By Kenn Gold
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Travis Fimmel and Patrick Swayze in A&E's The Beast.
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Simply stated, this is the performance of his career for Patrick Swayze. In A&E’s highly anticipated new series, The Beast, Charles Barker (Patrick Swayze) is a veteran FBI agent assigned a new partner, Ellis Dove (Travis Fimmel) who has also, unknown to Barker, been approached by the FBI’s equivalent of internal affairs to help them gather dirt on him. Swayze’s Barker is both intense and caring, and it becomes quickly obvious that the harshness with which he deals with his new young partner reflects an intensity to teach him the right way to do things, to keep himself alive as a deep undercover agent. Dove is his hand picked protégé, though while he isn’t being trained in the ways of the FBI undercover work, he is reduced to getting coffee and serving as Barker’s personal assistant.
And the harsh judgment of the grizzled Barker isn’t just reserved for his co-workers, as a member of his family is helped through his problems in a particularly disturbing sequence in the series opener. Though in another sequence he shows compassion for an informant who has died by arranging for a proper burial. The character seems to be a study in light and dark, and the many shades of grey that fall in between.
Fimmel, now slightly older than he was in his days of stopping traffic as a Calvin Klein model is excellent in his role as the junior partner, who is literally put through a wringer in deciding if he should trust Swayze’s character, or if maybe he has crossed a line and needs to be stopped. And Barker does nothing to alleviate those concerns, though you get the feeling that he at least thinks he is doing the right thing, even if it does involve sometimes crossing the line, or even stretching the law. Dove must also learn just how difficult it is to try to have a romantic relationship while dealing with international arms dealers and others from the seedy side of
Chicago in his day job.
The publicity surrounding the series is obviously focusing on the reality of Swayze’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis, and the Barbara Walters interview with him scored over 12 million viewers last week. Swayze was also absent from the TCA panel session for the show last Friday, having checked himself into the hospital with pneumonia earlier in the day, generating tons of internet buzz. If the interest that has been generated so far is any indication, when the show premieres on Thursday night, the numbers are going to be high. And the drama is well done enough that the curiosity could just lead into a major hit for the network.
It is hard, if not impossible to not be pulling for Swayze with this one, and to hope that he is around to receive the accolades he is due. It’s also just fortunate that the series is not only good but shows tremendous promise. The evolution of the characters is going to be interesting, and we will eventually know whether Barker is really ultimately good, or has maybe been careless and crossed the line too many times for his own reasons. A line from the opener from Barker to Dove goes something like, “That’s why the line is there, so we know where to cross.” It’s going to be a lot of fun getting there, and seeing just how many times that line can be crossed.
The Beast is produced by Sony Pictures Television for A&E Network and premieres January 15, 2009 at 10/9c.
