Shawn Ryan’s THE CHICAGO CODE - Page 2

It was good. Have to echo the interrupted back story  surprise was interesting.

Loved it. Most pilots are considered successful so long as they give you a solid lead and maybe one interesting supporting part. This one set up five or six compelling characters in no time at all. Shawn Ryan is goooooood.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tati 

Michelle Monaghan Jr

THANK you.

Couldnt put my finger on it.

[perv]Or in it, sadly.[/perv]
 

It was ok but nothing special. Oddly light-hearted for a Shawn Ryan show. I'll give it a few more eps to iron out the kinks and ditch the cheesy VO's.

Ryan already said on Twitter that the VOs would be cut way back in future episodes. I'm pretty sure the whole purpose of them in the pilot was to set up the plot-twist death (and make it as jarring as possible).

The V.O also serve as a quick introduction so it's better than going the 'Blue Bloods' route of having everyone sit around a table and spew exposition. Plus of course it sets up that great twist. 

Some jarring dialogue aside (Some of it was way too on the nose) I really enjoyed it. Jason Clarke seemed pretty damn good, looks like he can be quite the badass. 

One thing though, Sepinwall said the original pilot was better constructed as the new one added extra scenes for Lindo and Beales. Anyone wanna guess what they were?

Another good episode, but, wow, was the actress that played the dead cop's mother terrible!

Her son just died because he gave up his vest to save Flashdance.  She has the right to be hurt and angry.  But yeah, it's kinda hard to feel that sympathetic when her entire speaking part is basically her bitching at Beals. 

I liked it, and it looks like next week will be pretty good as well.  It's hard not comparing this to The Wire though.  Especially when Clarke had the guys against the wall and told them that the city was on lockdown.

Good, not great.  Needs more Lindo.

I think the "Good, not great" description fits perfectly at this point. Nevertheless, it's grabbed my attention enough for a season pass. Hopefully if the show does really amp it up the #s are good enough to keep it around.

Beals and Lindo are keeping me interested, but some of the writing is seriously hackneyed.  That confession from the old cop was straight-up Cop Show Cliche 101. 

 Premier ratings were super mediocre and I liked it.  This means this show is gonna get canned by the end of the season.  Yay!  Should I even fucking bother with the second episode? Jesus...

It's OK. I'll give it at least until the end of the season. Two gripes, though. First they should lose the voice overs. Second, Wysocki's niece is distractingly good looking.

Great episode.

Although, they need more CCH Pounder and less Jennifer Beals.

The latter isnt much of an actress.

I feel like I'm being Studio 60'd.

I think I know the problem.  The show is too white.  A show set in Chicago should reflect the city.  Gibbons is the only character of color in 3 episodes.  Beals doesn't count, they kill off the latino kid, and the female cop has a black partner rarely seen.  Couldn't Wysocki have someone other than white as a partner?

More problems.

-Gibbons corruption should be tied to the street gangs resulting in the gang wars and kids dying.  The Irish mob angle is stupid.  Having him tied to a black or Latino gang may be a bit of a rip off to The Wire, but it would make more sense.  The police chief shouldn' be going after 1 politiian when kids are dying in the streets at a rate far to high to be tolerated.  That should be her #1 priority, not Gibbons.

Plus you could have had a guy like Kirk Acevedo be the lead detective or the undercover cop.  The one they have is a pussy.  He jumped back when they started beating the guy. 

-Can we see Gibbons be a badass?  3 episodes in should have shown something.

I fear Shawn Ryan has either lost it or was forced to water everything down by Fox.  This could have been a great show on FX.

I thought we did see him be a badass, fucking with the mobster's shit with the kiddie porn.  Or do you mean him stomping some ass himself?

That's cliche bullshit.  Why did the cops go in the garage in the upscale neighborhood?  Did they have a warrant?  What happens when they find no prints on the kiddie porn?  And if they did have some bs excuse, all he'd have to do is turn on Gibbons with a phone call to Beals. 

