Apr 18 2013
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Southland
Apr 11 2013
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The thought has been in the back of my mind ever since the première, but it didn’t hit me until tonight that next…
Apr 4 2013
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Ben Sherman defenders no longer have a leg to stand on. After constructing a ruse so despicable that it turns his…
Mar 28 2013
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In the most well-known and beautiful scene of Joseph Conrad’s novel Lord Jim, Conrad’s reliable stand-in Charles…
Mar 21 2013
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The first police-related show I remember watching with regularity was Law & Order. It was the first show other than…
Mar 14 2013
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Southland is a rolling boulder: it’s been slowly gaining momentum since 2009, going faster as faster, getting better…
Mar 7 2013
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Think of police officers as circus performers. They put on their uniforms with the shiny badges and hop in their…
Feb 28 2013
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The opening flash-forward, freeze-frame, and narration scene is the one major stylistic constant over Southland’s…
Feb 21 2013
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but Southland has gone to the “it’s too hot in Los Angeles” well before. I understand the…
Feb 13 2013
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So much has changed season-to-season on TNT’s Southland that at first it’s easy to feel unmoored by the stability of…
Mar 21 2012
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The pilot of Southland used Officer Ben Sherman as a window into the world of the LAPD. In its initial incarnation…
Mar 14 2012
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Three weeks ago, after “Integrity Check” was over, I was upset that the preview for the next episode showed John…
Mar 7 2012
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Every character that Southland has followed since its premiere in spring 2009 resides in a moral gray area. John…
Feb 29 2012
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B
There are times when I rag on the flash-forward technique Southland uses in the first scene of every episode. It’s…
Feb 22 2012
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B+
The LAPD is perhaps the most notorious major metropolitan police force in the country. A lot of that poor reputation…
Feb 15 2012
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Though I love Regina King’s performance as Detective Lydia Adams, Tang and Cooper have taken over as the best…
Feb 8 2012
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Even when it paints with far too broad strokes, Southland gets so many little moments right it can't help but seem…
Jan 31 2012
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An episode like tonight is much closer to my ideal version of Southland. A frenetic pace of beat cops tearing…
Jan 25 2012
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It might not be the right word to describe a bleak police drama, but I’m incredibly fond of Southland. Almost all of…
Jan 17 2012
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Other cop shows get more of the glory, but over three tumultuous seasons, TNT’s Southland—formerly NBC’s Southland,…