Shades of Blue airs on NBC tonight with an all new Thursday January 7, season 1 premiere called, “Pilot,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, in the premiere, NYPD detective Harlee Santos, (Jennifer Lopez) who’s part of a crew of dirty Brooklyn cops, is picked up by the FBI, which will do whatever it takes—including leveraging her daughter—to turn her into an informant against her fellow squad members.
Shades of Blue is about a police detective who is recruited to work undercover for the FBI’s anti-corruption task force that’s investigating her colleagues.
On tonight’s episode as per the NBC synopsis, “Harlee Santos (Jennifer Lopez) is a detective at the heart of a tight-knit crew of Brooklyn cops lead by Lieutenant Matt Wozniak (Ray Liotta). The crew often steps outside the law to protect their precinct and their own. When Loman (Dayo Okeniyi), the newest member of the team, kills an unarmed man, Harlee covers it up. As a big illegal job for the team looms on the horizon, FBI Agent Stahl (Warren Kole) arrests Harlee and leverages her daughter in order to turn her into an informant. Also starring Drea de Matteo, Vincent Laresca, Hampton Fluker and Sarah Jeffery.”
Are you looking forward to the season 1 premiere tonight? Be sure to come back here later tonight at 10 PM EST for our awesome recap of this show. In the meantime, hit up the comments below and let us know how excited you are for season 1.
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#ShadesOfBlue starts with Harlee booting up her laptop. She looks battered. She records a video saying she wanted to be a good cop and told herself the ends justified the means. She says she’s now at the end, she can’t justify anything.
She says it happened so quickly she never saw it coming. Two weeks earlier, we see her leaving a market and tells Michael that a woman reported drug activity near a local building. They head inside to check it out.
They see a little girl playing in the hall. Harlee asks her to go back to her apartment and shut the door. The girl goes. Then Michael kicks in the door and they see a guy dead on the sofa gunshot and an open window. Someone flees.
Michael freezes up. Looks like he shot the guy on the couch – he thought the video controller was a gun. Harlee spots drugs and a gun in a bag. Michael freaks and is worried about internal affairs. Harlee fires the guy’s gun into the door and then shoots Michael too.
She just shot him in the vest and tells him the truth is in the paperwork. Tess and Carlos wonder about Michael’s story and she says she doesn’t trust rookies or her ex-husband. Matt shows up and says send the ambulance away.
He asks for Harlee and they tell him she’s inside. He asks Michael if he’s okay but he’s shell shocked. Stuart and Marcus are inside and tell Matt what crew the dead guy was with and that he’s a dealer.
Matt finds Harlee in the kitchen – she says the kid didn’t need training wheels and she tells him a white boy went out the window and says the drugs are in the living room. Matt asks if she’s cool and she tells Woz they’re good.
She asks how much he wants to know and he asks how much he needs to know. She says they’re solid and he says he’ll call IA to get this done with and tells her to hang with Michael the rest of the day.
Michael goes over the fake details. She lays out the scene for him again. He asks why she didn’t tell him she was going to shoot him. She says he would have flinched and she might have missed. She spots her daughter’s car and follows.
She makes him take notes then gets out to talk with Cristina who asks why she’s following her. She asks why she’s ditching school and her daughter says she just went to get a coffee. Harlee says she had a rough day and has to work late. They hug.
Cristina goes back into the school and she gives her cash for dinner. Harlee goes to the gym for a boxing workout. She knocks the guy down and then pulls off her shirt and starts kissing him. She goes to the bar later to meet up with the crew.
They go into the cooler to talk and they all pull out the collection money they took in and he sends Harlee to meet with a new store owner. They talk about Harlee’s runner from the heroin case and they divvy up the cash between them.
Tess complains about her loser husband and she thinks he’s cheating. Harlee goes to leave and tells her that Joe is a good guy and says give him a nut massage as insurance. She leaves since she has internal affairs in the morning.
Harlee breaks a hundred at the bar when a guy in a tie makes small talk. She says don’t bother with the banter and he leaves. Michael comes in looking stressed and says the guy he killed was a kid’s baseball coach.
