PILOT REVIEW: Betrayal

BETRAYAL

Starring: Hannah Ware, Henry Thomas, Wendy Moniz, Chris Johnson, Braeden Lemasters, Elizabeth McLaughlin, with Stuart Townsend, and James Cromwell

Based on Dutch Televison Series "Overspel," Developed by David Zabel
Written by David Zabel, Directed by Patty Jenkins

Betrayal is a new soapy drama centered on a torrid affair between photographer Sara Hayward (Hannah Ware) and lawyer Jack McAllister (Stuart Townsend). The problem is that McAllister works for the powerful Karsten family led by patriarch Terence (James Cromwell) and his son TJ (Henry Karsten) and they are embroiled in a murder trial where Sara's husband Drew (Chris Johnson) is working for the other side. Rounding out the main cast is Jack's wife Elaine (Wendy Moniz).

THE GOOD: Well, I think this is an interesting concept. A steamy affair among the rich and powerful with a scandal-plagued sounds like a great TV drama. In fact, if done well, it could be a show like ABC's other steamy one-word titled shows Scandal or the first season of Revenge.

THE BAD: The problem is nothing works with the concept in the pilot. In fact, this was the most nauseating and boring pilot I have seen so far this season. It starts with the fact that there is zero chemistry between the two supposed lovers who are so infatuated with each other. It's a mix of bad acting and bad writing but I didn't feel any sort of connection. Then the whole pilot was just so so boring. I feel like nothing of importance happened and that's the show's fault because nothing felt important or urgent. For a show like this,
there better be high drama and there wasn't. The show had a Revenge-style flash forward at the beginning of the episode (and they just had to remind us of it at the end again) but there wasn't anything to it unlike the first episode of Revenge which really sucked the viewer in with the flash forward. Finally, they may as well hold signs saying "betray" because it's painfully obvious that the writers are going out of their way to make that a theme with every single character, however unmemorable they may be.

BOTTOM LINE: I don't think this show is going to fare any better than ABC's doomed Lucky 7 and it shouldn't because it's actually a worse show. It was so uneventful, how are we supposed to feel invested in these characters when the performances are so wooden? I feel like this is very comparable to Red Widow where it truly felt like nothing happened in the episode. It's a bad imitation of Deception, which itself was a bad imitation of Revenge, which is falling apart in season three. Enough with these kinds of shows.