User Reviews

High school teacher Daniel Calder (Noah Wyle), his respected surgeon husband Harrison Brennan, and their adopted daughter Jira live a comfortable life in Chicago. Harrison is mistakenly killed by police officer Paul Evans (Noel Fisher) during a convenient store holdup. Paul comes from a police family. He's troubled by the incident and his partner has stolen the surveillance tape proving his fault. Jira contacts her biological mother, Tia Young, who is running for local office against corrupt incumbent Nathan Gordon. The Red Line also refers to a train line that cuts through different neighborhoods in Chicago.

The show is pushing some hot buttons. It's pushing the audience's buttons. The politics may be off-putting for some. Daniel is off-putting for me. He's got the annoying self-righteous neediness. He's more of a problem than any of the politics. As it stands, the plot is compelling enough. Noel Fisher is able to thread the needle without making his character villainous. His daddy issue is the needed origin story. Jira's need for a black culture connection is compelling. There are good aspects and I want to see the characters' journey. There are still plenty of problems. Even the last episode has Tia bribing somebody in Gordon's camp. I wouldn't mind it but Tia needs to be conflicted about the bribe. Instead, she seems oblivious to her own corrupted politics in the situation. There are a few awkward bothersome turns. Overall, it is intriguing enough to hold one's attention.

White cop shoots unarmed black man in the back, without warning? Check. Black man who is shot is part of a bi-racial couple? Check. Bi-racial couple are gay men? Check. "Daughter" of the gay men is adopted? Check. (in truth maybe not a cliche, as it is unlikely one of the gay men is the father)

There are just too many predictable tropes for this show to hold my interest in this age of "peak TV"

He first 5 minutes of the Pilot leave no question that this series is going to be another work of Liberal Propaganda. Spoiler: The framework of the series story line is centered around an interracial Gay couple that are the adoptive Dads to a child of color, living in a happy Left wing Utopia until the harmony of their 'Colors of the Rainbow" world is shattered by the evil White Cop who mistakenly guns down the Gay dad of color while responding to a robbery in progress call... It plays out of the screen worse than it reads. This is some hollywood writer's progressive wet dream. It is a really bad mashup of every imaginable Social Justice issue trying to be "woke" but it ends up looking like a total cliche. TV is supposed to be entertainment not a platform for indoctrination. This show is a dumpster fire and I won't watch another episode.

Love Noah Wyle, Corey Reynolds, and Noel Fisher and really liked the premise of the show. But they lost me with the conspiracy and cover up concerning the " tape". I thought the show was going to treat the shooting as what it was - a tragic error in judgement and the way these two families moved forward. As the show exists now, the cops are, of course, the "bad guys". Bad form show writers, bad form.

All of the people downvoting positive reviews for this show must have policemen in their family. Guess what? I do as well and I loved this! Not every cop is a good cop so please do away with your misguided views. This man was shot because he is black. Plain and simple. He didn't have a weapon, he wasn't running away, he wasn't fighting with the cop. The cop saw a black man and shot, not once, but twice. Did he yell Police? Or Stop? Or Step away from the register? No, just came in and pulled the trigger twice. Noah Wylie is brilliant in this. I've always loved him. He isn't afraid to show his emotions and his crying seemed very real. The actress playing his daughter is excellent, too. This is an honest look at how these police shootings affect more than just the cop. There are more than one victim left dead. The family's hearts are shattered as well.