NCIS: New Orleans - Biased - Review: "Petty Officer Mitchell"
6.17 - "Biased"
Directed by Levar Burton
Written by Talicia Raggs
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
Recap – The episode opens with a white detective, Ted Bradley, chasing a black man. The detective tackles him to the ground, but he gets away. The officer follows him to a huge party, where he opens fire and kills Petty Officer Third Class Ali Mitchell. Bradley claims that he had a gun. Witnesses say that Petty Officer Mitchell was unarmed.
Loretta is called away from her date with NOPD’s Gene Holloway, to attend the scene. She is met by a man who says he witnessed the entire thing and reiterates that the victim, Petty Officer Mitchell wasn’t armed. He provides Loretta with a tarp to shield the victim’s body from the crowd. She also demands that the cuffs are taken off of him.
When Pride arrives on the scene, the crowd is shocked, scared, and angry. He recommends that they get Detective Bradley off the street. Tensions are high.
Holloway immediately has Detective Bradley’s back. The search for the alleged gun begins.
Petty Officer Mitchell’s record was perfect. He was about to be promoted. Detective Bradley’s record was riddled with write ups, including excessive force.
Special Agent Carter has strong feelings about the case. He believes Detective Bradley wrongly shot Petty Officer Mitchell. He doesn’t want the police to infer that Mitchell was the one to blame.
The team finds out that the man Detective Bradley was chasing the night he killed Petty Officer Mitchell is named Gerald Young. Special Agent Carter and Pride talk to Young’s girlfriend. While they are there, Carter finds a picture of Gerald Young and Petty Officer Michell, proving they knew each other before the shooting. Carter wants to keep the picture a secret, but Pride persuades him that it’s best to have all of the evidence out in the open. It turns out that Young and Mitchell had been friends since childhood. Young went down one path, while Mitchell joined the Navy.
A gun is found. The state police hold a press conference. It is stated that the gun is a community gun. It can’t be traced to any one individual. Before the conference ends, Pride goes up to the mic and states that the gun hasn’t been tied to the case and there’s no way to prove it belonged to Michell.
The team meets with Young. He claims that Mitchell never had a gun and that his friend was trying to help him.
The team continues to look for evidence. Luckily, Sebastian finds something in the sewer. It’s Petty Officer Mitchell’s phone. When they bring the phone back to HQ, they find that Mitchell was recording as Detective Bradley arrived at the party. Bradley wrongly identified Mitchell’s phone as a gun. Petty Officer Mitchell recorded his own death. He was innocent.
The state police deemed the shooting an accident and decided not to charge Detective Bradley.
The NCIS team watch as Detective Bradley is interviewed by local reporters. Surprisingly, Detective Bradley resigns. The community wouldn’t trust their local police officers if he was still on the force.
The episode ends with Petty Officer Mitchell’s funeral. It’s a moving tribute to the victim's tragic and preventable death.
Review/Thoughts – The writing on this episode was beautiful. The writers handled a very intense topic with intense realism.
I really enjoyed Special Agent Carter in this episode. I loved him in The Originals.
What did you think of this episode? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! Be sure to leave a comment below!
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