Matt Staehle

It had potential as a series, but can't decide what it is, and that is it's undoing. It comes across as a procedural/thriller, but then the main antagonist is a mess. It borders on black comedy, but might just be odd reactions or poor acting. His situation may have been intended to be dramatic, but it doesn't work. His character is intentionally unlikable, so as he is in increasingly absurd coincidences one after the other it ends up just being bizarre. Not interesting, not uproariously funny, not dramatic, and doesn't make him anymore sympathetic. The girlfriend is written as such an astoundingly dumb character it is distracting. 80s slasher film victims seem wise in comparison. There was so much I really wanted to like about this show, but it kept relying on cliches that have already been run into the ground. I know they wanted her to be young and naive, but they overdid it. The actress who played her is pretty, but it is a bit distracting that she looks like she is about 14. I know she is actually older, but it is one more thing that causes this to not quite work..As soon as I saw the lead detective, and she was pregnant, I suspected (although hoped I was wrong) that it would be an issue with who the father was, and/or that she would have birth issues, contractions, or her water breaking at an inopportune moment to manufacture some tension. Yes and yes. Finally the ending was not satisfying. As a statement it is melodramatic and overblown, and if it was meant to be a cliffhanger, it failed at that too as I found myself not caring about what comes next for a single character. A somber, world-weary ending could have worked if that was the tone throughout. Instead it just ends up being ambiguous.

The kids appear to be created by some poorly programmed AI that incorporated all the most overused teen tropes from Hollywood programmed by someone who once saw an actual teen at the airport. Even given little to work with, both are still badly acted. Sadly, I suspect they survive. The two adult leads are less overwhelmed with overused junk characteristics. They are also portrayed by solid actors who can overcome the wooden writing. The story has potential for solid entertainment, even though it also feels like a hodgepodge of parts "borrowed" from better source materials. I'll give it another 2 episodes, but any expectations are pretty much gone.