“It’s my generations fault for not teaching yours better manners.” -Gibbons
I’ve given The Chicago Code a lot leeway so far this season due largely in part to the involvement of Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield and Terriers. I was upset a bit last week with the episode, but dismissed the notion because it was without Delroy Lindo. However with his return this week I got the same feeling: the show is good, not great. When Terriers was around I found myself loving every episode and not wanting it to end, but with The Chicago Code, I feel like I would be ok if it went away forever. That seems very harsh, so let me clarify a few things. The first is that it is infinitely better than CSI, NCIS and all their offspring procedurals. I would miss The Chicago Code because it would be better than those, but know that those shows don’t really exist in my universe. So when I say “if the show went away” I mean if it went away from the list of shows I watch or will watch. Do I wish the show to go away? No. Far from it. What I wish is for the show to improve. It has a lot of great elements in it, it just needs to find a way to put them altogether.
The Chicago Code is essentially two shows battling for air time. One show is Alderman Gibbons using his political office to run an organized crime syndicate but he has to keep batting away these annoying cops that keep trying to slow him down. What he doesn’t know is that he just took in an undercover cop into his crime family. The other show is one where a superintendent has a super detective that rides around with this young up and coming detective solving crimes, but their relationship is the real story. The super cop has a tumultuous home life and the kid cop keeps giving him grief, all while being a pretty decent detective. Both shows on there own would just be ok, but if we can find a way to weave them together, we’d be much better off.
I’m not one to just throw out problems and offer no solutions, so I’ll do my best. It is without hesitation that I can say Justified is currently the best showing airing right now. This excludes the likes of Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire and shows like that as they are currently not airing. What Justified does so well is that it has created a sense of family in Harlan County. Even when things don’t directly involve Raylan Givens, they effect him. Justified is a mix of episodic cases mixed with serialized cases just like The Chicago Code, yet Justified is such a smoother show. In fairness to The Chicago Code, Justified does not have to please a network audience. It can function in cable land. But at the heart of the matter is the lead character. We have learned to love Raylan despite his many flaws. With Jarek Wysocki, we’re not quite head over heels for him. This is why I thought it was nice in this episode to get a bit more of a look in the insight of his home life. On Shawn Ryan’s twitter he was asked when we were going to meet Jarek’s fiance, and he replied, “Soon. And when we meet her, you won’t forget her.” I thought this meant she was going to show up guns a blaze being the drug kingpin of Chicago or something. I half expected her to jump out of the Nigerian’s car with the kidnapped son, but no, it was neither of these things. It turns out that she’s just smoking hot. It’s no wonder Jarek is having trouble leaving her to go back and be with his ex wife. Beautiful ladies is a move Justified has been pulling for a while now. It’s about time The Chicago Code stepped up it’s game. Though I’ll admit, I do find Jarek’s niece Vonda a little attractive.
I think the show has taken a step in the right direction this episode though. There was a great scene where Gibbons brought Liam in to visit the family of the man he unknowingly killed. It really showed the ruthlessness of Gibbons’ character and let us know just how sick and twisted he is. This led to Liam talking to both Wysocki and Superintendent Colvin and ultimately to him saying that he’ll do whatever it takes to bring Gibbons down. Now we have all our good guys with a singular focus. Now if ruthless drug dealer gang kingpins with weaknesses for their family can stop getting the way, The Chicago Code can get focused and close out the season strong!
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