39 Thoughts on Minority Report: “Pilot” — Sept. 21, 2015
Minority Report made its debut on Fox tonight. I’ve been looking forward to it. Admittedly, I did not love the 2002 Tom Cruise movie, but this looked like it might be interesting. So here’s my stream-of-consciousness take on the first episode.
- Okay, here we go.
- Children laughing in a field, who doesn’t like that?
- Uh-oh, these kids are undergoing some sort of scientific study. They are precogs and can see into the future. Now the kids are just creepy.
- Creepy kids are an overused device.
- Where’s Meagan Good? I’m watching this for Meagan Good.
- Weirdo guy in a bar. This makes me realize that I should catch up on Mr. Robot.
- There are way too many special effects crowded into the first five minutes.
- Where’s Meagan Good?
- Ha! I like the animated pot leaf ad. Don’t mind if I do.
- Sort of a cool overhead of the train going into the city. Kind of derivative, though. Say hi to President Snow for me!
- Oh, God more special effects.
- Where’s Meagan Good? I was promised Meagan Good.
- Finally, the long national nightmare is over, it’s Meagan Good!
- And that is one frisky outfit, I want that jacket when she’s done with it.
- Since I don’t care about these special effects, this is a good time to mention that Meagan Good’s hairstyle is quite becoming.
- That tour guide’s voice is really familiar, it sounds like Brook Soso from Orange is The New Black.
- I just checked IMDb, alas, it’s not Kimiko Glenn, the actress who plays Soso on OITNB.
- Okay, Megan Good finally met the weird guy. He can predict future crimes, he’s a precog. Too bad for him that nobody wants precogs to predict pre-crime anymore.
- Oh, no, Weird Guy, you did not just stab Meagan Goode with an EpiPen!
- Hey, it’s that guy! Wilmer Valderrama. I’m fairly certain that I have never seen his work. Well, this is my chance.
- Mr. TV Recaps called out something from the other room, so now I missed a scene. I’m not rewinding, though.
- Poor Dash. That’s the weird guy’s name. You can tell he doesn’t have friends and leads a sad and lonely life.
- Wait, what did he just do to that woman who was scolding him? Was she a hologram? Well, in any case he just issued a pretty decisive Bye Felicia. Her name is Agatha. If I ever watch this show again, I will call her Nagatha.
- I still find the special effects distracting.
- Meagan Good just tracked down poor, friendless Dash and stole his french fries.
- I can think of another cop who stole french fries in the pilot of a Fox procedural that used to air in this time slot.
- French fries in the future are healthy? I’m warming up to this show.
- Now we’re talking, there’s an Empire commercial!
- Speaking of, I hope there is a Sleepy Hollow commercial because that’s the show Fox should be promoting. Especially since this show is in Sleepy Hollow’s old time slot.
- The commercial break is over. I wish that was a good thing.
- Lara Vega is “tired of picking up the pieces.”
- Sooooo not to keep yammering on about Sleepy Hollow, but it is my favorite TV show. It doesn’t escape me that a peculiar white guy is being guided through life by a lady of color who is good at her policing job. No other similarity, though.
- Except for stealing french fries.
- Oh, this was an amusing moment. Dash and Lara are interrogating someone about something or other. It’s a sad story, so Dash blurts out to the storyteller, “Is that why you drink?” and Lara has to cover for him and then she pulls him aside to hiss at him.
Lara: Is that why you drink?
Dash: You told me to tell you when I saw something.
Lara: Are you not familiar with the concept of a whisper?”
35. This is a spacious apartment, is this where Lara lives? Gotta say we saw a glimpse of my beloved Abbie Mills’ pad in the third episode of Season One and after that I don’t know what happened. She might have been sleeping in her car at night. Well, I hear she’s going to be getting a home in Season Three, so moving on.
35. This is a cute scene where Dash is meeting Lara’s family. Forty minutes in and I feel mildly less disgruntled.
36. Aww, she has a snowglobe digital photo thingy. I’d like one of those.
37. I actually like this scene where Lara and Dash are just talking and not running around, bumping into touch-screens.
38. Am I going to maybe like this show? Let’s not get crazy, it’s been about five tolerable minutes.
39. Okay, here’s some new guy who has manic energy and supposed to come off a loon, but he’s clearly going to be the Cassandra.
37. This scene with the manic guy, Wally, is a little over the top. Actually, it’s totally over the top. Don’t lose me, Show. I was just starting to maybe not hate you.
38. Oh, here’s an attractive man. I’m paying attention now. He’s Arthur, Dash’s brother. He’s probably supposed to be a jerk, but I’ll gladly accept the eye candy. Don’t judge me!
39. Well, the cute guy is gone and we’re back to plot. It involves birds. Dash saved Lara, they will be pals. I’ll let the great Willow Rosenberg, sum it up for me.
Tonight’s episode gets one big “meh,” but I’ll still give the show another shot next week.
Minority Report airs on Mondays at 9 p.m. on Fox
So, I thought I was the only person who notice the similarities with Sleepy Hollow! We some how connected on this lol
*Similarities
-Monday nights after Gotham
-Strange, kind of cute white guy needs guidance because he is in a “new phase” of his life and he needs help.
-A beautiful black woman, who happens to be tough cop and cute. Comes along entangled in cute white guys mysterious problems.
– They have an awkward chemistry that works and some love educate each other on different but small subjects, like Tinder lol
The difference is I actually like Minority report, the movie. That was the difference in me only liking this, some what. The movie had a lot more “grit” and ” raw edge”, that show doesn’t display. Tom Cruise’s character was abusing drugs because he lost his son. So naturally he dives into work. I did like the special affects. This is what sort of made the movie intriguing to me.
The cast seems diverse. Another Sleepy Hollow season 1 trait. Megan Good was ok in this. She better in Deception which she was the lead on NBC. I just wasn’t interested in why Dash left. I felt like he should have left because someone was chasing him and went Lara for protection. For the cost of that protection, he helps her prevent murders. I really do hope it gets better. I am all here for the Black girl magic. I am really disappointed to see this has replaced Sleepy Hollow on Monday nights. After the episode, it was the wrong decision.
Hi Dawn! Thanks so much for your comment. Well-said. My favorite shows are love-at-first sight. I can pretty much tell you the exact moments I fell for Buffy, The Wire, The Sopranos, Veronica Mars etc. This unfortunately was bland. I watched that Megan Good show “Deception,” too. It was guilty-pleasure fun. Let’s hope it gets better. — Elaine F.
I saw a different version of the show! I missed the show on Monday so I downloaded a torrent of the pilot. The download was very different from the one that I saw on FOX.com. It’s a better version than the one on FOX.
1.) On the download, Dash’s brother was assumed to be missing and there was only a brief view of the sister.
2.) Only the daughter was the killer, not her father and there was only one bird used, not an entire flock.
3.) There wasn’t a lot of useless dialogue and scenes. Everything was seamless.
4.) The chemistry between all 4 characters were more noticeable
Dammit! This is very disappointing. I loved the downloaded version. Whoever decided to put that other one on tv made a mistake.
Hi Iris, thanks for commenting! Wow, that is illuminating — and puzzling. Maybe they messed up and aired the wrong one?! Well, now I definitely have to watch the next episode and see if it’s any better. I hope you watch it, too. I want to know what you think! — Elaine