The Brave

Capable enough time-killer, but nothing compelling.

The Brave’s patriotism and its approach to dealing with threats to Americans is cathartic. Plausible? You’ll have to find another series for that.

The Brave is refreshingly free of obligatory domestic baggage. Its thrills are generic, but at least it stays focused on the mission.

Nothing about the first episode makes us think The Brave is any different than most case-of-the-week fare built for mass appeal. Even without any real character development, the deaths of so many characters, so early, might be too jarring for mainstream audiences to handle.

The Brave, which is as generic as broadcast network pilots get, feels like it’s a latecomer to the wave of post-“Homeland” dramas that were commissioned a few years ago. There’s no sophistication in the treatment of geopolitics or the wars in the Middle East, its characters are bland, and even the action sequences have nothing special to set them apart.

NBC isn’t breaking any new ground here, but maybe it doesn’t need to. More focused on operations with a clear procedural setup, The Brave offers up tense tactical missions, but hasn’t revealed what its narrative focus will look like.

The series follows the template for action shows but makes the most of it through crisp pacing and realistic action sequences.

The opening hour ends with an unexpected, big boom of a cliffhanger designed to bring viewers back for more. In that it’s unique. Otherwise The Brave is broad-stroked and pro forma in highly volatile times both at home and abroad.

The Brave guys—err, persons; gender integration of combat units is a lot further along on television than it is in the Pentagon—are all but impervious to bullets and bombs.