47/40
American (English) remake of the French series HPI (2021)
Story
Follows Morgan, a single mother of three, and how her extraordinary mind enables her to help solve a crime by rearranging evidence during her shift as a police cleaner. Despite her very high IQ, excellent memory, and extensive knowledge of the arcane, Morgan makes a number of basic legal errors that anyone who has ever watched a legal show on TV should avoid. In episode one, for example, she obtains a document from a locked safe in the suspect/victim’s law office that would never be admissible in court – illegally obtained evidence.
Remake of HPI (2021)
Nor could it be used to obtain other evidence – a violation of the legal doctrine of the “fruit of the poisonous tree.” In episode 2, she has to be reminded to wear gloves before touching evidence at a crime scene, and in #3, she removes all documented evidence from the police station, completely breaking the chain of evidence and making anything she removed inadmissible in court as well. At first, I thought this was going to be a comedy in the style of Psych! or an absurdist comedy like Always Sunny.
But she does it somehow in a mature way
I mean, the only characters I’ve ever seen Kaitlin Olson play are trashy women with a very biting sense of humor. If that’s what you like about her, don’t worry, she definitely brings both of those qualities to this role. Although the first episode is all I’ve seen so far, it seems to be a series similar to the aforementioned Psych!
and its fraternal twin, The Mentalist
In it, Olson plays a character with an extremely high IQ who also suffers from a type of OCD that causes her to obsess over things that are out of place. She also has very keen observation skills and uses these quirks to help the local police solve crimes. This isn’t a dramatic detective series, but it’s not a comedy aimed at laughs either.
It’s a light action crime series like ABC’s The Rookie, and even reminds me of FX’s brilliant Rescue Me series from the early 2000s
The first episode was entertaining, and I hope the series continues in this direction, with just enough dark humor to be entertaining, but without becoming a joke.