Stumptown

The way the show has already executed its first case offers plenty of hope. Much like the promise of Dex having something to call her own, “Stumptown” looks like it can carve out its own space in the greater network hourlong world. With a wink, a chuckle, and balled up fist at the ready if need be, Dex is a character that could very well stick around for a while.

Between the intricately staged violence and Smulders' wonderfully wisecracking, knuckle-busting performance, the Stumptown pilot is an intense experience—so much so that it's hard to believe the rest of the series can hold up to the same standard.

Fortunately, Stumptown is blessed with a proven TV and movie star playing a character who herself arrives on screen fully formed. It’s years away from becoming a classic in its own right, but it reminds me of one, and that’s a good start.

Smulders makes Dex an engaging character by wearing her imperfections on her sleeve and in the worry lines of her face. ... One of fall’s most satisfying rides. Smulders’ Dex represents every woman who excels at getting the job done because nobody else can, or will.

“Stumptown” starts off strong, quickly introducing us to characters we want to get to know better, avoiding the usual private investigator clichés, and giving us a setting that’s fresh and brimming with story possibilities.

It’s likely that this origin story will lead to Dex getting a new case/distraction of the week; hopefully, those stories will stand on their own as much as they illuminate her inner life. Even it it doesn’t, even if life for Stumptown becomes a lot less interesting after this first trip, Cobie Smulders, and Dex Parios, are well worth visiting again.

If Stumptown is going to continue beating the odds as something more than an average network drama, it would do well to continue leaning into Smulders and letting her be sarcastic and kick-ass as much as possible, with Johnson's more level-headed advice as her best friend grounding everything. ... At least the pilot finds Stumptown pushing most of the right buttons out of the gate.

With only one episode to go on, it’s hard to say how “Stumptown” will handle its upcoming cases of the week, or if it will shade Dex out beyond her cliched basics. But there are a couple standout elements of the show that point towards a more promising season than not.

While the dialogue and plot sometimes taste like they were cooked up with Hardboiled Helper, the show and Smulders are pleasant company in the pilot.

[Stumptown] is a show that relies heavily on her [Cobie Smulders] likability, and she carries it through the premiere.

Stumptown doesn’t sound like anything special on paper. But what sets it apart from so many interchangeable broadcast detective shows is its kinetic pace—the pilot opens with a James-Bond-level action sequence—and the degree of detail you’d expect from a great story that has already been fleshed out in words and pictures.

Actress Colbie Smulders (“How I Met Your Mother”) elevates this well-made procedural private eye drama.

Wednesday’s premiere episode veers back and forth story-wise almost as crazily as the show-starting wild ride. ... That’s the overall point and thrust of Stumptown, where a woman drinks, fights and has sex on her terms in the same manner numerous men did in an assembly line of earlier ABC action dramas.

Smulders would have been a great lead in one of Steven Bochco’s series. Here, she has to provide that vibe with lesser scripts.