We're already nearing that time of year when shows start wrapping up for the season. For some of them, it's the end of the line entirely. "Detroit 1-8-7," easily one of the best new shows of the season and one of the most criminally underlooked, will very likely be one of those shows.
It's really a shame. This is not just another cop show. It's a portrait of a troubled city, painted through the eyes of a diverse group of homicide detectives. These characters are much more than broadly painted cops intended as vehicles for exploring the drama of murder investigations, like some other shows I won't mention. Yes, many of the cases they explore are outrageous, but they certainly feel real, and the reactions of the leads always feel authentic.
The cast is led by Michael Imperioli, who plays Detective Fitch. Fitch is not a man who makes friends easily. He is closed off in many, many ways. In the show's pilot, we see him slowly start to open up to his new partner, Washington, a new dad who starts out a rookie when it comes to homicide. By the time the show reached this weekend's season, and quite possibly series, finale, Fitch had been won over enough by his new partner to trust him with his son's safety. And the audience was rewarded by finding out what made Fitch so closed to human interaction, and by seeing him slowly start to open up to the beautiful Detective Sanchez, who he'd been awkwardly and quietly mooning over all season.
Fitch is the star, but the show wouldn't be nearly as wonderful without a great supporting cast, and this show definitely has that. The city of Detroit is one of the most important characters - in any other city, this might be just another (albeit pretty good) cop show. But the setting plays a major role here. In addition, there is the tough Lieutenant Mason (one of the only female police lieutenants I can remember ever seeing on TV), sweet and old-fashioned Longford and his funny, womanizing partner Mahajan, quiet and hard-working Sanchez and pretty boy Stone.
Sadly, this show didn't do particularly well in the way of ratings. Even for a die-hard fan, it was sometimes hard to find - more than once it was pre-empted for something "more important" (like a Charlie Sheen interview, duh). If I hadn't checked Hulu this morning I wouldn't have known they aired the finale over the weekend - the show's usual time slot was Tuesday nights. With seemingly little promotion and erratic airings, it's little wonder the show didn't get more love than it did.
The finale was a bittersweet but near-perfect end to the season, and could easily serve as a series finale as well. It painted Fitch in very unclear shades of gray, showing what great lengths he would go to in order to protect the people he loved, and just how far his colleagues would go to protect him. This episode was a masterful ending that left me with chills. It's a shame that, unless ABC pulls out a last-minute renewal shocker, it will probably be the show's last hurrah.
(Warning: This clip is kinda spoilery for the finale. But it is also awesome, which is why I chose it.)
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