Robyn McCall dishing out justice.
The Equalizer is the Darker and Edgier reboot of the 1985 to 1989 original series by CBS. It debuted on February 7, 2021, and stars Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Lorraine Toussaint and Chris Noth. It airs on TV on CBS and streams on Paramount+. Three seasons have aired and CBS is airing the fourth season.
The show takes place where Robyn McCall has recently retired from conducting black ops work overseas under "The Company" after an op in Venezuela went sideaways at the last minute. Currently divorced, she's dealing with her teenage daughter Delilah. Robyn decides to use her military and black ops experience to act as a Vigilante Woman to those who are in trouble/can't afford to risk making contact with law enforcement.
Robyn gets help from Melody "Mel" Bayani, an ex-US Air Force airman and sniper turned bar owner and her husband, Harry Keshegian, a master hacker who had to arrange for his own death with Robyn's help.
On occasions, Robyn gets backup from William Bishop, her ex-superior back from her CIA days and the head of Bishop Security. On her tail is Marcus Dante, an NYPD detective who returned back to duty after being suspended due to an incident involving hitting a lawyer.
In January 2021, Andrew W. Marlowe said that he's open to a future opportunity for the show to cross over with Denzel Washington's character in the Equalizer film series.
This show contains examples of:
- A Day in the Limelight: "No Way Out" has Robyn, Vi and the rest of her friends team up to help someone who's been physically abused by her husband.
- Armor-Piercing Response: In Season 3 when Robyn meets with Colton Fisk, one of the agency's top people, she is furious with him after he put her through a test of character to see if she was dirty and risked her life to out and kill several other traitors in the company. When she demands to know what she did to require being tested, Colton shoots back that her insatiable drive to hunt Mason Quinn and stop him pulled Bishop out of a job Colton had him doing. This put Bishop into the line of fire of Quinn and he died as a result. So in Colton's book, McCall is the reason Bishop is dead. Robyn's anger breaks away as she can only stare in silent resignation of the truth of this response.
- Big "NO!": At the end of Season 3, when Robyn is Forced to Watch her friends burn.
- Broken Pedestal: Invoked by Robyn when she takes on a murderous Corrupt Corporate Executive. She realized that the guy's son is a good guy who has no idea what his father is doing. She presents the son with all the evidence of the father's wrongdoing including how the father destroyed the son's relationship with the love of his life. The son is furious over how his father manipulated him and made him an accomplice to horrible crimes.
- Captured on Purpose: In "The People Aren't Ready," McCall tells Detective Dante to arrest her because uniformed cops are closing in on her and she needs his help on the case.
- Clear My Name: McCall and her team helps Dale after his defense lawyer reached out in "Judgment Day" and explained that his trial may have been rigged against him. She investigates the case and finds out that a judge was responsible for not allowing any evidence in favor of his defense to be submitted to court and allowed a known criminal to have his charges dropped just so he can go after Dale. This is later tied to a medical doctor, who is her son and is suspected of being dirty.
- Courtroom Episode: "Vox Populi" takes place almost all the time in the courtroom in New York while Robyn/Dante look for the actual rape suspect.
- Corrupt Politician: Robyn takes a case involving a politician who's willing to blackmail anyone who blocks his political agendas in "No Good Deed". He also used to be a FBI agent before he joined politics.
- Diplomatic Impunity: In "Full Throttle", a diplomat's son is involved in a hit and run with a Maserati SUV. The Sudanese Consulate claims that he has diplomatic immunity thanks to the State Department.
- Disney Death: In "lifeline" Robyn's mentor David Henson, who was believed to have been killed weeks earlier turns out to be alive.
- Domestic Abuse: The Season 3 episode "No Way Out" involves one of these.
- Engineered Public Confession: Big time in "It Takes a Village" as McCall tricks a corrupt CEO into admitting to having a community organizer murdered on a video she then puts on a Jumbotron in Times Square.
- In Name Only: Beyond the title, the show has very little in common with the original 1980s show or the reboot movies.
- King Incognito: In the season 3 episode "Blowback" Robyn must guard an asset so he can be debriefed by one of the Company's top men named Colton Fisk. The asset has information on a dangerous cartel and it draws them into attacking the convoy. It turns out the "asset" is Colton and he did this whole affair to wipe out corrupt agents, traitors, and test whether McCalll is a traitor as well.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard:
- In "lifeline" Robyn's mentor David Henson.
- In "Pulse" Mason Quinn kills Bishop.
- The Mole: Season 3 reveals there is a high level mole in the Company. Someone is leaking information to cartels and other groups. In the episode "Blowback" the entire plot is orchestrated by one of the Company's top men to out and kill not one but several moles. The team McCall is on to guard the asset are each dirty and sold out the USA to one group or another. The asset is that top man running the hunt and needed to see if McCall is dirty too.
- Mythology Gag:
- Queen Latifah is the second African-American person to portray McCall after Denzel Washington in The Equalizer movies.
- The ending of "The Equalizer" has Robyn posting a message on a forum board online using the line used in the original series by Robert McCall to advertise her services. She later uses it in her business cards as seen from "Full Throttle".
- Noodle Incident: Whatever happened with Harry that Robyn had to make sure he was publicly declared dead.
- Robyn leaving "The Company" after something went wrong in Venezuela. According to her, she said it involved a couple of congressmen who changed their minds at the last minute.
- Marcus' suspension. Turns out that he punched the ADA for making the girlfriend of a suspect testify before dropping the case since she was killed later on.
- Rape as Backstory Mel but she makes it clear that her story is much more than that.
- Ripped from the Headlines:
- "True Believer" is based on news headlines that investigations into far-right groups involve those who have experience/training in police and military forces.
- "The Kingdom" has Harry mentions Defeat Geo spyware, which is based on the Pegasus spyware scandal.
- "D.W.B." involves two police officers from a rural county who accost an African-American just for fitting the racial profile of an unidentified suspect.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Like the original series, it explores themes between hope and despair with Robyn and the victims involved.
- Shout-Out:
- The end of "It Takes a Village" has a reference to Gladiator when Mel calls Harry "Harrious Maximuus" and he quotes the line "Are you not entertained?"
- Dante mentions Beyblade by name in "Followers" when he tells Robyn that his kids are big fans of the franchise.
- In one episode, Lauryn Hill is mentioned as an example of a rapper who is authentic. Obviously Queen Latifah couldn't be used as an example in this context.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Since Harry's forced to not use any electronics as a condition from the US military to avoid an actual court-martial, he's forced to let Mel do the computer work in "Bout That Life". At first.
- Western Terrorists: The pro alt-right group "TruthTrappers" in "True Believer" where they target a university's dorm facilities housing foreign students.
- Title Drop: the end of "glory";William Bishop: What did they used to call you in Kandahar?Robyn McCall: They called me "Almaeadil." The Equalizer.
- Wham Episode:
- Robyn decides to join "The Company" at the end of "Glory".
- "Hunting Grounds" has DA Avery Grafton launch a campaing to have Robyn arrested.
- "Lifeline" has Aunt Vi know that Robyn is doing vigilante work as a side hustle.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Said verbatim by Marcus when he finally discovers in Season 3 that Robin is Delilah's mother.
