The Equalizer (2021) s02e06 – Shooter

It’s a city-in-crisis episode, with a sniper terrorizing New York. Only the show skips the first two attacks, and it doesn’t appear there’s a lot of crisis going on. Even though the expository dialogue makes it sound like everyone’s staying inside when Queen Latifah and Liza Lapira go to the crime scene, there’s a bunch of people loitering around, and the streets behind them are full.

So the danger never seems super imminent.

Lapira’s along because it’s a sniper episode, and she was a sniper in the army. We get some backstory with her shitty misogynist former C.O., Terry Serpico, and then Lapira gets a big standoff scene in the third act. Lapira’s a lot better when she’s not spending all her time mollycoddling Adam Goldberg, who’s barely in the episode.

Tory Kittles also gets a bunch more to do than usual since the city has hired Latifah to find the sniper because they’re incapable. So to keep track—men in the military are at best sexist incompetents, while the NYPD is just incompetent. “Equalizer” doesn’t exactly have politics, but it doesn’t mind casting aspersions on terrible institutions.

Jennifer Ferrin shows up as the DA again; she’s the one who okays hiring Latifah. It’s strange they don’t call the FBI. Or bring in some Army guy to track down their vet-gone-killer.

Of course, given the B-plot is all about Laya DeLeon Hayes having a PTSD panic attack from watching her friend get gunned down in last season’s finale… the show making weird plotting decisions isn’t a surprise. The Hayes arc is fine—though a complete cop-out at a certain point when it stops being about Hayes and is instead about Latifah and Lorraine Toussaint trying to help Hayes—and the ending resolution is strange. Latifah decides Hayes needs professional help to make sure the PTSD doesn’t get any worse but instead brings in… well, there’s that weird plotting thing again.

Because “The Equalizer” knows some things should be taken seriously, except it’s a CBS procedural programmer, so there’s only so much it can do. What if Hayes’s mom wasn’t someone with a very particular set of skills like Latifah, who knew what to do in these situations? The show also doesn’t really address Hayes’s reaction to mom Latifah being out there risking her life in this perilous episode. Bat signal’s up, and Latifah’s got to go, and Hayes is okay with it.

Odd ambitions aside, good acting from Toussaint and Hayes (before she very literally gets put to bed) and probably series-best work from Lapira.

Goldberg’s arc about being recalled-to-life is still treading water, which is again a strange choice. Why introduce a subplot to just immediately stall it out? It’s like they gave Goldberg something to do in one episode and now have to tell him every episode they’re not going to give him more to do.

Nice direction from Milena Govich and some surprisingly solid fight choreography for this CBS show.

The Equalizer (2021) s02e05 – Followers

Oh, come on, "Equalizer," stop getting my hopes up.

Thanks to this episode—directed by movie "star" Mark Polish (quotations because I knew he existed but have never seen him in anything, and I also thought he co-directed all those) and with a script credited to Zoe Robyn—I am once again approaching bullish on "The Equalizer."

The secret appears to be not having Chris Noth in the show—I think he's been on once, max twice, this season—and relegating Tory Kittles to de facto "and" credit. Kittles is still good, but the show all of a sudden seems very aware it can't really do a regular cop-adjacent show in 2021. Especially not with this episode's subplot about some shitty white woman (Diana Henry, who either deserves an Emmy or to be dragged) harassing Lorraine Toussaint in a store then calling the cops on the Black lady. It leads to a few phenomenal scenes for Toussaint, including a rending monologue.

Credited scriptwriter Robyn is a white lady, so… it's one of those things where if we find out Toussaint didn't want to do the scene, it's going to be messed up, but at face value, it's outstanding stuff. It's all for teen Laya DeLeon Hayes's benefit. Hayes is an inclusive zillennial who thinks if white ladies are racist pieces of shit, it's just because they haven't read the right New York Times both sides op-ed (to which Toussaint has a killer response), and it turns into an arc for Hayes as well. Everyone involved, including the shitty cops, gives excellent performances, but Toussaint's is truly wondrous.

The main plot is about a couple Internet detectives, Nadia Gan and Erik Jensen, hiring Queen Latifah to investigate some stalking videos. They're from the dark web and clearly creepy and dangerous, if not worse, but—in another way too real moment for the show—Facebook's cool having them in groups because engagement.

It's a decent mystery, with lots of twists and turns, with decent or better performances from all the guest stars. Kevin Isola is a standout as the prime suspect. The show even gets some decent mileage from Adam Goldberg and Liza Lapira's exposition dumping about the case. Also, it helps a woman and a child are in constant, terrible danger to ratchet up the suspense.

