PILOT REVIEW: The Red Line

THE RED LINE

Starring: Noah Wyle, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Aliyah Royale, Noel Fisher, Howard Charles, Elizabeth Laidlaw, Vinny Chhibber, Michael Patrick Thornton

Created by Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss
Written by Caitlin Parrish & Eric Weiss, Directed by Victoria Mahoney

IN SHORT: Some Important Things to Say and Some Fluff

THE PREMISE:
The Red Line is a new drama airing four two-hour installments on CBS over the next month. The show is set in Chicago where a white cop, Paul Evans (Noel Fisher) shoots a black doctor to death in a misunderstanding at a convenience store robbery. The death leaves behind the doctor's husband, Daniel Calder (Noah Wyle) and daughter Jira (Aliyah Royale). Meanwhile, we also meet up and coming politician Tia Young (Emayatzy Corinealdi) and her husband, Ethan (Howard Charles). Rounding out the main cast is Evans' partner, Vic (Elizabeth Laidlaw) and his brother, Jim (Michael Patrick Thornton) as well as Daniel's colleague and Jira's teacher, Liam (Vinny Chhibber).

THE REVIEW:
There were some really compelling moments in the pilot of The Red Line. I have only watched the first hour so far which is the technical pilot, but I do plan to watch the second hour soon. The best part of this show centered on the main plot, the shooting death and aftermath of Harrison Brennan. The show did a great job making Brennan a compelling character in just the few minutes we saw him on screen before his death so it made us care more about his family after his death. That's not an easy thing to do so credit to the writers and guest star Corey Reynolds.

There are certainly good intentions in The Red Line and it succeeds some of the time. They want to say something about race relations in a city where there are a lot of problems with that very issue. The show did a nice job of showing the grief and anger from an innocent man's family but also humanizing the cop who shot him and is dealing with his own form of grief. In today's culture when these stories pop up, it's very easy to take sides and make it a, pardon the expression, black and white issue. But the reality is it's a lot more complicated than that and this show at least recognizes that even if it doesn't fully explore it in a completely satisfying or thoughtful way yet.

The cast is solid, especially Wyle and Fisher. But some of the other characters weren't as instantly compelling including Royale as Wyle's daughter. The show was purposefully keeping the Tia/Ethan storyline separate before bringing them together, but I don't know that her story and foray into politics in its own right really was interesting without connecting it to the main story clearly. I was pretty intrigued by the dynamics between Fisher & his partner, especially in their final scene. I'm curious to see where the show goes from here and how much it stays focus on the overall concept of the pilot and how much it becomes more of a relationship drama. I hope it's the former.

BOTTOM LINE:
The Red Line is certainly noble in its attempt. Between some really good moments and a very compelling lead performance from Noah Wyle, it's enough for me to make time for this late spring entry. As the final scripted show premiering in the 2018-19 season, it may be an afterthought to its network but it's far from the worst offering.