ABC Sundays @ 10pm ET
A chance meeting between Sara Hanely, a professional photographer, and Jack McAllister, a top attorney, leads to an instant and undeniable attraction. Sara's husband, Drew Stafford, is a successful prosecutor with political aspirations. Unbeknownst to Sara, Jack is in-house counsel to a powerful but somewhat shady entrepreneur, Thatcher Karsten, and is married to Thatcher's daughter, Elaine. However Sara and Jack both realize something is missing in their marriages, and fight against the realization that they've met their soul mates in one another. As Sara and Jack struggle with their feelings and their guilt about their families, Thatcher's brother-in-law, Lou, is murdered, and all evidence points to Thatcher's mentally challenged son, T.J. Sara discovers she's in the middle of a nightmare when she learns that Drew will be the prosecuting attorney in this high-profile murder case, which can secure his political future, and that Jack will be the lawyer for the defense. The lovers find themselves in an impossible situation – on opposite sides of a murder investigation.
The phrase "mommy porn" is defined by UrbanDictionary.com as "a sub-genre of erotica that grew out of the mainstream success of E.L. James' erotic novel 'Fifty Shades of Grey.' Characterized by its perceived audience and elegant description of female sexual domination; its focus on female sexual fantasy; the introduction of an innocent female protagonist to an unimagined world of sex; a controlling, alpha male love interest; and its detailed description of sex without using graphic words."
If that phrase were invented to describe anything other than that notorious "novel", it would be ABC's new Sunday night "drama." "Betrayal" was clearly envisioned to be a sexy, sudsy follow-up to the popular drama "Revenge". Instead it's a wet, mopey, passionless mess that would be more suited to a daytime soap opera than a primetime slot.
Perhaps the best use this show could be put to is watching it as a drinking game. Take a shot every time a character looks at another with glistening, tear-filled eyes. Take a shot every time someone says a groan-worthy line like, "You make me want to connect." Take a shot every time the overpowering score tries to convince you something really dramatic is going on. Chug the rest of your drink whenever a tame sex scene is spliced together with boring scenes of legal shenanigans (yes, it happens more than once). You'll be on the floor before the episode's half over.
I honestly don't remember the last time an illicit affair was portrayed so depressingly. It's like Sara and Jack only like each other because they both spend so much time crying and skipping rocks on lakes. And even the parts of the plot not involving Sara and Jack are lame and clichéd. Sara's husband Drew is an ambitious prosecutor -- his worst offense is occasionally being too busy to hang out with Sara, which of course totally justifies her affair. And it wouldn't be a soapy drama without a mystery of sorts, so there's a subplot about "powerful but shady entrepreneur" played by James Cromwell (who's totally slumming it here), a handicapped son, and a murder. The minute we find out that Jack is a lawyer and Drew is a prosecutor, you know they'll be facing off in court. And yet that's played like a huge revelation at the end. Oh, and there's the completely ridiculous bookends of a flashforward involving Sara getting shot. Because the writers themselves don't think their own show is interesting enough to keep you watching without hints of even more clichéd mysteries.
Sunday nights are TV's most jam-packed night. You have the opportunity to watch "Homeland", "Masters Of Sex", "Boardwalk Empire", "The Good Wife" and soon "The Walking Dead". Don't waste your time on this soggy nonstarter. It'll be gone before you know it.
Tweet us @Stagebuddy and let us know what you thought of "Betrayal"!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXGXAO-DwRM[/youtube]
