The Chicago Code: "Pilot"

Once I suppress the deep feelings of loss over Terriers that come up every time I see Shawn Ryan's name, I'll be able to give you a review of The Chicago Code pilot (and I'll be adding the show to the regular blog rotation), after the jump...

This may undermine by validity as a television critic, even an amateur one, but I have yet to see a single episode of the The Shield. Chalk it up to my being to young at the time, the skepticism that greeted most cable shows back then, the fact that I don't have the expendable income for the DVDs, but its just one of those television shows I have yet to get around to watching (though I plan to, one day). So despite my general knowledge of what makes it such a great show – its grittiness, its realism at portraying corruption, giving us one of television's greatest antiheroes and finales – I'm coming into The Chicago Code fairly clean, as it were, and this means I will be able to evaluate the show on its own terms. (Not that I am suggesting that other critics won't strive to do this, but the subconscious mind and all that.)

As I wrote in my latest bashing on The Cape, there is a fine line most genre shows walk between archetype and cliché. And boy, are there a lot of archetypes in TCC; we have the corrupt system, the officer who it determined to take down the corruption, the rough, abrasive cop who sets out to right all wrongs, the “rookie” (in case of both Evans and Landa, though Evans' is relative), and the undercover cop who is putting his life on the line.

And yet Shawn Ryan's script has managed to undercut all of these, to some extent. The abrasive cop (Det. Wysoki) is mostly just a bombastic personality, who acts aggressively in order to get the job done. But he doesn't swear (in fact, his moral code is almost Puritan in nature, minus the fact that he's cheating on his fiancée with his ex-wife) and he could never be mistaken for a dirty cop. Both “rookies” are smart and self-assured, and the show avoids making them out to be doe-eyed innocents. Ant the undercover cop (Liam seems to be his name, though it's probably an alias) seems to be apt for the job, and doesn't look to be converting to the other side any time soon.

The corruption angle is less fleshed out at this point, though that seems to be something that will grow in time, as it appears to be the show's central narrative. Yet the show seems to have great respect for what it is intent on doing, if the setup in the pilot is any indication. Though things clipped along at a pace that was too fast by half (I kept saying to the show “slow down”), it was only so we understand just how complex and far reaching this corruption is. By elevating it all beyond just the simple good/evil dynamic, the show has already gained my trust that is will flesh all of this out more fully (and hopefully at a slower pace).

And if that wasn't enough, the two main players of the corruption storyline – Superintendent Colvin and Alderman Gibbons – were such fascinating presences even in the short amount of screen time we've seen of them. I am particularly interested in Gibbons, a man who I feel we will get to watch the show unpack over the next several weeks. We already seem to have a handle on Colvin – the overly righteous cop – but I am hoping that she too will be given more depth as the series trudges on.

But above it all, the show seems to give a nice flavor to everything that happens on screen. While The Shield was known for being dark and gritty, Ryan seems to be avoiding that here (at least to some extent) as the tonight's episode featured both a bouncy score and several elements of humor. Specifically, it appears as if Ryan wants to stop the show from seeming too dour, fully aware is he that stories of corruption, however well told, can run down people's spirit quickly, as thus turn them off of a show.

Kudos especially to the narration, a film and television device that is often a lazy way to blow through necessary exposition. There was plenty of that here (this is a pilot, after all), but all of the narration seemed to be giving up a glimpse into the psyche of the characters, and that is one of the best uses of narration. And using it to make Antonio's death that much more surprising was a great move, though I doubt will see much more of moves like that.

This was a solid start to a show that seems to be shaping up for great things. I for one can't wait to see what Ryan has up his sleeve.

What did everybody else think?


Additional Thoughts:

“[I'm] as capable as the next idiot at getting my head shot off.”

“The only sane answer to that question is Audrey Hepburn, in any movie she was ever in.”