Member-only story
The Authentic Eclectic
Good Cop / Bad Mom
TV trope or clever commentary on women in the workplace?
There is no shortage of gritty police series, often filmed in the Nordic noir style, featuring a brilliant yet flawed protagonist. It’s a popular genre.
The thing I notice about these TV shows is how often problematic parenting is used to demonstrate that a female cop protagonist is flawed. And there’s rarely a male version of this type of character.
Some shows use the “good cop/bad mom” trope to explore wider societal issues about the experience of women in the workplace and the home. Others just use it as a simplistic way to highlight that a female protagonist isn’t perfect.
Characteristics of the good cop / bad mom
There are hundreds of television series featuring female police officers. The characters are mostly white and heterosexual, but they are diverse in age, nationality and policing experience.
However, almost identical factors come into play when these women also happen to be mothers:
- Very independent
- Emotionally distant
- Single or in a relationship on the rocks
- Enmeshed with work
