Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 1 Review: The Infinity Thief

Wild Cards Season 1 Episode 1, “The Infinity Thief,” is breezy and slick evidence that the consultant procedural drama is far from dead in the hands of Vanessa Morgan and Giacomo Gianniotti.

Written by Michael Konyves and directed by James Genn, this pilot’s rhythm sweeps you up while the leads’ chemistry sweeps you away. It’s an easy watch where accents, cases, and disguises form around fun and promising characters. 

“The Infinity Thief” doesn’t need to break the mold or defy those White Collar comparisons. Instead, it takes the preferable route and leans into knowing precisely what it is. Unlike Max, who still has a few secrets up her sleeves with Cole, Wild Cards is not lying about what to expect.

Konyves’s script is filled with self-aware lines that Morgan delivers with ease.

“We’re like Bones and that dude from Buffy, Castle and that hot girl, A Star Is Born, except you’re Lady Gaga and I’m Bradley Cooper” is a perfect bit of dialogue that proves Max — and Wild Cards — isn’t taking herself too seriously.

It’s also an awareness of the TV catalog that Wild Cards finds itself among now. Bones, Castle, Lucifer, White Collar, and other consultant dramas like them are TV staples that run for seasons upon seasons, usually creating slow-burn relationships that keep fans engaged for a decade or more.

The CW and CBC may very well have that hit on their hands with this one.

It’s delightfully apparent from the teaser of “The Infinity Thief” that Morgan is having the time of her life as the experienced con artist Max. Coming off the heels of Riverdale‘s Toni Topaz (!), seeing Morgan back on TV and excelling is exciting. Her casually cool performance draws you into Wild Cards.

Morgan’s Max has an undeniably bubbly energy that becomes a buzz when opposite Giacomo Gianniotti’s reluctant and recently demoted-to-Maritime cop, Cole. “The Infinity Thief” throws nearly every consultant procedural trope at Morgan and Gianniotti, and the pair takes them in stride.

This episode — the first in what will hopefully be a very long run — includes an undercover kiss between Max and Cole. James Genn’s glossy, sparkly, slow-mo direction of the moment is like a wink and a nudge saying, “We know exactly what this means.” Morgan and Gianniotti’s performances say it, too.

Wild Cards knows its audience and is not afraid to appeal to them. 

That knowledge of who this show is for shines in lines like one that references a baseball game and the cops at Station 18. It’s so close to being Station 19, the Grey’s Anatomy, that it almost encourages fans of the medical drama — and Gianniotti’s turn on it — to become the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme.

Still, for Wild Cards to succeed, “The Infinity Thief” needs to sell Cole and Max as a pairing worthy of investment. Their general demeanors create an organic, opposites-attract sense of humor, but it would fall flat without Gianniotti and Morgan’s chemistry. They work so well together throughout this pilot.

They bounce off of each other in comedic and dramatic beats.

Notably, the scene they share on Cole’s brother’s boat in Act 5 is one of the only moments “The Infinity Thief” slows down long enough for the characters to interact without the case looming over their actions. 

This scene is the origin story of their partnership.

It’s visible that Max telling him he’s not a dirty cop means something to Cole, and that genuine appeal shines through Gianniotti’s performance.

The tag scene of “The Infinity Thief” revealing a secret deal between Max and her dad, played by Beverly Hills, 90210‘s Jason Priestly (!), retroactively makes that heart-to-heart between Max and Cole even more dynamic.

Throughout the episode, Max offers up superficial information about herself. Only Cole eventually goes a little deeper and brings up his late brother, the social worker with a houseboat and a cat named Marc. 

His brother’s unfinished work to see the good in people and help them translates to Cole’s mission to see the good in Max — and Henry and presumably others moving forward — by the end of “The Infinity Thief.”

That determination will make the ultimate betrayal from Max all the more dramatic for Cole. Namely, that arc because that seems like a season or series-long one, meaning Wild Cards will have the time to test and strengthen Cole and Max’s partnership before it pulls the rug out from under them.

There are plenty of cases-of-the-week that await the duo before then.

Wild Cards‘s trailers made it seem that the case would be an overarching one. So, it’s surprising that “The Infinity Thief” wraps up its string-of-robberies case with a bow, but it’s not a bad thing in the slightest.

Alternatively, it speaks to Wild Cards‘s potential longevity as a produceral show. Like any good consultant drama, the show can stay fresh with a new case — and accents and disguises — accompanying every episode.

After all, there must be enough episodes for “Just the Two of Us” to come full circle in a few seasons. (It has to, doesn’t it?)

The overarching stories will find their roots in character rather than a case, like Max working with her father and Cole presumably trying to avenge his brother.

Ultimately, “The Infinity Thief” is a well-intentioned pilot that celebrates and embraces a long-missed genre on broadcast TV, starring leads with lovely chemistry that can become electric with time. Wild Cards has essentially everything it needs to succeed, and hopefully, it does.

—

What did you think of this episode of Wild Cards? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

Wild Cards airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

The Most Memorable TV Moments of 2023 According to Tell-Tale TV Readers!