COMPLICATIONS Too Messy

Article first published as COMPLICATIONS Review on Seat42F.

USA has a new drama from Matt Nix (the creator of Burn Notice) called COMPLICATIONS. It is the story of Dr. John Ellison (Jason O’Mara, star of Terra Nova and several other short-lived series) and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Well, it starts off as roughly a single day, but it quickly spirals into major ramifications for his entire life and he may be spending a long, long time trying to get things back on track. Sounds a bit like Nix’s previous project, no?

To be fair, COMPLICATIONS doesn’t feel much like Burn Notice, despite that central similarity. Both men are good people whom bad things happen to and who have major skills they use to help people, but they are also quite different. While Michael Weston was an emotionally challenged spy, John Ellison runs much, much hotter, his emotions boiling over, and he works in a hospital alongside a team, not operating solo for-hire in his apartment. Plus, there’s no chain-smoking mother in sight.

John is a good-hearted man, the type who will use his medical skills to try to heal a squirrel his dog gets a hold of. When he comes across a drive-by shooting and intervenes perhaps a little more than he should, that’s when things get rocky. He is soon drawn into gang wars and neither his home nor his workplace are an escape from this.

But does John even want to escape it? Part of the pilot involves him discussing what’s going on with a shrink (Constance Zimmer, UnReal, House of Cards) and this is where we get some insight into who John is. Maybe he isn’t happy with the calm, normal life he’s been living; he definitely has some deeper issues to deal with, and these events help bring those to the surface. The only thing that seems certain right now is that John is unstable and unpredictable.

O’Mara doesn’t really play the protagonist as an overly sympathetic character. Because of his wild mood swings and erratic behavior, it’s hard to tell if he’s someone that deserves to be rooted for. Yes, he saves lives, but that’s his job. He certainly has compassion for his patients, but as he goes to greater lengths to do what he thinks is right in the moment, one begins to wonder if the ends justify the means. He is not trustworthy right now.

John is surrounded by enough of a supporting cast to keep the story going for awhile. There’s: John’s wife, Samantha (Beth Riesgraf, Leverage), whom he’s not exactly open with; his straight-laced co-worker, Dr. Bridget O’Neill (Lauren Stamile, Burn Notice), who probably would not participate in John’s madness if she knew what was going on; Gretchen Polk (Jessica Szohr, Gossip Girl), an abuse survivor (I assume) who believes justice trumps rules; Darius Bishop (Chris Chalk, The Newsroom), John’s link to the criminal element; and Dr. Quentin Harper (Ronreaco Lee, Survivor’s Remorse), whom I didn’t get a good read on in the pilot. This is a decent ensemble, and with various people being out of the loop right now, there will be fodder for conflict as they find out more of John’s secrets.

The thing is, though, I don’t know if I want to stick around to see it. The first hour of COMPLICATIONS is a hot mess, not told linearly, no grounded character to view the world through, and no compelling hook to stick around and see what it catches. USA has been moving away from formula and taking some bold chances. I won’t say COMPLICATIONS is boring in the way programs of the past have been on the network, but this is one experiment that is failing because of a lack of direction or anchor, at least out of the gate, and I didn’t find anything in this pilot that makes me want to give it a second chance.

COMPLICATIONS premieres Thursday, June 18^th at 9 p.m. ET on USA.

BURN NOTICE Better In SEASON SIX

Article first published as DVD Review: 'Burn Notice Season Six' on Blogcritics.

Burn Notice, USA’s steps up its game in leaps and bounds in Season Six, elevating above the standard case-of-the-week, old-school-USA, fluff summer show. It is now available on DVD.

From the two-parter in which the central team is trapped in a foreign country to losing a major recurring character, to seeing a main player sit in jail for quite awhile, the series comes across with a new energy.

Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan), the center of Burn Notice, grows as a character a lot. We see him run the gamut of emotion in Season Six, from pure, unadulterated fury, proving he is capable of scorching the earth, to deep, soul-wrenching grief, to fiery love, to being helpless. Michael is put to the test in a variety of ways, and it finally gets him out of the pattern he has been stuck in.

The most shocking and jarring development for Michael is probably when his brother, Nate (Seth Peterson), is killed. In the past, the series has avoided removing any of the important players, but despite Nate’s recurring status, he is a vital member of Michael’s family. It’s an unexpected, gutsy move, and one that provides much motivation for Michael moving forward.

We also see the evolution of Michael’s relationship with Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar). It’s a challenge to show it   on screen, especially as she serves time in prison, but there is a strong, passionate bond between them that transcends that. Michael doesn’t open up much, not even to the audience, but Fiona owns his heart. Which leads to him by season’s end to one the most difficult decisions of his life.

With Michael going on revenge missions and getting involved in government work, Sam (Bruce Campbell) and Jesse (Coby Bell) are forced to step up and pick up the slack, while making sure he stays on the proper path. Sam has known Michael a very long time, and it’s gratifying to really see that pay off when Sam sticks by him during the tough times. Jesse enters the game much later, of course, not even being an original cast member, but is now completely intertwined and invaluable to the ensemble.

As usual, Michael’s mother, Maddie (Sharon Gless), is somewhat wasted. Don’t get me wrong, she has some absolutely brilliant moments to play this year in saving lives and losing a son. However, Gless is a masterful actress who really breathes something special into this role. As such, in the episodes where Maddie barely appears fans miss her soulful presence. She is essential to Michael’s humanity, maybe even more so than Fiona, and Gless deserves some serious pay off in the end.