I want a smooth Gibbons.  Why make it such an obvious plant job.  Have him set up the Irishman and have him begging Gibbons to help him out without direct knowledge Gibbons is behind it.

The porn thing was rather heavy-handed, but it got the point across that he is a seriously bad dude with a seriously long reach.  Although I agree that it feels a little odd that this big bad alderman from a (presumably) black ward seems to do all of his dirt with the Irish mob.  I'm sure we'll eventually learn that he's into a lot of other pies, but right now it just fells off.  Not helping anything is that the Irish mob is completely unconvincing on this show, and in the process of being infiltrated by the suckiest mole who ever...uh, burrowed, I guess.  That's what moles do, right?

Gibbons seems to be an Alderman from the Northside(first episode white victims were his disctrict) so it's not a black disctrict.

Those bodies dropped in the South Loop, which I took to be his turf.  I don't know my ward geography/demographics that well, though, so whatever.  It doesn't have much bearing on how all the crime depicted on the show thus far has been carried out by Irish retards.

His offices were on the Near Northside in the first episode.  I assume his fictional ward could reach the area in South Loop area though.

How the hell is Giddons' 'sinister' plan supposed to work?

Other than that it was a good episode. Wysocki's plot especially.

I was under the impression that a) Gibbon's had had the porn planted and b) the cops, or at least the one with a speaking role, were in his pocket, from all the significant glances and him getting a phone call and all.

As for his plan, I thought it was clear.  "I have reach in the department.  You fuck with me again, my boys pull this out of storage and put it everywhere that relates to you.  I will use my not inconsiderable power to make sure you at least do a portion of the time this filth gets you. And I will make sure it is screamed from the mountain tops that you like little kids. Your stay in prision will be short and terrible.  Do NOT. Fuck. With me."

But maybe I'm wrong.

You're not wrong

Officially tired of the police (not that the two beat cops had more than 30 seconds of screen time this episode), but would gladly watch an hour of a corrupt but still somehow idealistic Alderman every week.  The whole mad bomber plot just didn't hook me--although I liked the very last second twist--but I was enthralled by the whole Gibbons storyline, and found myself wanting to know more about his bodyman as well.  Could have been a political Vic Mackey.

Lindo is pretty much the only thread that keeps me hanging with this show. Everything else has zero spark. Clarke is not selling his role.

I like Clarke fine, and Lindo's fantastic, but not letting them butt heads directly is hurting things.   At least they addressed Gibbons's monogamy with the Irish directly, though.

I'm in through the end of the season, out of equal parts residual Shield/Terriers loyalty and not having any other dramas to keep up with until Game of Thrones in April.

This is probably an odd complaint, but I am getting really goddamn tired of the Irish mob being used as baddies at the moment. I know we've exhausted every other criminal gang as adversaries at the moment, but this shit is boring.

So Gibbons is Alderman for Cabrini Green area and Chinatown?  That is gerrymander at it's finest. 

Is this supposed to be a more realistic take on things?  I don't know if it's because it's toned down for network TV, but something about this feels kinda bland.  Not everything can be The Shield, but still, the cases/crimes can feel a little generic.  Even when the the undercover accidentally kills a guy making his bones, it doesn't feel dramatic enough or something.

And I'm still trying to get a handle on Wysocki's character.

the show has all kinds of potential, but it seems to be holding back. Lindo is great but that conflict is already getting old fast, i also find the undercover character completely unlikeable. the show made a mistake of not showing us more of wysocki and beals as partners, all of their chemistry is assumed without little knowledge of their backstory. i realize they're probably saving that backstory but if i'm not buying them right off the bat it's too bad that i need a flashback to sell me.

I didn't like the house burning subplot. But I thought everything else was good. Even the Brother in-law thing.

It is amazing though, what a difference Lindo makes. His little bit at the end lifted up the episode even if he was only on screen for a few minutes.

