The Commish Takes a Darker Turn in Season Three

This year, thanks to my friend Libbie, my parents and I have enjoyed reacquainting ourselves with the 1990s cop show The Commish, starring Michael Chiklis as Tony Scali, a police commissioner in the fictional New York town of Eastbridge. Tony is a personable guy in his late 30s who’s a bit out of shape and overweight but won’t let that stop him from getting down to the nitty gritty on cases. Meanwhile, despite his rigorous schedule that often involves going out on calls in the middle of the night, Tony makes time for his beloved wife Rachel (Theresa Saldana) and son David (Kaj-Erik Eriksen), and in the third season, he also has a new baby, Sarah, to occupy his attention.

Season three, which at this time is available only as part of a full-series boxed set or for download on iTunes, begins with a conflict reminding me of the recently concluded drama Friday Night Lights. Rachel is just as career-driven as Tony is, and at the end of the second season, she gets an out-of-town job offer she can’t bear to pass up. Tony, meanwhile, is unwilling to leave his job as commissioner, so they decide to try a commuter marriage, only seeing each other on the weekends. That’s how season three begins, and it’s a pretty miserable situation for them both, but in the process of trying to fix the family, Tony finds himself without a job and sleuthing on the side, much to the disapproval of the new commissioner. How will he manage a return to the job he loves so much?

Like season two, season three has two major side characters at the precinct: earnest Stan Kelly (Geoffrey Nauffts) and clever Cyd Madison (Melinda McGraw). In this season, we see how dedicated both of them are to their boss, and they both deal with major workplace challenges and unsettling romantic entanglements. While other officers move in and out of prominence, these two are always near the forefront. Curiously, street-smart Carmela’s last episode is the season two finale, and if there was a reason given for her absence, I missed it. While Cyd continues to be a strong supporting player, I miss Carmela’s no-nonsense presence.

As with previous seasons, the third includes a mix of the serious and the silly, though it seems to tip more heavily in favor of the somber this time around, particularly toward the end, which takes a major turn for the tragic. It delves into some heavy topics throughout the season. For instance, in one episode, a gay officer is forced to out himself in order to fill out a report that will provide crucial evidence on a case, and the rest of the department, particularly his longtime patrol partner, has a difficult time coming to grips with this revelation. In another, Tony tries to help an elderly Japanese restaurant owner and a shopkeeper who fought in World War II overcome their deep-seated prejudices to work together to bring down some vandals.

In this season, David’s first serious romantic relationship is tested by the revelation of the violent activities of his girlfriend’s father. Called Romeo and Juliet, this episode marks a major turning point for David, as it concludes with his bar mitzvah, an event to which the series had been building up for some time. Equally iconic are the final two episodes, which mark the conclusion of the story arc of one of the series’ longstanding characters.

Despite all the darkness in this third season, there is still room for levity as Tony works to solve the most puzzling unsolved mysteries in town. Most of these episodes can be taken out of order, but the really powerful ones will lose some of their punch if you haven’t lived with these characters for a while, so I still recommend starting with season one. If you do, you should find season three of The Commish well worth the wait.

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.