The Player
Created by:
John Rogers
2015-
Drama, Thriller
NBC
TV-14
During the opening moments of “The Player,” a new action-thriller on NBC, Wesley Snipes, as Mr. Johnson, stands alone in the Las Vegas desert. He’s in a three-piece suit, and a man’s body lies at his feet. He looks down and says, “Disappointing.” He then makes a phone call and asks, “Who’s next?” Who, indeed?
“The Player” is a flashy, hyper-urgent series that comes to us from two of the executive producers of “The Blacklist.” It features every kind of action sequence you can think of: from fistfights to gunfights, from car chases to pursuits on foot. So, there’s running, jumping, and smashing through windows. Stylistically, it’s “Knight Rider” meets “The Transporter” meets “Minority Report.” … Wait a minute. What?
If you’re thinking that Fox is the network with the “Minority Report” spinoff, you’re right. But this series also has a storyline that addresses pre-crime. Here, a group of the wealthiest of the wealthy have developed a system to predict crime. However, they don’t use it to help society. Oh no. They use it to run a high-stakes gambling operation. They bet on a game that requires one player to stop a crime before it happens. There’s one dealer, the seemingly all-powerful Cassandra King (Charity Wakefield), and one pit boss, the aforementioned man of mystery, Mr. Johnson. At the start of this series, Cassandra and Mr. Johnson need to find a new player, and they’ve set their sights on a former military operative turned security expert, Alex Kane (Philip Winchester).
Alex is a guy with a dark past, but he’s been redeemed via the help of his ex-wife, Dr. Ginny Lee. They’re an ex-married couple with benefits. Of course, something happens to them that propels Alex into the world of the underground, pre-crime gambling society. And, by the way, once Alex is in, he can’t get out. Matters are complicated by the dogged pursuit of Alex’s friend, Detective Cal Brown (Damon Gupton). Brown suspects Alex of committing a certain crime, but, of course, Alex didn’t do it. The story unfolds from there.
“The Player” is a ridiculous show that requires little to no thought from its audience. The longer you watch it, the crazier the premise becomes. But, it also loses its rhythm as it progresses and has a hard time of getting back on track afterward. Another problem is its dialogue. It’s a silly mix of wooden lines and gambling clichés: “Bold, Mr. Kane. You don’t have a strong enough hand.” All of this could be forgiven if it had a compelling central character à la Red in “The Blacklist.” It doesn’t. Snipes’s Mr. Johnson just doesn’t have the lines or the delivery to provide anything exciting. Where’s the fun? I’m done.
Verdict: Whatever
About: (Source: the player)
From the executive producers of The Blacklist comes the action-packed Las Vegas-set thriller The Player. The series co-stars Wesley Snipes as the pit boss and Charity Wakefield as the dealer for a high-stakes game, where an organization of wealthy individuals gamble on the ability of former military operative turned security expert Philip Winchester (“Strike Back,” “Fringe”) to stop some of the biggest crimes imaginable from playing out. Can he take them down from the inside and get revenge for the death of his wife, or is it true what they say: The house always wins.
