Review: Cinemax gets more complicated with spy drama 'Hunted'
Melissa George plays a private spy looking for revenge
Melissa George's spy has to improvise in "Hunted."
Credit: Cinemax
When Cinemax decided to follow big brother HBO into the scripted drama business, it kept things safe and simple with "Strike Back." It was a continuation of a pre-existing show from the U.K. (albeit one where most of the cast and producers were replaced for the Cinemax version), a mix of sex and violence that fit perfectly with what people subscribe to the channel for, and its ambitions are small and easily attainable.
"Strike Back" has turned out to be a real pleasure, and now Cinemax has aimed higher with its second drama, "Hunted" (it premieres Friday night at 10).It's a wholly original series, and while there's still action and nudity, the storytelling is far more complex. The training wheels are off now, and the result is a show that wobbles far more frequently than its predecessor, but one that can get into a groove that demonstrates the value of risk-taking.
"Hunted" was created by Frank Spotnitz, one of the key producers on "The X-Files," as well as the writer of several early episodes of the Cinemax incarnation of "Strike Back." He's again working in a Brit-centric field of international intrigue, but the arena and the objectives are murkier.
Melissa George plays Sam Hunter(*), a British spy who works for a private company called Byzantium rather than the government, performing missions to aid wealthy corporate clients, working under the icy Rupert Keel (Stephen Dillane, one of several "Game of Thrones" actors in the cast), and alongside her lover Aidan Marsh (Adam Rayner) and American sniper Deacon Crane (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). After a mission in Tangier, Sam is attacked and left for dead. She goes underground for a year, trying to figure out who betrayed her — this is the kind of show where the heroine spends a lot of time pinning photos to a corkboard and connecting them with bits of string — before returning to Byzantium to get her revenge.
(*) Yes, the last name is a groaner (it reminds me of various comic book characters whose real names sound a lot like their superpowers), but fortunately, Sam spends much of the season working under the pseudonym Alex Kent, so just focus on that if you prefer.
Spotnitz structures "Hunted" like an onion, peeling back one layer after another after another. We're simultaneously dealing with Sam's quest for revenge, the mission Keel assigns her to, a cold war between Byzantium and the British government, another corporation with a keen interest in Sam, a mysterious assassin (Scott Handy) operating on his own agenda, and intermittent flashbacks to a trauma in Sam's childhood that may be reverberating into the present.
It is a lot to keep track of, and if I'm being honest, within a couple of episodes I decided my mental forces would be best served focusing on Sam's official assignment for Byzantium, which has her going undercover in the home of wiseguy-turned-industrialist Jack Turner (Patrick Malahide). The stakes and motivations of all the players are clear, where most of what's going on in the rest of the series involves lies, conspiracies, startling twists and changes of allegiance, each of which can be individually fun but are perhaps overwhelming when put together like this.
That said, many of the stories come together well by the end of these eight episodes, and the ones that don't clearly point the way towards a second season. And if the complex plot isn't always the easiest to follow, it serves Melissa George very, very well.
George has been knocking around American television for 15-odd years now. (Her first role here was in a short-lived FOX fantasy series called "Roar," starring a young Heath Ledger.) Sometimes, she's memorable in an otherwise disposable show ("Thieves," opposite John Stamos). Other times, she's a bad fit, like her brief stint as a reckless "Grey's Anatomy" intern, or as an unplayable, universally-hated character on "Alias."
This is basically her shot to do "Alias," and she's much better-suited to play the heroine than a romantic obstacle/turncoat. The action scenes aren't as elaborate as anything on "Strike Back," but they're brutal and efficient, and she's absolutely convincing getting the better of much larger opponents. She models a variety of accents(**) and personas ("Alex Kent" is a shy American schoolteacher) and lets you see her mental gears spinning no matter what the situation is and what identity she's using at the time.
(**) Her American accent is much better than Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's. He's playing not only American, but a Southerner, and at times he seems preoccupied just trying to get the twang right.
As with the many conspiracies of "Alias," I'm not always 100 percent clear on what's happening in "Hunted," but the atmosphere and suspense are terrific, and the leading lady is compelling enough that I want to see her triumph over whoever it is she's ultimately supposed to be fighting.
Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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October 18, 2012 at 9:39AM EST Reply to CommentI know for a fact that I am not the only one who kind of loved Lauren Reed on Alias! And Season 3 as a whole is very underrated. IMO.
Misty I loved Lauren Reed as well. I found her to be a tragic character.
October 28, 2012 at 8:59AM ESTBalaji K
October 18, 2012 at 9:43AM EST Reply to CommentIf Strike Back is a joint production between Cinemax and Sky One, this is a joint production between Cinemax and BBC one. This has been airing on BBC UK for the last 2 weeks.
I saw the trailer. It looks promising. I just wish Melissa George will avoid her duck pout.
sepinwall Yes, it's a joint production, but it's also a new show, rather than Cinemax partnering up with something pre-existing.
October 18, 2012 at 9:56AM ESTAtta
October 18, 2012 at 10:06AM EST Reply to CommentIt's good then? Ugh, now i have to keep my Cinemax subscription. Same dang movies as HBO just a couple months later....
Hope members of Section 20 show up in cameos.
Balaji K There's also Banshee from executive producers Alan Ball (True Blood), Greg Yaitanes (House), set to premiere on January 11, 2013 at 10 p.m. So, keep your Cinemax subscription. ;)
October 18, 2012 at 11:06AM ESTalynch
October 18, 2012 at 11:02AM EST Reply to CommentSomeone's going to have to have to write a mournful essay when Cinemax ends up permanently transitioning out of softcore. It's like when Fox stopped doing black shows.
Truck
October 18, 2012 at 11:16AM EST Reply to CommentThe only thing I've seen that actress in is Triangle, where she stands around around dead eyed breathing through her mouth for an hour and a half.
October 18, 2012 at 8:12PM ESTGreg
October 18, 2012 at 12:08PM EST Reply to CommentI thought the pilot was very good, certainly better than any new pilot of this fall season. It deserves a B+.
Thirith
October 18, 2012 at 12:50PM EST Reply to CommentI've only seen the first two episodes (on BBC), but I found them hackneyed, generic and twisty in a way that makes all of the twists meaningless. The characters come across as superficial, with a lot of the background information and trauma that's supposed to add depth coming across as glib and phony. The action aims for Bourne style but the budget, the cast/crew or both aren't really up to it, so it's straight-to-DVD Bourne if anything.
Hoping that the series will get better, but I'm not holding my breath.
naddy
October 18, 2012 at 1:53PM EST Reply to CommentAs has been mentioned already, this is a co-production with BBC1 and has been airing there since Oct 4. There have been rumors that the two networks have slightly different cuts (more boobs for Skinemax?). We'll see.
Melissa George is Australian of course. Her last stint back home was as a very flawed character in the excellent, but hard to watch mini-series THE SLAP.
Oh, and those GAME OF THRONES actors that American viewers keep recognizing are just ordinary British actors that are all over British TV.
rwmcgee Ok, so they are all over British TV...does this make them any less members of the Game of Thrones cast??
October 19, 2012 at 2:15AM ESTthe minister Boob tube dude shout out.
October 20, 2012 at 3:31PM ESTConnor
October 18, 2012 at 2:40PM EST Reply to CommentI remember Melissa George from the first season of In Treatment, and I won't be sorry to see her on my TV screen again.
MistaCabbage I knew I recognized the name. Agreed. Anything she is in I'll be watching!
October 18, 2012 at 5:51PM ESTcarey_adams
October 18, 2012 at 8:11PM EST Reply to CommentYou forgot one of my favorite movies she plays the lead in, "Triangle." It's a trippy horror time travel movie with allusions to the Bermuda Triangle. I don't know a single person that's seen it, but worth a blind buy if you're feeling ambitious.
the bgt
October 18, 2012 at 8:14PM EST Reply to CommentMild spoilers for the premiere ahead.
To be honest Melissa George is the only reason I am watching this, so far anyway.
