Black Box

The procedural elements of the medical drama hum along nicely, but it's Reilly's performance outside the operating room that makes this show worth watching. [28 Apr 2014]

Black Box doesn’t have that show’s [HBO's Enlightened] subtlety, but it’s certainly demonstrated an interest in creating a portrait of a contradictory and flawed, but powerful and engaging female character.

Ms. Reilly, who is otherwise appealing, brings an all-too-steady intensity to the role of Catherine--a kind that makes it hard to tell, on occasion, whether the doctor is on her medication or off it. That aside, and despite some madly improbable adventures in the hospital's brain-surgery unit, creator Amy Holden Jones and team have delivered a Black Box whose content is both smart and seductive.

This everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to storytelling does not help Black Box to be taken seriously.

It’s a solid start for a series that holds a lot of promise if given the chance to grow.

We not only see how those stories [of her patients] play out, but how Black’s story does, too. We see how her ailment affects her relationships with her boyfriend (David Ajala) and her family, and what little control she has over her life.