"Mental" A Beautiful Delusion (TV Episode 2009) Poster

(TV Series)

(2009)

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3/10
Unbalanced acting, poor character development, episodic format and dumb ending
igoatabase4 June 2009
After reading some pilot reviews I realized I over rated it and learned a few things that should help me to be more objective. However I was quite confident that this episode would be an other decent installment but sadly it wasn't the case at all.

First I really missed Silas Weir Mitchell because his performance as the first patient was quite convincing. Otherwise this week one was interesting because I didn't know what happened to her was possible and the actress's performance was good. But the problem wasn't the woman but her husband, a delusional character, because the actor did a really poor job. Moreover the other characters didn't grow on me because I can't really relate to any of them. Of course Jack is interesting but it seems we will only have a glimpse at his personal life every week so it means the show could go on for years and we still wouldn't have any clue about his sister. Most of the other relationships are not original so I don't even see the point of mentioning them, specially the Latin playboy and hot lesbian doctor one. The link that really intrigued me was Carl but he only had one interesting line, about the budget. The only successful arc but not at all original was the Veronica one, played by beautiful Jacqueline McKenzie, because she brought some sex appeal and tension to the episode. But it's hard to be objective for a man when it comes to attractive and talented actresses.

An other issue was the production. I already mentioned it in my pilot review but this time at some point I thought a character was actually in the studio, when Jack ran out of the hospital. I don't mean on a set but in the real studio. Everything looked so cheap and misplaced that I nearly jaw dropped. But in general I think the quality is decent, if you don't pay too much attention to details. However it got worst when patients began to play in the garden to help them trust their doctors. It's not an orthodox method, it's potato therapy. And when I thought it couldn't get worse, the episode literally turned into a stupid and bad B movie. The ending was so absurd that I thought I was the one actually having a delusion. In the pilot I found Jack's solution quite inspiring but this one was just plain dumb. In fact I can't even believe that Chris Vance agreed to play the scene. And what about the other performers ?

It's my first medical drama and I can't imagine how boring it probably is for viewers who have already watched other similar shows. So overall it was just painful and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I've already read the upcoming episode summary and it sounds like an other patient of the week one so I don't see any reason to stick around. It's sad because I think Chris Vance and McKenzie deserved better.
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