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Review: 'The Cleaner'

Verne Gay | Off Camera

July 15, 2008

Reason to watch Benjamin Bratt's return to the tube, as well as A&E's first new drama series in nearly six years. "Cleaner" is also produced by Jonathan Prince, of "American Dreams," a show once embraced by critics.

What it's about Based on the real-life story of "extreme interventionist" William Banks (Bratt), a good guy who once did a bad thing - drugs and a lot of them. While his wife was giving birth to their daughter, he was down the hospital corridor "slamming" down dope, and - as he told his kids one morning over breakfast - "I made a deal that if I got through that day I'd be [God's] avenging angel. It's just that when I made that deal, I didn't know how hard it would be on you."

Rare is the line of TV dialogue that so perfectly captures a series, but there you have it. Banks' home life is profoundly complicated - his wife, Melissa (Amy Price-Francis), is of the long-suffering variety - and his work life is downright nuts. He's collected a group of dedicated ex-junkies, including Akani (Grace Park, "Battlestar Gallactica") and Arnie (Esteban Powell), who are like-minded avenger-interventionists. When they intervene, they just don't sit someone down on a couch and say, "Let's talk," but sometimes snatch them (and wreak a little havoc on the bad guys for good measure).

Bottom line "The Cleaner" is a very difficult show to love. It's the TV viewing equivalent of cuddling a porcupine, or kissing a wolverine. The thing looks stylish, has a nice cast, is well written, and Bratt - scruffy, unkempt, a little more than off-center here - has the requisite intensity for the role. But it also is jarringly slick and borderline seamy; maybe that's just part of the fast world Banks and his cohorts find themselves in, but the tone ultimately robs the show - or at least the pilot - of heart and passion. Guardian angel shows - like, aah, yes, "Touched by an Angel" - are bound by formula, too, although for subject matter this searing, it's probably a good idea when the formula favors the upbeat as opposed to the relentlessly downbeat that viewers get here.