I am going to open my review by saying that I hope this show returns. I also hope that they are able to get their act together when it comes to defining themselves as a cop show, a romance, a drama, or whatever. This series had such a promising start and such an intriguing premise. But they continue to fall flat every week with the complexity of trying to cover too many issues , such as integrating flashbacks with present day cop stories and John Amsterdam’s (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) search for his one true love. Further complicating this is a somewhat weak supporting cast, poor scene transitions, and inconsistency in the style of direction. Something has got to give.
This episode, called “Love Hurts” had John and Eva (Zuleikha Robinson) investigating a drowning death of a young woman, and they discover it may be related to a string of robberies of wealthy men linked to a dating service. During his investigation, John flashes back to the late 1920s when he was a grifter and stole what he thought was a valuable diamond pendant from his lover. We also see John has miraculously recovered from a point-blank gunshot wound, seemingly telling him that Sara Dillane (Alexie Gilmore) is not “The One.” By the end of this episode, I felt that someone had just tried to pull the long con on me.
The problems with the episode itself are many. The drawback with flashbacks is that they sometimes tip viewers off to how the crime is going to play out. In this episode, the flashbacks sucked the suspense from the crime. The other problem with flashbacks is since people that John interacts with are not grounded in the show week to week, one can’t build any interest in them. The only exception may have been Omar (Stephen McKinley Henderson), who we saw as a young man and now as an adult. Sadly, they don’t see to give Stephen McKinley Henderson much screen time, and he seems to be the one character on the show that really seems to work. In “Love Hurts”, the whole con premise seemed too predictable and frankly the show may have been better off without so much focus on it. If this show returns with more episodes, I hope they rework the flashbacks to be maybe a little less in frequency and maybe shorter in length. I think I would prefer they seem a little more fleeting, like a short memory, as opposed to a story in itself.
As far as the crime aspect of the show, it was far too predictable. Eva still seems to be devoid of personality. Detective Santori (Robert Clohessy) is a poor substitute for comic relief and seems to be trying too hard to be the “Lennie Briscoe” of the show. It is just too forced. And speaking of too forced, while I was glad to see Susan Misner come on to the show as John’s boss Callie Burnett, it seems like the show is trying too hard to establish her in the authority role and she is starting to annoy. I think this character can work, but they need to make her, well, more real. In fact, the whole show seems to have difficulty in making the characters seem real, with the exception of John and Omar.
John’s relationship with Sara seemed to take a turn for the worse after his recovery from the gunshot wound. He seems to have come to the conclusion that she’s not “The One”. He gets some encouragement from Omar, who says there could have been someone else on the subway platform at the time John began to “die.” Of course, while John may think he has the perfect poker face to pull off a con, he can’t seem to do it with Sara, and she clearly sees that his interesting is waning. Of course, John doesn’t help matters by hesitating when Sara asks him if there is someone else. Now, we know he has good reason to hesitate as his did, but since Sara does not, she gives him a slap on the face. Maybe it’s just me, but found that to be a strange response. I’m not a person to strike someone when they hurt my feelings, and I suppose I would expect a little more adult behavior from a doctor, too. Still, John’s lack of interest in the relationship as now it seems there is nothing in it for him probably did deserve a good smack on the face. There’s still a bit of a selfish cad in him that we saw in earlier “lives.”
I thank the director for including quite a few shots with John swimming in the nude (some gratuitous screen grabs below). OK, we never really see him nude but it’s just the idea that makes it interesting. See, the show CAN capitalize on one of its best features – Nikolaj Coster-Waldau – to bring some excitement to the show. More please!
The fact that I’ve watched this show every week and have strong opinions about it is a good sign for the show. I think there is enough there that if they just make a few changes, this show can be solid and draw more viewers. Sometimes a show needs a short while to get its footing, and maybe with this show’s production getting a little messed over by the writer’s strike, I hope that Fox gives it more of a chance. If for some reason Fox decides to back away, this would be a nice addition for one of the cable networks like Sci-Fi or maybe even TNT to pick up and run with it. While I don’t expect the show will be immortal like its title character, I would like to see it live just a little while longer.
My thanks to the director.
Images from Fox
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here. 
