Hmm.

[apocalypsos]

So I just sat down and watched the first two episodes of The Listener, which I would have watched last night if I'm A Celebrity and So You Think You Can Dance hadn't gotten in the way of that. (Okay, SYTYCD was the only one that got in the way, but it meant missing the first episode, which made watching the second episode a bit silly.)

Anyway, I give it a tentative thumbs up, but with reservations.

The good:

I like the concept, although seriously, superpowers are my kink no matter how bad the material. And Toby's backstory looks like it could play out in an interesting way if all goes well.

The bad:

Well, for starters, the characters all feel a bit flat to me. They're not horrible or anything, but they still come off as out-of-focus for me at the end of the second episode. The plots didn't help -- I was calling plot points left, right and center before they happened and I don't want to have to do that all the damn time. It's terribly predictable -- I feel like I need to rinse my brain in Leverage episodes to spice it up in there again.

I like that the cop Toby connects with is a strong woman. I don't like that you can see the romantic chemistry coming a mile away. I'm not one to consider a romantic relationship as a negation of the entirety of a female character's other achievements, however, I'm not really bouncing around with glee at the default that this feels like. I don't like having romantic chemistry between two characters who are developing a working relationship like this, especially with the telepathy. It just comes off as cheap to me this time.

It's probably pilot-itis, but the characters need more personality. They don't need to be obnoxious, of course, just ... you know, more color, less cardboard. And the plots both ended with the bad guys falling to their death/prolonged suffering, which ... eh.

Also, the lead is off-putting. He seems sweet and God knows he's good-looking, but he also looks like a knockoff Jake Gyllenhaal and there's something about his eyes that always makes them look like they're wide open. So there's that.

I'm not giving it a thumbs-down. I'm just saying it's ... inoffensive, I guess. I'll give it another week or two to grow into its shoes, but ... well, it just better, is all I'm saying.

Okay, back to the writing and betaing and whatnot.

Comments

[eilonwy.livejournal.com]

I didn't watch the second episode (well, I saw the first few minutes) but having watched the first, I completely agree. I find the lead very attractive, physically, but the character is so ... I dunno... bland? Your word "inoffensive" is an excellent way of describing it. And the opening of the second episode, the "comedy" of both guys stuck in the car, was so *forced* that I didn't stick around for the rest of the episode even though it was followed by a giant explosion. (Granted, I also had places to be, but that doesn't stop me if I'm interested in something.) And yeah, I didn't really care for any of the characters, Toby, his adviser-guy, the cop, the doctor, his partner... Eh. If it's on again when I've got nothing better to do, I'll give it another shot. Or if you watch the next ones and like it, I'll give it another shot. :)

[minotaurs.livejournal.com]

I'm not much impressed with the writing or acting, but Toby just pushes ALL my buttons. I mostly watch it with the sound off...

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's definitely good-looking, I'll give him that much.

I forgot to add that it's already seriously pushing the Police Are Useless trope HARD, which I rarely like all that much.

[shadowwolf13]

Because you kept mentioning I'm A Celebrity so I had to find it on Hulu and watch the first 3 episodes. Then because it happened to cross my mind I had to do a web search. I'm highly amused to see that Urban Dictionary defines prat as "basically someone whos a major idiot, or is delusional and dumb. Acts against logic and thinks hes self-righteous".

It fits. ;)

I think they changed the spelling just to throw people off. LOL