Writing is no good and dialogue sometimes is so cliche that you think they took whole pieces of it from a "tv scripts for dummies" kind of book. 2nd characters are so bad written that the next interesting character after George, is the little kid she is supposed to tutoring.
I pass the fact that this tiny woman has the strength to KO big trained men even with a bullet in her guts. I pass that her Byzantium (!) employers looked everywhere for her except the house she grew up. I even found kind of cute the whole "Rocky" training sequence (watching it while humming the "rocky theme) and I was so much hopping she would end it with her hands up in the sky.
(mystery also remains how she stays in such a great shape while she never sleeps on a bed but.. by sitting next to a window..must be a secret spy recipe)
What I really found difficult to ignore was that that secret room she keeps her personal intel in.
The room she made so secret only to be able for everyone to watch everything happening inside from its big glass window. Yeah.. that kind of bad writing.
But George is great. She is the whole show actually. And I will keep watching hoping someone like Spotnitz managed to make it better in the episodes to come.
HK Do you sit there and write this stuff down as you watch it? Seems a little bit ridiculous. FYI - Sleeping in a bed won't keep you in shape.
October 19, 2012 at 6:32PM ESTthe bgt ermm I watched it when it was released in UK about 3 weeks ago.
October 20, 2012 at 4:53PM ESTbearcouch
October 18, 2012 at 8:49PM EST Reply to CommentScanned through first episode, but couldn't get finish it.
Paul C
October 19, 2012 at 11:29AM EST Reply to CommentI've been watching it on the BBC, but it has just been okay so far. It's clearly a one-person show, and George in fairness does pretty well. That said it is becoming rather silly to see this short woman continually beat the crap out of groups of trained enemies.
The issue about 'the dam' just seems to be a basic element so that they can tick the "story" box on the overview and that is a bit too much and bloody violence. And the traitor within the camp is a fairly limp hook.
Over here anyway it was being trailed as the successor to the often ludicrous but generally quite enjoyable Spooks (I think 'MI-5' in the US) but it is a poor knock-off thus far.
cap
October 19, 2012 at 3:02PM EST Reply to CommentI saw just the pilot so far and one thing that really impressed me was the look of the show. After watching (for the most part) pretty horrible looking networkk shows this felt like a breathe of fresh air. I don't know what happened with American TV over last couple of years, but everything looks cheap nowadays (on the network side at least). This didn't.
Angela I read a review that compared The Hunt to Rubicon. I wonder if that's the reason. The director of photography in Rubicon is amazing.
October 19, 2012 at 8:13PM ESTAngela
October 19, 2012 at 8:06PM EST Reply to CommentWhen I read the words Rubicon and BBC1 in another review I bought Cinemax. I hardly watch anything that is made in the USA these days. Scandinavian shows and the UK and the winners imho.
Now that I've read Alan's review and all of the comments I'm having buyers remorse.
I hope that I'm pleasantly surprised.
Angela Please excuse my writing errors. Sleep deprivation and sickness are taking their toll. That's my excuse anyway.
October 19, 2012 at 8:08PM ESTKianna
October 20, 2012 at 2:10AM EST Reply to CommentIt gave me a headache. Melissa George seems to have one facial expression, there's not enough humor to make up for the lack of intrigue, and you could drive a truck through the implausibilities. I watched the first two episodes and decided not to spend another six hours on it. But I'll probably watch the last episode, if only to justify the aggravation.
ivan
October 20, 2012 at 12:37PM EST Reply to CommentIt's well done but I really don't care about any character. Flashbacks from abused childhood isn't working for me. It's like watching chess with human figures.
Hwat
October 20, 2012 at 2:56PM EST Reply to CommentYeah, Sex & Action = brain dead guff for the kids
Nita
October 26, 2012 at 6:43PM EST Reply to CommentHave only watched the first episode; agree it has a lot of moving parts. However, it's better than a lot of the other nonsense on regular network TV... Alan Sepinwall must have forgotten about Melissa George's role on "In Treatment" on HBO. I despised her character, but he work was excellent.
confucioussay
November 28, 2012 at 7:45PM EST Reply to Commentbut where did the baby come from at the end?