The Inside - TV Review

Tim Minear & Howard GordonWith the success of Lost, ABC's runaway, supernatural island hit, it's no wonder that networks are trying desperately to cash in on audience's apparent sci-fi preferences. The latest in a string of spooky-ish offerings is The Inside, a gory thriller from FOX that follows the abnormally dangerous lives of a team of FBI profilers.

Leading the psychoanalytical crew is Rebecca Locke (no relation to Lost's John Locke yet established), played by The Amityville Horror's Rachel Nichols, a tortured, but creepily capable blonde who doesn't think twice about putting herself in mortal danger to catch a killer (although after a couple of near misses, you can't help but wonder if she too has lost a few marbles). Her freakishly sadistic and austere captain, Virgil Webster is played by veteran actor Peter Coyote, who also stars in The 4400. From the start their relationship is strained. Either "Web" has a thing for Rebecca or this guy is in need of some serious analysis.

Written, directed and created by Tim Minear who is known to most for his work on Angel and more recently Wonderfalls, it's nice to see that the tough and edgy script still leaves room for Minear's signature wise cracks. A seasoned vet himself, Minear knows that the key to a show's success is to start out strong and so he hits audiences with a twist right off the bat and continues to pummel us with movie quality thriller sequences. After the stellar pilot however, the story seems to drift away from edge-of-your-seat crimes and slimy perpetrators, as if Minear turned the tables and opted instead to dissect his characters more than go for the gore. Either way it makes for some good drama. It turns out that profilers are only good if they're head cases themselves. And this little bit allows for most of the show's intrigue. Why is Web such a creep and should Rebecca really be working if she hasn't let go of her haunting past? Still that doesn't mean that the crimes aren't good. Minear goes for the perverse and insane, taking the audience from S&M clubs to the hide-out of a renegade "pre"-filer. Oh and let's not forget the eerie reenactment scenes, like the ones Jordan and her dad used to do on Crossing Jordan, except more gross because of Web's uber unstable captain lurking in the background, asking, "And then what happened?"

The longevity of a crime show is always hard to determine. Who would have thought that a math inspired procedural would last as long as it has? Still, with the amount of crime and punishment shows out there, it's good to know that there are still new angles to be discovered. At first glance, things look good for Minear and his team. Anyone who can make me gasp after years of watching Law & Order and CSI, at the very least, deserves a high-five.