Major Crimes - 5.01 - Present Tense - Advanced Review

Major Crimes premeieres Monday, June 13 on TNT at 10/9 C.

Coming off of an epic, 5-part crime arc that focused on key issues in law enforcement today, the season 5 premiere takes a step back to re-focus on the more personal aspects of it. The crime of the week is a possible kidnapping of a teenage girl who has been helping the homeless to her parents' chagrin. It's your fairly typical case with a few twists and turns thrown in to keep it interesting. Although nothing sensational, it is one of the highlights of the episode for me because of the killer's connection to the victim. It brings a unique perspective to the case and the interrogation scene is heartbreaking. For most people though, the premiere will be all about the main characters as several subplots are started. The most shocking one deals with a decision Julio makes toward the end of the case. While being openly mocked about it by his colleagues, I am interested in seeing where this goes primarily because Julio's character is getting a little flat. He deserves a rich storyline that focuses on something besides his anger issues. If sustained, this could be a real growth year for the character. The biggest subplot though goes to Buzz, who also gets overlooked a lot. He decides to look into the shooting death of his father and uncle years ago with an eye towards re-opening the cold case. He will not be deterred even when Provenza tries to shelter him from the worst aspects of it. Rusty, who also has heard the basic details, would like to make Buzz the focus of his next exposé but Buzz is not cooperating.

On the romance front, two couples parallel a similar issues: one partner wants to move forward with the relationship while the other wants to take it slowly. The primary focus goes to Rusty and Gus who have a big fight right before they are supposed to go on vacation together. With Gus no longer speaking to Rusty, he turns to Sharon for advice but she suggests that the issue goes beyond just the fight. In her typical Sharon fashion, she helps clarify the situation for him and continues to be a support throughout the episode. While some will find this subplot compelling, for me it dragged everything down and turned Rusty into a whiny teenager throughout. In fact, it is the worst part of the episode for me. Part of that is because Rusty feels like a superfluous character now. I don't mean he isn't interesting, just that if he left for an out-of-state college, nothing much would change so his character feels shoehorned into the main plot just to give him screen time. Here's hoping that the Buzz case will change that because I really do like the Sharon-Rusty dynamic. While not getting as much screen time in the romance department, Sharon and Andy also have a key scene where Andy tells Sharon that he wants to sell his house but she is unsure whether that is a wise plan or not. Later on this discussion will end in a mini-cliffhanger to fade out the episode.


Grade: B

Best Reason to Watch - for me, the case of the week
Best Reason to Fast Forward - Rusty's love drama
Best Scene - interrogation
Best Counselor - Sharon to Rusty
Best Reaction - Julio to the Admiral
Best Upgrade - the tech room
Best / Most Promising Subplot - Julio
Most Rookie Move - Rusty opens the door without looking through the peephole. The guy has had multiple creepsters in his life trying to hurt him. You'd think caution would be rule #1.
Most Fit - Sykes, who runs down a suspect until…
Most in Need of Heavy Jail Time for Being an Awful Person - Ethan
Most Pushy - Rusty about covering Buzz's story
Least Likely to Win Flies with Honey - Jane Wolfe
Biggest Subplot - the murder of Buzz's father and uncle
Biggest Hmm - Surely they have GPS or smart phones. Why are they still using a hand-drawn map?
Smartest Dummy - Gabe
The "I'm with You" Award - Louie's lunch

Check out Major Crimes on TNT, Mondays at 10/9 C

Screencaps by TNT and SpoilerTV

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, How to Get Away with Murder, The Librarians, and others. She also runs the annual Character Cup. She's addicted to Twitter, live tweets a multitude of shows each week, and co-hosts The 100 "Red-Shirted" 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."

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