Truth Be Told

Love the show, but the imagination of Asia is too rigid and stereotyped.

The plot mentioned Taipei, Taiwan but the scene was shot in Hong Kong. People in Taiwan speaks Mandarin instead of Cantonese spoken in the show.

"Truth Be Told" is marvellously glossy, stylish and sexy escapist fun from writer / director J.J. Abrams.

Jennifer Garner is splendid as the lead, Sydney Bristow - college girl by day, super-spy by night. Garner is a convincing action figure and the scenes later in the show where she's bloodied and seeking payback are memorable. Sydney in a brightly coloured wig, beating baddies to a pulp, is definitely a sight to behold!

The rest of the cast are equally impressive, notably her fellow agent, Marcus Dixon (played by Carl Lumbly) and bad guy Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin).

"Phantasm" fans will be delighted to see Angus Scrimm play the chilling lie-detector expert, Agent McCullough.

This is top drawer television entertainment and the music from Michael Giacchino is equally impressive.

9 out of 10 for this pilot episode. The soundtrack is packed with great music from familiar bands and artists including The Cranberries, Peter Gabriel and Sinead O'Connor.

Interesting premise drew me to this series. I like the way it starts in media res.

Unfortunately, despite some good actors (Ron Rifkin and Victor Garber being the most famous; Rifkin was great in A Nero Wolfe Mystery--who wasn't?--but first came to my attention decades ago in The Rockford Files: Roundabout, which has the greatest ending of any detective show episode, for my taste: please try it out).

I didn't care for the music, but I didn't much like music in my youth, either.

Much of the presentation was good, but for my taste Jennifer Garner (no kin to James Garner of The Rockford Files) wasn't strong enough to carry a series. In her commentary she says she auditioned five times. I'm glad I don't know whom she beat out; I might consider them superior.

I was also uncomfortable with the intensity of violence against women, something I've despised all my life, even before the cause became popular (I'm a gentleman, which fell out of favor in the sexual revolution, when violence againt women could be treated as humorous as violence against men, which never set well with me).

And I was confused whether the interrogators were Red Chinese or Taiwanese: our enemies or our allies. Or is there either anymore, according to the series?

Overall, I became bored, which is not good for an espionage drama (I love espionage tales) and I was not inspired to go on with the series. I may go back to it one day but not right away.