Peace In The Valley – The episode begins in Eden Vale, Washington. Gus (Charles Napoleon An) tells the robber that he’ll have six minutes when he drops him off at the pharmacy. When he enters the store, he finds out that someone else is already robbing the pharmacy. The robber ends up getting shot. Joe Bradley (Scott Lee) puts Melvin in an interview room and warns him that Detective Hickman will be dealing with him. Lou Hickman (Leighton Meester) enters and introduces herself to Melvin. Lou reveals she’s the only detective on the force. She suspects Melvin is Sheila Mackie’s kid. Melvin says maybe. Lou threatens to call Sheila. Melvin begins freaking out before revealing his source is called White Mike. Lou leaves him and tells Bradley she got the name.
Lily Lim (Grace Chow) tells Lou that a good call game in. Lily tells her about the armed robberies at Eden Vale Pharmacy in which one suspect was killed. Lou’s brother is retaking his IPC certification again in Seattle. Henry Hickman (Luke Cook) ruffles a few feathers during the class. Sam Szczepkowki (William McKenna) stops Lou to say they have problems. They’re out of crime scene tape. Sarika Ray (Shamita Siva) tells Lou about the shooting. Marla (Christine Amor) asks Lou what is happening to this town. Ray tells Lou about the weapons used by the suspects. The County Sheriff beat them to the scene again. Detective Shane Carson (Devon Terrell) is inside. Lou goes inside where she checks on the pharmacist Phil (Christopher Stollery). Carson and Lou argue about their duties and other things. Carson reveals the suspect took a bunch of pills although half of them are worthless. He also got away with pain pills and benzos. Lou mentions White Mike.
At the station, Lou tells Big Hank Hickman (Clancy Brown) that she needs to speak to him. Lou thinks they have a crime problem, but Hank says they don’t. Hank says the country is falling apart and people need a place where they can feel safe. That’s what Eden Vale is to a lot of people. Lou says their equipment is outdated and they don’t even have a lab. She complains about being surrounded by rookies. Hank reminds her that the City Council won’t give him the money for all of that stuff. He agrees Lou might need a new partner. Once Lou leaves his office, Hank calls and tries to get ahold of Henry Hickman. Seconds later, Henry learns that his father is on the line. He admits they’re not on good terms since he wrote an editorial saying his dad should step down as Chief of Police. Lou asks Sam to check all gun dealers within 50 miles to see if anyone sold an S-110 with a camo stock. Bradley is asked to get the identification of the Reagan robber. Hank interrupts to say he’s heading him.
He asks Lou to stop by the airport to pick up a detective before coming to dinner with them. Lou realizes that her father did and she doesn’t like it. She picks up Henry a short time later. Lou tells Henry she got him a room at the Evergreen until he finds a new place. Henry wants to sleep with her. He explains he wanted to get his shield so he’s separating his job from the fact that Lou and Hank are wrong. The De Niro robber (Christian McCarty) learns about the other robber’s death. He sees a commercial for a lawyer who urges him to fight for what he deserves. The robber grabs his weapon and heads out of his motel room. At the police station, Henry is introduced to the team. Henry can’t believe Joe Bradley has become a police officer. Lou tells Henry they have to go to Hank’s for dinner. They join Hank and Nadia Drozdova (Blazey Best). Henry reveals he had his middle name legally eliminated. During dinner, Henry says he’s a vegetarian.
Nadia tells them how she learned English. Hank mentions Carson who got a divorce. He wonders why someone is going to set Carson up with Lou who doesn’t want to talk about that. Before long, Lou and Henry go to the crime scene. Henry says most of the valuable pills were left behind. The robber also used a long-distance rifle in close quarters. They agree he’s an amateur. Lou says the witnesses heard Reagan say, “Come and get me.” He also had wounds on the back of his non-shooting hands. Lou thinks he was speaking to a getaway driver. The phone has not been found yet. Although Henry nearly hurts himself, his stunt helps them find the phone. He attacks Phil when he enters the pharmacy. They talk about Phil’s bad decade. Henry asks Phil about the appeal of hunting. In private, Lou and Henry argue about whether that was an appropriate question. Lou and Henry tell Hank what they’ve found the following day. He gives Henry a Glock 22 handgun. In private, Lou tells Hank that this is going to be a problem.
