Last night, Fox premiered a new show called Past Life.

Of course, I had to tune in.  It’s right in our wheelhouse here at Orumai, right?

Maybe.

The show is the latest offering from writer David Hudgins (“Friday Night Lights”) and is based on M.J. Rose’s book, “The Reincarnationinst”.

Gruff, cynical Price Whatley (Nicholas Bishop), an ex-NYPD homicide detective turned investigator, and the uber-believer Dr. Kate McGinn (Kelli Giddish) work together to solve crimes with the help of McGinn’s patients who experience flashes from past lives.

Great premise.  Strange execution.

Right from the off, something seemed amiss in the pilot.  A boy is playing basketball.  He goes to retrieve the ball from a hallway and sees a swimming pool.  Suddenly he flashes back to a scene of abuse…someone is being tortured?  Hit with something?  Grabbed?  We’re not sure.  It’s pretty choppy, as a flashback probably would be.

Desperate for help, he and his mother arrive at McGinn’s office run by Dr. Malachi Talmadge (Richard Schiff), whose name is on the door of the institute.  Through the boy’s flashbacks, and some extremely helpful, yet grief-stricken parents, McGinn and Whatley solve the crime with the help of the FBI.

*Whew!* That’s a lot.

Choppy and a bit disjointed, the show moves along to its conclusion amicably, though with many convenient turns, overly-grim settings, and unanswered questions.  One must certainly suspend disbelief.

And not in the way you might think.

I’m not referring to belief in reincarnation or other spiritual phenomena.  Those are left up to each individual (although the show smacks us about the head with them until we are bruised into skeptical submission).  I refer instead to the many leaps and bounds one must ignore for the show to hold.  In one scene McGinn exposes the boy to triggers while Whatley shoots footage.  Apparently she is trying to trigger his past life memories.  Now, I only have an LMSW, but I can say that that might not be my first attempt at “therapy” right out of the gate.  Also, the boy never seems to receive treatment.  Rather he seems to be used as a crime-fighting pawn for murder-solving, masquerading under the guise of therapy.  Supposedly, the solved crime will win his psychological freedom.

I’m not a psychiatrist.  I’m not an investigator.  And I am not (as far as I know) haunted by past life memories.  But I can say that as a viewer, the show seemed to be a caricature, with characters acting out parts instead of being immersed in the sensitivity of their roles.  It came across as “I don’t believe, but I might!” and “I do believe, so there!”

I do applaud some things about “Past Life”.  I am glad to see a network taking on such an interesting topic so extensively in prime time.  Furthermore, the show may spawn increased interest and understanding in topics that are important not only to folks in the ‘new age’, but those who possess certain beliefs such as reincarnation as part of their religious value systems.

Bravo for that.

Let us hope that “Past Life” can resurrect itself into a more riveting portrayal of something very interesting, instead of another Hollywood imprisonment of a liberating topic.