Knowability

A few recent shows have invited us to examine how well we know those closest to us, and whether our bonds are as real as we want them to be.  The shows are very different from each other, in tone and subject matter, but they all raise some of the same questions about the relationship between credulity and hope. 

Classic con shows like Hustle and Leverage are based on the premise that you can’t con an honest man, and it’s conventional TV wisdom that viewers find it hard to root for a character who gets fooled early.  And yet, these shows start from a completely different premise:  that our instinct is to love and trust one another, and that that instinct can lead even the wary into deceptive waters. 

There’s a risk in such stories, of sending the message that people should know better than to trust—that caring is futile or dangerous.  That we should keep our guards up or close ourselves off. But these shows don’t send that message, and that’s impressive.  They make us wonder about the reliability of trust without thinking less of it, the way we never thought less of Mulder for wanting to believe.  Instead, we think that people should be able to trust each other, and bemoan those times that call for doubt.  So there’s an inherent optimism in these shows: even as they make us question, they make us hope we already know the answer, that people are basically good.

Fascinatingly, all but one of these shows is on ABC.  Not sure what to make of that.  Even less sure what to make of the fact that although I like all of them, the ones I like most are probably not returning for a second season.  Humph.

Quantico (ABC, new Fall 2015.  Law enforcement drama.)

Watched:  Most episodes

Premise:  An FBI agent is framed for terrorism by someone she trained with at Quantico.

Promise:  The show proceeds on two timelines, one tracking the current investigation and the other flashing back to the characters’ Quantico training.  I had trouble enjoying How To Get Away With Murder partly because of its appalling version of legal education, but I don’t have the same passion for law enforcement training, so I’m not bothered by what I assume are equivalent problems in this show.  The result is a pretty conventional exploration of “who’s the bad guy when everyone has secrets”—reminiscent, even, of Agatha Christie—but with the added twist that these characters have trusted each other with their lives, which makes the betrayal all the more difficult for them to accept and investigate.  I struggled early with the characters’ catty competitiveness, which too often makes them unlikeable, but I kept watching because I kept thinking that it would eventually become the show I wanted to watch, the one in which the group works together to clear our heroine’s name.  That hasn’t quite happened, but the result has been juicy, twisty, and preposterous in a generally enjoyable but not indispensable way.  Still, my interest is waning. I especially tire of the flashbacks and wish we’d get on with the investigation; though they’re intertwined, the flashbacks undermine the show’s sense of urgency.  

Verdict:  Not quite what I’d hoped, but I’ve still enjoyed it.

London Spy (BBC America, winter 2016.  Spy drama.)

Watched:  Enjoying my way through the 5 episode season

Premise: A club kid develops a romantic relationship with an MI-6 analyst, and then investigates the analyst’s death.

Promise:  After the first episode’s setup, most of the series is the story of the surviving partner investigating what he believes was a conspiracy to kill his lover.  He is aided by a much older friend who has worked for MI-6 in the past.  Along the way, he confronts difficult questions about whether he ever really knew his lover.  The result is a beautiful, contemplative portrayal of the relationship’s development, a sensitive portrayal of the friendship that fuels the ensuing investigation, and a mystery thriller.  The combination is tense, personal, and ambiguous, and makes my heart ache for each of the characters even as they work to unravel the truth against impossible odds.  The story is both inextricably gay and entirely universal.  The pace slows and speeds effectively, giving the viewer the chance to feel emotion in what is otherwise a taut spy thriller.  I believe it’s a fully-contained series of 5 episodes, without a plan for a second season. That makes story sense, but I could still wish for more.  

Verdict:  Seek this one out.

The Family (ABC, new.  Crime Drama.)

Watched: Season so far

Premise: reappearance of a son presumed dead 10 years ago dredges up conflicts and raises new questions.

Promise: I’m really digging this one, which makes me sad to discover that the TV Grim Reaper doesn’t have high hopes for it.  It has much the same appeal as Broadchurch, with the same “feel for everyone, but trust no one” ethos.  Like Broadchurch and The Killing, it’s partly a mystery—at least at the start—but even more it’s an examination of the way the mystery changes the people involved in it.  The people’s reactions and decisions are complex and human, and no one comes out looking completely good or completely bad.  The story doles out enough information to keep us learning and surprised, but stays suspenseful.  

Verdict:  I like it, but it looks like it’ll be canceled after this season.  That’s a shame.

The Catch (ABC, new.  Con procedural.)

Watched: Season so far

Premise:  The complicated relationship between a high-end private investigator and a sophisticated con man.

Promise:  This show is an accomplishment.  It’s fast-moving, twisty, slick and styish.  It manages, impressively, to fit both a con procedural and a PI procedural into each episode, without losing sight of the characters’ arcs and relationships.  The cons are slightly better fleshed out than the PI investigations, but they all hold together surpirisingly well considering how compressed they have to be.  The relationships are sympathetic and compelling even when they’re ill-conceived.  And this somehow manages to fill the private-investigator gap left by Lie To Me and the con gap left by Hustle and Leverage.  The good good guys are good and the bad bad guys are bad, but most of the characters are somewhere in the middle, without being unsympathetic.  My chief critique is that I wish the main character (played by Mireille Enos) weren’t so performative—every line reading seems like it’s for the camera.  But I love that everyone is deeply clever—the characters’ wits and emotions are evenly matched—and I love the fast pace of plot.

Verdict:  TV Grim Reaper isn’t optimistic about renewal, and I’m sad about that.  I’m really enjoying it.

On the DVR/Unreviewed:  down to 20…