Mid-Season Review: ACAB Drama ‘61st Street’ Revived by CW - Another Woke, Hate-filled Season

Dawn Slusher | August 13, 2024
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Thanks a lot, The CW. After AMC canceled the extremely anti-cop drama "61st Street," it seemed we'd no longer be subjected to the blatant hate and propaganda against police officers the show was famous for. Unfortunately, The CW decided the world needs to continue watching hateful, woke, BLM, anti-cop garbage and revived the show.

Granted, the acting is superb, the writing is smooth, and the characters are well-developed. But painting one side (you can guess which one) as wholesome, Christian, prayerful, and innocent while the other is entirely corrupt, evil, murderous, hateful, racist, violent and Nazi-like ruins the show for anyone who isn’t a far left, woke, BLM extremist.

We’re only halfway through this second season and it’s been absolutely packed with propaganda. Of all the shows I’ve covered for The MRC since 2017, this show might just be the worst.

Of course, we watch, so you don’t have to. Here is a comprehensive breakdown of each episode from the first half of the season that’s aired so far (4 out of 8 episodes). Brace yourselves! It’s a doozy, and this is after cutting out a huge portion of offensive scenes and quotes for brevity. Brevity just isn't possible when you're dealing with this much woke, liberal propaganda:

Episode 1 - “After the Morning After”

Season 1 left off with the acquittal of Moses Jones (Tosin Cole), who was set up by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to shoot and kill officer Michael Rossi (Patrick Mulvey) because Rossi was collecting evidence of corruption within his department.

Lieutenant Brannigan (Holt McCallany) is the head of the department and leader of the corrupt cops, which appears to be every cop in the department minus Rossi. As he and Rossi’s former partner Johnny Logan (Mark O'Brien), who uncovered Rossi’s evidence of corruption after his murder, are drinking at a cop bar, Brannigan laments about a legit complaint in real life among many officers - that their job is harder to do in the current anti-cop climate. But the show twists it into something evil.

Fueled with rage over the death of his former partner and Brannigan’s words, Logan stumbles out of the bar drunk and disoriented when he encounters a black man, Jalil Watts (Marcus Hopkins-Turner), loudly playing a rap song on his car radio about getting revenge on police by shooting them:

 

Moses’ lawyer Franklin Roberts (Courtney B. Vance) is shown on a television program as a hero wanting to bring together the black community and police officers, which is juxtaposed with Logan violently assaulting Jalil:

 

Franklin ends up recording the testimonies of several people of color (one of whom is wearing a “Black Lives Matter” shirt) about their distressing encounters with police. There’s no one from the police’s side to share the traumatic stories of what they’ve endured while trying to protect the public. Oh, that’s right. That’s because there aren’t any good cops and the few that exist are killed by the corrupt ones. Right. #eyeroll

When Franklin is asked if he’s worried about re-traumatizing the community by sharing these testimonies, he compares the police to Nazis as he recalls a mentor of his who made sure to tell everyone the names of his six family members that were killed in Nazi death camps so “no one could ever say it didn’t happen.”

It’s not the first time the left has tried to paint conservatives and/or cops as antisemitic, which we all know now didn’t age well since it’s actually the left who is now out protesting against Israel, calling for the death of Jews with chants of “From the river to the sea,” and destroying public property with warnings that “Hamas is Coming.”

When Logan talks with Brannigan in his office after waking up from his drunken stupor the night before, we see a Blue Lives Matter and Thin Blue Line flag on the wall that’s perfect for brainwashing viewers into thinking of evil, corrupt cops like Brannigan whenever they see the flag in real life.

Brannigan assures Logan the police “took care of everything” to cover up his crime, which Logan doesn’t remember:

 

Wracked with guilt as bits and pieces of the assault come back to him, Logan visits the hospital to check on Jalil. Watts is unresponsive in the ICU and barely clinging to life.

A nurse mistakes Logan for an officer who is there to investigate the case and says it’s about time because no other officers have come by before him. The victim’s wife Naimah (Karen Aldridge) had to ask her local councilwoman (who happens to be Franklin’s wife) to look into it because the police were ignoring it. When Watts ends up dying from his injuries, Logan is flooded with guilt and remorse, but still can’t remember exactly what happened.

Franklin scores another victory in court when a judge orders the release of hundreds of thousands of complaints against the CPD over the last 25 years. She gives them 18 months to comply. Franklin worries he might not be alive in 18 months because he’s quickly dying from a mystery illness.

Brannigan informs Logan of Watts’ death, then remarks, “Or maybe you knew already.” Logan lies and claims he didn’t know, and it’s obvious by the look on Brannigan’s face that he’s been watching Logan and knows he was at the hospital.

When Logan later sees a recording of the assault on a phone he stole, he’s filled with so much remorse that he runs straight to Franklin to confess.  

