‘Chicago Code’ makes for a promising rookie

February 07, 2011|Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff

‘The Chicago Code’’ is a really good cop drama right off the bat, with greasier perps, more swerving car chases, and better bulletproof-vest action than you’ll find on “Southland,’’ or “Blue Bloods,’’ or “Detroit 1-8-7.’’ It’s an ambitious, energetic portrait of law enforcement steeped in the grunge and idiom of an American city.

Whether “The Chicago Code,’’ which premieres tonight at 9 on Channel 25, will develop into a great cop drama is unclear. But the potential is there, for sure, by the end of the third episode. The show is an intelligent addition to the Fox lineup, with both the broad canvas of “The Wire’’ and the street procedural of “NYPD Blue’’ in its DNA. Created by Shawn Ryan of “The Shield,’’ which was a great cop show, “The Chicago Code’’ already has an addictive urgency and an engaging number of corruption plots that reach into different corners of Chicago’s power structure.

The show also benefits from a breakthrough performance by Jason Clarke, the Australian actor who played the politician brother on the Bulger-inspired Showtime series “Brotherhood.’’ Clarke adopts a Chicago accent, largely with success, to play Jarek Wysocki, a legendarily difficult but highly effective cop. The imposing, strong-chinned actor gives his eyes a crazed intensity as he makes Jarek both irritatingly hyped up, admirably fast-thinking, endearingly sloppy, and impossible to ignore. Jarek growls at his colleagues, but he has their grudging respect. Unlike “The Shield’’ and other cable anti-heroic character studies, “The Chicago Code’’ is a more straightforward network show about a good guy, and Clarke pulls it off nicely.

Clarke’s impatient energy dominates “The Chicago Code,’’ but it is nicely balanced by the more contained presence of Jennifer Beals as Teresa Colvin, the police superintendent. He is pig-headed and compulsive; she is sane and determined. Jarek and Teresa were once police partners, and their bond is still strong as she enlists him in her secret effort to take down crooked alderman Ronin Gibbons, played with shifty eyes and sharp claws by a riveting Delroy Lindo. Thankfully, the writers don’t seem to have romantic plans for Jarek and Teresa, so “The Chicago Code’’ won’t get mired in office goo. This pair is all about the work.