If I look into a mystery show about a girl that has psychokinetic powers and is probably AI these days, I don't expect anything new. I mean, it's ABC...
So it's no surprise we see mostly stuff we have seen before, but that's not really the problem I have with this show.
The problem is, that it's a timid, boring, thrill-free, mediocre affair with low stakes and gender politics that are soIf I look into a mystery show about a girl that has psychokinetic powers and is probably AI these days, I don't expect anything new. I mean, it's ABC...
So it's no surprise we see mostly stuff we have seen before, but that's not really the problem I have with this show.
The problem is, that it's a timid, boring, thrill-free, mediocre affair with low stakes and gender politics that are so obvious that the show and some of its male characters are simply embarrassing.
You see, it's a mystery show and I would like to get some suspense, maybe even a little excitement from it.
But after a few episodes, after the novelty has worn off, you would hope for the pace to pick up and the plot to move forward, maybe a little action, you know...
Well sure, things happen, you learn things about the characters, some characters involved in the affair get killed, and yet, everything somehow just plods along.
One reason for that is, that the stakes here are remarkably low.
Jo, the local police officer , hosts Piper, a girl they assume to be an android with special powers, at her house. The girl/android belongs to a big company that wants it back, as expected.
But in spite of this the main characters, Jo, who is a divorced single parent living with her daughter and her father in a house, don't seem to be in any danger. Neither is her ex-husband, who often drops by.
There is never a feeling of a threat, when they are at home, except for one night, but the intruder is after a device Jo obtained, not after the girl.
But you would expect that this big company would have minions who could terrorize the family until Jo would give in. Or they could put pressure on Jo's superiors. But that doesn't happen.
So the only character in 'danger' is Piper.
But she doesn't appear to be a human being, so we don't know what kind of danger she's supposed to be in.
So, as I said, the stakes for the main characters are low.
The fact that the family members are in no danger also evades an ethical predicament Jo could face:
Would she risk the lives of her family for a girl that's most likely not even a human being?
The show deliberately avoids this situation to emerge, because in this case it wouldn't be believable for Jo to keep Piper at her home.
Instead for thrills and suspense we get a lot of talking and driving around in cars and...gimmicks.
Like Piper having 'daydreams' in which she communicates with the owner of the company or his daughter.But these sequences don't move the plot forward, at least as of episode 8. It's just gimmickry.
And by episode 8, I got the feeling this will go on and on and on... Nothing really dramatic to be found, no suspense or excitement. I'm bored...
There's one other thing:
Never in my reviews have I ever dealt with 'female empowerment' stuff.
But in this show it's too obvious:
There are no male characters with authority or competence in this show.
Jo is the only one who has anything to say. The officer working under her is a wet blanket. A very nice guy but without energy, being kept on a need to know basis but who does what Jo wants him to do.
Her father is old, gentle and has cancer. Her ex-husband is just...there, talking, driving around in his car, that's it. He's not relevant to the plot. He's black-ish (Donald Faison) and is there probably for diversity reasons.
The journalist who contacts her, Benny Gallagher, is more dynamic, but he has nothing to say or to decide and in later episodes, we really don't see that much of him, e.g. sitting on a hotel bed with his laptop.
In episode 8, the Feds finally come, and the lead agent, having travelled probably hundreds of miles, has nothing better to do than to suck up to Jo, telling her what an amazing job she has done (???). He's not trying to mislead her, he really means it and comes across as a total douche. It's so embarrassing, I cringed. I couldn't believe what I saw.
The Feds have authority over local police, he's sent to take charge of matters, why else? So, wth is this?
As for competence: There are computer/tech experts, the woman trying to crack the stolen hard drive and Emily, a technical whiz working for the company. No men. The FBI agent is a joke (see above).
However, the 'bad guy', the owner of the company, is a man...of course.
Many shows are doing this and here, it's so obvious that it rubs me the wrong way.
I don't mind strong women as lead characters, but stop depicting men as weak, evil or irrelevant.
So, as you would guess, I don't recommend this show. I doubt that the time you invest in it will pay off.
Even besides the gender politics, the show doesn't deliver what you would expect from it.
There are enough other shows to pick from. So do that.… Expand
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