Monday 14 April 2014

I Don't Believe It!

I was excited when I first saw the trailer for the "Watch" channel's new sci-fi fantasy TV series "Believe" The trailer showed a a young girl screaming and a load of creatures swarming around a person.  It looked super creepy & mysterious!


On watching the show we learned that it's about a young girl with paranormal gifts being hunted by an institute from which she has been snatched.  The institute (possibly evil or grey) want to continue "helping her" while another group also want to "help her" but they are nice people.  The young fugitive is accompanied by a death-row convict, whom the good guys busted out to protect her.  What the pair don't realise is that they are actually father and daughter!   They travel from place to place solving people's problems.  One of them is a reforming loser, the other is a paranormal gift to the world.  Avid TV watchers of a certain age will feel this story line is familiar.  That's because in many ways it's very similar to 1980's series "Highway To Heaven" Following the adventures of two guys travelling around the country doing good.  One of them a resurrected beardy loser and the other a thick-necked angel on probation.

Unfortunately this show simply lacks subtlety and style.  For instance, the father and daughter story-line is revealed in either the first or second episode - robbing us of any "shock" revelations for later.  Three episodes in, we find out loads about the mother too - oh!

The scenes within the institute seem flat and lifeless.  The gifted research subjects are often seen sitting in their rooms looking bored and aimless, usually levitating objects.  One subject can levitate tons of bricks to create a large model dog on the grass outside his window.  This guy then, has almost god-like power, but no one is that impressed.

When the cops assigned to track down the girl are shown around the institute and witness the dog-bricks man, they show no more interest than if they'd just seen a basketball player sinking 10 hoops in a row.

This little girl seems to have very little room to grow, because already by the third episode she can:

  • Mentally move objects 
  • Read people's minds 
  • See the future 
  • Electrify objects
  • Just generally know what to do for the best 

It just seems like lazy writing to give a character immense power or reveal that power so early on.
I really don't know where else there is to go with this series, and frankly in our household we don't care.  it's over for us.  What a wasted opportunity, and a shameful waste of  Kyle Maclachlan.  So I await the next attempt, Next!









2 comments:

  1. Wasnt Kyle Machlachlachlachlachlachalan Henry from Neighbours? He sang a song about a girl called Mona. I might be getting that confused with Jimmy Nail. Is Kyle Machlachlachlachlachachachach from Liverpool? Is this the true mystery of Believe? As in Believerpool. I agree, there are a lot of questions that arise from all this.

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  2. No that one was Craig. He was in Neighbors and in Home & Away. Known as a pretty boy, almost a hunk, but just missed out by acquiring incorrect muscles. Not so pretty nowadays. Kyle was in Twin Peaks, Dune, all sorts of good stuff. He looks good for his age, perhaps he is in the minority of humanity who don't wish to utterly defile the one body gifted to them, through child-like over-consumption of nasty food, drink and fags. Watch TV series Fargo much better. Kyle and Craig's surname is hard to spell and ridiculous. Had to Google it. Kyle from America, Craig from Australia - both big countries. Believerpool is a good word. I don't have a good word to say for "Believe" There are many questions that need answering. There are many that need answering - I mean asking.

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