History Series / MajorCrimes

** Sanchez mentions Kelly Blue Book by name when looking up information on a suspect's car.

** In the Christmas 2014 episode, there's a prominent case of Blue Moon Belgian White Ale while the Raydors prepare for Christmas. There's even a shot of someone picking up the phone where it coincidentally takes up half the frame.

** The victim in "The Fifth Dynasty [[spoiler: molested his cousins and several other young boys. One of his cousins had killed him.]]
** Mary Conrad in "Bad Blood" who was a detective who retired because she was caught taking kickbacks during her time as a fraud detective. She also stole her neighbor's packages, tried to punch anyone not in a uniform (even those in a uniform, like Sharon Raydor), and killed a neighbor's dog. That's not even getting into the reason ''why'' she was killed! [[spoiler:She lied to her own family about losing her pension so that they would have to pay for her bills, risking depriving her grandnephew's chance to go a good school. When her nephew-in-law found out about it and Mary was still all too happy to continue stealing from them, [[RageBreakingPoint he lost it and]] [[KarmicDeath beat her to death with her own badge]]. Then, he tried to cover up killing her by making it look like a break-in]] After Andrea Hobbs hears why Mary was killed, she states it would be very likely that the killer would walk if they went to trial not just because of the lack of evidence but also due to how unsympathetic the victim was.

* MaintainTheLie: A double version in "Dead Drop." Morales comes to a crime scene with his father, a retired detective from Uruguay who speaks little English. Morales has been making his dad think he has far more authority with the team and begs them to play along so they spend the episode with Morales sitting in on things as if he's always been mostly in charge. At the end of the episode, Mr. Morales speaks to Sharon and Provenza, revealing he speaks perfect English. He tells them he figured out the whole thing right away but is happy his son has friends who care enough to do this for him. He asks that they not tell Morales he figured it out, knowing his son will be happier thinking his dad believes him to be a big deal when he's proud of Morales no matter what.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Season 5 introduces Deputy Chief Winnie Davis. She is gunning for the position of Assistant Chief and resents the preferential treatment that Major Crimes gets. She uses her position as Chief of Operations to make life as difficult for Raydor and her team as possible.

** In-universe, Rusty has never seen ''Badge of Justice'', so when its star comes under scrutiny when a superfan of his was found dead in his storage unit, Rusty isn't impressed. (Ironically, they met at Rusty's high school graduation party, and Rusty spent the summer as a production assistant on the show.)

** "By Any Means, Part 3", involves Sanchez looking up a real estate listing on Zillow. Everyone knows about it, apparently. (Except for Provenza.)

** "Present Tense" had the [[spoiler: victim's parents' old foster son. They were going to adopt him, but the mother got pregnant and sent him back in the system where he was implied to have been molested. He managed to have a successful life, until he met the victim, his old foster parents' daughter. He got frustrated listening to her complain about her parents, and they fought until he accidentally killed her. Immediately afterwards, he felt guilty and tried to bring her back. ]]

* DeathGlare: Raydor's got one that could fell an ox at fifty paces. The rest of the squad have them too, and deploy them toward [[spoiler:Daniel Dunn]] in 1x09 with ''very'' good reason.

** "Cashed Out" takes place a week after the events of the case, and revolves around a child services worker, who is evaluating Sanchez as a potential foster parent, interviewing the squad about his actions.

** Continuing from ''The Closer'', almost every non-Fritz FBI agent is some combination of this and PoliceAreUseless. Fritz ''himself'' gets hit hard with this in "Do Not Disturb."
*** But it's defied for Fritz in "Two Options". Special Operations Bureau Commander [=McGinnis=] asks Raydor and Tao if he's just another bureaucrat, and Raydor cuts her off with "Or one of the good guys." [[spoiler:She's asking because Taylor had just suggested Fritz as a possible candidate to take over running SOB, which he does.]]

** Rusty, surprisingly. He has to Google The Village People, and he's never seen ''[[DieHard]]''. Gus tells him [[BlatantLies it's a harmless Christmas movie.]]
** In-universe, Rusty has never seen "Badge of Justice", so when its star comes under scrutiny when a superfan of his was found dead in his storage unit, Rusty isn't impressed... because he has no idea who he is.

* TheShrink: Dr. Joe comes in during the fall part of the second season. An amicable man who speaks with a soft spoken way, carefully analyzing and regarding his patients, priming them for the next ArmorPiercingQuestion. He will use any means to connect to his patients, from singing, to cards, to chess. [[spoiler:To be allowed to participate in a sting to catch his stalker, Rusty must see him and be evaluated. Rusty finds the sessions, and playing against a stronger chess player, very enjoyable and helpful]].

