Perception, 3.5: Eternityby Patti MartinsonReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Network
Credits Grade: 6 I was a fan of Eric McCormack from his Will and Grace days, and I was happy to see him land a lead in a new tv show, Perception. I never got into the series myself and decided to pick it up back up again.McCormack plays Dr. Daniel Pierce, a neuropsychiatrist, college teacher, and former patient at a mental facility. His live-in teaching assistant, Max Lewicki, also helps Daniel manage his schizophrenia. The FBI hires Pierce as an expert consultant in unusual cases. In the latest episode, "Eternity," Dr. Pierce finds himself taking in his irascible father, who is suffering the early stages of Alzheimer's. Not wanting to deal with his father, he leaps at the opportunity to investigate the apparent murder of a noted artificial intelligence expert, Dr. Landing Jennings, inside a high-tech locked room. Working with Special FBI agent Kate Moretti, they investigate Jennings' laboratory and find out he was working on a top secret project to computerize the human brain, so that humanity would become immortal. The laboratory developed an avatar of Jennings, named L-Dub, as the next level of AI. Initial suspects are Jennings' ex-wife, a colleague at work, a rival AI expert, and Jennings' personal assistant. While there were parts of this episode I enjoyed, overall "Eternity" is something of a disappointment. Pierce's struggles with his father fascinating, as it was clear they have a fractious relationship, aside from their respective mental health issues. Some aspects of the subject of artificial intelligence, particularly the avatar L-Dub, to be interesting. Aside from those things, the final resolution of the mystery was unsatisfying. We find out quite soon that this supposedly ultra-locked room was quite accessible by a fair number of individuals, robbing the episode of one of the appeals of locked-room mysteries. Also early on, Pierce and Moretti uncover a hint of the method of how Jennings was killed, but it was ridiculous that the first thing they do is question a suspect, without bothering to verify their initial theory. It is only later that they quite easily find the proof of how it was done. It struck me as an illogical way of investigating a crime. Repeated scenes of questioning one particular suspect was very annoying, although I did like that they had multiple legitimate suspects. As is typical when the main character has specialized or unique knowledge, Pierce utilizes his neuropsychiatric skills in solving aspects of the crime, with some of his mental issues being an asset instead of a detraction, On the downside, Pierce's moral lecturing of his students at the end to be heavy-handed and eye-roll-worthy. Perhaps not the best episode of this series, but given my limited viewing of Perception, I would need to watch additional episode before final judgment of the series. Written: July 19, 2014
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