You Need To Watch Queen Latifah Absolutely Slay In The CBS Hit Show “The Equalizer”

Queen Latifah seizes her audience by the jugular as Robyn McCall in the CBS Equalizer TV series second crime drama reboot. She’s the guardian-angel fighter, dedicated to protecting the desperate and downtrodden no matter what the personal cost. It’s already raking in the ratings in part because of the star-studded cast, principally featuring Adam Goldberg as Super-Hacker Harry Keshegian and Liza Lapira as Super-Sniper Melody “Mel” Bayan. 

I still remember when the first Equalizer TV series launched in the 1980’s, with Edward Woodward as the enigmatic, former intelligence agent Robert McCall. He captured the TV screen, kicking ass and protecting the innocents who contact him via the classifieds. He’s divorced, with an estranged son and daughter. The stage was set for a whole new age of Equalizer. 

So, in the 2014 Equalizer movie, Denzel Washington takes on the role of Robert McCall. Here, he is a former U.S. Marine turned DIA Intelligence officer. “It’s about a guy who is a knight in shining armor,” McCall says. “Except he lives in a world where knights don’t exist any more.” Even if his heroism has no place in this real world of violence and mobsters, he can’t stand by when a young prostitute is in danger.

But, we’re not talking about Woodward or Washington. This is Queen Latifah, and she has made the Equalizer TV series her own. In her role of Robyn, she’s a single mom with a complicated relationship with her teenage daughter, Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes), and her live-in paternal aunt and perpetual wise woman, Viola Marsette (Aunt “Vi,” Lorraine Toussaint).  

While we know the origins of this Equalizer series, Queen Latifah has taken her role in a very different direction, one that continues to intrigue just as it leaves me wanting more. As I’d expected, the series is covering hot topics and issues. Like the original McCall, Robyn takes down rapists, kidnappers, murders, and corrupt judges. 

Robyn takes on cases for those innocents who have all “the odds against them,” but she also inspires personal responsibility and ACTION. As complicated as Robyn’s relationship is with her daughter, Delilah is already starting to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Delilah is pushing the boundaries without considering the personal consequences. Of course, even though her mother was constantly gone for long and extended work trips, Delilah still does not really know what her mother does for a living. 

In a recent interview, Queen Latifah said, “I think Black women have been equalizing for years and years and years, from Hatshepsut (a female pharaoh) to Stacey Abrams to Kamala Harris, to my mother, to my grandmother.” She takes all that strength, true grit, determination, and resiliency to her role on Equalizer. But this is only the beginning.

With so much room for growth and development in these characters. I’m looking forward to the Season 1 Finale on Sunday, May 23rd. I’m thrilled to hear that the show has already been renewed for another season, with the next episodes due to launch this fall. 

Have you binged the latest The Equalizer reboot yet? Are you looking forward to more episodes this fall? Let us know in the comments below!

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