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S.W.A.T. - review


When I decided to start watching S.W.A.T. (on Netflix, and apparently Sky), I was expecting the cheap and undemanding thrilled of a mindless action series, with lots of fights, car chases and explosions. 

The show delivers those things in droves, and some of the writing (the expositionary bits particularly) can be pretty clunky at times. I wasn't however quite prepared for the deeper, sometimes fairly sophisticated layers on offer. One of the catch-phrases of the show is "stay liquid!" and it seems the producers have adopted this as a motto.

It starts right from the first episode (filmed in 2016), which delved straight into what it can mean for a black man to become a policeman in the US. 

I have now watched the two seasons available on Netflix (the 5th season has apparently already been commissioned by CBS). Even the plotlines of the more run-of-mill episodes feel fresh and often refuse to adhere to the expectations of the genre. Beyond that, the viewers regularly find themselves surprised by the unconventional themes the show dares to broach, and its matter of fact approach to diversity (in casting and in themes). In fact I find the show far more successfully inclusive than most of the shows attempting diversity. 

I certainly wasn't expecting a storyline on pansexuality featuring a throuple in this short of show. Come to think of it, I don't think I have seen such a plotline anywhere before. 

Other memorable and noteworthy moments include the cast breaking the fourth wall (screen?) for a safety message at the end of an episode about school shootings (which didn't show the face of the shooter); the casual, unstated, use of a trans actor in a layered episode around an attack on a Pride parade; the regular references to gender inequality and structural racism; and extensive sequences in foreign languages, often, it seems, not subtitled. 

Having seen many series set in LA along the years, I have formed a certain mental image of a city I have never visited, through the repeated use of similar settings. There too the show seems intent on breaking the mould, and I am finding myself gaining a new sense of the city, which feels much more authentic (though It probably still isn't). 

This is of course meant to be a fun show and it is, without a doubt, entertaining, but there is also a political conscience gently but doggedly at work in its writers' room. 

What is perhaps most thrilling about this, for me, is the thought that the target audience for the show, from its very premise, has to include at least some, if not many, people who are not comfortable or familiar with diversity. 

Most inclusive films and TV shows, while empowering to the minorities that will come and watch them, are very much preaching to the choir. 

This series, fronted by a black man, feels quietly groundbreaking and truly evangelical: bringing the Good News to new audiences, and presenting diverse characters and inclusive story lines to people who normally don't encounter them on their screens. I fervently hope so, in any case.

UPDATE: The second series seems to have reverted to type. It is more about the action and less about the social issues. A pity.
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