A_Different_Drummer Review of Intelligence

Intelligence (2014)

Reincarnation of 1972's SEARCH... with the same problems

[6/10 · 10 January 2014]

In 1972 there was a short-lived series called SEARCH starring Hugh Obrian about investigators who went into the field "wired" with state of the art tech such as remote mics, remote cameras and access to a central "computer" at their base. This was achieved via a giant pendant that hung around their necks because -- duh -- microprocessors had not been invented yet. The show was not successful mainly because (to this reviewer) the audience had trouble trying to figure out if they were rooting for the technology ... or the man? This update 40 years later, using a chip surgically implanted which has access to the entire "wired" world, is trying to avoid that pitfall from the getgo by giving Holloway's character personality to spare, along with a secret mission to find his missing wife. It also brings back to the big (flat?) screen Marg Helgenberger, a face an entire generation grew up watching weekly on CSI. (And, for the record, there are worse ways to grow up.) Channeling Judy Dench from the new Bond films, we see a clear feminine bias in high-level intelligence here, a far cry from the 60s when the only women in a spy story wore go-go boots and plastic skirts. (In the first episode, she meets her counterpart in Chinese intelligence who -- whoda guessed -- is also a woman. Whatta surprise!) Now this is the point in the review where I am supposed to tell you how wonderful this is to watch, and how interesting Holloway and Helgenberger are. But the fact is, the first episode was mediocre. The supporting cast was mainly recycled familiar faces from other TV shows, Holloway's boyish charms were lost on me, and, 4 decades later, I still could not determine if I was rooting for the man ... or the computer. Plus ca change...