Southland (TV Series)

Unknown Trouble (2009)

Ben McKenzie: Officer Ben Sherman

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ofcr. John Cooper : Burn squad just showed up. You heard of Warner Brothers? This is "warn a brother" - you don't lie; that's how they get you. Lying is worse than an out-of-policy shooting. You just tell it like it happened, you'll be fine - no big deal.

  Ofcr. Ben Sherman : Taking a life is a big deal to me, okay?

  Ofcr. John Cooper : What the hell did you think the gun was for, huh? Show-and-tell? Look, you'll get over it - all right, they'll send you to BSS, you'll do all that Buddhist "I love and revere all sentient beings" crap; then at o'dark-thirty, next time you're up, you will drag your weary, fried ass out of bed, you will put on your gun and your vest, and you will do it all over again. You know why? Because this is a front row seat to the greatest show on earth. Can you abuse it? Yes, sir - you can, and you will; I guarantee it. Because it is relentless, and it gets to you, and it seems like it changes nothing. But a day like today, with some interesting capers, and a few good arrests? That's good. But every once in a while, you get to take a bad guy off the streets for good... and that, my friend, is God's work. So now you wanna be a pussy and quit, you quit. You're a cop because you don't know how not to be one. If you feel that way, you're a cop. If you don't, you're not - you decide.

• Ofcr. Ben Sherman : [he sees Shamika reading "Beloved" in the hospital waiting room; neither realizes that it is he who has killed one of the gang members who shot her brother]  ... I like that book.

  Shamika Cole : How come you read this book?

  Ofcr. Ben Sherman : My Black Studies class.

  Shamika Cole : For real?

  [Sherman nods] 

  Shamika Cole : ...I have a brother got shot.

  Ofcr. Ben Sherman : What?

  Shamika Cole : My brother got shot.

  Ofcr. Ben Sherman : Oh - oh, I'm sorry; is he, is he gonna be OK?

  Shamika Cole : They say so.

  Ofcr. Ben Sherman : Good... You need me to do anything, can I check with anybody about anything?

  Shamika Cole : Oh, no, he's fine - he's sleeping... You a cop?

  Ofcr. Ben Sherman : ...Yeah; yeah... We got a look or something?

  Shamika Cole : No, it's just the hair, that's all.

  Ofcr. Ben Sherman : I don't look mean or anything?

  [Shamika shakes her head, smiling widely] 

• Officer John Cooper : Where did you learn to shoot like that? Beverly Hills Gun Club?

  Officer Ben Sherman : Why don't you shut the hell up, sir.

• Officer Dewey Dudek : What's a matter with him? Why's he so quiet?

  Ofcr. John Cooper : He's Canadian.

  Officer Chickie Brown : What part of Canada are you from?

  Ofcr. Ben Sherman : Oh no- I'm not from Canada.