Few "Cha-Cha-Changes" For PERCEPTION

Article first published as PERCEPTION Season 2 Premiere Review on Seat42F.

Grade: 85%

TNT’s PERCEPTION picks up months after the previous season in this week’s sophomore premiere, “Ch-Ch-Changes.” Daniel Pierce (Eric McCormack) is seemingly stable and healthy, having found a medication regime that works for him, and his life is moving on. Which is why he feels strong enough to assist the F.B.I. again when Kate (Rachael Leigh Cook) asks him for help.

In fact, Daniel is more confident and sure of himself than we’ve practically ever seen him. Daniel is a very intelligent person and knows it, but he is willing to push his ideas a lot further this year, especially when Kate’s almost-ex-husband and new boss, Donnie (Scott Wolf, V, Everwood), tries to manipulate the evidence of a court case.

I don’t buy that Donnie and Kate were ever a couple. Donnie’s personality is awful, and that’s immediately apparent. To think that Kate found redeeming qualities in this man for any length of time, let alone enough to marry him, is unthinkable based on her characters that have been established. Sure, Donnie brings some interesting conflict to the series, but the inconsistency in the back story ruins his presence. Why force the history?

The source of Daniel’s happiness comes from his secret relationship with Dr. Caroline Newsome (Kelly Rowan). Previously his psychiatrist and the same woman, sort of, Daniel hallucinates a long-term relationship with, Caroline isn’t completely comfortable with the time they are spending together and the “great” sex they are having. But Daniel doesn’t worry about that, delighting in just being happy and being with a woman that is real.

Or is she? It is not spoiling anything to say Caroline’s existence in Daniel’s company is immediately suspect. After all, PERCEPTION has established a pattern of what Daniel experiences not necessarily being real. And by keeping Caroline separate, away from the other people in Daniel’s life, there is no definitive proof that she exists one way or the other. “Ch-Ch-Changes” leaves viewers guessing for most of the hour, and I won’t say what the result is here.

I will say that, Caroline aside, it doesn’t take long for Daniel’s paranoid schizophrenia symptoms to rear their head. His hand shakes; he hallucinates a patient. Daniel will never be completely stable because that would ruin the conceit of PERCEPTION. It’s just a little sad, for those sympathetic with the character, to see he isn’t doing as well as he thinks he is.

Thankfully, Daniel still has friends, which will provide a support system no matter what might be going on inside of his mind. Kate is closest to him, of course, valuing Daniel’s rare talents. But we also have Lewicki (Arjay Smith), Daniel’s care giver, and Dean Haley (LeVar Burton), Daniel’s boss and old friend, who aren’t on screen nearly enough, but it’s always great when they are. With this layer of protection around Daniel, no matter how crazy he gets, he’ll still have those that look out for him and help him to maintain his life.

The ongoing plot concerning Daniel’s mental illness is an intriguing one. I love how the writers play with fan’s minds, and McCormack delivers a memorable, amazing performance in the role. I wish that this was what the series was actually about, because any time this arc takes center stage, the show gets really, really good.

Unfortunately, TNT doesn’t usually do serial, and the main meat of this episode, as well as all but one of the first season’s episodes, is about a specific case that Daniel works on. The self-contained story this week isn’t bad, and there are some triumphant moments for Daniel, but it just pales in comparison to how well done the other scenes are. PERCEPTION is an example of a wonderful idea mostly squandered.

PERCEPTION airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on TNT.

Hannibal Bites Into NBC

Article first posted as HANNIBAL Series Premiere Review on Seat42F.

Grade: 85%

NBC jumps on the serial killer bandwagon with its new drama series, HANNIBAL. The first episode, premiering tonight at 10 p.m., is called “Apetrif,” which, for those not familiar with the term, is an alcoholic drink served before a meal, sort of the liquid version of an appetizer. It’s appropriate in a series about cannibalism that we’ll get to see a little bit of the characters and story before the gory stuff starts. And there is gory stuff, even though this is a basic broadcast network, in the first hour.

HANNIBAL, surprisingly, is not about the infamous killer from Silence of the Lambs. He’s there, and we’ll get to him in a minute, but the main character is Special Agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy, The Big C), a brilliant but unstable investigator and professor. Will is tasked by the FBI with figuring out who commits murders, and he’s brilliant at it, being able to envision himself at the scene at the time of the crime.

Bryan Fuller, creator of Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls, has a lot of fun with Will’s character. Fuller doesn’t take things into the cartoonish or fantasy world settings here, like he done in his previous shows. Instead, he focuses on the artistry, with Will’s visions beautifully illustrated in creative and intriguing ways. Bodies will float and blood will spatter, but this definitely has a darker tone, more grounded in reality, than his other work.

Will gets to have such vibrant musings because he’s mentally unstable, sort of like the main character in TNT’s Perception. The reason the FBI can’t use him full-time is because he can’t handle the full-time work. His boss, Agent Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne, CSI, The Matrix), knows this, but decides to risk Will’s sanity in order to make use of his brilliance.

