The great philosophers N.W.A. once said, “And on the other hand, without a gun, they can’t get none, but don’t let it be a black and a white one.” It is no secret that race relations and policing are a major discussion that repeatedly needs to be had, but when S.W.A.T. first aired in 1975, the topic of race wasn’t on the table. In fact, it courted controversy more for its depictions of violence which are tame by today’s standards, and this led to its cancellation.

Clark Johnson, David Ayer, and David McKenna tried to bring it back as a crap film starring Samuel L Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, and LL Cool J. No prizes for guessing that was in 2003, the same year as F Gary Gary’s The Italian Job starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Jason Statham, and Seth Green. The film was a critical failure and the TV show that spawned it all was canned for being too violent – It stands for Special Weapons and Tactics, it wasn’t an episode of the Care Bears.

2017’s S.W.A.T. is a bit more willing to play with those heavier themes and use of force, as well as put a heavy focus on race and current events. Much like the 2003 iteration, the series lead in Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson was race-swapped from Steve Forrest’s original portrayal. From the word go, or rather the phrase “stay liquid,” Hondo’s race is a major part of the show’s premise; a Black cop given a promotion after a White SWAT leader shot an unarmed Black teen.

Given the discourse online, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the LGBTQ+, race, and other heavy topics being derided by certain people. With Shawn Ryan – creator of the highly acclaimed The Shield – and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas developing this incarnation, there is a hint of “aren’t cops sometimes just the best.” I’m not saying there is a Law & Order leniency, but there is certainly a heavy hand in showing cops in a good light with the occasional dodginess coming as part of a larger arc playing out. In fact, this could be an issue from another executive producer’s hand.

For TV, whoever directs the pilot episode is setting the tone for the succeeding episodes. Given the number of great/decent shots of quick-moving cars and mentions of family, I think Justin Lin had spent a little too much time making the Fast & Furious films something worth watching. Getting past the first couple of episodes and Hondo’s focus on community policing rather than policing the community, heavy subjects are tackled alongside the hard truths. White nationalism within the blue, personal relationships that are complicated, mental health, suicide, an active shooter at a school, gangs, and more.

I planned on this review being out before the season 7 finale, which was the final season at the time. However, CBS has flip-flopped on that decision, with an 8th on the horizon. Nevertheless, 130+ episodes in, I think I might have a good sense of this police procedural with a difference. As I say, creators and showrunners Thomas and Ryan have a solid track record, and they form some characters you do fall in love with rather quickly. Lin’s direction and hand in producing possibly help in that Fast and Furious family-focused vein.

Suppose you’re used to NCIS, Bosch, and countless others that feel formulaic. In that case, you’ll feel somewhat at home with S.W.A.T. Though, typically I’d deride the show for something like this, but it is more a vehicle to get us into the action a lot quicker. The first scene was the White SWAT leader, Buck Spivey, shooting an unarmed Black teen. Pacing is often quick and dirty, throwing you and the ensemble into bomb threats, gang warfare, gun running, and beyond as quickly as possible. However, through that, you have strong characters pressing through quite difficult situations.

The fantastic Jay Harrington (from Better Off Ted) takes on David “Deacon” Kay, a long-standing SWAT member who’s also deeply religious. At the same time, Shemar Moore’s 20-David Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson (the son of a former Black Panther) is promoted ahead of Deac and quickly has to become a team leader with whispers of affirmative action and lack of competence. Then butting heads with those two are Alex Russell’s Jim Street and Lina Esco’s Christina “Chris” Alonso. Jim’s mother was locked up after killing her abusive husband, and Alonso’s sexuality/relationships are in contention with David’s religious wife Annie, who doesn’t like her kids knowing of bisexuality or polyamory (“Rocket Fuel”).

Characters have more to them than their quick summations, but in broad strokes, the interpersonal relationships are centered around these tenets. Without parents to look after him and being in and out of foster care, Street is highly immature. Deac might seem looked over, but almost always has a moral compass guiding him, even if it takes an episode or two. Meanwhile, Luca is one of the sweetest characters you’ll find, played by the hulking figure that is Kenny Johnson. Yet I always feel like David Lim’s Victor Tan is left a little behind in terms of character development.

