KILLER WOMEN Typical Genre Series

Article first published as KILLER WOMEN Review at Seat42F.

ABC’s new series, KILLER WOMEN, adapted from an Argentina drama, follows Molly Parker (Tricia Helfer, Battlestar Galactica), the daughter of a sheriff who has managed to make it as a Texas Ranger, despite the organization being male-dominated. She’s tough as nails, having survived a horrible marriage to a senator (Jeffrey Nordling, Body of Proof), but still has sympathy for her fellow women, and relaxes while playing the trumpet.

If that sounds like a perfectly crafted television character, you’d be right. She’s a bit too perfectly crafted, to be honest, verging on a stereotype. While it’s true that most law enforcement procedurals star men, Molly is exactly what we’d expect a girl to be in this situation. Tough, but vulnerable, fair and dedicated to justice.

Which makes her a bit boring. It’s likely a good vehicle for Helfer, because she plays the part to a tee, but the show itself cannot be sustained in an interesting way on this character’s shoulders. She’s too pure and easy to root for, without the unexpected layers and unpredictability that would make her a fascinating study. Basically, Molly is bland.

Those in her life don’t do her many favors in that regard, either. Molly has been living with her brother, Billy (Michael Trucco, Battlestar Galactica), his wife, Becca (Marta Milans, Valientes), and their daughter, Lulu (Siena Agudong, Second Chances). They are plain old, what-you-see-is-what-you-get ranchers. The only scene involving them that made any impact being the brief one in which Molly gets mad at her sibling for talking to her niece about the divorce.

Molly also has a love interest in fellow law enforcement officer Dan Winston (Marc Blucas, Necessary Roughness), but like her, Dan lacks edge. Sure, they step over the line together, but only in the noblest of causes, and it all works out. They also lack the heated chemistry that most viewers will be looking for, seeming far too tame a pair, unsurprising for Blucas, but disappointing all the same.

In the “Pilot,” a woman (Nadine Velazquez, My Name Is Earl) shots a bride at her wedding point blank. It takes only a little bit of the episode’s running time to catch her, but that isn’t the end of the story. While the regular cops want to put the case to bed, Molly takes it upon herself to not only see something else going on, but to pursue it without support. Which, no surprise, leads to a happy ending.

I believe this plot is meant to illustrate exactly who Molly will be. Everything from the initial car chase, an action-packed scene in which Molly is somehow the only one who can stop the vehicle, to a touching moment behind bars, shows us what Molly is like, how she will stand up for her ideals, and how her colleagues will seek to stand in her way.

Again, this is pretty basic crime drama stuff. Molly’s experience is nothing new, woman or not, as many a cop faces the exact same circumstances. The fact that she is a girl is not nearly fresh enough to save the series itself.

What’s more, KILLER WOMAN will very clearly be a case-of-the-week program. I understand that there are a number of such shows that get high ratings, and perhaps that’s why networks keep making more and more of them. At the same time, it’s frustrating when a cookie cutter is used over and over again, rather than straying from the worn path to deliver something fresh and new. Since this show doesn’t have anything unique to offer, it will not be added to my TiVo’s Season Pass list. I’ll probably never watch it again.

As far as the genre goes, KILLER WOMAN is a decent effort. But the genre is bloated and tired. It’s time to put it to the rest. KILLER WOMEN premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

How I Met Your Mother draws closer to conclusion

CBS's How I Met Your Mother, whether it does a ninth season next year or not, is undeniably drawing closer to the series finale. As such, it has been callously ending all of the non-final relationships of the main characters during a so-called "autumn of breakups," and setting up everyone for who they will be with in the end. This trend continues last night in "Splitsville."

After Ted (Josh Radnor) dumps Victoria (Ashley Williams) last week, and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Quinn (Becki Newton) end things a few episodes ago, that leaves only Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Nick (Michael Trucco). This is the pair that most obviously should break up, as despite Nick's hot bod and the awesome sex, he is dumb, and Robin has no interest in anything long-term with him.

Actually ending things with Nick proves hard to Robin. Not because she doesn't want to hurt him, though that plays a small role in delaying the inevitable, but because she just wants to keep having fun. After a couple of serious relationships, it's not a surprise that Robin likes to blow off some steam. But Nick isn't the man she will marry, and considering her wedding to Barney has to happen before the show ends, and that could be this spring, the plot must move forward.

Barney's grand declaration of love, which he claims is fake in order to get Robin off the hook with Nick, is easy to see through for viewers and Robin alike. I thought How I Met Your Mother might try to drag it out, a la most sitcoms, by having Robin believe Barney's insistence that he isn't being sincere. Thankfully, this is not the case, and Robin calls him on his stuff, even if Barney remains cagey at the end of "Splitsville."

How quickly will things progress between them now? I think there is a clue in last week's installment, where Victoria insisted to Ted that a renewed relationship picks up where it left off, not restarting back at zero. Barney and Robin grew pretty heavy before. A quick engagement is not out of the question.

And then, once we get the second pair of supporting players out of the way, we will finally get to how Ted meets the titular mother. I hope.

"Splitsville" does bring a slightly better than average plot for Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel). With romance playing such a pivotal role this year, the old married couple with the baby have been reduced mainly to goofy bits that don't add much to the series overall. But in this episode, they are sex-deprived because of said infant until Ted can rescue them, and that is a little amusing and rings of realism.

How I Met Your Mother continues to fall short of the heights it hit in early seasons, but if the current trends are any indication, we might still be in for a heck of a series finale. The only question is, will that occur six months from now, or eighteen months?

How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.


If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Check out my website, JeromeWetzel.com! First posted on TheTVKing

Farhampton not far off for How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother began its eighth season premiere on CBS last night with "Farhampton." Much of the action was set in Farhampton, the place where Ted (Josh Radnor) will finally meet the titular mother. In fact, "Farhampton" brings viewers right up to the point where Ted is about to encounter her, and then stops just short of that fateful moment.