Does this make Jack a monster? In a series about bad people, one has to wonder if the good guys also deserve some of the blame. After all, if Jack never puts Will in the field, Will won’t suffer as he does. Jack is playing a dangerous game.

Jack first approaches Dr. Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas, Off the Map, Wonderfalls) to be Will’s partner and handler, but after she refuses, likely of the same opinion I just expressed in the previous paragraph, he approaches Alana’s mentor, the genius profiler Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen, Unit 1, Casino Royale). Lecter is an odd duck, but seems to have it much more together than Will, and so is an appropriate balance. Seems being the operative word.

We all know who Hannibal really is, and while no one in authority yet suspects the good doctor of any wrong doing, Hannibal tempts fate right out of the gate by secretly impeding the investigation, giving their query warning that they are coming. It may be professional courtesy between serial killers, but it certainly doesn’t make Hannibal good at his new job.

Dancy is amazing. He plays the part with such nuance and detail! Granted, this is a role any actor would kill (pun intended) to play, with such a rich, vibrant patchwork of elements. It’s the type of part the Emmys were created for, and Dancy masterfully unfurls the layers of the damaged psyche. He will surely be on the short list come award season.

Mikkelsen, on the other hand, plays his cards very close to his vest, so we’re slow to get the full picture of who he is. If one can put what one already knows about the character from other sources out of their mind, it’s easy to agree with Will when he says Hannibal is not interesting. But Hannibal immediately promises that he will be, and by the end of the first episode, we get the early hints that he is right. Plus, one does have to wonder what kind of sausage Hannibal serves Will for breakfast…

Obviously, HANNIBAL will have elements of a standard crime drama, but the focus is much more character-driven than other shows. Like Dexter or Bates Motel, HANNIBAL promises to get inside the mind of what makes a psychopath, and explore paths both taken and avoided. Will and Hannibal are two sides of the same coin, and watching them interact and face off will be quite entertaining.

I do wonder how long HANNIBAL can realistically stretch out the two of them working together, though. Right off the bat, Hannibal is mucking things up for Will. Will is not stupid, and the two have plenty of FBI agents keeping tabs on them. Hannibal may be highly intelligent, but sooner or later he’s bound to get caught. If he doesn’t, it’s going to start making the other characters look like dolts, incapable of doing the jobs they’re supposedly great at, especially where Will is concerned.

Making Hannibal fully go to the other side would be the right move for the series to make eventually, not necessarily at the end of the run, even as it would completely change the show. Because of this, I doubt NBC will rush into anything. In the short-term, that means we are going to have to deal with plot holes and leaps of logic to make it work.

I really like the execution of HANNIBAL. It’s production looks fantastic, and the cast is terrific. I just worry that the scenario is not quite as well thought out as it needs to be. The show walks a very fine line of believability, and if it’s not careful, it will slip off too often.

At least it can’t be accused of being a copycat. Despite being one of only several serial killer dramas out right now, HANNIBAL does its own thing, and doesn’t feel like any of the others. That is a credit to its creator.

The rest of the cast includes Lara Jean Chorostecki (Camelot) as a blogger who will be on Hannibal’s scent, and Aaron Abrams (The LA. Complex, Rookie Blue), Hettienne Park (Young Adult), and Scott Thompson (The Kids in the Hall) as FBI agents. None of them gets any development to speak of in ” Apetrif,” though hopefully they will as the series goes on.

Overall, HANNIBAL is not a bad effort, and definitely worth checking out. There are just some things that need fixing if its going to be a long-running drama with the big fan base it seeks.

Perception hears the message

This week, TNT's Perception deals with the controversial topic of religion in "The Messenger." A dead body leads Daniel (Eric McCormack) and Kate (Rachel Leigh Cook) to the house of a deeply religious boy named Kyle, who thinks he talks to God. Daniel assumes the whole thing is a cult, as others show up and give all their money to Kyle. And, as the detectives learn, there is a scam going on here, but its not perpetuated by Kyle.

No, good old fashioned greed isn't tainting the actual faithful. Instead, an IRS agent (Roger Bart, Political Animals, The Producers) has teamed up with a gal on the inside (Jaimie Alexander, Thor, Kyle XY), and they are funneling money into a false charity, which they intend to run away with. Of course, with Daniel and Kate investigating, the two are caught, and those plans are scrapped.

"The Messenger" is interesting because, despite yet another pair of fantastic guest stars for the freshman series, the episode still doesn't flow quite right. The main problem is the way religion is handled. Daniel scoffs immediately when the subject is brought up, and Kate claims to be religious. Yet, she barely is involved in the spiritual parts of the episode, and offers no defense. And skeptic Daniel doesn't try to convince anyone that he's right, instead telling Kyle that he believes in him, and donating $50,000 to the cause.