EPISODE 2- “Trust Me”

Surprisingly, when Logan tells Franklin, “I should burn for this,” Franklin replies, “You can’t plead guilty for something you don’t remember doing.” Logan then tells him about the coverup by the police and Franklin urges him to get as much evidence as possible and bring it to him:

 

When Logan arrives back at the station, it’s obvious that pretty much every cop is dirty and involved in the coverup:

 

Franklin’s wife Martha (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) introduces Franklin to Naimah who describes more police corruption in the handling of her husband’s case. As they talk, Franklin begins to realize the cop who came to the hospital was Logan:

 

Franklin later tracks down a homeless witness and realizes Jalil’s car was on the scene before and during the assault but was missing afterward. The witness said Brannigan interviewed her but didn’t take any notes and didn’t seem concerned by anything she told him.  

Logan tells his dad Robbie, who is a former cop, that he’s overwhelmed with guilt. Robbie is corrupt, as well (of course), and tells him regret is dangerous and that he can’t ever look back or he won’t see what’s coming at him.

Logan finds Jalil’s vehicle in an impound lot and quickly dusts it for fingerprints. He secretly delivers the vehicle back to Naimah. Logan asks a friend at the station to run the fingerprints for him as a favor and not to tell anyone, claiming he’s worried he might have gotten something wrong in one of his cases and he doesn’t want anyone to know.

Later, Brannigan enlists Logan’s help to fake an arrest of Brannigan’s informant “Tweety Bird” (Jalen Gilbert) so they can question him without revealing he’s an informant to his friends. On the off chance we didn’t remember Brannigan is an evil, hateful racist, we get treated to this horribly racist remark as a reminder:

 

Brannigan uses the information he got from Tweety to get a warrant for a case he’s working. Brannigan knows everything Logan has been up to, so he puts Logan on the team that executes the warrant.

While on the scene, Logan gets a call informing him the prints in Jalil’s vehicle were from another cop who happens to be part of the team executing the warrant with him. He realizes something’s not right as Brannigan puts him in front. Sure enough, he ends up shot and lying on the ground motionless as the episode ends.

Related: Watch: Ferguson Police Chief BLASTS Protesters After Cop Is Critically Injured During Riot

EPISODE 3- “Do No Harm”

Logan survived because of his bulletproof vest. Brannigan stands over him menacingly and says, “An inch to your left. One inch. You got the luck of the Irish.” It’s obvious he was set up and this was a warning to him to stop looking into the coverup.

Logan meets with Franklin, anyway, panicked after almost losing his life. Franklin convinces him to keep going because they need more evidence and gives him a burner phone. Logan asks, “What if I die?” Franklin quips, “That’s the best possible evidence.”

As Logan leaves, Franklin’s partner Nicole (Emily Althaus) sees him. She confronts Franklin and guesses Logan is the one who killed Jalil. When he explains that Logan is a whistleblower, she protests.

But Franklin laments in a strained, distraught voice near tears, “Why is it okay for cops to kill us, Nicole? Why do they do what they do?” She warns no one will stand with him if he defends Logan.

Brannigan approaches Logan at an event and tries to get him to confess all he’s been up to. Like a scene out of "The Godfather," he points out that Logan’s father Robbie raised him, they trained him, and after he “put Jalil in his place” they covered for him, and “all they asked in return was that (he) accept (their) help in the spirit in which it was given.”

 

A short while later, Brannigan lets Logan know they’re not covering for him anymore, that he’s about to go down for what he did, and then tries to tempt him to commit suicide by jumping off the building:

 

After news breaks of Logan’s guilt, Franklin becomes worried for him and finds him in a dark parking lot with a bottle of booze in one hand and a gun in the other as he considers ending his life.

Franklin is floored when he finds out Brannigan had the murder weapon this whole time and was at the scene. He encourages Logan to fight and promises to stand by him and save his life:

 

Filled with anger over Brannigan’s involvement, Franklin visits the cop bar to confront him. After the two exchange insults, Franklin gets the best of him by shocking him with the news that he’s representing Logan. He pumps his fists in the air as he walks out while another Blue Lives Matter/Thin Blue Line flag is visible on the wall in front of him. A not-so-subtle smack in the face to officers everywhere, especially those who’ve lost their lives in the line of duty:

 

Of course, anyone watching, even those who see through the propaganda, can’t help but feel happy that Franklin, who is a kind, giving, selfless man, triumphed over the horrifically evil and corrupt Brannigan. We’d all do the same in real life if this was happening anywhere.

But that’s the problem. It’s not. And to vilify everyone in law enforcement while also painting the other side as innocent victims when we’ve all seen video evidence of officers having to make split-second life and death decisions with people who resist arrest, fight them, pull weapons on them, ambush them, etc. is not only wrong but flat out dangerous to both sides.