"Equalizer" is at its best with Toussaint and Hayes—oh, wait—the opening. They're talking about a family movie outing, and they're going to see a (fictional) superhero franchise movie only from the character names they use… it seems "The Equalizer" takes place in a universe without Rona, but one where Gods of Egypt got three sequels.

Anyway. The show's best when it's Toussaint, Hayes, and Latifah at home, which isn't ideal for a domestic para-espionage procedural thriller, but it's where the show's most sincere. And the acting's the best.

So, yeah, once again… getting ready for "Equalizer" to disappoint thanks to it raising its bar.

The Equalizer (2021) s02e04 – The People Aren’t Ready

I’m not getting roped into the “maybe ‘The Equalizer’ will actually be good” game again, but this episode’s solid. It improves some things, it maintains some things, it fails at some things.

The fail is Tory Kittles teaming up with Dominic Fumusa for a bit. Kittles has all these buddy cop one-liners he dismissively spouts just before the cut like a “Law & Order” spoof. The one-liners ring particularly hollow because they’re the only interactions Kittles has with Fumusa where the episode doesn’t go out of its way to remind Fumusa is a complete asshole. There’s even a secret origin reveal of his character to further explain the assholery. It’s a bunch.

The improvements are for—almost unbelievably—Liza Lapira and Adam Goldberg. They go out in the world on a mission together, and Goldberg’s a buffoon, and Lapira has to save their bacon, but it’s actually cute. Even with Lapira’s socially conscious expository dump in the first few minutes about prosecutors holding people of color in pretrial detention for years on end. It’s the second time “The Equalizer” has tried this information dump from Lapira, and it works better this time. It also doesn’t end up being very important to the actual plot, which has Queen Latifah getting arrested and having to save the day from jail.

Latifah’s got information about a threat against Karen DA Jennifer Ferrin, but Ferrin doesn’t believe it at first. Once there’s an incident, Ferrin makes Kittles and Fumusa work together to try to stop the would-be assassin—aggrieved father Michael Chenevert—while Goldberg and Lapira are pretty sure it’s a frame-up.

Meanwhile, in jail, Latifah meets a young woman (Imani Lewis) whose stubbornness is stopping her from getting out of a bad situation. So Latifah becomes a mentor, whether Lewis wants one or not.

Then at home, Lorraine Toussaint and Laya DeLeon Hayes are freaking out about Latifah being in jail—as part of the family’s new honesty policies, Latifah discloses her arrest—though no one knows her identity. So lots of good, quick family drama for Toussaint and Hayes.

Combined with the Lapira and Goldberg all of a sudden being charming and an inventive episode setup… maybe “Equalizer” is getting better. Or at least it seems to be raising the bottom.

The script—credited to Joseph C. Wilson—still manages a bunch of awful dialogue.

The Equalizer (2021) s02e03 – Leverage

Every time I think “The Equalizer” is getting better, it stalls out, though at least some of this episode is fine, and the worst stuff (Liza Lapira acting tough) is predictable. This episode, writing credits to Keith Eisner and Erica Shelton, is a combination of “The Wire”-lite and “The Shield”-lite. And it’s directed by Eric Laneuville, a very measured, thoughtful, experienced TV director.

If Laneuville can’t make it play, it just can’t play.

The plot has Queen Latifah trying to rescue teenager Justiin A. Davis from a life in the game. The show goes out of its way to imply that situation, only to reveal he’s being forced into it by yuppie DEA agents Michael Drayer and Jacqueline Nwabueze. Drayer’s a white guy; it’s clear he does not give a shit about Black teenager Davis. Nwabueze’s a Black woman; it’s clear she knows they’re doing the wrong thing but is hoping Drayer’s imperviousness to accountability will go for her too. Neither are exactly bad, just terribly miscast. It’s unbelievable Latifah doesn’t beat the shit out of them after meeting them.

So while she’s trying to figure out what gang they’re trying to get Davis to infiltrate, a new cop on the vigilante case, Dominic Fumusa, is after her. But most of his pursuit is making “is the okay sign really racist” comments to Tory Kittles, who’s demoted to office work this season, where Fumusa likens himself to a Great White Hunter. It’s weird. Like “The Equalizer” can’t really address some things because then Kittles’s whole character falls apart. Like cops can’t be villains, even though whenever they’re on the show too much and get too many lines, they’re clearly villains, racist villains.

It’s actually downright subtle compared to the DEA blackmailing Black teens into working undercover, which the episode spotlights in three or four expository dumps. Sure, the dumps feel contrived, but they’re at least informational, save maybe when Lapira and Adam Goldberg are doing one.

