REVERIE
Person Of Less Interest
UK Broadcast Syfy, Thursdays US Broadcast NBC, finished Episodes Reviewed 1.01-1.10
Fans of Person Of Interest will already know that Reverie’s lead actor, Sarah Shahi, has more charisma in one of her elegantly sculpted eyebrows than roughly 33% of human beings on planet Earth. As assassin Sameen Shaw, she was magnetic to watch; one of the best things about an already excellent show. Which makes it all the more tragic that the wonderful Shahi, given a leading role in her very own series, has been lumped with a goody-goody character as flimsy as tissue paper. Sure, the writers have tried to give hostage negotiator Mara Kint some depth – she’s suffering from PTSD after a family tragedy – but even so, she’s by far the least interesting thing about Reverie. You can only go so far with dewy eyes and a contract that seems to insist you cry once per episode.
So she’s wasted, alas. But what of the rest of the series? Well, Reverie is the name of a system that allows people to visit a virtual world and do all the things they’ve always wanted to do – be it recreating a romantic moment with your now-dead wife, ballet dancing if you’ve broken your back in reality, or enacting all your naughty urges, such as robbing a bank. All well and good, except that some users go inside and never come out again, which means that someone has to go in after them before their body dies in real life. Cue Mara, who pops into people’s fantasies, empathises, coos, soothes and brings them home. Back at Reverie HQ, staffed by Dennis Haysbert’s generic boss, Sendhil Ramamurthy’s generic developer and Jessica Lu’s generic computer genius, things get a little sinister as the US military sniff around the system, a co-developer goes rogue and reality might not be reality after all.
It’s not a very original premise and the series doesn’t go anywhere particularly new, either: the virtual worlds are disappointingly bland, and you can almost always guess what’s going to happen. It’s also sickeningly feelgood – this could have been Black Mirror, but it’s more Highway To Heaven. Which is okay if that’s your bag, but it doesn’t make for compelling viewing. Things perk up a bit towards the end of the season with a pretty decent twist and some explosive action, and we also have to give a shout-out to some rather lovely lighting. But when someone with the star quality of Sarah Shahi fails to shine, your show needs a serious kick up the arse. Jayne Nelson