Guts and grit

Harlee reveals all in crime drama’s final season

By K.A. Taylor TV Media

For an informant, withholding and manipulating the truth can be a matter of life and death. Keeping secrets and telling white lies can be hard enough for the average citizen and harder still for a mobster, but for a cop? Well, no greater challenge can exist than to try to delude those trained to detect such deception.

Amidst a sea of badges and blue on prime-time television, one series has managed to make huge waves, combining the drama of a mafioso series with the action of a gritty cop show. Despite an exciting run, this year marks the final season of the star-heavy series, as season 3 of “Shades of Blue” premieres Sunday, June 17, on NBC.

“Shades of Blue” explores the lives of the Street Crimes detective squad of the 64th precinct in New York City, focusing on Det. Harlee Santos (Jennifer Lopez, “Lila & Eve,” 2015) and her supervisor, Lt. Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta, “Goodfellas,” 1990), with whom Harlee has a 15-year history and a deep, familial relationship. The crew is a tight-knit group of dirty cops who do what is necessary in order to make a crime scene or criminal work in their favor. Other members of the crew include Tess Nazario (Drea de Matteo, “The Sopranos”), Marcus Tufo (Hampton Fluker, “Major Crimes”) and Carlos Espada (Vincent Laresca, “Graceland”).

After being set up in the series premiere, Harlee had a difficult decision to make, and it’s one with which she continues to grapple. She’s brought in by the FBI and confronted by Agent Robert Stahl (Warren Kole, “Stalker”), who needs her to act as an informant so that his anti-corruption task force can finally reveal the unsavory underbelly of the 64th. Given that Harlee is a single mother, down on her luck and desperate to give her daughter, Cristina (Sarah Jeffery, “Rogue”), a better future, she has little choice but to agree, realizing that compliance with the FBI could give her a second chance instead of jail time, while simultaneously knowing that even the smallest misstep could spell tragedy for her and her child.

Season 2 of “Shades of Blue” saw Harlee’s loyalties increasingly torn. She had suspected that Wozniak would be through with her, having learned of her informant ways, but he revealed some truths of his own and decided to take advantage of his new-found knowledge. He enlisted Harlee as a double agent of sorts, feeding misinformation to Stahl as a means to continue helping the crew. As the season intensified, fans were constantly immersed in the tension, with a finale that left the fates of both Harlee and Wozniak in perilous uncertainty. Thankfully, early trailers for the new season indicate that Harlee will be able to testify in court, hinting that all of the betrayal and lies of seasons past will come to light, putting corruption from all sides on public display.

Beyond a compelling plot and intense screenwriting, the show’s popularity owes a great deal to its phenomenal casting. Since the early 2000s, there has been an increasing shift from the big screen to television for many of Hollywood’s A and B list actors. Claire Danes has shone on the small screen in “Homeland.” Colin Farrell and Matthew McConaughey made waves with “True Detective,” a show that’s boasted more than its fair share of big-screen talent in regular and recurring roles. It’s no wonder, then, that when NBC decided to option “Shades of Blue,” it wasn’t such a difficult sell, with stars Lopez and Liotta eager to get involved in the burgeoning quality TV market.

In an interview for BUILD Series, Lopez and Liotta expressed their excitement and passion for the series.

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Lopez didn’t shy away from addressing the shift for many actors from the big screen to the small screen, noting that “six, seven years ago ... it just seemed like the movie business was not doing as well if you didn’t have a big blockbuster.” As more niche or unique stories became difficult to pitch to cinematic studios, Lopez believes that “great writers” made the move to television because they’d be able “to do the stories they wanted to do,” with the financial freedom and stability to do so. For Lopez — and Liotta, who nodded in approval — “the best movies right now are on TV.”

Creative freedom aside, the challenge of television’s demanding schedules brings more depth to “Shades of Blue,” or so Lopez and Liotta believe. “[The show] is emotionally taxing. It seems, to me, like in every scene, it’s life or death ... to keep at that level, for five and a half, six months straight, every day for 12 hours a day ... it’s a tough, grueling process,” Lopez states. Neither believes they’re holding back for network programming, with both admitting to the difficulties of shaking Harlee and Wozniak after a long day of shooting.

Sadly, this is the final season of the series, but perhaps it’s fitting, given that “Shades of Blue” will conclude on its own terms and be able to maintain the tension that has made it so successful throughout its run. Catch up if you can, get to know the crew and what’s at stake, and prepare for the final 10 episodes of NBC’s gritty crime drama. The season premiere of “Shades of Blue” airs Sunday, June 17, on NBC.

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