Erased
As noble as Satoru’s goals may be, there’s no erasing the inherent content issues—such as child abuse and murder—in Erased.
Everything’s coming up roses for Detective Inspector Rachita Ray. She’s getting married to a nice guy (a bit boring, but nice), she just received a commendation at work for de-escalating a dangerous conflict, and she’s finally been promoted to the homicide department. Things couldn’t be better.
Except, as it turns out, they really could. Rachita, a South Asian woman, soon discovers that she was essentially a diversity hire, brought on to handle a delicate, racially-motivated murder. Still, that isn’t going to stop her from doing her job—which leads her into a web of conspiracy that’s far more dangerous than anyone could have predicted.
Season One of DI Ray followed Rachita as she unraveled the strings of that intricate case, one that brought her face-to-face with shocking revelations about her personal life. It also forced her to confront her feelings about racism and prejudice, wrestling with how to stand up for herself as a woman of color in the workplace.
Of course, these major conflicts can’t be solved in a few short episodes. Which brings us to Season Two. Rachita returns to take on a new case: this time, the drive-by shooting of a major crime boss with a young nurse caught in the crossfire. All Rachita has to do is track down the killer while juggling a very powerful, very angry crime family, a fracturing personal life, and supervisors who don’t seem to trust her at all. What could be simpler?
If there’s one thing the Brits love, it’s a good old fashioned police drama. (The producers of DI Ray are also behind Line of Duty, a smash hit series across the pond.) What sets this one apart, though, is its focus on the racial prejudices that can become embedded in our everyday lives. Rachita has to figure out where the line is between standing up for herself and just returning the abuse she receives. That line, believe it or not, isn’t always easy to see.
Of course, being a crime drama, there’s also a few classic content issues to deal with. Gunshot wounds are shown, along with fair amounts of blood, and characters have no problem with the casual use of foul language. Plus, Rachita isn’t exactly conducting her personal life in the most upstanding manner. She meets up with men from dating apps for one-night stands (spoiler alert: that engagement didn’t work out too well), then promptly makes it clear that she has no intention of taking it any further. Nothing explicit is shown in the first episode of Season Two, but with a TV-MA rating, there’s no reason to believe that won’t change in the future.
DI Ray asks some important questions, and it certainly doesn’t shy away from topical issues. Just be wary when diving into this crime series that some ugly twists and turns await you on your investigation.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Rachita is called in to investigate the drive-by shooting of crime boss Frank Chapman, and she soon discovers it may be the start of an explosive turf war.
The season’s inciting murder is shown at the beginning of the episode; a car pulls up to a hospital and Frank Chapman stumbles out, a bleeding gunshot wound in his stomach. A nurse attempts to help him, but another car passes and the driver shoots them both dead. Blood is seen on both of their bodies, though not up close. We get a closer view of the Chapman’s injuries as his shirtless body is investigated on a lab table. Again, nothing too graphic is seen, but his bloody wound remains onscreen for a lengthy period of time.
A witness to the crime is threatened and beat by the culprit to ensure his silence, although we only see the aftermath as he recovers in the hospital. His face is severely swollen and bruised. Another man is attacked after he gives information to the police; a masked man holds a knife to his throat while another points a gun at him. Rachita and her colleague, Charlene, chase down a suspect, and the suspect punches Charlene in the face while trying to escape.
Rachita has a one-night stand with a match from a dating app, but she quickly tells him afterward that she isn’t looking for anything serious. We see the man shirtless, but other than that, nothing is shown; we’re only present for their conversation.
Rachita drinks wine out of a coffee mug at home. A drink station with various bottles of liquor is seen at the home of Chapman’s son, Dave. A suspect claims that he couldn’t have committed the murder because he was at a pub getting drunk when it occurred. Chapman’s wake is held at a pub, and mourners drink beer and other alcoholic beverages as they chat. Chapman’s daughter, Susie, smokes a cigarette. Rachita investigates Chapman’s home and finds a bottle of liquor on the counter, deducing he had poured a drink for whoever came to shoot him.
The f-word is used eight times throughout the episode. The s-word is heard twice, and “b–tard” is heard three times. The British curse “bloody” is used three times, while “b–llocks” is used once. Someone makes a crude reference to testicles.
Lauren Cook is serving as a 2021 summer intern for the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family. She is studying film and screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. You can get her talking for hours about anything from Star Wars to her family to how Inception was the best movie of the 2010s. But more than anything, she’s passionate about showing how every form of art in some way reflects the Gospel. Coffee is a close second.
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