1 out of 5

Created by: Stephen Tolkin (developed by)

God bless watchably bad TV.  I flipped through a small selection of TV shows to stream before settling on Somewhere Between, employing the skill I think most of us have learned by now (given the wealth of available material) to snap judgment something after a few minutes to discard some other options as try-hard dramas, or comedies not to my taste, etc.  Somewhere Between, though, pretty immediately identified its own trashy vibe with stiff acting – possibly unavoidable given the ‘explain it to me, please’ dialogue – a cloying kid, and a race toward ready-made plotlines.  When it started to fiddle with supernatural ‘coincidence’ in the most heavy-handed way possible, I knew I was sold: this would be an easy watch, and it would not be good.  It’s comfort viewing.

Paula Patton is a perfect, forever harried mother with a perfect, says-cutely-snarky-things kid.  She’s married to the DA, played by JR Bourne, and they smile and say nice things to one another.  But, while babysitting on the job as a TV news reporter, Patton lets kid go a’wandering, kid is kidnapped, kid is deaded, somehow tied to some pending cases handled by JR that will determine rules on the death penalty.  Meanwhile, drunken PI Devon Sawa – getting all the good lines and really a highlight here – snaps pics of the wrong cheating husband, and he’s had cement shoes made for him at the same time that Patton has decided to commit suicide, distraught over her daughter.

Then they both wake up, and it’s magically a few days earlier.  Team up to save the daughter!

None of this is guaranteed bad TV.  But when a former cop PI says something like “this will absolutely 100% prove his innocence” about circumstantial evidence, and when the bad guy hides something secret in… someone else’s hiding spot, it’s clear that all of the plot will occur by contrivance: withheld info, looking the wrong way when something important happens, etc.  Eyes will roll out of heads when a ‘twist’ ‘exposes’ another bad guy, and the way Patton’s character flits between all-out-revenge-for-my-daughter and carefree flirty girl is rather hilarious.

I mean, to be clear, I watched the whole thing, and didn’t hesitate.  Power to the binge-abilities of streaming!