Pilot – The episode begins with Officer Maria Delgado (Monica Raymond) pulling over a suspicious vehicle with expired tags. Upon approaching the vehicle, she immediately recognizes the driver as Juan Cortez and the guy in the back is Eddie ‘Maniac’ Watson (Ian Down). She doesn’t recognize the young girl passed out in the passenger’s seat and this is what prompts her to order them to step out of the vehicle. Just as they become combative and Delgado is about to call for backup, Maniac shoots her in the neck and they speed off.
As Officer Alex Diaz (Brandon Larracuente) arrives for his first day, Training Officer Traci Harmon (Troian Bellsario) psyches herself up in the locker room. It’s only seconds later that she is meeting her new trainee, Diaz. They only get a second to introduce themselves thanks to Lieutenant Bishop (Lori Loughlin) interrupting with the latest on Cortez and Maniac. The female passenger is still unidentified but is now suspected to be a trafficking victim. After the brief meeting, Bishop asks Harmon if she wants her to assign Diaz to Officer Matthew Rolland (Rich Ceraulo Ko). Harmon refuses the offer.
Harmon gives Diaz a ‘Get Out of Jail Card’ before taking him for a cup of coffee. Over coffee, the two discuss everything from Diaz’s time at the Academy to family. Harmon also tests him and he fails, but not bad enough to hand back in the card. They don’t get long to debate the failure because they receive a 273-5 call, which turns out to be a domestic disturbance.
Although the officers on the scene already have the Angry Mother (Tia Cosey) and Angry Son/Ricky (Edward L Reyna) separated, Harmon immediately takes control of the scene when she and Diaz arrive. It doesn’t take her long to see that Ricky has beaten up the Mother because she wouldn’t give him money for dope. Everything goes fairly well until Harmon tells the Mother that she is taking Ricky to jail for the night. This leads to another argument and ends with the Mother telling them to leave. Harmon does so but leaves Diaz to take a statement while she questions Ricky about the Delgado. He only insults her which leads to her insulting him. The only problem is that Diaz has returned with his body camera on and captures the whole thing on tape. Matters are made even worse when Harmon learns that Joe didn’t get a statement because the mother locked herself in the bathroom. When they finally manage to get the door open, the Mother looks dead with a needle hanging out of her leg. Shortly after they call an ambulance, she sparks back to life.
Diaz doesn’t do too well with small talk while Harmon teaches him to run license plates. As for the plates, they eventually come across one who has an active warrant for driving on a suspended license. The driver immediately confesses to having a meth pipe after Harmon promises him that everything will go easier if he’s truthful. Even though he claims there aren’t any drugs in the vehicle, Harmon makes him get out. While they are doing this, it is learned that the driver doesn’t have an experienced license. The owner of the vehicle, the driver’s brother, is the one with the expired license. After running the driver’s license, Diaz put the driver in the back of the cruiser so he and Harmon can search the vehicle. They don’t find anything but the pipe and decide to cut him free, but before doing so, Diaz makes him call his dad and ask for help getting clean.
Later on shift, Harmon takes Diaz to her favorite lunch/dinner joint, but they don’t get to enjoy it long thanks to a call about a known associate of Maniac in a green Mustang. Instead of heading south like the dispatch called for, Harmon heads to a different area that the gang has been moving into. It is only seconds later when the Mustang goes by. Shortly after that, she and Diaz are in high pursuit. It doesn’t take long before the pursuit hits the interstate and the car wrecks. Harmon stays with the injured driver while Diaz ignores her orders and goes after the fleeing passenger. He goes after Maniac through an abandoned home but he gets away.
While the scene is being processed later, Harmon jumps on Diaz for ignoring her order. She also pulls him to the side and asks what Sergeant Lasman (Eriq La Salle) said to him earlier. Diaz tells her that he told her Delgado was one of her trainees and she would take it especially hard. Harmon confirms this was true. The episode ends with Diaz handing over his ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card’ just as they are dispatched to another call.
On Call Review
Although I would equate the name more with paramedics or doctors, I was surprised at how gritty and well-done this first episode was. Some of the scenes could have been set up better and some of the acting was less than subpar, but all in all, I was impressed with this series. I didn’t even find the cinematic all that bad. I’d have to give the episode a 6 out of 10. of the vehicle. Just as they become combative and Delgado is about to call for backup, Maniac shoots her in the neck and they speed off.
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