@zebratron2084 I mean heck, I already smoke weed and play mahjong

@chimerror oh whew, if there's been any one episode my friends have found tough going it's been the nursing home one because... yeah. way to let us down, comrades.

@zebratron2084 yeah, don't get me wrong, I have opinions about that episode and it feels like someone complained that money was the motivating factor of most of the murders and felt like they needed to get one on those lefties

but it was a delightful romp anyway

@zebratron2084 and to be honest for a lot of the murders, I really did find myself just hoping the murderer chose not to murder despite me knowing it would happen

and I really like that

the murderers aren't wholly unsympathetic, and often are very sympathetic up until they commit murder

and I really like that, because I think it makes the fact that they do murder feel like a tragedy both ways most of the time

@chimerror and yes i LOVE LOVE LOVE how often the show's formula is "Charlie met the victim just three days ago and made friends JUST before they got killed." (MILD SPOILER: Yeah, that Jessica Fletcher Syndrome she's got is gonna start catching up with her subtly by the end of the season...)

Another mild spoiler: there's a giallo-tribute episode coming up soon and it was so cool to see :O

@chimerror There are really fairly few *loathsome* characters. Even Cliff's attitude is... kinda understandable given what a thorn in his side Charlie's been, even if he's still an amoral dirtbag? And obviously any Ron Perlman villain is likeable, that's just Ron Powers...

@zebratron2084 yeah! even Frost Jr., I get. it sucks to be a fuck up.

very big Don Jr. vibes from him

@chimerror a lot of folks excepted charlie to be a TAD more ACAB about everything, too :> i *liked* her FBI buddy, they really went out of his way to make him a pleasant liberal Marge Gunderson type -- the sort who'd rather be going after Trump, I bet -- but i also really REALLY liked how much it was Charlie's style to serve justice any way BUT involving the authorities... ntm, i know you're Best Puppy and love everone but isn't trusting a fed kind of a lot for a wanted fugitive, Charlie hun? 🤔

@zebratron2084 yeah

it's that sort of copaganda that feels hard to get rid of because it's based on the simple idea that cops actually generally want to do their supposed jobs even if they are incompetent

like we also like to see doctors who aren't assholes to their patients and the little guy winning sometimes

it's fiction, one of the opiates of the masses

@chimerror And I can't say much, because I'm still a huge fan of Liberal Cop shows like Barney Miller and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

I think there's *some* room for such things, as they kinda implicitly shame the system by making it look so easy to be a good cop.

But it does make me nervous that they're all predicted on the idea that you *can* be Good cops under this system and they're out there somewhere just under the rainbow (the one with the suspiciously thick blue line)...

@chimerror Nonetheless, Columbo will always be my exception that proves the ACAB rule... because I LOVE how consistently they stick to the lore that he hates guns, hates police work, is considered a nuisance by his fellow cops, and wants NO PART OF the headcracking whatsoever...

@chimerror (e.g. in a episode i recently rewatched, he paid off a friend on the force to take his firearm training class under his name, because he Just Refuses... :D )

@zebratron2084 I'm definitely thinking of looking at Columbo next because I've seen so many references and parodies of him and I need to see the real deal

@chimerror Columbo is a joy. Little awkward guy solves crimes by raw intellect and being a master of weaponized humility. He is such a personal inspiration and taught me it's A HUGE STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE to be dismissed as a harmless idiot. :D