Outcast is a new TV series from the BBC and BBC America and the one I have had most hope for this season and this is my first take on it.

It is about how outcasts and refugees from a devastated Earth make a new home for themselves on Carpatia. We start with shat might be the last ship from earth approaching the planet. The captain complains of technical difficulties and what we understand from ground control there have been fatalities with previous ships seems like a bit of a rush job there getting off earth.

Then we get introduced to the characters and the colonists’ base Forthhaven built around a huge landed colony ship. There is great scenery, kids and people moving around. We are also introduced to this episodes main character Mitchell as he walks into town.

Michel is something of a leader among the military personnel but he also has his own agenda to take his family and move outside the safety of the town. Problem is he is not exactly stable as we soon are to discover. Without revealing to much of what happens later it has a bit of frontier police force action combined with the thrill of the newly arrivals and if they are going to be able to land safely.

The cast looks promising and I am happy with the chemistry and the bits and pieces of humor that it shows here. There is Richard Tate the elected president that has had to take some real though decisions already. The peace and security officers are quite interesting especially the guy that walks around with a piglet.

We don’t learn so much about the planet this first episode beside that is has peculiar geological hazzards.

Great start of a new series I am really looking forward to the next episode.

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What is it with NBC and spy shows? Do they need another? They have Chuck. Though Undercovers looks like fun CSI-level scifi action.

Outwardly, Steven Bloom and his wife, Samantha, are a typical married couple who own and operate a small catering company in Los Angeles – with help from Samantha’s easily frazzled handful of a sister, Lizzy. Secretly, the duo were two of the best spies the CIA had ever known, until they fell in love on the job five years ago and retired.

When fellow spy and good friend Leo Nash goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer, the Blooms are reinstated by boss and agency liaison, Carlton Shaw  to locate and rescue Nash. Following leads that take them to cities spanning the globe, Steven and Samantha quickly realize that perhaps this supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides exactly the kind of excitement and romance that their marriage has been missing.

New series always make me a little excited, I hope Undercovers lives up to my expectations and maybe surprise me with something I don’t expect.

Crash-bang on the door and jump down a balcony and then run up to the roof where I put the little cute memory stick in one of the chutes action sets the mood before we go all catering.

Mr and Mrs future spy are talking. We pay our employees too much. They are so good, they deserve it. Up walks a cute as a button employee and tells her boss she is making pork for the Orthodox Jewish wedding. She is her sister that explains the fine features and why she is not fired yet.

Sister opens door for old guy looking for Steven and Samantha Bloom. He looks way to nice to be a spy master which makes him the perfect spy master. He is a little dry though but it would be hard to refrain considering the airheaded greeting. I like the mode already.

Agent Leo Nash is missing. So jump-on-balconies has a name. Nash sounds familiar, like Walker. Carlton Shaw (I remember an agent Shaw too) is with the agency and he comes to offer them a job. Operation Black Swan is still in effect to capture Alexander Slotsky arms dealer, black market dealer and murderer. Oh my, he is dry, the dialog is not shabby. I like Carlton already. He leaves them morally challenged.

Back to catering a wedding they start to remember their own and getting emotional about Leo Nash. Back home they are too tired to make sweet love before sleeping.

Next day Steven looks up Mr Shaw and promise to help him as long as he doesn’t tell Samantha. Carlton silently opens the door, revealing Mrs Bloom. That’s what we have seen in the trailer so many times before.

They start to examine Leo’s case files while the kitchen manages itself like a Tonga party. They get into a conundrum when they start to talk about Leo. Sam was his partner and Steven gets a bit inquisitive about how many missions they were on together. They left all of this behind them five years ago and decided never to talk of their time in the agency, which seems like they have succeeded in doing up until now. Now they are in it together.

Oh, double cross? Mr high and dry is hiding the real reason they have been reactivated.

Off to Madrid and Leo’s safehouse. That’s a comfy looking apartment, do they pay agents well? I like the way it is no big thing with the arsenal under the bed or the research on his desk; a recite from a Café from the day before Leo’s disappearance is. My god, Samantha is so beautiful, I distract easily.

They sit down at the café only to become accosted by a fan boy who is so thrilled to be working with the legendary Mr Bloom (a few others around the square seems to be agency). Now it is Sam’s turn to be intrigued when fan boy rant on about this and that mission.

Bantering Couples is so delightful. Sam and Stevie are charming. Call me simple but I like it. They get so excited so that they want to break into a bank? Did I miss something? Ah, the camera feed from the ATM (btw it would not be called that in Spain). What’s up with the slow motion running out of the bank and the lens flare? I thought that was TM of the latest Star Trek movie.

