Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: TV14

reviewed by Charity Bishop
 

Critics are slamming this program as unoriginal and un-engaging but for the life of me, I cannot figure out why. Dark Blue follows the lives of a team of undercover agents devoted to going above and beyond the call of duty in making busts. From week to week it kept me guessing while involving me in the lives of its main characters.

The head of an underground organization of the LAPD responsible for "deep undercover work," Carter Shaw (Dylan McDermott) becomes concerned that one of his agents has gone rogue when he is seen dumping the body of an FBI agent off on the side of a major highway. Dean Bendis (Logan Marshall-Green) is currently embedded with one of the most dangerous crime gangs in the city but has not broken cover and contacted them in days. Hoping to discern the truth and prevent the Feds from interfering and breaking their cover, Carter sends in Ty Curtis (Hardwick), a recently married man now questioning the legalities of marriage and undercover work. Needing one more person to fill out his team, he approaches a beat cop named Jaimie Allen (Nicki Aycox) with an invitation to make her street smarts count in catching the bad guys.

Most of the episodes revolve around drug busts but there are some real gems too, like a set-up for a massive diamond robbery ring and my personal favorite, a kidnapping episode in which Carter goes undercover. It is a lot of fun to see these characters interact in and out of work and also see how they cope with their job. Having a secret identity is not easy for any of them, but it is Ty that the audience comes to appreciate the most, because he is a family man at heart and so lying to his wife and not seeing her for weeks at a time really wears on him. There is a decent amount of character development between all of them but naturally the audience are going to have favorites. Some people downright dislike Jaimie but she adds a lot in my opinion and helps break up the heavy testosterone level. Unfortunately, the writers aren't always sure what to do with her and so she becomes something of a cliché when she starts sleeping with Dean.

Once you become accustomed to the format of the program it is not difficult to get hooked. There is some terrific acting from all involved and smart scripts. I was also pleased that the series shied away from too-graphic content most of the time (there are exceptions) and avoids the profane language that often permeates the genre. There is some language but it is not excessive. There is also a fair amount of violence in the form of brutal shoot-outs, occasional torture scenes, and fistfights. Blood sometimes spatters. Sexual content is a little more problematic but infrequent. There is some flirting between a married couple and a discussion about whether or not they intend to have children. Dean and Jaimie share a sex scene -- clothed but with a lot of movement, in the third or fourth episode. They continue sleeping together for a couple more episodes but we only ever see them dressing afterward. While undercover, Ty is forced to get close to a woman but doesn't respond to her overt advances. (There's a lot of kissing and some immodest clothing, but he refuses to take it any further out of loyalty to his wife.) Extremely scantily-clad strippers are shown in the second episode.