Fearless
Review by David Bjerre
Genre: TV-Talent
Keywords:
Teens with guns, girlpower, secret agents
Did you know that...
According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day. In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years in front of a TV set.
WHAT IS IT?
"Fearless" is a pilot for a TV-series that was never produced. It has never been released officially.
THE STORY
Gaia Moore is 23 years old, and she's got a secret. She was born without the gene for fear. This special defect has made her a valuable asset and she's been recruited as an agent for FBI. In fact, today Gaia is assigned to a new special unit, comprised of young promising agents. The other two agents on the team are hotshot Ryan (Eric Balfour, from "24", "Veritas" and "Six Feet Under") and the reserved Harmony (Bianca Lawson from "Save the Last Dance"). Both of them are a little concerned about this new partner, who's come out of nowhere. They don't trust her, and it doesn't help that her file is sealed, or that the unit's handler happen to be Gaia's godfather, Frank (Erich Anderson), who has kept an eye on her since her parents died.
The first item on the team's agenda is an identity theft case involving a young informant, Jordan (Ian Somerhalder of "Lost" fame). Gaia will get plenty of chances to prove herself, as the team goes undercover in an attempt to expose the man behind the identity scheme.
REVIEW
Slickly produced and confident with its own abilities, "Fearless" is an impressive pilot by any standards. It aims to please both the boys and the girls. Let me give you two examples. For the girls there are scenes like the one where an undercover operation is threatened by a jealous girlfriend, prompting Gaia to lure the girl and her two lieutenants to the bathroom and kick their asses. If that isn't Girl Power, I don't know what is. And for the guys, there's a scene like the one where Gaia is almost drowned by the bad guy. In milk, no less. The next scene features a completely drenched Rachael Leigh Cook, looking suitably perky, and dripping with milk! An image I still can't quite get out of my head.
I understand fear, I just don't feel it in my gut."
And speaking of Rachael Leigh Cook, she's perfect cast as Gaia. She exudes equal parts Girl Power and sex kitten, but keeps her face neutral all the way through, so we never really know where we've got her. Cook gives us just enough to hint at a very complex person below, but not enough to satisfy us in any way. In other words, she leaves us wanting more, which is exactly how you want to play such a character. It's a fine balance, but Cook pulls it off without blinking... so to speak.
There's clearly a lot of potential in exploring the young agents' backgrounds, and the series should have no problems coming up with material, because it could basically tell the same stories that have been told a million times before, on other FBI shows, but give them a new spin, because of the unusual make-up of the group.
"Fearless" borrows its look from "C.S.I.", and the shooting style resembles that of "Alias". Add to that a soundtrack featuring teen favorites like Pink, Liz Phair, Boom Kat and Evanescence and you have a tight little package that might have worked well as counter programming to adult oriented shows like "Law & Order".
WHAT HAPPENED TO IT?
"Fearless" was scheduled to debut in September 2003 for a regular 2003/2004 season run. But nothing happened. Then Warner announced that "Fearless" was having production problems, and was now looking at a January 2004 start date, as a midseason replacement. And still... nothing happened. Then suddenly it was gone. With Warner as the backer, and Jerry Bruckheimer on production duties, this should have been a done deal. A no-brainer. I'm not sure what went on behind the scenes, but it's heartbreaking to see a potentially great TV show like this vaporise before our very eyes. Even if nothing scares you, it's okay to feel a little sad about that.
