Minority Report "The Present" (REVIEW)
written by Omar Castillon (omar_castillon)
This week we finally get a little more of the human element between Vega and Dash as they try to solve the latest murdervision. Key elements to consider are a 2019 jersey, a company logo and of course a gun. What makes it different is that as Vega and Dash look into the mystery, we are told that it is Vega’s birthday. Too bad she is not much into birthdays ever since her father died 17 years before the present time. The intro was a bit confusing but it didn’t take long to register that the police officer that is murdered is actually Vega’s father. Vega then goes on another reckless triad to discover the truth.
It is getting a bit annoying that every episode so far has Dash going to Arthur for help, Arthur refuses and then accepts later on in the episode. Is this supposed to be comedic? I’m all for the sibling scenes but when it always, ALWAYS, starts the same way every single episode and it is getting ridiculous. In any case, the two brothers come together begrudgingly to help out Vega as they think back to the prototype era of their PreCog days. It turns out; the human brain can recollect memories that are forgotten only by triggering a certain part of the brain by some crazy science only plausible in this universe. Once Vega gets what she wants, she of course risks her life in order to get the truth and a sense of closure to her father’s murderer and for once enjoy a birthday after 17 years.
Vega has now gone from brave cop to someone who is in over her head. There are decisions Vega has made throughout the series that just make me irritated. Her emotions get to the better of her rational. Common sense basically goes out the window sometimes and Dash ends up being the voice of reason. He practically has to anchor Vega down in this episode as she confronts her father’s killer. The whole time I’m like, “Vega…this isn’t a good idea. Vega this is stupid don’t do it. Vega for the love of God; think about what you are going to do.” Granted after the rather stupid decisions she makes, the final sequence with her and her mother with the pocket watch Vega’s father owned was a nice touch of emotion. It was also nice to hear a DFW (I live in Texas) artist being used in the final sequence too.
Aside from the slightly different direction the series took this week it was mostly the same thing. Agatha warned Arthur of the PreCog program being reproduced by the federal government again…that’s it. The show is losing a lot of substance. I could have sworn the series was heading in the right direction two episodes ago but it just feels like they are sticking with the same formula and then copy and paste for the next episode. This show has the potential to be better than that. There is a rumor going around that the series was cut back three episodes and just sticking to a ten episode season. This is not good and in a way this sounds typical to FOX sci-fi failure. If anything this might just be a ten episode first season and then a 13 episode second season. That is if this series will survive the last five episodes without copy/pasting the same plot points.
