Review: 'Wild Cards'

Wild Cards has much going for it. It’s new. It’s different. Well, Wild Cards has much more than that going for it. In a world full of CSI and NCSI, this show goes back to the original concept of a mystery much like Murder, She Wrote. They don’t rely on gunfire and courtrooms. They rely on brain work (from Max, a street-smart con) and the crime-solving skill of a cop in disgrace, Ellis. This is what makes the show. Let me explain how. Note: This is not a recap. With all that went on last night in the episode, I could not have broken it down if I tried.

The Premise (old versus new)
When I saw the description, it reminded me of such noteworthy series as Moonlighting and Remington Steele. In many ways, Wild Cards may share some of their tendencies but has taken the genre and made it their own. While we knew both of those series had cons, there was no visible connection to the cops. In Remington Steele, the woman, Laura Holt (played by Stephanie Zimbalist) makes up the character of Remington (the con, played by Pierce Brosnan) as the owner of the private investigation agency. In Moonlighting, the employee David (played by Bruce Willis) convinces Madelyn (played by Cybill Shepherd) not to sell her agency and run the company herself with his help.

Wild Cards has taken this theme and turned it on its ear. Sure, it is still a man/woman team, but it is the cop (Ellis) who gets help from a street-smart con (Max) in solving the crimes. He needs her to get his rank back. She needs him to stay out of jail. Who cares about their history (which we learn slowly). The two of them make a remarkable team. While Ellis goes by the book, Max sees angles and goes for it. Sure, she breaks rules by touching things and finding something that others miss, and picking it up (a scrap of paper). Sure, she hacks into a computer (legitimately I say because she was given the password), but this makes the show interesting. It also ensures that all the facts of the case come to bear on the final criminal.



The Mystery Element
I have always loved a great mystery – be it Agatha Christie or Knives Out.  Wild Cards delivers this and makes it a hard show to recap (especially watching only once). For me, Wild Cards is the type of show that I watch once for the story then get a cup of hot chocolate (in most cases, it would be wine) and watch again for the nuances. From the noisy neighbor hearing a “ghost” in the apartment next door to the female boxer to the sports agency owner to the adulterous couple, all of these characters play a part in leading to the rewarding ending. 

Let’s face it. Their first “suspect” of who did it, the bike racer, was set up with the knife in her truck. Most people would have arrested her on the spot (which Ellis did) but Max points out the obvious. Sure enough, she didn’t do it leaving a case wide open. This is a true mystery … who do you blame? Each of the suspects has an alibi. Max figures out that the answer lies with the Flaire Sports Management Agency (a nod maybe to wrestler, Ric Flair). Posing as a secretary, she finds out that Flaire now demands that all Jake’s mail come directly to him. With that knowledge, Max offers to deliver the mail in her secretarial guise to Flaire’s office but goes through it first. This is what leads to the clue. It also gives us the reasons that some of Jake’s last actions before death now make sense.

Through this, we learn that Jake had represented a client once who died when forced to appear in a sports event. The guilt of this has haunted Jake. He and Summer, a very well-known woman boxer, had come up with a video game but she has symptoms of the same condition that Jake’s earlier client had. Knowing that he and Summer are sitting on a multi-million dollar deal, Jake takes money from his ex-wife’s account and gives it to the widow of his first client. Generous, right? I call it getting a dose of good karma for the bad.



The Solution to the Mystery
After running through various scenarios, the letter from a doctor leads Max and Ellis to who caused the death. Flaire, the owner of the sports agency, knew of the breakthrough on the game. He was going to let Summer fight although she had symptoms of the earlier client. Why: Flaire wanted all the money from the video game his employee had developed. Ellis and Max warn Summer that her life is at risk but Flaire wants her to fight. When confronted with the report, he denies any knowledge and yet confesses to killing Jake while in the bathroom. Max, thoughtfully, had a microphone set up that broadcasted the news to the arena and Ellis had cops waiting for the arrest. Summer does fight but when she develops symptoms during the match she stops. She later acknowledges her illness and friends helped her make the decision.

What Makes This Show Work!
I’ll be honest. I’m a Vanessa Morgan fan. In Riverdale, as Toni Topaz, she was an afterthought character, but she always gave the role 100%. I still cry thinking of her haunting portrayal of La Llorona to save her son on that show. She brings energy, charisma, and style to her role of con artist, Max. Her star is rising. She could bring the style of Cybill Shepherd back!

Giacomo Gianniotti’s casting as Ellis surprised people. I admit, I knew very little about him except that people were surprised he took the role after Grey’s Anatomy. To me, this is definitely a wise move. Not only does he have a showcase role, but a co-star that allows him to shine while she could have stolen every scene. He’s no longer just an “ensemble” player but can really establish himself as a name actor to those of us who gave up on Grey’s years ago. 

Vanessa and Giacomo work very well together. This show can easily gain traction and be a contender in the future and I’m glad for both performers. More importantly, I’m glad for the people who like good characters and a good plot. It gives us hope for adventure and style. I’m so tired of the “shoot them up” within the first minute that we get from SWAT, CSI, NCSI. Let’s solve a mystery and I’ll be happy.



The Con’s Kind Heart
I’d be remiss without noting this. Max and Ellis had been speaking to a group at the “ghost” apartment about missing packages as the show started. That’s what Ellis’s boss wants – to make him a non-entity. Max figures out throughout the show who was taking the packages – the noisy neighbor. Instead of turning her into the cops, Max pulls one of her cons and finds the missing packages. Max convinces the neighbor to return them to the rightful owner and doesn’t turn her into the police. This kind-hearted treatment just endeared Max to me more.

The Only Complaint I’ve Heard
The only complaint I’ve heard so far was the robot-vacuum that ran through the blood leading to the dead body. To me, this wasn’t an issue as we didn’t have to watch someone run and chase the villain and then the bangs of bullets. The gore was really at a minimum. Sure there was gore, but it’s not as much as a bullet wound.

My Prospective
Wild Cards is worth a weekly view. Will I try to recap – no way! This show does not give itself to an honest recap. Each show seems self-contained. Why recap? With these characters and the way the story develops, just take your favorite beverage and have a seat in front of the television. I’ve been waiting for more programs like this on network television. I was tired of going to streaming to get them! With Wild Cards, I get this!