Complications stars Jason O'Mara as Dr. John Ellison, a grieving father forced into a double life. The thriller, which comes from Burn Notice creator Matt Nix, debuts on USA Thursday at 9 p.m. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.
“Given that Nix is a bright guy with a good feel for the medium, it’s possible that Complications will straighten out by the end of this first season and focus more on the big social questions and tense dramatic conflicts that represent the best of these first episodes. So far though, the neither-here-nor-there quality of the series only makes it harder to figure out how Nix is going to turn all these seemingly commercial elements into something long-running. Where exactly is this all headed?”
— Noel Murray, A.V. Club
“If you're going to make a show that looks like "Oz" met "Grey's Anatomy" and decided to visit Mr. White for a little meth, letting the audience laugh with you, as opposed to at you, is probably a good idea.”
— Mary McNamara, Los Angeles TImes
“Whatever the underlying cause, the operation doesn’t appear to have gone as planned, leaving behind a series that too often feels like an episodic version of Death Wish, only with scrubs instead of trench coat.”
— Brian Lowry, Variety
“By the third hour, as disaster piles upon disaster and absurdity swamps suspense, the show already seems to have lost its struggle to explain why the good doctor, having stumbled into this crisis, can't pull himself out of it.”
— Robert Bianco, USA Today
“However, the show’s concept strains credibility at times. In the first few episodes, it’s watchable enough if you allow it some slack, but it is easy to see Complications getting too complicated for its own good.”
— Rob Lowman, Los Angeles Daily News
“While it may not be as funny or charming as Burn Notice, Complications is certainly more mature. The show represents a very clear evolution in Nix’s abilities as a writer while also serving as a briskly paced, entertaining drama. The only hope now is that Nix can continue that evolution without also losing himself to what will become as very intricately connected series as time goes on.”
— Merrill Barr, Forbes
“Complications is crazy. Not crazy good or crazy bad. Just plain ‘cray-cray,’ as the kids say these days. Like the network’s Satisfaction, Complications seems to pride itself on being different. But being different doesn’t always mean being better.”
— Amy Amatangelo, The Hollywood Reporter
“The show, which premieres with two episodes on Thursday at 9 p.m., is gloomily sincere and uneven. USA has begun to move away from its blue-sky approach, with the likes of Dig, and Complications is a clear marker of that shifting compass. But its gray sky mood is overdone and at times oppressive, and the lead performance, by Jason O’Mara of Life on Mars, Terra Nova, and The Good Wife, is suppressed almost out of existence.”
— Matthew Gilbert, Boston Globe
