I must tell you at once I am not of the latter's fans, I didn't even watch LOST, although they guy is close to my type, but not quite it, yet pleasing they eye indeed. However the kind of action series about a super-agent is definitely my type of show, unless the main hero is really ugly which is not the case, as we have established ;).
And the show did not disappoint from the genre point of view, even disregarding some really stupid medical and technical mistakes. (Mind you, I was comparing it to Extant where they persisted to find the fetus under the belly-button).
At least it has the main things I always appreciated in this type of shows besides the obvious mystery chase, dynamic plot and cool fights: the team spirit, dedication and commitment + likeable characters, humour and OK special effects (once again unlike Extant - I am not very picky in this regard and generally their effects were cool but the metal net with LED lights as MRI scanner device is the kind of ridiculous which jerks you out of the fictional world into wondering about makers' imagination).
I mean this is a good classic show (unlike Extant with its unclear ambitions once again). Honestly, I didn't even think they make this kind of shows any more. The world has obviously changed into darker moods and it reflects upon entertainment - it becomes less considerate and more cynical. Even my beloved Continuum, much improved in season 3, lost the charm of utter trust between heroes.
But at least it has action whereas Extant leaves me like WHF is a sci-fi drama? Not a proper drama as the circumstances are far from anyone's real life, nor a proper science fiction focusing on hypothetical futuristic problems usually connected with the present reality as well. Plus while having an adventure premise, it is action-ish only if you count one-two serious events per episode which is ridiculous comparing to the very Intelligence, where each episode hosts a story probably equivalent to the entire season of this overblown shame on the world-famous sci-fi maître.
This said, I won't be sorry to see Extant go, moreover, I would be glad if I only could hope a better series will come in its stead. But the fact that Intelligence didn't get picked up for the next season leaves me pessimistic. Is there really no audience for this good old nice kind of shows with heroes, loyalty, real action and stuff? Or is it just makers' laziness and budget economy, including on writers, trying to feed us what's easier to make with little efforts for big money on famous names and nothing more?
Now onto the brighter things - the Intelligence series itself. I'm going to do some analysis and probably spoilers below.
1) Man or machine from attitude standpoint. The super-agent with a super-chip in his brain, Gabriel Vaughn costs tens of billions dollars and is treated by many in the bureaucratic machinery aware of his existence rather as a technical asset than a human being. But his closest surroundings not only treat him as human but with divine patience bear with his unbearable temper which is the only stretch as to me ;)
No doubt this is due to the big heart of the character which reads rather "because I'm such a dork" with Holloway's smug smile. It is in fact the only thing that does not really belong to the character. I mean, seriously, to have such a "full of own wonder" smile you need to be a star accepting fans adoration, not an eternal warrior obsessed with his lost and then deceased wife.
You have to understand that in real life a person who prefers such kind of job full of lethal risks to possible prosperity or at least an attempt to it, always has some internal issues with adrenaline addiction on top. In fact, they have brushed this subject in one of the episodes while talking about Gabriel's former comrade from Delta-force, delicately making no allusions to our hero having the same kind of problem ;)
2) Gender role reversal. He's a big super bad-ass guy from Delta-force, yet they hire a girl from president's guard to protect him. Despite anything, it does look realistic to me, because I know that being a bodyguard takes a special kind of training and moreover a psychological quirk, which in in fact touched in series once, so that you do a very unnatural thing on instinctive speed - take someone else's bullet. Of course it naturally unsettles him, so they sometimes fight for who's protecting who. But at least they start considering each other as partners and behave as such even under grim circumstances of doubt from their employers' side in the two-episodes finale.
It is probably because of the above that the scene below stands out even though normally it would be rather natural and nothing to talk about. Although I also really like the purely visual aesthetics of it ;)
3) Unusual details in secondary personages. The lady in charge typical for such a setup from Bond times actually has a life that we get to see - father, daughter, doubts and decision making process. So by the end she even becomes important. I mean side-kicks are usually more or less dispensable but they didn't actually loose anyone in the 13 episodes we got to enjoy although of course played with the risk of it but not very successfully, which is not a real downside IMO.
The near-loss of the old scientist who developed the chip mid-season was exactly the most ridiculous scene in the series from medical and psychological point of view for the sake of emotional grip on the spectators. A bit overdone to my liking, meaning it was too obvious but well OK. Some texture to the old mild character is added by his son working side by side, as much a nerd and much more a panic-monger.
Another sidekick, supposedly a pencil-pusher, the not so brave agent, happens to shoot better than anyone else and actually has a chance to prove himself a few times during the season, including the unprecedented turn of coworkers to Gabriel's side when the latter is outlawed.
This said, I'm really sorry that there are only 13 episodes of this. Where do I find a good action show now? :(
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