All it will do is stir up more hatred for police, make people of color feel like they’re victims being hunted by all police officers, further the race divide, and make future encounters between suspects and police more wrought with fear, tension, anger and hate. That puts everyone’s life in danger and thus is completely irresponsible of this show to do.

At the end of the episode, Franklin ensures there’d be a huge crowd of reporters as he escorts Logan to the police station to turn himself in. The more attention on Logan, the safer he is, Franklin explains.

Episode 4- “Kamikaze”

Episode 4 opens with a bail hearing which ends up being set incredibly high by the black, female judge, as Franklin murmurs to Logan, “They got to her.” Notice how the show includes people of color in the corruption so that when a person of color defends or sides with cops in real life, viewers will remember this propaganda and perhaps think, “They got to him/her,” or they’re an “Uncle Tom.”

 

As Logan is whisked off to jail, he tells Franklin to look into Brannigan’s informant Tweety for more evidence of corruption. Meanwhile, protestors broke into Martha’s office overnight and vandalized it with graffiti. calling her a liar, sellout and a cop lover because her husband is representing Logan.

Brannigan shows up to investigate Martha’s office to investigate the vandalism. He taunts Martha saying, “I almost wonder if you paid for this paint job to get the public attention I know you crave so much.” If the cops aren’t evil, they’re dense and stupid, as Brannigan’s partner doesn’t know what the word “impunity” means.

After Brannigan and his unintelligent partner leave, Martha forces Franklin to look at the graffiti, turning his face to each one, including “cop lover” and demanding he look at it. Apparently “cop lover” is supposed to be an insult.  

Back at the prison, Logan tells a psychiatrist handling his intake that he’s never been suicidal and doesn’t feel suicidal now. She puts him on suicide watch anyway and he gets placed in a solitary cell with a camera.

Franklin is living alone in an apartment after Martha kicks him out and he tells a visitor who questions his motives, “When Moses was found not guilty, it didn't feel like the end of something. It felt like the beginning, you know… I think I can get the people who are trying to hurt us to look in the mirror, and for most of them, it'd be the first time they've done that, if I can keep them there looking long enough.”

He then learns that Norma has been dating, and is now pregnant by, a man named Phil (Jerod Haynes) who is an undercover cop, unbeknownst to her. Franklin proclaims it’s a good thing because they can use it against the police as more evidence.

Norma ends up telling Phil that Tweety is planning to meet with Franklin and tell him everything he knows about the police corruption. Of course, word gets back to the police and Tweety ends up being arrested by 3-4 officers before he can meet with Franklin:

 

The officers deliver Tweet to Brannigan in his office, where he’s brutally murdered and the scene is staged to look like it was a drug overdose as Brannigan coldly and casually orders the officers to “dress it up.” (Warning: Extremely Disturbing)

 

I can only imagine how angry such a scene would make anti-cop viewers. That’s obviously the goal. And it’s nothing like reality because if this were to happen in real life, everyone of every skin color on both sides of the political aisle would be up in arms demanding justice together, and rightly so.

Back to Logan- he gets escorted by police through the jail cafeteria to instill fear in him as inmates call him a pig, “white boy,” and other names while spitting on him and threatening him. When he eats his first dinner alone in his cell, he bites into a mouthful of glass. An attempt is made on his life by jail personnel while the camera is off in his cell but, suspecting what was up, Logan made a move that drew too much attention to the scene which saved his life.

Logan’s corrupt ex-cop father Robbie manages to get the $300k for his bail, but he’s angry at him for turning on the police. Robbie tells him he bailed him out because it’s what his mother would’ve wanted. He hands him $10 and a change of clothes and tells Logan he’s done with him.

There we have it! Race-baiting and ACAB propaganda at its finest. And that's just four episodes. We still have 4 more to go. Implying all cops are bad/bastards should get them cancelled without any hope for revival. But The CW decided it was a good idea to give them a second season to push their BLM hate with no accountability whatsoever.  

To take the raw emotions of vulnerable people on both sides and stir up hatred and division for ratings is the epitome of shamelessness. To portray the anti-cop side as the only side telling the truth, the only side that’s “good,” the only side that’s innocent/right, the only side that’s interested in unity, the only side that’s moral and virtuous and painting all officers as corrupt, evil, racist, violent, dishonest, and murderous is dangerous and unfair to the vast majority of good, hardworking officers in real life who put their lives on the line every day for the safety of the public.

If the show was truly interested in unity and understanding both sides, where are the horrible stories from cops who’ve been targeted, ambushed, and hated, having to fear for their own lives while protecting ours in an increasingly hostile environment? That would humanize cops, though, and might cause viewers to have empathy for them, and we can’t have that now, can we?

 

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