Believe

Delroy Lindo, Jake McLaughlin, Johnny Sequoyah, Jamie Chung, some guy and Kyle MacLachlan. Seriously, I don't know who that fifth guy is. At all.

First in a short series of reviews of the series I have watched this year that got cancelled right out of the gate is Believe, a paranormal conspiracy thriller created by Alfonso Cuarón and Markus Friedman, and exec produced by JJ Abrams.

William Tate (McLaughlin) is saved from death row by Milton Winter (Lindo) and his right hand woman Channing (Chung), in exchange for which he is asked to protect Bo Adams (Sequoyah, who despite her name is not a bounty hunter or professional riverboat gambler), a psychically gifted girl who is being sought by the federal authorities on behalf of Roman Skouras (McLachlan, not to be confused with McLaughlin). Bo is, it emerges, Tate's biological daughter, whose mother was killed by a biological breakdown caused by her own powers.

Bo is the most gifted, and the most stable psychic ever studied, capable of unconsciously recognising the feelings, needs, pasts and futures of the people that she meets. Tate is a damaged young man who lost the only good thing in his life when he got involved in a robbery that led to him being framed for murder and hasn't really matured since his late teens. Winter and Skouras represent different sides of science; Milton is driven, but still cares on a human level, while Skouras is absolutely focused on his goal, even when it manifests as a possessive and protective love for Bo.

In the half season that it got to run for, Believe established a solid premise. Interestingly, by the end it had effectively resolved a lot of the plot surrounding the main pursuit, apparently intent on settling into an old school hobo series vibe, reminiscent of The Incredible Hulk, The Fugitive, or even The Littlest Hobo, with Bo and Tate drifting into a new town every week and finding someone who needs their help. Tate had opened up and matured from the surly ex-con into a sympathetic fledgling dad, and Sequoyah managed to go thirteen episodes as a child prodigy without being a brat. Lindo and McLachlan provided the heavyweight support, and the only one who seemed a little lost was Chung, who as the muscle of Winter's organisation basically existed to nay-say Tate's suitability. She did have an episode to establish her history and purpose, but nothing further came of it. Without any other significant female leads, it was a shame that they did so little with her.

I'm sad to see it go, but in a way also glad not to have seen it falter and fall. I don't know if it would have made the transition to hobo anthology, and I guess I never will now.