Unless you subscribed to Starz in the last five years, the crime drama Hightown may have flown completely under your radar.
This series debuted on Starz in 2020, and it had a three-season run before reaching a satisfying conclusion. Now, Hightown is streaming on Netflix for the first time ever.
Hightown isn’t some R-rated police procedural knockoff. This is a show that takes a lot of dramatic chances, and it carved out its own identity during its time on TV.
Now that it’s available to watch on Netflix, Watch With Us is sharing three reasons to watch Hightown right now.
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Jackie Quiñones Is One of the Most Unique Characters on TV
Crime shows like Hightown typically put a male police detective in the primary role. Jackie Quiñones (Monica Raymund) is neither a man nor a cop. Instead, Jackie is a National Marine Fisheries Service Agent, or she’s derisively described, a member of the “fish police.” She’s not supposed to be anywhere near a murder investigation, especially since her job largely consists of making sure people aren’t illegally capturing sea life.
Jackie is also a full-blown drug addict and lesbian who isn’t very interested in getting clean and sober. She simply doesn’t care that her vices are destroying her and slips back into familiar patterns almost every time. She would slip completely into antihero territory if she weren’t so driven to solve the murder of Sherry Henry (Masha King) after finding her body. But without Jackie’s faults, she’d be like every other main character on TV.
‘Hightown’ Sets Up an Intriguing Dynamic
Detective Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale) is one of the other main characters on the show, and he’s got plenty of issues of his own. He’s a sex addict who was using Sherry as his confidential informant, and he’s got a track record of having inappropriate sexual relations with his contacts.
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That pattern continues as Ray gets close to Renee Segna (Riley Voelkel), the fiancée of an imprisoned drug lord, Frankie Cuevas Sr. (Amaury Nolasco). Ray wants Renee to be his C.I. and help him get info on Frankie’s organization, while Frankie wants Renee to get close to Ray and use him for information. That puts Renee in a very difficult position, and it’s a dynamic that lasts for the length of the show’s run.
There’s No Moral High Ground in ‘Hightown’
Jackie and Ray may have their own views about getting justice for Sherry, but calling either of them a hero does a disservice to the word. They’re simply very flawed individuals who are nominally on the side of the law, although Ray makes more morally questionable choices than Jackie does.
Frankie and the other criminals featured in Hightown are far from saints themselves, but there’s also a morally gray area inhabited by the show’s supporting cast. One of Jackie’s best friends is a local drug dealer, Junior McCarthy (Shane Harper), who shares a connection to Sherry’s murder that seems to shame him. Everyone is at least somewhat compromised in Provincetown. This series doesn’t strive for absolute realism, but it feels like it steps into some noirish undertones with skill.
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Season 3 does have a conclusion that offers some closure, even though the show appeared to have more stories to tell. Regardless, Hightown‘s arrival on Netflix offers the show a chance to reach a larger audience than it ever got before. And we should know soon if Netflix subscribers respond to it.
Hightown is now streaming on Netflix.
