REVIEW: Midnight, Texas, Episode 101
I never watched True Blood, but I did hear great things about it, and for it to last 7 years it had to be cool. Since “Midnight Texas” is based on books by the same author (Charlaine Harris) I was hoping I could “atone for” not watching “True Blood” by watching this one. Let’s see how it will turn out.
Right in the first second of the pilot we are introduced to the main character: a psychic named Manfred Bernardo, who can talk to dead people. I thought the first scene was funny in a bit of a dumb way. Apparently Harold didn’t want his wife to move on from him as much as he said he did.
Because of some people that are after him, Manfred moves away. Following his dead grandmother’s advice, he goes to a town in Texas called Midnight. Like usually happens in supernatural shows, this town isn’t like the others. We learn later that it draws supernatural creatures to it. There they can lay low because the barrier between the living and the dead is thinner. But Manfred isn’t very lucky because we learn closer to the end of this episode that whoever is after him knows where he is.
It doesn’t take long for bodies to start piling up. Short after Manfred gets to Midnight he goes on a picnic and finds the body of Bobo’s fiancé (who had been missing for 2 weeks). Like most shows, the police doesn’t take long to start suspecting the new guy. Wanting to find out more about the murder, Manfred contacts Aubrey with an Ouija board and she tells him one word: “Pecados” (which is Portuguese for “sins”). In this scene things go terribly wrong but unfortunately it gets cut by a police officer who shows up in his house.
It also appears that every Midnighter either is a supernatural creature or knows about them. Like always happens on a pilot we are introduced to many characters, and here are the ones I think are the most important (since you can’t really know based only on a pilot): Lemuel, a vampire that not only feeds on blood, but also on emotional energy; Bobo, I am not yet sure if he is human or not; Olivia, this one is said to be human and she is also very experienced with weapons (at least guns and bow and arrow); Joe, a fallen angel; Fiji, a witch that kind of looks powerful (at least in the final scene); Mr. Snuggly, Fiji’s cat, which can talk; Rev. Emilio, who I am also not sure if he is supernatural or not, but who has a pet cemetery, which, for a Stephen King fan, has a weird special tune to it; and Creek, who is human and kind of that cliché character everyone loves to hate because she is so sweet and interested in the main character.
The episode ends with Bobo being arrested for Aubrey’s death and people aren’t too happy about it, especially not Fiji. We also see that Manfred’s house has become a much hunted house, consequences of the interrupted scene.
I didn’t have a lot of expectations for this show and I am happy I didn’t. I found the supernatural part of it a little silly. My first supernatural show was “The Vampire Diaries” and I think supernatural creatures were well made there (maybe because it was my first) and I find all the creatures that are very different from it a bit weird. But this isn’t the only reason. I am going to mostly blame the fact I thought it was weird on the talking cat. Maybe some people found it nice, but not me. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against talking cats, but I think animals that speak are more fit in animated movies and not shows like this, nor live action movies. But maybe I took this show too seriously. If I had been prepared for the fact that there was going to be a talking cat, maybe I would have taken it more lightly. But I know now, and it is better late than never. Now I will be prepared for when it comes back.
I am going to be honest, I felt this was a “meh” episode. Not “meh” as in “meh, who cares”, but more like “Did you like it? Meh, it was OK”. I hope it gets better. I will give it a 6.8/10.
Hope my “meh” didn’t pull you away, because I will keep watching and reviewing it next week with episode 102 ”Bad Moon Rising”.