Mind Games

"Mind Games" is the old "Mission Impossible" with a soft, mushy heart and a helping of humorous lunacy.

I don't mind the mushy heart or humorous lunacy. What needs to be fixed is the setup & believability of the schemes employed and their eventual conclusion. With "Mission Impossible" the plans were very straightforward, understandable & clear, A+B=C. Problems would come up, and they'd have to adjust (just like in 'Mind Games'). The difference is Zahns character is so manic and all over the place one gets the sense his inspirations are founded perhaps less in logic and more in THC. In order for me to properly get engaged in the plot and suspense, I need to be able to believe in it. I think this can be fixed with a little better/longer setup of the initial plans.

The characters are interesting & good looking, the acting is good, direction is decent (didn't like the circular merry go round camera shot in the second episode) & Chicago is a great setting. The team aspect is a big attraction to me. Like the original "Mission Impossible" (not the Tom Cruise versions) having a group of different people covertly work together to passionately achieve ethical goals just makes me feel good.

The greatest asset going for this show is its theme of scientifically manipulating human behavior to achieve a goal. "Mind Games" is intelligent, identifiable and lends itself to interesting, compelling introspection. I hope the show improves and succeeds.

UPDATED REVIEW: Third time is NOT the charm. This last episode I'm not sure how they can take credit for getting the girl out of the cult. However, on the flip side of this show, I put the TV on a timer and use Mind Games to put me to sleep in mere minutes. Or I watch it while doing doing dishes, working on the computer or whatever because I might as well do something productive so I can stay awake to see if the episode does get better...to be fair I'll keep recording it so if I have run out of other shows to watch, its something to consider as it's almost better than nothing.

FIRST IMPRESSION: Absolutely chaotic and ultimately underwhelmed.

As much as I adore Christian Slater, I'm a bit surprised that the other actor seems like the main actor.

They replaced Killer Women after only a few episodes for this new show, but it wasn't that impressive of a premiere, and unless the second episode is dramatically better, this one will definitely will be on my ignore list.

Since the network so quickly cancels the better show, but keeps the poor ones - regardless of the talent of the actors - I'll be curious as to which side of the network "brains" will win.

This show has a lot of great potential! I'm liking it more and more as the stories and cases become more personal for the characters. BUT, I am so sad that Claire (Wynn Everett) appears to have left on tonight's show (the 3rd episode). I love her role on the show, and it's fun to see how she interacts with Carl (Steve Zahn's character). It seems like there is a chance that she could come back at some point with the way it was left, so I hope that she does! Her character was smart, witty, sensitive, and light-hearted, which was a much-needed addition to the cast. I'm guessing that her reason for leaving for Florida was just an excuse to get away from her dishonest ex-husband (I don't blame her!). But, she seems to care too much about how the business is truly helping people to be able to stay away for long.

I was a fan but this last episode about guns was super annoying! Why does there always have to be someone's political agenda shoved in my face?! I seriously liked this show but I'm not watching again I get enough politics in my life. I don't want to think about politics or have someone's emotional views about gun control shoved down my throat while I'm just trying to relax and to be entertained by a t.v. Show. Talk about mind games! Couldn't you have tried to be more subtle about it sheesh! And what is all this malarkey about my review needing to be ten lines? I just want to say my piece and be done for real! Abc I'm done with you! Be warned it's all propaganda!

The character of Edward Clark really lets this show down. The concept of him is great but the fact he has to ALWAYS do something wrong and then ALWAYS throw a tantrum and then ALWAYS attempt to fix things and ALWAYS fail but then ALWAYS succeed.

The rest of the characters are not as thought out (maybe that is the good thing!) but I was really intrigued with getting to know more about them. I want to know less about Edward Clark please. He is the one bringing the series down even though the whole thing is focused around him! Christian Slater is great but wouldn't expect anything less. He also manages to give his character quite a bit of depth and mystery.

However, I cannot bear the agony of sitting through a whole episode with the most annoying man on earth so I will give this a miss.

PS I watched 4 episodes in the hopes the formula would change. It did not.