4 out of 5

Creator: Stephen Gallagher (UK) / Danny Cannon, Jerry Bruckheimer (US)

Average show.  Undoubtedly.  Formulaic, and swerves rather wide of the science premise most of the time.  Plus, with the Bruckheimer production tag, the series wants to go toward CSI territory with quick edits and bloody dissections and pointless character subplots.  Yet, somehow, Eleventh Hour managed to shuck most of the nonsense that plagues television – romantic angles, “drama of the week”, pointless 2-part episodes – and stick to a case-per-episode style that’s fairly consistent in its pitch of light tech and action, but most importantly… fairly believable.  Rufus Sewell plays Dr. Hood, special science consultant to the FBI, with Marley Shelton assigned as Rachel Young, his handler.  Thus the format of know-it-all and sharpshooter, with reverse gender roles of Bones.  The handler aspect doesn’t get much play except in select episodes, Shelton generally resorted to just another source of verifying info when Sewell doesn’t magically know it, but both character’s personalities are well developed and you buy – within the context of the show – that they can do what they do.  Sewell especially finds a very natural reparte for his character, and a pacing that sells the ‘random fact’ scripting in a tolerable fashion.  Some elements are seeded in that might’ve gotten developed more fully later on – a third partner as a comedic foil (Agent Lee, who even gets a fair amount of development in his few episodes), some mentions of Sewell’s wife, glimpses of Shelton’s personal life – but they’re truly just glimpses before it’s back to the case.  And though it would’ve been nice to see such a focused show continue, perhaps it’s best that it was only allowed one season before trying to flesh out these unnecessary extras.  On the whole it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but the consistency of quality and dedication to staying on target deserve extra notice.