1 out of 5

Developed by: Glen Morgan

covers season 1

Series scribe Glen Morgan is very much banking on mystery and oddity to draw you in for ‘Intruders.’  And it’s not a bad bet as things start rolling.  Although ‘Intruders’ tosses way too many What? moments the viewer’s way, the confident and moody direction by that Blair Witch guy (and director of several subsequent maybe-not-great-but-visually-compelling flicks), Eduardo Sánchez and Last Exorcism director Daniel Stamm – and appealingly off-kilter music by Bear McCreary – roots us in a vibe of professionalism that can capture attention just long enough to carry us over to the next episode.  The show does rely on slow core plot reveals as part of its setup, so explaining too much would be to ruin that pacing.  But it does essentially boil down to ex-cop Jack Whelan (the generally awesome John Simm) investigating a series of especially strange occurrences that may tie into a secret society, and a 9-year old girl, Madison (Millie Brown) who’s run away from home and has taken to baffling those with whom she interacts by talking like a foul-mouthed old man and not a 9-year old.  Whelan is further spurred onto investigating the mystery – despite the police not being on his side for the most part, and despite death threats from mysterious parties – when his wife, Amy (Mira Sorvino) seems to suddenly fall out of love and, yeah, start calling herself Rose.  So what’s going on, exactly?  ‘Intruders’ takes its sweet time spelling it out.  By the time it does, you’ve pretty much gotten the gist, which starts to make the extra oddities piled atop of the main one feel cumbersome, along with how slowly Whelan seems to take to grasping things.  The hero-in-denial is definitely a component of supernatural movies and shows, but Jack is written with an inconsistent approach to everything, flip-flopping in competence and awareness such that its very, very hard to get on his side for any given episode.  And because the show is relying on its weirdness right from the first few minutes, it can’t afford to waste time on actual character development; even the moments where Amy is Amy don’t sell us on Jack’s devotion to her.  We are told about the tough time they made it through as a couple, but it doesn’t register on screen.  But media can make us overlook many flaws as long as it remains entertaining.  ‘Intruders’ isn’t boring, but I just found myself watching to see if I was missing the point.  When the show sidles its way into admitting some aspects of what’s happening (past the season’s midway point), you can’t help but start asking Why these things matter, or are happening, or are important.  And while some mysteries are left open for a second season, this question of Why does not seem to be one of them.  So focused on creating an air of hoodoo, the scripters seemingly make assumptions to explain certain things.  They’re the same assumptions we’ll make, probably, which don’t serve to make the answers much more interesting.  This is different from leaving nuances up to a viewer to piece together; this is akin to solving a crime by explaining it as “Just because.”

As I mentioned, though, the show isn’t exactly boring, nor is it exactly bad.  Simm is handed a poor part but remains intriguing on screen, and Millie Brown is insanely awesome as the kid.  Words can’t describe how perfectly she captured the looks and mannerisms of an adult, even if some of her dialogue was pretty purposefully rough and clumsy for shock value.  So if this goes to a second season, will I be there?  Possibly.  There are good ideas buried beneath the surface, but the show needs some fine-tuning to figure out how best to present it without just purposefully leaving bits out.  Since the main secret is revealed in this first season, though, that does offer up the possibility for that fine-tuning to occur.  But my overall response this season was realizing that I didn’t really care about the characters, and once I started asking myself Why? too often, my concern about the storyline dwindled as well.