this was incredible. you can immediately tell just how much better this season is going to be by this opener. it's packed to the brim with amazing scenes and character development and we finally get introduced to Kavanaugh who already cements himself as a powerful antagonist. SPOILERS the political and racial themes from last season carry into this one almost instantly. the riots and the conflict between the blacks and the mexicans is layered with political commentary and expertly directed. the camera work in the action scenes is superb with some very impressive shots (one in particular that stuck with me was the camera rising sideways from the ground in the riot on the street, as if it was a civilian getting up from the ground). the tension is also very high with the writers quickly exposing characters such as julien and tina to a school shooting full of panicking extras; the larger scale of these cases can already be appreciated. the kill timer only increased the tension and added a new threat from the gangs of farmington from the get go in this season. the political commentary of the desperation in gang life to obey orders for the safety of one's family sends an important message and adds to the complexity of the subplot. from this case also stems dutch's storyline where he nearly kills a suspect who tries to murder claudette to accomplish his kill quota. this brings back the scene of him killing the cat because of how it parallels with him choking out the attacker and not letting go. the 'thing' he feels when killing slips out once again when he loses himself in his loyalty to protect claudette which is both admirable and frightening. we know dutch feels emasculated frequently so these kinds of moments are where he is at his most unpredictable because he finally feels more like a man in these situations. billings being captain is already hilarious and it's such a fitting way to add comedy to this otherwise immediately intense and serious season. the stakes have never been higher so the comedy also needs to be improved to maintain a balance between the two, something that adds to the enjoyability of this season. danny being pregnant is also a curveball to her character and also most likely to vic's judging by that scene in 4x08 and it acts as a great segue for her to advise tina on what it's like being a woman in this male dominated workforce. she knows firsthand how deep the misogyny runs sometimes and she's learned to combat it by making her own jokes and comebacks to the frequent sexism, which we see as early as the pilot. tina on the other hand uses her looks as a means of fighting oppression which seems to work because people like dutch are immediately infatuated with her. the problem is that she's so focused on fighting this misogyny and keeping herself beautiful that it distracts from her police work which again adds to the comedy because her training officer is none other than no-nonsense julien. it also indirectly reminds the viewer of his homosexuality because he sees through tina's facade and it is why tina complains about his frequent lectures, which in reality she would receive from any other TO as well. danny also gives her a more serious wake up call since she was once in tina's position but her inexperience makes her blind to these warnings. the entire bet about who the father of danny's baby is further solidifies the borderline cruelty that women can experience on the job, especially as a police officer, which is another well handled piece of political and social commentary from the writers. despite danny acting like she's not bothered this is the kind of thing that affects anybody. the main bet being vic speaks volumes to his character since everybody knows or suspects his disloyalty towards corrine and his womanising ways but another key thing is that ronnie is the one running the bet. he hasn't really been the key focus of the show so to have him running this demeaning bet and being oblivious to it's meanness is a window into his character that hasn't really been explored besides joking comments from the strike team about how he has a new girlfriend every week. the darker tone of the season is also explored through the strike teams increased brutality and corruption which contrasts the fact that they are being unknowingly investigated by IAD. ronnie is attacked by a criminal early on in the episode and an underlying subplot is how the strike team hunts him down while also creating new favours from people such as the store owner, combining various forms of corruption. this ends with shane, vic and ronnie brutally beating the man that attacked ronnie to the brink of death. two main points to discuss from this scene are how lem is the one standing guard and not directly participating, which makes it even more tragic that he is IADs main target and window into the rest of the strike team despite him being the most innocent and also the final calling card they leave on the criminal's head. it's something we haven't seen since season 2 when the strike team was desperately corrupting their way towards armadillo. once again this further develops ronnie's character to show just how vengeful he is and how easily him and the strike team can get away with something like this. it represents both the strike team being back together after the s4 conflict and the immediate return to their crooked ways. however, both of these things are quickly subverted by kavanaugh's introduction. KAVANAUGHHH!!! forest whitaker immediately demonstrates he's a force to be reckoned with when he's on screen. he low tone draws the viewer in to pay attention to what he has to say which works perfectly. he informs aceveda about the investigation into lem and then offers him a gum. his gum trick is a brilliant way to explore both his and the characters he interacts withs psyche. both possible answers to his trick are shown in this episode through aceveda, who is now back to his confident form after resolving the juan situation, who rejects the offer and doesn't change his mind and through corrine who also starts off by rejecting the offer and then accepting it when kavanaugh doesn't take it away. this coupled with the way he changes his voice to a more quiet and reserved nature with corrine compared to his assertive tone with aceveda makes him so formidable and intriguing. unlike other characters who have opposed vic, he immediately goes for his weak spot without a single moment of hesitation and applies pressure to corrine and lies about having an autistic son of his own, quickly proving how far he will go to bury the strike team. the end of the episode sets up the rest of the season perfectly with him bringing in lem and wasting no time in exploiting his good conscience, something that has been consistently shown to the viewer since season 1. i can't praise both the writers and forest whitaker enough for how incredible kavanaugh is this early on and he only improves later on in the season. he poses the biggest threat to the strike team we've seen so far and he is testament to how impressive this season is from its first scene to its last. i was originally going to give this a high 4.5 but after finishing the season and writing this review i'm settling on a low 5/5 because it really is that good and perfectly sets up the entire season (one of the best of all time).