Ah, cop dramas, the TV staple that is now officially overdone. You can claim that there are varying flavors of the genre, and it’s true (renegade, by the book, investigative, etc.), but for each of those, there are about 5 different examples on television at any given time. Ever since 24 gave us Jack Bauer, the man with no limits, and The Shield gave us Vic Mackey, the man with a demagnetized moral compass, the genre of renegade cop shows has been looking for a way to create a show that still has edge. You won’t find it in any of the CSIs, and good luck squeezing even a drop of it out of The Closer or The Mentalist. The most recent attempt is Dark Blue, a show about officers who are so deep in cover that their files have been locked away from all but those with the highest security clearance and whose activities require them to bend the lines of good and bad to catch the perp by the end of the 42-minute episode. What starts out with a fluke of a great first episode (which offered false hope for the season’s overarching plot) becomes a tired, formulaic show with little to make it stand out from the crowd.
Lt. Carter Shaw (Dylan McDermott), doesn’t really sleep, and if you ask his superiors what he does do, most would just shrug. He lives day to day with his cards so close to his chest that they’re wedged somewhere between his ribs, and his legal authority seems to have no bounds as long as some drug kingpin or crimelord is behind bars when the red and blue lights converge. He has a crack team of operatives skilled at going undercover and staying under as long as the case requires – often to the dismay of their significant others or people concerned with their mental health. That’s actually how we meet the crew. In the first episode, Shaw’s agent Dean (Logan Marshall-Green) is caught dumping the body of a federal agent on tape while he’s playing the part in a wanted team of criminals. Apparently he’s been in the role for far too long and the videotape makes everyone think he may have turned. The team’s family man Ty Curtis (Omari Hardwick) doesn’t know if Dean can handle the pressure and so it seems at first the season will be about keeping a man in deep for a season and the mental pressure that exerts on even the most trained mind.
But it doesn’t. It turns out that’s just how they decided to introduce the initial trio, and by the end of the first episode the show has already resorted to a formula. Shaw is perpetually grieving over some loss, the details of which only become apparent to us through the prying eyes of two federal agents who want to know more about the shadowy figure. Ty works hard to balance his job and marriage as he bounces through the gamut of clichéd issues in cop shows including wanting to have a kid, should he go for a desk-based position, marital fidelity versus positional obligations (having to romance a hooker to get a lead), etc. Dean, on the other hand, is Ty’s team-based foil. He’s more of a loner with no family connections, so he’s willing to place himself at levels of risk that his superiors sometimes aren’t comfortable with (a la the pilot episode). About 5 episodes in they introduce a female lead, Jaimie (Nicki Aycox), who gets hired because she’s a great liar who has conned her way into a position on the force despite her less than honest background. She gets to play the rookie for the season and lets the writers have their expositional escape if a mission ever gets too convoluted.
The concept had plenty of initial promise, but a lack of decent character arcs and a total absence of originality keeps Dark Blue from being the new renegade cop show to take the throne The Shield and 24 left behind. Instead, it’s just another face in the badge-wearing crowd (okay, Jack Bauer didn’t have a badge – but still). Hopefully the addition of Tricia Helfer in the second season will give the show the badly needed boost to make it more noteworthy.
DVD Bonus Features
The set’s sole extra feature is a sneak peak at the start of the second season.
"Dark Blue: The Complete First Season" is on sale August 10, 2010 and is not rated. Crime, Drama. Directed by Jeffrey G Hunt, Danny Cannon. Written by Doug Jung, Danny Cannon, Rick Eid. Starring Nicki Aycox, Omari Hardwick, Dylan McDermott, Logan Marshall Green.
