By Josh Oakley
The pilot episode of Twisted
lays out a number of mysteries, begins to color in various stereotypes, and
lays plenty of groundwork for conflict throughout the season. If it
accomplishes these basic tasks that every pilot should, why does it feel so
lacking? I think Twisted isn’t,
ironically, twisty enough.
The townspeople are none too happy about Danny’s return to
society, and have, in the interim years, given him the nickname Socio. The kids
at high school whisper behind his back, and the town’s sheriff, Jo’s father
Kyle (Sam Robards) gives Danny the stink-eye at every possible turn. The climax
of the episode occurs at a party thrown by Lacey’s friend Regina, who invites
Danny in the hopes of bedding him. This plan fails, as she treats him as a
fascinating case study rather than a human being, and Lacey winds up driving
Danny and a drunk Jo home. Lacey ends up spending the night at Danny’s, which
ends up becoming a fairly important plot point once Regina is discovered,
beaten to death, the next morning. Danny is immediately accused, both by a
gossiping student body and the law, when Kyle pulls Danny out of an assembly
for questioning. Lacey could provide Danny with an alibi, but her social
standing trumps her affection for her old friend, at least for now.
The events surrounding Danny and Lacey’s night hanging out
are some of the best of the episode, beginning with (somewhat) natural
reminiscing, turning into a conversation on the show’s central emotional
conflicts, and becoming a vital part of the murder mystery proceedings. Hitting
the emotion and intrigue buttons at the same time is Twisted’s best chance at success. This idea is also well played in
scenes between Danny and Jo. The two actors, both good at breathing life into
their characters from the word go, have a nice natural chemistry that
simultaneously suggests a past friendship and potential future romance. Jogia
is especially skilled at playing the various dynamics of Danny, which seem a
little thrown together, if understandable, at this point: he’s sarcastic
towards adults, threatening to a guy who seeks to harm Jo, and wounded around
Jo and Lacey. His desire for normalcy is felt when around his former friends,
and his knowledge that that will never be attained is evident in his interactions
with everyone else.
The rest of the characters, including, unfortunately, the
third lead, Lacey, have a ways to go before they can gain the color of Jo and
Danny, but given that this is a pilot that’s somewhat understandable. More
worrying, then, is the lack of soapy stakes. The central mysteries to the show
are the questions of why Danny killed his aunt and the identity of Regina’s
killer. Both are set up well, but the lack of intersecting characters makes
this potentially worrying. Compare it to something like Pretty Little Liars, which, even at its inception, had a larger
string of characters than Twisted does
here. Hopefully Lacey’s friends and Jo’s friend will play a larger role in the
episodes ahead. This show plays some emotionally beats nicely, but it’s a
mystery-oriented drama on ABC Family, so the real goals lie elsewhere. The
questions will need to be pumped even more dramatically, and the relationships
become steamier for the show to hit the notes it’s looking for. And if Twisted is looking to do something more
adventurous, grounding these friendships in a coat of reality, it will need
sand down many rough edges. The problems in Twisted’s
pilot are far from unsolvable, but for this to be the companion to Pretty Little Liars that ABC Family longs
there needs to be more to sink one’s teeth into.
Grade: C+
Miscellaneous:
- Hastings Ruckle! Grey Damon did a good deal with very little in the final season of Friday Night Lights so here’s hoping he shades in the generic asshole type he’s playing here.
- The show was created by Adam Milch, whose only previous creative credit was writing a couple episodes of Greek. If you have not watched Greek: do so.
- I didn’t mention Denise Richards? Huh, weird. Maybe we should keep not mentioning her performance here.
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