Even given TV’s current obsession with recharging and reliving everything and anything, The equalizer is a strange choice. The original 1985-89 CBS series, with Edward Woodward as a private eye cleared by a crime-ridden New York City, is for most viewers just a vague memory and plays like a dusty remnant these days. (He did most of his business via pay phone and advertised his services with an ad in the newspaper.) But the Equalizer Brand recently got a facelift with some Denzel Washington movies and CBS’s new version – starting on Sunday, February 7 after the Super Bowl; I saw the premiere – is an efficiently built exciting ride, which brings the franchise firmly into the 2020s and provides a perfect main vehicle for Queen Latifah, making the whole thing click into place.
Latifah plays Robyn McCall (a play about the original Robert McCall), a former CIA worker who is home in NYC after a series of international missions, but still haunted by bad memories. She tries to lie low, but she is chased by a former CIA colleague named Bishop (Chris Noth), and eventually she comes to the aid of a young girl who witnessed a murder and then finds herself set on it. “Who are you going to if you can not go to the police?” asks the girl, and it inspires Robyn to set up her own justice-to-side bustle, unravel conspiracies and fight for the oppressed in a brave new world of deep-seated and driverless cars. (Oh, and this time she’s posting her ad on social media.)
Yes, that’s all that CBS crime drama is pretty standard Castle EPs Andrew Marlow and Terri Miller, but Latifah’s star presence gives it a head start. She has an easy charisma and an authority as Robyn – and she’s also a big upgrade in the fight scenes. (She’s a much more convincing kicking butt than Woodward ever was.) It’s easy to root for her as she takes on the premiere villains like a smug Elon Musk-ian tech guru: ‘You think you can do it all world buys and sells, ‘she tells him … and he can not, damn it! The premiere also delivers on the action front with a series of high-octane stunt series, including Robyn taking a daring prison sentence on a motorcycle – though it’s hard to see if we can expect this level of noticeable effects every week, or if they have their whole budget blown at the premiere.
The equalizer also puts together a solid team behind Robyn with NCIS alum Liza Lapira as sniper Mel and Adam Goldberg as the bearded hooker Harry who supports her. (A procedure is just as good as the crime-solving team, and I could easily see these three rogue villains together for about 200 episodes together.) Noth is intriguingly enigmatic like Bishop, using old-school espionage tactics to get in touch to stay. , and he and Latifah have a unique atmosphere worth watching. Plus, it’s always good to see Lorraine Toussaint, played here by Robyn’s aunt Vi, on our TVs.
I wish I had to watch more than one episode, just to see how these relationships develop. The scenes with Robyn and her cocky teenage daughter Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes) initially feel a bit shabby, but they also have a beautiful, eye-opening moment where Robyn takes her to a women’s prison and points out that most of the girls there are black. There’s an unspoken layer of social justice to Robyn’s mission, and I wonder how far they’ll push the corner in future deliveries. (The premiere bends backwards to show that NYPD police are not the bad guys.) But thanks to Queen Latifah, it has a strong foundation to build from. Long may she rule.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: With explosive action scenes and a star-studded turn from Queen Latifah, CBS’s Equalizer reboot puts a solid new twist on an old franchise.