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Life ( - The Universe - Everything)
Nov. 3rd, 2010 02:42 pmLife stars Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews, an L.A. cop who's framed for murder and imprisoned for twelve years before DNA evidence exonerates him. As part of his settlement with the LAPD, he gets Bruce Wayne rich and is reinstated as a detective, with badass recovering alcoholic Dani Reese as his partner. The series' core theme is that his time in prison hasn't made Charlie a grim badass (except... well, kinda), but instead he's cultivated an interest in Zen that gives him a unique lookout on life.
It sounds a lot like a precursor to the Castle/Mentalist breed of shows about a wacky genius paired with a no-nonsense action girl... the "Sherlock Holmes with sexual tension" show that seems in vogue lately... but to Life's credit, they give Dani more to do than just make "oh, Charlie, you scamp" faces and there's no romance between Charlie and Dani, possibly because of how hard it would be to come up with a shipping portmanteau. (Creese? Chareese? Reews?) And the more traditional feminine role of Charlie's emotional touchstone/weak point is Ted, a corrupt Wall Street executive who Charlie protected in prison, and who now manages his finances. Perhaps it's for the best that the show was canceled -- I don't know how well the character of a lovable blue-collar criminal would go over these days, even one who's learned his lesson.
For the most part, the show is a procedural, although a surprising amount of force comes from Charlie investigating the conspiracy that sent him away. Just about every episode, he's getting a new clue, so it's not just "case of the week" while you're waiting for the arc to kick in. It's handled very well, even if there are a few glaring narrative shortcuts taken due to the Writer's Strike (like when Charlie is able to identify a suspect based on a child's drawing. "He has facial hair! It's gotta be our man!")
One criticism I have is the show's focus on Charlie's love life. There are three big things there.
1. Charlie has a steady succession of honeys coming by to... what's the polite euphemism?... grind on his junk? Which makes sense, since he did just get out of prison. And is a guy.
2. Charlie has an UST thing going with the attorney who sprung him from prison, but she's married. How can our hero pursue a relationship with another man's wife, after all?
3. Charlie routinely harasses his ex-wife's new husband. There isn't even the figleaf justification that he "stole her" from Charlie. She thought he was guilty, she divorced him, and she met someone new. Unfortunate, sure, but not some injustice that has to be rectified through constant speeding tickets.
I guess the show is trying to show that Charlie isn't as Zen as he says he is, or even wants to be, but I think they could've found a better way to illustrate that.
( Spoilers. )
It sounds a lot like a precursor to the Castle/Mentalist breed of shows about a wacky genius paired with a no-nonsense action girl... the "Sherlock Holmes with sexual tension" show that seems in vogue lately... but to Life's credit, they give Dani more to do than just make "oh, Charlie, you scamp" faces and there's no romance between Charlie and Dani, possibly because of how hard it would be to come up with a shipping portmanteau. (Creese? Chareese? Reews?) And the more traditional feminine role of Charlie's emotional touchstone/weak point is Ted, a corrupt Wall Street executive who Charlie protected in prison, and who now manages his finances. Perhaps it's for the best that the show was canceled -- I don't know how well the character of a lovable blue-collar criminal would go over these days, even one who's learned his lesson.
For the most part, the show is a procedural, although a surprising amount of force comes from Charlie investigating the conspiracy that sent him away. Just about every episode, he's getting a new clue, so it's not just "case of the week" while you're waiting for the arc to kick in. It's handled very well, even if there are a few glaring narrative shortcuts taken due to the Writer's Strike (like when Charlie is able to identify a suspect based on a child's drawing. "He has facial hair! It's gotta be our man!")
One criticism I have is the show's focus on Charlie's love life. There are three big things there.
1. Charlie has a steady succession of honeys coming by to... what's the polite euphemism?... grind on his junk? Which makes sense, since he did just get out of prison. And is a guy.
2. Charlie has an UST thing going with the attorney who sprung him from prison, but she's married. How can our hero pursue a relationship with another man's wife, after all?
3. Charlie routinely harasses his ex-wife's new husband. There isn't even the figleaf justification that he "stole her" from Charlie. She thought he was guilty, she divorced him, and she met someone new. Unfortunate, sure, but not some injustice that has to be rectified through constant speeding tickets.
I guess the show is trying to show that Charlie isn't as Zen as he says he is, or even wants to be, but I think they could've found a better way to illustrate that.
( Spoilers. )
