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Tru Calling's Eliza
Dushku![]() |
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Day by
Day
Tru Calling
(8
pm/ET, FOX)
Like Caesar's Gaul, Tru
Calling is divided into three parts. Make that three borrowed
parts. One part Run Lola Run, one part Early
Edition and one part Groundhog Day.
In that latter film, Bill Murray's weatherman relived the same
wintry 24 hours in Punxsutawney, Pa., over and over and over. Here, a
spunky pre-med student named Tru Davies, played by Eliza Dushku
(Faith on Buffy
the Vampire Slayer), relives a different day in each episode,
enabling her to go back in time to alter destinies. In Early
Edition, a down-on-his luck stockbroker (Kyle Chandler)
glimpsed the future via mysterious access to the following day's newspaper
and sought to alter events in mostly Capraesque scenarios. Tru is
more supernatural and weirder in its approach to time. In the morgue where
she works, Tru hears dead people chillingly imploring her for help, and
that sets in motion her trips into yesterdays.
And what of the Run Lola Run connection? Frantic pace, pure and
simple. Just as Lola raced against the clock in mad dashes around town to
save her crooked boyfriend from being killed, Tru sprints hurriedly from
place to place in desperate attempts to prevent tragedies and save the
imperiled. That's why, I'm sure, tonight's pilot makes it clear from the
get-go that Tru was a track star in college.
Well, I'll certainly credit the series with being fast-paced, if
uneasily so. Sort of akin to a Long Island iced tea that's exhilaratingly
refreshing but, in the end, leaves the drinker reeling. And it's apparent
that Tru aspires to the slickness and panache of Alias
and the CSI
franchise. But it's also clear from the opener and subsequent episodes
that the writing so far is uninspired and the performances by the regulars
- with two exceptions - uninteresting.
The most notable exception is, of course, Dushku, who brings to Tru a
similar blend of vitality, grit and impetuousness that marked her
Buffy character. Now, however, there's more emotional depth and
intelligence to Dushku's acting, evidenced in her telling scenes opposite
Jessica Collins (American
Dreams), who plays Tru's over-achieving, older sister, Meredith;
and newcomer Shawn Reaves, portraying Tru's roguish, younger
brother, Harrison. With insight and sensitivity, Dushku expresses the love
and anxiety Tru feels for this troubled fellow, whose gambling compulsion
and fateful romance propel two storylines. Another plot focuses on Tru's
concern for the plight of a daring fireman, braving flames to save
apartment residents in a blaze of suspicious origin.
Also worth singling out is the richly textured performance of Zach
Galifianakis as a quirky, sardonic morgue staffer named Davis.
Underplaying the role with a sly smile, knowing glances and subtle
delivery, Galifianakis gives the impression that his character knows a lot
more than he's revealing. Indeed he does, and that surprise caps an
upcoming episode.
The producers have indicated that there'll be other surprises along the
way, but Tru would do well to capture an audience right from the
start, perhaps from among the Buffy, Angel
and Alias fans. After all, it's airing opposite two powerhouses:
Friends
and Survivor:
Pearl Islands. As Caesar would have put it, "Bona fortuna." -
Skip Carrington
