Once TNT took full control of Southland, they trimmed some of the show’s fat and really locked in on the most interesting characters and actors. Mismatched partners Cudlitz and McKenzie along with Regina King’s Det. Lydia Adams and Hatosy’s Det. Sammy Adams became the core four. McKenzie became a TV star on the primetime soap that was The O.C., but he proved his acting bonafides on Southland, delivering his first real adult turn, and demonstrating true inner conflict as Ben, who repeatedly has to confront why he’s actually doing this job. And after a long career that included appearances in dozens of hit shows, including ER, 24, Band of Brothers and Lost, Cudlitz finally got his big shot with Southland, and he responded by giving the best performance of his career. To his partners, Cooper comes off as an overly-critical commanding officer who takes too much pleasure in his power over them, but much of it a shield for his struggles with his sexuality and painkiller abuse.

And for anyone watching Southland, it came as no surprise that King went on to be an Oscar winner. Previously known mostly for her comedic work, the actress always felt like the heart and center of Southland. Cudlitz, McKenzie and Hatosy would pair up throughout the run, but the series gave King a rotating cast of sidekicks, because she could elevate anyone’s game. And while the ongoing plotline featuring Det. Adams’s ex-wife was one of the weaker elements, Hatosy showed more than enough likability and explosiveness to become Wells’s new go-to guy. After Southland, the producer cast Hatosy on TNT’s Animal Kingdom, where he was dynamite as Pope, the volatile member of a criminal family. Wells, of course, would later tap Hatosy for The Pitt, on which he’s become a scene-stealing fan favorite as Dr. Jack Abbot, the head of the ER’s night shift.

Southland also featured an all-star lineup of “that guy” character actors, including Tom Everett Scott, Michael McGrady, Patrick Fischler, Amaury Nolasco, Clifton Collins Jr., Laz Alonso, Wood Harris, Bokeem Woodbine, Jamie McShane, Lou Diamond Phillips, Carl Lumbly, and Chad Michael Murray, as well as Lucy Liu like you’ve never seen her before.

It’s not like Southland was completely unrecognized when it originally aired; the show has a 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and won a Peabody Award in 2012. And it’s in great company as far as cop shows that weren’t appreciated in the moment (there goes those Wire comparisons again!). In season 2, Sherman rides solo for the first time, and his busy day involves him both finding a lost child and interrupting a man attacking a woman, who earlier reported a break-in to Sherman. Sherman tussles with the man, before other officers pull their colleague off and arrest the assailant. Sherman, seeing the bloodied body of the woman, throws one more punch. Later, feeling conflicted about others viewing him as a hero, Sherman admits to Cooper that he’s worried that he doesn’t know where the lines are. His partner responds, “We live in the grey. Now you know what you’re capable of.”

And now everyone has the chance to see what Southland was capable of.