* JawDrop: Provenza is a 20 year plus man and pretty much seen it all. [[spoiler:But when Rosa Vega makes it perfectly clear that she is fine with her own son being sent back to Mexico for an almost-assured death sentence, Provenza's jaw practically hits the desk.]]

* TheLoad: Rusty, who for a while did nothing but whine and complain every freaking scene he is in. So much so that in Episode 3, when his mother needed $500 to make it to Los Angeles, the division was happily forking over their own money to get her there.

** Provenza is not ''quite'' blind without his glasses, but his distance vision has worsened to the point that he kept missing all his pistol targets (which he needed for re-certification) until he borrowed the above elderly woman's glasses, at which point he got a perfect score. He now wears his own glasses whenever he has to drive or shoot and they help him to the point that he, the oldest member of the squad, was the one who took out [[spoiler:Stroh's accomplice]] with [[BoomHeadshot a perfect headshot]] from about fifty feet.

** "Two Options": [[spoiler: A perp is spraying SWAT troops with automatic weapon fire, holding a child so they can't shoot back. Fritz waits for his moment then calmly walks into the room and shoots the perp in the head as if he was walking over to turn off a light.]]

** Stroh returns in the S3 finale. Boy, does he ever.
** And again for the last few episodes of Season 6.

* StalkerWithoutACrush: In season two, Rusty starts receiving letters from someone threatening to kill him and his loved ones. The summer finale [[spoiler: has Sharon starting to receive threats as well.]]

** Rusty also does this by stating they could avoid this entire trial and his life being in jeopardy if DDA Rios would just take the death penalty off the table and make a deal with Phillip Stroh, instead of going through a trial.

* ThickerThanWater: In "Pick Your Poison" [[spoiler:this is averted between the murderer and his brother, an attorney. The brother-attorney was first brought in to defend his sister-in-law where he learned she did sleep with one of the underage victims but ''didn't'' kill them with Molly mixed with cyanide. The attourney knows his brother has been mixing chemicals and always been a bit off. He tells him straight out he will defend his sister-in-law but cannot defend his brother because it would be a conflict of interest and is seriously angered by his brother's evil actions]].

* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:"Conspiracy Theory Part 4" ends with Sharon's death.]]

Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Crimes_(TV_series) has more information]].

* Foreshadowing: There are several clues during "Sanctuary City" that something's wrong with Sharon. She keeps mentioning that she's not quite over her flu, and there are two occasions in Part 3 where the camera switches to her P.O.V. and goes out of focus with a lens flare effect. That episode ends with her collapsing while ranting at two FBI agents.

* CopKiller: the Reverend Daniel Price, known as "Reverend Cop Killer" to the LAPD. As a [[GangBanger member of the Bloods]] he murdered an off-duty police officer during an armed robbery, but the case was dismissed with prejudice due to one of the investigating officers perjuring himself on the stand. In the present he claims to be a changed man and has become a pastor and community leader, [[spoiler:which turns out to be true in season four's five-part episode "Hindsight"]]. Price's associates are also blamed for the death of a deputy district attorney and her bodyguard, [[spoiler:but this was a FrameUp to cover a murder by the wife of the bodyguard: her husband had been cheating on her with the DDA]].

* TheGhost: Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, Chief William Pope, and Phillip Stroh. None of them have not been seen since ''Series/TheCloser'''s finale, but their influences are still felt, with Provenza asking Fritz to pass along their regards to Brenda, and the preparations for Stroh's trial being a key MythArc of Season 2.

*** He gets it from his father who [[spoiler:is more concerned with how Rusty is going to fit into his life and upcoming marriage than the fact he has a son he never knew about, including refusing to contact any of his family to tell them of Rusty. It gets to the point that when he is given a choice between being arrested for child abuse -- as he confessed hitting Rusty to Sharon and a recorder on the table -- and forcing child services to pick through his life as he is marrying into a family with young children, or signing away his parental rights, which would also ruin his chances of marriage, he asks Rusty how it felt to ruin his life]].

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. They do have some, but Rusty is dead set against going to one [[spoiler:until "Pick Your Poison" when Sharron gets him to agree to see one. His one provision is the therapist can play chess. He can and is ranked as one of the best amateur chess players]].
* ThickerThanWater: In "Pick Your Poison" [[spoiler:this is averted between the murderer and his brother an attorney. The brother-attorney was first brought in to defend his sister-in-law where he learned she did sleep with one of the underage victims but didn't kill them with Molly mixed with cyanide. The attourney knows his brother has been mixing chemicals and always been a bit off. He tells him straight out he will defend his sister-in-law but cannot defend his brother because it would be a conflict of interest and is seriously angered by his brother's evil actions]].

