As Episode 1 of "Philly D. A." (2021 release; 8 episodes of about 55 min. Each) opens, it is "January, 2018" and Larry Krasner, a lifelong civil rights and criminal defense lawyer, is being sworn in as Philadelphia's new District Attorney. We sit in on the "First Policy Meeting" of Krasner and his closest advisors, and immediately they are discussing changes that previously would've been unthinkable, so to alleviate the mass incarceration that has been going on for decades. Along the way we are informed that Philly is the most incarcerated big city in the US, which of course is the most incarcerated country in the world. We then go to "April, 2017", where we learn that the previous D. A. has been indicted for corruption and hence it is now an open seat that attracts a lot of interest from across the spectrum. At this point we are 10 min. Into the opening episode...
Couple of comments: this is the latest project from co-directors Ted Passon and Yoni Brook. Going by the initial 2 episodes that I've seen so far, it looks very much like the production team was given unfettered access to Larry Krasner both before but more importantly also after his election. The latter is of course the key to this riveting documentary series. While Episode 1 focuses on the run up to and the immediate aftermath of the election, Episode 2 focuses on how and what Krasner and his team are going about to change the criminal justice system. But I do want to mention a memorable quote from the run up to the election. When the GOP candidate for D. A. says that "this is not a time for a social experiment", Krasner retorts: "The mass incarceration that has been going on for 30 years was a social experiment!". In Episode 2, tensions between the D. A.'s office and the Philadelphia Police Department immediately start running high, including the discovery of a list of "bad cops" which the previous D. A. willingly kept from the public... I can't wait to see how all of this is going to shake out in the remaining episodes.
"Philly D. A." premiered this week on PBS and the initial two episodes are now available on PBS On Demand. New episodes air on Tuesdays at 9 pm Eastern. If you have any interest in criminal justice issues or simply want to see a documentary that is nothing short of riveting and eye-opening on so many levels, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
