By Variety | Created at 2025-01-09 14:22:50 | Updated at 2025-01-09 23:31:37
9 hours ago
Law enforcement continues to be a polarizing topic and career in this country, but cop procedurals like “Blue Bloods,” “The Rookie” and “Chicago P.D.” are some of the most popular dramas on television. With their new Prime Video series, “On Call,” creators Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf have add to the sprawling Dick Wolf universe, with the company’s first scripted streaming series. The show follows veteran training officer Tracie Harmon (Troian Bellisario) and her rookie trainee Alex Diaz (Brandon Larracuente), responding to varied emergencies in Long Beach. From its opening scene, “On Call” attempts to subvert the typical cop procedural format, yet, in reaching beyond the traditions of what makes Wolf Entertainment’s shows so beloved, “On Call” doesn’t live up to what it could have been.
On his first day at Long Beach Police Department’s West Side Division, Officer Diaz is paired with a no-nonsense veteran, Officer Harmon, who isn’t exactly a favorite among her fellow officers — specifically, old-school-minded Sergeant Lasman (Eriq LaSalle, who’s also involved behind the scenes). The new partners set off, responding to several calls that include overdoses, domestic violence incidents, mental health events and murder. “On Call” zeroes in on the day-to-day occurrences in an officer’s shift, but it also attempts to examine the department overall. A recent incident has left the police and the community they serve on edge and at odds with East Barrio, an increasingly violent local gang.
The main issue with “On Call” is its episode length. The eight episodes are truncated instead of the typical hour, running 30 minutes or less. As a result, detailed character development and robust dialogue are lost. Supporting characters are barely more than caricatures, leaving viewers with unsettling queries instead of finite answers. Additionally, several of the stylistic choices made are entirely off-putting. The direction, mainly under the helm of Eriq LaSalle, is mostly sound. Unfortunately, the constant body camera p.o.v. and the grayscale coloring cast over the entire series is bizarre. Initially, the visual shift to the body camera appeared to be a unique storytelling tool. However, because it is overused and doesn’t push the narrative forward, it distracts the audience from the show’s diegesis. Furthermore, the show’s color grading doesn’t add to its realism.
“On Call” may have worked better as a feature-length film or an hour-long drama, but Episode 5, “Not Your Savior,” is a highlight. In the episode, the distrust and tension between Diaz and Harmon is palpable, and a harrowing crisis the pair confront highlights the true horror and terror of the job and why it remains so challenging to do it effectively over time.
Additionally, though Bellisario is a capable actress, she isn’t always convincing as a tough-as-nails policewoman. To be fair, Harmon is confined to the script’s nuts and bolts, with little room to evolve. Also, while this show has been billed as Lori Loughlin’s big return to series television, her character, Lieutenant Bishop, is barely present.
“On Call” has its share of blunders, but it successfully offers a sobering take on how constantly confronting violence, death and chaos grate at the mental health of law enforcement officials. While Harmon has mastered the art of compartmentalization (for the most part), Diaz struggles with impulsivity and managing his emotions. Additionally, only small snippets of the cops’ personal lives are revealed. Seeing them outside their uniforms would have enabled the series to showcase their full humanity. Moreover, in having extra room to breathe and explore this world, the writers could’ve addressed the nuances and structure of the East Barrio gang. Rather, dialogue consists of generic descriptors like the tiresome (and co-opted) use of the word “woke” when discussing reform measures and residents often refer to their environment as “the hood.”
Overall, “On Call” gets into the daily minutia and routine of police work. The calls and the paperwork are constant, as are the thousands of decisions and unpredictable scenarios one must make and encounter daily while trying to stay alive. But, in locking its characters and, in turn, its audience within this specific patrolling time, the drama doesn’t reach its full potential. Instead of offering a compelling viewpoint, the series is stressful and often mechanical. Viewers are never let off the job, so there is limited motivation to clock in for the next episode.
The eight episodes of “On Call” premiere on Jan. 9 on Prime Video.