The creators have said before that meeting the mother may not be the end of the show. But the last few seasons have started to tease this moment, the day of Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Barney's (Neil Patrick Harris) wedding. It certainly feels like the end, now that so much time has been spent building towards it. The creators are keeping the show's biggest reveal so secret, they won't even admit whether the legs we saw belong to an already-cast actress or a stand-in. It's simultaneously nice to know that we're getting closer to the big day, but frustrating that a timeline has not been firmly established.

When will this day actually happen? November sweeps? February sweeps? May sweeps (if the series is renewed for a ninth year)? All I can say is, it will almost surely be during one of those sweeps periods. And it will probably happen very quickly, with little build up in the prior episodes, so as to surprise the fans as much as can be, given the flash forwards.

Before Barney and Robin get married, though, they first have to lose their current significant others. The tipping point for Barney's beau comes in "Farhampton" when Quinn (Becki Newton) learns that he has neglected to mention that he used to date Robin. This is a betrayal of her trust, and while Barney manages to prevent her from leaving him on the spot, it definitely seems like their nearly perfect bond has been broken. It's unfortunate, considering the awesome chemistry Newton and Harris have, but this probably is a big part of what will lead to their impending dissolution.

Robin, like Barney, is very happy with someone else. In her case, he's little more than arm candy (Michael Trucco, Battlestar Galactica, Fairly Legal), which could be why it won't work in the long-term. But before she can even get tired of the new guy, Barney drops a bombshell when he gives Robin the key to a storage space where he has stored all of their memories. It hits Robin hard, and while she thought that she was over Barney, it's clear that she really isn't. The fact that Barney has this space at all proves he feels the same way. Thus, the seeds are planted for a sweet reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Ted and Victoria's (Ashley Williams) plan to run away together hits a snag when they find it difficult to leave a note for Klaus (Thomas Lennon, Night at the Museum, Reno 911!). If it's this much trouble, is it even worth it to leave a note? And what is it with people sneaking off and just leaving a piece of paper? I know this is a sitcom, but it's gotten to be a ridiculous pattern. Please tell me that real people don't really do this? Surely, most weddings actually happen, and even those that don't usually get more than a quick scribble, right? A face to face conversation is the minimum owed to the jilted party.

To make matters even more unbelievable, Klaus, too, writes a note and flees. He tells Ted that it is because Victoria is almost perfect for him, but not quite, and that everyone meets that person that they are meant to be with eventually. This makes for a great story, but it's simply not true. There will be issues in every relationship, and plenty of people never do find the exact right person. I hate to bring a dose of cynical reality into the mix, but this just isn't how it works.

That's the problem with How I Met Your Mother. At times, it ventures too far into cartoon territory, leaving the real world behind. This is acceptable for some series, but in a show that seems to be set in the actual world, it makes some elements ring a bit hollow. That was fine when the series was still very funny, but it's not anymore. I like the growth into deeper, dramatic territory, as it has more fully fleshed out the characters, but the world around them didn't shift in tandem, which is why this is only a good show nowadays, not a great one as it once was.

And then there's Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel), who are barely necessary in this particular episode, but hang around the entire time anyway. The water haze special effect is kind of lame, and I'd rather see them sit out most of a week than be wasted in this manner.


Recent episodes of How I Met Your Mother have gotten so much better than the middle period of the series. In a perfect world, it will nail the elusive perfectly balanced dramedy tone before the end. Even in an imperfect reality, though, it has a shot at doing so. Watch How I Met Your Mother Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.

If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Check out my website, JeromeWetzel.com! First posted on TheTVKing

Castle goes out disappointingly

     I have been a fan of Nathan Fillion for quite some time.  When I learned he was starring in a crime mystery-of-the-week series, Castle, I was disappointed.  He's so much better than that.  Having popped into the show a couple of months ago, having not watched it since the beginning, I was pleasantly surprised to see how witty and entertaining it was, despite the formula.  So I have been watching since, and this week's season finale, "A Deadly Game" was the weakest episode of the last few.

     The finale centered on a 'spy' that was killed during a 'mission'.  Those extra punctuation marks are present because it's all a game, except for the real dead body.  Frankly, I could care less about the murder Castle and his partner Beckett (Stana Katic) are working on.  I tune in for character development and interaction.  This week's case was just boring.  I know, I know.  It certainly sounds exciting, but it wasn't handled in an interesting way.  It kind of plodded along.  It's like there was more concern with how they would end this season with Castle and Beckett than there was about the case.  Which is fine.  That's what it should be.  Except it was done all wrong.

     A hallmark of these types of shows is the entire series-spanning 'will they or won't they?'  It's frustrating as hell and generally dumb.  It's been done over and over again.  Occasionally you'll run across a show like Bones that handles the situation beautifully, but it still wears on over time.  If you're a smart writer, you do it like Chuck or, it appears, House will soon be doing, and you put them together and go for it.  True, that has killed shows before, but to keeping the growth going and the show worth watching, it needs to happen.

     Castle started out ok with this.  Beckett dumped her perfectly good boyfriend (Michael Trucco) when she was about to lose Castle.  So far, so good.  Then out of nowhere comes his ex-wife and the two go off together, leaving Beckett alone and frustrated.  Terrible.

     Instead, the best part of the episode was between Castle and his daughter, Alexis (Molly C. Quinn), as she was about to move into some college dorm for a summer program, and he worried about the sort of things he did at her age without parental supervision.  It was clever, fun, and if the entire show was like this, it would be brilliant.  Capture that light-hearted banter, and Castle could have gold.

     Castle has already been picked up for a third season, and will return next fall to ABC.