Lt. Carter Shaw (Dylan McDermott) is running a team of cops that specialize in undercover missions. This team is made of the newly married Ty (Omari Hardwick)- who is often the voice of reason and the one with most doubts, the adrenalin-loving Dean (Logan Marshall-Green),  and the rookie cop Jaimie (Nicki Aycox), who has a dark past, and has managed to fake a whole new resume- and her ability to lie so well is what made Carter hire her in the first place.

Dark Blue is a solid crime show where our cops always need to make the most dangerous, risky and often greyest choices, such as choosing not to interrupt a shooting because their cover might be blown, exposing decorated yet dirty cops, or trying to make a white gang the news drug lords of a neighborhood (because the current lord is much smarter and more dangerous).

They are sort of friends, but they are mostly people on a mission.

Jamie and Dean have a complicated relationship as they go from colleagues to bed buddies to colleagues again. Jaimie tries to have a normal relationship with her boyfriend, and Ty tries not to screw up his marriage. Dean had the most normal childhood, yet his teammates are often afraid that he might lose it and go dark side on them.

Carter once valued normalcy- he had a wife he loved, but we are assuming she was killed. Now he spends most of his time in the office, sleeps few hours and focuses on getting the job done. As Ty once puts it to Jamie, there is nothing Carter wouldn’t to watch their backs, and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to get results. The problem is you can’t always tell which comes first.

But Carter is not exactly safe and sound in the office, as he provides back-up and surveillance to his undercover cop(s), and he himself often gets to pose as a criminal or victim.

**

Dark Blue is intriguing and fun. It’s exciting to watch a show where things aren’t black and white, where cops rob criminals or use them in their cases. If you like your show intense, this is the one for you.

8/10 from me. Currently 7.7. on IMDB.com.

Dark Blue only lasted 2 seasons (and has a total of 20 Episodes). But it is worth every minute invested in it.

 

Fun notes:

* Nicki Aycox guest-starred in the show Supernatural as Meg Masters for 5 episodes, and Sam and Dean Winchester quite a hard time.

 

*Dylan McDermott is used to playing intense, job-focused characters. He is best known for his role as Bobby Donnell in the crime series The Practice.

 

*In one episode, Ty’s wife refers to Carter as the Prince of Darkness.

 

*Carter reads F.B.I. as Federal Bureau of Intimidation. He is not a big fan.