It’s essentially ABC’s version of “24,” without the real-time gimmick, from the producers of “Haunted” and a mysterious writer-producer named Daniel Voll, about a “super-secret” division of the U.S. Homeland Security Agency.
“Threat Matrix” stars Jamie Denton (“The Pretender,” “Philly”), Kelly Rutherford (“Melrose Place,” “Scream 3”), Will Lyman (“The Siege”), Kurt Caceres (“All My Children”), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (“Crossing Jordan”), Melora Walters (“Magnolia”), and Anthony Azizi (“Tomcats”).
Starting this autumn, “Threat Matrix” airs 8 p.m. Thursdays on ABC, opposite “Survivor,” “Friends,” “Scrubs” “Tru Calling” and “WWE Smackdown.”
Our first critic gives it three stars (out of five) and says it’s “not as good as ‘24’” and “certainly not as tense” but still “worth a look.” He apparently liked the plotting but found the characters hugely lacking. “The show needs some work,” he says. “The characters are all one-dimensional. And
as you can see this is meant to be somewhat character driven.”
Here’s “Pimp Daddy”:
Starting this autumn, “Threat Matrix” airs 8 p.m. Thursdays on ABC, opposite “Survivor,” “Friends,” “Scrubs” “Tru Calling” and “WWE Smackdown.”
Our first critic gives it three stars (out of five) and says it’s “not as good as ‘24’” and “certainly not as tense” but still “worth a look.” He apparently liked the plotting but found the characters hugely lacking. “The show needs some work,” he says. “The characters are all one-dimensional. And
as you can see this is meant to be somewhat character driven.”
Here’s “Pimp Daddy”:
Here’s “Pimp Daddy”:
The new 24?
The word cheese comes to mind at some points, but it aint that bad.
Short (no that’s a lie, *long* recap, skip to the review if you wish) recap.
The pilot opens with a deep throat guy (you know, the “guy” who does all the voiceovers in trailers) giving us a 20 second back story on what’s going on (something along the lines of every morning the president is sent a report called the threat matrix which tells him what’s going on (it’s sent by the CIA, NSA, FBI etc) I wasn’t paying much attention due to cringing so much).
It opens with two security guards at a government rocket launch site, playing on laptops, from a overhead vents bee’s start appearing and one flees since he’s allergic and the other calls some insect killers.
A group of insect killers arrive and we soon find out that they were no what they seem for they are homeland security! They go into the building (while the guards stand outside as you do when bees are making themselves at home in your home, without paying rent of course, lousy freeloaders!) and a video loop of them taking care of the bees playing to the guards watching (think of the scene in Speed), while really they’ve made their way to the rocket (of course how they managed to get past the bees isn’t mentioned…) and seem to be taking a part of it. Eventually news of the missing part reaches a government building somewhere. A sergeant gets a call and the man ask him to look outside, he sees two people standing by a car. He makes his way outside and starts calling them sons of bitches and acting as most sergeants do, they make it clear they work for the government. He asks them if they go around the country stealing parts from rockets. The main leader of the team answers, “Only when the president asks us to”.
We then move onto what seems like the headquarters (computers *everywhere* on the walls as well, expect some Apple product placement), a bunch of agents smile and then one of them turns onto a TV. A Whitehouse rep is seen in a press conference, he mentions that after 9/11 10 agents were picked out of the CIA, NSA, FBI and one I can’t remember. He says that they are there to deal with the Threat Matrix report (simplified it is says that a terrorist is planning on using a rocket, they go off and be heroes by stopping them before they get to use it or if a cat gets stuck up a tree they’ll do their best to get it down). A reporter remarks that the Echelon (spelling? If you’ve seen Alias they made reference to and dedicated an entire episode on the same program used here) system can be used to monitor emails, calls etc, but how o they know it won’t be used to spy on people? A lot of references about terrorist are made in general.
The show is based around real world headlines, hence not trying to work around 9/11.
As it’s the norm the drug dealer bad mouths America (long story short, he brings drugs into the country and they want some other information from him but he wont give it to them unless he gets asylum in the US) telling the female team leader (who’s there to negotiate with him) that American bombs Afghanistan all the time yet not Poppy fields, perhaps someone in the government wants him to bring in drugs into the country etc What could have been a somewhat interesting scene in ruined by the poor acting from the female team leader, her lack of mention on display (anger would come to mind here) makes it hard to watch and it loses any “hard hitting-ness”. As the scene progress she loses patience and is about to give up, but the dealer gives in and tells her if you want to get into America (and by you I mean terrorist) you just have to follow the drugs as they go undetected most of the time due to negligence. She eventually blackmails the dealer with a jpeg (sent to her palm pilot by the team at HQ) of his brother who’s living in Arizona (they’re currently in an Indonesia prison where the dealer seems to have been tortured), the dealer assumed he was dead and eventually caves in because she tells him he could get into witness protection like his brother did. He tells everything including that he helped terrorist get into the country (they arrived in San Francisco) and they grant him access to the US. Unfortunately things don’t go to plan when they’re ambushed outside the prison, the dealer is killed and Frankie (the female team leader) is stabbed in her shoulder (but manages to escape).
