I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching: 2020 Edition: Pt. E

I Saw This (double exclamation point) is our feature wherein Kent(!) or Toasty(¡) attempt to write about a bunch of stuff they watched some time ago and meant to write about but just never got around to doing so. But every time I try not to write, bad things happen, very bad things. Somewhere. To someone.

What I Have Been (or Am) Watching is the admitted state of me spending too much time in front of the TV. And despite what I said above, I have been avoiding telling you about what I have been watching. Not that you care. But at least I am not telling you about my character

Pt A is here. Pt B is here. And Pt C. And Pt. D.

Good Guys!

I just like watching TV shows where the good guys where white hats, and the bad guys where black. Sure, I don't mind a bit of complication here and there, a bit of humanity in my non-reality, but I guess I am just not built to root for the bad guy. There may be a few exceptions but it explains why I never took to Breaking Bad, The Sopranos or The Shield. And it also explains why I continue to watch Magnum PI and The Rookie.

FBI, 2018-2020, CBS

The Dick Wolf formula (Law & Order) but applied to the FBI working out of NYC. Maggie Bell (Missy Peregrym, Van Helsing) and OA Zidam (Zeeko Zaki, 24: The Legacy) are the lead special agents / characters in this comfort food of crime fiction. Behind the scenes there is a regular cast of analysts and fellow agents, led by Jeremy Sisto and Sela Ward then Alana de la Garza. Each episode is either a murder that has impacts requiring the FBI to investigate (or politics just places them in the lead) or actual FBI stuff, like terrorism, espionage, etc. In today's fictional US crime landscape, what the FBI is mandated to investigate is fluid, so really anything can happen.

The Dick Wolf formula balances the investigation with the expansion of the characters' lives. We learn that Maggie still suffers after losing her husband to an unexplained murder, OA struggles with being a Muslim in today's America, Jubal (Sisto) is a recovering alcoholic and analyst Kristen Chazal (Ebonee Noel, Wrecked) continues to prove herself eventually being promoted to active field duty, but not without consequences.

These are good people, and it is nice to be able to approach the paranoid nature of American federal crime prevention without the cynicism of reality. This aspect of "Hollywood" has been capturing my attention of late, where in reality we fear or hate the Trump backed forces of oppression, these TV shows want to establish (at least in fiction) that they are still agents of Good.

Deputy, 2019-2020, Fox

American crime fighting organizations can be confusing. Sure, we in Ontario have the local police, the OPP (are you down with... ?) and the federal RCMP. In the US they have many many more branches, including the Sheriff's Dept. Think of sheriffs as the OPP for much of the US outside of "incorporated cities". In the LA Sheriff's Dept, the are contracted by the city, as well as the communities around the city, all inside LA county. There weirdest thing is that the Sheriff is elected, not appointed as the most appropriate. In some counties, the Sheriff may just be the best political figurehead.

In Deputy, the LA County Sheriff dies of a heart attack and Bill Hollister steps in. Bill (Stephen Dorff, Alone in the Dark) is a cowboy -- tough, gruff and more comfortable kicking down doors than playing politics. But he despises his rival, the man who expected to assume the Sheriff's role, so he keeps the job and proceeds to fight to change the internal political behaviour he observes. All the while he continues to shoot at bad guys, ride horses and constantly go where he knows he shouldn't.

I normally wouldn't enjoy this Walker, Texas Ranger style program but they have an agenda beyond romanticizing "real men" and classic American ideals; this show is definitely Left. Let's ignore that Bill has married a Mexican woman and is deep in the culture, especially as his daughter approaches her quinceañera. The episode where Bill breaks up an ICE raid because he sees himself as protecting all the citizens under his hat, even though not yet real certified as citizen. To him they were victims of a sex trafficking ring and his to protect, fuck the Federal money from ICE. Also Bill is assigned an assistant: a driver, bodyguard and someone who helps him navigate the never ending meetings he has to attend. At first, we see Bishop, a butch lesbian (Bex Taylor-Klaus, The Last Witch Hunter) but soon we learn they are in the initial stages as identifying as non-binary. Bill is visibly uncomfortable but also very VERY clear that Deputy Bishop is His People, worthy of his respect and understanding. Bill is a Good Man and the entire show is about showing us that this is what LA County needs right now.

FBI: Most Wanted, 2019-2020, CBS

Not that I generally have a lot to say about all these shows, but this one I have the least to say other than I am watching it, irregularly, in that I am downloading in batches and watching a few episodes when I don't find myself gravitating elsewhere. That aspect of my Watching is odd to me, in that there are shows I drop but shouldn't have, shows I should be watching but don't and shows I definitely shouldn't be watching but do. Well, this show, for me, is like toast. I don't have toast every night or day, despite my moniker. But when I do, I tend to sit down for four slices and a large glass of milk and just enjoy. It's comfort food, something to settle in with and let it help slide the world away. The same of this show, it not being anything grand or even bad, in the other direction, but it is something familiar, predictable and comforting.

Now, this spin-off of the main show, focuses on a team that is primarily hunting down people on the Most Wanted list. Led by the Jess LaCroix (Julian McMahon, Runaways) this squad uses skills and mainly tenacity to find people who have committed heinous crimes, usually murder or kidnapping, and gone on the run. Once the perps leave the state, these guys are called in. The little bit of personal development is left to our exploration of LaCroix, who in the field is more than a little bit of an asshole, driven and forthright, but at home, he is dealing with the death of his wife, a native American soldier who died overseas. The show is exploring the relationship between him and his daughter, and his wife's people, as she lives with her grandparents. As a reminder, his wife's brother is on his team.

The show is the thinnest of character development and a lot of people die on this one. But it follows the formula well enough to attract me over the other crimes shows like NCIS or Hawaii Five-Oh.