Detroit detective dark

Michael Imperioli.
Michael Imperioli.
Michael Imperioli, who was Christopher in The Sopranos and a police detective in the American version of Life on Mars, is back in the station house for Detroit 1-8-7.

The "187" refers to the section of the California Penal Code that defines homicide, but gangs across the United States use it as slang for murder.

Detroit 1-8-7 was originally conceived to look like a documentary, which would have, at least in one sense, set it apart from the competition, but that idea was killed after the city of Detroit banned camera crews from following its officers in the wake of a controversial police shooting, a nod to verisimilitude that seems oddly scrupulous, given the overall product.

Apart from some novel local colour - talk of nearby Canada and of Coney dogs, the Detroit version of a chili dog - the main point of interest is Imperioli's Detective Louis Fitch, a 10-year homicide veteran and a man mysterious to all.

In the manner of Dr Gregory House, he is brilliant at a crime scene or in an interview room - he cracks one suspect just by remaining silent - but less adept at ordinary human intercourse.

When he has something instructive to say to new partner Jon Michael Hill, he calls him by cellphone, even if they are in the same room. There are hints of psychic damage, but these things are often best left unexplained.

Most of the rest of the cast, though they come in assorted sizes, shapes and colours, has not yet been given the material to make much of an impression, just the superficial tics that too often pass for character nowadays.

This detective (James McDaniel) is going to retire and move to Tuscany and so is practising his Italian; this one (Natalie Martinez) came from the same mean streets she is now trying to protect; and that one (Shaun Majumder) declares, "Monogamy is just an untenable construct that is in direct conflict with our species' biological imperative", which is a thing that a writer is more apt to write than a person is to say.

And they all get to share in such prefab[ricated] dialogue as "This thing was personal, not professional" and "You really miss her, don't you?" There is also a hot coroner who skates roller derby in her off-hours.

Far from resembling a documentary, except in its swaying camerawork, Detroit 1-8-7 is, rather than a slice of life, very much a slab of TV. And yet, as constituted, the show's only way forward is through the unlikely Fitch; his emotional awkwardness is more interesting than the cases he works.

Imperioli, fortunately, does not oversell the character, even when the script encourages him to: Scenes are written to highlight the fact that he is dark and strange. Other cops point it out; he says it himself.

Put-upon colleague John Stone (D.J. Cotrona): "I'm not going to keep playing nice waiting for you to lighten up."

Fitch: "This is me, lightened up."

Detroit 1-8-7 premieres tonight at 11.30 on TV2.

 

Add a Comment