Leo was meeting with this guy handling over documents the day before he disappeared. Lucky for them there is a logo there that leads them to a shop they break into. It is about that time Steven starts to air his doubts about Leo. While they are breaking and entering Leo is having the time of his life strapped to a chair and beaten. I guess it tops a spring pony. Humorless Russian breaks his fingers and he talks like a canary (he doesn’t look like he is broken though). Meanwhile the Blooms decide to crash a Marriage party.

Leo and I used to go out, she say before jumping out of the airplane. Got you there Stevie! They start bickering about it but not finish it before the wedding. Then they start ranting about the catering budget of this fabulous wedding. I felt that was a nice touch. They find their mark and Sam decides to do some Sexspionage to copy his phone. Uncovering the female lead seems to be the thing in today’s spy business and who am I to complain.

Meanwhile Leo is selling Big Russian guy leads.

Mr Hoyt (Also a name to remember, love of baby-vamp Jessica) is the name of the hero worshiping sidekick. How much money on that he is undercover and will betray them in the end?

Paris, here we come!

They track Nash last call to the roof and Steve has no problem finding the flash drive. Only to be surprised by another Russian with a gun. Stevie is a bit rusty there at first in the fight scene but once he knife the guy in the foot it goes better.

Old Dry bone wants them to hand over the drive but now Steven and Sam decides to go all free agents on him and handle it themselves. Considering that Shaw hasn’t been exactly upfront with them it is hard to blame them. But they don’t know that and we don’t know exactly what he is up to.

Meanwhile Slotsky is having management discussions with his staff. That’s a rough boss, and mean too. Failure is fatal.

The best crypto expert in Europe hangs outside Our Lady in Paris which is lucky for Steven and Sam. He needs six hours to decrypt the memory stick but he can locate the computer that made it to Moscow in seconds.

The vintage postcards of each city they visit are another nice touch. I wonder if they blew most of the budget on travel for the Pilot. We will see, if the rest of the season takes place in the US or really fake foreign cities we know. If they faked all these locations they did a good job.

Why do they drive ugly Russian cars, don’t they know every respectable Russian businessman drives a BMW nowadays.

Realistic time frame, they are in Moscow preparing when crypto guy calls. There was information on classified weapon systems in those files. Bummer, now they think Nash is a traitor.

They get all emotional about how they meet and how this reminds them of that. How did they meet? Over a firefight? Because that’s where I think they are heading now. They play well together. Sister calling with catering issues is going to be comic relief.

Leo doesn’t seem happy to see him. He doesn’t want to be rescued. I had that feeling all the time. So are they there to sabotage Leo’s plans? Sam turns up and their nine months together comes up before they are surprised by a Russian who dies in a hail of bullets and they have to run for it.

They hear that Slotsky is in the building and now it is Sam’s turn to go all Rambo. Talking about Rambo, the Russians have an RPG they fire at the escaping Steve and Leo. The style is really playful and they got all the toys out.

Slotsky tries to flee in his SUV and Sam goes after him in the boxy orange car. Wait a minute; I think I recognize this ‘Russian’ power plant. Another agent was here on Monday but they had no car left, they had to use the escape bus. I start to think of a Chuck-Undercovers crossover that would be something.

That woman got mad skills, when a pistol is not enough and Slotsky sprays bullets over her windscreen she unpacks the grenade launcher! Pop goes the launcher and up goes the car and the arms dealer. Who to my surprise crawls out of the car to get a signature kick on the chin from Mrs Samantha Bloom.

I was wrong Hoyt is still the adoring sidekick and Mr Dry offers the Blooms a Job. So that was the sinister plan? I am a bit disappointed. Oh, I got to smile. You can see how much it hurts inside Carlton to accept their demands to take the job.

The pilot starts in bed and ends in bed which is kind of fitting for a show that is called Undercovers.

Not bad, not bad at all. Undercovers is delightful entertainment with some sexy spy action. I don’t think there was anything in the pilot that really surprised me but I had fun watching it and I will definitely watch it next week too.

 

I have some expectations on the Event because of all the buzz. It is an interesting story but on the complex side so I will keep this short and get back after episode two with a more in dept review.

The action is pretty good but I am not a fan of time jumps like this. It is especially frustrating in this first episode. Something is starting to happen, and switch. But I guess there is a need to establish all of the characters and all of the mysteries.

