Flight Risk?

[Dreamfire]

In the last episode, at minute 24 or so, Jim does someting that was unexpected to me and which I have not seen him do in any other episode.

I was wondering if others had noticed and what your thoughts were on why he does this?

The scene is in the boxing gym, moments after Karen has found Les' watch in Beau Mathieson's bag.

Jim is saying "You're going to come with us and we'll sort this out..." as he does so he reaches up and touches Beau's wrist and goes to take hold.

Beau jumps back defensively "Get your hands off me, alright!"

and Jim backs of physically while upping the ante verbally,

"Beau. Beau! Whatever way that watch got in your bag...were're going to have to talk about it. So, you can either come with us like a gentlemen, or I can call in a crew of cops and we'll drag you out like an animal."


My question is not about the dialogue but about this unusal move Jim makes and what motivates it.

It is clear from the start that he feels a kind of kinship with Beau. Does this give him the feeling he can just touch the guy without consequence. Does he perhaps think that Beau will let him because he is blind? Do you think Jim is surprised when Beau reacts as he does?

Is he worried Beau is a flight risk, when the watch shows up and Beau starts denying it being in his bag? I don't get a clue from Karen who doesn't even watch Beau's face for clues as to if he knew the watch was in his bag as she pulls it out - I assume she just thinks this means he is guilty. He looks innocently perplexed to me!

( And does Jim think that if he get's hold of him he can restrain him? (I'm not saying he couldn't BTW)I wonder if at this point in the old days (BTS= Before The Shooting) he would have just forcibly cuffed the suspect and led him out? Is this some kind of unconscious, 'I'm back in the jungle and this is how we do it" move? Another thought that occours to me on this is that Jim takes charge of this conversation with Beau and Karen stands back up, whereas in most/many ( I'm not sure now I'm saying it) convsersations in the field Karen leads the conversation.

I'm curious as to what you think.

Natascha

[doppelganger]

Interesting topic, Natascha! I also found that particular move quite uncharacteristic for Jim but never gave it much thought.
After playing the scene back and forth several times this is my take on it:

ashatan said:

It is clear from the start that he feels a kind of kinship with Beau. Does this give him the feeling he can just touch the guy without consequence. Does he perhaps think that Beau will let him because he is blind? Do you think Jim is surprised when Beau reacts as he does?

The only time I recall Jim reaching out to a stranger was in the Pilot to get Kim Chenowith's undevided attention. Are there any other scenes? I'm not sure.
But with Beau it's different. He reaches out very tentatively. To me it looks like he want's to get a better connection to Beau, to reassure him things will turn out alright if he calms down and cooperates. For me the touch is proof of the kinship Jim feels.

ashatan said:

Is he worried Beau is a flight risk, when the watch shows up and Beau starts denying it being in his bag?

If Jim had thought Beau was a flight risk, he would have just grabbed him. But that's not what he did.

ashatan said:

I don't get a clue from Karen who doesn't even watch Beau's face for clues as to if he knew the watch was in his bag as she pulls it out - I assume she just thinks this means he is guilty.

Think so too. After Beau jumped back from Jim's touch she was all jumpy, keeping her hand on her gun. She was obviously alerted by his behavior and thought he might run.
But look at Jim! He backs off a little, waits to see if there is more coming from Beau (like a punch or sth) and then goes on reassuring him they want this to end friendly.

ashatan said:

And does Jim think that if he get's hold of him he can restrain him?

I don't think that was on his mind.

ashatan said:

I wonder if at this point in the old days (BTS= Before The Shooting) he would have just forcibly cuffed the suspect and led him out? Is this some kind of unconscious, 'I'm back in the jungle and this is how we do it" move?

Is that what you see? Funny, I saw it the other way around. To me Jim seems much more calm and not in need to proof being a bad ass cop during the last episode.

Let's see what the others think of it. I'm curious!

Doppelganger

[rducasey]

Ah gee Natasha, you made me go back and watch that scene, which led into watching the whole thing, giving up the gun, etc, dance thingy again. (Did notice a blooper there. His cuffs on his shirt are either sticking all the way out of his tux sleeves, or barely noticeable. Must have been the stunt double.)

But getting back to that scene, I think it was a way of defusing the situation, by trying to reassure Beau. Sort of a "calm down" to him. When Beau reacts, Jim steps back. Had to bring back memories of Marlon Condell as Beau raised his voice and got agitated. Is Jim even aware that Karen has her hand on her gun?

[Katryna]

I haven't watched this episode in some time, however I have noticed this move of Jim's that Natascha has brought up. My impression has been that the entire episode is building up to Jim giving up the gun. If this had occurred in episodes 1 - 12, it could have been a spot where Jim may have drawn his weapon. I took his reaction here as an indication that he was trying to resolve the situation without "waving" his gun around...sort of testing the waters. It's interesting how we all have different takes on topics like this! It would be nice to know exactly what significance the writers had placed on this one.

