They didn't kill him physically, but they practically killed him. I'm not sure which is worse.
I'll give the show this much credit in that Kenny Johnson, Shemar Moore et all sold all they could out of that storyline. The beach was a great moment, and so was the retirement ceremony.
Everything else...meh. So Alfaro was raised by strippers and, after Powell sounded like she was judging him, decided to make an awkward pass on him because of it. OK then.
I also guess Deacon's not retiring- not yet anyway. SWAT needs to maintain their "old guy" quotient, I suppose.
As for the case itself, it was a meandering experience with the usual fast pace to feign urgency, flat and predictable twists and turns and clues pulled out of the team's derriere's. At least the story partially made up for the last point by having a heavy involvement from the detective, something the show should have done from the beginning of the entire series.
In short, though, this episode was all about Luca. I wished he had a different ending. I wish that his final act as a SWAT member was not him meekly bowing out effectively in a hail of bullets. I wish he, at least, had taken down a few of the gang members before they proved too much for him, so that Luca at least still looks competent on the job even at the end.
Of course, I don't like "the hail of bullets" ending anyway because Hollywood uses it too much, especially with older characters. Having Luca decide to quit SWAT some other way- perhaps by realizing he has worth in being Kelly's surrogate father- would have been far more satisfying.
Oh well. Time to say farewell, and thanks for the service, Luca. You will be missed.
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