I was excited to jump into this one, but I have to admit, when I looked at the poster, I envisioned a different actor. My brain interpreted it as someone else, so I was surprised. I cannot even figure out which actor my brain was referencing. But my brain does know Mark Ruffalo and will happily watch him in anything. In this series, we’ll follow him on his hunt for a garbage worker (Tom Pelphrey) engaging in home robberies. It’s always fascinating to see crime from different perspectives. I enjoyed The Night Of and the way crime affects all the people around it. And especially when there are fantastic actors on the screen, well, I can certainly spare some time for that.
- “Crossing”
We open on Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) waking up, taking a knee to pray. A man of faith, we watch him prepare for the day and head to various colleges for FBI recruitment. It doesn’t seem very successful, but he’s just out of the field for a little while following a family tragedy of some kind. He’s clearly struggling, and the relationship with his daughter Emily (Silvia Dionicio) is fraught with tension. It was hard to interpret at first what happened with the family, but later on they dropped a huge bomb, and it explains quite a bit. More on that later…
On the flip side of things, we also see Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) get up and start his day. Removing his son, Wyatt (Oliver Eisenson), from the bed, he shifts him over to the still-sleeping daughter, Harper’s (Kennedy Moyer), bed. He then gets cleaned up and heads to his job as a garbage man. He works as a team with his buddy Cliff (Raúl Castillo). They chat, they pick up trash, they surveil houses. Ok, so not entirely the usual garbageman stuff. Someone is feeding Robbie tips about which houses are drug houses. They go, gather trash, and sift through it. Certain indicators will show the drugs have moved out, which means it is flush with cash and ready to be hit. Time and date are set, and it’s off to the races. Along with their friend Peaches (Owen Teague), who often assists in the robberies.
Meanwhile, for Tom, we get some of the dirt on the family tragedy. Court is coming up, and a family statement is needed for Tom’s son, Ethan (Andrew Russel), but Dad won’t do it. Will Emily? She still hasn’t decided, but I want to know what happened to him! Where is he? Is he dead? I have so many questions. Which, personally, to me indicates quite good programming, if I can’t figure out where it’s going. True Detective, particularly season one, also made me like this. But Tom will have to deal with the family drama later because he’s wanted back to work, overseeing a task force on the hunt for a group committing home robberies. The robberies are in a spot between two gang territories, and the robberies are about to start a turf war. They need to be caught as soon as possible. They have a confiscated trap house for him to use with his new team.
They’re fresh and eager, of course. They always are, but each brings their own flavor to the table, which will be interesting to see what dynamic unfolds. Elizabeth Stover (Alison Oliver) is clearly going through a rough patch at home and struggling a little bit, but also perhaps might inevitably surprise us. We shall see. Then there’s Anthony Grasso (Fabien Frankel), a familiar face for House of the Dragon fans. He seems pretty by the book, could he end up being a kiss ass? I feel like those guys often become kiss-ass types. Lastly, we meet Aleah (Thuso Mbedu), a germaphobe who wipes down the briefing folder. Each of these strong personality types will have to find a rhythm together in order to stop these crimes and keep a drug war from spilling out. We do get the final bombshell that Tom’s son, Ethan, is not the victim but the perpetrator, as he’s currently locked up. Oh boy, now I’m even more curious what happened. Tom refuses to engage with his son, so I know this is going to be bad news. He’s getting incredibly drunk alone at home, but also with friends when they come to visit. Tom is not doing well, and it’s obvious in his relationship with his daughter.
Meanwhile, Robbie goes out for another hit. And sadly, with committing crimes, you can do everything right, but eventually it will go wrong. The woman sees one of their faces, a friend arrives with the money, and their friend Peaches is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Robbie and his main guy make it out, but not without a hostage. Or I guess, saving grace? I cannot wait to see what comes with this show and see both sides as it plays out. There’s some great acting ahead, I have no doubts.
