Critic Reviews

A funny, horrifying, and generally thrilling account of a female Los Angeles police chief's rocky relations with the city's scummy, thieving (and, of course, male) power brokers.

Smart, well-written and with an excellent cast, “Tommy” is a strong new series that offers a fresh and welcome take on the police procedural.

It’s no surprise that Falco presides over all of this with aplomb. She’s instantly believable, instantly real. You’ll root for her take-no-prisoners Tommy, be frustrated for her, question her decisions, and admire her decisiveness. She’s everything you need in a lead character. It helps that Falco is supported by a strong cast.

Lately, the broadcast drama has a hard time competing for attention with shinier objects in the pay and streaming universes. But operating within those parameters, Falco's leadership quickly vaults "Tommy" to near the top of its class.

Where the show does best is in its treatment of Tommy’s private life. In depicting her tentative reconnection with her adult daughter (Olivia Lucy Phillip), a Angeleno-by-choice who left her work-crazed mom behind long ago, the show hits familiar beats nicely. ... A problem the show has yet to solve is that the kind of power she exercises when in uniform would tend to make her unknowable, and keeping her as open and big-hearted in every moment of the show’s running time defies belief.

Falco, of course, is the main reason to tune in, even as “Tommy” struggles to match her range, from serious empathy to dry wit. ... The other reason to watch — indeed, the show’s true potential — is Tommy’s unflappable approach to good community policing, on a network that for too long has fetishized grisly murders and the wonders of DNA results.

Edie Falco instantly elevates the role of Abigail "Tommy" Thomas, Los Angeles first female police chief, with emotional intelligence and sardonic wit. [3-16 Feb 2020, p.9]

"Tommy" is quite intentionally a socially conscious construction, and while that's not necessarily to its detriment, its earnest approach to inclusion can at times get in the way of a viewer's ability to appreciate its worth as a solid character-driven procedural.

An otherwise sparkling script drowns in backstory.

It’s all a little too on-the-nose and predictable. Falco is fantastic as always, but the writing in early episodes lacks anything approaching the nuance and sophistication of Falco’s past series, “The Sopranos” and “Nurse Jackie.”