‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Season 7 Episode 1: Does the show whitewash how people behave during coronavirus pandemic?
Spoilers for ‘NCIS: New Orleans’, Season 7 Episode 1, ‘Something in the Air, Part 1’
The seventh season of the CBS crime procedural drama began with a doom cast all over the sky. Dwayne Pride (Scott Bakula) and the rest of the NCIS team stationed in New Orleans faced the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, which was only just beginning to take a grip of the country. And like most people, this fictional team too had much to lose. But they did not care.
Yes, they all wore masks and face-shields and constantly sanitized their hands and even phones before picking them up. And that is because they are all socially-conscious and responsible people. But they also did not stop giving things their 110 percent, just like always. In fact, this time they went a couple of steps ahead even of that.
There is Dr. Loretta Wade (CCH Pounder), who goes all out like healthcare workers across the country, working double shifts just to try and get a grip on the rush of coronavirus infected dead bodies entering the morgue. It is almost harrowing to see her predicament, as she tries to stretch herself thin in the midst of a nationwide medical emergency but is unable to. She is unable to protect or save Roger, an EMT who keeps heading to and out of the morgue all throughout the episode. Loretta keeps reminding him to wear a mask and he seems confident about weathering the virus his own way. It is then heartbreaking to see his own corpse being wheeled in near the end of the episode.
Even in its own little way, the show pays a worthy tribute to the hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers across the country. But in other parts of the show, especially those dealing with Pride, the show seems to take a rather utopian path -- that might even feel a bit like whitewashing to the casual eye.
While ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ cannot usually be called out for this particular crime, it is, after all, a show about good law enforcement that is full of people who seem to understand their position of power and thereby remain wary of their own privileges. But in this episode, the way Pride and his brother Jimmy (Jason Alan Carvell) behave feels extremely unrealistic.
For those who aren’t regular viewers of the show, Pride and Jimmy own a restaurant/bar in the city called TruTone. And with the pandemic only getting worse every passing day, we see the usually bustling city of New Orleans look forlorn as people stay shut inside. This obviously leads to bars and restaurants shutting down all across town and leading to many hospitality workers getting laid off.
As per a June report by the Pew Research Center, the COVID-19 outbreak rendered more than 14 million Americans jobless. From 6.2 million in February, unemployment in the U.S. shot to 20.5 million in May 2020. What Pride and Jimmy do then is not just continue to pay their staff (despite the bar being shut down), but also give them food from their own supplies to make sure they did not go hungry. They also promised them that they would try and pay them wages for as long as possible, despite the fact that they were already stretching thin on finances.
But they went a step ahead and also decided to buy food for other laid-off restaurant workers across the neighborhood at their personal expense, in order to help. While the coronavirus pandemic has seen exceptional cases of altruism in the U.S., this being shown through the actions of Pride and others feels a little too much. It makes it look like there were many out there to help those in need when in reality, that was not the case.
Maybe the show will address the acute lack of altruism at some point as well in this season. But for the time being, it feels a little forced. A little sugar-coated. A little white-washed.
'NCIS: New Orleans' Season 7 will air on Sundays at 9 pm only on CBS.