*Read season finale update below *
Being unfamiliar with most of Kaitlin Olson's work I watched this feeling it would pass some time, while having low expectations.
Surprise on me.
Olson is definitely the star and the centerpiece. If she doesn't nail her performance the series has no chance. She's excellent. Unfortunately it's not sustained. The plot device getting her hired isn't revisited in episodes 4 or 5. The other actors do NOT hold up their end. But the writing is what ultimately derails this show. Bad writing. Real bad. Incredibly bad. The babbling nonsensical solutions to the last two cases was terrible.
The concept, gifted and damaged individual possessing a knack for solving crimes, has been done before. And the series reminded me of Natasha Lyonne's similar series (Poker Face). There is also a bit of a similarity to "Elsbeth", a series about an attorney on the spectrum who solves murders. Both series lean heavily on the female leads, and inject character driven humor.
This is an ensemble show, like Elsbeth, with support from Daniel Sunjata and Javica Leslie and Judy Reyes, whereas Poker Face is about a nomadic gifted individual on the run.
The first two episodes were enjoyable.
Then came the next two episodes.
As often happens with a first year in a series, episode 3 is a clunker. Olson comes off as shrill and unnecessarily disrespectful. Sunjata vacillated between beginning to like Olson and being completely unimpressed. There are other disjointed character issues in that episode, and a very convoluted plot.
The hope that this was a one off and just a matter of the writers, actors and directors settling in with a new series was blown up by the cringe-worthy bad fourth episode.
I may check back at the end of the season to see if the writing improves, but for now, I'm on to other things.
*season finale update*
So, this series only received a 13 episode order because it was a Fall release series.
The season ended in a major, multi-layered cliff hanger. Can't get upset about that because many series do that, especially over on the streaming networks.
In episode 13 Morgan (Olson) is given more latitude by her PD colleagues, but still wearing clothes that look like she's working in Vice as a hooker. Her family life is still conveniently held together by her ex who babysits on the fly, sometimes for days apparently. Does he not have a job?
The cranky, obnoxious teen girl has calmed down a lot, and seems more supportive of her single mom.
We discover(?) that her partner (Sunjata) is gay. Why the late desire to skew this character in this direction? Feels weird.
Her other bullpen teammates feel more self-assured.
Her work boss seems unchanged from the earlier episodes, and an early love interest comes back into her life, and an odd character who seems to know what happened to her husband figures largely in this episode.
The mystery, almost murder, is better than the capers in episodes 3 & 4, but feels very much like a three part story I remember from The Mentalist.
Nevertheless, definitely smoother (if not more sophisticated) than the early bad episodes. I'll tune in for season two.