Sean is about to propose to Leila when she disappears. All good stories need a love interests and this is it. The reason she disappears is really sinister and I can’t tell you because that is a spoiler.

The President and Sofia is also interesting, but I hate those time jumps! With a vengeance. So the President is about to go public with a secret facility where Sofia is the leader of the inmates.

The great mystery is what is really going on here but NYmag has already spoiled what it is about.

The ending is very climactic but leaves you hanging for the next episode. I like but I also like to wait and see how this goes. Who knows? The Event might even be better than Lost.

If you want spoilers go to The Event [New This Fall] where I have collected a few of them including NYmag’s.

Information

What if there was a cover-up so big that even the President was on a need-to-know basis? And what if some average guy stumbled upon the truth – a secret so powerful it could literally change the course of humanity? You think that guy would stand a chance of survival?

Title: The Event
Genre: Mystery | Conspiracy | Thriller
Network: NBC
Status: Premieres September 20
Timeslot: Monday 9/8c
Length: 13 episodes

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I didn’t  have very high expectations going in with Lost Girl. Urban fantasy is a dime a dozen and the girl-with-powers-fight-supernatural-crimes thing has been done before by many with varying success on television. But I was pleasantly surprised.

The first episode starts with the dark beauty Bo rescuing the young pick pocket Kenzi from being roofied and raped. She does so by kissing the life out of the assailant. “Cool Blue smoke” came out of his mouth before he shriveled down with a big smile on his face, dead.

Bo has no idea what she is but she brings Kenzi home with her. Kenzi is quite entertaining talking all the time. She freaks a bit when she realizes the blue smoke she saw was real and Bo killed that guy to save her. Instead of trying to run away she turns to Bo. Someone apparently told her to find the toughest baddest dude and become his friend. Bo is that dude.

But Bo’s kill has not gone unnoticed. Detective Dyson and his partner is on the case and they seems to know something about what Bo is. They track her down and kidnap her in front of Kenzi. There is some weird talk about her being the ‘one’ but it is not explained.

Bo is taken to some kind of boss and as they try to get her to tell which clan she is from a real Fame Fatale looking beauty walks in on them. She doesn’t believe Bo either when she repeats that she has no family and don’t know what she is. The Doctor, Lauren examines Bo for any markings that would tell her family or clan belonging. But she doesn’t find any, but she finds Bo attractive. We learn that Bo is a succubus and that she can learn to control her powers but since she grew up all alone no one taught her how to.

Bo and her hosts are part of the Fae (Except the doctor who is an interested human) and for orders sake they are divided in two groups Dark and Light. Now when they know about her they both want her.

The both sides decide to put her trough a test after which she has to decide which group to belong to. Dyson kisses/feeds her energy before the test and his eyes shines beastly as he interrupts her. Bo is surprised, no one has interrupted her before. “The Fae is different”.

Her first opponent is a huge Conan the Barbarian guy she defeats by being quick and fighting dirty. The second opponent is a creepy guy who makes her believe she is in another place and can she please drink this tea from this friendly old guy. Bo is saved by Kenzi who used her street-smarts and family contacts to find Bo. At the last moments she shouts for Bo, waking her from the trance. Monster guy run away with burning crispy fingers when she breaks loose. “You may choose your side”. “Neither, I choose human.”

The Fae leaders discuss killing her but the short guy convinces them to let her live until they learn who hid her from them. Dyson drive Bo and Kenzi back and lay out the ground rules. Don’t leave town, don’t mix in other Fae’s affairs and don’t leave victims where humans can find them. Bo replies that she is not good at following rules before she and Kenzi walks off. He gives her his card for when she gets in trouble.

Bo and Kenzi walk home and start to plan for the future together. Kenzi also lay down some rules, she is into guys. Bo replies “I’ll  try to contain my disappointment”.

That was not shabby at all. The story telling was a bit uneven but the cast and the chemistry was great. I am so looking forward to the next episode next week. I got vibes from the cast of Dark Angel and Buffy when watching. That is good vibes for me.

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I expected this to be entertaining CSI-level scifi action. The premise of the show is different from the original Nikita where she is recruited from prison and made an assassin. Here we start after that with her escaped from the government agency that recruited and trained her. Now she is about to launch her crusade to stop the Division from destroying more lives.

We switch over to a young girl caught in an attempted robbery and thrown in prison and waking up in a strange facility- Alex has been recruited by Michael. “your life is over but we decided to give you a second chance”.

