Training Day is a television crime drama adapted from the 2001 film of the same name. It stars Bill Paxton, Justin Cornwall, Katrina Law, Drew Van Acker and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The show, which aired on CBS for a total of 13 episodes in 2017, was Paxton's last appearance in a TV series before he passed away.
Years after the events of the film, Officer Kyle Craig is a promising officer in the Los Angeles Police Department after joining the force to follow the footsteps of his deceased father, Billy. His actions in saving a young child from being killed catch the attention of Deputy Chief Joy Lockhart, who gives him the opportunity to infiltrate the LAPD's Special Investigation Section, which is led by Frank Roarke. Due to concerns that Frank may be using unorthodox tactics as a Dirty Cop, Kyle is given the job to investigate him and figure out if he's really gone rogue.
During the course of his assignment, Frank gets to help Kyle solve the mystery of his father and figure out what happened to him after he got shot with Frank's suggestion that the LAPD covered his death as a death due to a robbery gone wrong.
Head here for the show's character page.
Training Day contains examples of:
- Action Prologue: The show starts when Kyle and his partner intervene in a domestic dispute when an armed man opens fire with a MAC-11 submachine gun. Kyle tackles him from the side when he's distracted.
- Actor Allusion: Eddie Shin previously played a Japanese-American character in the TV version of The Man in the High Castle.
- Back for the Finale: Tim Wallace and the 3 Wise Men from the film reappear in the finale. For Tim, its also a case of Back for the Dead.
- Back for the Dead: Tim Wallace in the finale.
- Cool Car: The Yakuza use several Nissan and Toyota cars, such as GT-Rs and 86s.
- Cop Killer: Theroux and his mercenaries kill several LAPD officers in "Apocalypse Now," including Kyle's old partner, when they ambushed a convoy of vehicles belonging to a drug dealer named Menjivar.
- Driving Question: Who killed Billy Craig and who was responsible for covering his death...? The finale reveals it was Tim Wallace.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: "Tehrangeles" involves the SIS in a kidnapping case with ex-soldiers of the Libyan Amazonian Guards turned mercenaries.
- The SIS itself. It's a plainclothes unit meant to investigate the activities of the criminal underworld when conventional approaches would make things impossible to work.
- Enemy Civil War: Prior to the series, Menjivar's lieutenant, Rios, began to muster his authority by taking out sicarios and other figures who were loyal to Menjivar in "Apocalypse Now." This led to an escalation of hostilities between them with Rios creating his own cartel.
- Phony Veteran: A gun shop owner claims to be a Marine Corps veteran. Kyle points out that the man's Marine tattoo has the eagle facing the wrong way and the man admits that it is just a phony gimmick since customers are more likely to buy guns from a veteran. Both Frank and Kyle are disgusted by this.
- Pillow Silencer: In the episode "Wages of Sin", Jeff takes out one of Chief Wade's men in a public area by using a pillow to muffle the gunshot.
- Private Military Contractors: Some of the enemies SIS takes on are contractors hired by some of the episode's Big Bad.
- Shown Their Work:
- "Tehrangeles" explains the origin of the Amazonian Guards and why they were created by Gaddafi.
- South Asian Terrorists: Kyle fought against Taliban guerrillas when he was deployed with the US Army in Afghanistan in peacekeeping operations.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It's related that among the effects of Alonzo being exposed as a corrupt cop is that every case he ever worked on is now subjected to appeal, allowing scores of brutal criminals to return to the streets and the crime rate skyrocketing.
- Yakuza: The Yakuza are the Big Bad in "Code of Honor" over smuggling new drugs from Myanmar. And the head is a second-generation Japanese-American businessman.
