Tonight on NBC their new action comedy series TAXI BROOKLYN airs with it’s premiere episode. On tonight’s episode called, “Pilot” A tough lady detective (Chyler Leigh) joins forces with a streetwise New York cabbie (Jacky Ido) to solve crimes and investigate her father’s murder in the series premiere of this police series.
For those of you who are not familiar with this new show, Taxi Brooklyn is an action-comedy police procedural centered on the fractious, closely bonded partnership between a streetwise Marseilles-born New York City taxi driver and an intensely driven NYPD detective for whom this immigrant cabbie becomes chauffeur, insider on the streets and unofficial partner.
On tonight’s episode Hardass Detective Caitlyn “Cat” Sullivan (Chyler Leigh), a woman hell-bent on finding her father’s killer, is demoted to foot patrol for reckless driving, disobeying orders, and personality conflicts. Cat arrests Marseille born taxi driver Leo Romba (Jacky Ido), a highly skilled driver with a past. Accused of being a wheelman in a bank robbery, Leo begs Cat to make a deal: in exchange for proving his innocence, he will provide her with his driving skills and taxi. The unlikely partnership grows into friendship as they investigate a series of robberies, and Leo becomes Cat’s confidant in her personal investigation of her father’s murder. Also Starring: Raul Casso, James Colby, Jennifer Esposito, Bill Heck, Caterina Murino, Ally Walker and Jose Zuniga
Will TAXI BROOKLYN be another huge hit for NBC? Well you’ll have to tune in tonight at 10PM EST and let us know what you think. We’ll be recapping all of the action right here for you. Will you be checking out the action? Hit up the comments and let us know your thoughts!
RECAP:
Cat the cop sits in a diner in Brooklyn. She gets a text that directs her to the bearded guy that comes to sit at the counter. She pulls her gun and approaches. A taxi speeds down the street with a police car in hot pursuit. The people in the diner are distracted by this. The cop crashes his car and Cat runs up to talk to him. She hops in the unmarked car while the passengers screams at her not to be the one to drive. The cabbie is being held at gunpoint b a bank robber.
The robber takes potshots at the car Cat is driving and she pulls up beside the cab. The robber takes another shot at her and orders the driver to move it. He does and she follows at top speed wondering where the hell the guy thinks he’s going. She crashes into a school bus and breaks her passenger’s nose. She handcuffs the taxi driver to the steering wheel and takes off after the fleeing bank robber.
She chases him through the subway, flashes her badge and races after him but loses him when a train speeds away. Eddie, her passenger, rants at Cat and calls her a menace when she returns and she says he needs to get his nose iced. She unlocks the driver of the cab who is insisting that he was forced to drive. She hauls him away and he asks about his cab but she says it’s not going anywhere since it’s crashed into a giant metal trash bin.
Cat tells Leo, the driver, that a taxi as a getaway car is unique. She isn’t buying his story that he’s innocent. He tells her he thinks they’ve met and implies they may have hooked up. She twists his pinkie and he apologizes in a lot of pain. She tells him his charming French act may work on college girls, but she says he’s just another d-bag a-hole. She says he’s going to jail for his accomplice. He says he was ordered to drive or die. She asks how he learned to drive at high speed with evasion tactics. He doesn’t answer.
He says he recorded the robber on his tablet and can prove his story. She tells Carlos to get it out of impound. She gets another text about the bearded guy and he tells her the robber was texting with someone that was likely his accomplice. The Captain comes out and says that Eddie has decided not to press charges. Cat says he looks better with a broken nose anyway. He asks Cat how many partners she’s gone through. He reminds her it’s five. Leo is shocked too and they tell him to shut up.
She has gone through three cars too. Eddie says that they were at the diner following texts from an anonymous source that said they had info on her father’s death. The Captain tells her that her dad was his friend but she can’t be involved with the investigation. He tells her to take her suspect to lock up but he says he has a problem with small spaces. An FBI agent shows up and says bank robbery is federal and he’ll take over.
Cat blows up at the Captain and asks why he had to call that asshole. He tells her she’s off the case and is back to foot patrol. Then Leo says he recognizes her as the cop that took down the Slope Park Stalker. The Captain tells her if she touches a car, she’s off the force and she had better turn over any future text messages. The Captain stalks off and Agent James says she can work the case for a day or two since this is the first time she’s talked ot him since the “incident.”
