Trouble brews for a member of an all African-American biker gang as he finds himself framed.

“T-Bone”, senior member of ‘The Disciples’, finds himself framed for illegal gun trafficking in a theme that could have been mistaken for an all-Black Sons of Anarchy at first. His lover Tasha “Storm” Murray comes to McCall in the hope of helping him clear his name.

Further complications appear in the form of T-Bone’s antagonistic relationship with gang leader Buffalo Joe, whom old-school hip-hop connoisseurs might recognise as played by Big Daddy Kane. It is a clear benefit to the show that Queen Latifah’s old job provides fun cameos from her peers at the time, but in this case the veteran of the rap scene adds useful presence to the role. This is particularly effective in one of the episodes centring a majority African American cast and pushing hard against some stereotypical perceptions. The Disciples themselves are important for this, not only for visual representation as an African-American biker gang on screen, but particularly for the fact that they are set up with benevolence at their heart. Hence the above reference to that other biker gang is a larger contrast than simply on the surface, and draws attention to this clear subversion from the first scene. The Disciples are actively helping the community and providing positive mentorship for those in need of it, and thus earning the right to wear their jacket comes from being exemplary to this way of life.

It is not just the biker gang in this role. Local politician Elijah Moore is ambitious, yet has time to share the common goal of community uplift with the Disciples, but finds himself embroiled in a clash with the Bass family, which in itself threatens his good name. Despite being in different social circles overall, they meet over this common goal, and as such Moore has allied with Buffalo Joe and by way of this, the Disciples. With both determined to see an increasingly desperate T-Bone handled, a third aspect to this is revealed when Joe mentions to Dante that he knew his father well and there appeared to be a close bond between the two. It helps Dante though; in that he can meet with Buffalo Joe and Moore with both comfortable in his reputation as an honest cop they can essentially trust.

Meanwhile the presence of ex-husband Miles leaves McCall facing something of a reckoning. Inevitably he believes himself a safer and therefore better permanent guardian for Delilah and when he shows his hand on this front causes McCall a major problem, especially since it’s without Dee’s prior knowledge. This provides a fresh ongoing threat to McCall. She would probably find an active threat on her life easier to deal with than one on her personal life, so it remains to be seen how she is getting out of this one. For now, this provides a slower burning and different impact to that of Mason but no doubt almost as stressful.

We have reached the stage of the show’s run whereby it is happy to poke fun at itself, with the parody ‘The Eliminator’ being a show that McCall and family happily watch. “I’m the one you call when you can’t call your local police station,” it says, words which comedically echo those we have heard from McCall on several occasions. The male voiceover of ‘The Eliminator’ sounds just close enough to a certain other relatively recent incarnation of The Equalizer to raise a few eyebrows, and as well as this, there is a clear hint in the name that the emphasis of the show we do not see is somewhat more violent…

Verdict: An interesting episode, with a solid message of challenging certain perceptions. 7/10

Russell A. Smith