Since its premiere seven weeks ago, The Chicago Code has been playing that dangerous game of walking the line between archetype exploration and reliance on clichés. This is inherently a bad thing, since shows that are able to do the former often come across a rich, tightly woven narrative. But when they fall into the latter – as TCC has done in the past couple of weeks – a show can seem lazy and uninspired. Luckily, TCC swung back to the land of archetypes this week, using common “cop show” tropes, but imbuing them with enough individualization so that each story told tonight was both moving and somewhat original
Over the past few weeks, the show has taken one of its least developed characters, Liam, and turned him into perhaps the most interesting, and it was due in large part to tonight’s episode, which saw the show stick him with its most interesting character, Alderman Gibbons. Despite Gibbons dominating there scenes together – and with monologues that are so well written/well acted, how could he not – Liam’s frantic kind of energy played well off of him, and show was able to create tension without saying much. Not only is Liam now in Gibbon’s control – he knows that Liam set that fire – but Liam is also playing his own game against Gibbons. While this dynamic did get much of a chance to play out tonight, it is great set-up for the weeks to come.
But what really impressed was how the show saved this plotline from becoming too route. After reintroducing Liam story with some lazy narration, and an even lazier shot of him waking up surrounded by bottles of alcohol, changing the focus to the Gibbons/Liam dynamic freed the show up from having to do the same tired beats all over again. I am not proposing that the show shouldn’t explore Liam’s guilt over the accidental murder – indeed, that scene in the bathroom of the widow was a great one for Billy Lush – just that the show does so in a different manner. And by having Liam take all of this as a new challenge, to rededicate himself to the task so he can nabthatsonaofabitch, is a angle with more dramatic potential, and it also turns Liam into a more active participant in his own story.
Elsewhere, we saw Jarek attempting to juggle his mess of a personal life, always keeping moving in order to survive (which makes him like a shark, I guess). While this is also a retread of a plot from other cops shows, few cops shows that I know of have had a plot that involves and engaged man sleeping with his ex-wife. But what really made this work was the idea that though Jarek isn’t comfortable at home with his fiancée (who finally get to see, and boys was everybody right: she really is too young for him) and all of those wedding invites, he’s not really sure if he’s ready to go back to his ex-wife, even if he does enjoy their time together and get jealous at the thought that she’s going out on a blind date. By giving this plot the emotional complexity it deserves – as well as getting the son involved in the action - the show has brought it up above its simple soap opera-like roots and has developed it as tool for character study.
There was also this week’s standalone case, which while more clichéd than archetypal, was most certainly better than last weeks’, due in no small part to its’ complexity. By giving it a few twists and turns, it meant that this was a more or less serviceable way to kill half of tonight’s screen time. And while I usually don’t appreciate the tired idea of infighting between various branches of law enforcement, nor did I care if Romero ended up in the hands of the FBI or not, this did give the show the excuse to bring in Adam Arkin, and even though he only got two scenes, he was fantastic enough in them that his presence brought up this section of the story just a little bit. (And given the flirtatious nature between him and Teresa, odds are he’ll be back soon.)
But what really made this plotline work was the subtle connection between Romero’s broken family and Jarek’s. Usually I am not a fan of such emotional resonance, as most shows harp on this note too heavily, ruining any attempt at subtly. But in this episode the connection was kept low-key; if you caught the connection, great, but if not, it’s wasn’t going to significantly hinder your enjoyment of the episode.
What did everybody else think?
Additional Thoughts:
“Make sure you bring enough firepower.” “We got enough firepower?”
“I’m going to throw you against the wall, okay?” “Yeah.”
“I consider my constituents family. The ones who voted for me anyway. The rest can go to hell.”
“Oh my god, I can’t get that one guy’s smell out of my nose. What is that, vomit or urine?”
Nobody’s going to ticket Gibbons’ car. And even if they do, he knows a guy who knows a guy.
The FBI might be trained in resisting cupcake bribes, but there really is no defense against red velvet.
Repeats for the next two weeks. See ya’ll back on April 11, assuming you’re not rushing to finish your tax returns.
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