Leo watches with interest. Cat says cheating on your wife isn’t an incident. He says he’s sorry. He tells her all he can give her is 48 hours then he’ll come for Leo. Cat walks by Leo, grabs him and says let’s go. He tells her 48 hours isn’t go and she calls him an eavesdropper. He offers her a deal and says he will drive her anywhere she wants for the next 48 hours if she helps prove he’s innocent. She asks what if he’s guilty and he says he’s not so he has nothing to worry about.
She uncuffs his wrists then recuffs him to herself. He’s shocked and she says she doesn’t trust her. Once they’re in the car, she recuffs him to the steering wheel. He shows her the video on his tablet and she says it’s worthless because you can only see his eyes but he says you can tell a lot by looking at eyes. He says her eyes tell him she’s attracted to him. She tells him he’s giving a whole nation a bad rap. They pull up outside the bank and she tells a beat cop there to shoot Leo if he moves.
Dr. Pena is working the scene and tells Cat how the guard died and what went down. Another driver, Ronnie, pulls up outside the bank and asks why he’s handcuffed. Inside, Cat watches the security video. The guy is masked. The beat cop tells Ronnie to move his taxi or face arrest. Ronnie, who’s obvi gay, asks the cop if he’ll use handcuffs and everything and offers him his number. The tough looking cop thinks about it, then takes it.
The bank manager tells Cat the guy got a million bucks and he knew what size the stash would be because the briefcase was the perfect size. Back in the car, Leo tells her that this bank was perfect because there are three routes of egress. She says no robber would take a chance on getting a cab and he shows her an app that shows how many cars are in the area. The robbery took place at shift change when there are loads of cars in the area.
Dr. Pena comes out and says the robber didn’t shoot the guard and proves he had an accomplice and it was likely silenced. They wonder if he was from a cab or a stationary point. Pena says she has to go because people are dying to meet her. Cat isn’t amused but Pena laughs. Cat and Leo scope out where the robber came from. Leo gets a call on his tablet and Cat answers it. It’s a young boy, Nico, who wants to know why he’s with a cop. She says he’s just helping her out.
He asks her if she’s Irish and says she’s pretty. He tells him he worries about his dad being alone in New York. He tells his son he loves him and they sign off. Pena calls and tells Cat to come to the waterfront. She does and uncuffs Leo and lets him out of the car. She recuffs him once he’s out. Pena shows her a cab burned up with a dead driver inside. Leo looks inside and says it’s his friend Vincent’s taxi. He’s visibly upset.
Leo sits at the docks upset when Cat unlocks him and says he’s in the clear for Vincent’s shooting. He says his last call was in Park Slope and Leo says another driver must have heard from Vincent and she tells him to find out. He makes a call and says he needs to know where Vincent was at 4:30. Pena says the body and car were splashed with gas. Cat asks why there is blood splatter on the passenger window.
Leo says Vincent called another driver after he got the call. He goes into the car and shows her a diamond. Cat calls and asks if there was a diamond robbery. They head to a Hassidic jewelers who said they were hit yesterday afternoon. She gets a call to come meet the mystery texter in 10 minutes. The spot she shows Leo is 20 minutes away. The text says she was to come alone.
She looks down the street and realizes she is near where her father was killed. He says he’s sorry and that his father disappeared when he was 7 and he doesn’t know if he’s dead or alive. She tells him that her dad died in her arms. She responded to an officer down call and didn’t know it was her dad until she got there. Leo says she can’t let it consume her and she says she won’t stop.
She is sent an encrypted file and says she needs to go back to the office. Leo asks how she’ll open an encrypted file and she says her father had a key and that means the texter knows that. She asks why his son isn’t with him and he says his ex remarried. The file shows surveillance of her. Then they look at the footage from the diamond robbery. He points out Vincent’s taxi and she says it’s a perfect getaway car. He says there killed Vincent and would have killed him too and she saved his life.
FBI guy Gregg calls and tells her that Leo served time in a French prison for being a getaway guy in a bank robbery. He says he lied to immigration and he’s coming to get Leo and take over the case.
Leo paces in his cell and Cat says he’s a liar. She asks what his problem is and he says he’s claustrophobic. She says he spent four years in jail and he says that’s why he’s claustrophobic. He tells her he had nothing to do with the robbery and then says he can tell she’s sad and that she would like nothing better than to curl up in bed and cry but is scared she’ll never stop. She gets snappy and he says he’ll make her angry if he says more.
Leo says her dad raised her like a boy and that’s why she became a cop. He says her dad’s death changed her and not for the better. He insists that he’s innocent and she tells him to get up. She tells him to give a straight answer and she asks how he knows all this about her. He says he spent four years in prison as a marked man and knows how to read people because his life depended on it.
