New Additions Make the Second Season of The Commish My Favorite

Over the past few months, my family has been enjoying The Commish, the 1990s series about an unassuming police commissioner in Eastbridge, a small fictional town near New York City. The second season is just as enjoyable as the first, with the same quirky humor and the sweetness of a guy who truly loves his family and cares about the citizens under his watch.

Tony Scali (Michael Chiklis) is a charming fellow in his late 30s. His love of good food is a running joke throughout the series, as he’s always sneaking snacks and sometimes uses culinary delights as a way to calm down victims or tempt suspects into talking. An incredibly hands-on guy, he dives right into the mysteries that come to his department, often going on the beat himself and getting into precarious situations. His degree of direct involvement with cases is not quite realistic, but it is one of the most interesting elements of the show, especially when he uses his noggin to “regulate human behavior” and talk down a lawbreaker with little muss or fuss.

Tony is married to Rachel (Theresa Saldana), a hard-working educator, and both are deeply devoted to their son David (Kaj-Erik Eriksen), a smarter-than-average middle schooler who is a good kid but is having a tough time adjusting to the changes in his family. Chief among these is the new sister who is on the way at the beginning of the second season. The new baby plays a big role in the season, particularly the episode in which Rachel goes into labor while Tony is dealing with his old mentor, who is threatening to jump off a ledge in the wake of his forced retirement. Her recent birth also informs Tony’s desperate search for a kidnapped infant with lactose intolerance in one of the season’s most intense episodes.

At the department, the most compelling of the officers on the force continues to be Stan Kelly (Geoffrey Nauffts), a rather naïve young man with a true passion for helping others. Tony seems to take a special interest in him and often uses him in an unusual capacity on cases. While he can be a bit of a hothead sometimes, Stan is mostly an extremely lovable character. New to the show in this season is Cyd Madison (Melinda McGraw), a street-smart detective with a real gift for going undercover but a surprising vulnerability when it comes to her personal life. She makes an excellent addition to the cast, and I love the dynamic between her and Tony.

This season is full of funny moments, many of them involving the dopey custodian who is always misinterpreting Tony’s instructions like a burly Amelia Bedelia. Tony’s unconventional methods of coaxing confessions and talking down the mentally unstable continue to bring chuckles, as do some of the absurd situations in which he finds himself. In one episode, what was intended as a romantic gesture spirals into absurdity when Tony accidentally releases a balloon to which he has attached an expensive ring for Rachel. His quest to retrieve it is hilarious, as is the episode in which the Scalis try to figure out what their rather obnoxious new neighbors are getting them for Christmas so they can reciprocate appropriately.

However, it also delves into very serious topics. Rachel is severely traumatized after witnessing an armed robbery that results in the death of a grocery clerk, and David faces a moral dilemma when his best friend shoots a middle school bully in his defense. Tony must put all his people skills to work when he discovers that an old friend has developed dissociative identity disorder and his alternate personality is murderous. Telly Savalas turns up for several episodes as a mobster who claims to be retired but who seems to bring big trouble with him to Eastbridge. The guest star who excited me most was Mark Pellegrino, best known to me as Island sage Jacob on LOST, particularly since Titus Welliver, who played Jacob’s nemesis, showed up in the first season. Both are ultimately sympathetic figures, though Pellegrino’s character spends his episode in a stand-off with the police.

Each week, Tony and those in his department must work to solve the crimes of Eastbridge. Some of them are fairly frivolous, but many are a matter of life and death. The addition of Cyd and of baby Sarah makes season two even more engaging than the first and probably my favorite of the series, and while it’s always best to watch in order, if you jump in at the beginning of this season, you won’t feel too out of the loop. I’m not usually too big on cop shows, but The Commish is one I will gladly watch any time.