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SWAT Season 4 premiere delivers a powerful message about lack of change

By Alexandria Ingham

"3 Seventeen Year Olds" -- Hondo, his father Daniel Sr. (Obba Babatund), and his teen charge, Darryl (Deshae Frost), confront the history of racial tension in Los Angeles between law enforcement and the Black community through flashbacks to the city in 1992 following the Rodney King verdict. Also, the SWAT team pursues El Diablo's scattered drug cartel hiding in the city and a Jihadist group detonating bombs in coordinated attacks, in the first part of the two-hour fourth season premiere of S.W.A.T., Wednesday, Nov. 11 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Guest stars include Donald Dash as 17-year-old Hondo and Rico E. Anderson as younger Daniel Sr. Episode written by Executive Producer Aaron Rahsaan Thomas. Pictured (L-R): Obba Babatundé as Daniel Harrelson, Deshae Frost as Darryl, and Shemar Moore as Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson. Photo: Best Possible Screengrab/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
"3 Seventeen Year Olds" -- Hondo, his father Daniel Sr. (Obba Babatund), and his teen charge, Darryl (Deshae Frost), confront the history of racial tension in Los Angeles between law enforcement and the Black community through flashbacks to the city in 1992 following the Rodney King verdict. Also, the SWAT team pursues El Diablo's scattered drug cartel hiding in the city and a Jihadist group detonating bombs in coordinated attacks, in the first part of the two-hour fourth season premiere of S.W.A.T., Wednesday, Nov. 11 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Guest stars include Donald Dash as 17-year-old Hondo and Rico E. Anderson as younger Daniel Sr. Episode written by Executive Producer Aaron Rahsaan Thomas. Pictured (L-R): Obba Babatundé as Daniel Harrelson, Deshae Frost as Darryl, and Shemar Moore as Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson. Photo: Best Possible Screengrab/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved /
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The SWAT Season 4 premiere raised an important question about police reform

Police reform is a major topic right now. Like many other TV crime dramas, the SWAT Season 4 premiere brought it up.

The premiere combined the topic with something that was going to come up in the intended SWAT Season 3 finale. Many will remember that the show was short one episode due to the shutdowns in March when the pandemic initially hit. That episode was going to include something about the 1992 LA riots.

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It was an important topic anyway. We shouldn’t forget the past. Instead, we should be learning from it. The Black Lives Matter protests throughout the summer after the murder of George Floyd made the discussion about the 1992 LA riots all the more important.

You see, the SWAT Season 4 premiere wasn’t just about police reform. It was about the lack of change.

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Three generations of 17-year-olds with the same experiences

Let’s start with the youngest of our Black men on the series. Darryl doesn’t know anything about LA’s history, it seems. He hadn’t heard fo Rodney King and the LA riots were likely just some story that he tuned out during history class.

It gave us a chance to see Hondo remember the past. He thought about his experience and his hope to bring change. We’re 28 years later and that change hasn’t happened. Instead, there’s another call to protest and fight against systemic racism.

Then it comes to Hondo, Sr. He was angry during the 1992 riots. He is angry now as the Black Lives Matter protests go on. We finally get to know why. When he was 17, white cops attacked him. And it was all because of his race.

Nothing has changed. Something happens, people protest, there are talks of reform, and then nothing. Decades later, something happens and the protests happen again. Nothing is changing, and that’s something that needs to be discussed.

SWAT Season 4, Episode 1 — Photo: Best Possible Screengrab/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
SWAT Season 4, Episode 1 — Photo: Best Possible Screengrab/CBS ©2020 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved /

There’s no point saying police reform is coming. We’ve heard it all in the past, and yet nothing has changed. Hondo wants to do something good, and he’s surrounded by the right people to help, but the words are still just words. Real change needs to happen, but there are many who have no faith that’s going to happen. And after the SWAT Season 4 premiere, I can’t blame those people.

While so many other TV crime dramas are talking about police reform and touching on the current Black Lives Matter, SWAT once again went deeper into the topic. It once again touched on the past as well as the present. This wasn’t just lip service but an honest look at the situation and how nothing is changing. But it needs to.

Next. 5 big questions for SWAT Season 4. dark

What did you think of the SWAT Season 4 premiere? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

SWAT Season 4 airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on CBS.

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