Well first off, I have to say Sarah's so butch! In the beginning of the show, I thought I had somehow missed something and that Jodie Foster's character (Meg Altman) had more than 1 kid. It was only later that I realised that 'he' was a 'she'. BAD BAD ME! I should hand over my lesbo cred now :P Ok, enough self flagulation. On with the show!
Most of Foster's shows deal with a woman overcoming all odds to succeed, this is no different. Woman empowerment and the ability to overcome all odds when the stakes are against them. Foster stood for that and throughout the whole show, I don't think there's any doubt at all that she is going to succeed in kicking the intruders' collective butt.
The problem of the show thus, ironically, lies in that. There is little suspense and the problems seem to be pretty trivial to trouble Meg. I guess there is just that much that you can do in a house to try and threaten 2 gals stuck in a room that holds the few pieces of paper that you desperately want. Can't burn down the whole house or there'll be no show. With the intensity that Foster showed in portraying her character, the 2 dimensional 'villians' of the show doesn't stand a chance.
I suppose there was some attempt at humanising the villians by having one of them - Burnham - be the unwilling and kindhearted guy who just wants the money because he needed it. But what it did was that it provided a safety net for the audience knowing that when worst comes to worst, there is still someone out there within the villianous group who is willing to help them. And that for me took out whatever suspense there is to the show and to some extent, it actually belittles what Meg and Sarah did to try and get themselves out of the situation.
In short, the is just too much predictability in this show to get thrilled about. It sends out a positive message about women but as I mentioned above, having an unwilling villain just takes out some of the gloss and excitement. Even the really villianous villian did not really get a rise out of me. I mean, come on, they look like punks off the streets rather than a serious contender for 'Psycho of the Century' award. The pace, needless to say was slow and there were rare moments of excitement.
I did like the 'point of view' shots (for my lack of knowledge in directorial terms) where the camera angle shifted from an outside point of view from one room to another. Made me wonder how the shot was done. Other than that and oh, the embarassment over Sarah, there is really nothing to shout about in this show.
My recommendation: watch it if you are a Foster fan, otherwise, save it.
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