HUNTERS and the Hunted

Article first published as TV Review: HUNTERS on Seat42F.

Amazon recently released HUNTERS, a ten-episode drama about a group of Jewish people in the late 1970s hunting down Nazis hiding in America to take revenge for their wartime atrocities. From the mind of David Weil, this hyper-reality series picks a handful of things from history, and amps them up a la Inglourious Basterds, with plenty of shocking deaths in this cat-and-mouse spy game. It’s like The Americans, but way more fun (which is not a knock against that excellent series) because it’s a lot less concerned with accuracy.

The cast is very capably led by Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) as Jonah Heidelbaum. Jonah lives with his grandmother, a survivor of the concentration camps, and his only remaining relative. But when she is mysteriously murdered in her home and Jonah doesn’t stop it, his mission to make up for his inaction leads him to a larger conspiracy. Jonah meets Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino, The Irishman, The Godfather) and his band of Nazi hunters. Despite Meyer’s best efforts, Jonah joins them in their quest, taking his grandmother’s place.

The supporting cast is wonderfully assembled. Jerrika Hinton (Grey’s Anatomy) is Millie Morris, an earnest federal agent investigating suspicious murders. Dylan Baker (The Good Wife) is so, so, so creepy as Biff Simpson, a former Nazi. Greg Austin (Mr Selfridge) is chilling in his cleanup. Lena Olin (Alias) is the cartoonishly evil German who wants to establish a Fourth Reich. Saul Rubinek (Warehouse 13), Carol Kane (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), Tiffany Boone (The Following), Louis Ozawa (Bosch), and Kate Mulvany (Fighting Season) make up the members of Meyer’s team.

From the first scene, HUNTERS is gripping. A friendly cookout among co-workers goes wrong, and the result is something that very nearly crosses a line. From there, things only ramp up, as in the pilot alone, there are something like ten murders (most in a single scene). Each tends to be done with flair and dramatics, keeping one’s attention, even as it’s hard to know exactly when the next one is coming up. The pacing is quick, and the story flows smoothly.

There is a line one wouldn’t want to cross, and HUNTERS comes right up to it. The line I refer to is showing brutality towards children, which the show manages without being graphic the way it is in its treatment of adults. That restraint is appreciated, even if it’s clearly just for viewer sensibilities; the world isn’t any less realistic in the outcomes towards the youths.

Still, there’s a lot of violence, and without stating that it’s glorification, it is stylized entertainment. Much as the way the rest of the show is. As I said in the opening, HUNTERS operates on a hyper-reality, and from Florida wallpaper choices, to sitting positions in an alley, to a secret lair, much care has been taken to build something that feels just not-grounded enough to fully enjoy, without worrying about what might have really happened. There’s an air of fairy tale to it that keeps you from being bummed out by all the death, even as the frequent references to the Holocaust lend a sad undertone. The overall satisfaction is joyous, with those who have been wronged balancing the scales in their own ways, extralegal or not.

I love what I’ve seen of HUNTERS. It’s got some absolutely terrific performance moments in a pleasing package. I wouldn’t call it light entertainment; it threads a careful balance between fun and depth. Yes, it is prestige programming, and uses its period concept delightfully. But it also says something, and the specific point of view behind it makes it well worth the watch.

You can stream the entire first season now on Amazon Prime.

No Need to Hunt for HUNTERS

Article first published as HUNTERS Review on Seat42F.

I just finished watching the pilot of SyFy’s new series, HUNTERS, moments ago, and I’ve already forgotten just about everything about it. It is messy, gratuitously gory, starring characters that I just don’t care about, and with a premise that seems underdeveloped. Harsh, perhaps, but this is a show that could have used a truthful wakeup call before going to air. Let me refresh my memory here and I’ll break down the issues.

Based on the Alien Hunter novels by Whitley Strieber, HUNTERS begins with a dark and mysterious scene brimming with the threat of violence and sexual assault. One would think something like this would entice viewers, and one would be right. But the series almost immediately negates the interest by jumping back in time 72 hours, a tried trope that certainly should not be used in a pilot, and never really gets into what we first saw in any meaningful way. Certainly, the scene itself is not notable in the scheme of things.

The show has to start further back than this to give us a little context about the girl and what’s going on, since her abduction helps create the starting point. Her name is Abby Carroll (Laura Gordon, Saw V), and while she herself doesn’t seem to be much more than a catalyst, her relationship with husband Flynn (Nathan Phillips, The Bridge) is vital to setting up the series.

See, there’s a group of covert agents who are hunting extraterrestrial terrorists, hence the name of the series, HUNTERS. Flynn, an FBI agent, finds out about them while looking for Abby, and of course he’s invited to join, because why not? I don’t think any of that is spoiling because Flynn is the promoted main character, while Abby’s situation is shown in the opening. Yet, the show takes forever to getting round to connecting these dots.

Instead, Flynn slows down to deal with step-daughter Emme’s (Shannon Berry) issues. I could be wrong, but Emme seems completely unnecessary to the plot, especially considering the direction she is going. She feels like filler to stretch out a miniseries into a full-blown show, giving Flynn some small development on the side, but not too much, less he be distracted from his mission. (That is not a complaint about Berry, just the way the writers have developed, or not developed, the character.)

Basically, though, Flynn is just your generic hero, good with a tragic background, trying his best to do right, but with little personality that seems original. Yawn.

HUNTERS also introduces a second lead, Allison Regan (Britne Oldford, Ravenswood), who somehow manages to be even less interesting. Allison is already a part of the alien hunting team when we meet her, and she doesn’t get along all that well with her fellow officers. So of course she’s foisted on the new guy, and they’ll apparently work as a team where others have failed to.

Except, the leads have absolutely no chemistry at all. Most crime procedural pairings are well cast and provide the draw to watch a case-of-the-week show every week, even when the stories become repetitive. HUNTERS is that type of show without the charming main characters, meaning there really isn’t much at all going for it.

HUNTERS tries to be many things, primarily a shadowy world like Fringe or The X-Files, but with enough influence from other programs thrown in, such as the cop genre, to avoid drawing one-to-one comparisons. Yet, it’s like it was created from just making a list of characteristics the producers wanted, but with no effort spent figuring out what would actually make this show work. Sadly, the result is not worth watching.

HUNTERS premieres tonight at 10/9c on SyFy.