In the pilot episode of Intelligence, Josh Holloway’s many talents don’t get lost in the shuffle, but, as is, he’s cooler than CBS’ daft new drama could ever hope to be.
Holloway’s breakout performance on Lost as the cocky, complex Sawyer was so strong, I was confident he’d go on to become an even bigger star after the survivors of Oceanic 815 moved on. I vowed to give anything he starred in a chance. (Hello, 3D breakdancing movie Battle of the Year.) Truth be told, CBS could greenlight a mundane show about Holloway’s struggle to raise houseplants and I’d give it a chance. Instead, with Intelligence, they gave audiences what is essentially a hyper-serious reboot of Chuck, that is if it if Chuck had been a highly trained military officer with the tendency to go without a shirt.
On the show, Holloway plays Gabriel Vaughn, a combat-ready government agent with a microchip implanted in his brain that enables him to access the globe’s digital information, visually recreate crime scenes, hack into emails, and, for some reason, unlock doors. It’s a simple premise that each character stops to point out more than once. Over-explaining is what the pilot episode does best, as if its viewers are living in the 1960s and can’t fathom what the Internet is. Correspondingly, Intelligence has a premise that seems dated, perhaps better suited if the series was broadcast after The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or The Wild Wild West.
Marg Helgenberger, who plays Gabriel’s boss, says things like, “We connected a human being to the information grid — entertainment, WiFi, television, and satellite” in a way that makes it sound we don’t have access to the similar things on our phones. Helgenberger, to her credit, tries to make the series’ outlandish premise seem believable by keeping a straight face while delivering her tedious lines.
In an attempt to make things more interesting, I guess, as the first episode tells us, Gabriel is “reckless, unpredictable, and insubordinate.” Intelligence also tries to spice things up by including villainous Chinese operatives that are determined to get the new technology and by tossing in a mystery about Gabriel’s missing wife, who seemingly went rogue years ago.
The strongest part of the pilot is that it sets up Holloway’s character with a handler/potential love interest named Riley Neal (played by Meghan Ory), who is there as a Secret Service agent to protect the government’s interest and, simultaneously, add a much needed spark to the show. Ory is equally lovely and talented, but Holloway should also take some credit for making her character seem more interesting than she should be. After all, just like on Lost, here the actor shows a remarkable ability to develop lively chemistry and engage in likeable banter. After Riley’s wounded early on in the episode, Holloway says, in his most Sawyer sort of way, “It’s just a flesh wound. Don’t be dramatic.” It’s this sort of delivery and snarky dialogue, not the computer in the brain or the heinous baddies, which kept me watching.
Notably, there were a few stylish scenes in the episode where Gabriel generates a completely three-dimensional crime scene and walks around it. But, visually and narratively, that will get old by episode three or four. After all, we’ve seen similar scenes in X-Men, Minority Report, and more recently Iron Man 3, among countless others. Hopefully, they’ll come up with more fanciful things for his computer mind to tackle.
There’s a lot of potential in Intelligence, even though it’s not exactly Sawyer the Super Spy, which I would have, admittedly, preferred. When it doesn’t feel the need to re-establish its central concept every few minutes, it could be better. It’s up to the writers to determine how exciting a high-tech espionage operation of the week can be really. However, these writers initially seem to have sidelined the talented cast of Intelligence with some rather, I’ll say it, pun intended, unintelligent storytelling choices and clunky dialogue.
Nonetheless, the show’s real success may depend primarily on Holloway’s ability to take what seems to be a very formulaic drama and create a character who can do something much more impressive than open electronic doors with his mind. He and the writers need to create a character that’s as memorable as the last one he played on television. Intelligence needs to find a way to use him better. Otherwise, viewers will eventually be saying “I’ve lost interest.”
Holloway’s fans know that the actor has a lot of Han Solo-esque cool that hasn’t been tapped into yet on Intelligence. For a guy whose brain is connected to the Internet, it’d be nice if his character found a way to have a little more fun. A little more swagger and wisecracks from Gabriel could actually go a long way. Maybe, at least occasionally, the computer in his head could access those things instead.
Rating
C+
One Response
Nice review man. The thought of being pandered through over-explaining irks me to no end. But like you, I would probably try to watch one because of the “Sawyer” effect.