Shots Fired - S1E7 - Hour Seven: Content of Their Character

Previously on Shots Fired, “Hour Six: The Fire This Time”

Judgement Day

This show has been uniquely timed. A few years ago, it seemed like you couldn’t go more than a few days without hearing about the death of an unarmed Black person. Although the frequency of incidents seems to have lessened, this week, with the shooting of Jordan Edwards and the decision not to charge the officers who killed Alton Sterling, Shots Fired felt a little too art imitating life. It was hard to hit play this week.

Last week, the city was in flames, this week the embers have cooled but the fire can be easily fanned. Shameeka Campbell is at the police station trying to get her son released and wisely plays the “you already killed one of my sons and I know the governor” card. Unfortunately, when Shawn is released Shameeka attacks him for participating in the riot in the first place. Shawn ends up leaving the house because he’s upset with his mother and doesn’t know how to deal with his grief and hopelessness.

This is also true of Gov. Eamons. She released the hounds last week and now she’s afraid that her entire legacy will be these protests. Officer Beck is also losing hope, but his hopelessness turns into anger and when his wife sees him blow up at their sons, she leaves the house, taking the children with her. Everyone is being judged and no one seems to know whether they’re the good guy or the bad guy or both.

A Hero

Ashe and Preston are also navigating this grey moral space. Despite Ashe’s tricks, Javier’s new wife isn’t giving up on him and he’s not dropping the custody case. So when she gets the word that she and Preston are being taken off the case and replaced, she’s ready to give up. Preston, on the other hand, isn’t ready to just let go. They need another witness to back up Corey’s statement so he tries to get Kiana, the witness who’s been paid off to come forward by using a reporter to offer her money for her story. When the reporter ends up in a nearly fatal car accident after talking to Kiana, they discover that her house is wiretapped. Kiana runs and takes the money with her, leaving Ashe and Preston back at square one.

Even though he gives an impassioned speech vowing to find justice for Joey and Jesse, Preston is out of options and the two cases appear to be diverging again. After looking through Jesse’s phone once more, they are able to find video of the arrest that contradicts Officer Beck’s statement, but unless they can link Officer Vampire Bill to the planted drugs, and implicate the entire department in corruption, solving Jesse’s case won’t bring them any closer to solving Joey’s murder. Furthermore, a wrench gets thrown into their plans when a tip about the murder weapon leads to Pastor Janae’s arrest.

The past couple of weeks seemed to be weaving these threads together, but this week the cases are deviating again. Given the current climate of these types of investigations, no one going into this thought that there would necessarily be a happy ending but right now it’s looking like the only person who’s going to get into any real trouble is Officer Beck, which would mean that the one Black cop might take the fall for a corrupt department. Pastor Janae is definitely a red herring set up by Cox, but it’s doubtful that the rich white man who’s building a prison would end up in jail, which is a shame because he’s one of the few characters who we know has no moral grey area. He’s like an evil Colonel Sanders. This season is coming to a close and I hope Preston can keep all the promises of justice he made to the citizens of Gate Station but if real life is any indicator, mostly everyone will be keeping their jobs by the end of the season.