TV Recap: Steven Seagal: Lawman - "To Live or Die"

I’m six episodes into Lawman and yet another theme is emerging – Seagal and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department actually do good things for the community. This makes it very hard to poke fun at the absurdity of the fact that despite what A&E may say, Steven Seagal certainly doesn't seem like a certified a law enforcement officer. So, rather than dwell on that point, let's bracket out the criticism for now and breakdown this week’s show.

This episode starts with Seagal and his team patrolling some of the bad neighborhoods of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Soon they are called to the scene of an armed robbery. Arriving on the scene they find that two of the robbery victims were shot. The shooting victims are quickly loaded into an ambulance and Seagal’s team then turns the investigation over to the detectives from the department. This scene closes with Seagal’s team hitting the streets in an attempt to find the shooters. Sadly, as they search for the criminals we also discover that one of the shooting victims died from his wounds. This prompts Seagal to growl -- “Damn that piss me off, Johnny. “

Later, the episode shifts to the daytime and Seagal visits a charity which is helping to rebuild neighborhoods that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Specifically, Seagal and some of his police friends visit a family who had their house destroyed by hurricane flooding. Here we get to see Seagal chat with the family and he even takes a turn at helping repaint their newly remodeled home.

What is interesting here is that in an almost surreal reality television moment, the Seagal that the viewer gets to see is not the over-the-top Hollywood tough-guy that is portrayed in your typical Steven Seagal action flick. Rather, you can tell that Seagal is actually touched by the visit and by the family’s gratitude.

The scene closes with Seagal promising to come back when their house is completely repaired and then the show transitions to yet another street patrol. This time it's daylight and we rejoin Seagal and his team as they look for the earlier shooters. We get teased with a vehicle stop that matches the earlier perpetrators; however, a quick check reveals that these guys are not the murderers.

Later, Seagal’s team returns to the scene of the armed robbery, now turned murder. It seems that nervous neighbors may have seen someone who was acting suspicious and who may have also matched the description of the alleged shooters. A quick check of the area reveals no criminals. Moreover, the caller is not to be found, so the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department is unable to verify just what exactly was seen. We do learn, however, that the murder remains unsolved.

Article Author: Bob Patterson

I write from a broad perspective and cover a variety of martial arts-related topics. I typically focus on the following: self-defense, reality systems, traditional martial arts, martial arts news, and reviews of books, DVDs, etc. …

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