- Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
thisplacehere- May 3rd, 21:11
I was going to write a full post on this, but it is now a month after the event, and I have enough that I want to post about anyway. Suffice it to say: if you haven’t seen Back to Earth yet, and it comes to a screen near you, don’t bother. It’s that disappointing.
- Hustle: further thoughts on series 5
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- thisplacehere
- February 20th, 20:45
Not very prompt of me, I know, but here are some more impressions of the latest series of Hustle, following on from my thisplacehere.livejournal.com/48607.htmlearlier post after the first episode:
It took three episodes before Albert got out of jail and the team was back together. That's half the series, which was really too long; although the plot to get him released was wonderfully inventive.
Actually, this series had some of the most engagingly twisty plots I can remember on Hustle in quite some time. Frustratingly, I can't remember the details of those plots, only that I enjoyed their twists and turns.
One I do remember is that of the last episode, which wasn't one of the best. Some of the grifters' former victims joined forces to con them; nice idea, but I could spot the 'punchline' a mile off. (Interestingly, the three episodes I liked best were the three not written by the series' creator, Tony Jordan.)
This series didn't really have the big, outlandish set-pieces Hustle has had previously (or, at least, they weren't as outlandish), but that was certainly no impediment, and might even have strengthened the series. But Hustle still can't do gritty, and should stop trying; Emma and Sean ae supposed to have grown up on the streets, but it doesn't work. The hustlers exist in a world of glitz, glamour and froth; the show doesn't work when it attempts to step out of that world.
Speaking of the new characters, Emma has proved a fine replacement for Stacie (though the romantic, will-they-won't-they sub-plot between her and Mickey grew tedious, because it was clear that the series would never function if they did get together); but Sean is nowhere near as good a character as Danny. Sean doesn't have Danny's ragged-wideboy charm, and his protective attitude towards his sister is no substitute for Danny trying his luck with Stacie and never succeeding.
But, on the whole, it was a good series, it was great to have Hustle back, and it's great to hear that we have a sixth series to look forward to.
- The return of Red Dwarf
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- thisplacehere
- January 27th, 19:38
I didn’t see this coming [*], but apparently there is going to be a brand new two-part special of Red Dwarf this Easter, in which Lister and co. finally return to Earth. I’m cautiously optimistic about the news: of course it’s great to have the show back after all this time — it never really ‘finished’ — but I can’t help wondering, ‘is it going to be any good?’ It’s a shame that Rob Grant is apparently not involved, but I’m looking forward to seeing what Doug Naylor and everyone else have come up with… cautiously, anyway.
[*] Perhaps I should have seen it coming, because the news that the specials were being made was orginally announced in September last year. But it passed me by.
- Hustle: first impressions of series 5
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- thisplacehere
- January 9th, 18:36
WARNING: This post spoils the plot of the first episode.
The makers of Hustle, the BBC’s super-slick drama about a gang of loveable con artists fleecing the unscrupulous, faced a quandary a couple of years ago, when Adrian Lester declined to appear in a fourth series. His character, Mickey Stone, was the leader of the gang of rogues; how could they replace him? Well, they decided that Mickey had gone off to Australia to sell the Sydney Opera House, promoted Danny Blue (played by Marc Warren) to leader, and brought in a new character named Billy Bond (Ashley Walters) to fill the rookie slot. And the show wasn’t quite the same, because Danny was the eternal rookie — the point of the character was that he wasn’t ready to be leader, and never would be (not during the time-frame of the programme, anyway). He didn’t have Mickey’s smoothness and charm, and Hustle lost some of its sparkle as a result.
The programme returned for its fifth series last night, with yet more changes: Mickey Stone has returned to London (having fled Australia in a typically unlikely and audacious fashion), to find that the old gang has fallen apart: Ash Morgan (Robert Glenister) is conning City boys with proposition bets; Albert Stroller (Robert Vaughn) is in prison; Stacie Monroe (Jaime Murray) and Danny are in America; even hapless barman Eddie (Rob Jarvis) no longer has his bar. (Billy Bond has been quietly forgotten.) Mickey wants a new crew, and Albert has a mark for hima nd Ash: nasty property developer Sara Naismith, who wants to dabble in the stock market, but needs a recommendation. What follows is as joyously convoluted as ever.