From episode one there is a mission statement that Hondo wants to single-handedly lead change within the LAPD. Fellow 50-David team leader Jack Mumford followed the older rule, squeezing the poorest neighborhoods for information, often those neighborhoods being Black or Brown. Later in seasons 4-5 we see Tan’s story come crashing into the fore, being the son of Chinese immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic (“Stakeout”). As the questions about White Nationalism crop up within the ranks, Deacon’s religion, Whiteness, and sense of duty to his fellow cops are in question.

On the surface, I want to say that S.W.A.T. tries to hit those hard questions head-on, sometimes going into the darkest places. One of Deacon’s kids is named after a child from the episode focused around a school shooting (“School”), Hondo’s reason for joining the military and later the cops is his dad’s insistence on doing good, despite the fact he’s a former Black Panther and himself disliking the blue. Yet sadly, there is a whole storyline in season 2 that rehashes the S.L.A.’s kidnapping of Patty Hearst, and not through symbolism or metaphors. Not all of it is great.

I’ll admit, I’m quick to denigrate some American shows for saccharine optimism and quick resolutions that seem to play both sides, such as in “Pride:” Either through incompetence or a lack of care for the subject matter. Season 2’s “Inheritance” shows Hondo angry at a cop’s inherent and blatant racism, pulling over a Black man for driving a nice car without cause. There are stories where the subject matter is broached with anger and the correct response, then you have the White Nationalism stories that never want to push too far into saying what needs to be said most significantly.

Throughout the several seasons aired at this point, there are hints of gray in the storytelling, calling into question former practices and new rules. However, saying that S.W.A.T. has shades of gray throughout its storytelling would be misleading. There is almost always a sense of right and wrong, good and evil, where the cops stand good is being done but where everyone else stands there is a straightforward sense of wrong. Without trying to spoil where certain stories go, there is the odd “they might be breaking the law, but they are doing it because there is no other choice.”

Another so-called “problem” I’d say with S.W.A.T. is that it competes with many other shows of a similar ilk, all of which naturally lend themselves to more extravagant and international settings. S.W.A.T. isn’t the most realistic, especially when it comes to why 20-squad are deployed. I’m sure actual SWAT officers have their gripes about the Hollywood-ification of taking a room, how the guns are handled, and generally the tactics. To enjoy the show, you need to at least accept a suspension of disbelief, though its more international aspects still feel odd.

From taking on tasks in Japan and Mexico, hostage rescue and dealing with armed suspects in international waters, and even part of the team being kidnapped on international training/exchange missions. It seems odd to have the LAPD take down individuals from Yemeni terror cells, the yakuza, and the beefing Russian mob and Israeli mafia. Season 2’s “S.O.S.” literally has Hondo and Chris infiltrating a hijacked Cruise ship which would still be in international waters. Logically that is something that the FBI’s SWAT team would possibly be better equipped for.

I understand it would get dull having the team called out to drug busts, as well as being called out to a Black family’s home where a no-knock warrant is executed and someone needlessly dies. Comments about police conduct that result in murder aside, S.W.A.T. tries to desperately show a glamorous side to this sort of policing and the very dark reality. The trouble is, as I’ve said about the relentless optimism of Americans and American TV, there aren’t many stakes to episodes of S.W.A.T.

To once again reference season 2, “Fallen” features a raid on a kingpin who is suspected of sanctioning an assassination of a cop in a poor brown neighborhood somewhere around Van Nuys to Sylmar. The raid and arrest itself almost results in what is only a little short of a riot: The team fast-rope onto a roof before running through a window into the apartment, there are massive SUVs, about six cruisers, and a variation on the Lenco BearCat in a convoy rolling out. I believe someone might call that “rolling deep,” and it is all a show of force.

