The primary reason I watch Hack is that it's filmed entirely in Philadelphia, and I enjoy trying to identify the locations. The secondary reason is that it features three of the best actors to be found on television: David Morse, Donna Murphy, and Andre Braugher.
David Morse plays a dirty cop who has been kicked off the force and is now trying to redeem himself by playing guardian angel while driving a taxi cab. Andre Braugher plays an even dirtier cop, who was Morse's partner but managed to avoid taking a fall and is still on the force.
Last season some of the best scenes involved Morse and Donna Murphy, who played his ex-wife. This year Murphy seems to have been written out. Pity.
Also out this season but not missed is George Dzundza. He played a priest whose chief function seemed to be to remind viewers that gluttony is also one of the deadly sins.
Alas, one thing that hasn't changed is the quality of the scripts. They are extraordinarily unrealistic. For example, although Morse spends a good chunk of each episode driving around town in his taxi, he practically never encounters any of Philadelphia's ubiquitous red lights or stop signs. More seriously, the plots tend to rely too heavily on coincidence and the willing suspension of the viewer's disbelief, a suspension that this viewer is usually reluctant to give.
Saturday night's episode (Oct 4) began well enough with an apparent terrorist attack on the Criminal Justice Center and the police hauling in an innocent man for questioning. Of course, since the man was arrested in front of the his wife and child while getting out of Morse's cab, Morse couldn't help but get involved. The story picked up steam as the FBI jumped in and and threw Mr. Innocent Man behind bars as a material witness without the right to bail. Alas, the anti-Patriot Act propaganda was much too heavy-handed, with the FBI agents painted as one-dimensional villains. More telling, in the end Morse and Braugher were only able to vindicate Mr. Innocent Man by violating the rights of the real bomber with an illegal search, an all-too-frequent ploy adopted by lazy writers.
Still, I'll probably keep watching the show. It is nice to see Philadelphia locations in HDTV.
Posted by jt at October 11, 2003 01:57 PM