WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Equalizer Season 1, Episode 1, "The Equalizer."
CBS' The Equalizer reboots the '80s TV series with Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, a vigilante who wants to help with social justice, pursuing cases where people don't have law enforcement trying to do right by them.
But apart from it being a female-led retelling, there are other key aspects that vary from the original show, as well as the Denzel Washington-led movies.
The first obvious change is the cases Robyn will be tackling. While Edward Woodward and Washington's Robert McCall were all about violent offenders, most of Robyn's cases will be focused on people of color. She's specifically stated she wants to help these citizens, especially Black and Latinx ones that the system is unfair to. The male Equalizers more or less took any job, but Robyn is adamant these cases, especially ones related to women, are her priority.
Another big change is the tech team Robyn will be working with. Woodward's vigilante had help from Robert Lansing's Control, who worked with the mysterious Company, as well as ex-colleagues like Mickey and Mark, while Washington's Robert used Susan from the D.I.A. for help. Robyn, on the other hand, has her former colleagues and Chris Noth, an ex-C.I.A. head running his own private company. Most of all, though, she's got a crack hacking team on her side.
Harry's the digital genius, with his sniper wife, Mel, also helping out in a basement under their bar. This gives Robyn access to intel, even from Homeland Security, as they scour cases up from the dark web. The original show used newspaper ads and the movie version utilized online ads, but on the dark web, her job is a bit more interactive.
On top of that, while the other's version hid in the shadows, Robyn's moving about in the day, adopting various identities and proving to be a true master of disguise. This will be crucial because she also gets an ally, who's sort of a pseudo-rival in Dante, an NYPD cop hot in pursuit, adding a dynamic the others didn't have. Woodward's version had cops who helped him in Smalls and Burnett, but it's different with Dante's cat-and-mouse game.
The final major change is that Robyn's PTSD plays a much bigger role. Viewers know she worked for the C.I.A. and committed kills that haunted her, and it seems like this is taking a toll on her. The original Equalizer worked for a mysterious agency and had some trauma, while the movie version worked for the D.I.A. and wasn't subjected to something this extreme. Robyn's suffering badly, and it seems like the show will look at how this impacts her daughter and allies.
Starring Queen Latifah, Tory Kittles, Liza Lapira, Adam Goldberg, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Lorraine Toussaint and Chris Noth, The Equalizer airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.