Battle Creek - The Battle Creek Way - Review: "Conflicting world views"

CBS premiered its new drama Battle Creek on Sunday. The pilot episode showed us how two mismatched Battle Creek agents were able to still solve cases despite their conflicting world views.

Beginning in the middle of the case, the pilot immediately shows how underfunded and old-fashioned the Battle Creek police department is when Detective Russ Agnew and his partner Fontanelle White fail to arrest a drug dealer due to outdated equipment. Fortunately, their boss, Commander Guziewicz, tells them they are getting help. That help turns out to be FBI Agent Milton 'Milt' Chamberlain, whose transfer is very welcomed by his co-workers. Russ is immediately skeptical, asking himself the question why an FBI agent would agree to become a cop in Battle Creek. However, the rest of the department welcomes Milt with open arms. He brings along some high-gear equipment, but Russ thinks the old-fashioned way works as well. After some more conflicts between Milt and Russ, the two are teamed up.

That in turns leads to various more conflicts. Milt is a pretty naive guy while Russ knows you can't really trust anyone. When dealing with a suspect in the case, Russ takes it tough and says he might be going to jail for the rest of this life. Milt on the other hand, tries to remain calm and eventually gets the suspect to talk. Milt also has the judge on speed dial and has the resources of the FBI and NSA if he wants to. It does make solving the case a lot easier, but Russ remains skeptical throughout the hour. In the end, they still don't agree and Russ is cut off a photo after a press release so that you can only see Milt.

Speaking of the case, it involved a double homicide. Apparently, they were involved in some drug selling. A kid named Ricky was a potential witness, but later turned out to be the killer. He wanted revenge because his sister died of an overdose. The case didn't take up a large portion of the episode. It was actually wrapped up pretty quickly so hence my short recap. The case was arguably the least interesting part of the episode. I felt that it was a bit complicated.

Instead, the pilot focussed much more on the relationship between Russ and Milt. All in all, I found it a pretty good pilot. It was very light-hearted, which for me is very welcome. I laughed several times while watching this. The chemistry between Dean Winters and Josh Duhamel is really the center of the show, and there is quite a lot of that. I think the characters are interesting, though I am eager to know more about them. One thing I'm especially interested in is why Milt moved to Battle Creek. There were some references to that, but we didn't get a full story. The supporting characters were OK, but again, I would like to know more about them. All in all, this is a great start to a series with a lot of potential.

What did you think of the pilot episode of 'Battle Creek'? Did you like that it was a somewhat lighthearted show? How are you feeling about the chemistry between Winters and Duhamel? What did you think of the case in this episode? And lastly, will you be back next week for more? Sound off with your opinions in the comments below.

Episode 2 airs next Sunday at 10/9c. The promo for the episode can be found here.

About the Author - Daniel van der Veer

Daniel van der Veer is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Stalker, Madam Secretary and the upcoming shows Battle Creek and Odyssey. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.

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