NBC’s The Player seems to be raking in the bad reviews. I just finished the second episode and, well, this isn’t one of the bad reviews.
The Player stars Philip Winchester as Alex Kane, a security consultant recruited by Mr. Johnson (Wesley Snipes) “The Pitt Boss,” the “public face” of “The House,” an organization of gamblers who gamble on crime; or, more specifically, the ability of Alex, “The Player,” to stop a specific criminal activity from happening in Vegas. (“The very rich love to gamble, even more than the rest of us,” Mr. Johnson explains to Alex. “But when you have so much money you could never lose enough to make a difference, ordinary games become stale. So you begin to look for other games, games with higher stakes.”)
After watching the first episode, I was on the fence; because while I love cop shows with action (Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS:LA), The Player just didn’t click. However, the second episode, really the last 30 seconds or so, really set the stage for the back story; in other words, the glue that will hold this show together.
I’ve been a fan of Snipes since Major League, and it is disappointing he doesn’t have a bigger role. Equally disappointing is his character is stiff and limited to delivering flat, boring, yet ominous dialog.
Cassandra King (Charity Wakefield), “The Dealer,” is no doubt beautiful, and despite being the helpful hacker/concierge/information broker, her character depth seems to be lacking.
Light on plot and character backstory, all-in-all, I really like The Player. It is heavy on action and doesn’t slow down from start to finish.
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