I’ve always had a thing for tall guys, so when a series came on starring Jeff Goldblum, I was already predisposed to like it. Raines is his new drama about an LA detective who has “visions” of the victims whose crimes he’s trying to solve. In my house, TV takes a backseat to books, but this one pulled me right in.

The acting and dialogue–especially Goldblum’s exchanges with the victims–are funny and sad and moving, and they move the plot ahead. Madeleine Stowe, whom I’ve loved ever since she starred in the best screen romance ever made, is wonderful as his shrink. And just like in a good romance, circumstances force them together: He has to keep his appointments with her in order to keep his job. His co-workers are worried about his mental health because of something tragic that happened to his partner. The metaphors and symbolism are powerful. Some might say heavy-handed but I think they’re done seamlessly. Example – Raines confronts a suicidal man who just shot his daughter’s killer. Where? At the mouth of the lion’s den at the zoo. It’s seamless because this was his daughter’s favorite place to go when she was alive. Also, the counsel Raines gives the man about why he must live–even though, without his child, he feels like dying–was just so powerful.

I’m usually not good with a show featuring dead people. Even talking dead people. But this one seems to be more about the living, and what they carry with them after their loved one is gone. Now that, I can handle.

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