The Inside (of my butt)

Finally saw the first two episodes of Tim Minear's new show The Inside, and I'm not wholly convinced yet.

The show has an intriguing premise: Peter Coyote runs a small squad of FBI agents who sepcialize in serial killers, only Coyote's really creepy and manipulative. The newest recruit is an untested agent who was kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer when she was 10. She has a knack for getting to "the inside" of a serial killer's brain. Yes, like Manhunter. Only less Michael Mann-y.

Rachel Nichols plays the lead, Rebecca, and she's wooden and distant to the point of distraction. In the first episode Emory and I thought her big secret would turn out that she was a robot. (Someday, some character we think is a robot will actually BE a robot, and then you'll all be sorry!) Anyway, she kind of sucks. But the show kind of rests on her shoulders. And Jay Harrington, playing the squad's moral center, is kind of annoying. But Adam Baldwin's around, basically just playing Jayne again, but that's still better than no Adam Baldwin at all. And Peter Coyote is always a welcome presence. (Emory had the legitimate question of whether Coyote is also on USA's The 4400, since he was in the initial miniseries. Anyone know?) Anyway, the show is in the basic "case per episode" mode, which rather limits my interest, but the subplot of Coyote's manipulations is cool, and Rebecca has some secrets left. It's basically C.S.I. with actual characters, so there are worse things, although it doesn't really fill my need for long-form narrative fiction that I require of all my TV shows nowadays.

I'll probably watch it when I'm home, but nothing I've seen so far has made it a must-see. Still, Minear, Espenson, and Fury all working together again warms my heart.