Hello, hello!
A new police drama has dropped on TV and while it is a typical police drama, it’s trying very hard to be something different.
Nikki Batista is of an ethnic background and is the good cop. She doesn’t care who she’s trying to find, the only thing that matters is getting them back. She knows how horrible it is to not get someone back since her adopted son Keith was taken from her home in the middle of the night.
In the second episode, she proves how she is the good cop because she doesn’t believe there is a higher oath than protecting everyone. No one deserves to be treated badly even if they have broken the law or hurt someone because they have rights too. And as the police, they are supposed to be the good guys.
Honestly, she’s a fresh take.
But watching the second episode I don’t know who we’re supposed to side with and maybe it’s purposely framed that way.
Because Jay wants revenge.
He’d let the bad guy who did bad things get hurt or hurt him himself because he believes it to be justice.
He and Nikki have an argument over what justice is on the car ride to save Hugo in the second episode. And it’s almost framed like, police are human and have human urges too.
But Nikki poses the right point: Thinking about it is fine, it’s acting on it that’s wrong.
She doesn’t like the people she stops or catches kidnapping or killing people, but she has a job and it isn’t judge, jury, and executioner.
Nikki is 100% right here and yet it didn’t quite feel that way.
Jay’s feelings are valid.
Anyone in his position would be.
That’s not my point. It’s not Nikki’s point.
We don’t need anyone thinking they can take the law into their own hands. Especially cops.
With everything I’ve learned since Black Lives Matter and everything I know now, I can’t root for a cop like Jay. He was a perfectly likeable character before that. But I don’t think perpetuating the idea that cops can break the rules for the ‘right’ reasons is okay.
EVER.
I like Nikki.
And I enjoy the premise of the show because it is character driven. A lot of reviews I’ve seen are focused on the absurdity of the time and the lack of action or what have you.
Well, it’s not trying to be a typical action-packed cop show.
In the description it says ‘character driven’ and I love that so much. I will always, always overlook weird plot holes if I like the characters I’m watching.
Nikki is a lot of fun to watch.
She’s well-rounded and has a good relationship with Jay despite being exes. Yes, there was a lot of exposition in the pilot, but it’s a pilot. Whatever happens in a pilot doesn’t always stick.
Hell, sometimes sets change or actors. It’s a first step, not the whole damn story.
Nikki is a kind, warm woman who wants to help get everyone’s babies back because their someone’s babies. Nikki views the world as a mother. She sees everyone as someone’s child and she wants to bring them home to whoever is waiting for them.
It makes her an ideal cop to watch on TV right now, because it makes her less inclined to shoot without trying to talk them down first.
Jay is an odd duck. Unlike Nikki who tried to move on with her life and keep others from suffering her fate, Jay locked himself away.
He pressed pause on his life. He can’t move forward, not with Nikki, his job, his life, or his girlfriend. He’s stuck on that night when Keith disappeared and he doesn’t want to break away until he finds his son.
Side note, I love that both kids are adopted. Families come in all sizes and I love that.
Also, I love that Nikki and Jay try so hard to be friends and stay active in each other’s lives because they share two kids. Even if one was missing, no one will ever understand that grief like the other parent.
Speaking of families in all shapes, there’s Mike and June.
Mike is a good guy, he gets along with Jay, and is super respectful of the life Nikki had before him. He’s sweet and kind. I can see why Nikki loves him. I can see why Jay loves him.
Except I feel bad for him.
Watching these two episodes it’s got to be hard loving someone who has such a painful past and will never truly be free of her ex like other people. They went through something awful and even though their marriage didn’t survive, they became truly good friends because of it. They love each other. Even now.
Their lives are entangled differently because of Keith.
And with his return…
In the pilot, it almost sounded like Nikki was saying goodbye to Mike because she has her family back. Not her intention, I believe, but it sounded that way. Then the ring scene in episode two.
Keith threw an odd wrench into their relationship. Not sure how that’s going to play out.
Also, I’m getting serious Local Woman Missing and All the Missing Girls vibes from this serious. Between Keith not quite seeming to be Keith and the secret Sydney is keeping, I hope the twist is as good as it was in the books.
Not that this show was based on those. Just they have similar vibes, and those books are excellent.
Also, Scott Caan was an awesome father on Hawaii 5-0 and I love Fivel Stewart so I’m excited to see this play out.
All in all, this show has some growing pains to work through, but it’s off to a good start.
And I hope Nikki’s good police work rubs off on Jay and not the other way around because I’ll have trouble continuing to watch.
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