@rotatingskull @stevietrix the few not entirely terrible cops being totally ineffectual to do anything to challenge the state of affairs, and just getting more and more disillusioned every episode until you see them become the terrible cops themselves.

@KitRedgrave @stevietrix This is sort of Homicide: Life On The Streets actually.

@rotatingskull @stevietrix never heard of that one...

like, one could really drive home exactly how terrible that job is, how nobody ought to want to work it and how ignoble it is. that people fall into it because they need a paycheck or they're intentionally propping up a system that benefits them at the expense of others...

but it would probably get misread and not have the intended effect, because too many people just don't want to think that way.

@KitRedgrave @stevietrix That show can be seen a lot of ways. But the writer’s mission was “the demythification of the detective.” They don’t always catch the bad guy. Some cases are closed in two minutes. Others take years. Some never close. Some detectives care and are good at solving crimes. Some are drunks who slide through. Some are complete assholes gaming the system. Those get promoted faster. One takes seven years to turn from doe eyed optimist to Actual Criminal.

@KitRedgrave @stevietrix The best detective who solves basically every murder he’s assigned eventually quits and decides the police force is pointless.

@KitRedgrave @rotatingskull I think the problem with even a lot of the “critical” shows (eg, The Shield, The Wire, Homicide, etc.) is that the absolute limit is usually “get better cops” or “improve the system” never “ABOLISH THE FUCKING POLICE”

@stevietrix @KitRedgrave People are dying of poison. What we need is better poison.

@rotatingskull @KitRedgrave lmao, literally this.

@stevietrix @KitRedgrave Then again it was our liberal Surgeon General in the 90s who wanted “safer weapons and safer bullets.”

@deathmlem @stevietrix I kinda liked Brooklyn Nine-Nine because it pretty much portrayed cops as hilariously incompetent. There were also a few points in the show where they sort of broke out of the comedy shell and showed just how truly bad everyone knows they are.

But I'm with you. I'm done with police and military shows/movies. They're fucking gross.

@deathmlem @stevietrix also I cringe any time a character says "so-and-so is a good cop."

No. They're not.