New Look for PERRY MASON

Article first published as TV Review: PERRY MASON on Seat42F.

HBO brought back a beloved character of literature, radio, and television this week with their new PERRY MASON show. This is a prequel story, set before the titular man becomes the defense attorney he’s been portrayed as in the past. Set in Los Angeles 1932 during the Great Depression, Perry is a noir private eye working for a lawyer and taking care of his family farm, which he should probably unload, given it boasts a mere two milk cows and is at an airport. How does the drunk absentee lawyer become a hero in the court room? Keep watching to find out.

Matthew Rhys (The Americans) stars as Perry Mason. Rhys is an extremely talented actor, as many already know. His performance in this is as impressive as it customary for him. There’s plenty to sink his teeth into for this role, as Perry is deeply troubled, mostly legitimately. His entire past isn’t revealed right away, so there are still some unanswered questions, such as why did he leave the military dishonorably? But the things we can see make him as sympathetic as he is tortured, so substantially.

Rhys is surrounded by other fine performers. John Lithgow (The Crown) is a lawyer Perry is working for named Elias Bichard Jonathan. Juliet Rylance (The Knick) is Jonathan’s more-than-capable assistant, Della Street. Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) is Pete Strickland, Perry’s co-hort. Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) doesn’t show up in the premiere, but is playing a religious leader named Sister Alice that promises to be compelling. Chis Chalk (Gotham) is similarly absent from the pilot, but will be a good cop among the bad. Plus, Nate Corddry (Mom), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), Eric Lange (Lost), and a slew of less recognizable, but no less skilled, actors join them in smaller roles.

The design, costumes, and sets are no less impressive. Every item of clothing, prop, and vehicle is beautifully recreated and sets the scene brilliantly, though we should expect no less from a big budget production like PERRY MASON. In particular in the pilot, the original Angels Flight train is recreated in its previous location. This is noir, but realistic looking noir.

As good as everything looks, a lot of the characters are total scum of the Earth. The cops we see are like a gang, more interested in lining their pockets than protecting and serving. The Hollywood execs aren’t any better, trash looking after trash with violence and threats. There are good people in this world, like Perry Mason, and they can even thrive without doing too many bad things. But they do have to exist in the muck alongside the worst of humanity, and that informs their characters, making the whole piece rather depressing.

This is where fans of the old PERRY MASON may have an issue with the new version. The old Perry was a shining beacon, while this one isn’t separate from the baddies. They are often the people he works with and for.

The biggest obstacle, though, might be just how disturbing some of the visuals can be. I’m no stranger to violence and gore, and who can be in today’s prestige television landscape? But PERRY MASON finds new depths in a single hour. A dead baby, rendered in stomach-churning detail, is only briefly on screen, and yet it feels like too long. I won’t go into anything further, but if child violence is a trigger for you, steer clear of this show. And even if it isn’t, it’s extremely hard not to be affected by its portrayal here.

Is the world ready for a gritty PERRY MASON? Will subsequent seasons grow him into someone a bit cleaner, or is this destined to be a one-off miniseries experiment? Either way, it’s a very well-made, well-acted series, and unless they do worse than the baby, I’ll be tuning in to see how it turns out.

PERRY MASON airs Sundays at 9PM on HBO.

Go Ahead and Squash SCORPION

Article first published as SCORPION Review on Seat42F.

CBS’s new drama SCORPION is labeled as ‘inspired by a true story.’ It tells the tale of Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel, Game of Thrones), a genius who was recruited by the government at a young age because of his superior hacking skills, then felt burned when they misused what he developed for them. Now, as an adult leading a group of social outcasts like himself, though each has their unique strengths, Walter is sucked back into the agency he abandoned.

SCORPION’s pilot is extremely entertaining, to say the least. The pacing is fast, the stakes are higher, and action sequences pump up the adrenaline. The characters are all fun and likeable, with a dynamic that is enticing and contains many amusing quirks. Lives are at stake, but as one might expect, the heroes will surely win the day. I would dare anyone to watch this initial hour and not enjoy it.

That being said, the pilot is riddled with holes. How many times can characters stop to talk as the clock ticks down? There are action pauses that don’t make sense, too. Why is Walter the only one who can fix LAX’s computer system when they surely have an IT staff? Why does it take someone with an IQ pushing 200 to think of rolling back a software update that doesn’t work? That’s troubleshooting 101! And don’t even get me started about the big airplane scene.

Which makes this basically summer, popcorn-style fluff. But it’s not airing during the summer; it’s attempting to be a regular-season weekly show that will pump out twenty-some episodes a year. With the current formula, that will get old pretty quick.

The acting is decent. SCORPION has put together a capable cast, a feat dozens of other crime shows have done, too, though this group may be just a bit better. This includes: Robert Patrick (True Blood) as Agent Gallo, the law enforcement representative who shares a past with Walter; Katharine McPhee (Smash) as the hot waitress, Paige, with the genius son who makes a connection with the usually anti-social Walter; Eddie Kaye Thomas (American Pie) as charmer Toby; Ari Stidham (Huge) as anal-retentive Sylvester; and Jadyn Wong (Being Erica) as Happy, who considers herself the ‘normal’ one of the group. I assume Paige’s son, who isn’t listed among the principal cast, isn’t important, though he should be if the series wants character development.

The ‘hook’ about the intelligence level of most of the characters is simply a gimmick. Without that, this is pretty much the same series as Bones, NCIS, The Mentalist, and plenty of others, lacking anything original. What this means is talent is being wasted on a repetitive procedural, though that seems to be CBS’s favorite kind of show, perhaps because of the large ratings the lucky ones garner, a phenomena I do not understand when so much higher-quality fare is readily available.

