Critical Condition: The Catch

The Catch (TVNZ 1, 11.15 Wednesdays)

“Mireille Enos cleans up nicely as the sleek star of ABC’s new thriller, The Catch. She’s traded in her soggy Pacific Northwest look from The Killing in favor of the killer dazzle of a Los Angeles private detective whose specialty is catching high-stakes con artists. The series began life as a drama about a forensic accountant. Better heads prevailed, including producer Shonda Rhimes and creators Jennifer Schuur and Helen Gregory, who gave Alice Vaughan (Enos) and the script a sassy makeover.” — San Francisco Chronicle.

“Having already undergone behind-the-scenes and cast changes, ABC’s The Catch arrives with something of a ‘troubled‘ label affixed to it. Yet the network’s latest drama to fall under the aegis of producer Shonda Rhimes mostly just feels tired, like a TNT caper show that futilely seeks to derive energy from visual gimmicks, like split screens and slo-mo. Based strictly on the premiere, the show is hardly a disaster, but nor does it offer much incentive to see what maze-like corners this cat-and-mouse game will explore.” — Variety.

“The Catch, whose pilot takes place entirely in the sorts of places where a television executive might live and work, pushes audio-visual sensation — split screens, wipes, freeze frames, music mixed high on the soundtrack — to seem cool and exciting, but it comes off feeling nonsensical.” — Los Angeles Times.

“The pilot is a slick, constantly entertaining hour of programming, directed by Julie Anne Robinson with hell-for-premium-leather pacing and a surplus of stylised, split-screen transitions. From the outset, The Catch is a lighter and frothier concoction than Rhimes’ other shows, filled with fun, rat-a-tat banter and fast-moving heist sequences set to toe-tapping pop songs.” — Boston Globe.

“The Catch is defined merely by slickness, and it might have made a decent Ocean’s Eleven-style caper movie. That, though, is quite different from asking people to return week after week.” — New York Times.