Memphis Beat, “At the River”
Originally Aired June 14th, 2011
Memphis Beat — TNT’s set-in-Memphis, filmed-in-New Orleans, borderline-anachronistic cop procedural — returned for a (somewhat surprising) second season last night, bringing us more of Jason Lee’s Elvis-loving MPD detective Dwight Hendricks and his colorful coterie of sidekicks.
As was the case last season, we’re going to keep tabs on this — with an eye on the show’s notion of “Memphis.” Memphis Beat recap originator Greg Akers and I will be tag-teaming the show again this season. With Greg away on paternity leave at the moment, I’m leading off:
Episode Named After: This is unclear. Last season, every Memphis Beat episode was named for a song recorded by Elvis Presley. That appears to not be the case for season two. I’m guessing “At the River” is not a reference to the 1997 single by techno outfit Groove Armada. Instead, it’s likely a religious/gospel reference. But is it to the gospel standard “Shall We Gather at the River” or to “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” (Lyric: “At the river, I stand/Guide my feet, hold my hand”)?
Plot Synopsis: The episode opens with a dead cop and a bullet shell found in the grass on the banks of the river. Lt. Rice (Alfre Woodard) splits up partners Dwight and Whitehead (Sam Hennings), having Whitehead work the murder and having Dwight pair up with a (comely) new Internal Affairs agent, Claire (Beau Garrett), while she looks into questions surrounding the late policeman.
The investigation into the fallen officer opens up connections to gun-running and a white supremacist group, the Resistance Militia. It also leads to an exploding trailer that allows Dwight and Claire to dive forward in front of the flames — an action cliché that Memphis Beat deploys without a trace of irony. Meanwhile, a subplot reveals tensions between Rice and Whitehead that subtly hints at race and gender issues.
As usual, the procedural stuff is run of the mill. More interesting is Claire, a new addition to the show and to Memphis (“I was a beat cop in St. Louis for five years — got to a glass ceiling I couldn’t break through,” she explains) that opens up some potentially fruitful avenues for the show, not counting the unavoidable romantic subplot.
