Do you have a problem and it doesn't seem like the police or other law enforcement is there to protect you? Call the Equalizer. Oh, man, I forgot how cool Ed Woodward was until I revisited an old favorite from when I was a kid. I always did remember that creepy opening credits sequence that showcased the ominous criminal element lurking around street corners, in subway stations, and in old apartment elevators, with Woodward shadowed by the dark and smog, standing in front of his car, like a pillar of strength(a hurricane couldn't rock this foundation), kicking off another episode, telling us that the innocent have an avenger willing to rid the streets of the prowlers and creeps infesting New York City.
Okay, the pilot introduces us to a "shadow man", an "intelligence" officer, Robert McCall (Woodward), who, according to "Control"(Robert Lansing) knows too much to walk away from his long-term profession to live a life as a "civilian", not taking his threats about the *dangers from the other side* (this kind of dates the show, all the *cold war* espionage type plot banter, but I think it still carries the intrigue that makes for good television) seriously enough to return. Instead, McCall will start a "clean slate", his mission to help those who feel powerless to stop the evils threatening them because the law doesn't seem to defend those in need.
Two alternating stories regarding victims in need of a savior (there is a messianic quality to Woodward who seems to symbolize justice for those tormented) include a single mother harassed by a candy bar-chomping scumbag always stalking around, making sleazy phone calls, chatting with her daughter, just a cockroach nuisance needing extermination and a computer technician fired from his 22-year job—accustomed to "ferreting away" at number errors, finding solutions to puzzles after much analyzing and hard work—is nearly run off the road into a garbage truck by suits quite possibly because he found a buried code not meant to be discovered/unlocked. Manhattan Telecommunications has a security level clearance such a company should have no access to which is why they want anyone who has this knowledge dead. McCall learns of this from Brahms (Jerry Stiller, who, I imagine, will pop up as a regular to steal his scenes), someone who used to give him orders "in the field" (I will dub Brahms, *the source*).
As far as the predatory creep bothering Charlene (Patricia Kalember), he gets a dose of McCall and doesn't like the taste (it's a GREAT applause-worthy moment, for sure, to see McCall just pinpoint the prick into a phone box, telling him to leave his client alone or else). Of course, one man can only do so much and McCall finds life pretty daunting when his two cases intersect, along with trying to get to his son's violin concert.
The telecommunications boss has used his corporation technical know-how to blackmail a Senator with McCall having to use his government ties to pull some strings, while Steve (Scott Burkholder; very well cast), the stalker, returns to rape Colleen, not before setting up the rules of her submission, using a lowly knife as a weapon to secure her fear. Will McCall be able to resolve all of the ongoing drama? You betcha.
Obviously, the show would have to introduce a character to side with McCall so that he could better manage the ongoing jobs that require his special skills, but the pilot gets things going off on a great start.
Woodward, may he rest in peace, was one cool customer. The show really utilizes the atmosphere & hustle and bustle of the city very well, quite a setting needing the capabilities of an imaginary hero who is there to right the wrongs growing out of the dark corners of society.
Okay, the pilot introduces us to a "shadow man", an "intelligence" officer, Robert McCall (Woodward), who, according to "Control"(Robert Lansing) knows too much to walk away from his long-term profession to live a life as a "civilian", not taking his threats about the *dangers from the other side* (this kind of dates the show, all the *cold war* espionage type plot banter, but I think it still carries the intrigue that makes for good television) seriously enough to return. Instead, McCall will start a "clean slate", his mission to help those who feel powerless to stop the evils threatening them because the law doesn't seem to defend those in need.
Two alternating stories regarding victims in need of a savior (there is a messianic quality to Woodward who seems to symbolize justice for those tormented) include a single mother harassed by a candy bar-chomping scumbag always stalking around, making sleazy phone calls, chatting with her daughter, just a cockroach nuisance needing extermination and a computer technician fired from his 22-year job—accustomed to "ferreting away" at number errors, finding solutions to puzzles after much analyzing and hard work—is nearly run off the road into a garbage truck by suits quite possibly because he found a buried code not meant to be discovered/unlocked. Manhattan Telecommunications has a security level clearance such a company should have no access to which is why they want anyone who has this knowledge dead. McCall learns of this from Brahms (Jerry Stiller, who, I imagine, will pop up as a regular to steal his scenes), someone who used to give him orders "in the field" (I will dub Brahms, *the source*).
As far as the predatory creep bothering Charlene (Patricia Kalember), he gets a dose of McCall and doesn't like the taste (it's a GREAT applause-worthy moment, for sure, to see McCall just pinpoint the prick into a phone box, telling him to leave his client alone or else). Of course, one man can only do so much and McCall finds life pretty daunting when his two cases intersect, along with trying to get to his son's violin concert.
The telecommunications boss has used his corporation technical know-how to blackmail a Senator with McCall having to use his government ties to pull some strings, while Steve (Scott Burkholder; very well cast), the stalker, returns to rape Colleen, not before setting up the rules of her submission, using a lowly knife as a weapon to secure her fear. Will McCall be able to resolve all of the ongoing drama? You betcha.
Obviously, the show would have to introduce a character to side with McCall so that he could better manage the ongoing jobs that require his special skills, but the pilot gets things going off on a great start.
Woodward, may he rest in peace, was one cool customer. The show really utilizes the atmosphere & hustle and bustle of the city very well, quite a setting needing the capabilities of an imaginary hero who is there to right the wrongs growing out of the dark corners of society.
