Lethal Weapon: S2:E15 An Inconvenient Ruth

We’ve already covered a lot of ground in this second season of Lethal Weapon. Roger Murtaugh has had to struggle with a lot of changes, mostly within his family. This has included his daughter wanting more space, his son going away to college, and his wife having a life outside of her husband. Martin Riggs goes through dating issues with two different women, suspects he might like being a father, and realizes he might not actually want to die. (For now)

Let’s look at some of the most monumental moments or developments of the past 14 episodes. 

 

 

(1) Riggs has daddy issues: Learning more about this guy’s childhood has justified why he turned out the way he did. From what we’ve seen, Riggs and his dad, Nate, had an okay relationship until his mom got sick. When she died, the relationship between father and son soured. Dad abuses the bottle and his kid.

(2) Solving Miranda’s Murder? Check! Tito Flores and Raul Mendez were the last two members of the cartel responsible for Miranda Riggs’ death. With one of them dead (Flores) and one of them in prison, (Mendez) Riggs can finally bury his grief. (Well, not really. This is Riggs we’re talking about)

(3)  What Riggs Calls “Dating:” Karen Palmer looks to be a gal who is going to jump in and out of the show. She and Riggs have a few kind-of, maybe, sort of dates. They sleep together and have a super-weird double-date with the Murtaughs. This briefly turns Riggs into a crazy person, before their romance is put on hold. We’re likely to see her pop back in later.

(4) Don’t Mess with the Murtaugh’s Marriage: Deputy Chief Santos is the new tough-broad moving into the precinct and she’s messing things up for everybody. She sees through Riggs to the half-mad with grief person he is on the inside. She threatens Avery’s job. The most worrisome, however, is her romantic history with Murtaugh.

(5) Riggs didn’t kill his father, Jake Voss did: Jake Voss was a childhood friend of Riggs when he was a kid. When Nate Riggs was on the verge of killing his own son, Voss took a shot at him with a rifle. It shot off half of Nate’s face! Voss reappears in Riggs’ life, pretending that he’s changed. He’s a good guy. WRONG. He’s a bad guy. Riggs tells him to hit the road and not to revisit Molly Hendricks (Voss’ girlfriend) ever again.

(6) Jake Voss didn’t kill him either. HE’S ALIVE: Surprise! Nate Riggs is in prison and yep, that’s not going to stop him from being a problem in his son’s life.

(7) Getting Cozy With Molly: Riggs befriends Molly Hendricks and her kid. Time passes. They get romantic. He likes playing father to the kid. Fans get hopeful for a Martin Riggs that is actually capable of a normal relationship. Fans are disappointed when Riggs puts this romance on hold out of a need to protect them from his father.

Episode Synopsis from IMDB: 

 

 

Murtaugh and Riggs search for the culprit of a local jewelry heist; Murtaugh gets called “grandpa” by another parent while at the playground with Harper, sending him into a tizzy; Riggs deals with withdrawal from drinking.

Episode Recap: Season 2, Episode 15: An Inconvenient Ruth

 

 

Today’s episode didn’t do a lot for the overarching plot of season two, but it was still one hell of a ride! In the background was the cliched plot of a marriage gone wrong, an affair, complete with insurance claims. What was far more exciting was what went on in the foreground!

Murtaugh Pulls a Riggs: Roger spends almost all of this episode trying to be Riggs because he hates being old. (Roger is 52!) This begins with Roger being called a grandpa by another kids parent. This drives him to ride down an enclosed slide at the playground with his daughter Harper. His daughter has a fun ride. Roger gets stuck. “Is anybody watching Trish?” Roger asks his somewhat amused, somewhat exasperated wife. “Nope!” Trish replies while surrounded by every single parent on the playground. The risks only get bigger as the episode continues. Roger rides atop a bad-guys car. He grabs a bomb from underneath a car and throws it in a dumpster, which explodes. He runs into a cabin to save a kids dog, which then explodes too. (The cabin, not the dog) It is understandable that his wife is livid with him later. “I prefer a grandpa in a tube than a husband in the hospital,” says Trish. The episode closes with a surprising rift in the supposedly perfect Murtaugh marriage. Trish needs her husband to tell her when this reckless behavior will end. Roger says he can’t tell her that. “Don’t let pride take you away from this family,” says Trish.

Riggs is On the Wagon: Riggs is 10 days sober and predictably, he’s struggling. He’s shooting bottles off a fence (what a waste of money!) and he even asked his therapist to slap him! (Shocker: Cahill did!) To help him from dipping back into the bottle is the adorable, naked-prone, gun-wielding Ruthie Krumholtz. At first, she’s just trouble. She tries to bribe Riggs to pay for the damages to her RV and he ends up getting her into a hotel. She also sees right through Riggs the minute she meets him. She knows what sobriety is like and in her own weird way, she helps him maintain his. She talks about letting go of pain or he’ll never have freedom. “I live on a beach!” He tells her, but she shakes her head. “And still not free.” This lady will definitely be sticking around! The episode closes with Riggs walking towards the ocean in Ruthie’s robe for a skinny-dip . . . when he’s interrupted by Ruthie pulling her RV alongside Riggs’. “Freedom feels good, doesn’t it?” She calls out. She offers to join him out there, but he’s already running for his RV, yelling “goodnight Ruthie!”

Where Do I Know That Face? Ruthie is Swoosie Kurtz!

If you were looking at the adorably annoying, ginger-haired Ruthie and were wondering why you recognized her face, let me tell you why. While she started acting in the 1950s, most recently, she was Beverly in the TV show “Man with a Plan” and Joyce Flynn in “Mike and Molly.” Before that, she spent a long stint on “Pushing Daisies” as Lily Charles. Finally, if you wanted to go WAY back, she was John Lock’s mother in the oh-so-confusing-and-still-haunts-us-today TV show, “Lost.”

Don’t Have a Heart-Attack Trish! (Pun Intended . . . you know, because Roger had one? Never mind!) We’ll See You In Three Weeks!  

Parting is such sweet sorrow . . . especially when we’ve only just met! Don’t worry! Even though we have to wait three weeks before our favorite dysfunctional duo returns to our TV screens, you’ll still be hearing from me. On the Tuesdays where we don’t have a Lethal Weapon episode, I’ll give you a post full of fun behind-the-scenes secrets, (“secrets” as in me, the writer, did not know them!) as well as “did you know’s” about the cast!

Best Lines Of The Episode: 

Murtaugh: “Riggs, you don’t need booze to be crazy.”

Riggs: “This coming from a guy who got stuck in a slide.”

 

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