'Criminal Records' Simmering Racial Tensions Boil Over in “Possession with Intent”

The racial tension has been there all along in Criminal Record: Chloe accusing June of not being black enough. Kim referring to June as “Megan Markle.” June’s husband Leo implying that she’s difficult. June’s mother talking about her husband’s awful treatment by the police. This has been the pulsating undercurrent of the show.

But it all came to a head in the Criminal Record’s fifth episode, “Possession with Intent.” After doing yet more research on the computer (far too much time on this series is spent on montages of June intently looking at her computer screen), June questions Tony about whether he was a member of a neo-Nazi/far-right group known as Combat League. Tony gives June the Law & Order treatment— he doesn’t stop what he’s doing (packing up his car, loading his wheelchair)— while she is questioning him. But after she leaves, he totally freaks out.

The next day, June’s son Jacob is stopped and frisked by police officers while walking home from school with his friends. The arresting officer “finds” meth in his backpack and charges Jacob with possession with intent to supply. Jacob tries to reach June but can’t get through, so he calls his grandmother, who loves her grandson but isn’t capable of handling a situation of this gravity. Jacob’s arrest brings up bad memories for her of how her husband/June’s father was treated by the police. Finally, Jacob gets through to his dad Zac, who calls June. Interestingly, Jacob doesn’t call Leo, who is waiting for him on the soccer field.