I'm just going to go ahead and start this one off by saying the last time I saw a S.W.A.T.-related property it starred Colin Farrell and LL Cool J. This I.P. has existed since 1975, long before the guy writing this article ever did, and almost 30 years before the version I first saw. In the O.G. S.W.A.T., Hondo was a white man (Steve Forrest), Deacon was a black man (Rod Perry) and Street was played by some dude named Robert Urich. By the time the ‘03 movie adaptation came along, Hondo was Samuel L. Jackson, Deacon was LL Cool J, Street was Colin Farrell and all I knew was being on a S.W.A.T. Team looked cool as hell. Bad Boys II had also come out that year, so being a cop looked pretty good, too.
Fast forward 17 years and, well, to say that opinions about law enforcement now "vary" would be an understatement. This brings us to the current version of the S.W.A.T. franchise, which starts its fourth season on CBS tonight. Not unlike the world it exists in, this property has once again fundamentally changed, and its progress, as well as its understanding of the perception of modern-day law enforcement, is definitely reflected in the season premiere, titled 3 Seventeen-Year-Olds. (Warning: spoilers ahead!)
This S.W.A.T. -- which stars Criminal Minds alum Shemar Moore (pictured at top) as Hondo, Jay Harrington as Deacon and Alex Russell as Street -- starts its new season off about six or seven months ago, in late April. In real life, April 29, 2020 would mark the 28-year anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, which began after four LAPD officers were acquitted for the beating of Rodney King, which had been videotaped and aired on national television. In the episode, Hondo and his father, Daniel Sr. (Obba Babatundé), are having a discussion about the anniversary of said event and how it affected them. Hondo’s memories are of the riots starting and him being concerned with helping others, while his father’s focus was more on the safety of his own son. While the historically accurate mayhem unfolds around them, a young Daniel Sr. (Rico E. Anderson) implores a young Hondo (Donald Dash) not to be naïve about the redeem-ability of Johnny Law from the systemic corruption that has shaped it since its inception. All the while, Young Hondo doubles down on his belief in these redemptive qualities.
What stood out to me about this episode was the nuance with which it approached this subject matter. This is a show about police, starring a Black man, during a time when it feels like police are killing more Black people than ever. Seeing a video of Rodney King getting beat by the police was a new thing when it happened, and it shook the world. Now, video footage gets included with every unjust killing the way that fries come with a burger -- it's just a part of the package at this point.
Either way, the point is that this feels like a ballsy direction to take your pro-cop show in the current socio-political climate. Fortunately for them, the writers on this one seemed to be aware of that going in.
Yes, Hondo comes off as the pro-blue side of the argument in this one, but it's mainly because of his very non-cop father playing the exact opposite. While Hondo’s story was about seeing a problem and choosing a path that he felt would help make him part of the solution, his father’s was about how the problem had always been there, and how the constant presence of that kind of bigotry and oppression had taught him that it would never truly be gone.
The way the show handles its "present day,">