What is there to say about Taxi Brooklyn? Not much, honestly. I went in with the expectation that I would get to see my beloved Lexi Grey again. And that it was based on the movie Taxi, of which I am only familiar with the 2004 remake starring Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah. This seemed like a very strange film – to – TV adaptation choice to me, but what do I know, maybe the original 1998 version is very different. I can’t imagine the 1998 version being very good though. I mean… it doesn’t have Jimmy Fallon OR Queen Latifah. I think I would just feel cheated if I watched it.
But the TV version, of course, has Lexi Grey (Chyler Leigh), so I did not feel cheated. Except, I kind of did. Presumably Lexi died and has been reincarnated as a cop with an attitude problem (What do you mean this show isn’t a spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy? I don’t know what you’re talking about.) But her personality is kind of conflicting. Let me break it down for you:
Throughout the course of the episode we learn a lot about Lexi’s new life. She trusts no one. Her husband, who is a decent looking FBI agent, cheated on her and she is BITTER. Her father died in her arms and she is still secretly running her own investigation to find out what happened to him. Her mother is free-spirited and too young to be her mother. And… apparently she has a soft spot for children? Because the TAXI DRIVER (where the show gets it’s name from, get it?? Also it takes place in Brooklyn) becomes her partner (serious what is this show), she has absolutely 0 trust in and she believes him to be a bank robber until she skypes with his son. Then she’s like – ‘Okay, I think you’re a good guy. But I still HATE everyone else.’
I can’t decide if the writing is terrible, Chyler Leigh is just completely miscast, or it’s a godawful combination of both. I love Chyler Leigh. Lexi Grey was one of my favorite characters and I was devastated when she died. But she just has no bite on screen. And I’ve seen her bite plenty on times on Grey’s Anatomy, but Lexi (the real Lexi – I have no idea what her Taxi Brooklyn character is named) has this insanely awesome perk to her. And her anger draws from that perk, giving it a ton of energy as she eviscerates you with her words. On this show, she’s supposed to be dark and brooding, which I just don’t think Leigh is capable of playing, and so she doesn’t know where to draw her anger from. They’ve also given her this godawful pixie haircut that just blahs out all her features to the blahth degree. It’s like, watching it, we know the character is supposed to be angry, but all we see is this blah figure who just kind of blahs and blahblah.
Even her “feud” with her ex-husband, who claims within the first three seconds that he’s still in love with her, is utterly uninteresting. There is no chemistry between the two of them, which simply makes it impossible to care. She decides to trust the taxi driver for no other reason than to move along the plot. And seriously – why was her mom so young??
Even without the casting issues, one must look at this show and wonder how it ever got made. Do we really need another cop show about another brooding cop with trust issues on a vengeance mission? Officer Lexi was supposed to be very difficult to work with, constantly cycling through partners. Seemingly, this is because she did her job correctly. Literally, the only reason to add this tidbit in is included is so we will kind of accept it when she finds an unlikely partner in a criminal taxi driver who for some reason knows everything there is to know about bank robberies. Maybe I’m just not the kind of person who likes cop shows.
That’s not true. I love Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
…All cop shows should star Andy Samberg. Yes, that’s it. Nailed it!
Related Articles:
TV Recap: MTV’s Teen Wolf, Season 4 Premiere (Marla Pachter)
TV Recap: Faking It, Season Wrap-Up (Marla Pachter)
TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 1 Wrap-Up (Bill Bodkin & Luke Kalamar)
