Tonight: Sean Bean goes deep for TNT drama ‘Legends’
August 14, 2014 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
Sean Bean is a man of many faces in “Legends,” arriving Wednesday on TNT. He’s an FBI deep cover operative (DCO) who assumes fabricated identities to get close with very bad people (VBP?) and set them up for a fall.
This is a nice change of pace for Bean, cast too often as either the villain in crime dramas or the hero in costume epics (including “Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones”).
But “Legends” doesn’t stray all that far from the mainstream of Bean’s resume. His Martin Odum is a rough-hewn hero, prone to defy authority and disappoint those who care about him. What he loves most is the job.
Based on the book “Legends: A Novel of Dissimulation,” by Robert Littell, the series was developed by Howard Gordon (“24,” “Homeland”), Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Mark Bomback. In undercover speak, we’re told, “legend” is the word for a fabricated identity.
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Before viewers meet Martin Odum, we meet Lincoln Dittmann, with a gun. Scruffy, with gold-framed aviator glasses and a bit of a stutter, Lincoln is a trainee for a group called the Citizens Army of Virginia, which has claimed credit for bombing a federal building in Wichita and killing 57.
When things go wrong, Martin reveals himself. (“Easy, boys. I’m FBI. Covert operations.”) All this, including helicopters and an impressive explosion, takes place before the opening titles.
Like Jack Bauer before him, Martin has troubles of all kinds. His boss (Ali Larter as Crystal McGuire) thinks he’s dangerously unbalanced. His ex-wife (Amber Valletta as Sonya) left him because of his habit of disappearing. (“You can’t just pop back up after being away for months and expect things to be the same.”) He’s constantly disappointing his adorable son, Aiden (Mason Cook).
At work, Martin is considered either the most “naturally gifted deep-cover operative ever,” or someone with a personality disorder. (This sends him to an FBI shrink.)
His troubles go deeper than that, though. In the premiere, Martin (and viewers) learn from a mystery man that he might not be who he thinks he is.
“You don’t know where your legend ends and your life begins,” the man tells him. “There is no Martin Odum.”
Stuff happens that makes Martin unable to dismiss this warning, especially when the mystery man tells him, “You were never supposed to remember.”
This underlying plot, which will drive “Legends,” could actually take away from the series rather than enhancing it. In the early going, the series works best as sort of a modern-day “Mission: Impossible,” and could actually use more of that show’s caper elements.
The DOC team is an interesting one, headed by Steve Harris as director Nelson Gates, with Tina Majorino as the rookie and Morris Chestnut as agent Tony Rice. At their best, as when Martin is about to be executed by terrorists and has to come up with a story, fast, the drama is completely engaging.
(I would like to complain, however, about Larter’s character, the stereotypical bossy female who once had a fling with her colleague and now holds it against him. Inevitably, she winds up in lingerie, giving a lap dance, before the end of the first hour. Is this really necessary?)
“Legends” would work well with mostly stand-alone episodes, but the first two hours suggest a lot of serialization, as Martin tries to solve his own mystery.
“Martin Odum is a man of mystery who has a past that we dig into,” executive producer David Wilcox told TV critics meeting last month in Los Angeles. “It’s sort of a Russian doll of who he really is.”
The mystery includes Martin’s accent, which (when he’s speaking as himself) makes him sound British, like Sean Bean. The pilot’s explanation for that “may be true. It may also not be true,” Wilcox said. (I think I’m speaking for Sean Bean fans when I say: We don’t care. The more he sounds like Sean Bean, the better.)
When you think the first episode of “Legends” is over, it’s not. By the end, we’ve learned to trust no one and that nobody in this show is safe.
The exception, most likely, is Martin, or whoever he is. Bean is famous, dubbed a human spoiler, for dying in so many movies and TV shows. TNT even handed out T-shirts with the line #DontkillSeanBean.
No need to start a death watch here. TNT uses “starring Sean Bean” as a subhead for “Legends.” And although he’ll have close calls, Bean said, “I’m going to be in this for a while.”
‘Legends’
HHH (out of four)
When • 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where • TNT
More info • TNTdrama.com/Legends
