vidiot-57434 Extremely compelling!!! One of the best police dramas ever made. This show should have done 23 episodes a season for 20 seasons. Excellent, believable and compelling writing with big screen caliber acting. Fantastic look, loved the styles used to shoot this show. Great production values.

thebricks Ben Sherman starts out the show as a child of privilege who joins the force because of issues he had as a kid. We see several scenes that are meant to show that Ben is growing more and more distanced from his old rich friends and family. However, I think that by season 3, Ben starts going full-Entourage and living the high life, buying a party house, driving a Range Rover and sleeping with different women every night. Women are dropped from his life at the drop of a hat and he ends up in different women's bedrooms with no explanation whatsoever. It just seems like such a dramatic shift in behavior in his personality from the first season.John Cooper is another odd character. He's shown getting drugs from different women, one of whom was his wife, apparently, his dad raped and killed his girlfriend, yet, if you missed some subtle hints, you wouldn't find out he was gay until the episode with the suicidal gay kid. Were they just confused about where they wanted to go with this character?Southland is a great show. Those two characters I discussed were quite possibly, some of the most inconsistently written characters I'd ever seen. The only characters who stay consistent are Lydia and Dewey. I didn't think Dewey was realistic though, considering how he kept his job after all the drinking on duty and flipping the car in the LA ravine/river, whatever you call it, but he's a fun character, so whatever, I rolled with it.The show is a little like The Shield, but it stays a bit more consistent with its storytelling throughout its run, whereas The Shield cratered after the Armenian Money Heist nonsense and got lazy. It was just a dead horse that was beaten too long. Some say it's realistic, but I have my doubts. You only see cops call for back-up when suspects start shooting guns, but I've had a couple incidents at my house in the past and they will call for everyone over absolutely trivial stuff, especially if you start arguing with them. They're also not reasonable guys either who let things slide like you see on the show, had one other incident that was absolutely silly that they wanted to turn into a major felony. I couldn't stop laughing because I thought these guys had better things to do but they apparently do not. One more thing I will add, people who aren't cops don't tend to make friends with them. They know all your business and love to gossip. Couple that with hypocritical, entitled, self-righteous attitudes that many of them have, which even their non- police family members have, and it tends to make them pariahs in their own community.Aside from that, the show kept me watching and I had a great time with it.

aflifer First and foremost I want to thank the outstanding cast of actors, director/crew that made this police drama possible. I loved every episode! Now, was there some creative/dramatic liberty taken..maybe. I mean It is a show after all. However this drama dared to show the dark side of not just a segment of LA society but of our boys in blue. It brought some of the grim realities of what goes on in society on both sides of the fence. So sorry it had to end. You guys had me hooked! Five awesome seasons! You did a great job and wish you continued success in your future endeavors. Some of my favorite actors made appearances on the show which made the show even that much more exciting to watch :) Thomas Howell for example. Love him in the film Gettysburg and the Outsiders. Yes I'm that old. :) "Let's do it for Johnny man!" :) lol! Same with Kevin Alejandro. Saw him for the first time in the recent series "Lucifer". Folks, as much as I knew it was acting it killed me to see his character get killed off the show. So many other characters I wouldn't have minded see an early death. :) Next to End Of Watch I've never seen any other police drama that truly had me at the edge of my seat/emotionally connected as this show did. Funny thing is that up to a couple a weeks ago, I had not even heard of the show. I just so happened to run into it on Hulu while I was browsing and figured I'd give it a try. I'll admit at first I thought it was going to be like all the other cop shows I've seen in the past. Good cop bad cop blah blah blah. Was I ever wrong. In closing this long winded review, sorry folks, a final thank you for police officers everywhere that by chance may read this. I realize how much of a bad wrap you guys have received due to some bad apples out there. I know that they are not a true reflection of what a true police officer is/supposed to be. I want to thank you for the sacrifice you folks make on a daily basis. I am a retired military veteran and seen my share of chaos/personal grief and to an extent know how hard it can be to keep the job away from home/driving you crazy. Sincerely, thank you and if you guys can somehow get this show back I would love you forever! :) lol!

DegustateurDeChocolat Southland is a good police series that portrays in a quite realistic way how everyday's activities and problems unfold for Los Angeles policemen. Each episode takes on a different situation or event: the murder of a Hollywood star, the rape of a young girl, a simple dispute between neighbors, etc. Therefore all kind of crimes, with all their aspects, are dealt with and analyzed in-depth. Besides the action, that's quite good, thanks to well-made car chasing and camera zoom- ins, the lives of single policemen can be seen. Each one has to deal with his/her problems (drugs, divorce, past life regrets, etc.), which makes the plot interesting and nicely integrated with the more police work part. A particular feature of the series is that policemen are almost always simultaneously riding their cars, patrolling the city, waiting to respond for emergency calls. This, along with the good camera work, gives it a realistic cut to it.