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MYSTERIOUS WAYS |
Season Overview
Declan - Adrian Pasdar Peggy - Rae Dawn Chong Miranda - Alisen Down 
OTHER MYSTERIOUS WAYS SEASONS Season 1 OTHER PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS Millennium Fringe Eleventh Hour (UK) Eleventh Hour (US) OTHER ADRIAN PASDAR SHOWS Heroes 
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Series OverviewDeclan Dunn is an anthropology professor at a university in Portland, Oregon. Peggy Fowler is a psychiatrist at the hospital there. Together with Declan's assistant Miranda, they investigate strange events that may seem initially like miracles, but could be something much more prosaic. MYSTERIOUS WAYS as in 'The Lord works in...'. That sums up the series. There are many explanations that are put forward for all the strange things that go on in this show, some of which are believable, but there is always the hint that there was more to it than that. Sometimes the explanations might be clever, astonishing, funny and brilliant. Others are downright stupid and seemingly trivial. What really makes the series fun, though, isn't the mysteries that are solved each week, but the trio of characters at the heart of the show. Adrian Pasdar makes Declan a clumsy, human, likeable chap who quite often gets carried away with things, but retains the wonder of the world we live. Rae Dawn Chong takes the disbelieving psychiatrist and makes her into a warm, vulnerable woman aht is less cliche than written. Alisen Down is mostly in the background, but her almost wordless performances as Miranda round off the great team. MYSTERIOUS WAYS won't rock your world, but it is entertaining enough to pass the time agreeably and occasionally comes up with a serious point about life and the world around us whilst only occasionally lapsing into sermonising. Top PhoenixDuring a rescue, a fireman is caught in the fire and horribly burned, or at least he ought to have been, but he escapes the fire without a mark. A day later, that fireman saves a cat, who in turns saves its owner, who in turn saves a flight attendant who leads Declan and Miranda to another fireman in another city. MYSTERIOUS WAYS returns for its second series and opens with a strong story. Once again, the miraculous starts out seeming so, gets explained away, but then mutates into a deeper story that has a bittersweet conclusion to it. Happy the ending is not and yet there is a definite power to it. Top One Of UsTwo of the campus misfits form a tight bond that is helped along by one of them seemingly escaping death when a robber shoots him and then saving a woman by lifting a car off her. These events get explained away, but when things go badly at a fraternity party, one tragedy leads to the beginning of understanding. Another episode that doesn't go the way that you expect and finds its meaning in tragedy. An ending yes, but also a new beginning. This is intriguing writing and shows off the fact that this show is perfectly happy to have complex resolutions that are both sad and hopeful. There aren't many of those around and we should be grateful for them. That said, the storytelling here is a little muddled with plot strings that don't get resolved and leave a sense of disastifaction to go along with everything else. Top Pure of HeartDeclan, Peggy and Miranda travel to India in search of a Holy Man allegedly capable of great healing. Their inept guide manages to guide them into a series of disasters (falling off bridges, cliffs, earthquakes, rainstorms and cave-ins), but the experience that lies in wait at the end of the trials will change them all. The SCI-FI FREAK SITE hates camping and so spending time with a bunch of characters who are out in the wilds doesn't appeal. When what they do the most is bicker that doesn't improve the experience. The image of India looks just like all the other forests that they've been in and the characterisation of the Indian people is vaguely disturbing. All things considered, not the best. Top CondemnedA convicted murderer comes to the end of the appeals and has the fatal injections, but they fail to work. One of the guards tries to shoot him, but the gun jams. The lights in his cell fail to work until he is moved out. His priest suggests that it might be God's determination to give him a second chance to take responsibility and feel remorse for what he has done. The consequences of murder and the death penalty on all involved are examined through this interesting slant on a story that has been told many times before. The victim's family suffers, the convict denies it all, to himself most of all and the public lobby against the death penalty continues. It's a little more subtle than have been many of the stories to date and, apart from the priest laying down exactly the explanation for it all is for the hard of thinking, it is well written and well-played. Top Lost SoulsA young boy hears what he believes to be the voice of his recently deceased brother coming from a painting of a boy. Nothing strange in that, perhaps, but when the painting is thrown away and then reappears on the wall immediately, things take a turn for the strange, but it gets even wierder when the boy in the painting starts to disappear. This is a cracking story that starts out as the story of a disturbed boy and then morphs into something altogether different. There is a bit too much schmaltz in the conclusion (no, there's far too much schmaltz in the conclusion), but the mystery surrounding the painting is one of the more interesting that the show has come up with. The more mundane story of Miranda's problems with her mother are more of a distraction that we could have done without. Top SpikeAn obnoxious businessman drives himself to a heart attack and is only saved by a phone call from a passerby. As he recovers, he starts to get hate messages, apparently from a co-worker. Then the 911 call recording appears to come from the imaginary friend that he had as a child, a friend who wants him to come clean about something. The run of good form continues with this story. The first stand out thing is that the corporate banker is a real pain from start to finish and you can't help but think that he deserves everything that he is getting.It is so unusual to find a victim portrayed so negatively. The mystery of the imaginary friend is also a good (if completely unoriginal) one. For once, there are times when logical solutions present