This series has been subjected to numerous negative reviews. I can sort of understand some people’s frustration, given that Kevin Williamson suggested this wasn’t going to become a show that’s just about violence against women – only for the show to start with a woman being killed in a fiery explosion.
But I do wonder where those criticising that draw the line – are they to suggest that every case should be stalking men, as if women don’t get stalked? No. Both genders get stalked. I have no complaints with the choice of victims in the pilot, but I do agree that it needs to even out over the course of the season.
The actual case was nothing spectacular, but it was a good starting point. It allowed both Beth and Jack to show off their skills to us, and it really set the tone for the season to come. I wasn’t overly fond of the first half of the episode, however, which focused far too much on the murder and attempted murder. This, for me, was the episode’s main flaw.Not every stalking case results in murder – admittedly, it’s not 100% the other way around either. However, if the stories can revolve a lot more around investigating the stalking side of things without the death of the victim, I really think that the show can work. Otherwise, it might become a slightly darker, stalking-added version of Criminal Minds.
The episode really picked up in the second half of the episode. I enjoyed the idea of the detectives attempting to prove that Larry was behind the stalking, and in fact, this concept intrigues me looking ahead to the season. It’s difficult to prove, and I’m looking forward to seeing inventive ways that the cases are solved.
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Stalker immediately creates a very dark feel. With the show coming from the creator of The Following, I’m hardly surprised. I really enjoyed this darkness though, and it definitely worked in the context of the show. This is one thing they need to keep up. If they take their foot off the pedal in this area, the show will lose a lot of its effect. I loved the chemistry between Beth and Jack. It was an interesting dynamic, with Beth not really open to having Jack on her team, while Jack tried desperately to make her like him. The humour was, at times, good; others a little bit strange.
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I enjoyed both character’s backstory – despite how little of Beth’s there was. Obviously, she was stalked – and the case was clearly very serious. It adds a nice edge to her character, and Maggie Q plays it very well. One line stuck with me: “I can lie better than you, and they believe me. They always do.” Beth’s scene with Perry was superb, and you could really feel the fear she put into him. Maggie Q is no stranger to playing strong women – and this is no different. From what I can gather, it appears that Jack slept with the Deputy Chief’s wife, got her pregnant, they got divorced, she moved to LA with the kid. I do hope that they explore it a bit more, because there are definitely avenues that the story can go down.
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I’m really looking forward to seeing Perry and Eric’s storyline play out during the season. As they pointed out early in the episode with a David Letterman reference, stalking takes place over an extended period of time. The more cases they introduce that last a number of episodes, the better. However, for now, I’m eagerly anticipating seeing more between these two. In all, this was a really enjoyable pilot. This is definitely the kind of show for someone who enjoys The Following, or Kevin Williamson in general. It needs to keep up its dark tone, as well as moving away from the idea of attempting to kill all of the victims and it needs to find inventive ways to solve cases. Those are just some of my wishes for the season ahead. What are your thoughts? Did you enjoy the episode? Do you have any wishes for the season ahead? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Just about every critic out there made this look like it would be the worst pilot of the season. Seriously, what the hell? I've seen way worse pilots than this get far less crap from critics.
ReplyDeleteI liked it. I thought there was alot of room for potential. The opening scene was definitely scary. And the little plot twists were very good. Although, this wasn't a typical stalking case since they went with two stalkers. But I did like the twist of it. I'm definitely going to watch more eps. I'm looking forward to us getting to know the characters better and see what cases they come up with.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this but I hope Jack doesn't keep stalking them he's probably going to get in a lot of trouble this season for it.
ReplyDeletethe biggest challenge is to keep Stalker fresh of new cases.....maybe a case that is two episode? or maybe a case that don't focus on stalker but teaching/testifying in court
ReplyDeletei don't understand why it was panned either. I watched a video review on another site and almost didn't watch this because the review was so bad. Now I'm wondering if I was actually watching the same show. I enjoyed it. I'm definitely willing to give it a chance.
ReplyDeleteMy only criticism is that they made Jack a stalker. Having Beth be an obvious victim of stalking I can tolerate. It adds an extra dimension to the show. But adding Jack's stalking to the mix is overkill in my opinion. I hope it stops.