The home plot is Laya DeLeon Hayes giving a eulogy for the kid who got killed in the last season finale when Hayes found out her mom’s “The Equalizer.” Lorraine Toussaint provides sturdy support. It’s not particularly well-written, but it’s at least effective, thanks to good acting.

Maybe next episode will be better. It usually goes better, worse, better, worse, so the show can’t get any real momentum going.

The Equalizer (2021) s02e02 – The Kingdom

So, this “Equalizer” is in many ways the best episode ever. There are still many problems—starting with the A-plot being about Queen Latifah taking on the Saudis and continuing with some bad acting from one of the principal guest stars—but it’s pretty darn good. Especially for “The Equalizer.” Randy Zisk’s direction is strong, Latifah’s performance is strong, the other principal guest star is excellent. The last episode didn’t promise improvement for the show for the second season; this episode starts making that promise.

The A-plot is about college student Arash DeMaxi going missing. He’s the son of the Saudi ambassador (Nasser Faris); his sister, Melis Aker, is the one who calls Latifah. But we don’t see the call. Instead, the action picks up with Latifah already on the job, complete with disguise. It’s a nice change; she’s more comfortable as her super-spy secret hero.

Though that comfort figures into the home plot with Latifah and daughter Laya DeLeon Hayes, who’s still distant since discovering her mom’s the star of a weekly action-thriller show on CBS. The home plot, with aunt Lorraine Toussaint fretting over Hayes’s behavior, has good acting, good directing, and weaker writing. Not the weakest writing. The weakest writing is the details in the A-plot.

The episode starts hammering in the Saudis as bad guys, then takes it up a notch to say they’re bad guys the U.S. needs to be exploiting better. There’s a bit about the country’s sexism and homophobia (ignoring it’s based in the state religion), but also about online dissidents. Adam Goldberg does the expository dumps about the dissident stuff, and he’s pretty bad for a lot of it. Like he can’t pronounce characters’ names correctly. Luckily all the actual espionage stuff plays well in action. It feels like a dated plotline, which might be why the show feels so comfortable; they’re not reinventing the wheel; they’re just doing the Saudi episode.

Plus, Chris Noth—sporting a bad dye-job because “Equalizer” pretends he’s a very wealthy, erudite scrub—meets Liza Lapira. Lapira, who’s got some annoying scenes with Goldberg as usual, doesn’t like Noth, but at least there’s some energy to her acting in the scenes. Again, signs of improvement.

Meanwhile, cop Tory Kittles has a subplot about low-key racist white cop Dominic Fumusa now hunting Latifah. Not much for Kittles to do, but he’s good in the scenes.

It may just be a solid episode, but Latifah’s in much better control of the show than usual. I’m hoping it’s a sign of things to come.

The Equalizer (2021) s02e01 – Aftermath

“The Equalizer” returns with a whole bunch of problems but still has a reasonable amount of charm to it, just because of Queen Latifah. She gets a really good “mom” monologue when Laya DeLeon Hayes is yelling at her about being a former super-spy now using her very particular set of skills to help those in need. It’s much better written than most of the episode, which credits Terri Edda Miller and Andrew W. Marlowe as the writers. Obviously, there’s a room; obviously, there’s the Guild; obviously, Marlowe’s terrible; I hope Miller wrote the monologue. It works.

It doesn’t really make the episode feel any more realistic because even though Latifah’s hunting a bunch of apparently CIA-trained bank robbers who are targeting families, she’s never worried about Hayes’s safety. Apparently, the bad guys could hack into Adam Goldberg’s super-computer, but they couldn’t put a tail on Latifah. Though whenever Goldberg talks about his super-computing skills, you doubt the veracity of it all. The Internet’s way too easy to hack on CBS.

This season premiere picks up a couple weeks after the finale, with Hayes staying at her dad’s and not wanting to talk to Latifah after the super-spy reveal. Latifah’s still not talking to Chris Noth, and cop Tory Kittles has a new partner, Erica Camarano. In fact, Latifah’s planning on shutting down the whole “Equalizer” thing to focus on repairing her relationship with Hayes.

Until Kittles calls in favor markers for help on a bank robbery case with expertly trained perpetrators who aren’t in any fingerprinting system.

Then there’s another subplot involving Goldberg feeling cooped up in his Lex Luthor from Superman: The Movie hideout—though he’s more Otis—and wanting to go outside. He’s been down there five years, which is a lot less impressive for people who’ve been through Rona lockdown, but Rona still doesn’t exist in “The Equalizer” universe.

