Intelligence -- Saving Dr. Cassidy

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this series. I want it to be a hit for Josh Holloway, since I loved him on LOST. I wasn't able to watch the Tuesday premiere because they had too much on in the Tuesday night at 9 and I chose The Have Nots. And most of the people on the IMDB message boards trashed it, but they also can't seem to let go of LOST and seem to be trying to find LOST elements in Intelligence. But I finally caught the pilot episode on Friday when they re-aired it.

For the most part I liked it. I actually think it would be great paired with Person Of Interest. The only sour note was the Riley character. She may quite possibly be the biggest Mary Sue to ever be on a show. She can do this and she can do that and with the least little bit of info she can ascertain this or that. You'd think she was the one with the microchip embedded in her brain. Seriously, the next time she gets shot maybe it could be a fatal blow, since aside from her the cast is very likable.

I also hope they're not planning to build a romance between Gabriel and Riley cause they have no chemistry together. Gabriel actually has chemistry with his handler Lillian. In one scene they had a real yin yang thing as they bounced dialogue off of each other.

So let's talk about our main character and hero, Gabriel. He has a special genetic mutation that has allowed a microchip be implanted in his brain. It allows him to interface with any computer he so chooses. Gabriel is married and his wife disappeared five years ago. The government considers her a traitor and when the opportunity arises Gabriel still tries to find her.

Lillian is Gabriel's handler. Because he has the tendency to be a rogue she brings in Riley to be his bodyguard. She doesn't want to do it as we hear a litany of her many heroics like how she single-handled took on assassins or how she's the youngest agent. Blah, blah, blah. Gabriel irritates her by looking into her file and learning she has a sealed criminal record. She later reveals she committed assault of her mother's boyfriend. Any LOST fan will know that comes awfully close to Kate Austin's past. I wasn't a fan of Kate Austin, but even she wasn't as Mary Sue as this chick is. They even kind of have a red-headed Hurley in the form of Amos.

The man who put the chip in Gabriel's brain, Dr. Cassidy, is kidnapped and Team Lillian learn he'd made another microchip. He's forced to implant it in a woman named Mei. When she doesn't wake-up, the rogue Chinese agent, Jin Kong, decides he'll kidnap Gabriel, have the good doctor remove the chip from Gabriel's brain and implant it in Mei.

Meanwhile, Gabriel is trying to figure out who tipped off Kong to the fact that Cassidy created another microchip. At first, he suspects it might be Cassidy's son, because he's jealous that Cassidy considers Gabriel like another son. Eventually he realizes it's his bud Amos. I was like, "Darn, and I liked him." Gabriel and Amos had a nice yin yang going, too. So there goes the red-headed Hurley comparisons, as this Hurley is a no-gooder.

Thanks to Amos both Gabriel and Riley are caught. Gabriel is strapped to an operating table as Dr. Cassidy is ordered to remove his chip from him. Gabriel and Cassidy manage to pull a con on Kong by pretending Gabriel is having a bad reaction to what one of the medics gave him and Gabriel quickly gains control of the situation. Unfortunately, Kong holds a gun to Riley's head, but that too is easily overcome as Gabriel uses his computer intel to tell Cassidy exactly where to shoot to take out Kong.

Lill proves she's not as stone-hearted to Gabriel's plight to find his wife Amelia, after all, when she makes a deal with the Chinese and finds out Amelia was seen alive heading to Zurich, which she tells Gabriel. But she insists he handle their next mission first before going off on his own.

Meanwhile, back in the lab, Mei wakes up Cassidy claimed the chip might not work right. So it'll be interesting to find out just what happens to Mei and if she ends up becoming a threat to Gabriel. It seems Gabriel may be looking for another woman aside from his wife. One who has the same cyber abilities as he does.

Again I did enjoy this show minus the Riley character. She's like sandpaper being rubbed against your skin. I'm really hoping this show makes it, since I've always been a fan of Josh Holloway and thought Sawyer got a raw deal on LOST because Darlton were so obsessed with propping up Jack Shephard at everyone's expense. And I've always liked Marg Helgenberger, as well. The Gabriel and Lillian characters are the shows strong suits. So was the Amos character. He was kind of like Nikita's Birkhoff until they made him a bad guy, which I think may have been a mistake, as he and Gabriel played well off each other.

It'll be interesting to see where this show goes and if the Riley character becomes less of an irritant as time goes by. And it's going to be on regularly in a time slot I won't have any programming conflicts in. James Spader creeps me out too much to ever want to tune in The Blacklist and The Bachelor franchise should have been cancelled a long time ago. So it's on at the perfect time for me to catch it.