M6 is broadcasting this Saturday evening the first episodes of “The Equalizer”, a detective series carried by Queen Latifah and adapted from the eponymous film with Denzel Washington.
Veteran of the American secret service, Robyn McCall comes to the aid (almost) free of charge to ordinary people to get them out of a delicate situation facing powerful criminals.
Every Saturday from 9:10 p.m. on M6. Episodes viewed: 2/10
If in the film version, it was Denzel Washington who played Robert McCall, the hero of Equalizer, this time it is Queen Latifah’s turn to lend her features to this veteran of the secret services. The actress, whose career is well established, is also the producer of The Equalizer.
For the occasion, she gives the reply to Lorraine Toussaint, seen in Esprits rebelles and Orange is the New Black, who plays her aunt but also to Chris Noth, the unforgettable Mr Big from Sex and the City, who will slip, him, in the skin of William Bishop, former director of the CIA.
To help those who no longer know where to turn, Robyn McCall will join forces with Harry Keshegian and Melody “Mel” Bayani, the best friends of the vigilante camped respectively by Adam Goldberg (Friends) and Liza Lapira (NCIS).
Her daughter is played by Laya DeLeon Hayes who gets her first role here. Finally Tory Kittles slips into the skin of Marcus Dante, a New York police detective who will set off on the trail of Robyn.
In 2024 was released on French screens Equalizer, a thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), which followed Robert McCall, played by Denzel Washington, a former marine returning to service to help a young girl victim of violent Russian gangsters.
In 2018, a sequel was born, still worn by the star of the first opus. Almost 3 years later, back to square one since the film, adapted from a series broadcast in the 80s, was entitled to a reboot… in series.
A return to the source which promises to be beneficial for the franchise, especially since Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller, the two showrunners, have made a major change by transforming Robert McCall into Robin McCall. This life-saving modification brings a new dimension to this classic detective drama.
In this new version, Queen Latifah plays Robyn McCall, a former CIA agent who has returned to New York after a series of international missions. As she tries to keep a low profile, she is contacted by a former CIA colleague, Bishop (Chris Noth), who offers her to come back to work for them but she refuses.
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She ends up helping a young girl who witnesses a murder and finds herself wrongly accused, trapped by the real culprits. “Who do you turn to when you can’t confide in the police?” It is thanks to this sentence pronounced by the young girl that Robyn decides to create her own activity to help people who have no one to help them. In each episode, Robyn and her team will try to do justice to those who need it.
If The Equalizer uses all the codes of the genre (one investigation per episode, a super talented team that manages to solve all the mysteries and a badass detective who knocks out the bad guys with a briefcase), Queen Latifah manages to bring freshness and revival of this role of single mother who turns into a vigilante to save the widow and the orphan, thanks to her undeniable charisma and her natural authority.
All in all, The Equalizer will appeal to fans of the genre who won’t be disappointed by its rhythmic action scenes. And CBS, the American broadcasting channel, was not mistaken in betting on this project since the series has already been entitled to 3 seasons, and a fourth has already been ordered.