‘Major Crimes’ season 5, episode 5 review: Rusty lends Julio a hand

For much of season 5 so far, “Major Crimes” has done a really stellar job of mixing in the personal with the procedural. We’ve had some compelling, thought-provoking mysteries, but they’ve also reminded us (rather effortlessly at times) that we do care about these characters and want to see them happy.

For Julio Sanchez, tonight that was definitely a struggle as he had to fight to prove himself as a worthy foster father. We were certainly worried for him at times (this is not always the show that tends to reward the deserving), and we gotta give Rusty some extra credit for going the extra mile for him. He’s someone who has been through some painful experiences in his past, but he has been around Julio and understands his character better than most. Through it all, we do think that he was a great help for the character in getting him a step closer to what he wanted.

Tonight by extension brought us a solid case that started in an almost-impossible-to-solve fashion, and led to a few fun moments. For those of you who love Sharon taking charge, you probably enjoyed a few moments in here (and that doesn’t include the time she spent with Andy). Also, Provenza got into the action! We also had a nice guest turn from “Covert Affairs” alum Christopher Gorham, though we do wish we saw more of him.

After the dust settled on everything tonight, Julio learned that an investigation into him wasn’t necessarily because of him obeying orders or not doing so; instead, it was because of him being a potential Medal of Valor recipient. Talk about a nice surprise! This was a whirlwind episode, but one we certainly think will make fans of the character happy. Kudos to Raymond Cruz on a great performance. Episode Grade: B+.

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