What’s the name of the show? American Odyssey
When does it premiere? Sunday 5 April at 10pm EST on NBC.
What is this show? An American soldier, presumed dead, is trying to make her way back to the States with some information that will compromise a prominent corporation and the American military. Also interested in her death are an investigator at a corporate bank, the leader of an Occupy-type movement, the future Greek president, and, of course, her family. Through the perspective of several different characters, we get the full story.
So, what does this have to do with Ulysses? Nothing, really. Except, in a bit of gender flipping, the soldier is a woman and it’s about her long journey home to her tireless husband and her daughter who still believes she’s alive. But there are no cyclops or anything.
That would be cool though. Yes, it would.
What’s the show’s pedigree? Grey’s Anatomy alumnus Peter Horton created the show along with The Following writers Adam Armus and Kay Foster.
What happens in the premiere? Odelle Ballard (Anna Friel) and her unit in Mali are investigating terrorist activities and they end up killing the top Al-Qaida commander. She finds documents that prove an American mining company is funneling money to the terrorist group. A private security force shows up and takes all the evidence away.
That night, the entire company is killed by a drone missile except for Ballard, the group’s translator, who was 30 meters away using the bathroom. In the morning she is captured by terrorists and put in a cell. She later escapes with the help of a young boy who is the son of her captor.
Back in the States a kind of crazy hacker (Nate Mooney) associated with the Occupy movement, finds the email Ballard sent her commanding officer, Colonel Glen (Treat Williams), after the missile strike asking for help and knows that she’s still alive. He tells his friend Harrison (Jake Robinson) and their movement takes up the cause of proving Ballard is still alive.
Meanwhile Peter Decker (Nurse Jackie’s Peter Facinelli), a former US attorney now working for a Wall Street bank, starts investigating the mining company his bank is orchestrating a merger for. He eventually finds the drone pilot who fired the missile that killed Ballard’s company. Both Peter and the pilot start getting creepy visits from shadowy men.
Is this show any good? The show is certainly engaging in the same way that 24 and later seasons of Homeland are engaging. There is plenty of tension, unexplained mysteries, and narrow escapes to keep the heart pumping and the action moving along. Viewers can feel the grand conspiracy theory coming and the promise of a big, juicy reveal is enough to keep you tuned in until the very end.
However, like later seasons of Homeland, all the coincidences and Ballard’s ambling journey toward freedom start to stretch the show’s believability. In the first few episodes, she falls into the hands of several groups, all of whom want to kill her, and still manages to wrangle her way out of each situation like Kim Bauer from 24 stuck in a trap and about to be eaten by a mountain lion. After a while, her only skill seems to be luck and good timing, which is not especially compelling.
Also, as the strands of the story start to come together over the show’s 12 episodes, the happenstance that joins these people seems too manufactured. The Occupy leader’s father is a journalist who is friends with Colonel Glen, for instance. Really? The world is small, but is it that small? By the time Peter is meeting with the future Greek president as she gets out of her swimming pool and she tells him how he has been an inspiration of hers for years as she towels off, it starts to get laughable.
Yet in 24 and Homeland the bad guys are always the terrorists, who have concocted some genius plot to take down the Americans. Here things are different in that a group of dedicated heroes, whether in the field, in corporate life, or protesting the man, band together against the evils of corporate greed and the military industrial complex. The terrorists, meanwhile, are the ones who are helping Ballard to survive, though not entirely selflessly. In an age where the boosterism of American Sniper is the biggest thing at the box office, it’s commendable that major broadcast network would cast doubt against the government and its foreign wars.
But that attention to geopolitics is what makes the plot even sillier. If the writers of American Odyssey really want to make a point about the interconnected global jam that we’re in, they need to do a little bit better to strive for realism or this just turns into another spy thriller than has no grounding in reality.
Which characters will you love? The most interesting part of the show is Ballard’s journey through northern Africa. Aslam, the boy who helps her escape, is also an interesting character and Omar Ghazaoui is very good for a teenage actor. When she’s not on the screen the action tends to suffer. Maybe that will change as the characters in America face a little bit more peril.
Which characters will you hate? Peter is the kind of bland guy who wants to do the right thing that is in every movie and television show about whistleblowers. He’s underdeveloped and too much of a goody-two-shoes to really be interesting. In fact, all the characters here are too virtuous. The show’s universe is far too black and white for the ambitious nature of the themes at play.
What’s the best thing about it? While some of the plot details are a little silly, the show does do an excellent job ratcheting up the suspense, especially Ballard’s many rescues.
What’s the worst thing about it? The title. Much like ABC’s excellent American Crime, viewers will have no idea what this show is based on the title, which is really the best thing the show has to market itself. It’s not a perfect show, but I think it would generate much more interest were it to have a more descriptive moniker.
Should you watch this show? Fans of 24 who miss Jack Bauer’s craziness should set their DVR now. Everyone one else who wants to tune in to a great show with a bad title that looks at America’s ills through a series of unconnected characters should watch American Crime instead.
