Article originally published as AQUARIUS Review on Seat42F.
NBC’s
new drama, AQUARIUS, premieres tonight. Set in the 1960s, it is
inspired by the real-life story of cult leader Charles Manson, who
manipulated women into sex and murder in Los Angeles. Because this is
modern American broadcast network television, the show also stars the
officers of the law who are tasked with taking Manson down. As if we
need another cop show, even one that is, admittedly, a little different
than most.
The first thing that strikes me about
AQUARIUS is that, in structure, it is virtually identical to FOX’s The
Following. Both series feature a cop with a younger sidekick who share
the screen with a dangerous man who is seducing and influencing
weak-willed followers into doing his dirty work for him. There are
differences between the two programs, but they are almost all
superficial, boiling down to the same base.
The problem with drawing this comparison is, AQUARIUS is inferior in virtually every way.
Mistake number one is the setting. It is
extremely easy to fall into cliché when depicting the 1960s, and
AQUARIUS does this a lot. The costumes and dialogue reflect cheesiness,
much more so than is believable. When our leading man, Sam Hodiak (David
Duchovny, Californication, The X-Files), is schooled by his partner,
Brian Shafe (Grey Damon, Friday Night Lights), on the new Miranda
rights, it feels like a heavy-handed attempt to remind us of where we
are, and all the hippie clothing and pot smoke is nothing better than
cartoonish.
But AQUARIUS doesn’t even commit to a
full-fledged 60s stereotype, instead overlaying it with a very dark
noir, the messed up detectives getting seedy in order to catch the
crooks. This is especially evident with officer Tully (Claire Holt, The
Vampire Diaries), her role being the epitome of a put-upon woman, and
her actions reflecting that she sees herself as the second-class citizen
that the men do.
I’m not complaining that AQUARIUS takes
place in the 1960s; that would be foolish given that it is based on true
events, and it would be worse to rewrite the tale with a modern take.
What I’m complaining about is the design and approach the production
takes towards this era. The setting is more than a time and a place, and
the way this show tackles it is bad.
Overall, the cast is solid. Duchovny, in
particular, is immensely watchable, no matter how poorly constructed
his part is. Damon, Holt, Emma Dumont (Bunheads) as the main girl, Emma,
that we see fall into Manson’s trap, and Brian F. O’Byrne
(Flashforward) as her father, are all serviceable. A step below them is
Michaela McManus (Law & Order: SVU) as Emma’s mother and Beau
Mirchoff (Awkward.) as Emma’s boyfriend at the start, but they still do a
decent job, too. I’ve seen them all in other projects, though, and
they’re usually much more compelling than they are here, which I’m
assuming is because of the material.
Manson himself is played by Game of
Thrones’ Gethin Anthony, and again, while I like the actor, I’m not sold
on the part. I can see how this Manson lures the girls in, but am less
convinced of the threat he poses. Anthony doesn’t play Manson as scary,
and I feel like AQUARIUS needs that element of horror in order to drive
story tension. Without it, the plot sort of plods along with little
urgency or direction.
I think NBC knows this one isn’t
destined to be a hit. They’re dumping the entire thirteen-episode run on
their website after tonight’s premiere, available for all to binge
watch at their leisure (or at least for the next four weeks). That may
be a gamble to drive word of mouth, but more likely, they don’t expect
anything out of AQUARIUS and it’s an easy way to get rid of the product
in short order, whether they end up airing the whole thing or not.
AQUARIUS airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, and is available at NBC.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.