themselves, only then to be rejected because of a single fact. This episode also contains one genuine scare moment that is not int he normal style of the show and so catches you well off guard. The ending, though, mystifies as the banker confesses to the woman that he crippled and then everyone just walks away to leave this victim to deal with what must be a major shock all by herself. Shame on you psychiatrist Peggy. Top Child of WonderA man drives his pregnant wife to the hospital when he becomes worried about her labour. There's nothing unusual about that, except that he's completely blind. Then the baby disappears and shows up in the bed of a woman who can suddenly speak once again. The idea of a miracle baby makes the local news in a big way, which might be the cause of the child's sudden kidnapping. Sentimentality mixes in with a critique of the press in a story that is too familiar to be truly effective, but the relationship between Declan and the attractive reporter makes up for that. It's nice to see something as much fun on the character front as in the main story. Top 29An earthquake hits the city and the number 29 starts popping up all over the place. One man appears on TV saying that it is a clear sign that the world will be ending on the 29th and that's in only four days. Fortunately, he's been preparing for the moment for years. Now that the moment is finally here, his family are less prepared than they thought they were. This is an odd one. It starts off promisingly enough with the earthquake and the number popping up all over the place, sometimes with an explanation and sometimes without, but then the family hiding in the bunker takes over and the burgeoning relationship between Declan and the reporter he met in Child of Wonder starts getting in the way. Finally, the sudden reappearance of a life-threatening asthma condition at just the wrong moment is clumsy and leads to a less-than believable conclusion. Top Love's DivineWith a wedding only days away, the prospective groom starts to get doubts and asks for a 'lightning bolt proof' that he is marrrying the right woman. He then saves Peggy's life, meets her in the market where she saves him, they get stuck in an elevator together and then the prospective wife finds them together in the park. Chance meeting after chance meeting does not a marriage make. Declan's relationship with Emma the reporter gets closer and then ends, something that neither Peggy nor Miranda can find it in themselves to regret. It's a little low key and a little obvious, but that aside it's pleasant enough. Top The Big PictureWhen Declan is mugged at an ATM machine, he comes into contact with a police sketch artist who comes up with an exact drawing of the culprit without getting any description from him. She is doing the same for a killer, but when a police officer blows the whistle on her ability, the killer decides to invade her home. As she's agoraphobic, she can't escape. This proves to be a very good episode more for the story of Declan's reaction to his mugging than for the story about the sketch artist, which is both predictable and derivative. Declan's fear, denial and slow coming to terms with what has happened to him is very subtly done and proves to be far more affecting than the contrived story of a killer stalking an agoraphobic (which is stolen directly from the Sigourney Weaver film COPYCAT anyway). Top A Time to Every PurposeA wife and mother who has been in a coma for 16 years awakens and appears to be in perfect health. The only sign of her condition are strange visions of an island where she met another of the hospital's coma patients. As the visions continue, she remembers another woman who spent time explaining how life on the island was not so bad. Then the woman's body starts to shut down and she realises that she must return to the island, not now as a visitor, but as a guide. Limbo is an island where people just appear and disappear. I wonder if the makers of Lost ever saw this episode? the episode is another nice balance of could be/couldn't be. Certain aspects of the woman's visions are easily explained away, others not. When the whole basis of her dreams comes crashing down around her ears, other clues defy explanation. The final moments, whilst on earth are overly sentimental and predictable, in Limbo they acheive a certain grace. Top Doctor in the HouseA highway labourer who could have been so much more had he been willing to take the chance suddenly finds himself being able to carry out life-saving operations despite having never had a single day's medical training in his life. Declan investigates eidetic and genetic memory. Miranda asks him to read her thesis proposal, which her physics professor raved about, and finds it difficult to tell her that she too is playing it safe. It is better to try and attain your full potential and risk failure than to never try to stretch yourself. That's the moral and this is a disappointing episode of a series that has been proving to be much better than this. The soap elements of the rebellious son and the immigrant father and Miranda's thesis all step on the plot and turn it into something that we've seen before and far too often. Top The Last DanceA compensation lawyer who has been in a wheelchair for 26 years wakes up to find that he can walk again, just in time to walk his daughter down the aisle. He wants Declan to investigate in secret as he doesn't want his miracle to interfere with his winning a case for another young man recently put into a wheelchair. MYSTERIOUS WAYS can be an odd series at times. There is a soft and sentimental heart at the centre of all of the stories and yet it can also be so hard and cruel. Somehow you know, and not just because of the title or the fact that it's a Christmas episode, that the miracle here will not last beyond its purpose. It also takes another man to the point of suicide. All of this to prove that life can be wonderful and no matter how much you lose there is always something more to hold onto. Top Free SpiritMiranda knocks the stereo into her bath on the first night in her new apartment and suddenly finds that not only can she play the violing like a virtuoso, but that she has a whole new outlook on life and herself. When Declan learns that this happened once before and the woman it happened to died, he is unable to leave it alone, even if it might mean losing Miranda as a friend. What a fabulous episode. We've loved Miranda as a