I've just started watching Prodigal Son, mostly because Michael Sheen is in it as the serial killer dad, but I'm quickly warming to the other members of the cast as well.
There's one thing that really jumped out at me in the first few episodes, though, and it's how the members of the NYPD portrayed here are so quick to pull out their guns.
Now, this is a series that is approving of cops - they are solving some grisly murders, after all, so they're obviously the good guys. But in so many situations their first response is to point a gun at someone, while someone else yells "NO! Don't shoot!" For instance, Malcolm Bright falls asleep in an office in the precinct, has a nightmare and starts running. Despite the fact that he's in an area of the precinct that he's obviously authorised to be in, and that he's also obviously unarmed, half a dozen officers immediately point guns at him, and it's left to the woman on the team to wake him up, bring him back to reality, and save him from the very real risk of being killed.
In another episode, the murderer has been dosing victims with LSD before killing them - the officers know this, but still their first response, not the last response, is to point a gun at the victim who is obviously tripping.
I'm sure that this portrayal of the police is reasonably recent - I'd have to go back to watch a few episodes of Kojak or something similar to be sure, but I'm pretty sure Kojak was more often seen with a lollipop than a gun in his hand, even though there was a lot of violence in the show.
I've also been thinking about the recent protests in the US with the slogan Abolish the Police. If Prodigal Son is a favourable depiction of police officers in action, and they are shown to be so trigger-happy, I can't say I'm surprised that there is a protest movement against that style of policing.
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