tek's rating:

Somewhere Between, on ABC
IMDb; TV Tango; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; iTunes

Caution: potential spoilers.

So... there's this local TV news producer named Laura Price, in San Francisco. She's covering a story about a serial killer, and hoping to help the police identify the killer. She's married to the District Attorney, Tom Price, with whom she has a young daughter named Serena. Meanwhile, there's a pair of private detectives named Nico Jackson and Jenny. (I don't know much about Jenny, not even her last name.) Nico is a former cop that got kicked off the force some time ago for violently beating a civilian, while drunk. He's also been mourning the death of his girlfriend, Susanna Spencer. Nico's mentally challenged brother, Danny, claimed to have killed her, so he's in jail awaiting execution. (Apparently, Danny also confessed to killing some other women, but I'm a bit confused on that point; I don't recall whether it was ever said that they were the victims of the serial killer, but I rather doubt it. I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure the police- including Nico's former boss, Captain Kendra Sarneau- are still investigating those murders.) Nico and Danny's mother, Grace, doesn't believe Danny is guilty, and she's been doing all she can to convince the authorities- including Tom Price- to reopen the case. But apparently no one is willing or able to help Danny, and even Nico seems to believe he's guilty. Another person who's upset about Danny's impending execution is his daughter, Ruby, who has the same disability as him. She and Serena somehow become friends, initially bonding over their shared love of a teen pop singer, who later dies, himself. (I can't remember whether he was supposed to be a victim of the serial kill, or died in an accident, or what.)

Anyway, Serena is eventually kidnapped because of Laura's meddling in the search for the killer, and she ends up being killed. After that, three months pass, and Laura falls deeper and deeper into depression, which puts a strain on her marriage to Tom. Finally, she decides to kill herself by jumping into the same spot where Serena was drowned. Elsewhere, a mobster whom Nico had been investigating (and whose wife he had slept with) catches him and kills him, also by drowning. (This was on the very day Danny was executed.) Subsequently, Laura finds herself on the shore, somehow having survived. However, she later learns that Serena is still alive; somehow, Laura has traveled back to eight days before Serena's death. It also turns out that Nico is the one who had dragged Laura to shore, and he later learns that he's also traveled back in time. So, the two of them team up to try to learn the identity of the serial killer and stop him from killing a couple of the victims who had died within those eight days. (So, like, I think the cops thought there had been three victims so far, but Laura and Nico were aware of five, or something. Not including Serena.) Of course, saving Serena's life is the most important thing to Laura, but there's also new hope that somehow Danny might be proven innocent of the crimes he'd admitted to.

Well, things just get more and more complicated, as more connections are found between seemingly unrelated events. Tom seems to be complicit in it, somehow, and of course he doesn't believe Laura traveled back in time or that Serena is in any danger. He just thinks Laura is going crazy... and that she's spending too much time with Nico, and that it can't be a coincidence that Danny's brother is trying to get close to his wife, possibly to get to him, to somehow help Danny's case. Or something. Meanwhile, Nico has a friend on the police force named Glenn 'Cupcake' Kupner, whom he often asks for help in his efforts to track down the killer... but it soon becomes clear that Kupner isn't as trustworthy as Nico thinks. And it turns out there must be more than one serial killer. And all these things may somehow tie into the death of Susanna.

And... man, so many things happen, I can't really keep track of it all very well. I'm sure I've forgotten lots of details, and I've certainly left a lot of things out, to avoid too many spoilers. And that was just a few episodes into the show's ten-episode run. By the time the show ends, lots more things have happened, which I also don't want to spoil. But... a lot of stuff does finally get explained, in the last couple of episodes. And there's a mostly happy ending, I guess. And I do mean ending; there have been so many "potential" limited series in the last few years, which end up either getting renewed or leaving the story unresolved in the hopes of getting a second season, but then not getting one... that I just find it pretty refreshing to see a story wrapped up with no need for another season. At the same time, I'm still rather disappointed that the whole "dying and then waking up three months in the past" thing was never really explained. (I mean, in the first episode Laura met some seemingly crazy woman who said some weird things that seem to have been tied into what was going to happen, but none of that ever made any sense to me.) So it's annoying not really knowing how to even classify this series. It obviously has a supernatural element, but that's only in the very first episode. The rest of the series is a pretty standard, if ridiculously convoluted, mystery that Laura and Nico have to try to solve together. Anyway... it was all sort of confusing, until the mystery was finally solved. I'm not sure how much I enjoyed any of it, but... at least I can say I thought the acting was good. And now, I'm just glad it's over.


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