There are a lot of kids in trouble this midseason, and NBC is cashing in on this momentum with the JJ Abrams’ drama Believe. Johnny Sequoya plays the super-cute, supernaturally abled Bo who is caught between two sides of some indiscernible feud between good guys and bad guys. While the basis is interesting in the big picture, NBC is not delivering on the details, and this show is not doing itself any favors by relying so heavily on a premise rather than execution. .

The show centers on Bo, who we meet in the opening scene in a car with her loving, sweet-faced foster parents. Before we know it, Bo and her family are being driven off the road by a crazed female assassin who is after her for unknown reasons. The assassin kills the parents, and Bo makes it to the hospital where we start to see her exhibit the special powers that will fuel the plot of this show. Meanwhile, in a prison in Georgia, a priest played by Delroy Lindo visits a death-row inmate, Tate, (Jake Mclaughlin) an hour from being put to death, to help him escape to be Bo’s protector – never mind he is has been convicted of murder and has absolutely no resources with which to do this job. Tate is to protect Bo, along with Lindo’s character Martin Winter and Channing played by Jaime Chung, from some nefarious and mysterious bad guys led by evil villain Skouras (Kyle Maclachlan).

The pilot gives little explanation into the origin of Bo’s power, or the struggle to control her, but this is not the major problem with the show. For me, it is the complete implausibility of it. I don’t mind a supernatural thriller, or a cryptic mystery, but it better be couched in smart details, and believable subplots, and this show isn’t. It’s the little things that are getting me down: Tate as an expert martial artist, an assassin snapping a neck with one hand, or guardians selected without much thought to their qualifications. I am having a hard time suspending my disbelief long enough to buy into the wooden performances or worn dialogue, even though I kind of wanted to.

While the pilot was directed by Gravity’s Alfonso Cuaron, there is not much else that is remarkable about this show aside from the big names attached to it. Its not terrible, but its definitely not great. It’s just meh, and I didn’t find much else to rave about in the second episode either. Maybe you’ll disagree. Tweet me and let me know  https://twitter.com/sroseholt