Riggs and Murtaugh made for uneasy partners right from the very start. It's not all that surprising - a maverick cop and an older, by-the-book cop is one of the oldest odd couples in the book. But in its first three weeks, Lethal Weapon was mostly just interested in playing the differences between the two men for laughs, only briefly dramatising their differences in personality and approaches to the job.
This week's episode, There Goes the Neighborhood delved a little deeper into just how these men differ in their worldview with their first real clash as partners, and it delivered mostly successful results, even if Lethal Weapon was reticent to really commit to a fully-fledged conflict between its two leads.
The case this time around centred around a series of neighborhood break-ins by a professional outlet, and it's relatively solid stuff that wisely leans far more on the characters involved than the mechanics of the plot. There's a decent, relatively impactful halfway twist with the death of the bystander in her house, but for the most part the break-in case serves more as a means to expand our understanding of how Riggs and Murtaugh work in different situations.It did so by introducing a more personal dimension with the indirect involvement of Roger Jr, Murtaugh's son, and his friend as a key member in the case. Initially separated from the main A-plot, the teenage antics are a little grating - TV shows of this kind are curiously clumsy at handling young characters related to the adult leads, and their initial scenes plod along with a dull and familiar morality problem for Roger Jr as he got closer to his friend.
Eventually, though, their story dovetails into Riggs and Murtaugh's investigation, which powers through the set-up with Lethal Weapon's trademark lightness of touch and vaguely slapstick set-pieces (this week gave us a two vs. one fight against a naked man in a shower, in case you were in doubt what kind of show it is). The result is a case that has something in the way of emotional stakes, which are elevated by the committed performances of the cast - in the final confrontation with Roger Jr's friend, the reliable Damon Wayons manages to make us care about this hitherto unseen character with a pathos-laden performance that has a genuinely convincing sense of history behind it.
It's basic, but the addition of a bit more emotional grounding above just the slightly forced parallels we had before (characters who reminded Riggs of his wife, for instance) and therefore allowed the main plot to become just that bit more engaging as it made a stronger effort to make us emotionally invested in the police work. This more grounded feel was balanced well with the lighter, breezier tone of the opening half, an encouraging sign that Lethal Weapon has a better handle on its tone than it did in the uneven pilot.
And then there's the conflict between Riggs and Murtaugh over RJ, which acts as the dramatic peak for There Goes the Neighborhood. Again, this is a conflict that works because it leans into the lived-in feeling that the actors bring to their performances - the chemistry that's been established between Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayons pays off, making their argument feel not only convincing, but significant, even though there was realistically never a chance it would last. There's already a clear improvement in writing conflict on the part of the writers from their previous spat in the pilot, which suffered because it just consisted of the characters saying their different views to one another. Here, helped by the fact that these men have gotten to know and respect each other, the blows are more impactful as they know just how to hurt one another.It is a shame, however, that There Goes the Neighborhood doesn't follow through that well. Their conflict only really consists of just the one scene, and while it's a strong scene, that's not really long enough to explore just how the show works with these two men at odds. Lethal Weapon seems desperate to reassert the status quo just as it's tinkered with it, and as such the two men make up unnaturally quickly and soon put aside their conflict as if it never happened.
Granted, there's something refreshing about speedily-resolved conflict that doesn't drag, and the scene where they make up in therapy is genuinely funny, but it's a shame that a divide that's established so effectively isn't fleshed out in any depth, preventing any real advancements in the characterisation of the two men.
There's a few other niggles to be had here. The episode plays with a lot of interesting themes and ideas at certain points, but doesn't go any further than skin-deep with them. For instance, I was intrigued by the exploration of Murtaugh's old community and with the exploration of race that would bring along, but There Goes the Neighborhood doesn't really have much interest into illustrating the cause and effect between community and character rather than just stating it. Equally, while it's nice to see Lethal Weapon expand out a bit from its tight focus on Riggs and Murtaugh, the conflict between transferred homicide cop Cruz and Bailey is somewhat weightless, told in short bursts throughout the episode that don't give us any real reason to care about the dispute these two characters are having, because it's entirely divorced from the main body of the instalment's action.On the whole, though, this was another solid entry. There Goes the Neighborhood is a more character-based story in how it links the case of the week so explicitly back to Murtaugh's personal life, and it's all the better for it as the episode feels weightier and more emotional from the get-go, even if the episode is a little flaky with both its conflicts and the themes it explores. This is still a very fun show, but it's clearly just that little bit more effective when it breaks from the levity to go for a more emotionally sincere pay-off, and Lethal Weapon is evidently discovering that strength here. It's been a consistent run so far, and it's all the more encouraging that each week feels just a little bit more developed as a show, with a lesson learned or a new element added into the mix.
Episode Grade: B+
+ Emotional case of the week
+ Great lead performances make Riggs-Murtaugh conflict work
+ Good balance of tone
- Conflicts resolved too quickly
- Extraneous subplot
