WHILE Hollywood actresses continue to fight for equality regarding their salaries – thanks to Boyhood’s Patricia Arquette for pushing the cause during her Best Supporting Actress speech at the Oscars – they are definitely excelling with leading roles in police dramas.
Interestingly, Arquette will soon be in the spinoff series, CSI: Cyber. It starts on our screens later this month.
And this revolution where role-play is concerned has been welcomed. No longer is it as novel an undertaking as Cagney & Lacey from back in the day.
It certainly has actresses excited, too.
Having observed the trend, and now a part of it with her upcoming show, Arquette told Collider.com: “Women are pushing through. We’re going to change things. What’s to me fascinating about this part is it’s totally the opposite of me. I’m not a technical person. It’s not something I personally love. I’m actually terrified of it, and that is what’s interesting to me about it. And to play someone who is proficient in it, I need help as much as possible and the writers help. But I think there are a lot of people my age who are like me.”
At the moment, viewers are revelling in the unorthodox crime-solving shenanigans of Kristin Lehman as Detective Angie Flynn in Motive, a series that looks at a murder in reverse, with the killer and victim introduced first. And the multi-dimensional characterisation helps to augment the appeal, too.
Yes, the detectives look hot and sexy. They bring mass femininity to a testosterone- charged sphere. At the same time, they are trying to keep their emotions in check with their personal lives seeping into their professional ones.
This is where the scriptwriters/creatives also deserve a commendation. By working in realistic scenarios they elevate and humanise their protagonist.
Perhaps that also explains why shows like The Mysteries of Laura with Debra Messing, Rizzoli & Isles, The Mentalist, Major Crimes and Castle have been so well received.
Granted, Lisbon shares the spotlight with Patrick Jane (The Mentalist), but, until this latest season, she was the one calling the shots. Then they went and fell in love. Ditto for Castle, with novelist Rick Castle being NYPD Detective Kate Beckett’s wingman… before he became her fiancé, of course. It has diluted the sexual tension and angst somewhat. With a seventh season coming up, I presume the writers have found a way to get creative around the beast they conceived.
Major Crimes is, thankfully, not as romantically strained. And Mary McDonnell has proved to be a tour de force in her role as Captain Sharon Raydor. Her tough-as-nails stance is marvellously offset by her veiled empathy.
Back to Motive, which has been given the nod for a third season, Enuka Okuma (Rookie Blue’s Traci Nash) makes a cameo as a best-selling murder mystery author, who dies from a rare toxin.
• Motive airs on M-Net Edge (DStv channel 102) on Tuesdays at 7pm.