Solvan Naim’s direction is better than the show needs. Latifah and Kittles still have the right chemistry—even if both seem bored regurgitating A plot exposition after every commercial break—and Hayes, Noth, and Lorraine Toussaint are all still appealing. I feel like if the show were thirty-four minutes instead of forty-two, it’d be an even better watching experience. Probably not a better show, but definitely more fun with less time investment. Or maybe just don’t time suck on Goldberg and Liza Lapira (Lapira’s so scenery she’s furniture this episode).

But a season two renaissance seems very unlikely, but for network procedural fodder, “Equalizer”’s fine. Enough. I mean, you’re watching it because it’s Queen Latifah as a badass super-spy. No one’s pretending there’s any other reason to tune in.

The Equalizer (2021) s01e10 – Reckoning

Yeah, I knew Joseph C. Wilson credited scripts weren’t good, which is a real bummer because this episode deserves better. Queen Latifah gets a case close to home when daughter Laya DeLeon Hayes and her friends become collateral damage in a drive-by shooting. The episode becomes a race: will Latifah get justice for the victims before Hayes figures out her mom doesn’t work for an international charity. Because now Hayes is entering Latifah’s world, specifically the precinct where detective Tory Kittles works.

It’s kind of fun seeing Kittles and Hayes together. We rarely get to see Kittles in scenes where his personality matters. Usually he’s just acquiescing to Latifah for plot reasons or taking shit from his white superiors for similar plot reasons. This episode he also goes to visit dad Danny Johnson in prison; Johnson is an ex-cop who started stealing because he realized the system’s garbage so why not steal. It’s a really good scene from Kittles. Not the best writing (or even good), but Kittles acts his ass off.

And there’s almost good stuff with Hayes standing up to her classmate’s racist white mom, which Wilson’s script too quickly dismisses as rude Karening. It’s a miss after the episode takes the time for Latifah and aunt Lorraine Toussaint to sit and mourn Hayes being yet another generation of Black child who has to learn what it’s like for their friend to be killed. That scene between Latifah and Toussaint is so good, thanks to the actors, not even Wilson’s hackneyed dialogue can mess it up.

But Wilson can definitely mess up every pointless appearance from Adam Goldberg and Liza Lapira this episode. They’re background, with Lapira occasionally spouting off single expository lines to remind viewers of the plot, while Goldberg’s just… there. Even though part of the plot involves someone calling Hayes’s phone and threatening her, which seems like a very technological angle. Though since Wilson writes Goldberg and Lapira so badly, having more of them wouldn’t really help things.

Also not appearing this episode is Chris Noth, who’s on his second episode away. I can’t remember… Latifah might be mad at him but it just goes to show how little “The Equalizer” needs him. Never good to showcase how little your show needs its “and” credit actor.

It’s an okay season finale if an at best middling episode—Wilson’s dialogue’s real, real bad—with the family stuff for Latifah a lot more engaging than anything else thanks to the actors. Though it’s an incomplete; whereas Kittles gets some resolution to his arc, Latifah’s family troubles is the cliffhanger.

The Equalizer (2021) s01e09 – True Believer

This episode has a lot of stones. It’s very modern—a group of disaffected white guys become an alt-right terror cell because one of them’s a cop and really wants to use all his access to explosives for evil (it could potentially age very poorly)—and they all got together on a Parler knockoff.

And it tries really hard to be simple and direct about the stuff. Very empathetic but then there’s the “well, actually, cops kill Black people so we’ll not be doing the cops are okay either” ending and it’s very, very bold all of a sudden. For CBS anyway. I’ve long suspected “Equalizer” filmed before summer 2020 and only now is starting to get to recently filmed material. Queen Latifah and company—including now duplicitous cop Tory Kittles (who’s better this episode than he’s been in a while; he’s quite good)—are trying to stop a white supremacist bombing somewhere in the New York area. Complicating matters are white terrorist cop (oxymoron?) Christopher Cassarino being too smart to get caught being a white terrorist and then Laya DeLeon Hayes really wanting Latifah to do a TikTok even though Latifah can’t let her face get out online.

Even though the episode has the most (and sadly therefor worst) Adam Goldberg in a while, it’s also the most joyous in… ever maybe? The show leans super hard on parenting is the universal bond and it’s cute. Latifah’s cute as the awkward uncool mom who’s less hip than aunt Lorraine Toussaint. It’s predictable because it fits into the trope but also original because it’s Queen Latifah. Though it’d still be nice if Goldberg were better. He gets a bunch of exposition here and butchers most of it, his timing way off.

