Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Perception, The Listener and Unforgettable: A triptych of reviews in this break for pop culture



Detectives with quirky abilities: The Listener, Perception, and Unforgettable
(TV series in review: Triptych 1—a telepath a brilliant schizophrenic neuropsychiatrist and a woman who remembers literally everything that ever happened or happens to her walk into a bar…)

The Listener
4 stars/ 5
Toby Logan (played by Nova Scotian Craig Olejnik) is the true telepath who listens in on culprit’s thoughts in the Canadian TV series The Listener. As season one opened in 2009, Toby was a paramedic trying not to use his abilities, but his run-ins with criminals and his increasing meddling drew him closer and closer to the cops. As Toby began to split his time between EMTing and consulting as a CI, his special powers helped but also endangered the police, his friends and of course Toby himself. Now in its 5th and recently announced final season, Toby’s secrets are shared by a key team at the IIB who are top notch crime stoppers. They use Toby as their secret weapon while backing up all of his perceived “facial reading” hunches—as they tell anyone who asks—with solid police investigation. Though basically your average one crime solved per episode investigative whodunit, the writers also build into each season a longer plotline centered around Toby and his abilities. This plotline—usually related to his mysterious past and lost family—slowly emerges endangering his friends and himself, culminating in dynamic transformations at the end of the season which draw viewers back to find out what’s next for the Toby gang. But this show also lures folks back because it explores not just his cop entourage and crime, but the more familiar issues everyone has—being a good friend to your best buddy (in this case Oz—Toby’s sidekick role—played by the charming and funny Ennis Esmer), or how to lead the life you want (EMT? Consultant? Detective? Or?). Viewers get hooked watching these characters interact (often round the bar in a Cheers-like manner) and grow and handle their individual paths pursuing normality in the form of true love, friendship and a sense of home.


Perception
4 stars/ 5
What prof doesn’t like a good lesson? At the start and end of each episode of ABC studio’s produced TV series airing on TNT, Perception, professor Daniel Pierce (played by Canadian Erik McCormack from Toronto) is in the process of teaching about or reflecting on some aspect of our/his own brain, its neurochemistry and how that dictates or relates to who and what we are, and how we act, react to things or just simply function in the world. These often clever, usually funnily recounted reflections are directly linked to the crime or criminal act of the week—often in fact causing Pierce to be whisked out of the classroom leaving his TA and personal homecare assistant Max Lewicki (played by the charming Californian actor Arjay Smith) to complete the lecture. These weekly “lesson” topics end up featuring as key components to unlocking the whodunit of the week. More interestingly (and thus one of the draws of the show) they unlock some aspect of how the character of this eccentric schizophrenic and brilliant neuroscientist, Daniel Pierce, is learning about his own neuro-psychology in his personal search for balance, motivation, a raison d’être and perhaps a semblance of belonging or even normality. Now in its 3rd season, Daniel Pierce, in the role of consultant to FBI agent Kate Moretti (played by the bright eyed Minnesotan actor Rachel Leigh Cook), helps solve crimes while trying to stay balanced. But it is the moments of psychosis or lapses in mental normality that allow this series to explore in fun ways –and in scenes with Pierce’s hallucinations –the interior and exterior of this crime solver’s mind.  These scenes—with imaginary therapists and others—add flare to the episodes, making viewers, like Pierce, uncertain of who is or is not really in front of them (are the characters seen on screen real or only in Pierce’s mind?). So it is not the shenanigans these crime stoppers get up to, or the adventures of these fiendishly bright sleuths solving crimes, but the relationships to self and others (real and imaginary friendships, love, a kind of family, even social relationships between dean and prof) that ground this show and humanize the characters. This is what makes viewers keep coming back—a sense that they are also participating in a process of learning, learning not just about Pierce’s world or about who committed a crime and why, but perhaps also about the little ticks, quirks and aspects of their own mind and how and why we react and function in the world because of our brains.


Unforgettable
2.5 stars/ 5
I do enjoy a good ol' cop show with all the predictable fixings plus a nice character quirk (ie character Carrie Well’s hyperthymesia, ie an amazing photographic memory of all that has ever transpired around her). Seasons 1-2 of CBS’s TV series Unforgettable which originally aired in 2011 fit the bill and were a lot of fun to watch. Season 3 however seems weighted down with poor writing, asking the actors to flirt at what feel like inappropriate moments or ways (commenting on the 6 pack of a cadaver, for example) or including poorly scripted filler scenes (ie Carrie showing off her memory skills to people in various neighborhoods). In fact, the threaded development of the lead actors has felt increasingly forced—and if there really was any spark between Al (played by Californian native Dylan Walsh) and Carrie (played by Australian actor Poppy Montgomery) it feels like that train left the station ages ago, so why keep forcing the issue? Certainly viewers don’t buy it or really care anymore whether Al and Carrie might or might not hook up again. Luckily, episode 6 of season three revived a bit of excitement and moved the characters forward when Al became a suspect. Episode 7 continued that trend as it explored Eliot Delson their FBI boss’ connections to power and money, (Eliot Delson is played by Texan turned NYorker DallasRoberts)? Yet again, however, scenes seemed stilted, slow and forced (for example the opening scene at the fundraiser where we “meet the candidate”—Robert Bright (played by Josh Stamberg)—for the first time but where even the actors look like they are concentrating too hard on speaking slowly and looking around because nothing is really happening but the camera is still on so what else can they do). I would like to see the show pick up its pace, tighten, and demand that any line or image have a necessary function. This of course must start with some smarter writing. It would also be nice for the director to stop asking Carrie to act flirty like a tiny girl—she is not Brenda from The Closer. If they want some sex appeal to be part of the show, they should get her into a scene where we can see her as truly sensual in a mature woman way—perhaps exploring that gambling habit that can get her to high stakes tables with the who’s who folks, but where that hidden Carrie who can’t stay away bites her in the ass and where, who knows, perhaps she has to try and use her saucier side to try to get out of it? If not, then just focus on more intriguing crimes—and during the scenes that are not directly whodunit-driven, instead of adding silly faux flirting and flat character exposure, consider the word “explore”—delve into this character in deeper ways, uncover some new block or snag or aspect to Carrie’s abilities and how that might really make her who she is on and off the beat.

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