As a reviewer/critic, I try to elevate unique and powerful works. As a person, on the other hand, I am incredibly subject to the lure of a juicy high concept. NBC’s newest procedural, The Hunting Party, created by JJ Bailey, has a doozy of one. The Pit, a so-secret it is literally underground high-security prison, experiences a massive break after a very suspect explosion. As a result, some of the most dangerous criminals now run among the American citizens. To add further complication, most of the escaped criminals are assumed dead by all but a select few. They were seemingly executed by the state, with an audience of officials and victims’ family members. Instead, it was all theater, meant to get everyone looking the other way while the vague, shadowy government types smuggled these human monsters into The Pit for experimentation and observation.
It falls to brilliant profiler and former FBI agent Rebecca Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh), CIA agent Jacob Hassani (Patrick Sabongui), and a guard from the secret prison, Shane Florence (Josh McKenzie), to chase down the baddies. Ideally, but sadly not usually, before they crime again.
(Never mind that CIA agents aren’t allowed to work on American soil. These are lawless times, after all. Plus, this show either has no idea about that restriction or absolutely doesn’t care.)
While they run around in the field, Army Intelligence Officer Jennifer Morales (Sara García) and The Pit’s warden Oliver Odell (Nick Wechsler) aid them. Or do they hinder the team in the field? Hmm. Odell also happens to be Henderson’s former mentor and partner (in the field and perhaps in the sheets?). He tortured a suspect to death to find one of his abducted victims, which led to the dissolution of their partnership and Henderson’s time at the Bureau.

It is one juicy hook, just this side of comic book logic. In fact, it recalls Batman’s Knightfall storyline for the superhero-brained among us. It is the sort of thing that is irresistible to the high-concept, low-thought-required loving side of my brain. The show should have me hooked from jump street. And yet…
The most immediate problem is the amount of exposition The Hunting Party seeks to give the audience in the four episodes provided to critics. The sheer volume of backstory on Henderson is impressive. She’s a prodigy who helped bust her first serial killer when she was still in high school. Unfortunately, the serial killer in question was her best friend’s dad, Eli (Mark Moses). Worse, she didn’t bring the cops down on him in time to save her friend’s life. Because of the incident mentioned above, she now works in casino security. She’s also a single mom to her adopted daughter Sam (played by Kyra Leroux as a college student in the present). Henderson saved her years earlier during the same case where Odell tortured a suspect. Roxburgh does fine giving a heartbeat to this pile of information and incident, but there’s little room for development or nuance.
The same goes for the rest of the cast. Between the killer of the week (more on them later) and Henderson’s backstory, there isn’t much room for them to show personality or develop chemistry with each other. Add in a “who can we trust” conspiracy that it feels like The Hunting Party has already shown too many of its cards about. The result is overstuffed and underbaked. The show is all motion and information, with little time to appreciate or parse either.

Still, compelling murderers played with a certain scenery chewing aplomb can save this kind of project. On that front, the series achieves mixed results. Episode 1’s killer is fairly colorless, and the story structure gives away the twist several minutes before the show reveals it. Episodes 2 through 4 do better by comparison, although only 2 truly stands out in retrospect. Overall, the “best” villain so far is Henderson’s first, her friend’s dad Eli. Moses has that average guy look but can get nasty with a relatively simple shift in expression and intonation, a skill he makes work. While not connected to The Pit, Eli will likely play a more significant part as the season progresses. Otherwise, it’s a waste of the season’s strongest bad-guy work to date.
All of this makes The Hunting Party a rather mediocre affair. Despite its deliciously dumb central idea, there’s nothing in the first four (of 10) episodes to suggest it’ll become an addiction. Compare it to, say, the similarly high concept, “turn your brain” off procedural The Blacklist. By episode 4, it was clear what the show was, how much James Spader would treat every scene like a perfectly cooked steak, and why one would want to tuck into it with him. In comparison, this series still feels ill-formed and stumbling. Great idea, for sure, but the execution isn’t there.
Heh.
No pun intended.
The Hunting Party rebroadcasts its pilot on February 3 on NBC before returning with new episodes on February 10.