This week on Plot Patrol, host Duncan McCauley interrogates the TV cop procedurals that dominated the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s, miracle crime labs, rule-breaking “loose cannons,” and cases wrapped up before the final ad break.

Joined by former LAPD Lieutenant Alvarez, Duncan breaks down what these shows got right about the grind and emotional toll of police work, and what they got wildly wrong, from instant lab results to dramatic interrogations and consequence-free rule-breaking. The episode also explores how these series shaped public expectations of justice and policing. Comfort food or copaganda? According to Ray, it’s a bit of both; just don’t treat it like a training manual.

This week on Plot Patrol, Duncan McCauley heads into the dust and silence of the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, a film less concerned with catching the bad guy than with what happens when the law can’t keep up with the world it’s meant to protect.

Joining Duncan is former Texas Sheriff Earl Watkins, who brings real-world experience from policing vast rural counties where help is far away, violence arrives without warning, and not every story ends in handcuffs. Together, they examine the quiet realism of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, the unnerving calm of Anton Chigurh, and the moment Llewelyn Moss crosses the line from unlucky civilian to criminal suspect.

A slow-burning conversation about aging, morality, and what happens when the rules stop working.

Stay suspicious.

In this festive episode of Plot Patrol, we put the cuffs on Die Hard—the Christmas action classic that somehow smuggled one of the tightest plots in cinema history into a skyscraper full of broken glass and machine guns. Host Duncan McCauley is joined by retired NYPD detective DelVecchio to assess whether John McClane is a believable New York cop, how realistic the LAPD response really is, and just how many internal investigations would follow a night like this.

Bare feet, bad decisions, excellent structure. Ho ho ho indeed.