Throughout the entire 2020-21 TV season, networks bombarded viewers with “anti-racist” propaganda and endless Black Lives Matter (BLM). A notable exception had been CBS’ The Equalizer It stayed true to the old-fashioned narrative and minimized lecturing. The show’s new season is full of left-leaning messaging and old-fashioned storytelling.
The episode “D.W.B.” on Sunday, the show relied on the tired BLM myths about out-of-control racist cops targeting innocent black men.
The episode began with two officers in a rural county getting a message from the dispatcher about an armed robbery by a black suspect driving an SUV. Marcus Dante, a New York City black detective who is also a friend to Equalizer Robyn Mcall (Queen Latifah), passes through the scene and starts filling his SUV.
The two local deputies, Barnes (Lee Tergesen) and Morales (Brandon Espinoza), assume Dante, a black man casually stopped at a well-lit gas station in town, must be the suspect who fled. They taze Dante and beat him up.
Barnes: You! You are the SUV Place your hands out of the window Now! We’re all set! Where are you going? From where are you?
Dante: Hey. I don’t know who you are looking for.
BarnesShut the mouth.
DantePlease excuse me
BarnesYou can search the trunk.
Dante: Whoa. My trunk will not be searched. No, not without a warrant.
BarnesNow, get out of your car. Now.
Dante: Really? What are we doing? Okay.
BarnesThen, turn around.
DanteTell me. Why am I being detained? Let me tell you. You saw a black man who fit a description. Is that it? You don’t have to ask me who I could be. I want both your names, badge numbers and name of your immediate supervisor.
Barnes?I said, “Shut it!” Please check his vehicle.
DantePlease do not go into my car. I’m an NYPD…
Barnes: Stop! (Groaning) Gun! (Grunts)
MoralesYou are right!!
After Barnes and Morales realize Dante is actually a cop, they fear reprisal so they kidnap Dante and make plans to kill him. The episode is absolutely ridiculous. It was revealed that Barnes beat and kidnapped another innocuous black man 27 years before.
Robyn McCall rescued the black elderly man held hostage by Barnes. He tells her that the world was not, in his words, “woke” then. The writers seem to want you believe that cops kidnapped black men in masse during the 1990s and that “woke” is a synonym for progress.
McCall is also shown as being a racist because McCall refuses his help in finding Dante’s kidnappers. But when the sheriff finds out that Barnes and Morales drove by the gas station where Dante disappeared, he does confront them.
Barnes concocts a story to tell the sheriff. He cites his fear of Don Lemon, Al Sharpton and other people as reasons to not speak out about these concerns.
Barnes: Here’s what happened. We met the man. He spoke with us. He identified himself as a cop; we went on our way.
Sheriff: Do not bs you. You didn’t call it in.
Barnes: We didn’t have time. We were moving so fast trying to catch that assault suspect who attacked Charlie. Look, if we went public with that, in today’s climate, and that guy went missing, we’re instantly guilty. You want those Black Lives Matter people protesting here in Gatling? Al Sharpton and Don Lemon camped out on your front lawn?
The sheriff lets the matter go, but McCall is ultimately able to find and help save Dante. The episode ends with Dante handing in his NYPD badge because he believes he can no longer be a cop in good conscience.
The week before, The Equalizer Did another outrageous episode in which working class white men were depicted as evil racists and stalking elderly Asians of New York’s Chinatown. This week, it is racist small town police officers attacking and kidnapping an innocent black man.
The Equalizer became a hit following its debut after the 2021 Super Bowl, but with recent episodes like these one wonders how much longer such a new series can maintain its success.
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