Abhiroop Das
Prime Video’s ‘Ballard’ follows Detective Renée Ballard on her quest to unravel the mysteries that escape the system with the help of her team at the newly formed Cold Cases Division. However, the division’s origins aren’t exactly organic, and as the show progresses, we learn that Ballard has been set up to fail. All of this ties back to a particular event from one year ago, one that altered the course of her life forever. When former officer Samira Parker joins Ballard’s division, a bleaker picture unfolds. Officer Robert Olivas appears to be the driving force behind this, and his involvement punctuates the entire narrative. However, the dynamic is unlike that of a traditional protagonist and antagonist, as the power dynamics at play hint at something far more sinister about the man and the system he exemplifies. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Robert Olivas is One of the Key Players in the LAPD
Robert Olivas is an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division. In the first episode, he receives a call from a woman who seeks to talk to Samira Parker, an ex-cop who once worked under Olivas on the John Doe murder case that Ballard’s division eventually picks up. However, upon learning of Samira’s status, the caller immediately cuts the call, earning Olivas’s curiosity. His search takes him to the Cold Cases Division, where he discovers that Samira has returned to their John Doe investigation as a volunteer. He seems to be familiar with her as well as Thomas Laffont, another retired officer, and the three indulge in talks about their time together until he is interrupted by Ballard, who promptly gets him to leave. His relationship with the protagonist, a remnant from the past, triggers a series of revelations.
Throughout the narrative, Olivas appears to put extensive effort into maintaining warm relationships with everyone at work. Be it cordial gestures directed towards his juniors or the friendly banter he engages in with his friends and peers; he gives off the image of a charismatic, all-around inviting man. However, that persona has a sinister motive behind it; his colleagues’ goodwill provides him with a layer of insulation whenever allegations are made against his conduct. With the entire department backing him up, Olivas easily escapes blame for many things, be it the kinks and errors in his police work or more serious issues, such as the horrors he inflicted on Detective Renée Ballard. Moreover, his darker nature leaks out on one occasion when he talks to Ken Chastain about his former partner and hints at crossing a line with her.
Robert Olivas is Masterfully Portrayed by Ricardo Chavira
Robert Olivas is a particularly complex character, given that he operates in several layers of thought and shows a different side of himself to other people. As such, the team of ‘Ballard’ found a perfect fit in actor Ricardo Chavira, who is best known for his role as Carlos Solis in ‘Desperate Housewives.’ Chavira started out playing minor roles in procedural dramas such as ‘NYPD Blue’ and ‘Agent Bundy,’ before finding his breakthrough performance as Ramon in ‘Six Feet Under.’ The actor has proven his versatility by featuring in family dramas such as ‘Welcome to the Family,’ where he essays Miguel Hernandez, and in dark political thrillers such as ‘Scandal,’ where he plays the role of Francisco Varga. He is also an established voice actor, voicing Tío Ignacio in ‘Primos’ and John Carver in the video game ‘Dead Space 3’
Chavira is also a successful theatre artist, performing in famous productions such as ‘Shane,’ ‘Tracers,’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire. ‘ Alongside acting, he also dedicates his time to championing humanitarian causes. Chavira is a prominent supporter of cancer research, as his mother, Elizabeth Chavira, died of breast and ovarian cancer when she was 43 years old. He has been closely affiliated with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and has served as the honorary spokesperson for many of its charity events.
Olivas is the Reason for Renée Ballard’s Current Predicament
Robert Olivas comes to the forefront of ‘Ballard’ as a deceptively antagonistic force to Ballard. The truth behind his actions is learned in a conversation between Ballard and Parker, while the former tries to convince the latter to formally join her division. Here, the protagonist reveals that a year before the events of the show, when Ballard was still a part of the Robbery-Homicide Division, Olivas tried to assault her sexually during a party. While she managed to fight him off and file a police complaint, she saw no support, even from Chastain, who had seen the state she was in after the assault attempt. Following this, Olivas, seemingly in cohorts with the higher powers in the LAPD, engineers her transfer to the newly created Cold Cases Division, presumably with the intent of derailing her career.
The extent of Olivas’s perverse actions reveals itself in episode 4 when Ballard gives voice to her traumatic memory in front of Parker. Pretending that the bar was crowded, he got drinks for Ballard. He got her to drink in excess in order to destabilize her movements. When she went to the washroom to splash water on her face, he followed her under the guise of checking on her, but when she tried to get a ride from Uber, he took her phone away, instead proposing to drop her home himself. Ballard did not agree with him, and when she didn’t seem to be convinced, he dropped the mask of a caring guy and revealed his true nature. Slamming her face on the door, he attempted to overpower her. However, she fought him off and nullified his repulsive scheme.
Listening to how Oliver staged things in order to sexually assault Ballard, coercing and then blatantly trying to overpower her, Parker’s own memory unlocks some heart-wrenching details. He had pursued the same method of coercion with his former partner, but unlike in Ballard’s case, he successfully executed his sickening plan. All this time, Parker has been thinking that what happened that night was of her own volition when, in truth, Olivas had orchestrated their interactions with the goal of satisfying his nefarious desires. Parker’s emotional breakdown after knowledge, coupled with Ballard’s struggle with her own memory on a daily basis, leaves a deep impression and makes the reality of what Olivas did more chilling. Under the mask of a jolly officer and partner, he has changed the women’s lives forever.
The Cold Cases Division is Ballard’s Way of Fighting Back
Across their confrontations throughout the show, an unsaid past lingers as the protagonist’s trauma keeps rearing its head. At the end of their first clash in the show, he suggests that she should “bury the hatchet,” but is swiftly countered by Ballard, who promises to take him down. Subsequently, their next meeting takes place inside the elevators, where she finds herself surrounded by men who actively dehumanize her. Her previous partner, Chastain, is also present there; however, he remains silent, adding the final blow. In such a scenario, Olivas pretends to be the good guy and silences his friend, despite being the original perpetrator, who, as she describes, siloed her to the back of the LAPD.
While it seems like a loss for Ballard, she refuses to take it as one. Understanding that their primary intent is to push her to quit the job, she refuses to submit. She puts all of her dedication into her new division, designed to literally solve cases that are deemed unsolvable. One of her biggest cases, the death of a John Doe who was last seen carrying an infant, was originally supervised by Olivas himself; thus, she perceives solving it as a win over him, both as a person and as a police officer. As more and more people know of Olivas’s nefarious past, they begin to distance themselves from him, as evident in the funeral scene, when he tries to approach the protagonist yet again but is faced by her new allies and his former friends: Laffont and Parker. Thus, while seemingly thankless, Ballard’s work shines a light on not only the direst of cases but also individuals like Olivas.
Read More: Who is Detective Renée Ballard in Bosch Legacy? Who Plays Her?
