review one of the better pilots of the fall, hopefully completing said review before the show gets canceled.Prime Suspect stars Maria Bello (who will always be Anna Dellamiko in my heart) as a NYC homicide detective who is a good cop operating in a man's world, being undercut and harassed at every turn by her male counterparts. While I don't doubt that there's more than a little "boys' club" ridiculousness and discrimination that goes on in this kind of a workplace, it all felt a little dated and unrealistic. I'm sure there are a lot of sexist bastards out there who think these things, but it's quite another to publicly and openly harass someone like that. This show is actually a US adaptation of a British show (which starred Helen Mirren in the lead role, if you want a quick primer in American vs. British television priorities), so maybe that explains that oppressively sexist overtones. For as much as I love British programming and for as advanced and forward-thinking as the Brits generally are, there's an undercurrent of sexism in British shows that always strikes me as incredibly odd and unabashed. Perhaps that sentiment traveled across the pond along with the show.
For as irksome as the overt sexism was to watch, the show pulled it off well and crafted a work environment for Bello which, while I hope to hell is an exaggeration of reality, gave her ample chances to shine as an actress. For as eye-rolling as replacing Mirren
with a younger, blonder actress was on the surface, Bello completely holds her own as the rough and tumble heroine Jane Timoney, who's attractive, but not unrealistic. It's a difficult role to manage and she pulled it off with charm and grace. Indeed, this kind of set-up, with this kind of lead role would oftentimes generate a heroine that wasn't particularly endearing or believable, but Bello's layered performance gives Timoney the range necessary to grab viewers. She's tough and composed, but she's not heartless or vindictive (even though she probably should be). For as often as the men in her department treated her like shit and told her she was invading their clubhouse, she held it together and kept a composed public face. Which isn't to say that in the privacy of her own home she was stiff as a board, but everyone, male or female, has a public and private face that they maintain.Had Bello's performance not been as strong, I think her nauseatingly sexist colleagues would have driven me away within minutes. The show actually did a lovely, and surprisingly subtle job of making them look like the complete assholes that they are. The writers didn't shove it down the viewers' throats with grandiose speeches about equality or a cheesy voiceover explaining how things are different for men and women. Instead, they let Bello's face do the talking as she endures constant abuse with reserve and dignity. That isn't to say she sits idly as her career passes her by. She was refreshingly pragmatic and direct about her position, her colleagues, and her career path, not letting even the nastiest of
invective tarnish her resolve. It was pretty apparent going in that this would be a tale of "look, she's a girl AND she's a hell of a cop!" but it played out surprisingly well. Even when Bello was clearly playing into that trope, showing up all the boys with her detective skills, it didn't come across as preachy or self-righteous. Indeed, the writers did a very nice job showing how Timoney's skill set would be beneficial to a case, female or not. The one aspect of her investigation that did hinge on the fact that she's female, specifically, is that she was able to exclude one of the suspects based on her history in vice. I particularly liked this because it seems that all female cops have had to work vice, which is annoying as hell, so at least in this instance, it worked to her advantage.As per usual with this kind of sexist set-up, after Timoney takes over and solves the case, she gets more grief rather than less. It's bad enough in these guys' minds that she invaded their turf, but it's far worse to actually be competent. The truly unfortunate thing with women in these kind of roles or racial minorities, members of the gay community, etc, is that it doesn't matter how many times they do something right, it's the one time they do something wrong that they will carry with them. The men around her are just waiting for something to happen that they can latch onto that proves that women can't do this job. The other men might make this same mistake a million times, but it's irrelevant. It's the one time the woman screws up that not only invalidates everything she does, but all women in general. White men are allowed to be individuals. Women represent the entire gender as a whole. Sorry to be soapboxing here, but I've been in Timoney's shoes before, to a lesser extent, so I feel for her. I think most women have been in similar situations and know what its like to carry an entire gender's reputation on her shoulders. It isn't easy. Or fun. And it's a lot of pressure to endure. As such, this pilot hit home on more than a few levels, which made for an uncomfortable viewing experience at times.
Bearing that in mind, the fact that it made me uncomfortable and even pissed me off doesn't mean it was a poor pilot. Indeed, even in the subtler ways that it exposed the male/female dichotomy of her work environment, the show made its case and let the audience decide. For me, one of the most effective scenes was when the most sexist and prejudicial guy of them all gets a phonecall from his 4-year
-old daughter. It's very clear that he, along with all his sexist male colleagues, absolutely adore this little girl, singing Happy Birthday to her and wishes the best of possible birthday wishes. I'm guessing a lot of people in the audience saw this as a redemptive scene whereby the audience gets to see that these guys aren't so bad after all. Who knows. Maybe that was the intent. From where I'm sitting though, it was a further indictment of these men's actions. How you can you adore a daughter and be excited for all the wonderful things to come in her life and yet treat women like this? It's always strikes me as so completely confounding that men can be so excited about their daughters, wanting only the best for them, but see women as weak wastes of space who are only allowed to do certain male-approved activities. "That's right, princess. You can be anything you want to be. As long as it's a homemaker. Or a nurse. Or maybe a kindergarten teacher." How can these men not see their own hypocrisy? I just don't get it.I'm really going to try to move past the gender coding issue, but for a pilot like this, it's kind of a big deal. The only other aspect that I have to address is the end of the episode where Timoney chases a serial rapist and murderer into an alley and gets beaten up and tossed around like a rag doll by the guy. It was already established that this perpetrator was a little guy (slender build, maybe 5'9"), but he nearly kills Timoney without so much as a single hit from her. Now, I have no doubt that given the circumstances, any police officer, male or female, would likely need back-up for this situation. But for a tough cop, who has had extensive training, to not so much as land a punch seemed kind of ridiculous to me. At the end of the day, or in this case, at the end of the episode, she still needs a big strong man to come and save her. I was thoroughly disappointed. I came up with some narrative reasons for why the writers would have done this, but none of them were particularly satisfying. I like to think that they wanted us to understand that women are the victims of violent crimes the majority of the time and that it makes sense for a woman, who's been in those shoes, to investigate such crimes. It makes sense to me. Hell, if I had just been raped by some aggressive alpha male, the last people in the world I'd want to talk to about it would be an entire room of aggressive alpha males. No thanks.
Send in a female detective. And if you don't have one in your department, promote someone.The case of the week was well-crafted, if completely secondary to Timoney's personal journey. While I enjoyed Bello's performance quite a lot, this is a cop show first and foremost, which makes it hard for me to really jump for joy. I've heard that they'll be toning down the sexist overtones considerably, so while that will make for a more pleasant viewing experience, I'm not sure it will make for a more interesting one. The actual police work on these shows very rarely interests me, so it's the actors personal journeys that I focus on. Good cop shows can overlap the two in ways that make me care about both (like The Chicago Code) and so far, Prime Suspect has done a nice job interlacing Timoney's personal and professional lives. I'll certainly be giving this one another chance, but based on the ratings for the pilot, I'm going to try not to get too attached. It really is a quality show with a great cast, but on NBC, even quality programming doesn't stand much of a chance.
Pilot Grade: B-
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