TNT's Murder in the First - Episode 1.01 "Pilot"
When a junkie is murdered in the Tenderloin district, SFPD inspectors Terry English and Hildy Mulligan are shocked to discover the case may be related to the city's youngest billionaire, tech genius Erich Blunt. But Terry's ability to focus is troubled as his wife battles stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Just as they begin closing in on the case, Blunt's beautiful flight attendant is found dead.
In this pilot, I almost feel like creators Steven Bochco and Eric Lodal want us to know more about the Inspectors and their personal lives than the actual details of the season long mystery. That is just such an odd approach to this story. It's a whodunnit mystery show and yet we spend so much time talking about Terry and his sick wife or seeing Hildy as a great single mom to her daughter. I think it wants us to see those two central figures as sympathetic that way when they are investigating Erich he seems more cold and egregious. They add depth to the main characters who we are gonna trust and follow along week in and week out. But it also means that the case and its details are told in the most matter of fact way possible. In reality, cases aren't stylized or exciting. They are heinous and the people who commit the crimes deserve to be punished. I believe that's the atmosphere and tone this show is going for. But it's just so bland and boring - but more importantly generic.The entry point for Terry's personal story is just so odd. It's a story that has been done on television before - one of the main characters has a sick partner and has to be dealing with that as well as working. But it's introduced in this episode only for the wife to die by the end of the hour. It's this huge emotional moment for the character that the audience gets to be a part of. But are we just suppose to feel sad and sympathetic towards Terry simply because of this circumstance? We don't know him or his wife. We don't know if they were this completely charming couple where one's death would leave such an impact on the show. That's why the medium either does this type of story when the character gets diagnosed and has to deal with the prognosis or after the character has already passed and the spouse is just first returning to work. Murder in the First opens at the end of that character's journey. It's the start of something new for Terry but it's the end of something for him here. And that is just such an awkward juxtaposition to have in a first episode of a new series.
Similarly, Hildy's story picks up midway through it. But it's also less notably awkward because it doesn't mean to emotional manipulate the audience. She and her daughter have fallen into a decent routine post-divorce. She's even starting to get back out there and find something new. She's not still hung up over the divorce or battling things in court. She has one small interaction with her ex on the phone but that's a very minor moment.
Hildy has her life together and Terry doesn't. It's that simple. That's why he has an emotional outburst at their suspect and not her. And yet, I felt empty during that scene. I had no real compassion for Terry simply because I didn't know his wife or what she meant to him. Sure, the pilot told us all that information but I didn't firsthand see it. So the connection to it wasn't that strong. It just felt like something that had to happen because the pilot set it up earlier in the hour.
And then, during the last act, it remembered it was a murder mystery and set up the stronger through-line for the season: the death of Erich's flight attendant who he recently lost his temper towards and fired - despite also sleeping with her. Right now, he seems like the only suspect - although you don't cast Steven Weber or Richard Schiff just for the small roles they have here. And that also just feels way too obvious. And again, her death feels awkward because it occurs at the end of the pilot. The case Terry and Hildy are investigating for the most part has a connection to Erich but this additional murder will be the more sensationalized component of the upcoming story I'm sure.
Some more thoughts:
- "Pilot" was directed by Thomas Schlamme with story by Steven Bochco & Eric Lodal and teleplay by Eric Lodal.
- Seriously though, why are they called Inspectors and not Detectives?
- Line from my notes: "Tom Felton has pretty blue eyes and a pretty bad American accent."
- Between this and Lost, don't become a flight attendant if your name is Cindy.
- I really wish Schlamme could have incorporated more of San Francisco into the episode. It's a locale that hasn't been shown a ton on TV. Of course, we get the obligatory shot of the Golden Gate Bridge but show us some more meaningful places too!
- It's weird that the show treats Taye Diggs like the curmudgeonly old man who doesn't understand technology or know semi-famous people considering he's only 43 years old. But hey, he gets a flip phone!