Now, SCORPION could be very good. I still watch Bones as my one allowed example of this type of series because the cast is so damn delightful that I can’t resist them. SCORPION actually has the potential to replace Bones for me when it goes off the air, presumably soon, if it fixes its writing. I like the characters, the tone, and the pacing. I just hope it allows itself to evolve and build upon its best parts. Even better would be if it goes serial, ditching the case-of-the-week stuff, but I think that’s probably too much to hope for.

Despite its flaws, I like SCORPION, which is not something I can say about all of its peers. Given time, it may grow into something worth watching, though it will never be the cream of the crop. It’s just not very watchable yet.

SCORPION airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.

Last Resort a haven for TV

Grade: 98%

For a few years now, networks have searched for the next Lost, a television show popular and unique that will engage audiences in ways big and small. Nothing can ever truly replace Lost, and it’s going to take another groundbreaking, original series to reach those heights again. Recent attempts have fallen far short. In ABC’s new drama, LAST RESORT, we may finally have found something that comes close.

As the “Pilot” begins, Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age) is in command of the U.S. Navy submarine, Colorado. He receives orders to fire nuclear weapons at Pakistan on a secondary channel that is only supposed to be used if the primary communication system is taken out. Not seeing any problems with Plan A, Chaplin questions the order. The White House immediately relieves him of command and tells the first officer, Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman, Felicity), to obey the directive. When Kendal hesitates, another sub fires on the Colorado, nearly sinking it.

What an auspicious start for a series! There is already mystery, political intrigue, a band of heroes who must bring a crooked government to light, and some very exciting action sequences. These early scenes are done incredibly well, both visually, and in how the actors do their jobs.

The implications of the Colorado being struck are swiftly brought to light. The U.S. government blames Pakistan for striking the submarine and bombs the Middle Eastern country. What would have been the excuse for starting a war if the Colorado had just done what they had been told to do? Why do Americans need to get dragged into another conflict of this nature? Who is really behind the plan? Will Chaplin and crew be able to expose what’s happening to the naive public?

Viewers are treated to some of the going-ons in Washington, even if we don’t see the president. The Colorado has an experimental system on board, and the creator of this technology, Kylie Sinclair (Autumn Reeser, No Ordinary Family), is not about to just sit by and let her work be lost. She immediately runs to her contact, Admiral Arthur Shepard (Bruce Davison, X-Men), to find out what has occurred. Shepard has his own reasons to be concerned, unaware until now that his daughter, Lieutenant Grace Shepard (Daisy Betts, Persons Unknown), is on the Colorado.

Adding this D.C. layer to the show is nice because we actually get to see what is being done outside the isolated world of the Colorado. While the crewmen on the sub are a large focus of the episode, they would not by privy to much that is happening between their leaders, which would make the mystery pretty obtuse. Through Sinclair, viewers can understand who is making a move, and perhaps even find out why.

Not that Sinclair gets many answers. She is shut down quickly, as is anyone else who might expose the government’s actions. Even crewmen’s families, like Kendal’s wife, Christine (Jessy Schram, Falling Skies), have official agents in their homes, watching their every move. Clearly, a lid is being kept on things, which does limit what anyone can do to help the stranded crew.

Thankfully, we live in 2012, so there’s a little invention called the Internet. Chaplin drags his sub to a nearby island. The military tries to bomb them again, and Chaplin shoots a missile at D.C. to show he means business. The missile is allowed to miss the capital once the bombers turn away from the island. But Chaplin isn’t done. He shoots a video laying out what he knows and posts it for all to see. Will anyone believe him? Does his cache of weapons protect him against further strikes, meaning he can do whatever he wants? How much will be allowed to upload online before the government decides taking Chaplin out is worth some collateral damage? And will his video be enough to stop a war, or just incite more violence?

What Chaplin wants to do is take over the island and start a new society, away from the United States politics that have brought them to this point. He fancies himself a founding father, but has a number of challenges to this goal. His crew have friends and family back home they’d like to see again. Locals already inhabit the island, and it is run by a thug named Julian Serrat (Sahr Ngaujah, The Signal). A SEAL team is present among the sub’s crew, and they may or may not have further orders from high command.

Braugher delivers a masterful performance. He is a man on the edge, pushed too far by the people he trusted. He is somewhat loyal to his crew, but he also has selfish motivations, and probably a messiah / dictator complex. The glint in his eyes could be something heroic, standing up for ideals and principals. Or it could just be insanity. This makes him unpredictable and dangerous, sometimes surprising (not necessarily in a good way) his own men.

Speedman is the everyman whom we are going to root for. Even when Chaplin goes off the hook, Kendal seems grounded enough to know what the right thing to do is. He will have to weigh the faith he has in his commanding officer with keeping everyone else below him safe. He balances out the leader, which should make for a tenuous, interesting dynamic.

LAST RESORT has a sprawling cast. Among those not mentioned in this review so far are Daniel Lissing (Crownies) as the leader of the SEALs, Camille De Pazzis (La vie est a nous) as a French NATO worker on the island, Robert Patrick (The Unit) as the sub’s Master Chief, and Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse) as a local bar owner. This makes for quite the large world to play in, and leaves the story a lot of directions to go.

It’s hard to find any fault at all with the first episode of LAST RESORT. It sets up a compelling plot, with lots of moving pieces, visually enticing settings, engrossing characters with some very different personalities that will clash terrifically, and many mysteries to explore. If the rest of the installments do as good a job as the first one in playing out this adventure, it should be the next must-see series.

LAST RESORT premieres Thursday, September 27th on ABC.