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| 'Evil' detective has odd appeal |
Right now, the plots on TV`s countless procedural crime series are pretty stale
and formulaic -- even with their oh-so-awesome final twists, or their
oh-so-awesome nontwist final twists. And even with their oh-so-shocking
grisliness. These days, the more vital members of the genre, such as "Monk" and
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent," are built around oddball detectives who
proceed with peculiarly brilliant methods. They're post-millennial Sherlocks.
So it's not damning to say that the child-abduction plot in USA's new
series "Touching Evil" is utterly familiar. It unfolds like one of any number of
episodes of "Without a Trace" or "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," as
three children disappear and the cops race to recover them alive. The show,
which premieres with a two-hour episode at 9 p.m., delivers its distinctive
promise in its lead detective, the unstable, ill-mannered, and entirely likable
David Creegan (Jeffrey Donovan).
In a way, Creegan is the anti-Monk.
While Adrian Monk is obsessive-compulsive and orderly, Creegan is as sloppy and
uninhibited as an undisciplined child. After a shot in the head that almost
killed him, Creegan has lost his ability to feel shame and to perform sequential
thinking. These qualities have made him something of a social misfit, but
they've also granted him profound insight into the criminal mind. The boyish
detective, who originated as a character in the British miniseries of the same
title, is an intuitive crime-solving genius.
Naturally, his colleagues
at the FBI's Organized and Serial Crime Unit resist him, as he refuses to play
by the rules or honor the tie-and-jacket dress code. His partner, the
ultra-professional Susan Branca (Vera Farmiga), is particularly wary, until she
witnesses the usefulness of his misbehavior.
As Creegan, the energetic
Donovan is effective enough to erase memories of Robson Green in the same role.
He moves from Creegan's wry humor and compassion to his explosions of rage
effortlessly. He's a convincing man-child, one who's willing to touch evil in
order to tear it down.
END
March 25, 2004 - article courtesy of Matthew Gilbert and The Boston Globe
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