There's no such thing as a clean slate, especially for the characters of Southland.

And being ""Off Duty"doesn't mean they're off the job. Try as they might, the job follows them home.

It was great that Ben called Brooke his girlfriend, even if he did stumble over the title. She's good for him, candy dreidels and all, and he needs someone to ground him. A sane life outside of the job.

But the job never goes away, especially when the criminals walk up and give you their card. I loved that Sherman handed it off to narcotics to take him down but now that the guy's seen Ben's face, I just hope that doesn't come back to haunt him.

Ben and Sammy were feeling almost close to normal. These two will never be the perfect partners. They each have so much baggage to get past but they're at their best when they're bantering back and forth. 

Sherman couldn't seem to understand why Sammy would walk away from being a detective, even when he tried to explain how that job infused every aspect of his life. Of course, watching his partner get bludgeoned to death in front of you by an angry mob put Sammy at the end of his rope.

Unfortunately he's still on shaky ground. I wish he would learn to stay away from Tammy. The voicemail message he left her will probably be used as an admission of guilt down the line. Tammy doesn't care about her ex. She only cares about what she can take from him.

Lydia's trip to death row was mildly disturbing. I couldn't believed she shared such personal information with a serial killer, even one behind bars and awaiting the needle. Was it all to gain his trust and find those last bodies or was she really so lonely that she had no one else to share with?

The one person who had Lydia beat in the lonely department was Cooper. John needs to connect with somebody. The cactus garden was a good analogy for him. He's so prickly that no one can get too close.

From the burns on Dewey's leg I assumed that he was the cop John dragged from the fiery car all those years ago. I was glad he saved him once again. As much as Dewey's a chauvinistic, prejudiced, idiot, he's also incredibly entertaining. Southland wouldn't be the same without him.

Of course Southland's never without its moments that make you shake your head with the sheer ridiculousness of it all.  This week it was a tie. There was the woman with dementia who killed  what she thought was a stranger in her bathroom with a hammer. The twist was the man was most likely her husband and he'd been dead in the bathroom for at least 9 months.

The other case was the crazy woman who gave a false confession about raping a man. When she threw that dildo on the table I don't' think Rueben could have jumped any higher.

All just another day for the officers and detectives of Southland.

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.