Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Mike and Paul and their story
Cons: The rest of the characters just blend together
The Bottom Line:
Well developed leads
Rest of cast blends together
Could be much better
"In a Place Like
For years, I've been following every new show that the USA
Network produced (a habit I might be ending as none of their new shows appeal
to me). That means last summer, I tuned
in to season 1 of Graceland. Despite being from Jeff Eastin, creator of White Collar, a show I love, I knew
going into it that this would be a darker show.
Despite it being a year later, I'm still trying to decide what I think
of Graceland ,
and the tone of the show wasn't my problem with it.
Mike Warren (Aaron Tveit) is thrilled to be graduating from
his class at the FBI academy. A career
minded recruit, he is ready to get out in the field and prove himself so he can
start climbing the ranks. However, his
first assignment surprises him. He is
sent to Graceland, a house on the beach in Los Angeles that houses under cover members
of the FBI, DEA, and Boarder Patrol.
These people live and sometimes work together on various cases.
Soon after arriving, however, Mike learns the reason for
being assigned there. He is to
investigate Paul Briggs (Daniel Sunjata), the other FBI agent in the house who
might be working both sides. The trouble
is that Paul is the unofficial leader everyone looks up to who saves Mike's
life not too long after he arrives. With
conflicting loyalties and clues that something isn't quite right, can Mike
figure out the truth?
The show definitely has an interesting premise going for it,
and the more I watched, the more I found myself drawn into the complex
relationship between Mike and Paul.
These two characters work, and when they were on screen, I really found
myself caring about what happened.
The problem comes with the other residence of the
house. I never could keep them straight
- names, who they worked for, their story lines (if they had one),
anything. Often, the scenes with just
them bored me. So much time was
obviously spent on Mike and Paul that the rest of the cast was underserved.
Now I won't fault the actors at all. They did the best they could with the limited
material they were given. The
performances from everyone were great. I
just didn't find myself caring.
I was certainly intrigued by Mike and Paul's story enough to
keep tuning in each week. However, I'm
trying to decide if I will be back for season 2. I have a feeling I will give it a couple of
episodes, but if it doesn't grab me right away, I may tune out. The reason for my thinking? The USA Network's show In Plain Sight. I wasn't
crazy about the first season, but I kept watching. I decided to give season 2 just a couple of
weeks, but by the time I was done with them, I was hooked and went on to enjoy
the rest of the five year run.
This set collects all 12 episodes from the first season on
three discs with full surround and wide screen picture. The extras include deleted scenes, a gag
reel, and a featurette on the real Graceland
since this series is inspired by a true story.
If you haven't seen the show, my advice is to try to find
some way to watch it for free before you plunk down your money for season 1. If you enjoy Graceland ,
you'll enjoy this set. Otherwise, you
can just move on to another show you will like.
Season 1 Episodes:
1. Pilot
2. Guadalajara
Dog
3. Heat Run
4. Pizza Box
5. O-Mouth
6. Hair of the Dog
7. Goodbye High
8. Bag Man
9. Smoke Alarm
10. King's Castle
11. Happy Endings
12. Pawn
I watch plenty in the summer, mainly from the USA Network, although that will be changing soon, I have a feeling. Still, I may drop this one depending on how the first couple of episodes back go.
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