Sam tells Lou that only one dealer within 15 minutes is authorized to service the S-110. Sam tells them it is Cascade Survival in Birch Creek. Henry wants to check it out. Lou wants Henry and Bradley to begin looking for the getaway driver’s white F-150. She tells him to call her if he finds any leads. Lou goes to the gun shop where she speaks to Dale (Zachary Boulton). Dale complains that they always want to take away his rights and blame guns when some idiot gets into trouble. Lou tricks him into pretending she can’t shoot. Once she wins the bet, Dale has to tell her what she knows. Meanwhile, Joe and Henry talk about the getaway vehicle. Henry begins to suspect the robbers may have rented the truck. He tells Joe to go to the airport without informing Lou. She calls the station and learns that Henry and Joe are gone. A man at the airport recognizes the robber who was with an Asian man. Henry ends up insulting Lucas (James Martin) by referring to him as fat. Lou approaches Hank to warn him she’s going to kill Henry.
Lou reminds her father that he refused to hire Henry out of spite. Henry believes this may be the only way to get Henry back in their lives. Sam calls Lou to say De Niro is dead. Henry and Lou arrive at the scene. Henry realizes that Lou has a crush on Carson. De Niro was stabbed to death and likely floated down the river. Henry determines that the attacker is tall like the getaway driver. Gladys (Jeanette Cronin) serves Lou and Henry at The Pioneer Diner. They talk about the case and the fact that Henry left. Henry argues Lou’s plans were supposed to include him, but she thinks he ruined it. Henry tells Lou she’s turned into her father. Henry takes a call. He tells Lou they pulled the location data from the found and discovered where Reagan and the getaway driver were holed up. They check the property with the other team. Lou finds a note for the pizza guy before seeing the driver nearby. Gus flees and they go after him. Henry jumps into water and takes Gus into custody. Carson helps Lou scan his prints. Henry says they found the F-150 on the corner of Fourth and Juniper.
Gus seems to know nothing about a murder. Lou and Henry question him in the squad vehicle. When the scan comes back, Lou says Gus spent the whole night in the Birch Creek drunk tank and couldn’t be the killer. Lou and Henry catch up with Hank and tell him what happened. Hank says the Sheriff’s Department is taking over since they don’t know whether the victim was killed in city limits. They know Hank gave it to them to protect the city’s statistics. At home, Henry tells Lou that Phil stored his medications alphabetically. He questions why the robber took so many near the valuable drugs. Lou is kept awake thinking about the stab wounds. Henry suggests they can do an analysis without the body. They get Joe to meet them at the Chief’s garage. They use Joe and meat to recreate the stabbing. Henry finds it odd that the victim took three potentially fatal wounds and didn’t move.
Nadia looks outside and sees the stabbing. Henry and Lou determine that the victim was stabbed once with antlers. Hank storms in and finds out what they’re doing. Henry says they solved the murder. They go back to the pharmacy where Henry tests the antlers in Phil’s office. Phil admits it wasn’t supposed to happen. He hired him to stage the robbery so he could give the drugs to people who had lost their insurance. After the robbery, Phil’s guy came back and said he had to give him everything. Lou says he took the deer head off the wall and killed him with it. Hank celebrates with Henry and Lou at the pub. Joe decides to get up and dance to the music. Marci Laine messages Henry to say she heard he moved back. Hank tells his kids that he’s proud of them. Henry and Lou discuss whether he’ll have to answer to her. Lou has his shield. Henry makes her give it to him.
Good Cop/Bad Cop Review
The opening episode of Good Cop/Bad Cop established the series as a quirky crime drama focusing on the Hickman family. Big Hank is the head of the family and the Eden Vale Police Chief allowing him to work with his daughter Lou and son Henry. The series has a cast full of oddballs while the story still relies heavily on the family dynamics.
Based on the first episode, it’s clear that Good Cop/Bad Cop is going to be a show viewers either love or hate. It’ll depend on whether the viewer can enjoy the type of humor present here. Personally, I didn’t find anything in the opening episode to really hit the target in terms of being genuinely humorous.
It might be better to call this cringe humor. As a comparison, I think Wild Cards is superior to this in pretty much every way although neither is perfect. This may have been stronger if the humor was a bit riskier instead of being the same old same old. The series does a lot of things badly, especially the setting and attempting to portray the local population.
It’s so weird that the show is filmed in Australia, but it’s set in a Washington that more closely resembles a southern state. We also have some tropes in here that have become beyond tiresome at this point. Despite this, some viewers may enjoy the humor of the series.
Although I wouldn’t recommend it based on this episode, I would recommend watching a few minutes to see whether the comedy style is up your alley. This episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of Good Cop/Bad Cop can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.
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