What I’m Watching: Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard: Season 2, Episode 8 “Mercy” (B+)

I’ve been a big fan of Jay Karnes since his performance in a standout season one episode of “The Shield” called “Dragonchasers” where his character, Dutch, interrogated a serial killer to get him to crack, and while I’d love to see him getting regular roles, I am pleased what he does get. He was playing hardball with Picard and Guinan when he was offering definitive proof that they were aliens, but as Guinan managed to communicate to him after Q came to see her, he was actually a true believer who was terrified by the encounter he misunderstood with a Vulcan when he was a child. Picard warmly explained what he was actually trying to do, and the newly-fired Agent Wells got to be the hero before he walked out of the building. Rios and Teresa fast-forwarded their relationship, which was sweet, but they likely won’t have much more time before they have to leave this era. Adam was completely honest with Kore now that she’s discovered the truth, and her walking away with the antidote after he demeaned her existence only got him to spiral further into miserable fury. That made him the perfect target, either an ally or a conquest, for the newly-repowered Borg Queen Agnes, who didn’t kill Seven and Raffi when she had the chance but did start assimilating some soldiers, a frightening development for a humankind that is not at all equipped to defend itself without the advanced technology they’ll come to invent in the future.

What I’m Watching: The Walking Dead (Season Premiere)

The Walking Dead: Season 8, Episode 1 “Mercy” (B)

Here we go again. I went into this episode without much excitement since I feel that, even more than rolling my eyes at how cyclical this show has become, I just don’t care what’s happening anymore. Negan is likely the most formidable, evil villain this show has seen yet, though I’m partial to the Governor’s first season since I think the show was much stronger back then. At this point, Rick has demonstrated something he hasn’t felt for a while, which is that he’s confident, and his people are organized. Negan didn’t seem bothered when they showed up, but he did run when Rick and crew started firing at them. Darryl riding and causing explosion after explosion to keep the walkers behind him was cool and seemed to serve some purpose, but Negan was still the one asking Gabriel if he brought the right pants because of the big surprise that he had in store for them. Gregory proved totally useless, trying to scare off the Hilltop residents and failing, and then bailing and taking one of the vehicles with him. There was something enticing about seeing Ezekiel, Jesus, Rick, Maggie, and Gabriel having a pow-wow before battle, but all the quick shots of the supporting characters reminds me how little we’ll learn of most of them before they disappear for episodes at a time and then return to be shot in the eye with an arrow. Our good guys aren’t being nice anymore, killing on sight and setting walkers on those they leave alive, and there’s an odd silver lining to all this, featuring a gray-haired Rick in some probably imagined future. I don’t get it, and I don’t think we’ll have clarity anytime soon.

Pilot Review: Mercy

Mercy (NBC)
Premiered September 23 at 8pm

NBC has been hanging out at a hospital since the early 1990s when “ER” first premiered. Now, only six months after the show wrapped its fourteenth and final season, a next-generation medical drama is here to take its place. “Mercy” is a definitive riff on “Grey’s Anatomy,” and might be better termed a rip-off. The way it presents its characters tries to imply that they have more depth to them, but that’s really not the case. Nurse Veronica Callahan is a war veteran plagued by what she saw overseas who dreams of getting herself taken out by gunfire while making breakfast in the morning. Her family includes a bunch of drunkards, and she parades around the hospital pouting and yelling at everyone she possibly can. Meredith on “Grey’s Anatomy” is infamously unlikable, but at least behind the grating whininess it’s clear that she has a kind heart. Veronica seems to have a heart of stone, and her predictable she-knows-what-to-do-better-than-anyone epiphanies don’t make her any less detestable. It’s especially surprising, therefore, that she has not one but two guys desperate to win her over. Scenes of doctors and nurses pulling each other into closets to make out or scantily-clad nurses (don’t they all have to wear the same scrubs?) sauntering down the hallway with all eyes literally on them are trying fearfully hard to make it clear that this show is sexy. It’s not, and it only gets worse as it goes on. The appearance of a smiling Michelle Tratchtenberg dressed in Hello Kitty scrubs is where the show really tanks, and her requisite role as the perky ingénue is a pesky annoyance. The moment that really got my blood boiling came when the ever-angry Veronica comes upon a frightened screaming woman in the passenger seat of car whose husband had been impaled, and Veronica grabs her by the nose to force her to calm down. Edginess is really overrated, and writers would do well to remember that. It’s a toss-up whether Taylor Schilling (Veronica) or Tratchtenberg is the more despicable performer, and it’s a low point for many other actors as well. Delroy Lindo is stifled by his obnoxiously big bow tie as the hospital administrator, James LeGros (“Sleeper Cell”) is hidden by a grizzled beard and puzzled expression, and Guillermo Diaz is relegated to being the prototypically gay male nurse after chewing scenery on “Weeds” the past three seasons as Guillermo Garcia Gomez. The most unfortunate role is that bestowed upon Kate Mulgrew, demoted from her “Star Trek: Voyager” captainship to the part of Veronica’s drunk mother. Things are really in a sad state on this show, and there’s nothing good to compensate for all the bad.

How will it work as a series? Medical cases can be developed forever (see: 14 seasons of “ER”), so that can b ea long-lasting element of the show. The character-character drama may not prove as fertile, as eventually Tratchtenberg’s Chloe will have to grow up and toughen up and therefore become one of the girls, and there’s not actually as much ground to cover with Veronica as the show wants there to be. Think of it as the ugly stepsister of “ER.”
How long will it last? Viewers do love good soapy medical drama, and “Grey’s Anatomy” has done extraordinary will. This is no “Grey’s Anatomy,” however, and there’s little about it that will entice or draw viewers. NBC is rather starved for primetime real estate after “The Jay Leno Show” took over five of its weekly hours, and therefore this show may have to be cycled out before it goes on hiatus in December.

Pilot grade: F