“The Tomorrow People” is the latest lazy, undercooked superhero project from longtime “Dawson’s Creek” showrunner Greg Berlanti, who also gave us the “Green Lantern” movie, ABC’s “No Ordinary Family” and The CW’s “Arrow.”
Based on a British series from the 1970s, it’s essentially an X-Men knock-off in which all the mutants have the powers of Nightcrawler and Marvel Girl: teleportation, telekinesis and telepathy.
“Lost” icon Mark Pelligrino plays a bad guy who first wants to sap his nephew’s superpowers, then tries to put a bullet in him, then wants to hire him. All in the pilot.
The nephew is played by the hunky cousin of the guy who plays Arrow on The CW.
The best thing about it is the fabulous Peyton List, the lead female mutant who also plays Don Draper’s ex-secretary and Roger Sterling’s ex-wife on “Mad Men.”
The best thing to say about it is that Berlanti, who also labored on an aborted movie centered on The Flash, is updating an old TV series I never watched or cared about, and isn’t degrading another beloved DC Comics icon.
... I hit the pause button in double-digits to laugh out loud or scoff out loud at various scenes. Sometimes it was just someone actually calling themselves the Tomorrow People, other times it was the wooden acting, the inconsistent application of powers or just the bad writing. …
... this me-too drama occupies a lower rung on the evolutionary ladder …
... it’s competently assembled and has a bland stylishness. What it lacks, at this point, is any kick in its storytelling: There are alienation, daddy issues and a looming love triangle, but they’re all pro forma. …
... they have a pretty good idea how to make a show like this, and they have made it. … Although predictable in predictable ways, there are enough twists and turns and, relatively speaking, complexities of character to keep things interesting, and a pivot at the end that I did not see coming. Which bodes well.
... based on a British show, but derivative of sci-fi and superhuman dramas we’ve seen plenty of times before, up to and including the slo-mo “Matrix” bullets flying out of a gun. Grade: C …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... fairly generic sci-fi drama … the results are just kind of “meh.” …
... We’ve seen this angsty teen sci-fi material many, many times before, and done with more style and vitality. Amell, whose cousin Stephen is the lead in “Arrow,” is pretty – and pretty wooden. Likewise, the atmosphere is bland, the special effects and fight scenes are underwhelming, and the tone is mostly humorless. Becoming an adult isn’t easy, perhaps, but it doesn’t have to be a trip down humdrum lane, either. …
... Indifferently acted and badly plotted, Tomorrow cries out to be ignored. …
9 p.m. Wednesday. The CW.
