TiVo decided I might like Mutant X, a TV show about a band of outlaws running away from a secret government genetic engineering operation that is trying to get them back. They each have a crazy power, such as some cool animal agility, lightening bolt control, telekinesis, or whatever. The bigshot is this guy named Adam who apparently is just a normal guy (no superpowers) who is good with computers (go figure) and is keeping all the mutants safe.

First off, the camera work is really cool. They do the whole cutting around, speed up, slow down, Matrix stuff. But other than that, I don’t really see what the appeal of this show is. The romance, in the ep I saw, was farrrrrr overdone, for no real purpose. Also, everyone seems to get along too well. They have a very tricky situation, and yet the writing makes the arguments seem kinda disingenuous. Third: location. They have this secret headquarters that no one is supposed to find, but every time I see it I recognize it as the water treatment facility that they used in The Pretender as the secret base of The Centre. So I get confused. The good guys are the same people who stole Jarod from his parents and forced him to be a Pretender? What is going on here? Oh, and also, it shows that they’re filming in Toronto.

Final strike is the exposition. Its more absurd then West Wing has gotten. Ya know how on West Wing they repeat things over and over and over for no conceivable purpose? Like, someone says a line that you hear just fine, and the character says “what?” and the guy repeats the line….and then Toby says it to C.J. walking down the hallway, then she says it to Rob Lowe as she goes into her office, then he tells Josh, who tells Donna, who tells Charlie. For no real reason. Well, in this show, its different, but just as annoying, in fact more so: you see the fake broadcast, which the bad guys have already said is a fake broadcast, and the good guys go, “ooh, I think its a fake broadcast!” Then they decide to leave their secret water treatment plant and go to the bad guys layer, and even when they get there they just keep expositing. “Okay, we got in, now go get the secret MicroDrive to save our data!” “I got the MicroDrive, let’s go.” “No, first we have to put the virus in their system.” “Oh yeah, the virus.” Its just silly. Silly in a stupid sort of way.

So in summary, one more show that can be avoided, leaving more time for the important things in life.

Like Buffy.