I have been super busy lately and my friend asked if he could write a review on the TV show 'Touch'. Since I haven't posted lately and am still super busy I said he could.... Here is his review.
Enjoy!
"I'm sure you all know *that* kid. Y'know, the slightly sociopathic one,
whose antisocial tendencies lead to spurts and bouts of anger, causing
awkward life and death situations everywhere? That one kid who threw
temper tantrums at the slightest notice, ruled his parents, broke laws
left and right, violated privacy and etiquette on a minute-to-minute
basis?
You don't know that kid?
Oh, well, then. You haven't seen Touch.
OVERALL FACTS
Touch
is a Fox Drama for 2012, scheduled for 13 episodes. Created and written
by a guy you've never heard of, who's done shows you've never watched,
Tim Kring. The only important actor is Kiefer Southerland, actor for
over 70 movies, and the famous role of Jack Bauer in 24.
JAKE "Pure Evil" BOHM
There.
Got all the boring stuff over with. Now, let's talk about the show.
I've seen two out of the four episodes released, so I am clearly an
award winning expert on the subject. Going back to THAT KID from my
intro, we find him here, as the main character: a kid named Jake, an
autistic savant who can predict the future, draw numbers repetitively,
and tick me off at a level I never thought possible.
Here's the
deal: he is, quite possibly, one of the worst kids you will ever meet.
Half of every episode is spent with his father constantly swooping in to
save this little chap from getting run over, squashed, lost, murdered,
falling, and any other number of deaths that normal people can avoid
relatively easily. Why? Because this kid will walk up to a person's
home, open the door, and begin rummaging through stuff. Yup. Don't worry
about the police in your house, worry about Jake Bohm, Small Medium at
Large.
The thing is, it's for a reason. Supposedly. Because of
the fact that Jake can predict the future, the writer felt a need to
balance this with a fatal flaw: the kid can't talk. Sure, he can
monologue to the audience, which makes for a nice wrap up, but
unfortunately, the dad can't hear those. So, the only way Jake can
communicate with other people is by breaking into houses, standing in
the middle of four lanes of oncoming traffic, and breaking out of every
facility he's placed in.
STORY
Ok, ok. I need to cool it for a
sec, here. Let's look at the rest of the show, then, before we come
back to this Jake character.
The show has a simple enough
premise: one number will be "found" by the kid, given to his father, and
start showing up in the stupidest possible places, drawing together
eight or so perfect strangers in a tightly woven mass of plot contrived
situations which will end up changing their lives in deep ways before we
never see them again.
So, how good is it? Well, the story is
fairly decent: they do a good job of avoiding the cliches, it's pretty
engaging, fast paced, so on and so forth. Would I recommend watching it?
Well, it depends. Many of the moments shown in "Touch" are quite well
written, even heartwarming. A few bits of comedy (all too sparse, if you
ask me) are given to us as well. Indeed, the writing overall is very
solid.
On the other hand, the show has some mixed messages, and the theology is... well, let's look at it.
THEOLOGY
So, one of the most unusual premises of the show is that
there's a plan. Yup, you read that right. There's an EXTREMELY
providential plan in every single episode. This is a welcome change from
Hollywood's normal "Change Destiny" shtick. However, the execution of
the plan is the problem. See, it's not God's plan (heaven forbid an all
powerful, all knowing, loving, creator God would know what we need to
do): the plan is actually math. Yup.
Nerds everywhere, put down
your Klingon-English translators, and get to work. I need you to crack
the code and figure out what the algorithm of life is. Seeing as a ten
year old has it down pat, I'll give you two weeks and a fridge of Red
Bull. Go. See, this show bases the entire premise off of a single
algorithm, or freakishly complicated equation, that Jake uses. Only he
can see the "patterns" in the world, which, apparently, means he knows
the serial number on the bat his dad will need to take out a baddie a
week in the future. That's actually from the show, too.
Then, of
course, looking at the relationships of "Touch" we see a further
problem: every family is fractured. We are presented with a disturbed
boy, a divorced father, an under appreciated Indian guy with a weird
need to dump his father's ashes in Yankee Stadium... Lots of stuff. We
see no functional family, anywhere. Well, save the mafia boss whom we'll
never see again, who might be reforming.
The only families we
see are fractured, destroyed, supposedly "normal." I understand that the
world is indeed like that: but it shouldn't be. If television and
movies are like what the world IS, not what the world SHOULD BE, we have
a problem. Why? Because movies, television, music, books, media in
general is all designed to do one thing: tell us how the world should
be. And if it's not improving the world, it's degrading it.
That's
my main complaint with Touch: We find no good role models. None. The
father can't control the rebellious, dangerous son, the social worker is
constantly trying to split them up, and there's a mentor who shows up
for a few minutes to handily reveal some more plot.
VERDICT:
I'd
give the idea 8/10 stars, because it's a very interesting premise: how
are eight strangers connected? Answer: providence. However, it's the way
in which it is shown to us as viewers that's the problem. 4/10, because
we are shown a world that should not be, instead of the world that
should.
That's all, and may you never, ever, meet Jack Bohm. Seriously, it's bad for your health."
