The Chicago Code: "Gillis, Chase, and Baby Face"

Once I make a list of the longest episode titles ever, I'll offer up a review of last night's episode, after the jump....

It is a truism in television that crime procedurals are one of the most hated genres, and the ones that are greeted with the greatest amount of cynicism. With the use of just two simple words, a critic can completely write-off a show as unessential at best, and awful at worst.

Yet as much as we buy into this line of thinking, we TV critics often have to remind ourselves that there is nothing inherently wrong with the idea of a crime procedural. There is nothing to suggest that watching a self-contained story, once a week, populated with a few familiar faces, can't be interesting. Except, of course, the track record procedurals have racked up over the past decade or so. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that making up new stories week in and week out, 22 to 25 over nine months is creatively draining. Yet another part of this is due to the writers not really trying. Most procedural open with murder, and the plot points are a series of following clues and doing increasingly aggressive interviews. Sometimes there are character arc thrown in on the sides, but usually they aren't that original, and sometimes they are can be slipshod in their construction (I'm looking at you, NCIS).

Enter The Chicago Code. Not only do the cases expand beyond simple whodunit murders (a la Keen Eddie), but the show also makes sure to that these cases a) are interesting and b) tie back into the ongoing narrative (a la Terriers).

Take tonight's case, concerning a bank robbery. I'm not going to say that the case was all that original or exciting, because it wasn't; but that's not the point. (But, c'mon, opening the episode with that chase was pretty cool, right?) This case served as a canvas on which the show could paint a picture of how Jarek's attempt to help take down Gibbons are affecting his other work, both with his partner and the other cops. Evers slowly is beginning to doubt whether Jarek is making a smart move here (though I doubt that the show will break them up, so I wish they'd stop playing that angle). The rest of the cops, afraid Jarek will report there names to Colvin for a pink slip, are beginning to freeze him, putting his life at danger when the fail to answer his call for backup.

But beyond this, the case provided us a scene in which Jarek shoots the bank robber, the bullet just barely missing Moose's head. The symbolism here is obvious, but it goes beyond just Jarek's actions. Colvin is in the same boat, not only as she is costing cops their jobs (regardless of how dirty they are), but she is also putting Jarek, Evers, and Liam in harm's way as they seek to take down Gibbons. (One might argue that she was complicit is Bill being caught in the corruption scandal, but admittedly the man brought in on himself, at least in part.)

And then there's Gibbons himself, and what an excellent showcase this was for Delroy Lindo, who was unfortunately sidelined in the past two episodes. (But this is just one of those kind of shows, so whatyagonnado?) Gibbons is the character with the most metaphorical bullets flying through the air, so deep is he in the city's corruption. He takes down Bill in order to avoid paying yet another bribe (and Gibbons definitely shoulders some blame for this). He plants child porn in a “business partner's” house, making sure he tows the line. (Killian, by the way, was played by Patrick De Espirit, who you may recognize as Elliot Oswald from Sons of Anarchy.) And finally there's Colvin and Jarek, as Gibbon's launched investigation into police corruption implicitly finger Colvin, and his planting of Lieutenant Keely obviously hinders Colvin and Jarek's investigation. (Should their be some sort of mash-up of those two names, if only for efficiency's sake when writing these reviews?)

I'm not saying that this episode serves as some sort of hard and fast model for how procedurals should run (in fact, the standalone case would probably have to get a bit more airtime for this hour to be considered a procedural), but I think there is something in the idea of having cases reflect back onto ongoing storyarcs. Not only does it tend to make the cases themselves more interesting, but it also fuels a viewer's desire to return to the show on a weekly basis.

What did everybody else think?


Additional Thoughts:

“I expect to see some of you playing for the Bulls one day. After you go to college and get a degree.” Gibbons may be corrupt, but at least he is vigilante in his quest to break down racial stereotypes.

“Aren't we gonna say 'Police!'” “We just did.”

Okay, admittedly it took me a lot longer than it should have to figure out that 'Moose' and Moosekin were the same person.

Is it just me, or does the actress who plays Vonda bear a striking resemblance to Gillian Jacobs? It sort of takes me out of the show whenever I she appears on the screen.

On the list of longest episode titles: Keen Eddie's “Who Wants to Be In a Club That Would Have Me as a Member?,” any of Clone High's thirteen episodes, and the continually escalating titles from Clerks: The Animated Series. So maybe this episode's title isn't that long relatively, but when I first saw it, it certainly seemed long; maybe it's the cadence. Can anybody think of any other long episode titles?