FOX is beginning to have a pattern with their programming.
Their shows are toplined with men and women who are damn good at their jobs but don’t always take the conventional route to achieve desired results.
Deputy Season 1 Episode 1 introduces Bill Hollister, a fifth-generation lawman who throws caution to the wind in all aspects of his life.
Bill is like the Conrad Hawkins of law enforcement. Much like his counterpart on The Resident, Bill has a heart of gold, cares enormously about his job and how citizens view his department and uses whatever means necessary to protect and serve.
The first thing we learn about Bill on the job is that he defied regulations to warn illegal immigrants about an upcoming ICE raid. Can’t we just watch a TV show and get entertained without a political agenda?
Thankfully, later in the show, Bill offered his reasoning for his hard-line stand against ICE, and it fits directly with the kind of guy that he is and made a lot more sense than any other recent show that broached the topic.
Bill: This isn’t a political statement, it’s just the opposite. I respect that you have a job to do, but ours is different, and people need to know it regardless of how they got here. Because if they’re afraid to come to us for help, then we’re gift-wrapping about a million victims for every bad guy in town to prey on with total impunity. I’m sorry, but I’m canceling this operation. Deputies, you’re dismissed.
London: You can’t do this, Bill! With the federal grants, we’ll lose millions!
Bill: Look, I don’t blame you for being pissed, Jerry. You come to me with specific targets, but we are not taking part in any roundups. Not while I’m sheriff.
Bill is just enigmatic enough that people across political spectrums should find him tolerable even if they don’t always agree with him. And I like the idea that stopping an ICE raid allows kindhearted folk who are here illegally to still get afforded protection from entirely bad guys (and gals).
And for those who love a good gun-fight, Bill doesn’t care a lick what the department says about the use of force on the job. He’s called up too often for going too far, and he’s at the top of the list of deputies to get pulled from the street because of it.
Bill: How do you decide who makes the list?
London: Anyone with sixteen or more uses of categorical force within a three-year period, for one.
Bill: Oh. Well, I think, geez, I must be…
London: Right at the top.
If bad people are doing bad things, Bill doesn’t take recommendations about how to corral them, he goes with his gut. And if that leads to him going cowboy and roping a van to stop and a subsequent shootout, then Bill is fine with that.
So it’s kind of fun when a man with his attitude finds himself leading the charge, and that’s what happens to Bill just after that roping incident.
The sitting (duly elected) sheriff died, and supposedly a 150-year-old law on the books says that in the case of such an emergency, the member of his mounted posse who has been on duty the longest takes the position.
Bill probably isn’t the best person for the job from a governmental perspective, and I have no idea if such a rule even exists, but it works well to thrust this maverick into a leadership position.
And Stephen Dorff is the perfect person to play Bill. Dorff always plays the sarcastic and witty antihero, and on Deputy, he gets to drop the anti and become an outright hero.
He’s hella sexy, crushes the otherwise shlocky dialogue he gets and manages to make Bill a winsome fellow on almost every level.
It doesn’t take very long for all of the requisite pieces to fall together for dramatical purposes.
Bill and the Undersheriff Jerry London do not get along. But they’re going to have to work together.
That doesn’t sit well with either of them, but for whatever reason, Bill doesn’t fire the man as fired on the spot another deputy just after he got sworn into the job.
Jerry and Bill will probably butt heads as each comes, begrudgingly, to respect the other over time. They’ll never be friends, but they’ll work well together. Jerry will somehow come to be Bill’s champion even if he never admits it.
Given a little bit of power, Bill begins giving commands. After the previous firing, he also ordered that Jerry tear up the papers that would require pulling all deputies who were under consideration for desk duty for their use of force.
Bill and his deputies stumble onto a case that suggests rival gangs in Los Angeles are redrawing their boundaries and working together, former enemies now allies.
That’s a big enough issue that it should drive the plot for a good portion of the first season. Bill needs all hands on deck, not fewer deputies on the street.
Bill’s hot temper lands him in hot water more than once in the four days after his promotion, even with the support of his personal bodyguard, former Pentagon employee and dressage medalist, Brianna Bishop.
Bex Tayor-Klaus has had her fair share of the antihero roles, too. She’s equally up to the task of perfecting shameful dialogue and sells Brianna with ease. Brianna makes a perfect Robin to Bill’s Batman. There is even a nice alliteration when saying their names. Bill and Brianna.
Bill is also a godfather to his former (now deceased) partner who died on the operating table. Bill’s wife, Paula, was the surgeon. They met when Bill got stabbed a long time ago.
Paula thinks Bill holds a grudge against her and doesn’t trust her judgment because of what went down with Rick, but she doesn’t let that thought linger long when she realizes her husband might feel like he’s in over his head as Sheriff.
This is like that Brady Bunch episodes. Do remember? When they make Greg the rock star because he fits the suit? Well, I’m Johnny Bravo. And it didn’t end well.