What I can’t understand from a narrative point of view in that sense is the threat as told by the plot Vs the reality of how likely it is we’ll lose a main cast member through violence. Statistically speaking officer deaths are dramatically lower than it might seem; with a near all-time record of over 700,000 cops in 2022, reports vary, from 121 deaths to gunfire and 274 overall. I’m not calling for more, I’m simply pointing out the reality, and that reality does include gunfire. When those threats are shown, it is often street cops or non-ensemble cast members, ripping away a sense of threat.

Nearly everyone gets injured or benched, but that danger we’re supposed to see as the threat just doesn’t exist. In script writing it is called killing your darlings, something S.W.A.T. simply doesn’t have. The only death comes from episodes like “Pride” which is based on far right-wing talk radio being held hostage as a result of an attack on the gay community the day before Pride. The threat to our leads is only emotional or personal relationships, never losing their own people. Either as a viewer or otherwise, that’s frustrating because I know plot armor (or body armor) is saving the team.

I am nitpicking a lot, though I’m doing it from a place of enjoyment of the show. I hardly ever watch a whole show in a matter of months/weeks, especially an American show with 20+ episodes in a season. Nonetheless, I’ve found myself watching S.W.A.T. (2017) in that seasonal break to the point where I caught up with the show and I’ve had to watch it weekly since. Between the cast and overall plot, there is something deeply comforting about sticking an episode or five on at the end of the day. Especially with my newfound admiration for guns and gun selection.

With 7 seasons (and counting) there are a lot of guns throughout the show, the team using everything from SIGs and HKs, Glocks of different variations, Mossbergs, and of course, the police standard, the Remington 870. Right down to the attachments and some of how the weapons are handled, there is seemingly a knowledgeable consultant on board. As I’ve said, actual LAPD SWAT or military members would tell you in precise detail where the depiction falls apart, but to an eye that isn’t so pedantic a HK416D with an ACOG, laser, and flashlight with an AFG or RVG isn’t bothering anyone.

There have been times when I’ve sat watching and been near screaming “Turn off the damn flashlights,” but this is what I get for doing research. The issues I had were all in training procedures, what’s being done to protect everyone, and so on. What I think even the most casual viewer might not look over is the very rare trick shot employed as a narrative device from time to time. It is yet another example of that Fast & Furious influence. It almost makes you question the reality we’re in for S.W.A.T., though it is so rarely used, it is almost ignorable.

While several shows throw big emotions at you, left, right, and center or a desire to showcase gritty realism, S.W.A.T. offers a character-first-led show of heart. There is nothing revolutionary about the show and in fact, I’ve tried to make it clear how typical it is as comfort TV; the CBS special, if you will. Despite that, something about S.W.A.T. stands to be better than FBI (and its variations), SEAL Team, Blue Bloods, Fire Country, and countless others, as it tries to do honest good with its storytelling.

That said, when it comes to the serious heavy topics that breach into real life, for example season 4’s “Memento Mori,” there is a lack of required nuance. The episode in question focuses on the funeral of a young celebrity, a young Black woman who was very critical of LAPD and policing in general following the killing of a friend when she was a teenager. Playing on the themes of the pandemic’s “defund the police” slogan, Deacon finds it odd that the LAPD should protect the public funeral of someone who was so critical of policing in the first place.

Only to be met with a member of an extremist group who plans to disrupt the procession with an M203 40mm grenade launcher. Conflict, heart, and beyond throughout, the story walks the fine line narratively to wrap up in less than 40 minutes. The trouble is that with such a story, the most middle-ground voices of the two sides end the episode shaking hands and almost never coming into contact with that conversation again. The parent of the celebrity walks away, and Deacon goes on to only face the White supremacy within the LAPD; something he’s conflicted about reporting.

The conclusion of that story also feels somewhat wrapped up in a neat bow for the sake of not offending either side. This is where I believe the depth of the “let’s do morally gray stories” falls on its backside: There is an urge to say something needs to change in policing, but the action doesn’t want to rock the boat too much for sake of being canceled. Actually canceled not the social media usage of the term.

