Two and a Half Torches (Out of Five)

I hate reviewing mediocre projects.

If something is great, I’m always eager to share the news of it with the world. If something is truly terrible, I admit I don’t mind directing a little vitriol at those involved.

But what do you with something like the new Fox show Past Life, which debuts on a special night this Tuesday (and then starts a regular run Thursday nights)? It’s not terrible, but there’s nothing particularly novel or memorable about it either.

Here’s the premise, loosely “inspired” by the novel The Reincarnationist by M. J. Rose: a skeptical by-the-books cop with dark secrets is assigned to a risk-taking, true-believing doctor who investigates past lives. Together they use past life regression to solve long-unsolved crimes.

Basically, it’s a paranormal Cold Case or Bones, although the leading characters don’t have the personality or the chemistry of the latter show, at least in the first two episodes made available for preview.

Past Life seems mostly plot-driven, like Cold Case or Law & Order, not as character-driven as Supernatural or The Vampire Diaries. Still, I found Kate, played by All My Children’s Kelli Giddish, to be more interesting than her partner, Price, played by Home & Away’s Nicholas Bishop.

The good news:  the episodes start quickly and dramatically, and there’s an interesting plot twist or two along the way — in the pilot episode (which is reportedly running on Thursday), I didn’t expect “Maria” to be who she turned out to be.

And there’s occasionally some nice humor. There’s a cute scene in the Tuesday episode when, after being stonewalled by the manager of a country club, Kate flirts with the teenage bus boy, who, of course, is willing to do whatever the attractive older woman wants.

The bad news is that so much of the show is so by-the-numbers, from the skeptic/true believer male-female partnership, to the assortment of oddball support staff.

My first complaint is that the show takes such a simple-minded approach to past lives. Basically, they’re real, and everyone who says they’ve had a peek at their past is right. I know it’s a TV show, but would it have killed them to add a little nuance?

My second complaint is more substantial: the writers use plot-cheats. Every new plot twist comes not from the main characters unraveling some clue cleverly set up earlier in the episode, but from the subject of each past life investigation suddenly “remembering” something essential about the mystery.

As a result, the main characters don’t really drive the stories, making it almost impossible for me to get very emotionally involved.

So what do I say about a show that’s so … mediocre?

I guess what I’ll say is this: if you’re interested in the genre or the premise, give it a shot. Otherwise, forget it.

Past Life debuts Tuesday at 9 PM on Fox. Another episode runs Thursday at 9 PM, and future episodes will also have that time-slot.