With their characters overseas, Murray and Warren do not appear in this series (whether this was the actors’ or writers’ decision, I don’t know), which is a shame, but perhaps inevitable with Mickey returning — Danny couldn’t really go back to being the rookie, and I suppose it makes the relationships neater if Stacie goes as well. But who’ll take their place? At the time the new series was announced, I speculated that Danny and Satcie could only really be replaced by other versions of themselves — or perhaps a female rookie. And it seems that what’s happened is something similar.
(SPOILERS BEGIN HERE)
Sara Naismith and her ever-present PA Aaron are in fact grifters themselves, siblings Emma (Kelly Adams) and Sean Kennedy (Matt Di Angelo) — Albert set up a mutual ‘con’ to introduce them to Mickey and Ash. So we end the episode with a new group of five. It’s too soon to tell how things will go, but the signs are good, because the characters are all in the right niches this time. Emma in particular should be a good addition to the crew; she comes across as being like Stacie without the polish, which I think will give the series an interesting new dynamic. Sean may be the weak link, though, as I’m not yet sure what role he’s going to fill: from the first episode, Emma looks to be the brains of the pair (when Ash and Mickey discuss letting the Kennedys join, they say, ’she’s good’, but never mention Sean), so I hope they find enough for her brother to do.
As for the episode itself, much of the plot is concerned with restoring the status quo ante as far as possible (even Eddie’s Bar returns by the end, and Albert’s exit from jail will hopefully not be far behind), and the first episode of series 5 shows that the show’s signature elements — the complicated plots, the to-camera looks, freezing the action — are still there. In interviews, the actors have hinted that this series will be a little darker, which does concern me, because Hustle has never managed to integrate real-life ‘darkness’ very well (including in this episode). But it’s true that this episode isn’t quite as… Technicolor as some have been (though please understand that’s all relative!), and if that’s all they mean, I don’t think it’s a problem.
Hustle has never struck me as a format that could handle much in the way of change, but it seems to have weathered its latest storm well so far. The con is (back) on!
- Heroes, season 3: First Impressions
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- thisplacehere
- October 4th, 2008
Saw the first two episodes of the new season earlier this week, and... this is more like it. I had my misgivings about season 2 at the same point; but they really seem to have got the format working this time around -- it's fast, piles on the interesting twists, and (mostly) allows its characters to play to their strengths. I'm particularly pleased to see Hiro and Ando back together, and am sure their storyline can only be enriched by the introduction of an element of mistrust (in a visit to the future, Hiro saw Ando zap his future self with an energy bolt after Future Hiro accused Ando of 'betraying' him), and of Daphne, a cute thief who can move at super-speed, and who looks set to be Hiro's nemesis.
Milo Ventimiglia gets the chance to play his character in a different way, as a future version of Peter returns to the present to shoot Nathan, thereby stopping him revealing his power to the world, which would have caused disaster in the future -- except that a new, and unknown, sequence of events, has now been set in motion. Anyway, Future Peter has sent 'our' Peter into the body of a criminal held by the Company; so now we have a 'bad' version of the character roaming around.
Nathan was critically ill after being shot, but experiences a miraculous recovery, which he attributes to divine intervention. Oh yes, and he appears to be experiencing hallucinations of LInderman from season 1 (but this is Heroes, so they might turn out to be more than hallucinations). Nathan also looks set to be offered a seat in the Senate; here's hoping that brings back some of the dramatic tension inherent being in a public figure with such a conspicuous power as flight.
Nathan is approached about the senatorship by a new character named Tracy Strauss, who works for the governor of New York. Except the character is not entirely new, because she's played by Ali Larter and is the spitting image of Niki Sanders. And she has the power to turn things (and people) to ice. What's going on there? No idea, but I'm intrigued.
Elsewhere, Sylar is back to his nasty old self; Clare's troubled with her abilities again; her father is still acting mysteriously; and there's yet another threat to the safety of the world, this time a strange formula that does who-knows-what. On the plus side, Angela Petrelli is set up to become a suitably ambiguous villain; and Mohinder gains an injection of charisma when he finds a way to give himself super-strength (a gift which already looks to be turning sour).
On the minus side, Greg Grunberg still has to be miserable, as Future Peter sends his character off to somewhere in the African bush; and I'm still not sure what the writers can do with characters as powerful as Sylar and Peter. But I would like to find out.
