In the TV show Elsbeth, Elsbeth Tascione (Carrie Preston) is a colorful lawyer who works with the New York Police Department (NYPD). The show could easily be what is derisively known as \u201ccopaganda,\u201d in which cops are presented as relatable heroes who for the most part mean well and go to heroic lengths to get justice for victims.<\/p>\n
In a copaganda TV show, the dirty cop is an aberration, an exception who proves the rule. Once the other cops discover what he\u2019s doing, he\u2019s arrested and thus removed from the force.<\/p>\n
But at least dirty cops do show up on copaganda shows. The occasional dirty cop makes for an interesting storyline without upsetting the fantasy that most cops are morally upstanding heroes.<\/p>\n
Such shows also sometimes depict the rookie whose temperament is rather unsuited for the job, and therefore doesn\u2019t do such a good job. Presumably he will wash out.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be very surprised to see on such a show a cop unsuitable temperament not wash out and instead rise through the ranks. And even with\u00a0Elsbeth\u00a0I was surprised to see precisely that character on last week\u2019s episode, titled \u201cDoll Day Afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The episode starts with\u00a0David Cross (Nolan Hurst) meeting up with a shady doll dealer and winds up killing him without meaning to. Elsbeth Tascione is now working with\u00a0Officer Mike Summerville (Angus O\u2019Brien), a rookie whose judgment leaves a lot to be desired. Precisely the kind of cop you would not want to be in a hostage situation with.<\/p>\n
Since I want to discuss the whole episode, I am legally obligated to give a spoiler warning. I will give away the ending of the episode, so there\u2019s at least one spoiler ahead.<\/p>\n
For those of you who have been watching this show through the two seasons completed so far, it\u2019s not a spoiler to tell you that Elsbeth immediately hones in on Nolan as the killer. That happens in a toy store, giving Elsbeth the opportunity to be goofy with toys.<\/p>\n
It probably is a spoiler to tell you that Nolan grabs Summerville\u2019s gun and takes the toy store employees hostage.<\/p>\n
This is where\u00a0Captain Cyrus Tully (Campbell Scott) comes in. Tully is in charge of hostage negotiation, but he\u2019s not the right man for the job: his trigger finger is too itchy, even though he\u2019s not actually directly handling any weapons in this episode.<\/p>\n
Series regular Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce) shows up and lets Elsbeth know that he\u2019s had some disagreements with Tully in the past.<\/p>\n
This suggests to me that Tully was once a rookie who should have washed out but instead rose to the rank of captain.<\/p>\n
Fortunately Elsbeth figures out a way to de-escalate the situation without killing Nolan. A valuable doll gets a bullet in the head, though.<\/p>\n
Summerville gets his gun back, saying his arm feels complete again. Will he learn anything from the experience, or will he grow up to be like Tully?<\/p>\n
Of course given that the protagonist of Elsbeth is a police consultant rather than a police officer, the writers perhaps feel freer to question the usual assumptions about cops. On a show like Boston Blue, the sequel to Blue Bloods, the writers are more constrained. Though perhaps casting Sonequa Martin-Green as Donnie Wahlberg\u2019s partner was a bold choice.<\/p>\n
On tonight\u2019s episode\u00a0<\/p>\n
When “grief influencer” Raquel Drabowski’s presumed-dead husband makes a miraculous return, their reunion takes a fatal plunge; Elsbeth’s surprise reunion with an old friend could expose a dangerous [scheme].<\/p>\n
Elsbeth airs Thursdays on CBS at 10 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the TV show Elsbeth, Elsbeth Tascione (Carrie Preston) is a colorful lawyer who works with the New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-248333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}