Let the CHiPs fall.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
"Can I Get a Witness?" may have been the slightest Lethal Weapon episode so far. Not that the beach shoot out at the end (set to CCR's "Run Through the Jungle") wasn't fun, or reminiscent of when Riggs' trailer got shot up in Lethal Weapon 2, but throwing a kid into the mix is always a tricky thing. Especially when the child character is meant to be a conduit for therapy.
There's never -- or let's say rarely -- a time when a protagonist insta-bonding with a child doesn't feel forced. Riggs has never really needed help finding touchstones for grief and the show's never really had to heap cliches onto him like it did this week. Things started off well, on the trauma front, with him getting bent out of shape over the check for his house sale, but then the introduction of the 8-year-old boy witness seemed to derail that train.
The check popped up again at the end when Riggs decided to give all his money to the boy -- which I get, but also don't get -- but by that point things had spiraled into all-too familiar territory and the boy was hugging Riggs more than his mother who'd just awakened for the first time after getting shot in the head. Sure, Riggs mentioned that some of the hugs should go to her, and it was good to call that out, but it didn't quite help dissolve the awkwardness.
Just the fact that the mother wasn't killed, and was destined to wake up, sort of signaled the temporary nature of this situation. It made everything feel too safe. I know Lethal Weapon isn't exactly a dark, gritty affair, but you also don't want things to feel overly manufactured.
That being said, the moments at the end when Riggs had Ethan (Teo Briones) hide in his mostly empty fridge during the shootout, and then carried him out over the parade of bodies in the sand, crackled with more urgency. It is possible to pull the "kid in peril" card in a meaningful way and here, at least visually, it worked to create tension.
It's a long shot, I know, but it'd be nice if Lethal Weapon started building up a sprawling set of recurring characters who could be called back into the fold someday. Like, if Ethan somehow returned in the future this adventure might wind up feeling less disposable. It also might help Riggs if he were to occasionally run into people from his past that he helped save. It would just helped fill out the world of the show a bit more and make these episodic characters feel more vital.
Oh, and Murtaugh is totally a motorcycle guy. Don't let anyone tell you different, big man.
The Verdict
"Can I Get a Witness?" gave Riggs another vulnerable character to protect, much like the pregnant woman back in the second episode. Here though, he had to face some of his own current lifestyle shortcomings (no food at home, booze everywhere, etc) because he became a makeshift father for two days. It's as if life keeps poking at him with elements of love and family, but only on loan. I'm not sure if he should be grateful or resentful.
Either way, this one had an exciting ending, and an earnestly believable dynamic between Riggs and Ethan, but overall it was hard not to see the young boy as more than a prop.
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