She says the guy was a drug dealer with a loaded gun. He says it’s not right and she pulls him out of the bar with her. He says he has to make it right and she says stick to the plan. He says he will keep her out of it and she says no.
He says he doesn’t want to be that kind of cop. She says she has a daughter and that badge makes them family so he has a daughter too. She says that’s how this works until death do us part. She says she saved his ass, so he better save her ass with IA tomorrow.
He slumps down to the sidewalk and she kneels. She tells him listen and says he thought he was doing hero stuff and says he just made a mistake. She says she’s got his back and tells him he’s got her. The guy from the bar watches from across the street.
Harlee offers Michael a hand up. Cristina talks to her mom as she gets ready for work. She helps her pick an outfit for the IA meeting. Cristina tells her she got a solo at the performance tonight and Harlee is thrilled.
She also gives her a letter from the treasurer’s office and asks if everything is okay with tuition. Harlee says she took care of last week. Harlee tells Wyatt about the late tuition and he says he can loan her the cash but she says she’s $10k short and he says he’s working something.
He says it’s big money and not to worry. Stuart says they ran the heroin and it’s toxic because the idiot cut it with a bad chemical – Wyatt says they need to get it off the street ASAP. Harlee heads into her IA meeting. Wyatt goes in with her.
Someone breaks into her apartment while she’s there. It’s the guy from the bar. He looks through her things. The IA guy asks why she didn’t kick the door in instead of Michael. He says this rookie got shot and she never fired – he asks why.
She says she didn’t need to shoot – the IA guy says the guy had the gun in his right hand but a prior arrest shows he’s a leftie. Wyatt blinks. Harlee covers it with an explanation. The IA guy smiles and says he wasn’t a leftie, he was just messing with her.
Stuart, Tess and Marcus go check out a lead and find a pic of Earl Barlow, the runner. Wyatt tells Harlee to go meet Haim the bookie and says IA cleared them both. Wyatt chews Harlee out for blinking with IA.
He says don’t risk things for the rookie. He says he’ll deal with the rookie and says don’t get wobbly or they’ll all go down. He says he doesn’t tumble well. He walks off. At the Mendez Mortuary, Wyatt and Stuart talk to Raul about the incident.
Wyatt tells Raul they had a deal about keeping drugs out of certain areas. Wyatt says the dope was cut bad and it needs to be off the street. Raul says he can’t look like a bitch and Wyatt says not in his precinct and Raul says they beat the GF but she never gave up Earl.
Wyatt tells Raul to stop the mayhem and slams him on the desk. He says he works with him because he doesn’t aggravate him. He says he can burn him down tonight and someone will rise from the ashes. He walks out on a furious Raul.
Harlee talks to Haim about the protection money and says they give heads up on vice. He tries to negotiate and she says no. He offers her some shwarma and she takes the bag. There’s cash in the bag. Cop cars pull up and she acts like she’s arresting him for bribery. But Haim is FBI and so is the guy from the bar. They arrest her. She’s stunned.
Harlee is taken to a shabby office and sees surveillance photos of herself on the walls. Robert comes in, the guy from the bar. He tells her he’s with the anti-corruption task force. He slaps files down in front of her and says they’ve been following her for a month.
He says she’s looking at 8 to 10 years or she can have full immunity and keep her pension. He says she can try an orange jumpsuit. She tells him he doesn’t know what it takes to be a good cop. He shows her a pic of Wyatt cashing in $50k in chips.
She says crime is down and the neighborhood is safer. She says they are helping this community but he says corruption is corruption and her boss is making a big move. Wyatt calls and Robert hands her the phone and says this is an audition.
She takes the call and says she couldn’t make the deal with the bookie because he wanted too many options. He asks her to meet him to deal with Earl and she lies and says Cristina’s car got bumped up by her friend. He says go take care of it.
Harlee tells Robert she won’t rat out her crew. He says a couple of the crew might do the time, but she has a daughter who needs her. He says it’s just the two of them and he knows it. Robert takes her home and she asks for more time.