[mlm828]

I think the significance of this scene is that it demonstrates to the viewers and, more importantly, to Jim that he can assert his authority without using his gun. Of course, he doesn't know, when he's talking Bo into coming with them, that Karen has her hand on her gun, but he may have expected her to do this.

I'm not entirely certain what Jim's intent was when he touched Bo and apparently tried to take hold of his wrist or forearm. When I first saw the scene, I thought he was making a gesture and bumped Bo's arm accidentally. But after reading this thread and looking at the scene again, it does appear that he is trying to grasp Bo's forearm. I don't think he's reaching out to Bo because he feels some kind of kinship with him. Jim may have doubts about Bo's guilt, but he's still a suspect, and Jim's a cop, first and foremost. On the other hand, I'm not sure what he thought he was doing; surely he wasn't intending to "perp walk" Bo out of the gym. Maybe it was simply an "instinctive move" -- one of the instincts he developed when he could see.

[hoosier]

I think Jim was probably intending to take Bo by the elbow to escort him out and misjudged, hitting his wrist/forearm instead and an already tense situation just got worse.

I agree with Kathy and mlm that Jim was seeing how he would handle a potentially hostile suspect without having to resort to the gun. That and the fact that he knew Karen would have his back.

[matilda]

mlm828 said:

I think the significance of this scene is that it demonstrates to the viewers and, more importantly, to Jim that he can assert his authority without using his gun. Of course, he doesn't know, when he's talking Bo into coming with them, that Karen has her hand on her gun, but he may have expected her to do this.

I'm not entirely certain what Jim's intent was when he touched Bo and apparently tried to take hold of his wrist or forearm. When I first saw the scene, I thought he was making a gesture and bumped Bo's arm accidentally. But after reading this thread and looking at the scene again, it does appear that he is trying to grasp Bo's forearm. I don't think he's reaching out to Bo because he feels some kind of kinship with him. Jim may have doubts about Bo's guilt, but he's still a suspect, and Jim's a cop, first and foremost. On the other hand, I'm not sure what he thought he was doing; surely he wasn't intending to "perp walk" Bo out of the gym. Maybe it was simply an "instinctive move" -- one of the instincts he developed when he could see.

Very insightful I reckon - you are completely on the money.

Matilda

[Dreamfire]

Great to hear so many takes on this bit. Gave me food for thought.
Interesting how some of us see him fighting to reclaim his "bad ass" identity and some of us see him moving past needing it.

I think I favor the trying toget back to it, but I am sure half of that is how I would like to see it. (It's hard not to be attracted to the bad boy huh?)

Also interesting, if he was trying to calm the situation down, he got the oposite reaction. And RD, sorry if I made you go and watch it all again, I guess you skipped the 55 punches hey?
You say: Is Jim even aware that Karen has her hand on her gun?

Now that is interesting to me. How hard must it be to read a situation and know how others are responding. Her reaction is fairly extreme, given her facial expression, yet she trusts him to handle it , which I like very much. I suspect he would pick up the subtle sounds of her jacket moving aside, her hand onthe gun ( she wears a ring that must clang a bit) but it's not for sure.

Ooh Kathy, you bring up a very good point. I had forgotten he had a gun in this ep. And yes, working on "not waving it around" fits. Also he would know Bo doesn;t have one and he is somewhat comfortable in a boxing environment so maybe he didn;t see it as dangerous as on a street with possible gun toting killers running around.

I like the take that he could have been reaching to "escort" Bo out.

Thanks for all the thoughts, it widened my view of the incident.
Anyone else spot ambiguous moments?

N

[Deleted]

Here's my take: he gestured because he gestured. No more, no less.

[Chris]

I've always seen it as Jim trying to calm down Bo, assuring him that they will find out what's going on but at the same time getting hold of Bo to let him know that he has to come with them.

To me this is very much a scene made to show that Jim really doesn't need the gun, that he can handle a situation like this just as well (or better) verbally than with a gun.
I think Karen putting her hand on her gun, emphasizes this. By instinctively reaching for her gun she is the typical TV-show cop, relying on her gun and Dunbar shows us that there is another way, one that uses people skills rather than mere gun power.

Would Dunbar have done something like that before the shooting??? I would like to think so since he was just as smart back then. Unfortunately he probably relied a lot on the power of his gun too. I assume he would, given the situation at the bank when he chose to leave cover and get the bank robber himself rather than wait for back-up to arrive.
I don't know, maybe he would have talked Bo into coming with them before the shooting, and maybe not....

- Chris