“Green Birds” had a little more action than the premiere episode, but the new Dick Wolf drama is still lacking depth. Yes, crime dramas are supposed to be about the crime and the agency that oversees it. But what makes a show good is the chemistry between the cast and the ability to go deeper in terms of story and characters.
The second episode showed a softer side to Maggie as she connected with the teenage girls who were victims of ISIS recruiting, but it still doesn’t tell us much about her. It’s assumed she doesn’t have kids but there is a hint of a motherly side to her.
As of OA, it seems he is constantly battling his time undercover. We learned in the premiere he had worked in the Middle East catching terrorists. His skills come in handy this episode as ISIS is recruiting young, impressionable girls to poison large groups of people for their gain.
It was OA’s insight into the terrorist group and his knowledge of how they operate that is the key to them catching their guy and bringing him down. However, there is a human side to OA. He seems to be a machine that just does the job and moves on. But at the end of the episode he says how he could’ve let the terrorist be arrested and locked in jail forever, but by killing him, he knows for a fact the girls that were targeted are safe.
While “Green Birds” does show a small glimpse into the characters’ human sides, it is still hard to see them connect as a team. You can tell both Maggie and OA like each other platonically, but their body language still comes off as strangers.
When you look at Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, that team deals with tough subjects, but they click. The characters bounce off of each other. It might be too early in the show to say that they’re just not connecting, but right off the bat that is what it feels like.
As the season goes on, as a viewer, I hope to see more cases that hits either Maggie or OA personally. Yes, the terrorist case dows that, but only on a job level for OA. To be able to connect to their characters, viewers need to see them as human. By hey, that might just be what Dick Wolf wants. He wants you to see them as FBI agents and not your friends next door.
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