#12) if you count the fosterhome and history

[thefirsthogokage]

I hate procedural shows, but I'm bored and I need a break from Criminal Minds. I know, not exactly much of a change, but here we go. And quite frankly, I want to watch Erika Christensen get work.

Will Trent: 1x01 - Pilot

-Will most likely include spoilers-

Oh look, Jennifer Morrison. Honestly I never liked her much (or at all really) on Once Upon a Time.

Oh? Her daughter's name is Emma? Well that was definitely on purpose. This is airing on ABC after all.

This house in unnecessarily large.

Oh interesting filming style, they manage to hide the stunt people pretty well. Poor her character finding her daughter like that.

I was surprised when it looked like it she was going to die. Having Jennifer Morrison come in just to die? Anywho, good job this scene, like I said, not typically a fan of her acting. At least not the last time or two I've seen her.

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What the hell is this voice/accent? I don't like it. Gonna be super annoying. It's not completely southern.

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Ew, don't like the visuals here with this opening. Bad CGI.

I know that actress. Who is that actress? What many things have I seen her in? Is her voice really that deep now?

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Is he trying to do a Georgian accent? It sounds a New Orleans at times, I think. Is he doing it over a Puerto Rican accent? Like, as long as the say the character is originally from Puerto Rico, loved there a long time, or parents were immigrants and picked it up a bit from them, I'd be fine with it. But if they say he's only lived in the US...then his accent isn't 100% spot on in a way that's frustrating. Honestly if he couldn't fully do the accent, they don't really need him to do it.

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Oh look, starting off on a case where our Extra Amazing Detective knows someone related to the victim? How original.

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Oh is this going to be a mixed up identity thing? Won't actually be their kid but her friend in there house. Cue their real daughter coming in in 3, 2,

Wait were they going to let him turn over the girl's body? That's not kosher at a crime scene, geezus.

Oh that's sad. The boy tried to help and she kind of helped him die a bit.

Is one of the parents going to be in on this?

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Erika Christensen! She's only 40? I feel like she should be older. Not that she looks it.

Wait I know her from Parenthood? I thought I'd seen her in stuff before that and from longer ago.

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His accent feels forced and artificial. I don't like it. It's, it's off and it bothers me.

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I kind of don't want to finish this. Actually I know I don't. I do t know why I try to watch standard procedurals. There are no unique procedural stories anymore. Watched too much Law & Order when I was younger, so there's nothing that can surprise me anymore. Nothing I don't spot before it happens. No, "What are they thinking?" Not being able to find out until someone says anything. I came, I saw Erika Christensen having a job that will last him a season, the rest is annoying.

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Well here's something different: too many plots/info going on half way in.

1) The main case.

2) Whatever drug-related thing Erika Christensen is dealing with.

3) The abused woman Erika Christensen is dealing with.

4) The cop that collapsed.

An overstimulating number of stories. Let's see if more happens.

Oh look:

5) This detective having issues with her kid.

6) That detective put away ended this other detective's mom's cop career.

I guess 7) half of these detectives hate Trent.

Way too much personal shit going on with too many characters going on in the first episode. Yes, you do have to introduce people in the first episode, but this feels like too much at once. Too many storylines. Let people be curious about shit going on between characters for a while before it comes out. Not make it feel like an info dump of many plot points.

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BAD transition to a later time. If you didn't catch it, it would look like he was walking down the hall into a thing it sounded like he planned it the sentence before. Just bad transition, bad edit, bad framing.

Oh look, a detective hitting a guy. I mean, it's a think they can get away with.

No, Jennifer Morrison's character, lying about living in an orphanage does not make someone a sociopath. It means they were ashamed of something and it sounds like he had good reason for not wanting to tell you based on your reaction. I mean, yeah, he cheated on you too, but that also doesn't mean he's a sociopath or that you could diagnose him as one.

Ffs can people stop throwing around the DIAGNOSTIC TERM "sociopath" when they have zero idea what it means and can't diagnose it!

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Oh look, back to the secondary case. Why are they doing that? They aren't doing the back and forth e between the cases well.

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I hate the Prodigal Detective trope. HATE it. Not original anymore.

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Ah, that's why they had that cop have a stroke, to get EC to transfer.

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So, Will Trent is a weird guy, but he's not really interesting. Maybe it's just all the Super Smart Detective stories I've seen that's a problem. Could they at least do this with a woman? I mean, there was Untouchable. Do something else too.

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So, no he and cop who's mother's career he fucked up are cool? I figured they'd resolve that quick. Lame. Boring. Predictable.

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Figured EC would be the love interest. Just didn't expect them to already be together. Oh, and another three storylines/plot points with this:

8) She had a thing with white guy

9) Her and Will Trent

10) Will's scars (which they make a deal of them being person with in a way just so we know they are personal. She's seen them before, he should be comfortable with it by now. It's a bad introduction to something. It's out of place. Reminds me of stuff they did on the Doogie Disney show. Stuff that you do when you try to introduce an element to a character, but you don't do it smoothly, so it comes off as forced.)

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Also they sepia'd this show. Probably because it's in the south 🙄. TV shows should not make the coloring just flat out not how things work in the real world. Too yellow/orange and it's just unwatchable.

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11) Will Trent is dyslexic.

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I guess one thing that's nice about this: the Main Character is already with someone, don't have to go through that whole thing.

End on a cliffhanger, ok.

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Final thoughts:

Will I be watching more? No. I don't even care that it ends on a cliffhanger. For the coloring alone, it's difficult on the eyes. But also from a writing standpoint it's not a good pilot. Too much info, too much stuff going on, too much background. It's over stuffed and it makes it over stimulating.

That's not how you write a pilot. That's not how you edit a pilot. Not just from the coloring stand point, but from the quick jumps they had in there.

They shoved too much in too fast and made it bad on the eyes. Not absolutely the worst I have ever seen (that goes to The Deputy), but still bad and visibly I just can't continue.

I've never been happier to stop watching a show at a cliffhanger.