* WhatTheHellHero: Raydor gives a very calm, but vicious inquiry to Father Healy in "The Ecstasy and the Agony". On Rusty's first day at a private Catholic school, he tells some students his place as a protected witness and would be key to taking down a serial killer with his testimony. Some bullies mocked him and started a fight. Rusty fought back and won. The good father wanted Rusty kicked out for lying and fighting, but Sharon tells him Rusty was being truthful and within his rights to fight back. Upon learning the other boys would only receive a minimal suspension for their conduct, Raydor points out the hypocrisy of this and how the father and school's actions are very far from what Christ's teachings. In the end, Rusty got to stay in school.

** Raydor tells Rusty that not many people get to call her by her first name but he does eventually call her Sharon.

** Raydor gets here with the squad much sooner than Brenda did.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: At the preliminary trial for the Stroh trial, [[spoiler:because of the lack of solid connection between the sender and Phillip Stroh, the judge rules that the threatening letters cannot be entered into evidence. They cannot even be spoken of if the Defense raises an objection]]. Later, when Rusty is being cross-examined, he, being completely honest, admits to having lied a few times to the police, such as his age back in his 911 call. The Defense lawyer, enjoying this as it hurts his credibility, asks why [[spoiler:he saw a therapist]] and he admits it was because of another lie he told Captain Raydor. The Defense demands to know the lie and Rusty is shaken and unsure to answer. When the Judge orders him to answer, Rusty [[spoiler:tells them it was because of a police operation to catch the man writing threatening letters to him and Sharon. Defense is outraged but the Judge shuts her down as she was the one to open the door here. The letters are back in]].

** An Internal Affairs Sergeant appears in the season three episode "Internal Affairs", investigating Sanchez's conduct after he becomes a suspect for murder. Like the team, he doesn't ''believe'' Sanchez did it, but repeatedly points out that Sanchez will be charged unless they can prove he didn't commit the murder.

** Buzz calls Rusty out on this in "Risk Assessment" as though it had lightened up since the first season, Rusty could still be a jerk at times.

* TheGhost: Both Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson and Phillip Stroh. Both of them have not been seen since ''Series/TheCloser'''s finale, but their influence is still felt, with Provenza asking Fritz to pass along their regards to Brenda, and the preparations for Stroh's trial being a key MythArc of Season 2.

* FunWithAcronyms: In "Under the Influence" the show lampshades the Patriot Act is fully titled the '''U'''niting and '''S'''trengthening '''A'''merica by '''P'''roviding '''A'''ppropriate '''T'''ools '''R'''equired to '''I'''ntercept and '''O'''bstruct '''T'''errorism '''Act''' of 2001.

** He gets it from his father who [[spoiler:is more concerned with how Rusty is going to fit into his life and upcoming marriage than the fact he has a son he never knew about, including refusing to contact any of his family to tell them of Rusty. It gets to the point that when he is given a choice between being arrested for child abuse -- as he confessed hitting Rusty to Sharon and a recorder on the table -- and forcing child services to pick through his life as he is marrying into a family with young children, or signing away his parental rights, which would also ruin his chances of marriage, he asks Rusty how it felt to ruin his life]].
---> '''Rusty''': ''[[spoiler:Good.]]''

* JerkAss: Rusty in season 1. He's rebellious, defiant, and doesn't trust anyone's good intentions.

** In Season 4, Rusty's "identity" vlog is a major plot point. [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3g0qr0a-NzvJ4JsdqFlMYA/videos He mentions that it's on Youtube]].

** Also, DDA Emma Rios, who alternates with DDA Hobbs in Season Two.

** Rusty does this to Rios as well, after getting fed up with her over his safety, he calls her out on how he would be safe if she only took the Death Penalty off the table and made a deal with Stroh.

** Rusty also does this. Stating they could avoid this entire trial and his life being in jeopardy if DDA Rios would just take the Death Penalty off the table and make a deal with Phillip Stroh, instead of going through a trial.

** Dr. Morales is latino and gay.

* VorpalPillow: In "Poster Boy", the SerialKIller slams his third victim on to the bathroom floor and then smothers her with a pillow as he cannot risk any noise alerting the neighbours.

* BerserkButton: Harming Rusty is a ''really'' good way to get Sharon Raydor pissed off at you. This does not qualify as a smart plan. Regarding [[spoiler:Rusty's biological father who hit Rusty a few times,]] Sharon says the below.

** "Flight Risk" shows what's Sanchez's: hurting children.

* CharacterDevelopment: It's taking awhile, but Rusty is definitely showing signs of caring for things other than himself. Like Sharon, for instance.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: In "Acing Out", a former child star is murdered while attempting to make a comeback. At the end of the episode, his agent remarks that this is the best career move he could have made, as sales of his old TV series, his [=CDs=] and even his unwatchable concert film are going through the roof.

