Billy Reviews a TV show: Past Life (Pilot)
Ok, so last night I sat down to watch Past Life but I completely failed. So today I figured that, well, maybe I should watch it on Hulu. And it really got me thinking...
So I'm usually ridiculously generous when grading shows, but I figured I could be a bit of a hardass on because, well, it seemed like it had some potential but had a bit of a big flaw. And by that I mean a huge flaw. What is that flaw?
The premise
When someone in the New York Metro Area suddenly starts having a past life regression, this duo (or their colleagues) shows up and works their magic to ensure that the person stops regressing.
The flaws with the premise
Where do I begin? Well, I guess I'll start with the mere fact that if someone is having a regressive past life experience, it may be difficult to be certain it is a genuine past life regression from their exact actions or reactions to a situation.
Do these guys go out after everyone who seems to be showing signs of a past life peeking through, or is there some kind of magical divining rod that will lead them to only genuine cases and steering them away from the run-of-the-mill subconscious traumas and other forms of crazies? Is Kate's group the only initial past life specialist group in New York City, or is it one among several? Even if it is, how can anyone devote this much time to one case? (Also, how do they make any money? At least at the end of the episode there doesn't seem to be any monetary payment or anything... It's not as if there are rewards for some of this, as in Pushing Daisies, or as if they seem to be discussing payment, as in Angel.)
The really sad part about this? Outside of the premise, I didn't really dislike this show. I mean, the pilot itself was hopefully not very representative of what the series will eventually be like (if I were to compare this to the first season of Dollhouse, the pilot here would be almost akin to Dollhouse's "Stage Fright"--though not a bad episode in and of itself, definitely not a highlight in the first season, let alone the series).
Only two nitpicky things really stuck out to me, though they have potential for "easy fixes." The first: the dialogue was way too quiet and subdued. Although it's realistic to hear people murmuring and not necessarily speaking clearly, this is television and most viewers can suspend disbelief enough to have people enunciating fairly decently. When I need to turn my computer speakers up to be able to understand any dialogue whatsoever and there aren't any captions, well, it's not one of my happy moments.
The other nitpicky thing I disliked was really the CSI: Miami-type overall orange tint. We're not in Miami, nor is Washington, DC all that warm.... There wasn't even any kind of blood or anything. Though some of the areas (such as snowy parks and the school swimming pool) were not tinted orange, most of those places which could be controlled while still being realistic--the main character's apartment, rooms in houses, and offices--tended towards the red end of the hue spectrum.
Some of the good things
I truly did enjoy most of the acting and the storyline was fairly engaging, even if it was hard to get into for the first few minutes. It was like watching Medium except without the third-person views of Allison's visions or the idea that a main character is being led by these visions. The images were a bit disjointed, but after that it was sort of like, well, House. Instead of triggering symptoms of a larger problem, though, the main characters spent quite a bit of time focused on triggering blasts of memory. And before saying "well, they did crazy things to get that memory triggered" we should look at House (there's a reason other than simple "it's the only show like this I really know" that I used the analogy): the best way to understand what's going wrong is to see all of what's happening and see what those clues tell us and one of the best ways to do that is to look for reactions to things we now know.
But anyway, the technicals of this show were great: the shooting, the editing, the writing, and the acting were all of fairly good quality. Characters were well-developed and were exposed at a decent rate.
Overall thoughts
This was a decent first attempt at an investigative drama. Of course, though, that is taking into account the potential for treating the premise a bit more naturally and making sure that someone is able to see the show past the premise... But if they can make it work or at least a bit more worth watching in the future, they might have at least one fan.
(NOTE: Yes, I know my thoughts were disjointed but I wanted to have an immediate reaction instead of having to watch this again with a notebook. Future reviews, if merited, will be a bit better put together.)
For those of you who want to watch it, here's a link: Past Life (the Pilot) on Hulu
So I'm usually ridiculously generous when grading shows, but I figured I could be a bit of a hardass on because, well, it seemed like it had some potential but had a bit of a big flaw. And by that I mean a huge flaw. What is that flaw?
The premise
When someone in the New York Metro Area suddenly starts having a past life regression, this duo (or their colleagues) shows up and works their magic to ensure that the person stops regressing.
The flaws with the premise
Where do I begin? Well, I guess I'll start with the mere fact that if someone is having a regressive past life experience, it may be difficult to be certain it is a genuine past life regression from their exact actions or reactions to a situation.
Do these guys go out after everyone who seems to be showing signs of a past life peeking through, or is there some kind of magical divining rod that will lead them to only genuine cases and steering them away from the run-of-the-mill subconscious traumas and other forms of crazies? Is Kate's group the only initial past life specialist group in New York City, or is it one among several? Even if it is, how can anyone devote this much time to one case? (Also, how do they make any money? At least at the end of the episode there doesn't seem to be any monetary payment or anything... It's not as if there are rewards for some of this, as in Pushing Daisies, or as if they seem to be discussing payment, as in Angel.)
The really sad part about this? Outside of the premise, I didn't really dislike this show. I mean, the pilot itself was hopefully not very representative of what the series will eventually be like (if I were to compare this to the first season of Dollhouse, the pilot here would be almost akin to Dollhouse's "Stage Fright"--though not a bad episode in and of itself, definitely not a highlight in the first season, let alone the series).
Only two nitpicky things really stuck out to me, though they have potential for "easy fixes." The first: the dialogue was way too quiet and subdued. Although it's realistic to hear people murmuring and not necessarily speaking clearly, this is television and most viewers can suspend disbelief enough to have people enunciating fairly decently. When I need to turn my computer speakers up to be able to understand any dialogue whatsoever and there aren't any captions, well, it's not one of my happy moments.
The other nitpicky thing I disliked was really the CSI: Miami-type overall orange tint. We're not in Miami, nor is Washington, DC all that warm.... There wasn't even any kind of blood or anything. Though some of the areas (such as snowy parks and the school swimming pool) were not tinted orange, most of those places which could be controlled while still being realistic--the main character's apartment, rooms in houses, and offices--tended towards the red end of the hue spectrum.
Some of the good things
I truly did enjoy most of the acting and the storyline was fairly engaging, even if it was hard to get into for the first few minutes. It was like watching Medium except without the third-person views of Allison's visions or the idea that a main character is being led by these visions. The images were a bit disjointed, but after that it was sort of like, well, House. Instead of triggering symptoms of a larger problem, though, the main characters spent quite a bit of time focused on triggering blasts of memory. And before saying "well, they did crazy things to get that memory triggered" we should look at House (there's a reason other than simple "it's the only show like this I really know" that I used the analogy): the best way to understand what's going wrong is to see all of what's happening and see what those clues tell us and one of the best ways to do that is to look for reactions to things we now know.
But anyway, the technicals of this show were great: the shooting, the editing, the writing, and the acting were all of fairly good quality. Characters were well-developed and were exposed at a decent rate.
Overall thoughts
This was a decent first attempt at an investigative drama. Of course, though, that is taking into account the potential for treating the premise a bit more naturally and making sure that someone is able to see the show past the premise... But if they can make it work or at least a bit more worth watching in the future, they might have at least one fan.
(NOTE: Yes, I know my thoughts were disjointed but I wanted to have an immediate reaction instead of having to watch this again with a notebook. Future reviews, if merited, will be a bit better put together.)
For those of you who want to watch it, here's a link: Past Life (the Pilot) on Hulu