Like it or not, politics plays a huge role in police leadership.
Regina is East New York’s equivalent to Blue Bloods‘ Frank Reagan; she doesn’t care about politics and does what she thinks is right.
Unfortunately, she’s not in charge. And on East New York Season 1 Episode 13, Suarez made it clear that he’ll do whatever it takes to keep Sharpe happy and put himself in the running for the Police Commissioner position.
Suarez cared what the police union thought because that’s what Sharpe cared about. And the police union won’t want solo foot patrols.
There are some excellent reasons to be concerned about this policy, and Regina should be able to answer people’s objections. Officers patrolling without partners are at greater risk of injury or ambush, so she needs to explain how she will protect officer safety.
That’s how you deal with concerns, not by slow-walking a policy and hoping everyone will forget about it because the union doesn’t like it.
Regina may hate politics, but she knows how to play the game. She fought back by getting Jordan to endorse the policy on air, effectively pressuring Sharpe to accept it.
Sharpe’s irritation was telling. He complained that he “had to take a stand” when he wanted to stay neutral and not let anyone know what he thought about the policy.
That’s poor leadership. This idea that winning elections means appealing to every possible voter is stupid; instead, politicians should take bold stands and attempt to appeal to voters who agree with those positions while helping those who think those ideas are too radical to feel more comfortable.
When candidates try to appeal to everybody, voters stop being enthusiastic, and the one who wins the election is the one whose base is less apathetic.
A ton of non-voters need a lot of persuading to come out. Refusing to endorse a policy most voters want because you might lose an endorsement won’t help that cause.
And logically, if Sharpe was worried because most of East New York watches Jordan’s show, doesn’t that mean that Jordan has more influence with the voters than the police union? Thus, if Sharpe wants to appeal to voters instead of being authentic, he should come out strongly for the policy.
We all know Sharpe is a weak leader who will do whatever he thinks will get him votes (which is why he wouldn’t get mine!). But the real story is the escalating tension between Suarez and Regina.
These two have known each other for a long time, but the more Suarez tries to play politics, the more he risks their friendship.
Regina: I’ll hear their concerns but implementing this policy doesn’t hinge on them.
Yenko: I’ll find a diplomatic way to say that. Look, I believe in what you’re doing but you might not be prepared for the amount of pushback you’re going to get.
Regina: I have the support of Chief Suarez, if it’s politically advantageous I’ll have the support of Sharpe, and I just might have the support of the people of East New York.
Regina expects his support on policies that make sense to him, but lately, he keeps undermining her.
At first, when he opposed her, it was because he was afraid she wouldn’t be able to keep her position and enact any reforms if she went too far.
But now, he’s allowing his ambition to interfere with his judgment. Suarez wants to be PC, and he thinks that requires appeasing Sharpe.
Although Suarez told Sharpe that he didn’t want the Deputy Mayor dictating policy, that’s exactly what’s happening. When Sharpe or the police union doesn’t like a policy, Suarez orders Regina to back off.
I never agreed to let Sharpe set departmental policy.
Suarez
He’s become a mouthpiece for the mayor’s office. How long will Regina put up with this?
The political issues between Regina and Suarez overshadowed the case of the week, which involved an arson at a hair salon run by Sengali immigrants.
The man killed in the arson had an interesting backstory. I wanted to know more about Sy’s sexual orientation and how being gay and Sengali impacted his life.
I have mixed feelings about it being a point of interest without being relevant to the case. On the one hand, too many shows use tropes about gay and trans people being killed for their orientation, and I appreciated that East New York didn’t go there.
In addition, LGBT people’s identities shouldn’t always be the focal point of their stories. It’s realistic and necessary for characters to have being gay as part of their identity without that being the only important thing about their life (or death).
That said, the cops didn’t explore the possibility that Sy was killed for his sexual orientation, which seemed like a natural path to explore.
And why was it necessary for the traffickers to kill him? Couldn’t they have threatened to out him if he didn’t stop interfering with their operation?
During the investigation, Bentley continued to bounce back and forth between acting like his usual self and having trauma responses.
Bentley: I wouldn’t mind a foot post.
Sandeford: You think this is gonna be like Abbott and Costello?
Bentley: I don’t even know who any of those people are.
His banter with Sandeford was similar to how these two talked before the shooting, but neither was themselves. Sandeford is still worried about Bentley, especially given that Bentley froze up at a sting operation and Bentley is trying too hard to act like nothing is wrong.
Bentley and Quinlan’s relationship has gone full steam ahead at breakneck speed — when did they start having overnight visits? — but the trauma threatens to ruin it.
Bentley is too invested in proving he’s okay, and Quinlan is too pushy about wanting to help. That’s a recipe for disaster. Maybe Bentley should see the same psychiatrist Regina sees, though first, he must admit that he has a problem.
Bentley: When you were talking with Sandeford in the break room, it wasn’t about funny videos, was it?
Quinlan: I wanted to know if you were okay.
Bentley: If you want to know if I’m okay, ask me.
Quinlan: I do ask you, all the time.
Bentley: I don’t want to be asked all the time. I don’t want to be looked at with concern. If anyone asks you, tell them I’m fine.
Quinlan: Okay! Why are you yelling at me?
Bentley: I’m sorry.
Quinlan: Andre, what can I do?
Bentley: Nothing.
Speaking of which, who else is psyched that Regina is finally ready to talk about her dad? Let’s hope East New York Season 1 Episode 14 picks up where we left off with this conversation!
What did you think, East New York fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know. And don’t forget you can watch East New York online whenever you’d like.
East New York airs on CBS on Sundays at 9 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.