You’ve seen the promos endlessly for the past few months. The new JJ Abrams project. Two married spies who left the business and get pulled back in. I’ve watched two Abrams shows, Lost and Fringe, and after one episode of Undercovers, I can safely say this is no where near as good as either of those shows.
Of course, that comparison isn’t very apt, since it’s such a different type of program. Abrams other well-known project, Alias, is the clear parallel. So is Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which was a television show with Scott Bakula before it was a movie with Brad Pitt. I haven’t seen any of those, so I can’t judge Undercovers in that light.
So instead, I’ll judge it against my favorite espionage thriller. 24. Any spy show, be it Nikita or Covert Affairs or Undercovers, will have to live up to the greatest show in that genre of all time. Maybe that’s not fair. 24‘s real-time, constant adrenaline, realistic filming was like no show before it, and probably any show to follow. But that’s what I consider compelling drama. And Undercovers was most of all, not compelling.
For a first episode, it seemed awfully procedural. Maybe that will change, but I feel like I know exactly how every episode will go. Complete with light-hearted scenes back at the couple’s catering business and menial spy tasks designed solely to generate banter between the two. Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are likeable as the stars, but their relationships seems forced. I definitely buy them as husband and wife; that’s not the issue. The problem for me is that all the cute quips and barbs they traded were predictable yet awkward. As if they had been inserted into the script simply to say to viewers “Get it? Being undercover partners isn’t that different from being relationships partners.”
And actually, the details of their investigation were so spotty and secondary that I think this show is actually more about marriage than covert operations. That could be just the necessary introduction to characters, though, in a pilot. The other characters are basically only two: the young agent who idolizes Kodjoe’s character (he was actually very funny…my favorite part of the premiere was his guy-crush) and the senior agent who brings the Blooms back into the fold (played by the usually enjoyable Gerald McRaney…but his harshness is unappealing in this, and definitely a waste of his talent).
With so much to watch in a week, Undercovers didn’t do anything to make me want to tune in regularly. Since there doesn’t seem to be a serial component, it’s just like any other procedural on television. But one without the enjoyable characters (The Defenders) or plot (The Good Wife) as others. The action was very good, though. Especially Kodjoe’s fight on the roof.
Grade: C-
Two Guys, a Girl and a TV Set 