Shades of Blue S1-3

Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta make being bad cops look amazing in Shades of Blue. All three seasons are available to binge now.

Normally J-Lo takes on sweet, loveable roles. In this show, she’s as crooked and corrupt as the day is long as Detective Harlee Santos who bends the law to get her way … and fill her and her boss Lieutenant Wozniak’s pockets (Ray Liotta).

It’s dark and gritty – not just in terms of the visuals, but in terms of the writing too. You’re going to see a lot of hectic stuff, like bones being broken, teeth being filed down to make a corpse unidentifiable … not for kids or sensitive viewers.

Matt Zoller Seitz of vulture.com finds the balance of good and bad just perfect, saying, “It’s not a deep show, but it’s a sensationally effective one. It knows what it is and it rarely steps wrong. Its real strength is its keen moral compass. It has a message, but it’s not so much a cautionary tale as a piece of common sense. Something like: always tell the truth because it’s the easiest thing to remember.”