Excellent direction from Laura Belsey. The terror thrills—potentially too on-the-nose conspiracy plot or not—are excellent. Lots of tension. Belsey does a fine job creating this genre adventure in an existing show. It’s a spy show but also the suburban and urban procedural. I kept waiting to see if they’d be able to fit Chris Noth in (or to afford to be able to fit Chris Noth in). No, but they don’t need him either.

The writing credit goes to Keith Eisner; he and the room get a gold star for credit, because it’s a lot less apolitical than you’d expect. Especially on CBS Sunday night.

I’m all of a sudden very curious how season two’s going to work.

The Equalizer (2021) s01e08 – Lifeline

I watched this episode like it was the season finale, so I was more bullish on the epilogue than I would’ve been if I’d known there were two episodes after this one.

This episode’s got Queen Latifah doing a CIA one-shot amid her regular plot lines, like daughter Laya DeLeon Hayes and aunt Lorraine Toussaint getting very suspicious about her work. Latifah’s been saying “global charity” or something, which accounts for the days away at a time, but they’ve finally had enough. It leads to some decent scenes; better than the episode average scenes, particularly better than the Chris Noth and Tory Kittles material.

Again, if they’re out of episodes and trying to sunset Noth and Kittles’s outstanding arcs—as they are—for the season, the material makes sense. If it’s not the season finale, they’re just using both actors and wasting both actors; the show usually only has either Noth or Kittles, not both. But to have both and do zilch? Maybe in the season finale. Episode eight of ten… not so much.

The case this episode is Latifah’s old CIA mentor—not Noth, but the one we’ve never heard of until the plot required it—and his daughter, Alexandra Socha. Socha is on the run from professional assassins and needs Latifah to talk her through it; imagine Die Hard but Reginald VelJohnson does all the action from the parking lot because budget. It’s not great. The script—credited to Joseph C. Wilson—isn’t good. It’s often quite bad. The family stuff is fine. The rest is garbage and a desperate Mission: Impossible nod. Or Bourne nod. Maybe both. Doesn’t matter. It’s bad espionage stuff.

But Latifah gets through it. Equalizer needs to keep going until it can figure itself out, which grants it some leeway with excursions to France—probably not even Quebec France—and an entirely new MacGuffin nemesis getting introduced. Again, seems like a season finale. But there’s definite potential to the series, which the episode highlights. In maybe the only good direction from Randy Zisk, who bellyflops so hard on the big fight scene you can hear the impact.

The Equalizer (2021) s01e07 – Hunting Grounds

The episode opens with district attorney Jennifer Ferrin deciding she’s going to go after vigilante Queen Latifah because it’ll make a good “law and order” story for the media. Yep, Karen Ferrin (it even rhymes) will be going after Black woman Latifah who helps the BIPOC people the NYPD at best ignores, at worst murders. But as “The Equalizer” continues to exist in an alternate universe where Rona never happened, I guess they can try to get away with it.

The Ferrin subplot only pops up again at the end, when she tracks down Latifah’s erstwhile partner, NYPD detective Tory Kittles. We’re back to splitting “Equalizer” between Kittles episodes and Chris Noth episodes apparently; no Noth this episode.

Instead, it’s Latifah and Kittles trying to track down a serial killer whose latest victim starts the episode with forty-eight hours to live. Kittles doesn’t like Latifah’s methods, while Latifah’s more interested in Kittles’s parenting techniques (are his two sons a retcon) than his professional abilities. He’s a partially useful body to have around, otherwise Latifah can do it all on her own.

Including hack into the NYPD’s interrogation room cameras—thanks to tech guy Adam Goldberg and his sniper wife, Liza Lapira. “Equalizer” has finally figured out how much Goldberg and Lapira the show needs and it’s not a lot. There’s not even big, profoundly inaccurate tech exposition from Goldberg. He’s closer to being a welcome cast member than ever. And Lapira’s fine.

Meanwhile, Latifah’s aunt Lorraine Toussaint is starting to date online. Latifah’s not thrilled about it or daughter Laya DeLeon Hayes helping her figure it out. It’s a solid subplot though, just because Toussaint and Hayes are so fun together.

The serial killer pursuit—the NYPD missed the ten victim plus serial killer streak because they were all Black women—is all right, though the resolution leaves a lot to be desired. Along with the eventual serial killer, whose performance similarly leaves a lot to be desired.

Kittles and Latifah continue to be good together (regardless of him being superfluous), but his cop storylines are still pretty bland stuff. There’s only so many times it can turn out no one listened to him because he’s the only Black guy and for him to turn out to be right, only for him to turn around and defend the system.