Switching over to a pool party with lots of young girls entertaining elder guys. Entering a hot Nikita in a red bikini. Big boss ” You have to get wet if you want to stay”. “It’s going to make taking your bodyguard out so much harder” Nikita replies before snapping his neck. Good action scene where she takes the guards out and then she gets gunned down by Michael when she tries to run away. “There is no escape”.

It was a flash back Nikita has in a car in New Jersey before she visits old ‘daddy’ Gary. He is a bit surprised because she is supposed to be dead and she starts by beating him up. She tells him about what happened to her after she run away; how she was trained to be a government assassin and how she fell in love with a civilian and they killed him. It is clear that Gary abused her in some way. She tells him because she wants him to tell them it ends now probably getting him killed at the same time.

Meanwhile Alex is processed at the base where training takes place. Nikita’s former boss Percy is there taking the phone call. He orders Michael to take her down. “I want you to confirm the kill, think you can do that this time?”. The new recruit is hassled by Jade a jaded girl that has been there a while. Alex pushes back and assault her with a fork but Jade is stopped by another recruit named Tom. It looks like new girl in high school only with more violence.

Michael and another guy visits Gary and kill him. Nikita visits Daniel’s grave and remember her time with him snuggling in bed and him presenting her with a ring she now returns to the grave. Their surveillance finds her there.

Alex meets Amanda her future trainer. They have researched her former life pretty well. Seems like Alex reinvented herself as a 14 year old Ukrainian girl to loose her accent and becoming a american misfit with a false id.

A hit squad attacks Nikita in the graveyard but she is waiting on them with a convenient substitute doll as bait. She kidnaps their handler Birkov for a little chat. He seems surprised she is coming after them. She puts him on a spring-pony to be rescued. That scene with the hit team to the rescue and him on the pony in the park was a bit amusing.

Meanwhile the teen squad is training and chatting. Operation Black Arrow and Tom is the current subject. What ? I am in murder school now?

Michael is getting nervous and wants to suspend all operations but Percy orders them to go on before going on a fund raiser.

Nikita show off some sexy legs in her digs while dressing to kill. Her computer tells her which hotel, I guess she turned someone. A well protected African leader is the target for Black Arrow. Tom starts to pick down the guards when Nikita walks in on them. Nice leather outfit. She tases the leader and put him on a serving wagon but meets one of the senior assassins on the way out but he meets the guys bodyguards, delaying him so Nikita can escape. She drives him to the UN and tells him about the plot to kill him. Division has gone rogue.

Alex is a spunky little thing. She attempts to use a pair of scissors to force Amanda to help her escape.  Bugger, she talked her down.

Fundraising time. Percy has some trouble with his government boss when Michael walks in with news of Black Arrow being foiled by Nikita. As they discuss how hard she will be to find she walks in and say hello. She used an elderly senator to get in so they have to be civil to her. “I am going to take you apart piece by piece, mission by mission” “This was to show you I can get to you where it hurts, your funding” Nikita tells Percy. He declines her ‘offer’ and raise her some backup. With two armed servers sneaking up on her behind she blows up his car with a lipstick detonator. Creating a diversion so she can disarm one of them and use him as a human shield, pop the others and escape the room.

Michael catch up with her in the back alley outside. “Get down on the ground and spread your legs” he tells her. “just like old times” she replies. The dialog is quite corny. Percy is blackmailing everyone with evidence from every mission the Division has ever made Michael explains. Nikita walks closer as they touch on sex and feelings. He offers to give her a head start but as soon as he lowers his gun she draws and shoots him. In the shoulder. “I am only trying to protect you” she says turning his offer around before running away with his pistol. He looks a bit pissed.

Percy declares hunting season on Nikita and anyone helping her putting Michael in charge and Amanda on their international assets.

Surprise, Alex is her mole. I never saw that coming. Well done.

This new series is definitely  new take on the Nikita saga. It catches a lot of the things I found entertaining with the old one while doing so. The snappy but corny dialog; the surprise appearances; her and Michaels ‘complicated’ relationship all reminds me of the last series. Alex and the revenge is new and feels like the right thing to do. Just remaking what has already been done would get old pretty fast. I like the new Nikita.

Sneak Peek of episode 1.02 – 2.0

NIKITA IS CAUGHT IN A TRAIN STATION SHOOT-OUT — Percy and Michael take their latest assignment, a Slavic leader wanted for war crimes, into protective custody. Nikita learns of their hideout and attempts to thwart their plan, but a mysterious group of mercenaries in search of nuclear material beats her to the task. Alex is activated earlier than expected for a special assignment that throws her into the crossfire of bullets. A flashback reveals a pivotal moment in Nikita’s life.

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