I had hoped that this series would have been structured a bit more differently than it is. You know, here's the history, here's where times were good and this is what has happened to result in these problems today. Instead the pilot comes off as more of an episode of Cops which could be "any-town" USA pretty much.
There is much less focus of the current water crises & much more emphasis on the the fact that the police department is woefully understaffed. We get to know the police chief, and some of the other officers of the force. We get see a few incidents that may or may not be re enactments, some of which are tougher to watch than others. We see political drama as a new Mayor is signed in and begins to make changes hoping to improve things. There is no mention of the previous Mayor or any background on the new mayor either.
It really feels like "look at us wer'e the good guys and look at what we have to deal with". And yeah it is overwhelming and they have my pity. It must be ridiculously difficult to try to do good police work with an understaffed force and still try to maintain the will of the people. I think once towns or cities lose that will, that declares police as helpful, needed and effective, and instead sees them as a menace that is when and why we see so many police today get tragically gunned down.
This episode was good enough however to make me want to see more and hope that the series will improve and start trying to explain things rather than just show them. Everyone can see the "what" but there is very little actual "why"