character all along and this story gives Alisen Downs a chance to shine in the forefront of the show. A change of style and colour and she really is like a whole new person. And it's a shame when, inevitably, it's all taken away. Top Spark of LifeMiranda tries to make friends with a girl in her physics class, but finds that she is cursed. Whenever anyone tries to connect with her every electronic device in the area breaks down spectacularly. Peggy learns that there is a secret that has been inside her for so long that it is charging her body beyond its ability to control, or survive. This is a nice story thanks to putting Miranda at the centre of it for the second week running. Alisen Downs takes the opportunity and gives a good performance. The bizarre nature of the 'curse' is a little flat, but that strength of the human face that it is given through Miranda's friendship with the girl makes the problem and its ultimate resolution all the more affecting. Top Face in the CrowdDeclan gets a new teaching assistant and then starts seeing her in different places, all of them associated with death. As he has just learned that he has cancer, this does not bode well at all, making him question the need for an operation. MYSTERIOUS WAYS has been many things in its two season run to date, but scary has rarely been one of them. Much of this story, though, is genuinely creepy, the evidence for Declan's case building with eerie plausibility as he unearths photo after photo of this woman at crash sites and disaster zones and battlefields. The moment when he is reviewing a video of his father's wake and sees her with her hand on his younger self's shoulder is very unsettling. Declan's cancer gives everyone a chance for some major acting, but Adrian Pasdar seems strangely unmoved by it and Rae Dawn Chong doesn't raise her game either. Alisen Downs, however, is excellent as Miranda, devastated by the possibility of Declan's death and distressed by her own inability to deal with it and the fear of passing on her upset to him. Brilliant stuff. The 'surprise' revelation at the end comes as a surprise to nobody and it is somewhat reminiscent of the previous episode Dead Dog Walking. Even so, this is another great episode that doesn't quite pay off on the set up. Top Logan MillerDeclan follows a man who appears to be from the past and finds himself trapped in the past with him. It would seem that he will be unable to get back to his own time until he helps sort out the union trouble at the mill. MYSTERIOUS WAYS has been many things during its two seasons, but dull has rarely been one of them. This episode is dull. It starts off well enough with the visitor from the past, but once Declan follows him back it turns into a social history lesson ripped off from Germinal. It really doesn't add anything that it's happening to Declan because that takes away all the mystery of it. You have to accept it at face value.. Top Friends in NeedWhen a friend that he fell out with years before appears to Declan, he realises that he must put his pride behind him and find out what could be so serious that it could create such a psychic event. There are times when MYSTERIOUS WAYS is so good that it's startling. This is a drama about a man facing death, a drama about his family and his friends. Sure, there is a spiritual element to it, but that twists around, one minute being the solution to the man's fears and the next being proved to be completely explainable. At the moment of the end, though it is surprisingly moving. Top Man of GodDeclan is just about to denounce a fake faith healer when the man actually carries otu a genuine healing. The priest is not able recreate the event, however, in front of the cameras adn is unable to save his own brother. A crisis of faith looms. This is just completely too obvious on almost every level to fulfil its hour running time and proves to be somewhat dull as a result. It is so obvious that the man's gift will only work when he cannot benefit from it that you can't help but get frustrated when nobody on screen realises it for so very long. Top MUTIA Doctor who was one of Peggy's closest friends falls hundreds of feet off a cliff and emerges unscathed. Unfortunately, this is Uganda and the local tribal elders decide that this must be because she is a witch and determine to burn her. peggy, Declan and Miranda travel to Africa to come up with an alternative explanation, but Declan also ends up with a date on the bonfire. This is the least convincing episode of the show since Pure of Heart and it is probably no coincidence that both of these were set in far off places. The depiction of an African landscape is not believable for a moment, but that pales into insignificance in the way that the population are depicted - all fear and superstition and willingness to kill at a moment's notice. It borders on the offensive. Top ListenA radio talk show host whose show is about to go national loses his voice at the start of a debate with Peggy. As the doctors struggle to find a reason, he starts hearing a voice, a voice that seems to come from a kidnapped millionaire. When the kidnapped man is recovered and those responsibel are arrested, he should start to speak again, but it appears that the voice has come from somewhere a lot closer to home. This episode starts off promisingly, but the ultimate resolution becomes obvious very early on and so the whole missing millionaire red herring seems to be a mass of contrivance that effectively ruins any chance this story has of being anything than of passing interest. Top Something FishyThe town of Kerwin has been dying since the mine that polluted the fishing waters closed. Now, a rain of fish brings Declan to investigate. Water spouts are to explain, but they cannot explain the rain of water melons that follows, nor the shower of bank notes that follow. This episode likes the idea of the rains of fish, melons and money. So much so, in fact, that it spends so much time in depicting them that it doesn't leave enough time to give an explanation and depict the change of heart of the town with any conviction at all. This is the last episode of the season and not the best way to go out, but it does contain some of the smaller moments that have given the show its heart, such as a boy leaving a can of beer in the coffin of a dead relative. It's sincere without being sentimental and we will miss that. Top |
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