CBS marches on with another military drama, The Code
04/09/19 11:31
Luke Mitchell & Anna Wood star as Marine Corps cuties in The Code. CBS photo
Premiering: Tuesday, April 9th at 8 p.m. (central) before moving to Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBS
Starring: Luke Mitchell, Anna Wood, Dana Delany, Ato Essandoh, Phillipa Soo, Raffi Barsournian
Produced by: Craig Sweeny, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Marc Webb, Christine Moore, Craig Turk
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Military justice has been very good to CBS with the everlasting NCIS and its two spinoffs.
The premise is basically the same but the uniforms have changed in The Code. This time it’s the Marine Corps at work, with Luke Mitchell and Anna Wood heading the cast as two Leatherneck cuties who trade quips when not sparring in court. After Tuesday’s post-NCIS showcase, The Code moves to Mondays at 8 p.m. (central) in place of Magnum, P.I., which earlier was renewed for a second season.
Capt. John “Abe” Abraham (Mitchell), previously wounded in combat, wasn’t sure he wanted to stay in the Corps until fellow captain Jason Hunt (guest star Will Swenson) aided his transfer to the legal division. But now Hunt is newly dead after being stabbed in the gut by a PFC who seemingly was trying to go AWOL. It all seems pretty cut-and-dried after Hunt’s widow tells Abe, “I want you to put this guy away.” But complications ensue, as they always do.
Capt. Maya Dobbins (Wood) is assigned to defend the assailant, and thinks she has grounds to implicate a higher-up. It all has to do with the numerous head injuries suffered by PFC Ian Morehead (guest star Evan Hall) during his time in Afghanistan. Was he in his right mind? Or does sneering battalion surgeon Noah Hewitt (guest star Mark Deklin) share in the blame? The courtroom drama heats up when Hewitt hires a high-priced, pompous civilian attorney with a tongue-twisting surname to represent him. That would be none other than Hermes Papademotropoulos (guest star Wayne Duvall). Successfully say that fast 10 times and win an extra day of leave.
The Code’s regular cast also includes Ato Essandoh as Abe’s courtroom colleague, Maj. Trey Ferry, and Dana Delany as Col. Glenn Turnbull, who runs the overall show. Delany, who came to fame in ABC’s China Beach military series, isn’t given much to do in Tuesday’s premiere. But she does get to “clean up nicely” in civilian clothes for one of her scenes.
The otherwise youngish cast has their salutes down pretty good and their uniforms crisply squared away. As a former Marine, your friendly content provider never managed to look this good all the way back in the late 1960s.
CBS has an arsenal of crime-and-punishment dramas, with FBI and the aforementioned Magnum reboot already making the grade among this season’s newcomers. The Code, which is both nicely produced and also thoroughly predictable, looks destined to likewise get a Season Two. Meanwhile, the Army, Air Force and Coast Guard are still waiting their turns.
GRADE: C+
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