Bill
Thankfully, Bill gets injured a lot, so there are a lot of opportunities for the couple to reconcile at the hospital while bantering about each other’s abilities.
To drive home the importance of Rick and his son, Joseph, to Bill, on the day of the sitting sheriff’s death, Bill has to take the lead on ushering in the newest class of deputies.
That gives him a good opportunity to show off and inform the public what kind of sheriff they have on their hands. He also doesn’t miss the opportunity to poke at Undersheriff London for good measure.
You need three things to do this job, a badge, a gun, and what’s in your heart. Policy and procedure be damned. At the end of the day, you gotta be able to look yourself in the mirror and ask, ‘did I do everything I could have possibly done to protect the innocent?’ This department has lost its way. Too many save-asses. And not enough ass-kickers! Show of hands. Who here belongs in the latter category? Welcome to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department!
Bill
That dialogue shouldn’t work. And if the show were trying to offer a serious look at the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, it wouldn’t. But Deputy is more interested in pursuing the formula of the hot, renegade, charming do-gooder trying to make a difference in the world than being realistic.
And that means they have a right to make it a little more entertaining.
Bill is not only the sheriff and a dutiful husband, but he’s a father, too, and that position led to another exchance to be remembered.
Bill: Whoa, whoa! You’re not leaving the house like that.
Maggie: Like what?
Bill: Like a feral Kardashian. Like you just escaped some post-apocalyptic truck stop harem.
Maggie: Stop talkin’ to me like I’m a suspect.
Bill: Those aren’t Daisy Dukes, Maggie. Those aren’t even Miley Cyruses. They lack the requisite surface area. It’s a sash with delusions of grandeur.
He’s got something to say about everything, and it’s hard to imagine that the snappy lines can continue at the rate they’re doled out in the premiere. But is it wrong to hope that it does?
By the time the whole gang is on board, and we get to know them a bit, it’s almost like watch a superhero show on The CW. Just like the Green Arrow, Bill surrounds himself with others like himself.
Brian Van Holt plays Deputy Cade Walker. He hasn’t had a series regular role since Cougar Town, and it’s great to see him in this role.
Like the other characters, we got to know an awful lot about Cade in a very short time.
Brought up with his sister in the foster care system, Cade and his wife, Teresa, are trying to have children. They’ve also gotten approved to be foster parents. During one of the aforementioned shootouts, Cade took out a bad guy.
That led not only to Bill’s unwelcomed brush with the press wondering what their new sheriff was doing actively shooting with children present but to an unexpected change of direction for Cade and Teresa.
You know what? Here’s a good rule of thumb for dealing with the police. Don’t shoot at us, and we’ll get along famously.
Bill
Because of course, if they got approved to be foster parents and there are a couple of kids in need of said foster parents, father and godfather Bill was going to urge Cade and Teresa to make the leap (with his help, of course).
And again, nothing about it should have worked. But it did, and if there is anything political that could use addressing in entertainment these days, it’s the shape of foster care in the United States.
But here’s the deal. You can’t kill me. Not now. You’re too small, and I’m too good. I used to kill people for a living. I was a sniper in the Marine Corps., and I used to watch my targets for a long time, learn their habits, best place to take them. Maybe you can do that with me. Stay with us, and that way, you can keep an eye on me. Meantime, we will take care of you and your sister, and we won’t let anything happen to either one of you. That way, you can watch me and wait for your shot. That sound like a plan?
Cade
Maybe that will help others to consider different ways to relate to their foster children and earn their trust. It’s unorthodox (no surprise there) but effective. It made the kid reconsider things long enough to lean into the safety Cade and Teresa are offering.
It all adds up to a lot of cheesy goodness.
In the premiere alone we got the rebel deputy on the verge of firing becoming sheriff, the godson he didn’t want on the job almost killed but earning his trust, and the deputy who grew up in foster care suddenly the foster father to the children of a man he killed.
Hell, even the mounted posse position from that century-and-a-half old law that got Bill the sheriff position got mocked when Bill, Brianna, and Cade stormed some bad guys on horseback!
It will be interesting to see if the episodes that follow continue in the over-the-top vein off the premiere or if the show settles into the rhythmic pace of a procedural.
From Sleepy Hollow to Lethal Weapon to 9-1-1 to The Resident, FOX has offered prodecural television that bucks the system almost as much as its lead characters.
Deputy is off to a good start. It has its finger on the pulse of the current political climate, but never leans so far left or right that it will push away those with more ardent opinions.
Its able cast ensures the characters are sympathetic and the dialogue more fun than goofy while they dive headfirst into thrilling action and emotional conflict.
But any show is only as good as its viewers.
Did you enjoy the premiere of Deputy? Will you be watching in the future?
Should we make this a weekly event, you and me?
Have your say in the comments below.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the (), enjoys mentoring writers, cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.