her affection for Rusty and her conflicted feelings of his developing relationship with his father. Without speaking McDonnell conveys so much to the audience with just an expression and she has plenty of opportunity to do this here with Rusty spending a weekend with his father. The other narrative involving the dead police officer leads to a more complex identity theft ring case is solved fairly easily but the episode was worth the watch for the development of the Rusty storyline. The only query I have with Rusty is whether he was telling the truth at the end of the episode or if the damage was self inflicted but I'm sure we'll find out next week. Next week is the season finale where it's an assassination attempt and in typical finale fashion one of the characters puts themselves in the line of fire.