

But any fan of procedurals can tell you that work and whether the character is single or a parent are the only defining traits they usually possess.

As for what her personality is beyond her maternal role, it's hard to tell. Of course, McCall wrestles with those times when she isn't there, but the fact that she does shows she has a conscience about that. Queen Latifah, The Equalizer Mary Kouw/CBS

While it remains a mystery who Delilah's father is (McCall's love life, fortunately, has yet to be brought up as an issue to be fixed), her personal life lies squarely in her role as a mother who isn't always home to say goodnight to her child but is always there when she needs her, including for a pep talk. The Equalizer, from showrunners Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller, has always been very conscious about humanizing McCall as a protagonist who is both superhuman in some regards - solving every case and sometimes beating up the bad guys - and a single mother who leans on Viola for support. And like them, McCall is quickly lured back when an ally, Detective Marcus Dante ( Tory Kittles), makes a desperate call to her for help finding the people who gunned down his colleague. It's a familiar way to reenter this Equalizer narrative because anyone who's watched a Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, or Liam Neeson movie knows that flirting with retirement is how many well-known action hero characters begin a sequel. So, things aren't great at home, and McCall even considers giving up her duties, which means that a lot of marginalized people who are often unable to defend themselves, the ones she prioritizes in her work, will be vulnerable. Their relationship is now so strained that Delilah's trust in her mother has all but gone out the window. Those who watched the Season 1 finale already know that while her work remains classified among certain people, including ex-CIA director William Bishop ( Chris Noth) and her aunt Viola ( Lorraine Toussaint), her cover was totally blown with daughter, Delilah ( Laya DeLeon Hayes).įind Out Where to Stream Anything in TV Guide's Finder, a Search Engine for Streaming Shows After managing to save innocent victims of covert government and otherwise criminal operations from certain death and/or persecution last season, we find former CIA operative-turned-justice vigilante Robyn McCall (Queen Latifah) in a different headspace at the start of Season 2. The second season continues with that same vibe. But by the end of the first season of The Equalizer, it was clear that there is something entirely fresh and reinvigorating with Latifah's vehicle. Initially, the idea that there would be a gender-bent version of a character that had already been race-bent in a tired 2014 film with Denzel Washington was exasperating. You've got to appreciate this current phase of Queen Latifah's career where she is quite literally coasting on a procedural crime drama and quietly defying gender, body, and age standards that have historically been applied to action heroes.