I'm all for people not being into shows like this or "Criminal Minds" because of the violent content and women always being targeted as victims, being abused and raped and stalked and such. Very fair complaint, I totally understand why people are put off by that stuff being featured on TV. But when I see critics deride these kinds of shows only to then turn around and rave about stuff like "Game of Thrones" or "Scandal" or "Hannibal" or other shows of that ilk which have featured women being attacked as well as grotesque, violent scenes and imagery, I find myself very confused. In those instances, I think it's just critic snobbery kicking in and they don't want to admit it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I understand the wish to balance out the male/female victim numbers, but at the same time, women ARE most often the targets of violent crime. So it would make sense for crime shows to reflect that.
Anyway, I missed this premiere due to other reasons, but if the comments here and elsewhere are any indication, maybe I'll give it a look. May wait until tomorrow, though. When it's all light out and I'm not sitting alone in the dark :p.
It's been a while since I've seen the pilot so I'll have to watch it again. I have to admit that I haven't been following the coverage the series has got so I'm largely unaware of the criticism. I didn't find it a bad pilot, I liked the concept and the choice of cast for the main roles. What's clear though is that Stalker will be heavily reliant on the writing to retain its audience as opposed to other shows which can take some of the load off the writers with a good cast or concept.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see how the series develops
Detectives who deal with stalking stalk people themselves. What a weird catch that is! To be honest, I don't see where the critics are going with this. I believe this was the best pilot out of all CBS new dramas this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it. McDermott and Maggie Q seem comfortable with their roles and they do a good job portraying their characters. Great chemistry going on by the way. I am not being insensitive to people who have been stalked here, but I just see Stalker as another procedural crime show but it focuses on a different area of crime. NCIS, CSI, etc. deal with murder and Law and Order: SVU deals with crimes of sexual nature. Stalker's counterpart, Criminal Minds deal with the most demented criminals and it's on its 10th season. I find it odd that people are finding offensive to this but is it really any different from murder and rape that so many viewers are used to seeing every night? As I said, I'm not trying to be rude or judgmental, I felt that critics have been criticizing prematurely and not looking at the whole picture. Overall, count me in for the whole season. Really hope that ratings turn out to be good. I can see this lasting a few seasons and possibly a good successor to Criminal Minds once it has its run.
ReplyDeleteAmanda is the DDA who Jack is stalking? is going to be working with the team...........interesting that will force them to work together.......hopefully rekindle their relationship at some point
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the pilot and will keep watching for now. Looking forward to seeing more from the characters as well as seeing how they will develop any mythology arcs and keep the show from being a strictly cotw procedural.
ReplyDeleteI don't pay attention to most critics because,they are usually wrong.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this.. the two leads have great chemistry. The story wasn't boring, and it wasn't to over the topm I get a Scream vibe from the show and the writing. But KW is attached so that's not to much of a surprise. I'm looking forward to the next episode. And I don't know about anyone else but Dylan McDermott is a hottie :) so that's a plus for watching. And Daren Kagasoff from Secret Life was in thia too. He, ain't hard to look at either. Lol
ReplyDeleteBradley you are covering all the great new fall shows.
ReplyDeleteI fairly enjoyed the show, but somehow it is abstract for me to look at the show and be like okay. This were really extreme cases of Stalkers. I mean really. I witnessed some stalkerish situations but this were quite extreme.
The creepy situations were nicely set up and I was really surprised Jason was a stalker too. The male Stalker was creepy as hell and I*m glad he will be there next week as well.
Ha, thanks - though even I wouldn't agree with that; Forever and The Flash are the best new fall shows. Unfortunately I stepped down from doing the Scorpion reviews, however.
ReplyDeleteJason? Do you mean Jack? Yeah, the stalking cases were quite extreme. I enjoyed that though.
Yep, that was a great twist. Totally agree re: CM, CSI, Law and Order SVU etc - I don't understand how this is any different. As long as it doesn't become every single case is about women being the victim, I can't see what the issue is.
ReplyDeleteSee, I think that Maggie Q and Dylan McDermott are quite good attractors to the show, but they are the only two. I do agree though - the writing has to deliver week in, week out.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Pretty sure that the excuse given re GOT, Hannibal etc would be "The writing is better and it's crucial to the story." Just feels that sometimes people have certain restrictions for certain shows.
