We Own This City Rotten Tomatoes
While it technically isn't a spin-off ofThe Wire,We Own This City does feel like a logical follow upwards, and non just considering David Simon is involved. Information technology'south almost the reality of policing starting in the latter 2010s, where the police are in the spotlight for corruption, racism, and violence but still seem to be using the same onetime methods to get data and pile up arrests. It also takes place in Baltimore, in the aftermath of Freddie Gray'southward death.
We Ain THIS City: STREAM Information technology OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: As a Baltimore Police Department time sail screen is filled out, we hear a cop say, "I'm not here to tell you lot that you're not gonna fight."
The Gist: It's January, 2017. Sgt. Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal), a key figure on BPD'due south Gun Trace Job Forcefulness, is lecturing cadets on the whys and whens of fighting with people they've stopped, especially in post-Freddie Gray Baltimore. To Jenkins, fighting doesn't aid a cop foster contacts and get together information. But when nosotros wink back to Jenkins' days as a trounce cop, it seemed that he didn't quite get that message yet.
Non everyone is happy with the tactics of Jenkins and the GTTF. Detective Sean Suiter (Jamie Hector), for example, isn't quite ecstatic over the weapons haul Jenkins and his crew bring in after a raid. Momodu "G Money" Gondo (Momodu "M Money" Gondo) is already in prison, and now he'southward being questioned past FBI agent Erika Jensen (Dagmara Domińczyk) about the places where he used to go cloak-and-dagger.
Wink back to 2015. In Harford County, Narcotics Chore Force investigators David McDougall (David Corenswet) and Gordon Militarist (Tray Cheney) try to track down the source of heroin that'southward causing ODs in their county and in Baltimore Canton. With cooperation of Baltimore County narcotics detective Scott Kilpatrick (Larry Mitchell), they attempt to rails down a dealer known to pass on the deadly production, with promises past federal drug enforcement agent Andrea Smith (Gabrielle Carteris) to get them federal help. Just a couple of raids come up clean, except for a 2nd tracing device on the dealer's car, put there by a GTTF detective.
Meanwhile, Nicole Steele (Wunmi Mosaku), who is part of the DOJ'due south Civil Rights Partition, starts to observe out which BPD cops have the most complaints. 1 GTTF cop, Daniel Hersl (Josh Charles), is mentioned by anybody, including new commissioner Kevin Davis (Delaney Williams). Yet he's withal on the job, mainly considering he only has i complaint that'southward gone to a hearing, and he's making arrests, something that BPD has refused to do in the aftermath of the Freddie Gray incident.
What Shows Volition It Remind You Of? It's not a stretch to think thatNosotros Own This City is an update to David Simon's signature serial,The Wire,focusing on policing in a world where everyone has cameras on their phones and institutionalized racism in police forces is beingness rooted out.
Our Take: Simon and George Pelecanos adjustedWe Own This Cityfrom the non-fiction book by Justin Fenton, and if anyone can create a fictionalized account of the push and pull betwixt Baltimore's police and the community and make information technology look realistic, it's David Simon. He and Pelecanos do exactly that here, even though their manipulations of the show'due south timeline sometimes gave us whiplash.
There seems to be two timelines at play here: 2015, when Steele starts really getting into the abuse and racism in the GTTF, and 2017, when Jenkins and others in the task force go down for the tactics they used over the years. But we too see Jenkins equally a shell cop, which was likely earlier than 2015. There are some clues as to what role of the timeline nosotros're in — Jenkins' computer timesheet, for instance. Just information technology'south really up to the viewer to figure out in which time period the scene they're watching takes place. That'southward fine if things are clear, and information technology seems that the first episode does a decent task of making those distinctions.
DissimilarThe Wire,which had master characters among both the law and the gang members they dealt with, We Own This Urban center is more concentrated on the BPD. But the thought that the corruption in the GTTF and the BPD in full general will be revealed as the limited series goes on points out that criminals can also be the ones also making the arrests.
Information technology'due south certainly helpful that Simon and Pelecanos root the bear witness in the reality of policing in the last decade. Phones are out and the cops are more exposed than ever, simply the institutional racism that permeates the manner they deal with the community didn't change.
Yep, there are a ton of characters to go on track of. But it'south a sprawling story because the corruption in the BPD had far-reaching consequences, and at that place are multiple police force-enforcement agencies trying to root out the urban center's drug trade. Whether that large cast will be an reward or detriment is yet to be seen.
So far, Bernthal's barely-restrained aggression and Mosaku'due south logical earnestness are the standout performances, but Simon's shows tend to have many standouts, so we're looking forward to seeing the other members of the cast in the spotlight.
Sex and Skin: At that place's a scene in a strip club, but that's about information technology.
Departing Shot: Jenkins, having been lured into FBI custody, faces Jensen and her partner and says, "Do you know who I am?"
Sleeper Star: Information technology'south fun to see Carteris play a hard-nosed federal agent in a David Simon drama. But did her character have to be named Andrea?
Almost Airplane pilot-y Line: When Nicole tells her office mate that she got lake trout for lunch and he says "Lake trout?" she replies, "You lot get to know a metropolis by its food, Charlie." Ah, the banter on cop and lawyer shows is always awkward, isn't information technology?
Our Phone call: STREAM It. If at that place was always a uncertainty that David Simon could write to today's issues effectually policing, corruption and racism,We Own The City should put that to residue. While it sometimes seems a fleck overstuffed and a little jumbled, the story has a drive that'southward pretty clear by the end of the first episode.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes well-nigh food, amusement, parenting and tech, merely he doesn't kid himself: he'due south a Television receiver junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Visitor and elsewhere.
Source: https://decider.com/2022/04/25/we-own-this-city-hbo-review/
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