PILOT REVIEW: The Brave

THE BRAVE













Starring: Anne Heche, Mike Vogel, Tate Ellington, Demetrius Grosse, Natacha Karam, Noah Mills, Sofia Pernas, Hadi Tabbal

Created by Dean Georgaris
Written by Dean Georgaris, Directed by Brad Anderson

THE PREMISE
The Brave is the first of three military dramas premiering this fall on the broadcast networks and it is centered on two groups charged with keeping the US safe: defense intelligence agencies in Washington DC and the special ops forces on the ground. From the Washington DC end of things, the person in charge is Deputy Director Patricia Campbell (Anne Heche), who just lost her son in the line of duty. On the special ops side, the leader is Ground Force Commander Adam Dalton (Mike Vogel). The teams of both Campbell and Dalton include cultural specialists, a combat medic, the sniper, and more as they race against the clock to find an American hostage during the pilot episode.

THE REVIEW
Unlike last year's trend in the fall (time travel shows) which had me excited, I was pretty unenthusiastic about the military drama trend this fall. I've never been a big fan of military shows and The Brave didn't do anything to either transcend its drama or change my mind. Just as Young Sheldon is an ABC show on CBS, this is definitely a CBS show on NBC. It had all the elements of a procedural and that included mundane banter during serious operations, a lot of team chatting about the next plan, and very mild action that thinks its being more intense than it is.

The cast is serviceable here. I like Anne Heche and Mike Vogel and while they bring some experience to their respective roles, they don't do anything to elevate it above a typical procedural though I do think they have the capability to. None of the others in the cast were remotely memorable or distinguishable. I'm also just so tired of the middle eastern terrorist storylines in shows like this. I mean, it was heart pounding on 24 over a decade ago but it's just the same old, same old nowadays. There's very few things a show like this can do to set itself apart.

I'll be curious to see how this does with The Voice audience. I think NBC thinks they can just put any old random thriller after The Voice and things will work out. This will be a good test because boy can this be described as "any old random thriller." Shows like this are a slog to get through because they're not compelling but they're also not laughably bad. They just are what they are. I'll hope SEAL Team or Valor will be better, but I have my doubts.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Doubtful. I also still wish this had stuck with its original title, For God and Country. Although The Brave is a more fitting boring title for a boring show.