Southland – Recap & Review – Sally in the Ally

photo: tnt

Southland
Sally in the Ally

Original Air Date: Feb 2, 2010

Farrah Kaye – Associate Editor
farrah@thetwocentscorp.com

Opening scene o’the week: Kids playing in an alley throwing rocks at dead woman, taking pictures of her on their cell phones. Voiceover: “Dead unidentified female victims in Los Angeles are often called Sally in the Ally. Our detectives wanted to give this one a name.”

Detectives Moretta and Bryant are talking about family stuff – Moretta about his kid and Bryant about how his wife wants a camera. Meanwhile, Moretta’s phone keeps going off and he finally answers and it’s his dad…his sister is missing, but it’s a normal occurrence. They go to the “Sally in the Ally” case and a witness says the woman has been there for 18 hours. She’s naked and had been strangled with a rope. In a whole other place, Det. Adams is on a date, an awkward date. While her date is having a good time, Lydia seems to want to run in the opposite direction. She tells her date she moved in with her mother to take care of her when she got ill but now she’s doing well and moving to Paris. I’m not so sure I believe this, but, who knows. Her date asks if she can call her again when she runs out when she gets a page. Clarke is in a class when he gets a call. Is it the dead woman’s sister from last week? I think it is. Oh man, don’t go there! Adams finally meets up with Clarke and they head to the coroner’s office to help on the Sally case. The fingerprint machine at the scene was broken and the coroner won’t fingerprint her in the morgue. Adams is fighting like hell for this girl, but he is having none of it. At the station, one of the “regulars” comes in to make a report while the other detectives finds the video the kids took of the Sally on YouTube.

Since kids aren’t smart, the detectives are able to track them down. One kid “has hoes” so he didn’t need to kill the Sally. That was a really weird scene for some reason. He had a weird look on his face … he knows something but not telling. But I wasn’t sure the kids knew anything. Hm, guess we’ll find out soon. Anyhoo, Bryant’s crazy wife comes to the station, their dog in tow, to tell him someone wants to hire her so she needs to buy the camera. Seriously, this chick is off her rocker. Adams and Clarke are on the case and Clarke doesn’t understand why she is taking it so personally – does it have to do with not having fun? The kid Bryant and Moretta are talking to is wearing the dead girl’s cross (gross?) and he finally confesses to seeing a white van dropping off the body. Moretta’s dad calls and says his sister still isn’t home. Adams and Clarke go to a woman’s shelter and they say there is a regular missing but are called off it to go to a shooting. Their boss is hardcore!

Clarke and Adams go to the shooting scene, which is a small deal made into a big one because of the person that was shot and the area it was in. Cameras, helicopters, dozens of cops. It’s like a movie. Ok, maybe I wasn’t paying attention before, but Tammy took the dog to someone’s house to search for drugs and he’s ruining everything and biting the people but he does find the drugs – which Tammy takes. Moretta’s dad tells him that she’s running with a bad guy and starts his chase to find her. They get the address linked to the phone number and stake out the house. Ok, apparently I was NOT paying attention before and Tammy wasn’t being hired to take pictures but to use the dog to find drugs and she wanted the money to buy a camera. Jeez, sorry! This show moves so fast. Bryant is fuming mad and Tammy is freaking out. When will Bryant leave her? Adams goes to the house of the missing girl she assumes is the dead girl and tells her her daughter is dead. Anyone else assume it’s going to be the wrong person? There’s a kid in the living room and he’s the son of the “dead” woman. He calls her a whore … um, ok? Clarke tells him to remember the nice things about her. Clarke gives him his card to call him if he ever needs to talk. Bryant and Moretta are still staking out the house and Bryant doesn’t understand why he’s obsessing over the boyfriend. Adams and Clarke head to the coroner’s office and he says they’re “back logged” … by TEN YEARS. Adams is not happy (would anyone be?). Adams’ date calls to chat and she says she can’t chat and tells Clarke she just doesn’t want to date.

Clarke is at home and busts out a typewriter and his wife asks him if he’s screwing the teacher. Well maybe not now, but give it a few episodes, right? His wife isn’t that nice. Lydia’s lunch date sends her flowers but she’s still in a bad mood over the Sally case. Bryant gets home to fight with Tammy and she begs forgiveness in the form of sex in the garage. That’s all they ever do. Fight, sex, fight, sex. Gr, she’s gonna wind up in a bad position soon she can’t sex her way out of. Moretta goes home to his wife and her sister is still missing – and hello, his wife is pregnant with another daughter for them.

Adams is getting reprimanded by her boss for leaving the shooting crime for the Sally case and shows her frustration over the back log. Adams tells the truth and the boss just doesn’t like it. The “regular” from before comes in and they give her to Adams, only Adams takes an interest in her. Moretta’s dad calls him and he gets in the car and speeds off without a word. HOLY MOLY! His sister isn’t his sister – it’s his DAUGHTER. That’s why is wife said “another” daughter. Okay, thanks for that surprise! Didn’t see that coming. Clarke gets a call with the results of the rape kit – the coroner said if his girls were ever in trouble, he’d want someone like Adams helping them. Moretta gets to the address his dad gave him and it’s not such a nice place. He finds her and she is not happy to see him. Good job censors on the bleeping in this scene. She ran away because she found out that she’s his daughter. Everyone is watching them argue. The cops get the warrant for the guy whose prints were on the kit and they see the van the kid described in the driveway. Adams has the pleasure of arresting him after he tries to run away and is attacked by the K-9 dog.

Adams goes to one of the cops that was from the shooting scene earlier who runs a blog about homicide scenes. The “regular” woman told her that her daughter was dropped out of a white van, just like this Sally. The van was an older make so it could be the same guy. Moretta finds out that his daughter found out about him being her dad when she needed her birth certificate to get her learner’s permit. Moretta had her with a woman before he went into the army and Mercedes’ mother fell in with a bad crowd. Moretta doesn’t talk to her anymore because she moved away and they lost contact. Mercedes wants to find her Moretta says it’s okay. Bryant, for some stupid reason, is buying Tammy a super expensive camera – and maxing out his credit cards in the process. Lydia goes to the “regular,” Mrs. Miller. She shows her an article that ran in the paper to open up her daughter’s case again and she thanks her. Clarke brings the cross to the son of the “Sally” but does he look like one of the kids from the beginning or is that just me? Something is wrong here. Anyway, on a better note, Adams goes out with lunch guy again and tells him she’s a cop. He’s taken aback at first but then asks her if she likes it. She says she loves it.

Ok, so, here’s my final thoughts. Bryant is an idiot. Flat out. Clarke is going to cheat on his wife ASAP. Moretta is an unusually nice guy who balances out everyone. Adams will loosen up with this guy but she still has issues with her past. This Sally case will carry over into something else, just a hunch. Why didn’t we see any of our cops this week? What did you think? Leave your two cents below.