The team use the info they got and manage to find the cargo. They use helicopters to get onto the ship with the cargos (as it was till at sea) and use gas to knock out anyone who was inside the container. However it turns out the terrorist were children. They were eating from a hot plate (is that like a battery grill? Her I’m in the UK…), they had the Quran on tape and they had a suitcase with 3 vest which were loaded with bombs, they were suicide bombers (the youngest being 14).
They use Echelon to monitor anything with terrorist and find that a few emails and calls seem to be talking about the government capturing the suicide bombers, only the tones of the calls and emails seem to have be congratulatory, meaning that someone else managed to get past them. We then cut to them again trying to find terrorist, the see that two cargo ships stopped while they were at seas, both stopped right next two each other for at least 16 mins (meaning “someone” could get off one and onto another). We then again cut to someone getting out of cargo container (in some deserted area) and then a massive explosion (‘d guess it was the bomb on his vest). The same man who got out of the container is then seen making a phone call to someone saying he has succeeded, Allah is great and so on, until the man at the end of the receiver tells him the others might have been captured.
Eventually the team at HQ find out a container was blown up at South Dakota (thanks to Echelon) and they head off there, they talk to a waitress at a diner who tells them that the guy (a different guy to the one who came out of the container and blew the vest up) at some pie, had lots of coffee and made sure no one else used the phone. They manage to capture an image of him from a camera in some down town area (though it took some time).
The image of the terrorist they had on file is different from the capture they have. We then see a army sergeant say they could have change his look (plastic surgery for his nose, chemicals to make his skin lighter, cut his hair and shaved his bearded etc), we then see a computer image of how he manages to look like he does now. So they now have an image of the terrorist.
We then cut to the terrorist who ‘s in a house in some suburban area. He’s with another man who’s helping him put on his vest (bomb attached), they both seem to be reciting something repeatedly so the man remembers (he looks somewhat nervous, maybe it’s a pledge?).
We then cut back to Frankie who’s in a cab (after managing to phone the HQ and ask them to try and locate her), probably making her way to the US embassy, but a car drives past them and starts shooting, she ducks and the driver is shot. The car stops. The shooters get out of their car and pull Frankie out of the cab.
Cut to the team, they’re trying to find an alias and address for the terrorist. They eventually find an address and head off again (along with an entire squad who are quick to gather around the house, of course they’re all wearing vest in case a bomb does go off), the team stay by their cars and watch the squad enter the home and search it. They don’t find the terrorist but they do find more info on him (thanks to bank statements), more precisely, where he works. They find a substance the terrorist used to make the bomb, due to the nature of the substance it will go un-detected even if it goes through metal detectors.
We then cut to some people lining up in an office block or something, each going through a metal detector before they’re allowed to go any further. The terrorist (who is white and looks and sounds American due to the make over) talks to his co workers (meaning he’s been here a while and the man who came out of the container must have been bringing him the bomb and it always explains why he looked nervous while he was repeating the phrase) as they line up. His turns comes to pass through the detector, it goes off, he looks nervous, but he takes out his mobile and keys and asks the officer who’s by the desk if he can go through again (they seem friendly meaning he’s also made a friendship with the officer). He does and it doesn’t go off.
Cut to the team outside the building talking to some of the other teams members back at HQ (a guy tells them whatever was used to blow up that container was like C4 on crack (???)), if the terrorist is wearing 2 pounds of it, he could take out the entire office floor, if he’s wearing 5 pounds it could blow the building and if he’s wearing 10 it could take out the entire block. They pass some protesters outside the building who are protesting some or another. The team leader tells another agent (who’s still at the house) to get the bomb squad to get a truck down there, the biggest one they have (hmmm). They decide how to stop the suicide bomber and decide to use some sort of acid on his write instantly stopping him. The protesters are stopping the car from getting into the building. However the police keeping the crowd back come over and give them access to the building (the leader then tells the police to get rid of the protesters and to clear the area).
A guard at the entrance won’t let them in even when they show him a card, the main guy tells him to scan it (where did infer red scanner come from?) instantly the guard asks them what’s going on,.
The bomb squad arrives and the ear starts to clear the area. Looking at some of the flags on the limos parked it looks like this office maybe where a mini world leaders meeting is taking place. It does explain the guards, the protestors, the press and why he’s planning on blowing himself up there.
The suicide bomber (who blends in with the other workers and could easily be lost in the crowd of reporters) and the team are in the same main room with everyone else, it’s packed. Both the team and the bomber walk around the room, the latter trying to avoid the team (who would know his face), the bomber also keeps an eye on the clock. The team spots the bomber as everyone gathers to watch the people on the podium (it turns out the event is for the financial leaders of the world), the main guy (the leader of the team) casually walks over to him without the bomber noticing and another guy walks over to the other side of the bomber.
