Techtite's TV Reviews!

"Maybe if Season Two follows through on the signs of promise the season one fnale has, maybe this rating will improve with time. For now, this series is still very intriguing, but still on the bubble."

---from the review

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Give it a chance; that's all I'll say. People who threw in the towel early on this show were actually quite surprised it was renewed. Regardless; those who stuck with the series to the finale might say differently. There's a lot of potential here...at least there is now. Give it time to grow, and hopefully, grow it will.

Tru Calling

A Review by Techtite

Any new TV series concept with half an ounce of daringness and originality in its concept, is bound to begin at a shaky start. Don't argue with me here: Star Trek The Next Generation began with shaky scripts and even shakier acting, Melrose Place began without Heather Locklear, and Simpsons began with (accept it, oh numerous fanboys) really bad animation. Yet these shows survived long enough to find their niche by the end of season two...if not already, by season one. Tru Calling, in my opinion, is such a show...based on the season one finale, that is.

The series is about a recent college graduate named Tru Davies (Eliza Dushku). Not unlike Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, she finds that the occasional day "rewinds," forcing her to start over again. Only this is no random, comedic event; she is sent back in time, as many times as it takes (!), to save the life of whoever asks. The problem is: she never knows what would-be corpse will spring to life again long enough to whisper something to her like, "Save me," so she's never totally prepared for the "do-over days" she's forced to repeat. These aren't simple cases of whodunit: she must also solve the mystery of how they died at all.

Not that a "do-over day" is a waste of Tru's time. Taking careful attention to what happens in both her and her friends' lives, she tries to make sure certain little mistakes don't happen a second time. Not that she does anything too devious, mind you, much to her brother's disappointment. She isn't into horse races like her brother is so no, she won't find out who won which race each day, so they could win big. She's a "good guy," after all. At least she is for now.

Granted, I labeled this one of the Fall 2003 seasons' Top 10 Most Intriguing New Shows. Also granted; the first episodes were good, but not great. However, the show has picked up a lot by the first season finale, so if you were sent to sleep by the first half dozen episodes; check out the ones you missed, in summer repeats, and see why the series was renewed for season two. A lot more has happened than simply adding a new lead star (Jason Priestly). In a way, the whole concept of the series has changed.

See: after about a dozen or so lives saved, in comes Jack to the morgue Tru works in. As it turns out, this is no happenstance event; Jack has been sent by whatever powers or "fates" you believe in, to bring back a sort of balance. After all, the people Tru saves were "meant" to die. Through Jack --and more specifically, the riveting season finale-- we learn that there is a balance of things: either the people Tru's trying to save must die, or someone else must. That's the apparent balance of the universe implied here. Jack has been sent to either defeat Tru's plans in each "re-day," or for plan-B, he must find someone else to die. Ouch.

Not that people who left the series, prior to Jack's introduction, have much to apologize for. The series' first season does have a lot of kinks that need to be flattened out. There's how the series "recaps" what happened in the first half hour, probably to appeal to the folks who tune in after watching Friends (or next season, Joey). This is really redundant, and pretty annoying, to those of us nice enough to tape/watch the show from the very beginning, so yeah, this recap has to go. There's also how the show seems to go through an entire day in the first half most nights, before "rewinding" only for the second half. What this boils down to is that Tru lives the same day twice in one show or, more specifically, we have to see her relive the same half hour all over again, twice, in an hour long show. This redundant format needs to be revised a little, although admittedly even I'm at a loss to know how.

However, the sort of Yin and Yang format that the season one finale promises, shows great promise for season two. That said: I'll give this series a marginal thumbs up so far --on escrow-- hoping that the series will know how to iron out the wrinkles in the script, and follow through on the promise that the whole Jack-and-Tru story arc provides. Many of the best shows on FOX began with a shaky start. Just give this series time.

                                                                    ---Techtite

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