Midnight, Texas Review: Pilot (Season 1 Episode 1)

The pilot of Midnight, Texas is easily one of the strongest series premieres I’ve seen all year.

The hour isn’t without its flaws — chief among them its near-breakneck speed and slightly odd pacing. But overall, the set-up, world-building, and character-developing that takes place makes this a show I’m fully invested in continuing this summer.

I suppose it’s because I’m a bit of a sucker for a reasonably-entertaining supernatural ensemble drama.

Nothing will ever come close to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in that category, but the characters we meet in Midnight, Texas‘ opener are varying degrees of enjoyable. I like quite a few of their early-established relationships as well.

The pilot comes out swinging with an exciting opening scene that introduces Manfred, our main character. Manfred is a powerful, roguish psychic, who frequently chats with his dead grandma and is on the run from a mysterious someone named “Hightower.”

He later suggests to Lem, Fiji, and Olivia that Hightower is someone his grandmother wronged with one of her psychic schemes, but I’m wondering if that’s actually the full story here… Time will tell, I suppose.

So far, I like Manfred just fine. But he’s definitely not the most interesting character on the series. Not by a long shot.

Similarly, I’m least invested in the burgeoning Creek/Manfred relationship. They’re simply not compelling enough for me to care (yet, anyway). I also almost never go for the whole “love at first sight” shtick with TV ‘ships — it invariably feels unearned.

Overall, I love the set-up we have. The reason for Manfred arriving in Midnight (and choosing to stay there) feels organic, unlike many other shows I’ve seen where the premise feels painfully forced and paper-thin.

I also love the idea that Manfred is only a pseudo “fish out of water,” and the fact that those outside Midnight straddle the line between knowing the truth about its inhabitants and being in denial. Unlike True Blood, where the entire premise revolved around newly “out” vamps, Midnight, Texas is still fairly similar to our world — just with one very special (and very strange) town.

Lem and Olivia are two of the most interesting characters, and I find their odd but sweet relationship to be the best one we’ve seen yet.

I’m also feeling the Olivia/Fiji friendship.

Peter Mensah’s Lem has that whole mysterious vampire thing going on, but he’s also really funny. Mensah has fantastic chemistry with Arielle Kebbel’s Olivia (though I’m not sure it’s possible for Kebbel to not have chemistry with someone).

The final montage, where we see Liv being voluntarily “drained” of her anger by Lem is equal parts heartwarming, scary, and erotic. Which I think pretty aptly also describes the show’s tone as a whole.

Fiji also manages to nicely lay out why Midnight is such a unique place, without the moment feeling overly-expository (my pet peeve in any and all genre television): In this town, the veil between the living and the dead is paper thin.

Hence Manfred’s crappy rental being overrun by terrifying ghouls.

The murder of Bobo’s duplicitous (and white supremacist?!) fiancee Aubrey kicks off the central mystery of the first episode (and, presumably, the entire first season). When her dead, bloated body is found on the river bank on the day of the town barbecue, it seems all but certain that one of the mystery inhabitants is either guilty or in on it.

So, who killed Aubrey? Bobo may have been arrested for the crime, but as of now, my money is on Fiji.

The wiccan seems like a total sweetheart, and she’s the last person you’d expect — which I think makes her the most likely culprit.

There’s also the small fact that she’s head over heels in love with Bobo, which seems like plenty of reason to get rid of the competition.

One thing I do not love: the Sons of Lucifer. A cliche biker gang menacing a town of supernatural inhabitants just feels extraordinarily weird and menial juxtaposed again all of the spooky spirit stuff going on.

Similarly, I’m not crazy about the two detectives, who seems overly critical and just kind of mean to everyone for really no reason.

Stray thoughts:

• Jason Lewis from Sex and the City plays a beautiful, gay angel. All is right in the world.
• So… the Reverend is definitely a werewolf, yeah? I like how they just kind of slid that one in there at the very end, when he remarks to Fiji that he’ll be out of commission during the full moon.
• TALKING CAT. That bit gave me all kinds of Sabrina the Teenage Witch flashbacks. We’ll just have to wait and see if Fiji’s chatty feline has anything on Salem.
• Creek’s dad is a jerk. What’s his deal, and why doesn’t he want anyone around his obviously grown-up daughter?
• I was prepared to dislike the special effects, but I have to say — I’m pleasantly surprised and impressed. Some of the visuals are downright terrifying! Pretty much everything with creepy drowned ghost Aubrey is fantastically done.
• It’s so weird to me that Hot Paul from Orphan Black is now playing a character named “Bobo.”

What did you think of this episode of Midnight, Texas? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Midnight, Texas airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.

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