I’ve been enjoying this show since it debuted four weeks ago. The first two episodes really impressed me; good premise (an entire town full of people in witness protection), interesting characters (a brutal cop, a sadistic “bad boy”, a creepy doctor) and good writing.
But then Entertainment Weekly kind of savaged the show, which frightened me. I mean here I was a fan of the program and they, with the knowledge of having seen the whole season, were telling me not to get my hopes up.
Well, here we are four episodes in and I’ve yet to be disappointed. Sure killing off the Jack, the sadistic bad boy, was questionable, but if any other character had died I wouldn’t have cared.
The basic premise of the show is that the Brogans (Danny & Evelyn and their twins Mark & Zoe) arrive in Meadowlands and try to start anew leaving their old lives behind. Once there, they meet their neighbors. Tensions within the family mount as they adapt. Eventually, by the end of the first episode they find out everyone in town is in witness protection.
From there things get interesting as Mark’s toying with cross-dressing gets him viciously attacked, which results in Danny killing in self defense. From there we see Danny trying to evade suspicion yet still ending up in an interrogation room.
The family is full of engaging characters. Danny is trying desperately to keep his family together and start over. Mark, who was traumatized in the incident that caused the family to go into witness protection, is fragile and suffering from various disorders. Zoe is bubbling with curiosity yet lacks the flight instinct when danger arises. And Evelyn remains one fight away from taking the kids and abandoning Danny.
Of course the other characters are interesting too. And as a sort of multimedia experience after each episode a different character’s bio unlocks on the Showtime site, providing back story to who they were before they came to Meadowlands.
So basically if you dig quirky character and stories full of secrets you should check out Meadowlands. Oddly enough Showtime is having a marathon of the first four episodes this Saturday starting at 8pm.
About Mathan Erhardt