Among the supporting players populating the show, a handful really deserve recognition for their work in Burn Notice Season Six. Jere Burns (Justified, Bates Motel) plays Michael’s greatest foe to date, Anson Fuller, a man who is as crafty as he is ruthless. Meanwhile, Lauren Stamile (Community, Grey’s Anatomy) hits the other end of the spectrum as Agent Pearce, a member of the FBI Michael learns to like and trust. Sadly, both complete their runs during Season Six, but for awhile, they expand the world of Burn Notice in new and incredibly interesting ways, becoming much more memorable than previous guest stars. Also, Sonja Sohn’s (Body of Proof) Agent Riley, while more familiar and less fresh, is still an entertaining addition.

Now, Burn Notice is not counted among the best shows on television, nor even on USA, and Season Six has some mediocre installments. But this is the year where it becomes a show worth telling others about and viewers can actually get invested in the tale, rather than just flip it on randomly some week. If the final season is as good as this one, or even builds upon it a bit, it will be a worthwhile and satisfying pay off.

The extras on Burn Notice Season Six are a little light. We get audio commentary only on a single episode, the standard deleted scenes and gag reel, and a single featurette, “Matt Nix Gets Burned. The latter is six minutes of behind-the-scenes talk about the creator of the show as the Season Six finale is being filmed. It’s an attempt at a humorous mockumentary in the style of Burn Notice, and it somewhat succeeds, though it lacks continuity, which for a short, shouldn’t be difficult to achieve.

If you are a fan of Burn Notice, Season Six is the best one yet, and especially if you have drifted away from the show, I do recommend checking it out. It could be better, but it’s a couple of steps above what has come before it, and regular viewers should be very satisfied.

The Good Guys' summer is over

    The Good Guys have packed it up.  After a mere nine episodes, the final airing last night, the Fox summer series has come to an end.  This is regretful, as I think it has been hands down the best show of the summer.  Happily, however, it will return this fall.  Unhappily, the return date is two months away, and that's a long time to go without my weekly dose of Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford) and Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks).

     Although it is not the standard crime procedural, on paper the series does not have a lot going for it.  Every episode goes through a lot of the same plot points: Stark and Bailey are assigned a minor crime, they want to work a larger crime, somehow the minor crime ties itself into the larger crime.  Stark screws up and angers their boss, Lt. Ruiz (Diana Maria Riva).  Bailey makes subtle passes at his ex-girlfriend, Liz (Jenny Wade).  Through a series of lucky happenstances, the two take down whatever big villain exists, usually with the help of a small villain, who barely qualifies as such, and earns the audience's sympathy, and gets away with whatever he or she did, or gets a very slight punishment.  Time jumps around in whatever way to best please the audience.  Because of the shear number of coincidences, one episode is unrealistic.  But it happens again and again, every week.

     However, something about The Good Guys rises above the ingredients.  It doesn't matter that the episodes don't change much, or that they aren't believable.  It is still miles of fun to watch.  Creator Matt Nix (Burn Notice) has got something on his hands that is light-hearted and action packed.  Tons of bullets fly, things blow up, and somehow, rarely is anyone scratched.  Bradley Whitford seems to be having the most fun of career, overacting the washed-up, former legend with the '70's look.  Hanks, despite his obvious similarities to his father, Tom, has never had his career take off.  But in playing the straight man against Whitford, he's found a home.  Wade is sweet, and Ruiz is more than someone for the audience to get mad at for chastising the heroes.  Usually, you can easily understand why she gets so upset.

     It may not be the smartest thing on television, or the best written, but it has a charm that transcends it, and makes it better than summer fare.  Deservedly, it will return Friday nights beginning September 24th.  A Friday time slot is not usually a good sign, but as the show escaped summer, it can probably escape the death knell of Fridays, too.  Watch The Good Guys on Fox.

The Good Guys is bad a**

    Fox has a new buddy-cop show this summer, called The Good Guys.  Two episodes have already run; the first ran many times over a two week period.  It's odd for a summer series to get so much attention and air time, but this is no ordinary summer series.  In fact, if they just cleaned up the writing a little bit, it could be a good contender at any time of year.  In fact, with twenty episodes now ordered, it will be running in the fall on Friday nights, which could spell doom.  However, it seems it's being given a fair shake, on Monday nights this summer.

     The show is from creator Matt Nix (Burn Notice) and stars two cops.  The new-ish partners are washed up legend Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford, The West Wing), and abrasive, going-nowhere Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks, Roswell).  Though, Dan seems to be anything but ineffective and Jack can solve cases with the best of them.  So how they became the no-go duo is kind of anyone's guess.  In the first two episodes they turned routine cases into big take downs.  For reality's sake, the cases are either going to have to get more minor, or they are going to need to get promoted.  Hopefully it'll be the latter, because what's happening on screen is great fun, the primary component being the wonderful chemistry between the two leads.

     The series also stars the lovely and talented Jenny Wade (Reaper) as Jack's ex, Liz, and the tough and feisty Diana-Maria Riva (Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip) as their boss, Lt. Ruiz.  It's a shame they weren't given a larger group to work with, because I wish Julius (RonReaco Lee, In the Motherhood), their snitch, was sticking around.  He brought much levity to the first two episodes.  But from the cast, to the colorful setting of Dallas, the show has plenty going for it.

     An annoyingly too-often used device in recent television is showing the ending of the episode first.  The Good Guys often does this, but many of the other scenes also air non-chronologically.  It's always done for good reason, and actually adds another fun element, rather than falling into the cliche trap.  I hope they keep it up.

     If you want to watch The Good Guys, and I certainly hope you do, please tune into Fox Monday nights at 9pm.