King & Maxwell

Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are private investigators, friends (likely more as the show progresses), and former Secret Service agents who take on cases week by week, as any show of its ilk will do.

Of course they do have a thorn in their side by the name of Agent Rigby, whose partner thus far remains neutral at best, who is a by the book type that doesn’t appreciate private detectives, especially when they interfere with his work.

The show stars Rebecca Romijn (X-Men) as Michelle Maxwell, Jon Tenney (The Closer), Michael O’Keefe (Michael Clayton), and Chris Butler (The Good Wife) as O’Keefe’s partner. The series is adapted from the best selling books from author David Baldacci (The Collectors).

King & Maxwell’s synopsis sounds if the show should be terrible (it may still end up being terrible), but the Pilot episode I watched turned out to be pretty good. You’ve got humor on many different levels; from the first perp they chase in the opening scenes to the witty banter between them that has been a mainstay in chemistry building 101 between buddy cops of all genders and age. There’s a bit of action, that cool factor that the duo manage to pull off without it feeling practiced, and a good story to boot.

In the Pilot episode a friend of King’s is murdered and King decides to investigate the death and take on the last case that his friend had been working on (King was also a lawyer before he was an agent). The case involves a serial killer that murdered a handful of people, but who hasn’t uttered a word since being arrested. Is it just a simple case of a killer gone wild or is there more to the case and how does it tie in with the murder of King’s friend?

Despite the fact that the characters come off a bit cliché, what with them being former government agents (that explains their skills, and more then half the heroes from any show or film in the last 50 years), I like that the characters are fallible. They’re strong but not completely flawless and can make mistakes. You watch enough television and you start to see this trend, and to be honest, it gets a bit boring after awhile.

Romijn and Tenney make excellent partners, the show (at least this first episode) looks to be in good hands as far as the writing goes, and the show manages to find a place between Hollywood cool without crossing the line into Hollywood mediocrity, as well as building a good platform for future episodes to come. Will there be romance, will the action escalate, will there be new characters added, subtracted? Sure, these kind of questions go hand in hand with new television, but the fact that after you watch the pilot you’ll care about the answers says a lot. Enjoy.