Review: ABC's 'Conviction' is guilty of mediocrity
For this, we lost Agent Carter?
Technically, that’s not fair: Hayley Atwell's Marvel period piece was done in by bad ratings, not some misguided ABC push to move her to a present-day legal drama. Still, when a network somehow manages to replace a show about Captain America’s ex battling a super-powered, space-matter-infected Hollywood starlet with a series that feels even less realistic, well, thoughts of justice go out the window.
After all, in a just world, Conviction (Monday, 10 ET/PT, * 1/2 out of four) would not be as witless as it is ridiculous, nor would it saddle its usually appealing British star with a clipped and erratic American accent that strangles her line readings and her charm. But it is and it does, leaving you with a series that rivals ABC’s own Notorious for the title of season’s worst. Two shows, by the way, that are inspired by nothing more than a desperate network’s desire to replicate the success of Shonda Rhimes’ series, without Shonda Rhimes. How’s that going for you so far, ABC?
Atwell is Hayes Morrison, the daughter of a powerful former First Lady who is now running for public office. (But no, you’re not supposed to read anything into that.) A rebellious sort who gained fame for being photographed nude and lost her job as a law professor for sleeping with her students, Hayes is now incarcerated for possessing so much cocaine that she can be charged as a dealer. Which is, perhaps, a bit more backstory than any one character or pilot can handle.
But never fear: Mommy (Bess Armstrong) and a politically ambitious district attorney (Eddie Cahill) sweep in to save her. Her punishment is to be put in charge of a new legal unit designed to re-examine convictions to see if they hold up.
“Imagine what you could do," Mom tells Hayes, "if you actually tried; if you worked at anything as hard as you do at making us all believe you don’t care.”
Well, one thing she’ll do is sleep with a cater-waiter from her mom’s fundraiser, and then use her new job to seek revenge on her boss. Oh, and even though she’s a lawyer — and a sentient adult —- she will, for some reason, be continually shocked that the victims in her cases are less than thrilled to see them reopened.
On the plus side, those victims don’t have to be dismayed for long. Hayes and her team of four investigators — played by Shawn Ashmore, Merrin Dungey, Emily Kinney and Manny Montana — have only five days to solve each case. The arbitrariness of it makes no sense, but TV does love its time constraints.
Their first case involves a young African-American man imprisoned for killing his high-school sweetheart. The next is a racial reversal on the Central Park Five, as the team investigates three white teenagers jailed for attacking an African-American woman.
There are twists and turns, as you’d expect, but few of them are any more believable than the characters, who feel like empty vessels into which traits and quirks have been randomly poured. Which goes double for poor Atwell, whose vessel overflows.
Just not, alas, back to Agent Carter.