Round Two: The Chicago Code

The Chicago Code: Season 1, Episode 2 “Hog Butcher” (C+)

I don’t want this to be one of those cases where the pilot is really strong and then the successive episodes aren’t anywhere near that quality, to the point that the show is no longer worth watching. I’m not quite ready to give up on this show just yet, especially since Monday nights are infinitely less crowded than, say, Tuesday or Thursday nights, and I’m still watching shows like “No Ordinary Family” and “Nikita” on those nights, so I should at least give this one a fair shot for a little while longer. I can’t comprehend, however, why Jarek seems to go out of his way to ensure that everyone hates him. It’s one thing to be a jerk who commands the respect of his peers and common criminals, but there’s a better and more compelling way to do it. He can’t even get along with his one supposed ally, the superintendent! It’s interesting to see the family of Teresa’s slain guardian be denied his pension and benefits because he gave her his vest and saved her life, but it seems awfully manipulative that the only person who could possibly help in that situation would be the alderman. There’s a reason I don’t tend to watch cop shows, with a few cable-based exceptions, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that a few key characters can often be portrayed as the entirety of a small universe, which just hardly seems believable and doesn’t cut it for me.