Betrayal: Season 1 (2013)
Average Rating: 4/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 19
Plagued by a predictable story, lackluster writing, and uninspired acting, Betrayal is far less compelling -- even as a guilty pleasure -- than it ought to be.
Average Rating: 3.7/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 10
Plagued by a predictable story, lackluster writing, and uninspired acting, Betrayal is far less compelling -- even as a guilty pleasure -- than it ought to be.
Season Info
A photographer begins an affair with an attorney for a powerful family, but their secret is in jeopardy when her ambitious husband becomes the prosecutor in a high-profile murder case in which her paramour is defending the prime suspect.
Network: ABC
Premiere Date: Sep 29, 2013
Cast
-
Braeden Lemasters
Victor McAllister -
Chris J. Johnson
Drew Hayward, Drew S... -
-
Elizabeth McLaughlin
Valerie McAllister -
Hannah Ware
Sara Hanley -
Henry Thomas
T.J. Karsten -
James Cromwell
Thatcher Karsten -
Stuart Townsend
Jack McAllister -
Wendy Moniz
Elaine McAllister -
Roxana Brusso
Serena Sanguillen -
James Keane
Lou Mrozek -
Brian Howe
Frank Perkins -
Helena Mattsson
Brandy -
Merrin Dungey
Alissa Barnes -
Jack McGee
Bernie Arkovich -
Danny McCarthy
Detective Mitchell -
Sofia Black-D'Elia
Jules -
Carmen Roman
Constance Mrozek -
Jason Butler Harner
Zarek -
James Vincent Meredi...
Orestes Anderson -
-
-
-
-
-
Tracey Bonner
Casillas -
Howie Johnson
Birnbaum -
Cedric Young
Larry Abrams
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Episodes
Pilot
In this drama's opener, a photographer begins an affair with a lawyer for a powerful family, but their secret's in jeopardy when her ambitious husband is the prosecutor in a high-profile murder case in which her paramour is defending the prime suspect.
...Except When the Bear Is Chasing You.
Sara recommits to her marriage to Drew after learning who Jack really is. Meanwhile, Jack and Drew are now adversaries as the investigation of the murder that has rocked the Karsten family proceeds.
"If you want the fruit..."
The investigation of Lou's murder heats up when Drew has a confrontation with Jack in court during T.J.'s bail hearing. Meanwhile, Connie may be justified in fearing for her life; and Thatcher and Jack argue about T.J.'s long-ago car accident.
"...That is not what ships are built for."
Drew wonders where Sara's been recently, and she suspects he knows about her encounters with Jack. Meanwhile, Karsten resorts to dirty pool when he fears his empire is slipping away; and T.J. starts running with the wrong crowd in an attempt to be more independent.
"...Nice photos."
"...The things that drive men crazy."
Critic Reviews for Betrayal: Season 1
It would help if Mr. Townsend and Ms. Ware had chemistry, but they're basically generic-looking actors playing out an unsurprising dynamic.
So Unfaithful meets The Godfather meets The Good Wife (it's Chicago!) and, of course, Revenge. But as Baron von Frankenstein discovered to his chagrin, you may be able to animate a bunch of assembled parts, but you will not like what happens next.
Betrayal may be the most bland look at finding one's soulmate in another's husband or wife ever dreamt up.
So far, there's not much here you don't see coming from many miles away, and there's barely enough chemistry between Ware and Townsend to make things bubble.
Sex, treachery, murder: Betrayal is a show with everything - except decent writing, believable characters, and anything else that would provide a reason to watch.
The network [ABC] has wrung multiple seasons out of both Revenge and Scandal. So why stop when the going's good? Even if the goings-on in Betrayal tend to be less bracing or stimulating than a watered-down cocktail.
While TV has plenty of room for guilty pleasures, they should really be more satisfying than this.
When she finds out Drew has Jack in his sights, the news so devastates her that she faints, wasting what looks like a rather nice bottle of wine. You might feel bad for the wine, and maybe for the hour you could have spent doing other things.
Betrayal is a Hitchcockian web of suspenseful treachery.
With law, politics, forbidden romance and the sordid doings of awful rich people all on the table, the raw material is certainly available for Betrayal to become a solid guilty pleasure.
Bland soap opera features sexual situations and violence.
Not even James Cromwell can breathe life into this.
It's all so sluggishly written, acted and directed that you might find yourself pining for the glory days of Red Widow.
The fatal attraction story line is a long windup to a punchline you already know, and promos have revealed it as well.
Betrayal may depict the most boring, sullen, sad-faced affair in TV history and that in itself is a betrayal of what the show promises.
If subsequent episodes are going to throw in some twists, the premiere episode gives us no reason to hope that they'll be intriguing or surprising.
Betrayal better become top-shelf crazy like Revenge or give us more compelling characters like Scandal to pique any interest.
Betrayal is a grim, uninteresting and mind-numbing soap opera that's less interesting than looking out the window and watching your neighbors.
This brings us back to the opening scene, which is also the closing scene, slotted in to make sure we tune in again because nothing else that has happened in the duration of the show justifies our return.
The first episode of Betrayal isn't really enough to sell me on the premise, as I'm still not entirely sure what the titular betrayal is.
An extremely vacuous Harlequin paperback smeared with ABC's trademark, fauxmantic gloss.
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