The 1980s was not New York City’s finest hour. Crime rates spiked, homicides reached historic highs, and a 1984 shooting by a man dubbed the “Subway Vigilante” only solidified the Big Apple’s rep as a lawless metropolis.

Often dismissed as a “vigilante show,” The Equalizer was a television series ahead of its time. For four seasons on CBS, the smartly written action drama combined the crime-of-the-week procedural with a complex, unfolding mythology about former spy Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) and his dark past at a CIA-like agency known as the Company. Lonely and remorseful, the 50-something Brit haunted the violent backstreets of 1980s New York on a mission to help the helpless, while rebuilding a long-neglected relationship with his son.