Fuck. I knew Cabrini Green reminded me of something. Damn my old school determination of not googling everything. It took me almost a week to realize that alderman Lindo was Candyman's neighbor.

This episode wasn't that good. That Natalie chick was pretty fucking cute though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

That Natalie chick was pretty fucking cute though.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1705080/

Om nom nom

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Murder 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1705080/

 

Om nom nom

And she's engaged to Dennis on IASIP.

Well, now seems like a good time to drop the anonymity thing. This is me and I wrote a review of The Chicago Code over at Guy.com. I offer the link to it here for any who might be interested. (Although I actually haven't watched this week's episode yet. I need to get on that.)

Pretty good episode last night. Could have done without the voice overs explaining hookers and powerful women in the history of Chicago though.

And is it me or does Beales change outfits in like every scene. One minute she's in a suit. Then she's in uniform, then in a vest with a baseball cap. It's kinda distracting.

No Lindo equals no real interest on my part.  Jason Clark is good in his role, but we need a deeper look into his personal life if he's gonna be carrying the entire show every week.

This was one of the better episodes. But the foreshadowing about either the niece or her partner getting it is maybe a bit too much by now.

And I liked a Gibbons-less episode. After all the premise of the series is about the way things are done in Chicago, not about what a bad guy alderman Gibbons is.

Jennifer Beals is a little annoying and completely not believable as the police chief.  Shes still hot though.  So she still wins.

The ending of the first episode is pretty cringe worthy.  The whole show just feels like a reaction to Terriers, like its selling out to ensure sucess.  And I think the casting of Jennifer Beals kinda proves this.

You mean it was filmed before Terriers even started?  Because Terriers was DOA.  

Whether it is a reaction or not, is kinda besides the point.  The point is that I'm surprised that its such a mainstream easy to digest show, and oddly light hearted considering the subject.  Its obviously a joke compared to the Shield or Terriers, its actually not that good even with out the comparison.  Maybe too early to tell, but this is his worst show.  I doubt I'll find out.  The biggest reason its crap is probably because its a network show.  And Jennifer Beals is almost categorically bad in this.  Glen Close, shes believable as a police chief.  Beals is just laughable.

double

Shawn Ryan should just bring his team of Shield writers wherever he goes.

Really the only reason I'm still watching this is because there's nothing else on on Monday night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nabster 

 The biggest reason its crap is probably because its a network show. 

This.  Every time I hear "jackhole," it just ruins my suspension of disbelief.  The plots/dialogue can be a bit too pedestrian as well.  As soon as the first sentence about college came up, I knew it was going to be "Boy Wonder went to Northwestern, one more reason for main character to hate him."

Network language can be very annoying.  Especially when its in a show about cops and corruption in Chicago.  "Jackhole."  Thats pretty funny.  Almost as funny as seeing Jennifer Beals rough up some perp.  The other annoying thing about network shows is the cast.  Delroy is definitely cool.  But the rest of the cast is disappointing.  Especially when you consider the actors Ryans managed to assemble for his other shows, even the Unit was composed of a very good cast.  I wonder if the networks would've allowed Michael Chicklis to lead a cop show.  A lot of the themes and elements that interest Ryan are in the show, but I don't feel the fire.  It feels very paint by the numbers.  Its almost exactly what you would expect from a network show from Ryan, and not in a good way.  This show is like Shawn Ryan for dummies.  Shawn Ryan lite.

What's weird is they established in the first episode that Jarek doesn't like profanity...so because he doesn't like it, he just combines two different profane words together, removing the profane part?  Doesn't make a lot of sense.

right, the "character who never swears" gimmick only works on a network that allows swearing. Omar from the Wire is a good example, never once did he swear on that show and he looked down on people who did, although the character never explains this out loud.  a good character shouldn't have to explain their quirks. in this case it's used as a plot device because while the networks don't allow swearing, viewers love it so a hot headed character who never swears has to explain himself.

They should try doing something like The Wire's "Fuck" scene. Have Wysocki and Caleb say "darn" or "fudge" instead.