Draft:Harlee Santos

Harlee Santos is a character in the crime drama television series Shades of Blue, portrayed by Jennifer Lopez.

Santos is an NYPD detective who is a single mother. She is corrupt, taking bribes and protection money so that she can provide for her daughter. She is then forced by the FBI to go undercover and investigate her own squad.

Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González suggest that Santos is depicted as duplicitous and a traitor. They argue that the show follows a Latina-as-mamá stereotype. Conversely, Willa Paskin, writing for Slate magazine, argues that Santos is presented too sympathetically and generously: she is "down-to-earth and competent, flipping from flirtatious to distressed, maternal to infuriated."