Stop me if this sounds familiar: A former police detective who left the force after being unable to get over or solve the murder of a loved one is still a valuable consultant to the police because of freakish powers of observation, and is still driven by a determination to find that loved one’s killer.
It’s just possible the new cop procedural “Unforgettable,” starring Poppy Montgomery (“Without A Trace”), will be the female equivalent of “The Mentalist.” With a twist.
Did I just hear you wonder, “Someone has brought back ‘Monk’?” No, instead, someone has given Mr. Monk a sex change and replaced the humor of his show with a simmering romance. The series, which has its premiere on Thursday on STAR World, is called “Unforgettable,” and because the structure and plot points are so familiar, whether it succeeds will depend largely on the appeal of its star, Poppy Montgomery.
And she’s reasonably appealing, at least in the previews. Ms. Montgomery knows something about police work from her years as an F.B.I. agent on “Without a Trace.” Here she moves up to the central role: she is Carrie Wells, who has a bizarre ability to remember everything. You can almost hear Adrian Monk saying, “It’s a gift — and a curse.”
Montgomery plays Carrie Wells, a former detective who has a special ability and also, of course, a special curse. She has a rare condition called hyperthymesia, which allows her to recall in precise detail every moment, conversation and detail of her past. She can replay these memories, zoom in for clues and replay dialog in her head while walking around in the virtual scene-a cool trick neatly dramatized with digital technology onscreen.
As the promo suggests, when her neighbor is murdered, and Carrie is the only witness, it appears her special skills will be called upon. She doesn’t want to open herself to that painful morass again. That’s when Dylan Walsh appears as Al Burns, lead investigator in the neighbor’s murder case. It seems Al and Carrie were an item back in Syracuse; he knows her involvement would be key to solving the case. He is able to lure her back into detective work, and the chase is on.
Another well-crafted cop procedural. Providing a neatly wrapped week-to-week caseload plus an over-arching personal mystery, “Unforgettable” seems to have the formula down pat. Maybe too pat.
Unforgettable premieres, Thursday, March 8, 9PM, exclusively on STAR World!
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