What would happen if JJ Abrams wanted to make a show about The Bristows returning to the spy game... without Jennifer Garner or Michael Vartan
What's it about?
Outwardly, Steven Bloom and his wife, Samantha, are a typical married couple who own and operate a small catering company in Los Angeles -- with help from Samantha's easily frazzled, handful of a sister, Lizzy. Secretly, the duo were two of the best spies the CIA had ever known, until they fell in love on the job five years ago and retired. When fellow spy and good friend Leo Nash goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer, the Blooms are reinstated by boss and agency liaison, Carlton Shaw, to locate and rescue Nash. With assistance from resourceful CIA field agent Bill Hoyt, whose professional admiration for Steven isn't hard to miss, the pair is thrust back into the world of espionage, disguises and hand-to-hand combat. Following leads that take them to cities spanning the globe, Steven and Samantha quickly realize that perhaps this supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides exactly the kind of excitement and romance that their marriage has been missing.
What we saw
A husband and wife struggling to survive in the everyday world that they have resigned themselves to are offered a chance to spice up their lives which also just happens to renew their romance. It's a spy show that really doesn't want to end up relying on that tag line of 'sexpionage' too much.
Review
This is not 'Mr & Mrs Smith' but it's also not 'Alias' either. It's a well shot, well edited and well scripted pilot which has all the makings of a straight spy show but lacks the spark that has made other JJ Abrams shows so great.
It's hard not to make too many judgements about this show after only one episode, clearly JJ Abrams has used what he has learnt through his other ventures to blur several genres together here to try and make something truly unique in the world of the spy show. The problem? It's not very fun. 'Alias' was fun, we loved to watch Jenny Garner dress up in garishly coloured wigs and kick some serious bad guy ass and we got caught up (and confused) in the mythology behind the show which then gave birth to the perhaps overly complicated mythology of 'Lost' just as the teen drama notion had grown from 'Felicity' into 'Alias'.
'Undercovers' has the zippy, electronic theme tune and the well executed international backdrops to mask the real locations used for shooting but it lacks the high-tech gadgetry, the supporting characters and... well... The Alliance. It's really hard to objectively review this show without thinking about all the things I miss from 'Alias' as this show feels like it should be what happened if Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughan came out of retirement.
There are many plus points to this show, the two leads fully commit to their roles from start to finish and it's really great to see a show with non-white leads where race is not only a non-issue but also not even mentioned. The lack of a Rambaldi type character has removed the issue of following the story from week-to-week which I am sure was a prerequisite from the network to avoid the inevitable complaints from those who found it hard to keep up.
The cinematography here is solid, especially considering the lower budget appearance in some of the early scenes. In particular the teaser section of the show felt very poorly executed compared to the rescue which takes place at the end.
In comparison the soundtrack (once again reminding me of 'Alias') compliments the on screen action perfectly. In fact it is hard to fault anything about the show in the same way that's it's hard to point out why it didn't have me on the edge or my seat desperate to find out what happens next.
This is going to be the kind of show which takes several weeks to find its footing but hopefully in that time it doesn't alienate so much of it's original audience that it doesn't get the chance to become the show which we all know that JJ Abrams is capable of.
Don't give up hope yet!
Next week...
When a private security detail in Pakistan murders the scientists they're paid to protect and kidnaps the lead scientist, CIA handler Shaw sends married spies Steven and Samantha to the rescue. With agents Hoyt and Leo as back up, our team travels to the beaches of Turks & Caicos, the slums of Caracas, and the center of Stockholm as they race to prevent the kidnappers from forcing the scientist to perform her expertise-building a miniature bomb for their impending attack. Amid this security threat, the most danger may come when Leo meets Samantha's sister Lizzy.
Overall
Story 3.0
Character 3.5
Spyness 3.0
Overall 3.0
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