The Unusuals – Summer DVD Review – The Pilot

The Unusuals
The Pilot

Original Air Date: Apr 8, 2009

Rachel M – Staff Writer
rachelm@thetwocentscorp.com

Yay summer!! I really wanted to watch this cop drama (dramedy?) when it started mid-season in 2009, but I just never found the time. And then it was off the air. Only ten episodes, but with a leading cast of Amber Tamblyn and Jeremy Renner I have to believe there was something to this show!

So my understanding of the premise (and no I haven’t studied this, it can be an adventure for both of us) is that rookie detective and oddball Casey (Tamblyn) is added to a NYPD precinct who handles X-Files like stuff. Am I right? Let’s watch!

Cue montage of New York City with a hip song and then a voice-over of dispatch alerting police of a man in a hot dog costume who “may or may not be wielding a samurai sword.” I already like this show! Casey is working vice trying to bust on prostitution when a homicide detective picks her up and transfers her out. That Sergeant is played by Terry Kinney, who you’ll recognize because he’s in everything. So now we meet Walsh (Renner) who has a little diner where he makes whatever he feels like, because Sarge has to inform him that his partner is dead.

In the locker room, Walsh and Casey have some really well written banter. Interspersed with the scenes is hysterical sound bytes from dispatch, and now we meet another team of detectives. Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau who is now famous because of “Lost”) and Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg). Add in Joanna Gleason as Casey’s mom and this show has a pretty stellar cast.

So Casey and Walsh go to inform the widow, turns out the dead guy was kind of a jerk and cheated on his wife, but she knew about it and was okay with it mostly. So off to see one of “the girls,” she opens the door in leopard print undergarments and says “You’re not the pizza guy.” Walsh pulls out his badge and says “Yeah, and this isn’t a porn film.” HAHAHA! He asks her to put on a robe, which she does but it’s sheer. Oy. They tell her that under no circumstances is she going to the funeral, which she doesn’t really seem to mind. Back at the precinct, the unusuals squad gathers to go over the night’s reports. One of the team, Eddie Alvarez, in the Sergeant’s office sucking up. He wants to lead on the dead cop guy’s case and be the face of the unit. He’s a schmuck.

Banks and Delahoy check into a report of an attack…on a councilman’s daughters cat. He’s pretty upset, and sure that it’s an act of terrorism against him and his family. They insult him and get kicked out. Seems like this will be a recurring theme. Delahoy receives a call from a doctor, apparently he has a brain tumor. It’s treatable but he doesn’t want it, which means he has six months to live. Didn’t see that coming! Meanwhile Banks has noticed a bunch of “Lost Cat” flyers in the neighborhood, “I think we have a cat killer on the loose.” Weird.

At HQ, Eddie Alvarez, who refers to himself in the third person only cementing his role as a massive tool, leads the meeting on the dead detective. He proposes a theory that makes zero sense, but they have to run with it because he’s the primary. Delahoy and Banks go after the suspected cat killer, who’s basically caught red-handed. A chase ensues, that ends in the subway. Banks nails the guy with a taser and Delahoy almost dies when he’s on the tracks as a train comes. It stops right in front of him, death wish much?

They interrogate the guy, using a broken all-in-one printer that they say is a lie-detector machine. It prints out pictures of his hand with True or Lies written on them in red. Not sure how they’re doing it but it’s working. They guy backs himself into a corner, and they nail him. Banks freaks out on Delahoy, turns out his family has a knack for dying at age 42, the age Banks just turned. Well that explains the bullet proof vest!

Casey is getting the low down from the other female cop in the 2nd Beaumont, when her mom calls. Then Alvarez is saying goodbye to a lady friend who recognizes Casey. Turns out Casey is an Upper West Side rich girl. They come to an agreement, “Bitch.” “Slut.” “Cow.” Well, it’s a language. Walsh finds a storage locker key in dead cop’s desk, in a place the guy has no business having a storage locker. They go to check it out and on the way Alvarez stops them. Walsh feeds him false intel, to get him out of the way which is totally deserved. At the storage locker, it’s been set on fire, so there’s not a lot left. But it seems more clear that the killing wasn’t random like Alvarez wants it to be. Turns out, there are a bunch of files on the cops in the 2nd. Sketch.

One of the files is on Det. Cole, and when Walsh brings up the name Granger casually in the break room, Cole breaks and admits to being Granger (who was also a criminal). Well that was easy. He asks Walsh to keep his secret, but it seems like something is up. Which is pretty much confirmed when Cole immediately makes a phone call to another guy and tells him he’s in trouble.

Casey is ordered to appear at her father’s birthday party, which is anything but a casual family dinner. Casey and her family are clearly at odds about her career choice, but it’s not that contentious. Trying to go back to work, Sarge is outside where Casey is trying to catch a cab. He tells Casey that “my house is in disarray, I want you to help me clean it up.” Basically indicating that some of his team is corrupt and he needs someone untouchable to help him out. Since she has money, no one can bribe her. And she’s clearly a cop because she believes in it.

Delahoy and Banks get their cat killer to confess after locking him in a car with cats. Walsh and Casey have a heart to heart over some concoction he makes for her in the diner. Then they get a call with a lead on the hang up calls the widow. Turns out that the dead guy was acting as a mentor to the kid drug dealer. At the station, Banks and Delahoy for the win when Alvarez shows up, and he’s pissed. Walsh has been jerking him around all night on the non-existent source. Cole finds the suspect who matches a witness description.

The whole department goes to catch the guy. Banks has to bail out of fear, so Delahoy goes in for him. He gets blasted with buckshot and then Casey shoots the killer guy. The buckshot leaves an outline on the wall that looks like Jesus. It appears a guardian angel has been looking out for Delahoy. Cole on the other hand is being shady. He hides a gun in the wall where the killer is, or he tries to at least, but Walsh walks in on him. So Cole has to improvise and say he just found them. Turns out Sarge’s theory has some backing to it. So is Cole the dirty one or does the conspiracy go deeper than that?

Walsh gives a toast to Casey, and then a rising speech for the dead cop. It’s actually very moving. Well, I like what I’ve seen so far! It’s got gravitas but also a little levity. Can’t wait for the next one! Do you like the show? Share your TwoCents below! (hey that rhymes!)