What's it about?
Iraq war veteran Walter Sherman gained a reputation while serving in the Army Military Police as someone who was very good at tracking down insurgents, deserters and improvised explosive devices. Unfortunately, Walter found one IED just moments before it found him. Two months later, when Walter woke from his come, he earned an honorable discharge and returned home. His resulting brain damage from the explosion transformed him from someone skilled at recovering people and things into something much more extraordinary: a Finder.
You should watch if...
• you watch BONES. That's literally the only reason. Unless...
• you happen to like shows with protagonists who have vague and unexplained pseudo-superpowers. Which maybe you do. In which case, go crazy.
So, how was it?
As someone who has never seen a single episode of BONES, I missed the ep of that show where Walter Sherman was introduced in his own back-door pilot that was developed into this spin-off. I hope that FOX was not planning on drawing anyone in to THE FINDER who wasn't already a pre-existing fan of BONES, because I felt like I was being punished for not having watched that show. I missed his introduction, I missed any explanation of his "finding powers," and there was absolutely no exposition to help catch up someone who was meeting this character for the first time. If FOX was trying to alienate outside viewers, congratulations -- it worked like a charm.
I had to do some digging to find out why Walter is supposedly so much better at finding things than literally anybody else on the planet, and ended up on FOX's website, where the description of the show (pasted above) provided this vague and utterly ridiculous-sounding explanation: "His resulting brain damage from the explosion transformed him from someone skilled at recovering people and things into something much more extraordinary: a Finder." Riiiiiiiiiight.
A Finder! With a Capital F! Of course, an Iraqi IED exploded in his face and mutated his brain so now he's one of that elusive race of Capital F Finders who now employ their superpowers to get drunk at bars in the remote Florida Keys and every now and then find a crashed plane for young boys playing hooky from the Air Force. It all makes sense now.
Seriously, could this show be more ridiculous? I was too distracted by the absurd premise to focus on anything like the acting (which in hindsight was no better than mediocre) or the storyline (which somehow involved cock fighters covered in fluorescent orange paint, an utterly tangential pretty blonde parolee who I couldn't have cared less about struggling with whether or not to steal Walter's money, and a female mob boss with a British accent playing trumpet on a yacht. I swear to God, I did not make that last one up. It actually happened.)
Rating:
* Atrocious. I will never watch this show again. Ever.
I have no doubt that there will be plenty of people who find something in this show to like -- those who are avid fanatics of BONES (which I know there are more than a few of), or who like procedurals (which I don't), or who for some reason have nothing better to do on Thursdays at 9 than to watch this show (which I do). I'm happy for those people. But there are too many new shows premiering for me to take time to find things to like about this absurd show when the writers couldn't even take the time to make it make an iota of sense.
Your turn, Fellow Addicts. If you don't watch BONES and watched THE FINDER, did it make any more sense to you? If you're going to tune in again, what did you find to like about it? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!
(For the complete rundown of when all the new shows are premiering, check out my 2012 Midseason TV Preview.)
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