First Impressions: Mercy

It is a good thing that I declared Modern Family (see my preview of the show) the funniest new show of the Fall season before I watched Mercy because I may have had a hard decision of what show truly deserved that title. The difference though is that for Modern Family, being called the funniest is a compliment on account that it is a sitcom, Mercy on the other hands is a drama. Yet with scenes like the lead grabbing a screaming girlfriend of a car accident victim by the nose to get her to shut up and fighting gang members still going at it were side-splittingly funny. And watching Dawn Summers try to emote is always the highest of high comedy.

But Mercy is supposed to be a serious medical drama to be a fill in for ER now that it has left the Peacock after fifteen seasons. Although with some hanky-panky going on inside the hospital, it may sooner conjure up images of an ABC medical show. The show follows Veronica Callahan (Taylor Schilling in only her second job on her resume) as an Iraq vet now working in a civilian hospital and living with her long line of Irish alcoholic. Bonus points for having a boyfriend / ex-husband / fiancé (actually I am not sure what was going on with that relationship) for calling her Ronnie.

Her best friend on the ward is Sonia Jimenez (Jamie Lee Kircher whose resume may be more extensive than Schilling’s but still nothing worth mentioning) who is tired with broke dudes but still goes home with a cop while blowing off a seven figure lawyer. Yep, Mercy is one of those shows that have not met a cliché it doesn’t want to beat into the ground. Speaking of clichés, naturally there is the doe-eyed newbie (Summers) who is just happy to be there in her Hello Kitty scrubs.

But back to the hospital hanky-panky cliché, it just so happens once Ronnie puts back on her engagement ring, she is whisked into a closet by a new doctor who just so happened to be a fling from her time in Iraq. Rounding out the cast is Delroy Lindo (Romeo Must Die) as the boss at the hospital who naturally has already threatened to fire Veronica. Also there is Guillermo Diaz (Weeds) as your token male nurse. Fun times.

Verdict: The pilot was a tale of two shows. The first half was cheesy fun while the second half lost all its charm with the show taking itself too serious side. If the show goes in the route of the first half it may become watchable. On the flipside it may get into the its so bad its good territory.

Mercy airs Wedensdays at 8:00 on NBC. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Mercy on iTunes.