Aquarius: The Complete First Season

NBC's summer series Aquarius—set in Los Angeles, circa 1967—parallels the stories of Detective Sam Hodiak (David Duchovny), a cop working out of the Hollywood division, and Charles Manson (Gethin Anthony), who is building a cult of blindly-devoted followers in a commune just outside the city. The series opens with Hodiak looking into Manson after a former girlfriend who is now married to a powerful lawyer asks him to find their runaway daughter, who has joined the Manson "family." Since the notorious Tate-LaBianca murder spree is still two years away, there are other cases to keep Hodiak occupied, and he teams up with Brian Shafe (Grey Damon), an undercover cop with shaggy hair (which, to the rest of the squad, makes him untrustworthy), investigating murders, drug cases, and other cop show standbys. Meanwhile, Hodiak also tangles with the local Black Panthers (whose militant stand against police brutality is shown to be completely justified here), and tries to protect his soldier son, who has gone AWOL with damning information of illegal American actions in Vietnam. Hodiak is a relatively honest and completely dedicated cop in a department riddled with racism, sexism, and sheer indifference, and he doesn't mind bending the rules or busting heads to obtain information. But this is essentially a familiar cop show in period dress. Compiling all 13 episodes from the 2015 debut season, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette and bonus webisodes. Optional, at best. (S. Axmaker)