cop shows for people who don't like cop shows: 1/?

[pocochina]

Probably I should've counted tonight's post on The Wire as the first of these posts, but I didn't really think it through. STILL. TNT has (at least) three great cop shows for people who don't like cop shows. Or, at least, people (me) who do occasionally like cop shows but have certain serious concerns about the genre. Tonight's addressed concern

Comments

[astreamofstars]

I'm so happy you love this show. I hope for ALL THE META on Sharon Raydor at some point from you, because I still clutch your Laura Roslin meta to my chest like anything.

It does really make me smile that this show seems, in lots of subtle little ways, to be kicking back at the typical fare on TV. I remember commenting to rococoms a while back, when looking at a photo line up of the cast at some awards show or other, just how awesome it was that out of the ten or so people there, only maybe three of them were straight white guys. And only one of them was your typical teenage hearthrob type. There's such a great mix of races, ages, genders, sexualities amoungst the cast that carries over into the show, and it's just great.

I've loved, too, that Mary has been highlighting recently, in some of the interviews she's done, the age thing, and she's talked about how great it is for her to be able to play a woman who is coming into the biggest challenge of her career at a time when, in the past, she would have been expected to retire. And how she finds herself in the same position, of having the most complex and interesting roles in her career arrive at a time when, in the past, actresses have been expected to fade out of the spotlight. I adore that they're making that a point.

Re. your point about Mary turning Sharon into a feminist, I don't know if you watched the interview that obsessive_a101 linked to, but I love this comment she made.

"Sharon is a feminist, and Sharon would not intentionally ever not reach out a hand to promote a young, ambitious, smart woman in any field, anywhere, any time."

That makes me so happy, that Sharon is this intensely supportive person, in so many ways, in such contrast to Brenda. Her whole being seems to be about helping people and supprting them in one way or another, and that's a rarity on TV, I think.

I love that her dilemma is between protecting this kid that she loves and wants to keep safe, and wanting to support and promote young women because she is a feminist. Duff, the showrunner, said in an interview recently that Sharon's 'superpower', as it were, is instinctively knowing the right thing to do, and her dilemmas are often that she is presented with a number of 'right' options, and has to navigate her way through trying to make sure that she's doing the right thing whilst balancing all of that. Which I thought was an interesting contrast to Laura, who was so often presented with decisions to make where there was no good option, and she had to make the best decision she could when nothing was going to work out right.

I'm really excited about some of the things coming up down the line. I really want to meet Sharon's husband, who Mary keeps saying she has a really 'unorthodox' marriage to. From what I've read about him and his relationship with her, it almost sounds a little like Kara/Lee - two people who love each other a whole lot and sometimes work together really well and sometimes really, really don't and bring out the worst in each other, but it's Kara/Lee with Sharon Raydor thrown into the mix. So instead of on/off, up/down, 'let's drag everyone else into our destructive relationship', it's "I love you but you are a terrible father and a terrible husband and I can't let go of you but GTFO of here until you can start to act like a grown-up". Like a really adult, messy, complicated relationship, and for some reason the idea of it fills me with glee. I may be the only person who does like the idea of it, but I'm super intrigued by it.

Sorry, this has been one massive rambling comment. Basically, I can't even with Mary McDonnell. She is precious beautiful perfection. Role model forever and always.

[pocochina]

I am really interested to see her relationship with her husband (ex-husband?). I didn't know anything about it, though, so that's kind of exciting to read about.

But yeah. More than any of her fellow crime show characters, Raydor really reminds me of Leslie Knope from Parks & Rec. She is absolutely willing and able to use government as a tool to do good in the world. And I think it's so important to teach people to expect that - at least as important as being honest about how and why we don't usually get it.

Whereas I think the cowboy cop paradigm is kind of dishonest on both fronts? In that it makes the problem and solution all about individual personality, where The Man is capriciously holding down the rogue who really wants to fight crime, therefore civilians should just trust cops and fall into line because hey you don't want to be The Man, one more thing in his way! You, wanting and asserting your rights, are part of The Problem. I really don't like that, and I like very much that Major Crimes is showing that it's not necessary for drama or for government.

[astreamofstars]

Well, we don't know a whole lot about him yet, except that he drank and gambled and they lived together for a while then got legally separated, but never divorced. And Mary's said in a few interviews recently that they have what she describes as a very unorthodox relationship and that they should be divorced and yet aren't and that sometimes they make a great couple and sometimes they really, really don't. She seems super excited about playing it. He's being played by Tom Berenger, if you weren't aware of that? There's a three episode arc where he shows up in a few episodes time.

So, I don't know, it could be a disaster, but I think it could be fascinating.