DirectTV’s Rogue subverts the male-dominated action trope

Contemporary TV currently features a series of female-led revenge shows – Revenge, Scandal, Damages, Red Widow and Deception. Some are good (Scandal), some aren’t (Deception) and some I haven’t seen (Damages, Revenge, Red Widow). Somewhere along the line, producers realized that women experience obsessive revenge fantasies and tapped into it. Rogue, starring Thandie Newton, is the latest entry. Thandie Newton (Crash, M:I-2, ER, Run Fatboy Run, Truth About Charlie) plays Grace, a job-dedicated cop (to the point of obsessive) which consistently hurts her family. While investigating mobster/gangster Jimmy Lazslo, her 7-year-old son is murdered which she suspects relates to Lazslo’s affiliations.

I watched Rogue‘s first three episodes because of my huge ass Thandie Newton girl-crush. No, seriously. I WANT to be her in the most stalkery way possible. If I were smaller, British and hotter, maybe people would mistake me for a pre-plastic surgery version of her. Rogue isn’t normally my cup of tea. I hate gangster films, violent shows or anything overtly gritty like The Wire. Despite watching for Thandie, I eventually liked the show for itself. And, in the show, Thandie’s facial expressions are always perfectly on point.

The premise is this – if your son is killed, you’re a cop and you FEEL you can hunt down the killer …what do you do? Do you turn a blind eye, live an emaciated half-life and support your remaining family members? Or do you give into your compulsive side — the side that’ll do anything to bring in a killer — to pursue vague leads and hunt this person while your family suffers? I think we all know which option Grace chose.

The show goes against gender stereotypes by placing a female in a role typically restricted to male actors. Rogue distantly reminds me of the Punisher, Die Hard or any show/film surrounding a “rogue” cop. You know the premise: the cop’s family dies (or is under siege) and the hero goes on a vengeance-killing rampage to rescue them/find justice. Grace’s cowboy-focused, vengeance-oriented mentality fits easily in these established male archetypes. While a male actor could have easily taken this role, without changing a single word, writing the lead as female and casting Thandie Newton makes it different. I doubly commend the writers for not making Grace the stereotypical pretty girl who wants to be tough. Grace IS tough. She will do anything to snare her target and maintain her cover — she’ll ignore girls chained in the basement, consider having sex with her target or ponder inhaling drugs with gang members. Her decisions question my ability to cheer for her as a moral center. But, none of her decisions come across as pedantic or stereotypical pretty girl. In fact, this is what the American Prime Suspect should have been. While, yes, most of Rogue‘s actors are British or Canadian, the show is realistic in showing the difficulties of going undercover when you look like Thandie Newton, without taking away from the difficulties of the job and its detrimental familial impact.

Brian Kirk (Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, Luther, The Tudors) did a good job directing the pilot. I enjoyed the rich, uber-saturated colors and the skewed distorted lens which granted the pilot, “Aquarium,” a fishbowl like feeling. I also enjoyed the cinematic cityscape perspective and high production values. My only complaint surrounded the sex. In some ways I liked it because of its realness which upended Hollywood’s stereotypical construction. In Hollywood, the man is ALWAYS on top, the man rarely shows his testicles and ONLY the woman gives orgasm face. Luckily, Rogue subverts that established template. Here, the sex isn’t always pretty; it isn’t idealized perfection or overdone romance. It’s realistic, gritty and evocative of True Blood, without delving into the grotesque. I enjoyed the realistic flash of male testicles, believable sex with the woman on top, and a raunchier non-vanilla depiction of sex. However, after a point, when the camera consistently focused on the female’s chest area or the sex scene went on slightly too long, it felt more like a T&A show a la the Tudors. Grace has tits. The other female characters have tits. I get it. Please stop aggressively flashing BAFTA-award winning Thandie Newton’s breasts at me. Oh, and show more male testicles.

I could go all day about Rogue, but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. However, they have more than enough questions for the show’s first season concerning the mob and the possibly corrupt police force. As Josh Sasse (who plays Alec) stated, the writers maintain an impressive level of intricacy for each of the characters and their intersecting plot lines. I liked the writing on the show. Scandal, another deception-oriented revenge show with damaged, roguish characters, did a good job answering old questions while seamlessly introducing new. But, not all shows can handle that. Based on Matt Parkhill’s writing style, I’m not concerned … yet. But, I’ll be perfectly honest, if Thandie Newton dropped out, I’d stop watching immediately.

The best part is this show features IAN FUCKING TRACEY!!!! (He last rocked it as Jekyll and Hyde on Sanctuary). The rest of the cast has equally impressive resumes. New Zealander Martin Csokas plays Jimmy, the mobster who veers between desiring and trusting Grace. In the late-90s/early-00s he guest-starred in a series of sci-fi shows/films I loved like BeastMaster, Cleopatra 2525, and Farscape. Remember Borias, Xena’s baby daddy? How about Celeborn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy? More recently he starred in The Bourne Supremecy, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Alice in Wonderland.

One reviewer I talked to felt the actors went in and out of character. Admittedly, there were times the actors seemed slightly off but I couldn’t tell if it they hadn’t gelled yet or were directed to act deliberately low-key in tone and face to reflect the show’s gritty tone. And, yes, you might notice Thandie and Josh’s American accents flatten out at the end of each sentence. I’ve seen (and heard) Thandie do a better American accent, so I’ll assume this is her gritty cop voice.

Rogue premieres on April 3rd at 9pm on DirectTV’s Audience. For more information, check out:

Website: Directv.com/rogue
Facebook: Facebook.com/RogueDIRECTV
Twitter: Twitter.com/RogueDIRECTV