“Old School.” “Emphasis on Old.” “Actually, I’m Retro.”
While L.A.’s Finest didn’t grab me initially out of the gate, I was invested enough in the characters by the end of season 1 that I decided to give season 2 a chance. It helps that I have Spectrum TV, and the show is a Spectrum original. Like the first season, the second had its moments, but it was hit or miss for me.
If you’ve missed the show, it is a spin-off of the Bad Boys film franchise since it features Sydney Burnett (Gabrielle Union) from the second movie. She’s relocated to Los Angeles and is working as a homicide cop alongside Nancy McKenna (Jessica Alba). While the two get results, they often go about it in questionable ways.
This season picks up a few months after the first season ended. In that time, the death of Sydney’s friend Jen has remained unsolved, and Sydney begins to investigate it herself despite the fact that she isn’t on the case. Naturally, Nancy is right there to help her. Along the way, they are officially assigned to investigate a string of crimes in Koreatown. Is it related to the boxing star that is trying to give back to the neighborhood?
This season was different from the first since we really focused on these two cases. We occasionally had a smaller case that came in for a couple of episodes, but most of these twelve episodes focused on these two cases.
Well, and the private lives of our two leads. While we learn more about Sydney’s family, we are more invested in Nancy’s family since her husband, DA Patrick McKenna (Ryan McPartlin), and step-daughter Isabel (Sophie Reynolds) were a big part of season 1. There storylines come directly from what we saw in the first season. They took them to some interesting places. Some of which I liked, but some of which I definitely didn’t.
The cases were strong. There were some great twists that I didn’t expect. Other times, while I saw certainly plot complications coming, the suspense they gave us were great.
But it’s not all drama and suspense. We do get some comic relief, mostly coming from the Bens, Detectives Ben Baines and Ben Walker (Duane Martin and Zach Gilford). They are a delight.
With everything going on, the show is entertaining. But it was still hit or miss with me. Part of that is some storylines that were clearly inspired by soap operas and diminished the characters in my eyes. I mean, there is a reason I don’t watch soap operas – I don’t enjoy those kinds of storylines. But when it was a crime drama, it was good.
Being an original for a TV service and not the broadcast networks, it does have more violence and language than most TV shows I watch. Still, they didn’t push the boundaries too far.
I knew the show had been cancelled before I started watching season 2. It certainly makes the cliffhanger ending of the season more frustrating. It could have been worse, but I would like to know what happens next.
L.A.’s Finest is one of those shows I enjoyed when I was watching it, but I have no desire to go back and watch again. I’m glad I had an opportunity to watch season 2, but it isn’t worth going out of your way to watch.
I have not heard of this one! Sad that it ends on a cliff hanger and you'll never know what happened.
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