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Strip “The Equalizer” to its bones and the reboot starting Sunday after the Super Bowl is not far removed from the original series, which aired between 1985 and 1989. The story still follows the exploits of McCall, a former secret agent became the guardian angel of the poor and the exploited. It’s still a simplistic, action-packed show that doesn’t hesitate to show its heroic hero using whatever means necessary to protect the underdog with nowhere to turn.
Only now, in 2021, the hero passes by Robyn McCall, not Robert, and is played by Queen Latifah instead of a Brit of steel.
Latifah enters an arena already traveled by other black actors playing an inherited role originally played by Edward Woodward. The popularity of “The Equalizer” is modest compared to, say, James Bond. . . though series co-creators Richard Lindheim and Michael Sloan were obviously influenced by the iconic spy when they envisioned their original vigilante.
But if Bond fanatics have turned their backs on the news of Lashana Lynch assuming the 007 designation for the upcoming movie “No Time to Die,” the story and habit of reflex tell us that part of the audience of television will hesitate to see a black woman in this role. Bet on it, even though McCall has already been resurrected by Black Man Denzel Washington.
Presumably, more people will appreciate the chance to watch a female “Equalizer” at least once than whoever rejects her outright, if past examples of fanatic pop culture fandom protests ring a bell. The very fact that this is a possibility is an odd factor to consider in the direct wake of the presidential election and the subsequent inauguration of the first black and Asian person, also a woman, to the vice- presidency.
It was only recently that the superheroism of black women was celebrated everywhere, making a show like this a natural extension of the cultural zeitgeist. CBS is smart to add this title to its list of reboots for name recognition alone, and adept at making noise by giving a woman a role that under the network’s previous regime would certainly have gone to a man. For the record, during a recent virtual press conference hosted by the Television Critics Association, Latifah said that she and the producers received Lindheim’s blessing before her death a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately, the ignorant reactions to such character shuffles are also typical enough that we can at least prepare for the impact.
The good news is, Latifah doesn’t put himself in the boots of a comic book superhero. You may recall that the ethno-purists of these fandoms turned to the casting of Zendaya as Mary Jane in 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and more recently trolled Javicia Leslie when she been announced as the new “Batwoman”. Her character Ryan Wilder took over the cape and hood from Ruby Rose starting in January; Rose left the CW series at the end of the first season.
Shortly before that, Anna Diop drew frightening levels of harassment when DC chose her as Starfire, an orange-skinned alien, on “Titans.” The series is entering its third season and Diop is still part of it; the producers were clearly not discouraged.
Other series and films built around black female superheroes like Regina King in “Watchmen” or Kiki Layne in “The Old Guard” have been adopted and celebrated by critics and culture in general. The distinction is that these characters were originally designed as black women, much like Blackbird and Lightning in The CW’s “Black Lightning”. Plus, these characters with Batwoman and Starfire are pure fantasy. Some can fly. Others have bulletproof suits and endless funding from secret billionaires.
However, spies and former special ops from all walks of life do exist in our world. They walk among us. This very reason lends McCall more easily for a gender shift than the other fictional crusaders.
Additionally, Latifah herself is credible as an action star. In the past, she trained in kickboxing and rode a motorcycle; both skills come into play during the pilot. She’s also tall and physically formidable, which means no one can rightfully wonder how her McCall could knock out an opponent. She’s also a familiar face, having worked in every corner of television for decades, from sitcoms and talk shows to a model contract with Cover Girl. For the same reasons, Denzel Washington chose “The Equalizer” and ran away with it, it’s not hard to imagine audiences buying him as a frontman here.
Latifah’s lead role in “The Equalizer” highlights a television scarcity that shouldn’t be these days: She’s just the fourth black woman in the medium’s history to direct a drama of one. hour on NBC, CBS, ABC or Fox, after in the footsteps of “Get Christie Love!” Star Teresa Graves, “Scandal” led Kerry Washington and Viola Davis on “How to Get Away with Murder”. (This list is growing and will soon include a planned series on Tony Stark’s protégé Ironheart with Dominique Thorn as Riri Williams.)
It is too early to predict whether the reboot of “The Equalizer” will enjoy the same longevity as the Washington and Davis shows. The original aired for four seasons, and the first episode of the relaunched version is very standard CBS crowd fun. Other reboots that spanned several seasons had less exciting launches.
Complaints about any new series are inevitable, as few drivers are perfect and most are simply fixable. Hopefully all the beating this new “Equalizer” takes for reasons other than the star’s gender or blackness, as none of those traits have anything to do with how effectively she can solve problems. an ordinary person or beat the odds against them.
“The Equalizer” will air Sunday, February 7 on CBS immediately following the Super Bowl, then air Sunday at 8 p.m.
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