PILOT REVIEW: FBI: Most Wanted

FBI: MOST WANTED

Starring: Julian McMahon, Kellan Lutz, Roxy Sternberg, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Nathaniel Arcand

Created by Rene Balcer
Based on the Series "FBI" Created by Dick Wolf & Craig Turk
Written by Rene Balcer, Directed by Fred Berner

I watched a grand total of 1.5 episodes of FBI last year. Even though there are procedurals I really enjoy, this one just didn't click for me and there's plenty of other shows like it. I know there was a backdoor pilot that aired on FBI last year but I didn't see it, so this felt a little bit like dropping in on any procedural drama. In some ways, that was a little bit of a relief because exposition on these kinds of dramas can be extremely awkward and often result in the "case of the week" getting less attention than it should.

It was clear watching this episode that exposition is really not necessary for a show like this. Sometimes, there are character driven procedurals. The Chicago shows come to mind as they absolutely have cases of the week but are focused a lot on the ensemble too. Then there are case driven procedurals, and this is one of them. While the show is obviously led by Julian McMahon as Agent Jess LaCroix, this show could use the agents interchangeably or with any other actors. That's not saying that the actors are bad. It's just saying that they made no impact at all on the episode. There was a half-hearted attempt at the end of the episode to do something personal but it didn't really amount to anything.

Where FBI: Most Wanted succeeded was a pretty compelling case of the week led by a strong guest performance from Henry Thomas as the doctor at the center of the investigation. It was actually Thomas who made the biggest impact in the cast, but he's only a guest star. I thought the show did a very nice job with the opening scene in terms of making it suspenseful. If I was a casual viewer watching FBI and that scene came on immediately after, I would leave the TV on. That would have been especially great 20+ years ago, but it doesn't strike me as a show people will seek out to watch.

What I think FBI: Most Wanted has going for it is the stakes feel a little higher than I remember from the parent show. Maybe I'm just fooled by the "Most Wanted" moniker, but this felt pretty tense all the way through. This whole review basically means that FBI is going to rise and fall with each individual case. That's not a great thing because it means it'll be one of the first shows to drop off my list when things get busy. Why do I need to keep up with a show if I can watch them in any order at any time?

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Yes, but I am pretty sure I won't be a weekly viewer of the show.