PILOT REVIEW: Ten Days in the Valley

TEN DAYS IN THE VALLEY

Starring: Kyra Sedgwick, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Erika Christensen, Kick Gurry, Josh Randall, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Abigail Pniowsky, Francois Battiste

Created by Tassie Cameron
Written by Tassie Cameron, Directed by Carl Franklin

THE PREMISE
Ten Days in the Valley is a limited series kidnapping mystery that brings Kyra Sedgwick back to TV after her long run on TNT's The Closer. Sedgwick plays Jane Sadler, a writer for a TV crime drama. Her daughter, Lake (Abigail Pniowsky), goes missing in the middle of the night while Sadler is writing in her nearby shed. No one seems completely innocent to Detective John Bird (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) including Sadler herself, her ex-husband and Lake's father, Pete (Kick Gurry), her sister, Ali (Erika Christensen), a fellow writer, Matt (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), and many more.

THE REVIEW
I don't think Ten Days in the Valley is a perfect show, but it has two things going for it in my book. First of all, it actually kept me interested for the full hour, something that has been few and far between with this fall's offerings. Second, it is a limited series which means there will hopefully be closure in the near future and the red herrings will be kept to a minimum despite the many possible suspects introduced in the pilot.

Kyra Sedgwick does a great job here, which is no surprise. She is a very solid actress and believable as a complicated character who gives you reasons to feel sorry for her one moment and reasons to suspect something is up with her the next. The rest of the cast is solid too including the young but compelling Abigail Pniowsky. It's also always good to see TV veterans like Malcolm-Jamal Warner (not given too much to do in the pilot) and Erika Christensen (playing a role that seems to be allowing her to channel her Parenthood character, Julia).

Ultimately, this is a show that has basically set itself up like a mini-movie. I certainly hope that means it is confident in where it is going and won't lead us down too many rabbit holes that are irrelevant. I was concerned about the flashbacks used in the pilot because at first glance, they don't seem to have to do with anything in the current story. And when it's a limited series, I am pretty uninterested in the characters' back story unless they pertain to the case. Maybe Ten Days thinks these flashbacks do, but I'm skeptical of that. I just hope this show decides to tell a compelling story with a beginning, middle, and end. It did the beginning pretty well.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Yes. I've thought before I could stick with limited crime mystery shows like Gracepoint and Secrets and Lies but I didn't. However, I think this is a cut above those shows so unless the next episode or two bore me, I'm probably in for it all.