On paper, Battle Creek seems destined to become a smash hit. Created by Vince Gilligan (you may recognize the name from the other show he created, Breaking Bad) and David Shore (creator of the excellent former FOX show House M.D.), Battle Creek certainly has the right names attached from the past decade of TV. Its first episode, “The Battle Creek Way”, sets up what to expect from CBS’s newest crime procedural.
Battle Creek stars Dean Winters (most exposed as the character Mayhem from All-State commercials) as Detective Russ Agnew. Russ is quite good at analyzing crime scenes and scenarios while his ingenuity is constantly tested due to the lack of funding for the Battle Creek PD (BCPD from here on out). In the opening scene Russ sends an informant with a wire in hopes of catching a bad guy red handed but the ends up being a neighbor’s baby monitor because the police equipment doesn’t work. Unfortunately his analytical skills only go so far when the baby monitor starts to beep as its batteries die in the middle of the conversation. This seems to be one of Russ’s more important traits as he overanalyzes certain things but is not as cautious when he goes out on a limb in his hunches. He’s a tad gruff but still very likeable and is the clear representative of the blue collar town of Battle Creek.
It’s clear Russ is top dog at BCPD. His partner Fontanelle (Kal Penn, Kumar of the Harold and Kumar movies) willingly follows his plans and is there in the opening scene with the baby monitor. There is Aaron Funkhauser (yes, Funkhauser!) and Erin Jacocks, making up the homonym division. Someone named Niblet, due to his tiny front teeth. And finally Commander Guziewicz and Holly. Holly and Russ are clearly rather fond of each other, though their romance is unrequited. “The Battle Creek Way” gives all of the lesser detectives brief introductions but their characters definitely are not fleshed out, making them feel a little one note but that’s to be expected in the first episode of a show’s run. It is clear, however, that they all recognize Russ as the best among them and look up to him. They seem to be a close knit bunch.
Besides catching the bad guys, Russ is preoccupied with the BCPD being grossly underfunded. Aside from the baby monitor wire, his and Fontanelle’s tasers don’t work in the opening scene. In his spare time Russ writes into 60 Minutes in hopes of bringing the news crew to Battle Creek to show them how poor the BCPD is. They can’t even afford some extra space in their building to expand.
This extra space has been recently remodeled, however, to house Battle Creek’s new FBI division -- though it is completely unclear why a midsized town needs an FBI division in the first place. This is where Special Agent Milton Chamberlain (Josh Duhamel of the first three movies in the Transformers franchise) has been recently transferred. Milton is your typical well dressed goody two-shoes, at least in public. He has to psych himself up about how happy he is to be in Battle Creek before meeting his police neighbors across the hall. This is really the only evidence of Milton not being all that he’s cracked up to be. But Milton’s public face is more than enough for everyone at the BCPD to have a crush on him, except Russ of course.
During Milton’s welcome speech he answers the phone call to a double homicide. At the crime scene it instantly becomes clear how much better funded the FBI is in relation to the BCPD. Milton has a whole team of forensics guys working the scene, and even has cloth booties to prevent contamination of the scene, which the police find exciting. But Russ won’t take a back seat to Milton’s high tech gadgetry as he builds an entire storyline of the crime based off of a minute read of the evidence directly available to him. This causes Milton to request Russ’s help to work the case the rest of the episode.
Battle Creek’s strength will probably not be its “case of the week” storytelling. Ultimately, if it is going to succeed, it will be because of the tone of the show and the relationship between Russ and Milton. “The Battle Creek Way” does a good job at setting up both of these important aspects. Winters and Duhamel have good chemistry on screen. Russ is simultaneously trying to prove himself while also trying not to be impressed by Milton and his backing. It’s a fine line to tread as Russ could easily become the grumpy curmudgeon who ends up coming off more mean than gritty, but Winters does a good job keeping Russ likeable. Likewise, Milton seems to, at the very least, find Russ entertaining and helpful. He likes the way Russ goes about things as he feels Russ analyzes every last tidbit of every decision he comes to -- even though that is not true. While it is Milton and his methods who end up winning the day in “The Battle Creek Way”, their competition with each other should keep things interesting.
Battle Creek’s shtick, however, could easily become tiresome quickly. As mentioned earlier, Battle Creek follows many of the same beats and tropes of your typical, cop show. But it seems Battle Creek will decide to throw a few curveballs where most other shows would throw a fastball. This creates some pretty wild tonal shifts. The best example of this is when Russ and Milton are about to break down the front door of a suspect’s house to search for drugs. They, along with a good amount of FBI agents, sneak up to the front door with a battering ram. They then reach the front door where the first curveball is thrown.
Where this would be a pretty intense and dramatic scene, Russ decides to launch into his beliefs as to why Milton is who he is -- basically because Russ believes Milton has never had to deal with a loss in his life. This lightens the moment a bit. But as they are about to break down the front door they hear a voice on the intercom telling them to just let themselves in because the door is open and very expensive. This completely deflates the tension and makes it an even more comic instance. There are more smaller moments like this throughout the show where Russ may be lecturing Milton about how he, and Battle Creek, do things just before being interrupted by Milton’s phone going off. There are also moments that make quick turns from comedy to drama when the audience might not expect it.
To say the least Battle Creek decides to zag where most shows zig for a majority of the episode. This tongue-in-cheekness is kind of like a breath of fresh air, it can’t be the main reason someone watches the show week in and week out. Battle Creek is still a dramedy. It still needs the drama to thrive and “The Battle Creek Way” ends on a fairly dramatic note. The wild tonal shifts won’t be as jarring further into the series. It’s important to note that there isn’t any CSI: gloss to the FBI scenes. There were no montages of lab work or focus on any of the forensics. Battle Creek does not seem to be preoccupied with that subgenre of cop shows.
So this is what we’re left with: Battle Creek will be a success mainly due to the relationship between Russ and Milton. “The Battle Creek Way”, while it did have a case to solve, didn’t seem overly concerned with solving this case. The show was uninterested in any of the forensics/computer aspects of the show. And while it did set the tone of what, I assume, will set the show apart that alone is not enough to maintain an audience for more than a few episodes. Battle Creek has not tried to reinvent the wheel, they just have decided to change the tire. “The Battle Creek Way” does a good job of setting up the feel for the show but it won’t be until later episodes whether or not Battle Creek stands out among its cop show buddies.