On the podium an announcement is made and a bell is struck, at this point the main guy grabs the bombers hands and the other guys strikes him hard in the throat (a snapping sound is briefly heard). They both grab the bomber and drag him off saying he’s just fainted. They lay him down and open his shirt, the bomb is on a timer (48 secs). All of the agents (a few were around) quickly lift him up and hurry him down the stairs. One of the agents asks for the truck to be ready (ask, yells, it’s all the same) as they hurry the bomber down the stairs.
Cut to a shot of downtown where a massive black truck is seen heading in the building’s direction (most of the protesters run).
They get the guy outside by the entrance of the building, he wakes up (so they hadn’t killed him), one of the officers smacks him hard so he’s knocked out. They yell that there out of time and throw him into the truck sealing it and barely manage to run for cover. The truck is then seen slighting rising of the ground due to the force of the explosion (but the truck doesn’t explode) and then landing with a loud bang.
Cut to another Whitehouse press interview, the rep mentions the terrorist, we then cut to another terrorist watching the broadcast. The rep says the war on terrorism has begun and unseen soldiers are fighting. We then see male leader guy sitting in HQ watching Frankie’s last video capture on her pal pilot (we haven’t seen her since the second ambush, oh and Frankie is also male leader guy’s ex-wife), all she says is that she’s an American before the video goes wonky. Leader guy looks like he’s mourning.
We then see a sergeant enter the HQ, he looks at leader guy. Cut to an airfield, leader says he thought they didn’t negotiate with terrorist, sergeant says they don’t, but he wanted her back, he says that the 3 children suicide bombers are on their way back. Frankie then gets off the plane, leader guy runs off to hug her. Sergeant says to himself they he needs both of them (another tacky moment). Frankie and leader guy kiss.
Review:
The show needs some work. The characters are all one-dimensional. And as you can see this is meant to be somewhat character driven. The leader guy stays macho throughout and Frankie stays though chick. Little to no development. Plus the women plays Frankie seems to be able to act only half the time.
As for the show. Basing plots around real headlines might raise some eyebrows or some people may expect better writing since the groundwork is already there for them. I’d guess that a lot of the shows plot lines will resolve around terrorist.
Even the episode being based around current headlines, it still felt completely fake (again, even with the real headlines). Perhaps it was the HQ scenes, I mean you’ve got the good old fashion HQ loaded with computers and other gadgets (including doors which need voice, weight, finger prints recognition to open) but it all seem so forced. They sit round a time with their coffees and their feet on the table, although in their defence I saw no doughnuts. It didn’t seem to fit in with tier serious attitudes.
The team consists of 3 females (Frankie, a brunet who came off as a “flirt2 and a deaf girl who worked at a computer most of the episode) and 4 males (leader guy, leaders second, bald oldish guy and then a black guy who’s there to add some diversity). Unfortunately none of them are developed which isn’t good considering that the show is labelled drama.
The episode has a very corny opening (with the bees and whatnot) and they play this god-awful music trying to make the scene more “cool” (note cool, not tense, it’s sort of like a Mission Impossible cast off score) and it stays corny right up until they introduce the terrorist plot line. It gets interesting then, they make references to a lot of terrorist organisations. However we have to put up with some character moments, which completely put me off considering how boring they are. But eventually character moments were dropped and it was non-stop terrorist plot line. Though they had a mini plot line involving Frankie being ambushed (I’ll admit it, I hate the actress, but it was tense, it was like Kim in 24, only interesting and not as ridiculous).
I’m not sure what to say about this show, it’s not as good as 24 in simple (and I make comparisons due the general nature of both of the shows) . It’s certainly no as tense. But the show should at least get some points for developing the terrorist plot line a little more then 24 had done.
If they develop the characters, rework some of the scenes (HQ ones for example) and make this show a little more gritty (because it’s pretty tame considering the subject matter ), it could be great. However with that said the pilot had boring characters and boring character scenes, if they insist on making it character driven (as well as action obviously) they need to start making them interesting.
Until then it gets an avagere rating 3/5, it’s worth a look.
“Nate” says:
Starring No One You've Heard Of
Plot- A team of the nations best agents is put together to evaluate the threat matrix, a list compiled each day of possible terrorist threats.
The Good:
The Pacing- This show will not lose the viewers attention during the program. It keeps you going as the case unravels. In the pilot episode the team is trying to stop Al-Qaeda operatives who made it into the US through drug shipping containers. Once they slip intpo the US, the team needs to stop them. It keeps you along side with them information wise. The Acting- Overall, this group does a good job. There are some who are better and some who are worse than others, but overall the acting is well done.
The Seriousness- They keep this show at the perfect level of sinceirty. The dont over-simplify the plots like CSI, but the dont keep on twisting in it every direction, like Double Take.
The Bad:
The Subplot- We only seem to delve into two of these peoples lives right before this show started. The main leads used to be involved, but now they're split, but he's still in love and so is she, but they wont admit it.
Overall Rating- 7.5/10
