J.J. Abrams is a hack. There I said it. J.J. Abrams is a hack. Sure the first episodes of Lost
and Alias
were great, but knowing what you know now about how they turned out, would you begin watching the shows again? Didn’t think so. The guy is the king of high concept, low reward. Which makes Undercovers an interesting show in that for a J.J. Abrams show it is a pretty pedestrian concept to the point you wonder why it isn’t on CBS? There are no prophesies or polar bears in exotic locals, just a boring married couple who own a catering company.Oh yeah, and that couple used to be CIA agents and the agency wants them back. Sure a slight twist, but it isn’t the first undercover couple that fights bad guys that we have seen on television. But that set the bar much lower for the viewer than any J.J. Abrams show before it that Undercovers can walk over said bar.
With the high concept out the door, J.J. Abrams still brings back some of his favorite go to’s, most notably the ability to make sure his female lead finds the way of her clothes as much as possible. And Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Dr. Who
) is more than happy to oblige multiple times in the first episode. And we do travel to many European cities in the span of an hour, with city place cards that are very Aliasesque. And maybe my least favorite J.J.isms, there is plenty of non-English dialogue. Seriously, there are very few things I hate more than having to read while watching television.After all the high concept, low reward shows in his past, Undercovers swings too far to the other way to the point it is almost too boring. The show goes too far out of its way to make the leads; Bori Kodjoe (Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion
) is the male half, a boring married couple. There is a younger sister working at the catering business who is too frantic. They are quick to ruin Ben Schwartz’s (Parks and Recreations
) character that starts out very fun; he is introduced in a very Pink Panther type fashion, but turns creepy real fact with his man crush on Kodjoe. The only thing more embarrassing than the man crush is how many times the writers tries to cram in the word sexspionage into the episode.The only person that stands out performance that doesn’t turn creepy is by Gerald McRaney (Deadwood
), a grumpy CIA man tasked to re-recruit the former agents that might as well be Chuck
’s John Casey in twenty years after he has been forced into a desk job. If he gets more time in the field, the show may start being worth checking out as long as we are guaranteed that the show will not end with the cast members congregating in a church.Undercover airs Wednesdays at 8:00 on NBC. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.
(working title) – 
2. Speak Now - 
3. Wake Up! – 
4. Record Collection – 
5. Come Around Sundown – 
6. Hands all Over – 
8. Lonely Avenue – 
10. Hot Sauce Committee part 1 - 
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