DVD Reviews

Dark Blue: Season One – DVD Review

By Patrick Luce Jul 15, 2010, 17:32 GMT

LAPD Lt. Carter Shaw (Dylan McDermott) and his special undercover task force understand that to collar criminals, one must first get on their level. They also know that going undercover may require cutting ties with those who mean the most. Adrift, isolated and frequently faced with situations that strain the line between right and wrong, these officers know that all that matters is loyalty to each other and to the ...more

Although it is a little light on the kind of grit you would expect from its squad of undercover street cops, Dark Blue is solid series with a good beginning in its first season.

The season does an excellent job setting up the ensemble cast, establishing the show’s formula and getting you into the storylines. 

The first season’s 10 episodes are collected in this release (that is available only at WBshop.com), but it lacks any special features or the kind of bells and whistles fans of TV on DVD have come to expect from a season DVD release. 

The transfer and audio for the DVD are decent, but again nothing to brag about. This seems to be more of a release for fans of the show rather than something meant to attract new fans – if I hadn’t received a press release for Dark Blue, I wouldn’t have known to look for it on DVD. I am not knocking Warner Bros. for releasing the series this way, but just saying some basic features or a preview of season two would have been nice.

Instead, the DVD release of the first season makes the series stand on its own, and luckily it has an ensemble cast good enough to hook you after a few episodes.

The series doesn’t have the grit or even realism of similar themed cop shows, such as The Shield or even NYPD Blue, but it does have some strong performances from Dylan McDermott, Omari Hardwick, Logan Marshall-Green, and Nicky Aycox.

In a nutshell, Dark Blue follows an elite squad of undercover cops in Los Angeles who operate outside the normal rules and regulations of the law. They aren’t above ripping off drug dealers to bust another dealer or worrying about little things like search warrants. They do what they need to do to take down the bad guys at all costs – which they normally accomplish by the time the episode credits roll.

The squad is led by Lt. Carter Shaw (McDermott) – a burned out cop who seems to sometimes put getting the criminal ahead of the safety of his team, and also seems haunted by his past. His main two undercover officers are the married Ty Curtis (Hardwick) and the loner Dean Bendis (Marshall-Green). The last member of the squad is the rookie with the past Jaimie Allen (Aycox).

The team is dysfunctional, but manages to get the job done. There are personality clashes in almost every episode (normally between Dean and Ty), but every member would willingly jump in front of a bullet for the other person.

The pilot serves as a quick “get to know the team” formula, and it takes a couple of episodes before the show really starts to gel. McDermott might be the star of the series, but it is clearly an ensemble show, and each cast member adds needed elements for the formula to work.

For the most part, McDermott seems to just be there to keep the episode plot devices moving along (send someone undercover to bust the bad guy, have someone else run interference to keep everyone safe, swoop in at the end to make the arrest).

He is a great actor, but I wish he had a larger role in the series. Season one shows the potential for the series so I am hopeful season two will break it open and push it in a more gritty, realistic way.

Hardwick, Marshall-Green, and Aycox all deliver strong performances in their roles, but there is nothing really new being done with their characters. The characters are interesting, and the actors all have good chemistry on screen.

Again, I am hoping the series gets better with season two, and the characters get expanded (I would like to see what has made Dean so jaded, find out more about Jaimie’s past, and see Ty become a father).

The first season of Dark Blue is a good start for the series, and does a good job of establishing the characters and the show’s formula. I am looking forward to seeing where it goes from here, and would recommend giving the series a watch for any fan of the cop genre. It doesn’t break new ground, but it is entertaining.

Visit WBshop.com for more information.