- Spooks: Code 9
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- thisplacehere
- September 8th, 2008
I was wrong about Bonekickers. Not about it being a load of nonsense, but about it being made by Kudos Productions. They recently returned with spy drama Spooks: Code 9 (which finished last night), a spin-off of the original Spooks (also known by the title MI-5) -- and, despite a few reservations, I think it wasn't half bad.
Code 9 is set in 2013, after a nuclear bomb destroyed London during the previous year's Olympics. MI5 now operates from a number of field offices, generally staffed by a younger (i.e. twenty-something) workforce. The series focuses on a team of six agents based in Yorkshire, and from a variety of backgrounds: mathematician Charlie; police officer Rachel; ex-criminal Jez (who lost his family after the blast); doctor Rob; entrepreneur Vik; and psychology student Kylie, who's dying of radiation poisoning fro the explosion.
Spooks has never been afraid to kill off its main characters, and this spin-off is no exception: Hannah, the team's leader, is shot dead in the first episode, and Charlie is swiftly appointed her replacement. Over the course of the series, he uncovers evidence that the attack on London (and Hannah's murder) was an inside job -- and that the plotters haven't finished yet...
There is plenty about Code 9 that could be improved: the characters don't come across as distinct personalities; and the plotting isn't as good -- nor the production as slick -- as Spooks at its best. Yet there's something engaging about it for all that; and, as the series closed on a typical cliffhanger (quite similar to that from the first series of Spooks, actually), I found myself wanting to know how it all worked out. I hope they've got another series lined up.
- Rory and Paddy's Great British Adventure
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- thisplacehere
- September 5th, 2008
Here's a little gem from the schedules of Channel Five that may not sound too promising, but turned out to be a great little series. I don't know if it's going to be repeated, or syndicated overseas, but do check it out if you get the chance. The idea is that comedians Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuinness tour the country, competing in various eccentric/unusual/obscure sports. Over the four weeks, we see them try their hands at cheese-rolling, caravan racing, mountain bike bog snorkelling, nettle-eating, axe-throwing, Eton fives, swamp soccer, toe-wrestling, and shin-kicking -- amongst others.
Somebody's put a clip up on YouTube:
( See more... )
- Quiz Corner: Words and British Comedy
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- thisplacehere
- July 16th, 2008
Longer posts will resume in a day or so; until then, here is another of this journal's occasional quizzes:
1. What 5-letter word would still be pronounced the same if you took away its last four letters?
2. What was Victor Meldrew's job before he was made redundant?
3. What 6-letter word can mean both a piece of scientific apparatus and a cutting remark?
4. Who thought he'd discovered a nugget of purest green?
WARNING: Comments contain the answers.
- Bonekickers
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- thisplacehere
- July 11th, 2008
I was going to start this entry by saying that I'm inclined to take notice whenever Kudos Productions make a new drama then I read the complete list of the series they've done and realised there's a lot I haven't seen and didn't know about. Still, they've produced some series I like very much -- Spooks, Hustle and Life on Mars; and, more recently, Ashes to Ashes and The Fixer, which I feel more lukewarm about. This week saw the beginning of the new series by Mars and Ashes creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharaoh -- Bonekickers, about a group of archaeologists. It was one of the biggest loads of tosh I have ever seen -- and yet strangely enjoyable.
The problem with making a drama about academics is, of course, that academic work tends not to be very dramatic. Fortunately for the makers of Bonekickers, however, Time Team has been showing us the methods of archaeology for the best part of 15 years; so this drama sees no need to spend time explaining stuff like geophysics when it can dispense with the academic drudgery and ramp up the action. Yes, this is a programme that starts to make Indiana Jones look realistic in places -- at least he taught classes.
Our team of four archaeologists at the fictional Wessex University in Bath operate in no recognisable academic context. They have no students or colleagues, apart from a few extras to do the digging and a head of department named Daniel Mastiff, who wears sharp suits, is focused solely on the next source of funding, and whose main purpose is to get up the nose of Gillian Magwilde. Magwilde (played by Julie Graham) is the highly driven leader of her little band, and lives in a nice flat with a basement full of pictures and articles relating to a sword, which may be an artefact her late mother (also an archaeologist) was searching for. Also on Magwilde's team are Ben Ergha, who has no distinctive character traits that I can remember (but is played by Adrian Lester, who is every bit as charismatic here as he was in Hustle); Gregory Parton (Hugh Bonneville), a plummy eccentric type whose nickname is 'Dolly' (ho, ho); and Viv Davis (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the bright and enthusiastic new girl. I get the feeling that, as the series on, these characters will prove to have no truck with stuff like academic specialisms, and will turn out to know everything there is to know about history.
