The Worst Episode Of Shemar Moore's SWAT, According To IMDb

Shemar Moore and the rest of the cast of "S.W.A.T." have entertained the masses for years. Even after "S.W.A.T." was canceled, CBS had a change of heart and brought it back for one last batch of episodes, much to the delight of the show's fans. While there have been numerous high points, there are also low points, such as "S.W.A.T." fans agreeing that Annie Kay (Bre Blair) is their least favorite character. However, context is important when it comes to looking at which episodes of the procedural are voted as fans' least favorite.

When looking at IMDb ratings for individual "S.W.A.T." episodes, the lowest score of 6.4/10 (with nearly 800 votes being counted) belongs to Season 4's "3 Seventeen Year Olds," which came out in November 2020. The date is important, as it was during the aftermath of the George Floyd protests. "3 Seventeen Year Olds" reckons with those demonstrations, as the plot hones in on the LA Riots of 1992, tying that event to modern racial justice movements. It appears that this political subject matter caused many people to downvote the episode.

IMDb user losey_michelle gave the episode one star, saying, "All the Fall shows so far are so political! I'm so tired of it I'm ready to cancel my subscription again and go back to just watching Netflix and Prime.They are one-sided too!!" Other people who rated the episode with one star, like sosohappy-60885, similarly wanted politics out of their TV shows. "My god please make it stop. I just wanna watch TV after a long day. It's bad enough i see this daily on the news and ALL social media, but tv shows now too? Ughh."

Going off IMDb ratings, "3 Seventeen Year Olds" is considered by fans to be the "worst" episode of "S.W.A.T." However, it might be more appropriate to call it the most divisive, especially when considering the political climate in which it was released. When breaking down the episode's IMDb rating, 182 individuals gave it a 1/10, while 205 votes gave it a perfect 10/10. Some people may want to tune into a TV show about a Black member of the Los Angeles Police Department and have it be completely devoid of politics, but others clearly found value in watching "S.W.A.T." address such serious subject matter.

A Reddit thread analyzing "3 Seventeen Year Olds" is filled with comments from people getting emotional over how the story handles the complex relationship between the Black community and police. Redditor u/Fragrant-Humor-2816 wrote, "This episode though... the tears... it was so intensely beautiful, heartbreaking, intense. It broke me again." Even some folks on IMDb went to bat for the episode, such as user carolynjackson-71670, who gave it an 8/10 and said, "Police shows have the responsibility to point out, what is right with the system, but also what is wrong with it."

Everyone's entitled to their opinion after watching any episode of a given TV series. Many have said shows like "Blue Bloods" are "copaganda" based on how they dismiss police brutality and try to portray cops in a totally good light. "S.W.A.T." tries to reckon with that label in "3 Seventeen Year Olds" by presenting how law enforcement has failed Black communities for decades. Complex sociopolitical issues won't be solved with a single TV episode, but it keeps the conversation going. And, ultimately, all art is political.