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Yes, kids, it’s another gritty cop show from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The short-lived Dark Blue only ran for a total of twenty-episodes before being canned from television airwaves altogether in 2010, but — unlike most other Bruckheimer-backed productions — was actually somewhat tolerable. Sure, the undercover police procedural had a tendency to be just as one-dimensional as its more-popular Jerry-rigged counterparts like CSI: Miami, but at least Dark Blue benefited from a superior lead performer like a tired, trite Dylan McDermott as opposed to a hammy, creepy David Caruso.
Yet, strangely enough, Dark Blue was canceled while CSI: Miami is still allowed to breathe to this day. The sigh. Anyhoo, Dark Blue brought us the often-seedy exploits of a super-secret unit of the LAPD, lead by one Carter Shaw (McDermott) — a troubled police lieutenant who isn’t afraid to get his own (or anybody else’s) feet wet or to face a situation head-on no matter who the opponent might be, from drug lords to supervisors. Assisting him as always are equally uneasy team members Ty Curits (Omari Hardwick), whose marriage is already on-the-rocks in this season as a result of his profession; the brutally-honest Dean Bendis (Logan Marshall-Green); and the still-green Jaimie Allen (Nicki Aycox).
For this second and final season, the writers obviously felt it was necessary to add another lead character to boost the ratings (which, surprisingly, had not dwindled all-that much since the show premiered in 2009 — although the TNT series wasn’t extremely hot to begin with), and Tricia Helfer — who had been fresh out-of-work since the demise of Battlestar Galactica — joined the cast for the show’s final hoorah as FBI Special Agent Alex Rice. Originally brought in as a rival for McDermott’s Shaw, the FBI gal quickly becomes the star’s boss and love interest — a supplement that takes us well-past believability, but still makes Dark Blue viewable.
Like the previous season, Dark Blue: The Complete Second Season arrives on DVD via the Warner Archive Collection in a 3-Disc DVD-R set that brings us the final ten episodes in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound accompanying. The overall quality here is great, and there are no special features to be found — so just sit back and enjoy the dark (blue) drama.
