As the opening episode of Allegiance begins, Sabrina Sohal speaks to Gillian Grove about their graduation. Gillian reveals she’ll start with the Surrey detachment on Monday. Seconds later, Sabrina (Supinder Wraich) learns that a big-shot VIP is there to see her. Ajeet (Stephen Lobo) and Ishaan (Adolyn H. Dar) are there to congratulate her. Ishaan argues with his father about not tucking his shirt in. Ajeet gives Sabrina Baba-ji’s cross of courage. Before long, Ajeet speaks to the crowd at the minister of public safety. He speaks about Sabrina being the first woman in their family to join the service. Ajeet announces that Sabrina is the valedictorian. Gillian tells Luke that Sabrina kicked his butt academically and physically. He doesn’t agree.

Sabrina speaks to the crowd until National Security agents bust into the room to arrest her father for treason. Later, Sabrina is harassed by the media when she returns from a run. She rushes inside where Parveen (Sonia Dhillon Tully) and Ishaan are waiting. Max Portman (Brian Markinson) barges in to ask why the media isn’t questioning why they arrested Ajeet when they did. They say it’s another brown man accused of plotting against the state. Sabrina admits she isn’t going to let the arrest derail her first day of work. She argues with Ishaan about her decision. Sabrina admits she believes in the justice system. Outside, Max tells the media they should ask whether a white politician would have been targeted in this manner.

Once they arrive, Sabrina asks Max to get her dad out of there. Inside, Sabrina is introduced to Nate Brugmann (Andres Joseph). After Nate leaves, Max tells Sabrina that Nate is on the team prosecuting her father. Gillian tells everyone who Sabrina is. They see Doug Gabinski (Toby Levins) and question whether he is a training officer. Luke (Lachlan Quarmby) greets them. Then, Boltman comes in and says this is the CFPC’s largest detachment. He says Gillian Grove is there because she’s a tech expert. He says Sabrina and Luke Tucker were number one and two at the academy. Their training officers will be Gabinski and Brambilla. Vince Brambilla (Enrico Colantoni) will be training Sabrina before he retires.

The South Asian community is bracing for possible violence because of Ajeet’s arrest. In private, Bolton admits it wasn’t his call to have Sabrina serving at this detachment at this time. He claims her presence is a liability to him and a distraction to her colleagues. Sabrina is adamant she can do her job. She leaves with Vince who doesn’t think a vehicle inspection is necessary. Sabrina gets a message from Max saying they’re heading into court now. Vince suspects she was hoping to get Gabinski. Seconds later, they receive a call about a missing child. They learn that Haley is the caregiver because the boy is a foster kid and she only turned her back for a second. Vince radios dispatch to tell them the boy’s name is Jesse Roddam.

Sabrina gets a picture and sends it to Gillian. Max argues with Brighton on the phone about his case. Sabrina learns that the boy was with Hayley until she went to smoke about an hour ago. Sabrina confronts Hayley to get the truth about what happened. Hayley (Katrina Kwan) apologizes and says she needed a break since they’re not supposed to vape in front of the kids. Vince lets dispatch know the boy has been missing for an hour. Moments later, Sabrina says they heard back from child services. Jesse’s mom Dani is in rehab out of town. The dad, Gavin, has priors for domestic assault. He’s tree-planting up north. The grandmother’s name is Janelle Hoffler and she has Parkinson’s disease. Vince happens to find a video of someone carrying Jesse and putting him in a car.

They call in an Amber Alert since Jesse was abducted. At the station, Kara Degas (Crystal Balint) with serious crimes is put in charge of the case. Gillian says the grandmother, Janelle, owns a vehicle like that. Vince and Sabrina are tasked with visiting the grandma. Once they get there, Janelle tells them that Gavin must’ve taken the car. Gillian begins gathering everything on Gavin. Janelle says Gavin doesn’t have a cell phone because he doesn’t like to be listened to or tracked all the time. The tree-planting company treated him wrong so he quit. Janelle explains that guns help him blow off steam but he isn’t ex-military. Sabrina and Vince agree they need to speak to Dani. Gillian tells Degas they received multiple responses to the Amber Alert.

Dani (Megan Peta Hill) tells Vince and Sabrina she is getting sober because of her son. She admits Gavin got interested in conspiracy theories when the lumber mill closed down. It was stuff like the woke agenda killing jobs and the government brainwashing people through their cell phones. Dani says he believed in home and belonging somewhere. He wanted to live independently off the grid. They receive an alert at the Super Save so they rush over. Bolton suspects he is heading for Belcarra. He asks for a tactical team and support units. They somehow find them using infrared cameras. Sabrina learns bail has been denied. Gillian says the heat signatures have been identified as illegal campers. Sabrina thinks they should check out the lumber mill.

They reach Tate Lumber Mill and find the chain cut. Gavin sees them drive through the gate. He asks Jesse to be brave for him before saying they’re going to be free soon. Gavin shuts him in somewhere. Vince and Sabrina find the suspect vehicle. Vince tells Sabrina they should wait for backup. They see Gavin nearby and yell for him. Degas tells them to maintain a distance. Gavin ends up hitting Vince. Sabrina doesn’t shoot him and instead chases him. Before long, Gavin pulls a gun on Sabrina and they’re in a showdown. Degas speaks to Sabrina through her earpiece and tells her the tactical team is close. Gavin says Jesse is going nowhere without him. He accuses the government of taking kids away from their homes where they belong.

While she keeps him busy, Vince tries to find Jesse. The tactical team arrives. Gavin gets upset when he sees the tactical team. Sabrina tries to find out where his son is. Gavin reveals he is under the planer deck. Vince uses that information to find Jesse while Sabrina urges Gavin to put the gun down. Vince can’t get it open. Gavin puts the gun down and is promptly taken into custody. Jesse is found. Gavin tells Sabrina they’re coming for her and everyone like her. He says they’ve even got people in her police force. Sabrina gets a round of applause when she returns to the station. Bolton is told he’ll have to go home since he is on concussion protocol. The Assistant Commissioner arrives to speak to Sabrina. Then, she is formally introduced to Kara Degas.

Kara tells her she’ll have to work hard and take a number to get into serious crimes. Sabrina wants to ask her about what Gavin said. Kara says they’re aware and it’ll be in her report to the domestic terrorism unit. At a pub later, Sabrina tells Gillian about the assistant crown on the team prosecuting her dad. Luke joins them with drinks. Sabrina steps away to listen to a voicemail from Ajeet.

 

Allegiance Review

The opening episode of Allegiance wasn’t particularly compelling because of a lack of originality, shaky performances, and unsympathetic characters. Right off the bat, the series attempted to build sympathy for completely unrelatable characters. It’s another show with rich folks dealing with rich folks’ problems. Sabrina’s personal issues don’t really hit the spot given the other circumstances in her life.

Almost everything about the story in this episode has been done to death with the same subject matter and talking points. In other words, there really isn’t anything original about this episode in particular. There are some decent performances scattered throughout the series, but they’re not great when they’re needed the most. The acting coupled with the character actions made this pretty unbelievable at times.

The lack of originality probably hurt the series more than anything else considering these shows seem to follow the same path now. Even the bad guy was insanely generic with the same ideology we’ve seen thousands of times now. Television writers must have frequent nightmares about these guys given how often they pop up in modern television.

With easier access to more content than ever, viewers have undoubtedly watched something along these lines before and many have seen it multiple times. Allegiance brings nothing new to the table creating a predictably dull experience.

This episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of Allegiance can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying at the Reel Mockery Forum.