Defining the credibility ceiling...
There is nothing wrong with borrowing themes from hit movies for TV, especially if you boast the kind of talent this show has access to, both in front of and behind the camera.
But now, with this episode, we the viewers know something that the writing team seemingly missed.
There is a credibility ceiling. As long as you don't hit the ceiling, the viewer experience is solid. No harm no foul.
But if you nudge the ceiling even a little bit, the experience changes.
I love this series. From memory, the only negative review I gave of a single episode was when the show suddenly woke up one day and decided it was really Touched by An Angel, only with guns...
This episode starts as a riff off the "call for help on a deadline" theme that we have seen in several movies over the last few years, many of which were A-list.
It should have worked well. The life of an innocent child is at stake. The cameo actress playing the 911 operator is solid and holds the camera. Everyone is working it.
Except that by the half way point, the whole thing starts to seem forced. Two many coincidences. The 911 operator makes AN ERROR SHE WAS TOLD NOT TO MAKE. Fusco is suddenly acting like a rock star and refusing calls. Reese and Shahi are not getting a lot of face time as a result of the need to maintain tension at the call center.
There follows a barrage of more coincidences than you would expect to find on an episode of ASK THE PSYCHIC.
And BANG we hit the credibility ceiling.
Plus -- I can't believe everyone missed this -- at the end when Finch threatens to electrocute a bad guy, which is possible because said villain is standing in a pool of water, the innocent 911 operator has to enter THE SAME POOL OF WATER to pick up the gun, therefore removing the threat to the 300 pound thug.
UGH An object lesson for future writers of future episodes, we hope.
There is nothing wrong with borrowing themes from hit movies for TV, especially if you boast the kind of talent this show has access to, both in front of and behind the camera.
But now, with this episode, we the viewers know something that the writing team seemingly missed.
There is a credibility ceiling. As long as you don't hit the ceiling, the viewer experience is solid. No harm no foul.
But if you nudge the ceiling even a little bit, the experience changes.
I love this series. From memory, the only negative review I gave of a single episode was when the show suddenly woke up one day and decided it was really Touched by An Angel, only with guns...
This episode starts as a riff off the "call for help on a deadline" theme that we have seen in several movies over the last few years, many of which were A-list.
It should have worked well. The life of an innocent child is at stake. The cameo actress playing the 911 operator is solid and holds the camera. Everyone is working it.
Except that by the half way point, the whole thing starts to seem forced. Two many coincidences. The 911 operator makes AN ERROR SHE WAS TOLD NOT TO MAKE. Fusco is suddenly acting like a rock star and refusing calls. Reese and Shahi are not getting a lot of face time as a result of the need to maintain tension at the call center.
There follows a barrage of more coincidences than you would expect to find on an episode of ASK THE PSYCHIC.
And BANG we hit the credibility ceiling.
Plus -- I can't believe everyone missed this -- at the end when Finch threatens to electrocute a bad guy, which is possible because said villain is standing in a pool of water, the innocent 911 operator has to enter THE SAME POOL OF WATER to pick up the gun, therefore removing the threat to the 300 pound thug.
UGH An object lesson for future writers of future episodes, we hope.