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The Trustee
Logline: A driven but stubborn detective finds unlikely help from her precinct’s trustee, a larger-than-life ex-con finishing out her prison sentence doing menial tasks for the police department. Although these two have completely opposing views on crime and punishment, a successful partnership is born.
Cast: Meaghan Rath, Laverne Cox, David Warshofsky, Lance Gross, Tim Kang, L. Scott Caldwell, Berto Colon
Creators: Jay Scherick (W / EP), David Ronn (W / EP), Elizabeth Banks (EP), Max Handelman (EP), Michael Engler (D)
Studios: Warner Bros. TV, Brownstone Productions
An odd couple “comedy,” The Trustee follows a tough cop and her convict partner as they investigate a crime.
I’m lukewarm on this one. Framing a tough cop (Rodriguez) with a tough convict (Jones) doesn’t exactly lead to sizzling chemistry. For a show that leans so heavily on the odd couple pairing of its two leads, Jones and Rodriguez’s personalities are remarkably alike. The writers appear to be under the impression that Jones’s jokes will set her apart from the relatively more brusque Rodriguez, but the stabs at humor fall flat throughout.
Another (bigger) issue with the concept is that Jones’ involvement in Rodriguez is the result of two major coincidences: The first time, she happens to be in the bullpen when the detectives are discussing a suspect, and she recognizes the man as someone from her past. The second time, she happens to overhear an important clue. The show doesn’t give Jones any specific skillset or trait that makes her a necessary partner for Rodriguez.
I might have found the premise more believable if Rodriguez were shown to struggle with the “street” crowd, making Jones an important asset. There is an important moment when Rodriguez begs Jones for her help, but I just couldn’t buy it.
The burden is going to fall heavily on Meagan Rath and Laverne Cox to make this work. Rath faces the uphill task of humanizing Rodriguez, who currently feels like Robocop. Cox faces the equally daunting task of making Jones anything other than annoying. They don’t have much meat to work with, unfortunately, and I would be very surprised to see this picked up to series.
1 Comment
I think the “Ten Days in the Valley” page is mixing up two pilots: the logline and Paula Patton are from “Somewhere Between,” a different series. Ten Days in the Valley is about an overworked TV producer and is led by Kyra Sedgwick.