L&O: episode 8

[sabotabby]

There are so many hockey scandals and crimes in Canada, none of which I really pay any attention to, that I wasn't sure if this episode was about one in particular. There was a hazing scandal and a billeting scandal in addition to the actual murder, and I was half-expecting a truck driver to ram into them on their way to a game so that it would be a hat trick.

(See, I know a hockey term.)

This episode involved the asshole, unhinged captain of a junior league team getting beaten to death in the arena after the towel boy leaks photos of the aforementioned hazing. There are lots of people with motive but very few with opportunity, given the way the billeting system works. It's in fact the just as unhinged billeting "mom" of one of the players, who lives her dreams through the kids after her own son left the game following a traumatic hazing.

Also, there is a deeply weird Olivia Chow cameo that throws the entire universe of the show into disarray. In episode 4, we left the Toronto mayoral elections on a cliffhanger and neither of our main characters care enough about politics to mention who's mayor now. The competent WOC whose bald, cancer-ridden husband did the murder looked unlikely to win. However, in this episode the inspector says she has an important meeting and it turns out to be...Olivia Chow. Who I guess could be playing a character but it's very much framed as a visit from the mayor. Did the mayor suddenly turn out to have fucked one of his staffers and had to resign, calling a snap election for interim mayor? There are so many more interesting things going on in the background of a hockey story.

Even though I don't care about hockey, this episode wins some points for me for refusing to glamourize hockey even a little, showing the toll it takes on the physical and mental health of young people and the toxic culture that surrounds it. Even the sympathetic kids on the team are treated like absolute garbage by the system and there's no happy resolution for anyone. All of the adults failed these kids and with the exception of the one who goes far enough to commit murder, they're allowed to just keep failing them. It's actually quite cynical and realistic. I mean, it's still horribly acted but it's probably the best one yet.

Plot: **** (Genuinely decent mystery, even if I called the deranged hockey mom as the killer in her first appearance.)
Characters: * (Bateman has a 9-year-old daughter who loves hockey. This will be useful as I try to determine the timeline of the show.)
Toronto: **** (This episode gets points for being set in Scarborough, drawing from a bunch of real events rather than just one, and Olivia Chow being in it.)

Murder count: 13 (18% of all murders in Toronto, though I'm now very confused as to whether or not this is supposed to be happening over a single year or nah)

ETA: Forgot I had a hockey icon loooool

Comments

[dewline]

Probably not over a single year. Not the way TV seasons are being made these days, anywhere from three to twenty episodes.

I would amend "failing to glamourize hockey at all" to "refusing to glamourize...", but that's a style quibble on my part. Seems like the scriptwriters really did their homework here.

I might have to watch the show.

[sabotabby]

Oh yeah point. Will fix.

ETA: I should clarify, the show is really bad. This was the best episode so far, though.

[dewline]

Hope to see that episode for myself at some point, then...

[lynnenne]

Was it actually Olivia Chow making a cameo? Or an actor playing the Olivia Chow-type character?

[sabotabby]

No it was literal Olivia Chow with the camera holding the shot so that the viewer could take the time to say, "wait, is that Olivia Chow?" blink, and have it unmistakably be Olivia Chow.

Single funniest thing to happen in the show so far and I even knew that she had a cameo in one of the episodes.

[greylock]

(See, I know a hockey term.)

*pushes up glasses*
ACKTUALLY, a hattrick is a cricket term!
:P

Honestly, I know zero about hockey (I assume you are talking about ice hockey?) but I feel they could cut and print this plot to Law and Order Sydney (if that's a thing? Or was it NCIS Sydney?) make a few changes (sportsball or armed forces hazing) and you've got an episode.

I'm now very confused as to whether or not this is supposed to be happening over a single year or nah)

You'll need to use the "holiday ratio" for this, if applicable. There should be at least one.. usually Christmas or V-Day.
Of course, it doesn't apply if they use the MASH rules.

[sabotabby]

I'm actually impressed that they didn't do something awkward like make all the characters hockey-obsessed because Canada, and have a little digression on the cultural importance. While I don't find it realistic that both cops wouldn't be hella into hockey, it's nice to break from the stereotype.

(wait why didn't I use my hockey icon for this whole post wh00ps)

[greylock]

Gritty is a HOCKEY MASCOT?
I'd have sworn he was an American grid iron mascot. Philly, maybe.
Huh.

[sabotabby]

Nope they are for hockey, initially.

[greylock]

On the plus side, I correctly located Gritty in Philly.

[smhwpf]

A hattrick is a fairly universal sports ball term meaning three of something, generally something good. Goals in soccer or hockey. Wickets in a row in cricket. Championships. Sometimes transferred to politics, e.g. Thatcher and Blair both won a hattrick of general election victories.

I'm not sure if they use it in US sports. I watch a fair bit of baseball, but I don't think I've ever heard the commentators referring to someone scoring 3 home runs in a game as a hattrick, for example.

I have no idea if it has anything to do with hats, or tricks

[greylock]

"The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. Fans held a collection for Stephenson, and presented him with a hat bought with the proceed."

Wikipedia also suggests in baseball it is when "a player struck out three times", or when "a player hits three home runs in a game".

Because baseball, I guess.