Take Two premiere review: Rachel Bilson shines as ABC series offers up silly fun
The story of Take Two was really set up within a matter of a few short minutes. Rachel Bilson plays Sam Swift, an out-of-rehab actress who, in order to research her new movie role, decides to shadow a well-known private investigator in Eddie Valetik (Eddie Cibrian). While Eddie found her to be a complete liability at first, over the course of the episode she showed herself to be very much worthy of working alongside him. As a matter of fact, she had a few useful skills. For one, everyone immediately recognized her on the job and that disarmed them. Also, she had a few little tools of the trade that proved useful by the end of the episode. Finally, there was the fact that could go undercover in various situations that proved rather helpful to the cause.
Most importantly for Eddie, the work that he and Sam did solving this case caused him to make headlines and, in turn, get more cases. All of a sudden, he realizes that she may be his ticket to getting back on top after dealing with hard times year before. With her movie deal falling through, all of a sudden she also does find herself in need of more work. With that, a partnership is born.
There are a few other important characters thrown into the mix here, whether it be the medical detective or the cop who Eddie tends to hook up with from time to time. Ultimately, though, Take Two showed itself through the first episode to be a show about a comeback and about trying to find a way through what are otherwise some difficult times. We don’t know enough about most of the supporting characters, at least for now, to care much about them.
Oh, and it’s pretty clear that Eddie and Sam are going to hook up eventually. The fact that Eddie is a secret fan of her old show Hot Suspect makes their new relationship all the more endearing.
CarterMatt Verdict
Take Two is not going to be a show that gets a cavalcade of critical claim. It’s also pretty derivative, by-the-numbers, and you basically know how it’s going to end from the moment you start watching. If you can get past all of that, though, what’s here is a charming, fun summer mystery show that has a lot of potential. Bilson is great as Swift, delivering the right amount of enthusiasm and humor that you’d want from her role … while also proving surprisingly effective in her new line of work. The rest of the cast does have some catching up to do and the show needs to figure out ways to keep using Sam’s fame, but we would consider this, by and large, an appealing start that is worth watching for at least another few episodes.
Also, we’re very well cognizant of the fact that most crime procedurals in this genre are far from perfect. Many of our other favorite procedurals out there were not ones we necessarily loved right out of the gate.
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