In the first episode, the team are digging a piece of ground due to be built on, and turn up a number of Saracen artefacts, which makes no sense to them, because the Saracens never went anywhere near Bath. There's also a body, which proves to belong to a Knight Templar; and a lump of 2000-year-old cedar wood -- do you suppose that could be..? The dig draws the attention of Edward Laygrass, leader of the White Wings Alliance, an extremist religious group. Laygrass is a stereotypical Sinister Cult Leader with an apparent following of two. These are a couple of students with a penchant for dressing up as Knights Templar and waving medieval swords around, one of whom (played by Paul Nicholls) is only too ready to lop people's heads off (demonstrated rather too graphically in one scene).
The whole programme is an overblown piece of nonsense, culminating in a scene where Magwilde and Templar Boy are swinging on ropes in a giant cavern beneath a Herefordshire dovecote, with him waving his sword around and trying to strike her down. In short, this is the kind of programme that has scenes like that -- and I expect I'll see more when I tune in next week...
- Doctor Who: Journey's End
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- thisplacehere
- July 7th, 2008
Back before the latest series started, I was concerned it might get too mired in its own continuity. Now it's over, and all the main companions from the revived Doctor Who featured in the closing two-parter, along with representatives from the spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah-Jane Adventures. Despite this, the story managed not to collapse under its own weight; but it did show that you can't put all these characters in the same tale and give them all an adequate share of the action. I hope that Steven Moffat doesn't try to do anything like this during his tenure at the helm...
A few other thoughts: Rose Tyler is still too much of an albatross, and the show is better off without her. Catherine Tate finally came into her own (what a shame that wasn't allowed to last). And I loved the Daleks talking in German: 'Extermineren!'
(EDIT: now I've actually linked to the earlier post I intended to link to!)
- Heroes, season 2
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- thisplacehere
- July 5th, 2008
Caught the end of this on BBC Two earlier in the week, so now I can write up my thoughts on 'Volume Two: Generations' as a whole (for my thoughts after the first couple of episodes, see here).
I can't decide whether I really like this programme. I mean, I must like it enough to keep watching it; but... it's not easy to be fully enthusiastic about Heroes. I appreciate the basic concept of ordinary people dealing with extraordinary abilities, but the execution isn't always up to scratch. The storyline can drag along at a snail's pace; I'd prefer it if characters used their powers more often; I'd prefer it if fewer characters saw their powers as a burden; the ongoing mythology can get in the way as much as it enhances the format; and the writers have a tendency to want to keep juggling all their existing balls as well as adding new ones (it will not surprise me if Adam Monroe turns up in season 3).
Sometimes, though... sometimes they get it right. Unfortunately for them, I'm struggling to think of specific examples from season 2 right now; my current feelings are of being underwhelmed by the season as a whole. The plot thread with the Company, and especially the Threat To The World posed by the Shanti virus, strike me as being to low-key for their own good, so there hadn't been enough cumulative tension as we went into the final episode. The storyline of Maya and Alejandro, as I feared, didn't really go anywhere, seeming mainly to serve as a way to get Sylar back in the mix (and I'm not sure whether Maya will have much to do in season 3 other than to be a McGuffin for Sylar to chase after in the hope of stealing her power). I felt Ali Larter was under-used as Niki (one of her strengths as an actor in season 1 being her ability to convince as two people in the same body), and I missed the interplay between Hiro and Ando.
On the plus side, Elle was a fine addition to the roster of characters (and ending the season with her as a 'hero' was a neat move); Jack Coleman was as good as ever as Noah Bennet (even if at times they seemed to be trying too hard to keep the character as the secretive, ambiguous figure he was in season 1); in Monica Dawson, we had another character who took a positive view of their abilities; and David Anders' English accent grew so convincing that I found it strange to hear his natural speaking voice in interviews.
Sounds like we won't have to wait long for season 3 to be shown over here, either; and, even after all the above, I am looking forward to it.
- Criminal Justice
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- thisplacehere
- July 5th, 2008
This was a new BBC drama broadcast over five nights this week, and trumpeted by the Radio Times as being excellent. Well, I wouldn't go quite that far myself, but it was definitely worth watching.
