Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector

I watch a lot of the European crime mini series genre and I think it's ruining me for American tv. Much like last season's "Prodigal Son" I was eager to watch the premier of this new serial killer hunt show and, just like "Prodigal Son" I was very disappointed. So many of these shows attempt to be all things to all people and take their design from 10 other shows all combined and repackaged as a "new" show. I'm not going to go into a plot synopsis as I think it's been covered here and in the book and film, so I will get straight to my impressions of the show. First of all - too much cast. It's hard work keeping track of all of them. Way too many background players, "team" members in various roles assisting the bed-bound Lincoln Rhyme. Other shows do these various roles with one person per job - this has at least 2 per. The exception being Rhyme's hovering nurse who spends her time pursing her lips and shaking her head while she takes Rhyme's vital signs. (Prediction, she will either end up needing to be being rescued or will surprise us all with her previously unforeseen toughness.) Next, the show foreshadows way too heavily and loudly. If you are introduced to a new character who is emotionally connected to main cast, odds are really good that they will need to be saved within the next 15 minutes. The use of "emotional flaws" to humanize main characters is also telegraphed loudly and comes into use as a plot device within the next 15 minutes also. Lastly, and I have seen this mentioned in other online reviews, this show is crazily unbelievable. There is no reality to their portrayal of the NYC police and it seems to exist in some alternative dimension. It actually has the feel of a super hero/comic book movie with the rapid fire clue, chase, find, repeat activity that occurs. I'd also like to mention that the over-use of CGI to illustrate Lincoln Rhyme's thought processes is boring and uninteresting. Taking a page from "The Alienist" Rhyme has pre-1900's New York City maps, geology and history in a giant library inside his head so every clue must be sketched out to demonstrate it's source. If there was any explanation as to why the main protagonist The Bone Collector uses these points of reference and is thus so clearly matched with nemesis Rhyme I missed it. I know I will watch a few more episodes to see if it improves and I hope it does. If it does I will edit this, but like "Prodigal Son" I do not hold out great hope.

I keep watching the next episode hoping that my ambivalence to this show will dissipate. It has yet to do so. I loved the movie, I never read the books to be honest, so my critiques is less regarding source material and more the show. At first I couldn't put my finger on what bothers me about the show...but unfortunately it comes down to Russel Hornsby. His portrayal of the main character is painful to watch. The timing feels strange, the writing for him is terrible. His stoicism is almost annoying. He is really hard to watch. (This isnt to say I haven't liked Hornsby in other roles, I really blame the back room for this mess)

The writing in general is terrible. They don't allow for any exposition to come naturally, through acting or organic story. Its all shoehorned really awkwardly into some cringe-worthy dialogue.

A lot of that was the characters as Deaver wrote them. When you take away characters the (highly successful) author created that are central to the books (ie Thom, Mel) and change the ones backstories that you did keep you are left with this....yet another cop show like all the other cop shows. There is nothing interesting about this show. Putting a man in bed does not create something new or exciting. To make it worse, Russell Hornsby's portrayal of Lincoln Rhyme is just off. Sometimes I'll give shows a chance to get better, but this sadly won't be one of them.

Let's give this series a few more episodes to gain some of that valuable (writing) experience before assessing whether this new crime/mystery series is worthy of support from a mandatory sized audience to extend the series into a second season.

I liked the lead actors/actresses and how each person(s) old baggage is introduced to the audience in this pilot episode. It is a lot of information to pack into a 45 minute TV episode. Let's not try and compare the two (2) hour major motion picture of 1999 The Bone Collector, starring Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah with this new TV crime series.

I give credit to Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector for bringing to the small screen a new crime/mystery series with some depth of character and story line. Actor Brían F. O'Byrne who plays the serial killer that Lincoln Rhyme (Russell Hornsby ) is chasing are both perfectly cast as the illusive bone collector and as the confined to a bed serial killer investigator.

I am optimistic that the future story lines of Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector will be a cut above the other standard crime TV series that should have been taken off the air some several seasons ago. (You know which crime series I am referring to).

An excellent start to the year 2020

The way the character is written and acted is really annoying. I like the show at certain levels but overall not great.