The Player: Pilot

Hmph. No series title card for the opener. This will do:

Roll credits:

And

I don’t know who Bharat Nalluri is, but dahhhhhhmmmmnnnn can he direct action!

And BAM! Wesley Snipes returns big time with all the suave and class TV needs:

And that special something that makes Snipes always worth watching:

Philip Winchester is appealing and engaging and can project depth:

You want the guy to win.

Charity Wakefield is the jack(tress? jackie?) of all trades who can also drive a mean car.

She and Snipes are the head (or belong to?) an organization that can predict crime — and, since this is all in Las Vegas, that information is used for the ultra-rich to amuse themselves by betting on whether the crime will succeed or fail.

How plausible or realistic is any of this?

Really, who the hell cares?

The Blacklist isn’t any more realistic but sucked me in on the strength of Spader’s performance and the opening scripts that seemed very camp.

Here, there’s Winchester and Wesley frikkin Snipes just to watch.

The pilot moved like greased lightning with not a single dull moment. Yet I could sympathize with Winchester’s character and be genuinely intrigued by Snipes’ character.

I also laughed out loud but in a way that was very different from The Blacklist. The Blacklist made me laugh that they were really trying to get away with what they were doing. Here, I laughed because Snipes could undercut everyone else with simple gestures.

And that man looks great in a bow tie:

How about an American as the next Doctor? How about that American being Wesley Snipes?

One episode and I’m hooked.

If you haven’t seen it, catch up.

This is going to be fun every damn week.