I’ve decided to stick with the show for one reason. Even if it doesn’t complicate its social justice narrative, Shots Fired has provided the best silver lining in the form of Sanaa Lathan’s character. Ashe Akino is an investigator from the Department of Justice who is partnered with a prosecutor to investigate the shooting. Akino is a complicated wildcard who gets really close to sexist tropes about women, and then crosses them. She’s a tender mother who loves her daughter even on the verge of losing custody over her. But that doesn’t stop her from throwing a vase at her baby daddy’s new girlfriend when she yells at the child. She likes alcohol and casual sex, not because she’s damaged but because she’s a adult. She confidently declares that she’s “every man’s type” and no, we don’t get a single shot of cleavage from her. She’s inaccessible, but not cold. And her rebellious streak seems to work as more of an asset than a liability to her case.