Second Chance is the latest example of a TV show that has a wacky premise, with “...and then they fight crime!” added to the end of the description. In this one, an elderly sheriff is murdered, brought back as a young hunk, and teams up with the science twins that resurrected him... to fight crime!
As you can see in the clip above, Second Chance is mostly an odd sort of wish-fulfillment fantasy, in which the newly rejuvenated Sheriff Pritchard gets to be supertough and badass and have the strength of five regular sheriffs—oh, and he’s a sex demon who is “Superpotent,” which I think does not indicate a Woman of Tissue Paper scenario but rather means that anyone he has sex with will get pregnant. Woop.
Second Chance is a totally gooftastic show that hardly tries to make you believe in its premise of an old dude suddenly turning into a superstud, and these two mega-genius twins who randomly decide to help him in his crusade against the gutter trash of Greater Seattle. But every now and then, the show hints at having an emotional core, like when the old Sheriff deals with the family he let down. Here’s one moment where the show seems to be fumbling towards having Actual Feelings about the fact that the Sheriff was murdered because he was an old man who got in the way, and everyone believed it was suicide:
But yeah, this show is dumber than a box of dirt.
Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the Sky, coming Jan 26 from Tor Books. Follow her on Twitter, and email her.