'NCIS: New Orleans' Season 6 Episode 17 tackles racism, fans praise show for 'painful and real' depiction
Spoilers for 'NCIS: New Orleans' Season 6 Episode 17 'Biased'
On March 22, 'NCIS: New Orleans' Season 6 Episode 17, as the official CBS synopsis had teased, we saw “Racial tensions rise in New Orleans when a white NOPD officer shot a black Navy officer he believed was armed in the middle of a busy street party.”
In the recent past, the show's sister counterparts in the NCIS franchise have gotten a lot of flak for something as simple as Hijabi female officials and pro-immigration plotline, but not the New Orleans segment of it. With Loretta Wade aka CCH Pounder's iconic character asking all the real questions as the only black person on board for the longest time until the latest addition of Agent Carter, fans are now cheering for the way this episode titled 'Biased', tackled racism and had some of the most difficult conversations on TV, that most people aren't ready to have yet.
With an armed white male officer shooting an unarmed black man who he thought was reaching for his gun amidst a giant crowd, things were clearly not looking well for the white guy, called Bradley. Especially, considering Agent Carter sided with the victim as he was afraid that the black man, Mitchell, was going to be labeled a crook in Bradley's defense. It was something that made Carter challenge the rest of his team at every turn. In the end, however, as all confusion cleared, it was the path Mitchell was on after a shady life that worked in the deceased man's favor. At the same time, Bradley was also genuinely apologetic for his actions and even though the case was dismissed as an accident and he was allowed to keep his job, he decided to resign as a gesture to get the community to start trusting in the New Orleans police department again.
Taking all of this into account, fans are now labeling this as one of the best episodes in the series so far. "I thought I'd have to give up on you guys because for a minute there I thought you all lost your way. But that was a great episode. Reminded me of why I started watching this series. Keep it up," tweeted a fan, while another shared: "Alright I’m calling it. @levarburton should be nominated for outstanding directing of tonight’s episode, and @Rraggedy should be nominated for outstanding writing for this episode. One of the best episodes so far!"
Compliments for Le Var Burton's direction were a common response from the fandom, with another fan sharing: "Amen to that!!! Best of the season! Congrats to Cast and Crew! Levar, you directed one hell of an episode! Thank you! @levarburton. Patton is right, "we're biased even if we're unaware of it!" We just have to get there!"
Emotional fans also commended the franchise, tweeting: "You have so much to be proud of with this episode. It’s hard to find the words to describe my feelings. Absolutely incredible." Another one summed it up for the whole fandom and their given state of self-isolation that just made things better, tweeting: "This was the best episode of @NCISNewOrleans ever and I’ve watched all of them. Some shows approach difficult topics like this in an inauthentic way. But this was painful and real. I cried. Great episode. #NCISNOLA Also a great distraction & entertainment during the quarantine!"
'NCIS: New Orleans' Season 6 airs on Sundays at 10 pm only on CBS.