Cat says she’s risking her career and opens the cell and lets him out. He breathes a sigh of relief. She tells him not to screw with her. She says they have to go because the FBI is coming. The video file is finally decrypted. It’s her dad and she sees him fall out of a car. Leo stops the file and she snatches out the thumb drive. He asks where they’re going and she says someplace her ex-husband (Gregg) would never go.
She takes him to Frankie’s house who tries to tell Leo that she’s Cat’s sister but she clarifies that’s her mom. She welcomes them and offers tea. Cat asks how he only served four years if a man died during the robbery. He says the bank they used was being used to launder money. He was the only one left – the rest of the crew were killed. He says Nico’s mom begged him to tell all he knew to save himself.
He did and while he was in jail, his ex divorced him. The French refused him protection and so he came to the US to try and stay alive. Frankie brings out pastry and tea and Leo compliments her and says she’s lucky to have a wonderful mom. Leo says he never knew his mom and Cat says her mom already likes her better. She tells Leo she’s going to bed and then tells him which room she’s in. Cat says her mom has become a tramp since her dad died and he says she’s lonely.
Leo and Cat go through the files. The diamonds were insured and they are both under one umbrella. There’s a knock at the door and Cat looks out and sees Gregg. She tells him to hide and says she never thought he’d come there since her mom hates him. Gregg asks her where Leo is and she says she booked him into Central. He says he checked there. She asks if he meant what he said when he said he still loves her and he says yes. That throws him off and he asks her to dinner then leaves.
Frankie has hidden Leo in her bed and Cat chews him out and says to get out of her bed. They walk out but Gregg is waiting and he tells Cat she’s not a very good liar. She says she could have learned from him. They hop in Leo’s cab and take off. Later, Cat and Leo sit in the insurance office and a guy tells her that he was hacked.
A woman, Anna, comes in and says it was Chinese hackers and the guy says that Anna was the one who caught them. Cat asks to see the files. They leave them with the files and Leo says the IT chick was nervous and she says the boss is ex-military and could be the sniper. He looks at the files and says they’re going to hit an armored car today in 15 minutes. There is road construction so the guards will have to cross the street.
Leo and Cat lurk at the site of the robbery they think is going down. She gets a call and is told the boss Steve was in the 101st in Iraq and then Leo points out the guy with the American flag helmet. He shoots a guard, grabs a bag and she calls out but he takes a shot at her and hops on the back of a motorcycle. Leo drives them in pursuit. The bike hits a car and the passenger tumbles off.
The guy says that Dominic did it and she says she needs warrants for Dominic and Anna Miller. Dominic is a dirty cop and Anna is his wife that was feeding him info from the stolen files. They go to their apartment to pick them up and Leo refuses the elevator. She heads up and there’s Dominic and Anna. He runs off and Cat cuffs Anna then goes after Dominic. He heads to the roof and then down the fire escape. She gives chase and he makes it to the street but then Leo tags him with his cab. She cuffs Dominic as Leo leans out the window and jokingly asks her if someone called for a taxi.
Cat tells Leo the bank offered an award and she says she put him up for it. Gregg comes in to arrest Leo because he’s there illegally and Cat says if he ever wants to get back with her, he’ll let it go. He agrees and heads out. Leo asks if she’ll really get back with him and Cat says there is not a chance in hell. She says she has a friend in immigration and will try to help him out. He hugs her against her will and she smiles.
The Captain comes out and says she’s supposed to be on foot patrol. She says she didn’t get behind the wheel. She asks for her car back and he says no. Leo goes to Vincent’s funeral and is surprised to see Cat there because she told him she doesn’t do funerals. She stands back and away. Later, she goes to her dad’s grave and she asks Frankie if she knows what he was working on when he did. Her mom says he never talked shop with her.
She tells Cat that her obsession with finding his killer isn’t good for her but Cat insists her dad would have wanted her to find the guy. Leo comes over and asks to speak to Cat for a moment. Frankie leaves and Leo shows her footage of the man with the beard and says he was hiding his face. He says the man he’s talking to isn’t hiding. She says it’s the IA guy that worked her dad’s investigation.
Leo says he doesn’t know what happened to his own dad, but he wants to help her get answers and says to call him anytime she needs a ride. Gregg pulls up Leo’s record from the French police and sends an email to someone about Leo despite giving Cat his word.