Do the Perception writers hate religion or love it? The hate is there at the beginning, when Daniel says the idea is ridiculous. It's also present in the reveal that Kyle isn't really speaking to God, but actually has a brain tumor, a twist that does not really further the main plot. But there's the love when Daniel realizes Kyle is a good person, and Kyle keeps his faith after the surgery, still devoting his life to God's work. So the staff is made up of atheists and believers, and neither was able to take control here?

The complaint isn't that the are two sides to the religious issue in "The Messenger;" it's that both sides of the debate are down half-heartedly. Neither is committed to in any real way, making several characters, especially Daniel and Kate, appear silly. Daniel could be forgiven for coming around, challenging his own beliefs, if it had been done better. Kate should have stuck up for Kyle, and had more focus in this episode. The religious theme is very central to "The Messenger," but isn't developed enough in any specific element.

Daniel's hallucination this week is Joan of Arc (Melissa Farman, Lost, Game Change). Joan is just as flimsy as the rest of the religious stuff, never really settling into her character, seemingly not having the very strong faith she is known for. She is a figment of Daniel's imagination, though, so I guess if he's going to be so obtuse and contradictory on the subject, it makes sense for her to be, too, so at least that's consistent.

Other than that, Perception remains an enjoyable series. "The Messenger" is a comparably weak entry, but the actors make it watchable, despite the plot holes. The series is, overall, a little too much of a procedural for my taste. But the performers are great, and the stories usually make you think. It's fun to question what is reality and what isn't in each episode. Sometimes it is obvious, but other times, it is not, and there's almost always a doubt lingering. The show could be a bit better, but it's more entertaining than most, and worth the hour a week it asks for.

Watch Perception Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on TNT. First posted at TheTVKing

Perception comes from the imagination

Reality is a figment of your imagination. These words are spoken early on in the "Pilot" of TNT's PERCEPTION, premiering tonight. This statement is important, because much of this crime drama is about reality, and how things are seen. What is real? What isn't? What is important in solving the case, and what is superfluous? All of these questions crop up, and will continue to drive the show going forward.


PERCEPTION is an hour long, case-of-the-week, crime procedural. Normally, this would be a recipe to write it off. However, it is also a series that questions how the human brain works, and the limit of the organ. There are deeper mysteries present besides who committed the murder, and if they continue to be explored, as they are somewhat in the "Pilot," there will definitely be something worth watching here.


It certainly doesn't hurt that the man in the center of PERCEPTION, Dr. Daniel Pierce, is played by Eric McCormack (Will & Grace). McCormack is great at capturing the various nuances of the character, a college professor who assists the F.B.I. Pierce is comfortable while lecturing and when at home watching the Cubs, but nervously twitching nearly everywhere else. It's the details, though, that make Pierce come alive, crazy enough to be believable as a genius with mental issues, but with just enough sanity to justify how he functions in the world. McCormack does a masterful job in the role.


In the first episode, in a total Indiana Jones moment, Daniel has the added challenge of dealing with a student's attraction to him. While he is definitely tempted by her, and has no problem saying so, he turns her down in a publicly embarrassing way. This says something about Daniel as a person. He is simultaneously extremely perceptive and oblivious, with his brain activity focused, rather than meandering. It also adds a bit of edgy, but not too edgy, humor that fits well within TNT's brand.


Pierce is assisted by Max Lewicki (Arjay Smith, The Journey of Allen Strange) and Natalie Vincent (Kelly Rowan, The O.C.). One is a grad student who assists Daniel in everyday tasks, such as organizing his crossword puzzles and making sure that he eats. The other concentrates more on Daniel's mental health, talking through problems with him, and helping him realize important things about himself. Oh, and one of these people is a figment of Daniel's imagination, which, after the reveal, will make viewers constantly question what is real and what isn't.


The crime element comes into play when Daniel's former student, Kate Moretti (Rachel Leigh Cook, Psych, She's All That), gets a demotion which places her back in Chicago. Having formerly worked with Daniel in the past, which is probably why she is so lax about the rules, and is kicked back down in the first place, she calls upon his services again. Together, they make a great team, both contributing to solve the case.


The case in the "Pilot" involves faking a drug trial. It's hard not to notice the political overtones, with Daniel (and, presumably, the show's writers) against the government and the pharmaceuticals industry. This is a stance that will appeal to most Americans, and is a safe move. The later dig on President Bush may alienate some conservatives, but probably not the people who would tune in to PERCEPTION in any great numbers anyway, considering the intellectual bend of the premise. The episode's late attempt to balance by showing a brief clip of Clinton does not assuage, and only makes the stunt more obvious.


PERCEPTION is not without its predictability. There are plenty of hints as to the character that isn't actually there before the camera reveals who it is at the end of the "Pilot." Also, the story does flow along in pretty much an expected manner, familiar to those who spend lots of time watching detectives on TV.


But overall, the fantastic performances, including LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Daniel's dean, and exploration of the brain will keep fans entertained enough to stick with the show. Let's hope that PERCEPTION lasts longer than McCormack's previous project with the network, Trust Me, which was really good, but canceled quickly.


Check out PERCEPTION, Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on TNT.