I decided to take another look at the "The Equalizer" on DVD when I couldn't find much on TV. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the other reviewers who consider this series implausible. At best these episodes are fairy tales about a white knight who saves the person in distress. Equalizing things seems like a good idea until you have to consider how difficult that really is to do, and it makes McCall the judge, jury, and executioner just like the British we fought to get independence from. His Jaguar still looks nice, though.
I found that I now have problems with the whole premise of "The Equalizer". Who is Robert McCall supposed to be, ex-CIA or ex-MI6, licensed private detective or amateur detective, "Robin Hood" or elitist mercenary? I never saw him identify himself as a licensed private detective as the plot description claims he is, but he gets special treatment from the NYPD. You are lead to believe that he is ex-CIA allowed to operate illegally because he is a well respected retired operator, some type of bullet proof "white knight" above the law of the helpless, hapless common folk. (Most of these folks could have solved their own problems if they were armed to begin with.)
The other problem is with his clients. I am not sure if the writers are trying to be politically correct for the times, trying to be provocative, or even have a clear political agenda. I consider myself pretty sympathetic and open minded, but have a hard time developing any sympathy for many of the Equalizer's clients. For example, one women considers cheating on her husband with some guy in a bar, gets an innocent man killed without even warning him, gets her friend who encouraged her to cheat killed, gets a couple of other bystanders killed, almost gets her husband killed, but lives happily ever after to take a vacation with her husband in Nantucket. I hope McCall at least billed her his full rate whatever that is. ("Jim Rockford" was up front $200/day plus expenses.)
Some of the other clients just don't want to move, and several people have to die so they can keep their low rent housing like it was the last place on Earth they could live. "Rockford" would have told them to move if they did not own the property, and blown them off as foolish otherwise.
I am just left with the feeling that McCall is a good man who wants everyone to call him "Sir" or "your lordship", and he thinks he is the "decider" when it comes to who should live and who should die in NYC. Reminds me too much of Dick Cheney, or Higgins on "Magnum P.I.". All McCall needed to do was shoot someone in the face with a shotgun, then make them apologize to him, join the Council on Foreign Relations, and start lobbying for some bank "bail-outs". "Rockford" just wants to fish, do his job, and stay out of gun fights.
I vote for "The Rockford Files" (even "Magnum P.I.") as being much more plausible than "The Equalizer", but if you like fairy tales or just want to see some interesting footage of 1980s NYC, then take a look.
I found that I now have problems with the whole premise of "The Equalizer". Who is Robert McCall supposed to be, ex-CIA or ex-MI6, licensed private detective or amateur detective, "Robin Hood" or elitist mercenary? I never saw him identify himself as a licensed private detective as the plot description claims he is, but he gets special treatment from the NYPD. You are lead to believe that he is ex-CIA allowed to operate illegally because he is a well respected retired operator, some type of bullet proof "white knight" above the law of the helpless, hapless common folk. (Most of these folks could have solved their own problems if they were armed to begin with.)
The other problem is with his clients. I am not sure if the writers are trying to be politically correct for the times, trying to be provocative, or even have a clear political agenda. I consider myself pretty sympathetic and open minded, but have a hard time developing any sympathy for many of the Equalizer's clients. For example, one women considers cheating on her husband with some guy in a bar, gets an innocent man killed without even warning him, gets her friend who encouraged her to cheat killed, gets a couple of other bystanders killed, almost gets her husband killed, but lives happily ever after to take a vacation with her husband in Nantucket. I hope McCall at least billed her his full rate whatever that is. ("Jim Rockford" was up front $200/day plus expenses.)
Some of the other clients just don't want to move, and several people have to die so they can keep their low rent housing like it was the last place on Earth they could live. "Rockford" would have told them to move if they did not own the property, and blown them off as foolish otherwise.
I am just left with the feeling that McCall is a good man who wants everyone to call him "Sir" or "your lordship", and he thinks he is the "decider" when it comes to who should live and who should die in NYC. Reminds me too much of Dick Cheney, or Higgins on "Magnum P.I.". All McCall needed to do was shoot someone in the face with a shotgun, then make them apologize to him, join the Council on Foreign Relations, and start lobbying for some bank "bail-outs". "Rockford" just wants to fish, do his job, and stay out of gun fights.
I vote for "The Rockford Files" (even "Magnum P.I.") as being much more plausible than "The Equalizer", but if you like fairy tales or just want to see some interesting footage of 1980s NYC, then take a look.