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Finder (The): The Complete Series (TV)
R2 - United Kingdom - Mediumrare Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (1st June 2015). |
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The Show
 Walter Sherman (played by Geoff Stultz) is an Iraq War veteran who uses his eccentric procedures and skills to help people find anything they are looking for. Whether it’s a stolen painting, a missing husband, or a baseball player’s lucky charm, Walter makes the promise to guarantee to find anything he is asked. Unlike the usual private detective, he tells clients that he only looks for something he is actually interested in, and flat out refuses them if it doesn’t seem “fun” to him. Working and living at a secluded bar in the Florida Keys called “The Ends of the Earth” which barely functions as a bar but more of a meeting place, Walter is joined there with his good friend Leo Knox (played by Michael Clarke Duncan) who owns the place. Leo is a widower and a former attorney that helps Walter in cases and also tries to knock sense into both his business partner and also uses his strong skills to intimidate others. Also on board helping Walter is U.S. Marshall Isabel Zambada (played by Mercedes Masohn) who is Walter’s friend-with-benefits that loves Walter and hates him just as much. Also part of the “team” is the teenage gypsy Willa (played by Maddie Hasson) who is a kleptomaniac temporarily employed at the bar as part of her juvenile probation. Created by Hart Hanson, the creator of the hit TV series “Bones” that has been continuing since 2005, “The Finder” did not have the traditional TV pilot created, but instead was introduced as a “backdoor pilot”, with the characters and the setting introduced in the season 6 episode of “Bones” entitled “The Finder”. Geoff Stultz as Walter and Michael Clarke Duncan as Leo played the same roles for both the “Bones” episode and recurring in “The Finder” series, although the original female lead played by Saffron Burrows (who played a bartender at The Ends of the Earth), did not return and was instead changed to 2 female leads by insistence of the studio. Based on the 2-book series “The Locator” by Richard Greener, “The Finder” plays for laughs, drama, action, suspense, and mystery, although the series doesn’t seem to have a clear direction on which genre to focus on entirely. Much of the comedy falls flat, the action scenes are few and far between, and the mystery element is not intriguing enough for the viewer. Premiering in January of 2012, “The Finder” follows the formula of weekly guest roles and a non-continuous story, which the only recurring point in the show is the “Willa going against her arranged marriage” storyline to Timo (played by Toby Hemingway), which all in all is fairly inconsequential and the least interesting aspect of the series. The Leo storyline of how his family was murdered, what Walter did to save him, and how the bar and finding business started would have been more interesting, or if we were shown the background of how Walter and Isabel hooked up in the first place would have been another aspect to look at. Since the show only lasted for 13 episodes, that may be the reason that neither of these storylines were fully told. The casting has some issues too. “Spread the demographic wide” seems to be the case here, with a 30-something attractive male lead, the burly African-American most well-known actor, a sexy 30-something female, and a teen girl. The 4 leads are comrades, but the relationships between the characters seem forced together. Not that they are bad in their roles. Stultz plays Walter likeably but maybe too likeably. Rarely does his military trauma and brain damage theme take up anything serious, and more like a side effect. Duncan is equally funny and intimidating as Leo who probably could have had a show completely on his own. (Has that been done before? A show that spun off a show, which then the spin-off show spins off another show?) Unfortunately, Duncan passed away in late 2012, making this series the last TV series he worked on as an actor. With low ratings for Fox TV, the series was cancelled on May 9th 2012, just two days prior to the season finale episode, which became the series finale. Ironically the only thing “The Finder” was not able to find was an audience for the show. Note this is a Region 2 NTSC DVD and can only be played back on a region 2 or region free DVD player
Video
Originally broadcast in HD in 2012, the series has not received a home video release until now by Mediumrare UK. Mediumrare has released the series on DVD and decided not to release a Blu-ray edition. The series has not been issued on home video in America, so this UK release makes it the world premiere on a home video format. The DVDs are in 1.78:1 anamorphic NTSC (unusual for a UK release), so in good terms there is no messy NTSC to PAL conversion problems like some other UK or European TV on DVD releases have had in the past. Colors look very good and with 3 to 4 episodes per disc, compression is not a problem either. A good job by Mediumrare.
Audio
The only soundtrack available in English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. Dialogue, music and sound effects come off well, with left and right panning directions used quite frequently. Although I assume the show might have had a 5.1 track when broadcast, but it is not available here. Optional English HoH subtitles are available for the episodes.
Extras
The episodes are divided as follows: DISC ONE Episodes (with Play All function) - "An Orphan Walks Into a Bar" (43:54) - "Bullets" (43:51) - "A Cinderella Story" (43:39) - "Swing and a Miss" (43:46) DISC TWO Episodes (with Play All function) - "The Great Escape" (43:40) - "Little Green Men" (44:02) - "Eye of the Storm" (43:02) DISC THREE Episodes (with Play All function) - "Life After Death" (43:03) - "The Last Meal" (43:20) - "The Conversation" (42:42) DISC FOUR Episodes (with Play All function) - "The Inheritance" - "Voodoo Undo" - "The Boy with the Bucket" Although not usually mentioned as an extra, but it should be praised that the individual episode menus have a short spoiler-free synopsis of the episodes which makes it easier to pick up where you left off if you had forgotten. The special features are all located on disc 4. “Finding The Finder” featurette (22:34) Featuring interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, the featurette talks about how the show came together, and what the actors think about their characters. An average overview of the series, though none of them talk about the cancelation so it must have been pieced together before that happened. “The Hodgins Conspiracy: An interview with T.J. Thyne” (4:30) Thyne who plays Dr. Hodgins on “Bones” talks about how his character was able to appear on one episode of “The Finder”. Stills Gallery (0:29) The still images are played with music from the series in the background. No commentaries, no retrospective interviews or other extras.
Overall
“The Finder” turned out to be just a pretty average show, not really standing out on its. It is easy to watch without much thought process from the viewer and easy to start watching from any episode without much confusion. It wasn’t able to latch a core audience, but for those who are interested, Mediumrare has put together a DVD set 3 years later, so no need to look around further. You’ve found what you are looking for.
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