And my favorite show is back. Perception is currently my favorite show, including the winter shows. In fact, if I had to make a list of all time favorites, Perception would have a spot in top 3.
Perception, starring Eric McCormack and Rachael Leigh Cook, is in its second season, having aired 10 episodes last summer. For the background of the characters, and general plot, you can check out posts On Perception and other TV Crime Drama Series with Genius Yet Problematic Characters and 10 Reasons Writers Should Watch TNT’s Perception starring Eric McCormack.
(There’ll be spoilers for season 1 below, so keep reading at your own peril)
Where Season 1 Left Us
Season 1 had established that even though Kate (Rachel Leigh Cook) and Daniel (Eric McCormack) had feelings for each other, it wasn’t a great time to pursue them as Daniel’s symptoms got more serious, and he had to check himself into a psychiatric hospital.
That’s where we had gotten the twist of the season: While the hallucination that is Natalie (Kelly Rowan) – Daniel’s ex-girlfriend from college/a fellow psychiatrist – was indeed based on a real person, there really was no Natalie. He had never dated or met “Natalie”.
Instead, he had seen Dr. Caroline Newsome (Kelly Rowan), his treating psychiatrist from afar, but had never gotten to nerve to talk to her. But his symptoms had started pretty aggressively that summer, making him believe they had actually had a relationship.
After Daniel had some time to digest that, he realized that his symptoms weren’t that bad. In fact he was right on a complicated case- so he checked himself out, despite Caroline’s objections. And he also tried to use her skills, since he was on meds and wasn’t seeing Natalie anymore, he needed another smart brainstorming/crime-solving partner.
Afterwards she visited Daniel at the university, excusing herself as his therapist due to his “relationship” with Natalie but offering her friendship.
Season 2 – Relationships, Addition of Scott Wolf
Season 2 starts with Daniel spending a lot of time with Caroline, eventually turning it into a romance. But he is keeping secrets from her-like that he has given up on his meds due to side effects and Natalie has returned…
Donnie (Scott Wolf) is introduced-he is the ADA, as well as Kate’s soon-to-be-ex husband. It turns out that he is cocky, self-serving and still hooked up on Kate. While Kate is still rightfully mad at him (he did sleep with her best friend!), he gets to collaborate with her on several cases, and takes advantage of her friendship with Daniel as long as it serves him.
It seems that Daniel keeps his new romance with Caroline a secret, and he and Kate seem to be spending less time together.
Of course eventually Daniel can’t keep up the act, and Caroline leaves him.
From then on, we get more Daniel and Kate interaction, though their attraction for each other seems to be held more at bay this season. And Donnie keeps butting in, suggesting stuff like Kate is into Daniel, but she should be with someone that is neither like Daniel nor himself.
*
Season 2 : Cases
I’ve liked the cases so far, my two favorites being episodes 3, 5 and 6 (this week’s episode).
In Episode 3, Blindness, we are introduced to a very intriguing murder case where the killer replaces the victim right after, and manages to escape without anyone noticing. It questions our perception, attention and how sometimes our expectations and experiences “blind” what we actually see.
I loved who the killer turned out to be, and what his motives were and how he chose his victims. It is always more interesting when the victims’ actions piss you off, and the situation is just grey.
In Episode 5, Caleidoscope, Kate and Daniel have to take part in an interactive online game where the victim and the murderer originally met. Daniel enjoys the freedom of the game, where people choose avatars and can do whatever they want with them while using their own voices to talk. He also seems to meet another potential love interest, and the case takes some cool turns.
It was a great episode about being yourself, letting go, connecting and the lengths you would go for what matters the most…
In Episode 6 (Defective was a lot of fun), partly because it guest-starred Alexis Denisof (who’s best known as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce to Angel and Buffy fans), as well as David Alpay, who I recently watched as Professor Shane in The Vampire Diaries (season 4). Of course their roles couldn’t have been more different than the shows I mentioned.
Denisof plays a neurosurgeon who also comes across as a loving husband. And Alpay plays a brilliant violinist whose tremors were stopped due to a brain implant. When he almost dies to due a suspected defect, the manufacturing company gets involved, Donnie gets suspiciously interested in the case and when more deaths follow, Daniel forms an unlikely partnership with Donnie to get the company, to Kate’s dismay.
The episode didn’t have one pointless or boring minute, as it got Daniel to question how he is managing and perceiving his disease and leading his life and we got to see a more humane and much less annoying Donnie.
*
Perception is still strong, though the ratings for this season have been generally lower than the first season. I really hope they go up, or at least stay at a level that satisfies TNT.
Because Perception brings up wonderful cases and complicated questions about life, being yourself and being human in every episode – with the right touch of humor, drama and mystery.
And of all the eccentric, incredibly smart and sometimes socially difficult geniuses, Daniel is sure one of my favorites…Would love to put him in the same room with House, Lightman and Jane and see what they would talk about. Though they would probably solve any case in 5 seconds if they do work together…
And I might be in the minority because while a lot of watchers complain about the addition of Donnie, his character and Scott Wolf’s portrayal of him, I am having a lot of fun with both his presence. But then again, I’ve always liked Scott Wolf. He co-starred in one of my favorite 90s movies, White Squall (1996) along with Jeff Bridges. I strongly recommend the movie. He has also taken parts in some of the shows that I religiously followed (Spin City, V).
And is it just me, or does he also remind you of Tom Cruise and Michael J. Fox (two actors I love watching) at times?
