I watched glimpses of this series when it was aired in one of the cable TV and thought it was kind of interesting. But I only got the chance to watch the complete first season recently. Too bad though that I found out later the series has been cancelled. Nevertheless, I still want to write something about it. So let us get on with it now.
Brief Story Line
Series was focusing on the life of a young woman named Cassie (Harriet Dyer - Love Child TV series etc) who could get visions of something terrible happening on other people plus seeing and communicate with the spirits/ghosts. She worked in a bar with her co-worker Will (Chad James Buchanan). Cassie would also use her unique ability to help her father Detective Tom Hackett (Paul Blackthorne - Lagaan, Arrow TV series etc) solve different cases, although her assistance was seen a bit skeptically by Tom's new partner Detective Damien Asante (Justin Cornwell - Training Day TV series etc).
While doing investigations, Tom and Damien were supported by Detective Maria (Cindy Luna) and they were all under the supervision of Lt. Swanstorm (Anne Marie-Johnson - In the Heat of the Night TV series etc).
So how would Cassie use her gift to help solve cases? You could see them all in this first and only season.
End of Brief Story Line
The pilot episode of this series was pretty exciting for me. It had few surprising twists and a scary Sixth Sense vibe. There was also one or two jump scare scenes that did their job adequately. The mystery solving was done pretty neatly combined with the showing off of Cassie's ability. The second episode was equally intriguing with the appearance of a particular spirit who would have significant impact in latter episodes.
However, as I went on to the proceeding episodes, the formula was becoming familiar and honestly did not make me excited to watch for more, especially with no sense of large arc story to keep me interested. And the fact that Cassie's ability was never really revealed on how she acquired it made me feel that the show runner did not feel it to be important enough. But when I reached to episode 9 and got to the season finale, I thought the series picked up really fast and to my opinion they were 2 best episodes of the season. The mystery solving and the creepiness were pretty well done and it had a great ending as well. The final moments of the finale actually made for a truly interesting second season, which sadly we would not get to see after its cancellation.
Now even though the case solving became a little bit too regular, the emotional part were still emphasized in certain episodes. I have watched another TV series titled Ghost Whisperer which I thought had a similar theme where the main lead Melinda Gordon (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt) had the same unique ability of seeing the dead. But while that series focused on how to make sure the spirit/ghost could move on to a better place, this one did not really show that part, plus it was also combined with the mystery solving element. If I have to compare on the emotional part, I thought Ghost Whisperer won in that category as I remembered distinctly throughout its whole 5 seasons, almost every episode was very touching compared to this which had only few of them.
As I said earlier, there was a bit of too frequent formula being used in every episode plus no details on how Cassie got her "power" made the series a little to predictable. But I was still entertained by the series and the performance of the cast. I like Paul Blackthorne's character as the loving father who was having a dilemma when it comes to using his daughter's gift to solve cases and I thought Harriet Dyer was quite convincing as Cassie. There was something odd though about the choosing of the series regulars names put in here, like Chad Buchanan's character Will whom I thought did not have any real significance and showed up very little. Or why Cindy Luna was put as regular while Detective Zayn (Andres Joseph) who I thought played significant role too was only guest star. Oh, there was one actor Sean Bolger whose presence as guest stars did provide me with the thrill.
The good factors in this series which made the supernatural sense quite strong was the make up and visual effects, plus the eerie music and sound effects. One episode really stood out was in the 3rd episode which gave me quite a lot of scary moments.
Overall I thought this series got good potentials. The nice combination of supernatural elements with the case solving should have been a great enough recipe for success. Alas probably the producer did not see the audience liking it so much and decided to pull the plug after only 1 season. I actually felt that with the 2 closing episodes, it should at least warrant for a second season. Good thing that the ending was not a reaaally cliffhanger, otherwise it would be really hurtful for people who had invested their time to watch 10 episodes. Anyway, if you are looking for some police procedural series combined with supernatural elements, then this one could be to your liking. But do not expect it to be a really scary show or the best in its genre.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
I love this show and am really sad it was cancelled. Medium was so negative and it dragged. This show is interesting with great characters. I admit I am especially fond of it because I am a Seattlite. They use the city well in their words and cases and locations, etc. I like the bits of backstory we’ve gotten and the character arcs are interesting. I loved this show but I wonder if it was canceled partially because one of the main characters is gay. It happened with another great detective show, Instinct, which was also great and critically acclaimed but canceled.
ReplyDeleteYes, Instinct was also cancelled after 2 seasons (you can see my review of that series as well). Regarding the reason for cancellation, I dare not say it was because of the sexual orientation. Positively thinking, I thought it was simply due to the lack of viewership. Anyway, thanks for reading and providing your nice comments...
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