Mercy Review:
"Hope You're Good, Smiley Face" (Episode 1.3)

Paste Rating

regrettable

Your Rating

Well, you've got to give them points for trying. New show Mercy has been testing out some different techniques and new styles in an attempt to find its rhythm and a much-needed niche that will draw in viewers.

All new TV series go through these growing pains at some point. Problem is, nothing that the producers and writers of Mercy have tried yet is making any difference.

With tonight's episode, many scenes -- especially those that featured emergency room traumas -- were shot in a dizzying, cinéma vérité style in an attempt at realism. But this style is not accompanied by enough ambient urgency to be effective.

Likewise, the storylines are trying to find an emotional foothold. Nurse Sonia (Jaime Lee Kirchner), whom earlier episodes have conveyed just barely pulled herself out of the ghetto to get a good job in a hospital, is featured in a subplot involving giving medical treatment on the sly to her gangster brother. Suddenly, a tough kid speaking street slang is introduced into the episode in a slap-dash attempt to infuse it with gritty honesty. But Sonia seems too refined and educated, even when one-on-one with him, to lend this the weight of believability.

Chloe Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg) is given a subplot in which she runs around desperately searching for a rabies vaccine for a patient. But her delivery, and the pacing of these scenes, make her come off more shrill than impassioned.

New characters are being introduced to Mercy with every episode, like the tough doctor with a heart of gold with whom Sonia clashes. But all of these strategies -- new characters, new filming styles, new tones -- feel like desperate attempts to bail out a sinking ship.

The producers of Mercy can add as many new pieces to the puzzle as they want, but it still doesn't seem to fit together, adding up to a salient, provocative series that induces audiences to return week after week. Ultimately, no matter what they do, there is simply no heart, no pulse, to this medical drama.