OK, it's the first episode. I expect to be introduced to the main characters (check), given at least enough of a back story to invest my time into things moving forward (slight check), then start building why I should care about these people (tentative check).
There's some good to the start of this, but things go off the rails sideways quickly when some pseudo-governmental conspiracy is introduced before we really get to sink our teeth into the characters. I felt like if I were watching the first episode of Prison Break, and they immediately launched into their "Company" conspiracy, which jumped the shark for me. No time to really embrace the characters before putting a big unknown shadow over them.
I like Tea Leoni and Tim Daly, so want to embrace them, but I would have preferred, at least for a pilot episode (or even better, the first 4-5 episodes), to build them, and her role as the "non- politically ambitious" Secretary of State, and use political intrigue as the points of tension.
I'll probably give it a few more episodes before giving up on it, but the background conspiracy just feels forced and way too soon.
There's some good to the start of this, but things go off the rails sideways quickly when some pseudo-governmental conspiracy is introduced before we really get to sink our teeth into the characters. I felt like if I were watching the first episode of Prison Break, and they immediately launched into their "Company" conspiracy, which jumped the shark for me. No time to really embrace the characters before putting a big unknown shadow over them.
I like Tea Leoni and Tim Daly, so want to embrace them, but I would have preferred, at least for a pilot episode (or even better, the first 4-5 episodes), to build them, and her role as the "non- politically ambitious" Secretary of State, and use political intrigue as the points of tension.
I'll probably give it a few more episodes before giving up on it, but the background conspiracy just feels forced and way too soon.
