Pilot Review: Low Winter Sun

Low Winter Sun (AMC)
Premiered August 11 at 10pm

Launching a series behind the final eight episodes of “Breaking Bad” is a brilliant idea. Something as dark as the notion of two cops killing one of their own and then working hard to keep it covered up seems like a perfect pairing. It’s even more enticing when the two actors, who I’ve nominated for a handful of AFT Awards – Lennie James for his TV work on shows like “The Walking Dead” and “Hung” and Mark Strong for his film work in “Body of Lies,” “The Guard,” and “Zero Dark Thirty” – are cast in the lead roles. Unfortunately, this pilot was far from satisfying, going for way too gritty in its opening moments and failing to recover from that. It feels much too staged, with Strong cast as the stoic but conscience-burdened one and James the smooth-talking justified of their initial deed and subsequent acts. It’s peculiar to me to see two British actors starring as American partners, but I suppose that’s less relevant. Incorporating the late McCann’s impending drug bust and his death’s ripple effect on the criminal community is somewhat interesting, but it’s difficult to be drawn in to that storyline because of the nature of the characters, who are all far from appealing. I also don’t quite get the concept of this show as a weekly series, since it seems to me to be more of a one-shot event that only proves relevant in how they act to continue hiding what they did. From this start, I’m far from intrigued, and less than interested on seeing where it goes from here.

How will it work as a series? I wasn’t impressed with the pilots of “Breaking Bad,” “Hell on Wheels,” or “The Killing,” all of which turned out to be pretty decent, and so I’m inclined to think that this show might just need a bit of time to grow into its own skin. It still seems to me to be a thin and temporary premise, but with the right follow-up storylines, maybe it could work.
How long will it last? Premiering right after “Breaking Bad” is both helpful and harmful, because it creates high expectations which an unclearly-named show can’t possibly match. It’s hard to predict how this show will fare because it’s such a wild card, but given lukewarm reviews and unspectacular ratings, I suspect this might be one of AMC’s rare one-season dramas.

Pilot grade: C+