It’s less The unusuals and more The Unbalanced. This episode was definitely better. I’m happy that there is a strong continuity between episodes, which is something you don’t get in a lot of police procedurals.
I definitely think that pairing of cop who thinks he’s invincible and cop who is sure he’s going to die this year is the best part. The main pairing felt better this episode too.
Double post
Well, for me not sure if I’ll keep watching or not (and I’m also guessing that this show won’t last but a few more episodes anyway).
I had fairly high hopes for this, but it’s not engaging me. There are only two characters I find interesting - the main guy (whatever his name is, played I guess by Jeremy Renner, whom I’ve never seen before but is pretty good) and the one played by Adam Goldberg (who is great - there’s something about that actor I’ve always liked). But I’m already tired of pretty much the rest of the crew.
But the cases are blah, and the action not realistic - even in the places you would hope they would be. Really put me off the way the cops entered the ping pong hall - all bunched up with guns drawn like that? IANACop, but that didn’t seem right.
They can’t seem to find the right balance between wacky and drama.
Maybe. Obviously they’re trying to do both but maybe they just need to stretch their legs a little bit. We’ve only had two shows so far.
And I’ve liked it. I don’t think it’s the best show ever, of course, but I like the two leads as well as Goldberg and his partner.
Something is being developed for religious cop, and he may be heading up the river, as they say. Would the story play out and a lead be sent to prison? My guess is he may compromise his religious ways and kill his old friend to silence him.
I only watched the premiere, and couldn’t get past my dislike of both Amber Tamblyn and Jeremy Renner. I have limited time for TV watching these days (baseball season!), so I decided not to give it more than one chance – which is unlike me, but Tamblyn and Renner really bothered me.
Agreed – and they are two actors who I like.
I didn’t get “seems to be indestructible” from the premiere: he has a brain tumor that he refuses to get treatment for and is told that he has 3 (6?) months to live, so he starts pondering suicide/taking big risks (figuring what has he got to lose). But you’re not the only one who mentioned “indestructible”: did they play that up more than I noticed, or play it up more in the second episode?
I don’t think he considers himself indestructible (or else he wouldn’t have to worry about a brain tumor) but he seems blessed with extraordinary luck when taking stupid chances. Namely the subway train stopping inches from his face, the close-range shotgun blast completely missing him and (this past week)
jumping from a rooftop to a fire escape across an alleyway because he “followed the dove” (instructions from a fortune cookie. He also (off camera) tackled a guy wielding a samuari sword to which his partner laments - paraphrased - that he should have “let me soften him up with a few bullets”.
I’ve been watching this, but it’s a few episodes in now, and they still don’t seem to know what the tone is of the show. The mix of dumb humour, dark humour and emotional drama just isn’t working, possibly because the characters themselves seem really one note. They all have their hook, and that’s all they seem to have.
I really want to like this show, but I’m just not sure it’s good enough.
I’m hooked. I missed the second episode but caught the two ABC had on this week. Maybe that has something to do with it. It’s not quite like watching on DVD, but not having to wait a week helped with continuity.
Some of the things I like:
The women cops are dressed appropriately – no short tight skirts or cleavage or spike heels. The men look like real guys (except for Amber’s BF who is really pretty).
The dialogue is sharp but it comes off as natural. Smart people might actually talk like that. Plus, there’s not a lot of dialogue.
They’re communicating. Like last night, the cop who’s sleeping with Walsh admitted to Amber that she was broke, and later told Walsh too. That’s what real people do – they talk to each other about their problems, instead of keeping them hidden TV-style for plot points later.
I like the music and the street shots.
I missed Tuesday’s extra episode but caught it last night. Still watching, still grumbling whenever I have to deal with Christian Cop.
“Oh noes! You’re still here, bad guy from my past? Go 'way!”
“Hahaha! I think I’ll go kill some cops!”
“Eeek! No, don’t do that! Go 'way! Go 'way!”
“Don’t you want me to kill some cops? I’m agonna kill some cops!”
“Please no! Go 'way!”
Rinse & repeat week in and week out. Also, I’d like to see a little more interaction in the storylines. It almost feels like two or three separate shows, each with its own tone depending on who you’re looking at. But I’m still watching and will watch it next week.
Just in case you missed it, ‘bad guy from my past’ is Christian cop’s cousin. Christian cop didn’t used to such a nice guy and even now may have some nefarious motives.
This plot line is bugging me too, because the cousin is so stupid. He tells Christian Cop when and where he’s going to burgle a place. What’s to keep Christian Cop from shooting him? Assuming there are no witnesses (and there wouldn’t be, or cousin wouldn’t be burgling), CC could get away with it. Problem solved. Except for his conscience, of course.
I know the crux of Christian Cop’s storyline, I just don’t cotton to it. It annoys me.
Edit: I did miss Bad Guy being his cousin; I thought he was an accomplice or friend from CC’s seedy past. Not that it changes much.
I thought the Murder Store idea was actually kind of funny, and almost sorry they closed it. Could have been a fun sub-plot for at least a few episodes.
The show is not bad, and I for one would rather watch this than Life On Mars that was a one trick (episode) pony that seemed to go on and on and on.
It comes on at a bad time for me so I miss it but my SO loves it.
And every episode he lets me know the “black guy from Lost” is on it. 
I thought the second episode a day early was a bad idea, for as much continuity as this show has. It’s not a procedural, really (though if advertising it as such gets people to watch it, yay, I guess).
I really like this show. I expected Navan/Henry to be a really bad guy after the pilot, but it’s interesting how he’s actually trying to mitigate damage while keeping his secret.
Man, I had no idea there was an extra episode until I saw this post. Way to go ABC advertising. I’m enjoying this show more with each episode. The characters are slowly becoming less “zany.”
I keep wishing the main male character was Nathan Fillion. There’s a slight resemblance to the actor actually playing the character, but even disregarding that I can totally see him in the role.
Yeah, every time I see him I think ‘Nathan Fillion with a really funny looking nose’.
-Joe
I missed the first episode but have caught it since and it’s growing on me. The commercials for it made it seem like they all had superpowers or something, so the actual show was somewhat of a surprise. The first one I watched just seemed kind of… odd. I wouldn’t know how to try to describe the show to anyone else except as ‘an offbeat cop drama with secretive officers’. But I like it, especially that it’s offbeat without meandering into straight comedy.
I was starting to like it, and the zombie episode clinched it. It’s now on my tivo list.