21-year-old Ben Coulter (played by Ben Whishaw) is going out for the night, but his car won't start, so he borrows his father's black cab instead. When he stops at some lights, a young woman climbs into the cab and asks to go to the seaside. Though Ben tells her he's not a real taxi, the girl (named Melanie) says she doesn't mind; she's clearly flustered about something and, besides, she's pretty, so Ben decides to humour her, and they go off to the sea. One thing leads to another, they end up sleeping together, and the next thing Ben knows, he has woken up in Melanie's kitchen. He goes back up to the bedroom and finds her lying dead. Ben tries to clear things up, but only makes them worse -- and, anyway, his fingerprints are all over the knife Melanie was killed with, because the two of them used it in a drinking game the previous night. The rest of the series follows Ben's murder trial from beginning to end, along with his experiences in prison, where he is held whilst on trial.
What made watching Criminal Justice different for me was that I'm more used to police dramas told from the viewpoint of the cops, whereas this was from the viewpoint of an innocent (or is he?) thrust into the legal system and experiencing it as a hostile, alien place. From this view, the police turn from protectors into antagonists; Bill Paterson is wonderfully inscrutable as Detective Superintendent Harry Box, who can come across as a kindly uncle-figure one minute, and a hard-nosed copper the next. Ben is wrong-footed again when his solicitor arrives: whatever sort of person he's expecting, it isn't Ralph Stone (Con O'Neill), a scruffy, greasy-haired man with a permanently hoarse voice, who sits down next to Ben, unwraps the bandage on his foot to show off his eczema, and effectively tells Ben to forget about telling the truth, because whichever side has the best story will win the trial.
Ben is equally unprepared for prison life: the jail he's held in is pretty much run by one of the inmates, Freddie Graham (David Harewood), with the prison guards seemingly complicit in the arrangement. As time goes on, it seems the only people on Ben side are his cell-mate Hooch (Pete Postlethwaite), Ralph Stone (who may look like the sort of person you'd cross the street to avoid, but proves to have a heart, of sorts), and Ben's defence barrister Frances Kapoor (Vineeta Rishi) -- who may have one eye on her career, however. Even his own mother (Juliet Aubrey) doesn't quite believe in Ben's innocence.
So, did he kill Melanie? We do find it, but that's not really the point of Criminal Justice. The drama is more concerned to examine how a perfectly ordinary, likeable (and, perhaps, innocent) person might find themselves trapped in the machinery of law, and what effects that could have. I don't know how far the portrayal of the British judicial system reflects reality; the writer, Peter Moffat, was himself a barrister, so one assumes it's quite accurate. That said, I can't really imagine lawyers talking in a courtroom the way some of the characters do (Frances Kapoor in particular seemed to push her luck to a degree that strained credulity); I'm not sure how often barristers and solicitors investigate crimes outside of fiction; and of course, i would just hope life isn't like that.
But I can well believe the stuff about the story being more important than the truth, because isn't that the way we construct the past? It's not perfect, because it can't be -- and I guess that that's how a situation like the one shown in Criminal Justice could arise. Whishaw gives a good, convincing performance as Ben Coulter: it did occur to me at times that hen seemed to wear a permanently worried expression -- but, then, I think that anyone who went through what Ben has to endure would be quite justified in being constantly worried.
- Doctor Who: Midnight
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- thisplacehere
- June 14th, 2008
Russell T Davies (OBE)'s self-penned episodes don't have the best reputation, but I thought this was pretty good. An interesting change of pace for the series, with a handful of people trapped in a spaceship with an enemy that isn't actually doing anything threatening, just repeating what everyone else says (though of course that's creepy in itself, and there is always the possibility it will turn nastier). A good examination of the unfotunate human tendency to latch on to anything remotely suspicious and turn on others; and particularly notable for the way in which the Doctor's usual techniques of asserting his authority don't work this time.
And, after watching Doctor Who Confidential looking behind the scenes of the programme, may I compliment the sound team and actors on their sterling work. It looked exceptionally difficult to me!
- Good news and bad news about the next series of Hustle
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- thisplacehere
- June 12th, 2008
The good news: Adrian Lester will return as Mickey Stone. (It just wasn't the same without the dynamic between Mickey and Danny.)
The bad news: Marc Warren and Jaime Murray will not be returning as Danny Blue and Stacie Monroe. (So much for the old team reassembling. Harrumph. The thing is, those two characters filled the key slots of 'overconfident rookie' and 'experienced female con'. What could they be replaced by, except similar characters? An overconfident female rookie..?)
