Daily Dose of PW/AGM
Wow. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. As always, Patrick delivered the goods, and so did everyone else! Here's my take on the pilot episode (first aired Friday, 9/23/11):
(WARNING: SPOILERISH! Please don't read this if you haven't seen the episode yet and don't want it spoiled for you.)
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I will admit up front to being biased; I have a huge crush on Patrick Wilson. Despite that, he is a truly gifted man in the acting department (and singing and looks and being genuinely sweet - but I digress) and, as usual, he made me really *believe* that he was who he said he was - Dr. Michael Holt, supremely gifted and arrogant neurosurgeon. I hope we get to explore just exactly why he is so driven and lost in his work.
Mr. Wilson aside, I really liked the performances of the other actors/characters too. Margo/Rita was perfect as his well-organized no-nonsense assistant (exactly what a guy like this and his practice would need) and very likable ("Are those your children Michael?" Love it!).
Julie/Christina was very believable as the younger sister, kind of hidden by the shadow of her perfect brother, the driven over-achiever that is Michael. I do hope her character grows over the course of the show. I'd like to know why her son is a jerk to her, but knew he could call on Uncle Mike to bail him out. Very interesting type of love triangle here, one that is obviously strained but great fodder for future episodes. (Familial love, people - that's all I mean!).
Pablo/Anton, our shaman - I liked him, and I like that they changed up that healing scene between the promos and the airing of the pilot. In the promos, when Michael brings himself out of it, Anton says "She's gone" and Michael, grabbing his jacket, says "No, she's not gone", as if hoping that he hadn't chased her away after all. Having Anton say "She's not gone" makes him look like he's better at what he does than originally thought in the promo; and Michael trying to assure him that "She's gone, she's gone…" made it seem that he was less accepting of her being there than originally (don't want to jump that hurdle too quickly, you know?). I didn't mind that there wasn't more explanation of the ceremony; this is just the pilot, we have lots of time to fill with the bits and pieces. In a movie, yeah, you'd want that all up front, but not in a tv series, IMO. I'm looking forward to Pablo's explanations of his different tools and techniques, and even more to Michael's reactions to him.
Jennifer/Anna - She does a great job of playing an angel, even if Neal Baer insists that Anna is no angel. I'm curious to see what these open doors are she needs Michael to close for her as well as what doors she is going to start opening for Michael that he's kept closed for too long. All kinds of possibilities to explore there, and the romantic angle keeps it interesting too, I think. He was able to hug her when he first saw her, but then later, she reached out to touch his face but didn't (another change from the promos) so it may have been that she was just starting to realize her own status as a spirit at that point. Unless, of course, she really is just a hallucination - but I don't think so. He didn't know she was dead, why would he imagine her coming to him, someone he hadn't seen in 10 years?
So yes, I'm very much looking forward to where we're going with this and I have high hopes for the show. With the stellar cast and people like Neal Baer on the case, we should see some really awesome stuff.
Please also check out the new Patrick Wilson Fans blog for further discussion of the show.
(WARNING: SPOILERISH! Please don't read this if you haven't seen the episode yet and don't want it spoiled for you.)
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
P
A
C
E
I will admit up front to being biased; I have a huge crush on Patrick Wilson. Despite that, he is a truly gifted man in the acting department (and singing and looks and being genuinely sweet - but I digress) and, as usual, he made me really *believe* that he was who he said he was - Dr. Michael Holt, supremely gifted and arrogant neurosurgeon. I hope we get to explore just exactly why he is so driven and lost in his work.
Mr. Wilson aside, I really liked the performances of the other actors/characters too. Margo/Rita was perfect as his well-organized no-nonsense assistant (exactly what a guy like this and his practice would need) and very likable ("Are those your children Michael?" Love it!).
Julie/Christina was very believable as the younger sister, kind of hidden by the shadow of her perfect brother, the driven over-achiever that is Michael. I do hope her character grows over the course of the show. I'd like to know why her son is a jerk to her, but knew he could call on Uncle Mike to bail him out. Very interesting type of love triangle here, one that is obviously strained but great fodder for future episodes. (Familial love, people - that's all I mean!).
Pablo/Anton, our shaman - I liked him, and I like that they changed up that healing scene between the promos and the airing of the pilot. In the promos, when Michael brings himself out of it, Anton says "She's gone" and Michael, grabbing his jacket, says "No, she's not gone", as if hoping that he hadn't chased her away after all. Having Anton say "She's not gone" makes him look like he's better at what he does than originally thought in the promo; and Michael trying to assure him that "She's gone, she's gone…" made it seem that he was less accepting of her being there than originally (don't want to jump that hurdle too quickly, you know?). I didn't mind that there wasn't more explanation of the ceremony; this is just the pilot, we have lots of time to fill with the bits and pieces. In a movie, yeah, you'd want that all up front, but not in a tv series, IMO. I'm looking forward to Pablo's explanations of his different tools and techniques, and even more to Michael's reactions to him.
Jennifer/Anna - She does a great job of playing an angel, even if Neal Baer insists that Anna is no angel. I'm curious to see what these open doors are she needs Michael to close for her as well as what doors she is going to start opening for Michael that he's kept closed for too long. All kinds of possibilities to explore there, and the romantic angle keeps it interesting too, I think. He was able to hug her when he first saw her, but then later, she reached out to touch his face but didn't (another change from the promos) so it may have been that she was just starting to realize her own status as a spirit at that point. Unless, of course, she really is just a hallucination - but I don't think so. He didn't know she was dead, why would he imagine her coming to him, someone he hadn't seen in 10 years?
So yes, I'm very much looking forward to where we're going with this and I have high hopes for the show. With the stellar cast and people like Neal Baer on the case, we should see some really awesome stuff.
Please also check out the new Patrick Wilson Fans blog for further discussion of the show.