Pilot Review: Black Box

Black Box (ABC)
Premiered April 25 at 10pm

There’s a tendency, at least during midseason, for shows to seemingly come out of nowhere. I hadn’t heard a thing about this show before I happened to catch advertisements during a JetBlue flight back from California two days before its premiere. It’s hard to know where the ideas for some shows come from and why they seem appealing, but in this case it is true that the brain is a fascinating thing. What’s more interesting is the show’s title, which might be more edgy and current if it referenced, say, the device of the same name that keeps a record of events aboard a plane, but instead it has to do with neurology and one very prominent intellectual with a secret case of bipolar disorder. I read somewhere before I saw the pilot that posited that Dr. Catherine Black was the new Carrie Mathison, or rather, more erroneously, that “Black Box” was the new “Homeland.” The latter is certainly not true because this is, at most, a medical thriller, but the former could well be, since Catherine gives Carrie a run for her money in the crazy department, acting as self-destructive as humanly possible despite her innate brilliance. Her behavior seems especially off-the-walls in part because of the puzzling and peculiar accent employed by actress Kelly Reilly, a native of England who mastered a Southern accent in “Flight” but here does something far more regrettable that suggests that maybe she should have stuck to her natural way of speaking. In the supporting cast are a handful of other non-American actors, including David Ajala, who was in Tribeca hit “Starred Up,” and Laura Fraser, who had a much more compelling part in the last few seasons of “Breaking Bad.” Vanessa Redgrave is also present as the one person who knows the truth about Catherine’s condition. I was somewhat into this show until she started frantically dancing in the stairwell. There is something interesting about her referencing a handful of geniuses who happened to later commit suicide, but this show overall feels like a bit of a mess, just as chaotic and unorganized as Catherine when she’s off her meds.

How will it work as a series? Each week is likely to feature a different guest star with some sort of hidden brilliance masked by a disease, and in that sense this show is akin to “House” in terms of it being a medical mystery. There’s also the ongoing saga of Catherine and her self-destructive nature, which is sure to intensify as she confides more in Will and makes continuously bad decisions with Dr. Bickman.
How long will it last? Technically speaking, the ratings weren’t incredible, but ABC is touting this show as its best premiere since “Nashville” in 2012. I’m not sure that’s a magnificent figure, but ABC hasn’t had much luck lately in the pilot department, and the network could use a hit that isn’t really all that much like anything else on television right now, even if it isn’t the best show.

Pilot grade: C