Oz to the Rescue

What… this isn’t a Tv Nibble but an actual post… gasp! Ok I just thought, while there is a mini tv break, that I’d talk about a new show I recently discovered from Australia. It has had a 12 week run so far with the thirteenth episode (season finale?) to air on the 25th and it’s called Rescue: Special Ops.

Ok, I’m going to be honest and up front, I discovered this show because of my love for one thing… Gigi Edgley.

Ok, so what is the show about? Essentially a Search and Rescue team operating in Australia. I know, this isn’t my usual fare. There are no monsters, aliens or exploding island hatches in this show. The closest thing I can attribute it to that I watch is Bones.

When I first watched Bones I did so to see what had become of David Boreanaz, but I fell in love with the show because of the dynamics between the characters and the witty and intelligent writing. The pilot for Rescue Special Ops wasn’t witty or that intelligent and the characters didn’t seem that lovable.

There were some very nice interaction moments and the cast all seem very comfortable with each other, portraying the fact that they have depended on each other for years very well, despite this being our, as an audiences, first encounter with them. The show didn’t feel dumbed down so that we would “get it” and the use of language and lingo seemed realistic and well researched without being confusing.

The show itself is presented as reasonably formulaic. There are two brothers on the team, both vying for dominance, opening up the door to those moments that can only occur with family. There is the “lead guy and lead girl like each other but pretend not to” dynamic to give the romantic in all of us something to hope for. We have the “down with the kids” incredibly upbeat girl, the boss who is more like a mate than a leader and the other boss who constantly has to worry about public relations. It’s all there, everything that is usually there, but nothing that isn’t.

But wait… There’s a twist, look away now if you don’t wish to know the result. Unlike your typical rescue/catch the baddie drama, Rescue Special Ops seems to have no qualms with letting the heroes fail. Where a drama cut from the standard mould might have waited two or three episodes, maybe even a whole series, before the heroes failed to save someone Rescue just gets right in there with the pilot.

Even more than that, they take the main plot for the episode and throw in a student teacher relationship, very brave material for a pilot.

So, it’s brave, it feels well researched, it’s filmed in one of the most beautiful locations on the planet. It certainly has the potential to go places, just within the pilot it laid down the ground work for future stories but will I tune in for them? 

Well… I’m not hooked, but I’m willing to keep watching because I think I this show has the potential to be very rewarding indeed.     

And what of Gigi…? Well… she’s just not grey…