The CW may not be the network we knew in recent years, but there are some new shows coming out. Good Cop/Bad Cop has premiered, and it’s our introduction to the characters and the world.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from the Good Cop/Bad Cop series premiere.
The series opens with an introduction to Lou and her town. She’s struggling to fight crime in an area where her dad is the Chief of Police. He has literally changed the boundary of the town to make it look like there isn’t a crime problem.
Well, there is. Lou’s first case of the series is a drug store robbery that turned into a murder. She’s overworked, though, and that leads to her dad finding her a partner.
Meet Henry Hickman in Good Cop/Bad Cop
We get our first look at Henry Hickman as we learn that he is trying to get his shield back. He doesn’t have people skills at all, and it’s certainly caused some problems for his job. There is one opportunity for him to get his shield back. He can go work for his dad.
Well, there’s a clear issue between the two. Henry shares that he wrote an editorial about why his dad should step down as Chief of Police. Yeah, that’s definitely going to affect things.
Henry is focused on facts. He reminds me a little like the earlier version of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. It was great to find out that he can speak fluent Russian, which messes things up at family dinner night with Hank’s girlfriend.
Getting to the bottom of the robbery and murder
Of course, this is still a crime drama. It means there is a case for Lou and Henry to solve. This is a great chance to see how they both do need each other. They bounce ideas off one another, which leads to Lou and Henry finding the phone that the robber who was shot (and therefore the murder victim) dropped.
Lou and Henry also work out that there was a third person within the group of robbers, who had to be the getaway driver. Of course, Henry jumps to the conclusion at first that the drug store owner is behind the robbery. I did wonder if this would lead to something.
I do enjoy seeing the way the two siblings get on with their job. Both of them are good at what they do in their own way. Lou has the personality and ability to connect with the local people. Henry is able to spot clues that others can’t. He’s a bit like a Sherlock Holmes.
There is a great sibling bond between them. I enjoyed seeing Henry immediately pick up Lou’s crush on Shane. You can tell that while Lou has her issues with her brother and his ways, she also loves him. There’s an element of awe in what he knows and how much he studies to figure things out. There’s a lot of family history that the pilot episode has only just scratched the surface on, though.
Their dad is the one who will end up pulling them together. He is so focused on statistics that he passes the case onto the sheriffs department. It’s out of their jurisdiction. However, the two are still focused on solving the crime, especially with the second murder victim. It leads to them taking Bradley to Hank’s house for the venison steaks to test a theory. The murder weapon wasn’t a screwdriver but antlers. It was definitely in Eden Vale’s jurisdiction.
Of course, Henry was right from the start. It was the drug store owner. He wanted to stage a robbery and then a real robber turned up, leading to threats and then the murder.
Right now, the supporting characters are only there for comedic purposes. We do need to see more development for them, but there’s a whole season for that to happen. This is just a pilot episode, and it stands up a lot better than other CW pilots have done. Will the series last longer than a season? That’s debateable and more due to the nature of The CW right now. I would already like to see more, and I’m here for however much of the series we have.
Good Cop/Bad Cop airs on Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
Stay up to date on the latest TV crime dramas with Precinct TV.