Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Directors: Barry Levenson, Dan Lerner, David Boyd, Millicent Shelton, Steven DePaul, Paul McCrane, Via Vision Entertainment.
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Ray Liotta, Drea de Matteo, Warren Kole, Dayo Okeniyi, Sarah Jeffery.
Shades of Blue are said to be evident between good cop and bad cop: an apt tagline for this ethically enigmatic police drama. Created by Adi Hasak, the series premiered in 2016, and Season 1 has 13 episodes that cleverly intertwine the wide range of storylines on the police beat, together with relationships. Bribery and corruption are rampant in the storylines.
Jennifer Lopez plays New York Police Department Detective Harlee Santos, a single mother forced to turn informant on her crooked team. Liotta is Lieutenant Matt Wozniak, the corrupt commander of the 64th Precinct’s Street Crimes detective squad, and the main target in an FBI anti-corruption investigation. A 25-year veteran of the force, he had previously spent six years in the United States Marine Corps.
Harlee is a charismatic, resourceful detective at the heart of a tight-knit crew of Brooklyn detectives, led by the inscrutable Wozniak, who often directs the team to step outside the limitations of the law in order to effectively protect their precinct and their own.
He is very close to Harlee, whom he considers a daughter, as well as Harlee’s 16-year-old daughter, Cristina (Sarah Jeffery). Cristina’s father was abusive, and shortly after his release from prison in 2005, Harlee framed him for murder.
There’s no doubt that Santos has done something wrong, even though that’s not how she perceives it. To that end, the first episode lifts the lid in the first few minutes. We first encounter Harlee as she’s taping a confession in a darkened room, blood and bruises smearing her beautiful face: “I always told myself the end would justify the means,” she says. “But now that I’m at the end … I can’t justify anything.”
In the pilot, Harlee stages a crime scene, but her rookie partner Michael Loman (Okeniyi) doesn’t deal with it easily.
There are suspicious issues, as Harlee has problems with paying her daughter’s college tuition fees for an Ivy League school. As well, As Harlee grapples with becoming an FBI informant; Wozniak is suspicious of his crew members; and Harlee refuses to give FBI Agent Stahl (Kole) incriminating evidence against Wozniak.
A meeting with a bookie turns out to be an FBI set-up for Harlee, who is now forced to work with Agent Robert Stahl (Kole) and his anti-corruption task force to avoid jail.
In ‘False Face, False Heart’, Harlee wrestles with loyalty issues. Episode eight sees more retaliatory actions taking place to define ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’. It’s not long before Harlee realises she has misplaced her trust in Stahl. The consequences are dire.
Harlee and Wozniak have radically different reactions to their respective traumas.
Skillful acting by Lopez and Liotta see their characters walk the fine line between honour, loyalty, betrayal and love. It’s all well-captured in the three-disc set, over 13 episodes.