It is only a couple of episodes on from “Memento Mori” that “Crusade” really highlights the issues of White Nationalism within the US (and later cops), tracking down someone live streaming an attack on a Synagogue and Hondo arrests him. As you might guess, the White Nationalist is White, Shemar Moore isn’t. The point (I guess) of that scene is that this horrible person trying to shoot up a place of worship, this guy with clear racist intentions in his words and actions is about to say the slur but doesn’t. All because it is a Black cop arresting him and is told in a somewhat threatening manner “Finish that sentence.”

The point I am stumbling into is that for all the “risks” of highlighting racial tensions, the role of cops, and otherwise, S.W.A.T. (2017) plays a lot of things safe and by the books. I arguably want to see more risks, and more rightful anger at what is incontrovertibly an issue that needs to be faced head-on. Whether you chant about Black, blue, green, or purple lives, racist murderers or homophobic abusers are actively breaking laws and doing harm. Stopping before hammering home “this person is truly in the wrong” doesn’t say or do anything, which is the show’s point.

S.W.A.T. at its heart wants to say “cops can do good,” showing a template of idyllic cops who have relationships that aren’t obscenely toxic, who can community police without being the eye of Big Brother by policing the community. It fails the most when it tries to inject something that might put that off-balance, often failing to truly push the characters and the world in a way that brings about meaningful change. The precipice is almost reached every time, glimpsing the thing that does change the world, that thing that shows these characters are doing good in the face of real pressure. However, it’s never surmounted greatly.

Character, heart, strong plotting which is sometimes broken up by antagonist-of-the-week nonsense, it’s all there to make S.W.A.T. an enjoyable watch. Where it drops the ball, can sometimes be of great disappointment though, and that’s where I’ve stuck to throughout the review. I’ve also spoken less so about newer castings to the ensemble in an aim to avoid spoilers, particularly season 5-7 addition, Zoe Powell, played by Anna Enger Ritch. A very poorly conceived character of the modern TV archetype; low voice, gritty, always angry, and until season 7 which was supposed to be the last, she’s had nothing of joy.

It is the writing not Ritch to blame, but it is highlighted when others do have joy. Street has Bikes despite his miserable childhood fighting kids in foster care, Chris used to be on the K9 unit only joining SWAT after the school shooting episode, and she’s bi “af,” as the kids say. Deac has his family and religion despite long-standing financial troubles. Luca helps Kelly (played by Johnson’s daughter) fight her dyslexia and he starts up a food truck business despite being a third-generation SWAT and that pressure. Victor has his partner and eventual wife despite the mental trauma of having a dad who suffered from schizophrenia.

It isn’t just Powell that’s the vacuum of character, in the two seasons he’s been in Niko Pepaj’s Miguel Alfaro isn’t much better. Nor is Brigitte Kali Canales’ Alexis Cabrera. Again, it has nothing to do with the actors and their performances, it is the writing in those later seasons that just hasn’t had the base to set up characters well enough as “replacements.” They are bodies in the position sometimes taking the place of an injured or suspended member of the team, yet hardly filling that spot as full-bodied characters.

I want to say “Watch S.W.A.T., it is great,” but at the same time I know that it lacks a sharper point (metaphorically) to puncture its desired target. There is a solid basis that the show pulls from, though I think it is somewhat dulled by TV restrictions and studio-based producers asking not to rock the boat too much for fear of some kind of anger. To some degree S.W.A.T. (2017) is that bridge between the parents who watched NCIS from the beginning and the kids becoming parents now. There is that complexity to relationships rather than repressing emotions.

Ultimately, there are flaws to Shawn Ryan and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas’ iteration of S.W.A.T., many of which have not to do with the cast or setting, but rather the limitations due to production and playing friends with everyone. For those first 5-6 seasons something is charming, delightful, and in terms of having a direction, true to it. This last season, which is still airing for a week or two, feels as though it is about to leave a party it doesn’t want to leave; with an 8th season ordered only in April after it had started airing.

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S.W.A.T. (2017)

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• A great cast of enjoyable characters and actors.
• Luca and Kelly's dyslexia storyline is heartwarming.
• The ability to talk about hard topics others shy away from.

Cons

• Threats are often very low for the ensemble cast.
• Later seasons feel like the point of the show is dulled.