ReplyDeleteJack's stalking behaviour adds an interesting layer to him, but, looking at it from another point of view, it completely negates his point that he moved to LA to change.
ReplyDeleteYep, a case spanning two or three episodes would be good.
ReplyDeleteYep. tv.com's 'Should you watch this' article really ripped into Stalker. The Mysteries of Laura, which is geniunely the worst thing I've ever seen on television - I switched off when the two children began urinating on each other - got a negative review, but it wasn't ripped into anywhere nearly as bad as Stalker was http://www.tv.com/shows/mysteries-of-laura/community/post/mysteries-of-laura-pilot-review-141038756358/
ReplyDeleteI liked both, Forever and Flash, pilots. But the Forever follow up eps weren't on the same level it lost it's intensity. Will see how the Flash and Stalker will move along.
ReplyDeleteYou stepped down from Scorpion? Why?
yes I meant Jack.
Still not seen 1.03 of Forever. But I enjoyed 1.02.
ReplyDeleteWas finding it difficult to review. Lisa's taking over - and she's a very good reviewer.
Yeah, I hope they keep the intensity up, but they need to ensure they're not letting the 'fear factor' get in the way of the quality of the writing.
I liked 1.03 more than 1.02 but still they need to shift up a gear and dig deeper into his history and not go procedural.
ReplyDeleteThe thing with Kevin Williamson shows is he can quickly lose the line between it's good for the story and overstepping and trying to hard to impress. He did VD for 2 seasons and it worked while he was there, but lost himself completely with The Following. So I hope he has someone who keeps his vision clear and doesn't step over the line trying to trump himself-
Just watched 1.03. That was awesome. I too am loving the backstory, but I feel it's going at a nice pace and working well in conjunction with the story.
ReplyDeleteYep, The Following lost its quality very, very quickly.
Really enjoyed the show and do not know what the critics were on about. Hope that now it has been shown word of mouth about how good it is will help the ratings to increase. One of the problems is that CBS gave it the wrong name. They should have called it TAU, as it seems that only shows with leters do really well on CBS!
ReplyDeleteI think that Jack at the moment does not see it as stalking as he is just trying to see his son. He probablys sees stalking as trying to terrify people and creeping about in their house.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the story will have him realise duriing his work that what he is doing is stalking and that is where his change will come from. I think he meant that he is trying to change from a person who tries to sleep with any woman.
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteHopefully at CBS they will have someone working with him to stop this from happening.
ReplyDeleteIt was ok.. I LOVE JACK CHARACTER.. A true detective type of guy.. And the way he looks at things and pieces together puzzles was brilliant... Can't say much for Maggie Q character.. I could tell from the trailers I would not like her character to much and I was right. If this show does not last trust me its because of her. Story wise its great.. Just as long as each episode don't mirror the episode before.. Keep it fresh. 1-10 I give it a 6 1/2
ReplyDeleteMaggy Q and Dylan McDermott back on my screen are great, but I am not sure if that is enough. The rest of the team are boring close to invisible, I hope it gets better. Same time slot on Wednesday is Chicago PD which I really like and will watch live. Lets wait and see if Stalker is worth to record, if Arrow and The 100 are back my Wednesday is planned out.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I got really into the show lately and i love it, but I really don't like Amanda and for them to rekindle the relationship (especially after all the crap she's putting him through at the minute) would defeat the purpose of her moving and keeping him away from Ethan in the first place, and would also give the show too much of a "happy ever after" vibe, at least at this point in time. I just really don't like Amanda to be honest...
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the critics were on about, they all made it sound like it would be the worst episode/show to ever air! I really liked the idea behind it and I love most of the characters already. Maggie Q plays Beth really well, a strong woman, capable of leading people, but who has also had something traumatic happen in her past. I loved the chemistry between Beth and Jack, how she was so reluctant to have him on her team, yet they seem to have become closer quite quickly.
ReplyDeleteI can't say that I even remotely like Amanda though... I hope they bring Janice and Ben into the foreground a bit more though, because at the moment they're just kind of...there. I'm currently 7 episodes in and i'm still really liking the cases, though I don't recommend watching alone in the dark.