The Player

Thursdays 10pm NBC

Set in Las Vegas with plenty of casino game-playing analogies, (at least in the first episode)

The show stars Wesley snipes as Mr Johnson who has found a way to predict crime and hires Mr Kane for a high stakes game.

The ‘House’ is Mr Johnson’s HQ and he’s the pit boss, who has upped the for the rich by betting on crime,  while Cassandra is the dealer making Alex Kane (Philip Winchester) to hopefully be the player.

There was one line that was more amusing to me than any other (if there were any) Kane’s reply to something Cassandra said

“Yeah, I’m officially terrified of what you can do”

Alex with the help of ‘the dealer’ who will provide the information he needs to ‘solve’ his  mission predicted by an immensely powerful algorithm the super rich gamblers have  their bets on.

Alex kane is a former Special Ops and Security consultant and now the 3rd member of the house. This one hour pilot was as though I was watching an action movie. The action I was more thrilled by han the underlying plot(s); but that is the reason I give a show a few episodes before I carve the review in stone so its gets a fair chance. (I find the 3rd episode to be the better one to write the review on, as that and on really does set the tone for the season. The Pilot can fall flat, or be best episode of the season)

In the TV guide Snipes says

viewers  shouldn’t just be passively watching the screen,but find themselves being players in the game not only trying to figure out the objective but also wagering on what they think the outcome will be.”

If the pilot episode is any indication of what the rest of the season will be like, we are in for a thrill!

though sadly Matt of Tv guide’s take says “Place your bets…elsewhere. That no amount of high voltage action  can compensate for all the incoherent set up (nothing was incoherent to me)  that this preposterous, arch & inane. It feels like a parody of a movie that went straight to video.

Episode 2.. What the hell!  Is this one titled Break Furious? The opening scene looks like something from Fast & furious and Point Break in one.

I like the show for the action and thrill, but they need to get a better story line for each episode, something feels left out to me. Now TWIST… involving the guys wife. I’m going to have a hard time deciding to stay or go and already have too many shows returning and new.  I have deemed instant hits of Quantico & Blind spot to name a couple this however does not stack up to those.  This is a DVR or watch on Demand and watch a better show live!

Actually after watching the first 3-4 episodes it’s better than I thought. I like there’s an underlying plot besides the ‘bet of the week’ and the action is movie worthy. (Though I would like Snipes to have a bit more kick ass time. (maybe that’s because I can’t see him as anything now but Blade??)

on IMDB