In its fifth season running, the TNT cop drama Southland has its audience in a stranglehold, as gripping and suspenseful as ever. The characters are still as fresh and diverse as the crime they handle in the streets of Los Angeles, and, though it is tough, sometimes heartbreaking, to watch, Southland remains the most authentic and raw show on television.

In the season five premiere “Babel”, the story continues with Detective Adams (played with tamed emotion by Regina King) struggling to sustain the life of single mother and homicide detective. She bravely risks her life in the field but must come to terms with her priorities (baby over job, any day). She deservedly gets aid from her concerned, gentle partner Robinson, who is coming into his own as a detective and a character.

Officer Cooper is dealing with a youngster of his own, in new recruit Officer Steele. The experienced Cooper (played by Michael Cudlitz) is the most exciting of officers to watch in action, for his humorlessness and fearless intensity make him the unsung, charismatic hero of the series.

In their relatively new partnership, Officers Ben and Sammy are forcefully taking on the gang-divided ghetto. Sammy in particular continues to show an increasingly personal connection to the gangsters and thugs that he so consistently enforces laws upon, and from the very first episode his emotional ties are more than noticeable in his facial and vocal tones. Ben Sherman is still fun to watch, but is not as naïve and inexperienced in the field as he once was, which unfortunately makes him one of the less fascinating characters this season.

In the wild world of Los Angeles, the struggles of single motherhood, sexuality, medical care issues, and the daily risk of life make Southland the most enthralling cop show currently on television, and their writers do not shy away from the harsh reality of L.A. cop life, and they should be thanked greatly for it.