When we last left off with The CW’s racist, anti-cop drama 61st Street, we had such a ridiculous amount of woke, hateful, liberal, ACAB/BLM propaganda that you would've thought it couldn’t get worse. But hoo boy, does it get worse! And we haven’t even gotten to the finale yet, which is Monday night.
As always, we watch so you don’t have to.
So, here’s a rundown on all the newest garbage being spewed by this awful show, which, with an abysmal 160,000 viewers (only 20,000 in the key 18-49 demo), is absolutely tanking in the ratings and coming in dead last in network rankings, we can only hope this will all soon come to an end for good.
In episode 5, “Two Truths and a Lie,” Officer Johnny Logan’s (Mark O’Brien) trial has begun for the murder of Jalil Watts (Marcus Hopkins-Turner). Everyone was shocked to find out black activist lawyer Franklin Roberts (Courtney B. Vance) is defending Logan, unaware the two are working together to uncover the evil corruption that’s in the entire Chicago Police Department (CPD).
When Franklin sees the video of the assault for the first time, he becomes furious with Logan for killing Jalil “over a song.” (Granted, the song was about only needing 12 shots to kill a cop and Jalil mimicked shooting Logan while saying, “12. You.” But, of course, that doesn’t justify assaulting or killing him.)
Franklin confronts Logan, and Logan expresses shame, asking what happened to him. Franklin tells him this country is racist and proclaims, “America happened to you, boy.”
Franklin: Over a song? You killed Jalil Watts over a song?! How old are you?!
Logan: 32.
Franklin: 32 years ago, you were a baby. You were born with nothing, and everything was possible. And yet, here we are 32 years later, and you do this.
Logan: What happened to me?
Franklin: I don't know. I don't believe in a racist gene. I don't believe Baby Logan was born ready to club someone to death because of the color of their skin. But I do believe this is a racist country, and you were educated into that racism and into this. America happened to you, boy. But is it worth fighting against?
Logan: I think so.
Franklin: Yeah. I think so, too. I think so, too.
In Episode 6, “Argue the Facts,” the prosecution makes its opening statement. It’s clear the show’s writers want everyone to believe that any debate about removing “bad apples” from police departments as a way to reform is a joke because Logan is not the only bad apple but is being set up to take the fall to cover up the corruption that’s in the entire department:
Pearson: I have a confession. This is personal. I'm not your usual zealot prosecutor. I don't want to put people in cages forever just because I can. But- and it's a really big "but" and it's why I'm standing here today- when I see somebody who's been given civic responsibility and a sacred duty of care to look after people do a thing like this...you better know I'm coming for you.
And here's the really big news. So's the organization you work for. The CPD has changed. This is an institution that has learned from its mistakes and is prepared to say, "No. Enough is enough. We won't have it anymore when a colleague behaves in this appalling way." Officer Logan is a bad apple in the barrel. It's my job and it's your job and it's the job of everyone who worked with him to remove that bad apple.
Franklin takes his turn next and angrily rants, “We’ve had enough of being told how the world looks by white people.”
Franklin: Somehow Ms. Pearson has decided that that Naimah's loss is not a part of this story. Why not? Why no Naimah? Because the same police department my opponent asks you to believe is reforming itself as we speak was not even remotely interested in investigating the brutal beating of her husband outside a bar habituated solely by police officers. Why is she not calling Naimah? How dare she put up a photograph of a smashed-up face, with a bashed-in head and claim she's on his side. And everyone who made it possible for this to happen to another innocent black man is now on the right side of the argument? No, no, no, no. No, we've had enough of being told how the world looks by white people. How dare she stand there and claim she's on the side of angels coming down for the bad apple?
But I know why she's doing it. I see her. She doesn't want to feel guilty. She doesn't want you to feel guilty. She wants to be able to say, "There's nothing wrong with the world as long as we cut down some rotten fruit." She wants this to be personal. Okay. Let's be personal. If she thinks this trial is about one individual, one cop, then she's a part of the problem. No, it's bigger than that. If she thinks this trial is about one individual, one cop...then she is the problem.
In episode 7, “The Offer,” Franklin questions the bartender at the cop bar where the murder happened. Franklin argues the cops did “what cops do,” and covered up the murder for Logan. So, apparently, we’re to believe that cops stick together even when their fellow officer commits murder while off-duty just because he was drunk and angry. Right.
Franklin then declares Logan is, “the poster boy for police brutality, taking all the shots for a rotten, stinking racist pig of an organization.”
Franklin: Look, I know you can’t say, what with your Tesla and your solidarity with the good old boys in blue, but so, let me make this easy for you. I'm not saying somebody's lying. I'm saying y'all all are lying. It's like y'all got together beforehand and worked out what the story was gonna be.
Wayne: What lie? What story?
Franklin: The bad apple was faced, members of the jury. Faced and crazy. It grieves me to have to say it, but this new culture of openness and integrity at the CPD makes me have to do it- "Johnny Logan can be relied on for nothing! He's a rotten, stinking racist pig. Me and the boys were all very sober the night Moses walked into the promised land, and we can be relied on to remember everything that happened, and you can be sure we are entirely credible witnesses."
