Raymond Lee is no Scott Bakula. Say what you will about the original series, but Bakula had the right talent for the role. He was... versatile. The previews at the end of this episode don't give me much hope. Lee's character, Ben, fights and jumps and does some action stuff. In the premiere he drives a car and punches out a guy. I can't imagine him playing a woman, or a teenager, or a concert piano player, or a lounge singer, or a lab monkey. Maybe the show will surprise me, but the preview should show us what to come. And last night's preview showed a lot of Ben doing a lot of action stuff.
The rest of the episode was okay. I liked Enajite Esegine as Charlie, who managed to steal every scene she was in. Michael Malarkey was suitably menacing. I didn't really feel much sympathy for Ryan, but Michael Welch didn't have much to work with, either. The whole thing seemed awfully rushed. There's only one restaurant in all of York? But let's get the crew to the restaurant, so they can settle down and we can have a _lot_ of exposition about leaping. You had exposition of the premise, and exposition of 1985, and the scenes in the present where they had to establish a very other things. The episode could have benefited by being 90 minutes.
The present-day crew were okay. Mason Alexander Park was suitably quirky, and Ernie Hudson is comfortable like an old pair of shoes. Jenn and Addison didn't do anything for me, but I'm willing to give them a chance to grow on me. Even Raymond Lee is okay: he just isn't Scott Bakula.
Overall, the producers need to get out of "action star of the week doing action stuff" framework and give Raymond Lee a chance to strut his stuff. Assuming he has stuff to strut. If he doesn't, it's going to be a long slog.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The rest of the episode was okay. I liked Enajite Esegine as Charlie, who managed to steal every scene she was in. Michael Malarkey was suitably menacing. I didn't really feel much sympathy for Ryan, but Michael Welch didn't have much to work with, either. The whole thing seemed awfully rushed. There's only one restaurant in all of York? But let's get the crew to the restaurant, so they can settle down and we can have a _lot_ of exposition about leaping. You had exposition of the premise, and exposition of 1985, and the scenes in the present where they had to establish a very other things. The episode could have benefited by being 90 minutes.
The present-day crew were okay. Mason Alexander Park was suitably quirky, and Ernie Hudson is comfortable like an old pair of shoes. Jenn and Addison didn't do anything for me, but I'm willing to give them a chance to grow on me. Even Raymond Lee is okay: he just isn't Scott Bakula.
Overall, the producers need to get out of "action star of the week doing action stuff" framework and give Raymond Lee a chance to strut his stuff. Assuming he has stuff to strut. If he doesn't, it's going to be a long slog.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?