Arresting Television: An Advance Review of ABC's "The Unusuals"

"Everybody has secrets, especially cops."

On the surface The Unusuals, which launches tonight on ABC, may not seem all that unfamiliar in an age when all cops, doctors, and lawyers are routinely portrayed as either unfailable heroes or crackpot eccentrics. But scratch beneath the surface and you'll find an intriguing and offbeat police drama.

Yes, The Unusuals, from creator Noah Hawley and Sony Pictures Television, is quirky. Hell, it wears its quirkiness on its sleeve like a badge of honor. After all, the cops of the 2nd precinct in Manhattan tackle some rather unusual crimes, like the premiere episode's cat murderer and there are cases overheard on the police radio involving a streaker in a cape, a suspect with a samurai sword, and a (ahem) ninja. They're the front line of defense against crimes that are just too... odd for others to pay attention to.

Is it a little much at times? You bet. But don't let the series' innate quirkiness get to you. The Unusuals is clearly positioning itself as NYPD Blue crossed with Barney Miller. Yes, there are homicides and other crimes typically found in every single cop series, but there's a levity and humor here that's not often found in most straightforward police procedurals. And there are also some other interesting approaches at work here that might make you a believer in the unusual as well.

For one, there's a rather intriguing and taut serialized element that runs underneath the mysteries of the week and a compelling partnership between two very different police officers. Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) plays Casey Shraeger, a vice cop from a extremely well-heeled family who is pulled off of a honey trap gig in order to partner up with Detective Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), an oddball cop whose last partner, Burt Kowalski, was just discovered stabbed to death in a local park.

Walsh, a cop who also runs a terrible greasy spoon hole-in-the-wall (where a Skittles reduction is the height of haute cuisine) as an escape, quickly puts Shraeger to work as they clear out Kowalski's locker--filled with cash, drugs, and porn--and set to working on figuring out who killed him. It's not an easy case as this guy had a wife aware of his proclivity for cheating around, a mistress who's not exactly grieving for his death, and a host of enemies... including one from within the NYPD itself.

In an interesting twist, this crooked cop seemed to have detailed files on all of his comrades at the NYPD, each of which detailed their histories, vices, and dirty little secrets. And, believe me, there are secrets aplenty here as every one of the cops in the 2nd precinct seems to be hiding something, from the mundane to the illegal.

Additionally, there's a compelling supernatural element to the series, in particular the case of Detective Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg, here all twirly mustache and spindly nerves), a cancer-stricken cop who seemingly cannot be killed. In the pilot episode alone, we see Delahoy face down a charging subway train and get shot at point-blank range and yet walk away from both encounters. Meanwhile, his partner Leo Banks (Lost's Harold Perrineau) is terrified that he'll follow in the footsteps of every man in his family and die at an the age of 42. Banks is so scared, in fact, that he spends his days in Kevlar body armor and using anti-bacterial cleanser. There's a nice juxtaposition there between two partners, one of whom can't seemingly be killed, the other who is traumatized that he'll die at any second; the mystery behind Delahoy's seeming invincibility isn't explained in the first episode but remains tantalizingly vague. What should we make, after all, of that halo effect on the wall after his shooting? Hmmm...

The cast is all sensational. Tamblyn and Renner make a fantastic pair; both are completely different yet both are brilliant, if eccentric cops. Tamblyn's family gives her access to higher levels of society than the other cops and her background as a wealthy scion of a Manhattan socialite clan contrasts sharply with the grittiness of her work. (Look for Joanna Gleason to turn up as Shraeger's oblivious mother, who tells her that she "looks like a lesbian" in her outfit and questions whether she is wearing a bra.) Renner, meanwhile, makes a compelling if offbeat detective/former pro baseball player/short-order cook, prone to giving his vegetarian customers pork chops and issuing off-the-cuff brutal truths. (Of Casey, his new partner he says, "You're new and you're wearing too much eye makeup and a thong. I don't think you'll last that long.")

Likewise, Goldberg and Perrineau are absolutely amazing together, comprising one of the more memorable cop show pairings in recent memory. Rounding out the cast in the precinct bullpen: Kai Lennox as the bombastic Eddie Alvarez, a detective prone to speaking of himself in the third person; Josh Close as Southern boy Henry Cole, who has a penchant for Bible-thumping and group prayer who is hiding a rather huge secret about his identity; Monique Curnen plays gruff street-savvy Detective Allison Beaumont; and Terry Kinney plays Sergeant Harvey Brown, man hoping to rid the precinct of corruption and graft.

Ultimately, The Unusuals is an offbeat and compelling police series that offers a tantalizing blend of bizarre cases, eccentric characters, and an overarching mystery that seems to involve the secrets of every single character in the precinct. I'm intrigued enough to see where this story is going and to find out just what Kowalski was up to with his mysterious files. For a cop show that could rest its laurels and just be a run of the mill procedural, that is, in and of itself, pretty unusual.

The Unusuals launches tonight after Lost at 10 pm ET/PT on ABC.