REVIEW: ‘Whiskey Cavalier’ Season 1, Episode 1

Whiskey Cavalier, a TV show created by David Hemingson, made its debut this week. The show revolves around an FBI agent, played by Scott Foley, who teams up with a CIA operative, played by Lauren Cohan. They embark on different missions to save the world. However, they’ll have to learn to put up with each other while also leading their own teams. The show also stars Tyler James Williams, Ana Ortiz, Josh Hopkins, and  Vir Das.

The pilot episode introduces FBI agent Will Chase (Foley), who is dealing with the repercussions of his recent break-up. He’s sent on an assignment in Moscow to stop Edgar Standish (Williams), who has compromising information from several U.S. agencies. His mission gets interrupted by CIA operative Frankie Trowbridge (Cohan) who is also assigned to apprehend Standish. However, not everything is what it seems and the two agents team up to figure out what’s really going on.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Whiskey Cavalier. As I mentioned before, there have been countless movies and shows that have a similar premise to this. However, I was impressed with what they were able to accomplish in their pilot episode. Enough was introduced to set up the main characters. Both Chase and Trowbridge are vastly different people, setting up an interesting plot to see how they’ll manage to work together.

One of the main reasons why I even considered watching this show was because of Lauren Cohan. I wasn’t a fan of how they handled her character Maggie on The Walking Dead following the events of season 7. Her departure from the show not being acknowledged like Andrew Lincoln’s departure from the show and the overall way it was handled was upsetting to see. I’m happy to see she’s getting her own show which will allow people to see that she’s an incredible actress. Her chemistry with her co-star Scott Foley is fantastic.

One of the issues I have with the pilot and most likely with the entire show, is the fact that this has been done before. Even though this show is getting a lot of attention, I’m a bit worried that this attention will die down as the series progresses. This buddy-cop dynamic between the central characters has been done so many times. It’s proven to work but it can also fall apart if that’s all the show focuses on. The way some of the elements of the show played out in this episode, it felt like one of those shows that I would watch in my hotel room during vacations.

Overall, I really enjoyed the pilot episode, even though I have my doubts about where the show could go. I haven’t seen anything that Scott Foley is in besides Scream 2, so it was great seeing him in something new. Regardless of what happens with the show, I’m glad that Lauren Cohan is getting more starring roles that will appreciate how great on an actress she is. I have full hopes that the show will improve and will become one of my favorite current-running shows.

Whiskey Cavalier airs on NBC every Wednesday at 10 PM PST / 7 PM EST.