Give me back the British pronunciation, I was thinking all the while. What a wonderful sine wave would a graph of my self-esteem make when I watch an American movie after a British. It was not that bad, no, not at all, but considering how many scientific and investigation terms were used, I'd never appreciate the series without subs, which, for some reason, were only present for some of the episodes, not all, at least the time-matching ones...
Apart from some new words learned, what kept me watching was perhaps only the presence of Sewell. He is just as irresistible as ever. Oh, and perhaps mister Omar Benson Miller. I really wish there were more of him, such a lovable character with such a nice attitude and cute smile. Was it the producers' mistake to have found him too late?
Well, they helped me go through the whole 18 episodes of a not-so-interesting... what? mystery? Here is the moment when the Russian word is more precise. We call such stories 'detective stories', while English sources would say it's 'mystery'. And while certainly it's detective, not much of a mystery was there.
I thought mystery is when you don't know the essence of the crime and the criminal's motive for the most part of the episode. It's common, even though it can get boring, when the criminals are caught in the end and only then confess why and what they did exactly. It's also a nice way of story-building when the criminal is smart and keeps outwitting the detectives. How am I supposed to get hooked when the reason behind the sudden bad symptoms is uncovered almost instantly by Dr. Hood? The rest is simply about whether it was caused by this or that reaction or substance. Chemistry, biology and all kinds of scientific explanations are great, but you see, none made me more interested in science than I already am. Was it caused by repellent or pesticide? I don't really care. I would care, though, if there weren't so many white spots in each plot. Some details were finally left non-discussed and unexplained. Even though they might have found the substance and the perpetrator, there were episodes in which some reactions were left unexplained, such as why one girl in the family didn't get sick while she claimed to have eaten the same things, or why none of the crew reacted to the bad pheromone in the fragrance, since the difference between those affected and non-affected was not stated.
Not many of the criminals were impressive either, with no really interesting stories about their past. Not many victims, though, excited my sympathy on the other hand. The only one who managed to do that was the wife of the tv reporter who lost his sight in the helicopter and crashed, played by Susan May Pratt.
Not many of the criminals were impressive either, with no really interesting stories about their past. Not many victims, though, excited my sympathy on the other hand. The only one who managed to do that was the wife of the tv reporter who lost his sight in the helicopter and crashed, played by Susan May Pratt.
Speaking of victims, I must also notice that Sewell's portrayal of a man who experienced loss is, just as you would expect, impressive. It must sound rude, I know, but it's as if he was born to express grief...
As for the main duet, it was okay I guess? Might have been better? Maybe. I think I was rather satisfied than not. You see, Marley Shelton was not very enchanting, but then - was an FBI agent supposed to be?
Well then, as for the scientific part, it was generally all right, but I didn't quite like that science looked rather dangerous frequently throughout the series. Even though I want to thank the creators for showing that the guilty are only those who abuse scientific research, I can totally imagine people saying 'here, that's why I'm not eating GMO' and so on.
The one good moment: Hood saying a memorable phrase 'if immortality is outlawed, then only the outlaws will be immortal'. Yes, that was impressive.
The one bad moment: the episode about heavy water. It was obvious the scenario was based around that 'miracle' concept. I knew that while Hood was trying to prove there aren't any miracles, the story would still assert there are. And yes, it did. So, 'if that storm didn't hit, the boy would have his tumor, and the region would be blasted with a dirty bomb'. And Rachel would call it a miracle. Well you see, it's not a miracle. It's a coincidence, with a chance of happening that can be predicted with more or less accuracy. Yes, it's a miraculous coincidence, but nothing more. Ending the episode with such conclusions makes people hope for more miracles, and those won't happen more than their probability is. I just had to say this. I almost hated the episode.
Otherwise, the story was not bad, but it's surely not a series I will miss.
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