The Safe House - Expositions

The Men
James Walker (Michael Vartan): Even adjusting for my natural Ho bias, his character is the most relatable and sympathetic. His storyline has the most dramatic punch, and in my opinion he's the only character who gets to show much emotional depth. The director seemed to want to capitalize on Michael's attractiveness (can't argue with that!) -- there are lots of nice close-ups of him. James is the most instantly likeable of the guys.
Brody Johns (Christopher Titus): He's obviously meant to be the designated "comic relief" character, given to snarky comments and animated line readings, but he has a genuine/dramatic moment or two. Besides James, he was the only other main guy that I really liked. I think my biggest giggle of the pilot came from his occupation, given his situation with his wife.
Duncan Collingswoth (Dylan McDermott): I think it's impossible for DM not to be an Intense Actor. It worked on "The Practice," but he seems a little too intense for the show here. I found Duncan sleazy and too snarky-quippy, though he did have a good moment or two. Generally, he seemed to leer at every female in leering range. His "quips" were too manufactured, like they were writing him for lines to include in the promo. That could be a result of DM's acting style, though. They probably would have felt more natural coming from Christopher Titus. I felt like he got the most attention in the pilot, because he had three plot avenues going on -- his relationship with his ex-wife, his relationship with his daughter, and then the whole "oops, I got a blowjob from a transvestite hooker" thing.
Karl Mixworthy (Joshua Malina): As much as I like Joshua Malina, I just can't find any sympathy for somebody cheating on his wife. So I didn't care about his troubles with his "crazy mistress" or if his wife might find out. Cry me a river, dude. He seemed to be in permanent fret mode.

The Women
I liked Nia Long's character (Katie), and it seems clear they're setting something up for the future between her and James. They had a nice chemistry and obviously know each other well. They've given her really big hair -- I kind of think they need to tone that down a bit. I'm not used to Nia with big hair. I rather liked Duncan's ex-wife, Lisbeth, too -- she seems like a strong character who can hold her own. Of course, James' wife, Stacy, is too stupid to like or relate to, what with cheating on him with his boss for no explicable reason. Idiot. The jury's a bit out for me on Duncan's daughter, Cameron. She had bratty moments and nice moments. The actress playing Karl's mistress, Marla, is engaging and fun, but the character is too over-the-top floozy/ditzy. Didn't really see enough of Karl's wife to make much of a judgment on her, and we only get to see the back of Brody's wife.

Overall
It was fun and clearly they spent some money on the pilot, but I wasn't blown away by it or "OMG!! SQUEEEEE!" over it. I think it suffered a bit from "pilot-itis," where pilots have so much to relay right off the bat that it bogs things down a bit. There were so many characters being introduced, it was kind of frenetic jumping from one guy's plot line to another. It moved too fast to be able to pause to empathize with the guys or really take in what they were going through -- with the exception of MV's character. I wanted more time spent with MV's character, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. ;-)

I don't want to make it seem like it was bad. I enjoyed it, and it was definitely entertaining. I just think they haven't quite found their groove yet and have a bit of work still to do, which isn't at all unusual with pilots. I think it has a lot going for it, and all the pieces are there for a really fun show. I look forward to seeing how it grows and develops.

© The Safe House 2007

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