He says her life changed and she has to accept it now. He says go inside and Harlee goes inside to take her daughter the outfit she needs for the recital. Cristina says she needs to go get ready but Harlee says she can’t stay and is sorry.
Cristina is upset but Harlee says it’s important. She walks away from her mom. Harlee goes back outside and sees Robert waiting in the SUV. She stares him down and goes back inside the concert hall.
Wyatt and his wife are waiting for her. Robert comes inside and takes a seat right behind Harlee. Cristina takes the stage for her solo. She sees her mom is there. Harlee is all tearful. At theAt the reception after, Robert says tell me you’re in and you can stay.
He says if she warns Wyatt, he’ll have her arrested here. He says he needs an answer now – in or out. Wyatt walks by and she whispers that he’s coming. Robert says in or out. She whispers in. Robert tells her that her daughter is talented and walks away.
Cristina comes out and hugs Wyatt and his wife and then tells her mom she’s glad she stayed. Wyatt tells Harlee they have to go now and get the dealer. They head out. Earl is on the run since he spotted the other cops.
Tess, Stuart and Marcus are on him. He pulls a gate closed behind him and runs. Harlee and Wyatt speed along in the car to cut him off. They hit him with the car but he’s not down. They get out and give chase and Harlee tackles him.
Wyatt tells Earl good way to resist arrest. Wyatt hands her cuffs and she slaps them on him. Harlee gets a call from “Jason Bourne” and Robert says he programmed it into her phone. He tells her he’s looking forward to working with her. She hangs up. He’s annoyed.
Wyatt calls and says Earl took him to the rest of the bad dope. He tells her he’s sending a tow truck in the morning for Cristina’s car. She says it’s okay but he insists. Harlee pockets her keys and takes her daughter’s car out for a drive. She listens to Sia’s Chandelier.
She speeds up and drives it into a concrete barrier. She does it a couple of times more. Then she drives away but stops and starts crying. Wyatt leaves a market and hands Earl a beer. The guy complains he’s been cuffed for an hour.
Earl says he wants a lawyer and Wyatt says all he gets is home. Wyatt tells him Jamarr took a shot at a cop and Earl says Jamarr was shot playing a video game and he saw it. Wyatt asks if he told anyone that.
Earl says he wants his lawyer. Wyatt asks if he has kids and he says he wraps his junk up. Wyatt says if he was a father, he might have second thoughts. Wyatt says he can book him and sleep well or he can sacrifice for his crew.
He unlocks the doors as he pulls up in front of the mortuary. Raul and his guys come out and grab him. Wyatt says it’s for the great good and tells him he protects and serves. Earl’s yellow sneakers are hung over a street lamp later.
Harlee finds a check for $10k on her desk. Michael asks if Wyatt knows what he did and she says he will protect him but demands loyalty. He asks what that means. Wyatt meets the IA guy and he says the rookie did them a favor.
Wyatt tells the IA guy he wants to bring in Harlee on a job to provide security but he doesn’t like it. Robert meets Harlee and he has a necklace for her – it’s one her daughter gave her and he’s had it wired. She’s upset but allows him to put it on her.
She tells him to stay out of her apartment. He says there’s a camera and audio in it and they can pick it up from a few hundred yards. He tells her to say something so he can test it. She says – these are good people.
Harlee goes over to Wyatt’s place with Cristina for a cookout. Robert lurks in a car nearby watching on his tablet as she greets the whole crew that’s assembled. Wyatt checks his phone and looks disturbed. Harlee watches through the window.
Wyatt gestures for her to come out. He pulls her into the garage and he says every betrayal begins with trust. He says the one you never see coming. He’s ranting. He says you have to anticipate to survive. She asks what happened.
He says there’s a rat. He screams. He says there’s an FBI informant on his team. Robert reaches for his gun. Wyatt says he needs to kill it. She reaches for her gun. Wyatt gets closer and says she’s going to help him because she’s the only one he trusts.
THE END!
