IMHO "Southland" (1.2): Mozambique

The second episode of police drama Southland aired on NBC last night, and the show has officially hooked me thanks to the wonderfully gruff gay character of John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and his increasingly interesting relationship with wet-behind-the-ears new cop partner Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie).

I have to admit to being skeptical about this show after last week's premiere. I loved the no-nonsense character of John, but most of the other characters (including rookie cop Ben) left me cold.

But this week delved more into the character development of former blank slate Ben and the mentoring relationship between him and John. Ben is feeling quite cocky after last week's heroics (where he shot a bad guy) and after receiving congratulations from random cops on the street can barely get his swollen head into the squad car.

His "Top Cop" status is short-lived when he makes a ... rookie mistake (ha!) and almost screws up the bust of a robbery-in-progress. John reads him the riot act, and a humbled Ben is reduced to squeaking "yes, sir" for the remainder of the day (which is actually pretty funny).

Gentlemen, start your slashfic!

The main story in this episode involves an abandoned baby (who is first seeing crawling in traffic, ala Baby's Day Out, in an unintentionally hilarious scene), which means the terrific Regina King gets lots of air time (why this woman isn't a bigger star I'll never know).

We also get a retirement party for the cop played by C. Thomas Howell (who I didn't recognize at first), which leads to the show's best scene, where Ben finally opens up to John about his childhood growing up in Beverly Hills as the son of a "scumbag defense attorney".

As I said, the show officially has me hooked. I can't wait to see how they develop the partnership of Ben and John, and even though we didn't get any glimpses into John's private life this week, he's still the most interesting character on the show.

What did you think of this week's episode, and will you be coming back next week?