Note: this is a spoiler-free advance review of the first episode of Shots Fired, which premieres tonight on Fox.
Shots Fired has its heart in the right place. Fox's new "event series" aims to explore some of the most serious issues facing the US right now in the form of systemic racism and racially motivated shootings. Unfortunately, the series seems very unsure of what story it actually wants to tell in its pilot episode. The first episode shows promise, but too often the hard-hitting drama takes a back-seat to more traditional detective TV tropes.
Created by Gina Price-Bythewood (The Secret Life of Bees) and Reggie Rock Bythewood (Gun Hill), the series opens with the shooting death of a white teenager by an African American police officer Joshua Beck (The Wire's Tristan Wilds) in North Carolina. Concerned with "optics," Washington D.C. officials dispatch greenhorn prosecutor Preston Terry (Race's Stephan James) and veteran investigator Ashe Akino (The Best Man's Sanaa Lathan) to take charge of the investigation and prevent another political powder keg from exploding. Complicating matters are the involvement of NC Governor Patricia Eamons (The Sessions' Helen Hunt), self-interested Officer Breeland (True Blood's Stephen Moyer) and a charismatic local pastor named Janae James (All the Way's Aisha Hinds). Richard Dreyfuss also plays a major role in the series, though his character doesn't appear in the pilot.
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Shots Fired has its heart in the right place. Fox's new "event series" aims to explore some of the most serious issues facing the US right now in the form of systemic racism and racially motivated shootings. Unfortunately, the series seems very unsure of what story it actually wants to tell in its pilot episode. The first episode shows promise, but too often the hard-hitting drama takes a back-seat to more traditional detective TV tropes.
Created by Gina Price-Bythewood (The Secret Life of Bees) and Reggie Rock Bythewood (Gun Hill), the series opens with the shooting death of a white teenager by an African American police officer Joshua Beck (The Wire's Tristan Wilds) in North Carolina. Concerned with "optics," Washington D.C. officials dispatch greenhorn prosecutor Preston Terry (Race's Stephan James) and veteran investigator Ashe Akino (The Best Man's Sanaa Lathan) to take charge of the investigation and prevent another political powder keg from exploding. Complicating matters are the involvement of NC Governor Patricia Eamons (The Sessions' Helen Hunt), self-interested Officer Breeland (True Blood's Stephen Moyer) and a charismatic local pastor named Janae James (All the Way's Aisha Hinds). Richard Dreyfuss also plays a major role in the series, though his character doesn't appear in the pilot.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...