WINTER TV EXTRAVAGANZA

THE FINDER

**1/2 (out of ****)

All baggage should be checked at the door before trying to review something, but I do think that it is important when writing about something like The Finder to let everyone know that I have never seen Bones before. That didn’t scare me off from watching it, but I have no idea how the character(s) in The Finder fit into the Bonesverse, or what knowledge I’m supposed to have about them before I started. What I got was a one-and-done show about a group of misfits who take on cases that no one else can solve. The de facto leader of the group is Walter, who falls into the increasingly trendy category of characters who aren’t superheroes per se, but are inhumanly good at whatever the show needs them to be good at. Walter is so observant he is basically Sherlock Holmes, but with none of the wit or tact. This isn’t a knock — this is what makes him interesting. He understands everything but the human heart, and the show takes advantage of it when it comes closest to be engaging. The rest of his ragtag team includes Michael Clark Duncan, an actor I’ve always liked despite his ability to rip my arms off and shove them in my ass, a female cop, whose case involvement with the group and sexual involvement with the main character seems underdeveloped, and a badass teenager who the group is looking after for no apparent reason. The group gets a case, there’s some twists and turns, they solve it, beep bop boo. There is by no means enough zaniness to separate this from the 1000’s of other shows on TV just like it, but Bones fans might enjoy it anyway. Who knows what those crazy Bones fans will like next? They’re the most unpredictable fan base since those Jericho nuts. – RH