The other bad news: it won't be on our screens again till next year.
(Source: read on Telextext earlier today.)
- The Apprentice
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- thisplacehere
- June 12th, 2008
Congratulations to Lee on winning; he seems a generally decent, likeable and competent person. Actually, I'd have liked Claire to win, because just once, I'd like to see Alan Sugar choose someone who's more likely to answer back.
But what I really want to post about here is something that I saw for the first time in the You're Hired! programme afterwards: the spoof animated tributes by the Boleg Bros. I must spend some time exploring that site properly...
- Quiz Corner: US TV
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- thisplacehere
- June 9th, 2008
Who is the odd one out, and why?
Charlotte Charles
Sarah Connor
Gregory House
Adam Monroe
WARNING: Comments contain the answer.
- Jonathan Creek may return...
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- thisplacehere
- May 31st, 2008
....for a new Christmas special.
If this goes ahead, it will be excellent news. Jonathan Creek is possibly David Renwick's finest work (and certainly Alan Davies's finest), and I miss it very much. So you bet I'll be tuning in to any new episode.
- Doctor Who: Silence in the Library
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- thisplacehere
- May 31st, 2008
Wasn't that a good episode? For all that the talk about Steven Moffat's episodes seems to focus on how scary they are, what really struck me is that he comes up with great ideas and great stories in general. Now I'm certain he's the best person to take over from RTD.
Idle speculation time:
I wonder if Professor River Song will turn out to be...
(a) the little girl;
(b) Rose Tyler;
(c) the Doctor's companion in a future series.
- Another Doctor Who regeneration
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- thisplacehere
- May 21st, 2008
Russell T Davies will be stepping down as executive producer of Doctor Who, to be replaced by Steven Moffat. Should be interesting...
- Season 2 of Heroes...
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- thisplacehere
- April 25th, 2008
...finally made its way on to the BBC last night. Of course I'd heard plenty about it (including that creator Tim Kring apologised publicly over it); now came my chance to watch the first two episodes.
My first impressions are that season 2 carries on in much the same vein as season 1, with similar strengths and flaws. On the plus side, there are still interesting plot twists, and the most engaging characters largely remain as engaging; on the minus side, I still think that a programme about people with special powers should not shy away so much from having its characters actually use those powers.
So: Hiro has accidentally transported himself back to 17th-century Japan, only to find that his hero, Takezo Kensei, was really English, and a drunk. Masi Oka is as good as ever, and David Anders plays the English rake very well (with a pretty good accent, I must admit). So there's no problem there, but I do wonder where that leaves the character of Ando; he was always best as Hiro's foil, so I'm not sure where the writers can take him on his own.
Nathan Petrelli also seems something of a spare part at the moment: the whole point of his character was that he was in the public eye and had a highly visible power; now he's more or less in hiding, I doubt he'll be using his ability much (I'm tempted to speculate that that's why they introduced another flying character). Meanwhile, Peter has turned up in Ireland with amnesia; such a powerful character was always going to be difficult for the writers to deal with, and it remains to be seen how they'll handle him.
The Bennet family have moved to California, where Claire has to fit in at her new school; this season, she wants to use her healing powers, but her father tells her to keep a low profile instead. Noah himself is now working in a copy shop, but is secretly in touch with Mohinder Suresh, who has infiltrated the Company with the intention of bringing it down. I did think the writers were perhaps trying a bit too hard to replicate these characters' circumstances from the first season (seemingly cosy family, teenage tribulations, secretive father), but the actors make it work.
Matt Parkman is now lodging in Mohinder's Brooklyn apartment and guarding young Molly. I'm reminded of an article from Off The Telly that suggested it was a shame that an actor as ebullient (in behind-the-scenes interviews) as Greg Grunberg wasn't able to demonstrate that quality more in his role. I think Sendhil Ramamurthy has a similar lot; both his and Grunberg's characters could do with more levity to round them out.
The main new characters introduced here are the fugitives Maya (who infects people with a fatal disease when she is placed under stress) and Alejandro (her twin brother, who can cure the same disease). This seems to me a poor choice of abilities that can only lead down similar storytelling paths; most of the characters in season 1 detested their powers, so I'm not sure how much this storyline can add. But I'll wait and see.
In short: okay so far. To be continued...
