'SWAT' Season 4 Episode 1: Shemar Moore as Hondo leads team amid George Floyd protests, is show cashing in?
'S.W.A.T', in its season 4 will attempt to be a show that is conscious of the changes that the world has seen in the past year. As a crime procedural led by a Black actor, the CBS show has the opportunity to cash in or change crime procedurals for the better in the face of the protests that broke out countrywide -- with support from other parts of the world -- after the death of a Black man, George Floyd, who died after a cop had placed his knee on Floyd's neck. From the trailer of the show's upcoming premiere, it is clear that the show will put its lead characters smack in the middle of these protests that take place across Los Angeles.
However, will the crime procedural really make a difference to the way crime procedurals are perceived and conceptualized? Will there be more conversation around police brutality or are we in for a surface level probe that will have woke audience applauding the show for attempting to take the onus on itself? While we may have to wait before judging what 'S.W.A.T' will accomplish, the cast of the show opened up about what it meant to them to be able to use the Black Lives Matter protest and the narrative of George Floyd's death in the show.
Shemar Moore, the actor who plays the Sergeant II of LAPD's SWAT team, Daniel 'Hondo' Harrelson, said that choosing to use this narrative was an opportunity, yes, but more so a responsibility since the show's lead happens to "be a Black man, in an LAPD cop uniform". He said, "I don't want to be on television with deaf years, chasing generic bad guys."
Producer and writer Aaron Rahsaan Thomas said that the team was excited: "We felt like this is a new opportunity really to not only entertain our audience but also engage our audience. That starts with the season premiere. We got right into it from the opening frame."
However, the broader plotline is really Hondo chasing a cartel and the "racial justice element" as Thomas quoted was something that the premiere episode will see here and there. Moore, however, expanded on how the show doesn't only speak of George Floyd but also traces the roots of much such unrest that had been prevalent in the country in the past. It was also revealed that the episode will use Hondo as a conduit to tell the audience a story about how young Black men are treated by showing us what really made Hondo the person he is today.
We already know that Hondo and his two best friends Leroy and Darryl used to run with a gang until Darryl's death after which Hondo decided to take high school seriously and graduated. Will we see more of his past this season? We are also told that Moore's inner conflicts regarding the side that he is on, and if he is on the wrong team will really highlight the heart of the conflict. So did it translate well from paper to screen? We will have to see.
All new episodes of 'S.W.A.T' Season 4 will air on Wednesdays at 10 pm ET on CBS after its two-episode premiere on November 11.