Pearson: Your Honor.
Franklin: Your witness asked me a question. I'm answering it. Did I leave anything out, Wayne? Uh, Ms. Pearson?
Judge: You better spell it out, Counselor. If you're going where I think you're going, Ms. Pearson and her witness are entitled to know what's coming.
Franklin: I think you were all there when Jalil was dying. I think you let him die. I think you did what cops do- you covered up for a brother officer until you realized you couldn't stand it up, so you cut him loose. And so there he is -- the poster boy for police brutality, taking all the shots for a rotten, stinking racist pig of an organization.
Geez! Tell us how you really feel, 61st Street.
Meanwhile, Norma (Andrene Ward-Hammond) is aware now that her boyfriend Phil (Jerod Haynes), who got her pregnant, is actually an undercover cop who’s married with children and is there to spy on her and her son Joshua (Bentley Green) for the police.
When another black cop, who had previously planted drugs in her apartment to frame her other son Moses (Tosin Cole), shows up at her door with a conscience and valuable information, he’s unaware that Phil is also a cop. He laments how difficult it is to be a black officer and claims he wouldn’t feel welcome in the cop bar, to which Norma remarks, “Nobody loves you. Nobody.”
The notion that black cops don’t feel comfortable or welcome with their fellow white officers and that their job is to help white supremacist officers frame and murder black people is absolutely ludicrous:
Norma: Did you lie on the stand at Moses' trial? I want to hear you say it.
Cop: We all did.
Norma: The gun?
Cop: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Norma: What if he would've been found guilty?
Cop: That's the question I've been asking myself all this time.
Norma: And your conscience is all of a sudden getting the best of you?!
Cop: It's the reason I'm here right now.
Phil: It's okay, it's okay. Hey, hey, hey. All right. That brother cop. Now, is he willing to testify?
Cop: I don't know.
Phil: Well, what about you?
Cop: I...
Phil: Okay… Were you at the Low Bar the night Jalil died?
Cop: No.
Phil: Why not?
Cop: Because I knew that I wouldn't feel like I belonged. You wouldn't understand. Being a black cop?
Norma: Nobody loves you. Nobody.
Cop: Before you pass judgment, ask yourself this- Do we need more black officers on our streets, or fewer?
Phil: Okay. So, listen… You bringing and giving this to us, is that so it's not coming from you? What we doing?
Cop: Tell Franklin Roberts what I just told you. Only, he can't know it came from me. Or else I'm not safe. Can I trust you with this?
Phil: Yeah, of course. Yeah, man, of course, you can.
Sigh. Later, Franklin must switch cars with an old buddy so he can sneak Logan out of the courthouse to keep him safe from the police who are trying to kill him. His friend offers his support, complaining the police exist as “one giant web of complicity to keep the black man down.”
Lou: I see what you're doing.
Franklin: You do?
Lou: Don't worry. I'm the only one that see it.
Franklin: What you see, Lou?
Lou: Police reform? That ain't it. Deeper than that. See, the way I see it, one giant web of complicity to keep the black man down.
Franklin: Yeah.
Lou: No, we got to get serious. There's a threshold of seriousness, and we got to get over it. 30 years on, this man's still proud of the public defender they gave me that day. I see where you going. Don't stop, Franklin Roberts.
Franklin: Bless you, brother.
Lou: God keep you.
Franklin: And you.
As Franklin drives Logan away, a group of protestors outside the courthouse are holding signs that say, “ACAB” and “Blue Lives Murder.”
Finally, there was another anti-white dig as Norma meets with a gang leader who wants to offer Joshua what he claims is a legit opportunity, and he tells her he’s “done with white people and what they do to us.”
Norma: Who the hell you think you are?
Gang Leader: Hey, Miss Norma. Can I get you a scone or something'?
Norma: Whatever it is you want with my son, it ain't gonna happen.
Gang Leader: You came here for an explanation. I got one. Come on, sit down.
Norma: I can't compete with the flash or the fast money, but what I will do is die to protect my kids just to make sure they don't end up like you or…
Gang Leader: Like Speak? I agree with you. I'mma be real straight up with you. I want to exploit your son. Sure I do. I want to exploit the (censored) out of his potential because I see that he could be somebody. He ain't no gangster. Oh, we agree on that too. But you ain't hearing me. I'm paying for his schooling so he can make me money, so he can make himself money, so he can make your life better. And all of it legit. But more than that. I am done with white people and what they do to us. You should know that better than anybody. We need to police ourselves. We need our own businesses for our own people run by our own people. Whisper it- What we really need? The Republic of South Side Chicago.
So, they need segregation? Alrighty then. Yeah, this show is absolute trash.
Let’s hope tonight’s finale is the series, and not just the season, finale. After getting cancelled once, it’s looking likely a second cancellation is coming based on their dismal ratings, and deservedly so. Go woke, go broke.
