Major Crimes (TV Series)

Risk Assessment (2013)

Graham Patrick Martin: Rusty Beck

Quotes 

• Louie Provenza : And the only reason that you are riding along with us is to see if you can be a team player and follow directions, and so far, Mr. Beck, you are doing a crappy job.

  Rusty Beck : Let's have it.

  Louie Provenza : Stay in the hall.

  Rusty Beck : [to Buzz after Provenza exits]  Geez. Why is he being so rude?

  Buzz Watson : Not following orders is worse than being rude. If you want the captain to sign papers approving your participation in an SIS operation, you better do what the lieutenant says.

  Rusty Beck : Bu... but just standing here is boring.

  Buzz Watson : You expect us all to be fascinated with your life, but you never take the smallest interest in other people.

  Rusty Beck : I do so take an interest in other people. I do that all the time.

  Buzz Watson : All the time? Really?

  Rusty Beck : Yeah.

  Buzz Watson : So tell me, why did Lieutenant Provenza become a detective? What was Mike Tao going to do before he started working Homicides? The reason you can't answer those questions is because you never ask people about themselves - ever. Not even how they're doing in the morning.

  Rusty Beck : Well, I don't have to ask how you're doing because you're, like, obviously in a really bad mood.

  Buzz Watson : No. I'm disappointed... again.

• Andy Flynn : Mike, you have an apartment number for our victim?

  Rusty Beck : I think it's that one.

  Louie Provenza : And how do you know that, Detective Beck?

  Rusty Beck : Because that's where Brenda's husband is standing.

• Rusty Beck : [wanting Sharon to sign the approval papers]  But-but don't you already know what they say?

  Sharon Raydor : They were written by lawyers, so nobody knows what they say.

• Rusty Beck : So I've been thinking over, um, being a team player, and if this really is a team, then shouldn't I know more about the people playing on it?

  Andy Flynn : You asking a question about us?

  Rusty Beck : Yes. Why is that such a huge surprise? It's not like I'm an egomaniac. I am interested in other people.

  Louie Provenza : Mmm, 'kay. All right. What are you interested in?

  Rusty Beck : Well, you know, like, why did you become a police officer?

  Louie Provenza : 'Cause I'm scared of fire. I'd rather be shot at than stand on the roof of a burning building surrounded by flames. Plus, I enjoy telling people what to do. It's fulfilling.

  Rusty Beck : And, uh, what about you, Lieutenant Flynn?

  Louie Provenza : Oh, God. The short version, please.

  Andy Flynn : When I was a kid, my older brother and I, we, um, "borrowed" a motorcycle that belonged to my cousin and took it for a joyride, and this cop, Officer Nichols, he caught us and brought us downtown, showed us the jail, and said, "This is where you're headed." Now, my brother, he didn't think too much of Officer Nichols, but me, I decided, better putting people in jail than going there myself. Right?

  Rusty Beck : So, you were almost a criminal.

  Louie Provenza : Ah, here we are.

• Rusty Beck : So, uh, Julio? May I ask you a personal question? How did you decide to join the police?

  Julio Sanchez : Uh, when I was tirteen, a couple of gangsters murdered my cat Osa. I decided to keep track of her killers so one day I could arrest them.

  Rusty Beck : For killing your cat?

  Julio Sanchez : Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Um, eventually, I got them for attempted murder and rape. You know, by then, they were third strikers, so I put them away for the rest of their lives. It felt good.

• Rusty Beck : So, a day like today must be, like, why you became a police officer in the first place, right?

  Sharon Raydor : Oh, I had no intention of being a police officer. I only took this job so that I could help pay Jack's way through law school, then Jack was gonna help pay my way through law school, mm-mm. Hm.

  Rusty Beck : And then?

  Sharon Raydor : And then I got pregnant, then I got pregnant again, and then... and then Jack left, and to be entirely honest with you, by then I liked the law a lot better than I liked the lawyers. And then there's the idea of saving people from bad things. I liked that, too.

  Rusty Beck : Yeah, I know.

• Buzz Watson : These guys really killed that 15-year-old kid, Tyler, just to make an example out of him?

  Amy Sykes : Sounds horrible. I've seen worse.

  Rusty Beck : Where did you see worse?

  Amy Sykes : Kabul. While I was an MP - stands for Military Police - we had interpreters, locals, and they were murdered sometimes for helping us, just to show what would happen to Afghans who supported our troops.

  Rusty Beck : Military Police? Is that how you became a cop?

  Amy Sykes : Police officer, you mean? I went ahead and got my undergrad in political science. Turns out chasing bad guys is a lot more fun than arguing about government. Working Homicide, it's clearer who the bad guys are. Couldn't always stop them in Kabul. Here I can. Best job in the world.

• Mike Tao : And you should know by now how seriously we look after our witnesses.

  Rusty Beck : Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's kind of weird how much trouble you guys go to to protect people you don't even know. What made you want to do that?

  Mike Tao : Me, personally?

  Rusty Beck : Yeah.

  Mike Tao : I started out in med school. You know, make my folks happy. I thought I'd work in an ER, but the more I learned about being a doctor, the more it seemed about paperwork and liability insurance. Physicians spend a lot of time covering their butts. We spend a lot of time covering each other, and I like it better that way.

• Rusty Beck : The, um... the approval papers. Sharon just signed them.

  Buzz Watson : Well, congratulations. You didn't screw it up.

  Rusty Beck : Well, maybe, uh, this is how I get MY start. Although I can't imagine ever working here for a living.

  [pause] 

  Rusty Beck : Hey, you know, I talked to everyone else about it, but I never got to you. I mean, you're... you're part of the squad, right?

  Buzz Watson : Uh, yeah.

  Rusty Beck : Well, so, what made you decide to work here?

  Buzz Watson : When I was eleven years old, my father and uncle were leaving a Kings game, stopped at an ATM on the way home, and were both robbed and shot to death.

  Rusty Beck : Oh, my God. Buzz, I... I am so sorry.

  Buzz Watson : Yeah. So I thought, like Julio, I'd join the academy, become a detective one day, track down the killers myself, but my mother was terrified something would happen to me and then there'd be no one left to take care of her, so I got my film degree instead. Now here I am, directing an important movie every day of the week, helping rescue those we can. Maybe rescuing ourselves a little, if we're totally honest about it.

  Rusty Beck : Yeah, I m... I might be doing that. Huh. Rescuing myself.

  Buzz Watson : Well, that's what we're all hoping.