* DeathByIrony: In "Conspiracy Theory Pt 4", [[spoiler:Sharon starts yelling at a suspect for being selfish. While she's back in the office, despite explicit medical orders to avoid stress on her failing heart, causing concern in literally ''every recurring character in the show'', for a case her team can handle on its own. She's being pretty selfish herself. And the stress kills her.]]

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: In the pilot Flynn is venting at Raydor blaming her for the death of an armed robber who was about to confess, as the new rule instituted by the department forced them to keep him at the scene instead of being taken to the station where he wouldn't have been shot by his accomplices. As he finishes up by pointing out no other law enforcement agency in the country would have done anything like that, [[spoiler: Raydor realizes he's right: it wouldn't have been done anywhere else. So how did the ''killer'' know about the new, unpublicized LAPD policy so he'd know he could return to the scene twenty minutes later and his victim would still be there?]]

* TheGhost: Both Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson and Phillip Stroh. Both of them have not been seen since ''Series/TheCloser'''s finale, but their influence is still felt, with Provenza asking Fritz to pass along their regards to Brenda, and the preparations for Stroh's trial being a key MythArc of Season 2.

--> '''Rusty''': ''[[spoiler:Good.]]''

* ItsPersonal: Shit gets personal ''fast'' for Raydor during "Citizens Arrest".

* JerkAss: Rusty

* TheLoad: Rusty, who for a while did nothing but whine and complain every freaking scene he is in. So much so that in Episode 3 when the mother needed $500 to make it there, the division was happily forking over their own money to get her there.
-->'''Buzz''': She can have it all if that means I don't have to baby sit him anymore.
* LoggingOnToTheFourthWall: [[https://twitter.com/Sharon_Raydor Raydor]], [[https://twitter.com/TheRustyBeck Rusty]], and [[https://twitter.com/AndyFlynn_ Flynn]] have Website/{{Twitter}} accounts, which are updated even when the show isn't currently airing. Said tweets contain references to "camera crews following [them] around", or did when filming started again, which means that apparently, InUniverse ''Major Crimes'' is a reality show. [[note]]Which is pretty unlikely, given that all the sensitive information displayed.[[/note]]

* MythologyGag: In the pilot, as Raydor moves into Brenda's office, she opens a drawer, and is briefly thrown off-balance by how ''packed'' it is with snacks. Fritz came in an episode or so with a large bag to collect it.

* OhCrap: Induced in a particularly irritating LVPD detective with two lines of dialogue.

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/major_crimes_9826.jpg]]

** And again for the last few episodes of the Season 6.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Season 5 introduces Deputy Chief Winnie Davis. She is gunning for the position of Assistant Chief and resents the preferential treatment that Major Crimes gets. She uses her position as Chief of Operations to make life as difficult for Rayder and her team as possible.

-->'''Sykes''': I could go either way.\\
'''Provenza''': Raydor, you need to voice your opinion before Sykes can make up her mind.

** Brenda may no longer be in charge of Major Crimes, but her husband Fritz remains in the FBI and thus still collaborates with the crew from time to time.

** "Present Tense" had the [[spoiler: victim's parents old foster son. They were going to adopt him, but got pregnant and sent him back in the system where he was implied to be molested. He managed to have a successful life, until he met the victim, his old foster partents daughter. He got frustrated listening to her complain about her parents, and they fought until he accidentally killed her. Immediately affterwards, he felt guilty and tried to bring her back. ]]

* AdultAdoptee: Sharon adopts Rusty after he turns 18, so they will have a legal connection as mother and son.
** [[spoiler:Daniel, Rusty's "sperm donor," also hit him in a moment of anger. Sharon's threat of arresting him for abuse is enough for him to sign away his legal rights to Rusty.]]

* AdultAdoption: Sharon adopts Rusty after he turns 18, so they will have a legal connection as mother and son.

* NotSoDifferent: Rusty realizes that the guy that was trying to kill him had a very similar back story to him. This makes him break down in fear that he could turn out just like him. Raydor manages to talk him out of it.

* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: Unable to properly prosecute [[spoiler: Rosa Vega]], a key member of a drug cartel, because of a lack of evidence, Raydor has the culprit extradited to Mexico. [[spoiler: Rosa will likely be killed by her supplier/bosses because the heroin stash, valued to be worth several thousands if not a million dollars, was obtained by the LAPD.]]

* BodyOfTheWeek: Naturally. The Major Crimes Unit investigates homicides.

** Rusty, but has grown out of that.

* ObliviouslyEvil: Rusty's Mother. Clearly shown after she asked her son to prostitute himself for her bail money. Then there was this conversation with Sharon Raydor when she didn't get the deal she wanted.

* TwoferTokenMinority: Amy Sykes.

* {{Adorkable}}: ''Sharon'', of all people. Her [[spoiler:blooming romance with Andy Flynn]] brings this out in her in a ''big'' way -- like, for instance, when [[spoiler:he finally asks her out on a proper date]].