Perhaps one needs to be a certain age to recall the brilliant “To Catch a Thief.” “The Catch” appears to be taking a page from that particular play book with Peter Krause playing Grant and Mireille Enos stepping into Grace Kelly’s high heeled shoes. “The Larágan Gambit” with its hotel room-safe burglary and the high society party feels quite a lot like many of the “old” themes of the 50s and 60s.
Although both the Hitchcock film and the small screen series influenced by it “It Takes a Thief” feature a cat burglar. While “The Catch” has Benjamin Jones as con artist, the character is pretty much a tuxedo, or Armani, clad clone of Cary Grant’s John Robie, or Robert Wagner’s Alexander Mundy.
Thus far Jones does not work for the government nor is he attempting to clear his name. Enos’ Alice Vaughn is as adept at the con as Benjamin is and it appears that the two are now pairing up after her initial rush to catch him and ply her revenge.
Rather interestingly, an old trailer for the show, which was playing in 2015, has Stitchers regular Damon Dayoub in the Krause role, named Kincaid and not Christopher. The original concept of the series looks much different, less sophisticated and a bit more violent.
This has all changed with the cast change, more than one apparently, and the series is now about wealth and being able to appreciate the finer things of life.
Certainly the show goes to great lengths to show the upper echelon of American society, which looks quite a lot like it did back in the old days when Hitchcock made his thriller and Wagner did his small screen impression of cat burglar Robie. This private investigative firm does not follow do mundane, or if it does, the viewer never sees it.
Leaving aside the issues of “The Catch” re-hashing a decades old format, last night’s episode had a man worried his wife is cheating on him and Benjamin (Margot (Sonya Walger) teams up to do a snatch and grab of a rare and expensive bit of jewelry.
The affair turns out to be a powerful magnate bullying the man’s wife into shady business practices by Tony Ellis (Andrews). The investigative company step in and earn the ire of Ellis who promises to repay the company “in kind.”
It has to be said, David Andrews gives great “bad guy” and in “The Larágan Gambit” the actor is only on screen for a limited amount of time, but he rules the scenes he is in. Look up “snotty” in the dictionary and one could reasonably expect to see a picture of Andrews there.
The con artists team , Margot and Ben, work with the killer, Sophie, to do a “snatch and grab” for the Benefactor. (The title of next week’s episode.) A fancy party, full of tuxes and designer dresses along with bodyguards, guns and competing gangs make this a pretty impressive scene. All that is missing is a rooftop chase a’la “To Catch a Thief.”
More is made of Sophie and Margot’s sexual attraction to one another when they dance the tango and kiss. This is a means of distraction and Ben is passed the bracelet immediately afterward.
Enos turns on Dao (Jacky Ido) who bugged her apartment last week and has been following her around. It seems that Ben and Alice are back together again, after she treats his gunshot wound. These two are still very much attracted to one another and they prove it.
There are many things that work in this new series. The brave move to have “grownup” leads, versus the trend to cast younger actors in the role of protagonist. The female characters are, for the most part, all strong. The men also acknowledge this strength, it is Enos’ adeptness at handling her job and her life that attracts Ben to her once the con starts.
Sadly, in terms of chemistry, Krause and Enos do not quite work as a couple. Jones, as grifter works much better than Jones as lover. The aloofness and bland assurance the character portrays so effortlessly makes trusting any romantic platitudes and gestures as moot, or part of a deeper game.
Regardless of the few stumbles apparent in the series, the storylines are interesting and the off-screen presence of the Benefactor looms as a tantalizing new “big bad” in the show.
“The Catch” airs Thursdays on ABC. Stick with this one. It just needs a little chemistry adjustment to make things work.
