A grindingly authentic police show
The show: The Night Of, Season 1, Episode 1 The moment: The weary indifference.
We’ve just seen a horrifying image: a freshly murdered young woman, stabbed 22 times. Cut to the police night watch desk. A male reception- ist repeats the particulars aloud as he jots them down.
“Knife wounds,” he says. “Stomach, chest, hands. Fatal.” He sighs. “There’s no way this can wait for the day tour, huh?”
His boss (Kevin Dunn) arrives. “Pull Mason and Sheehan off those ag assaults in Harlem,” the boss says. “And don’t give me any s--- about life is cheap above 96th St.”
He calls Detective Box (Bill Camp). “Sorry to wake you,” he says. “Thought you’d want in on this from the jump.” He mentions the swanky address of the murder, West 87th St. “Brownstone?” Box says. “Yeah,” the boss replies. “It’s gonna get pretty photogenic out there.”
No disrespect to Law & Order, but this series, from writer Richard Price ( Clockers) and director Steven Zaillian, is the opposite of that stal- wart one. There’s no outrage for the victim here, no speechifying about justice, no snappy quips from the cops. There are just people who’ve seen it all grinding their way through the system, from cops to courts to prison.
Each milieu and character feels and sounds completely authentic, as do the long, still shots that point out the brute ugliness of the environment: scarred interrogation desks, rusted metal gates, clots of plastic bags caught on barbed wire. And because the accused is Muslim (Riz Ahmed), the racism is chillingly casual. I suspect I’ll be writing about this show again. The Night Of debuts July 10 at 9 p.m. on HBO. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on popculture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.