The Hunting Party Premiere Review: The Surprising Twists of a Prison Break Set the Stage for this NBC Procedural

Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0

4

Over the years, we’ve seen that procedurals often are comfort television, likely because these heroes team up to restore order.

The Hunting Party has the potential to become a massive hit like The Blacklist. It shares a similar premise since Bex Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh) is hired to profile and find the dangerous serial killers who escaped from the Pit, a secret, never-heard-of prison.

The Hunting Party Season 1 Episode 1 excelled as a pilot since it introduced the conflict and showcased Roxburgh’s acting skills.

The twists started from the beginning and kept coming throughout, beginning when Bex is asked to profile a serial killer, Richard Harris, who was supposed to have been executed in 2017.

The Hunting Party’s pilot suggested focusing on one escapee each week, beginning with Richard Harris, Bex’s first case, who greatly impacted her.

This allowed them to explore character-rich arcs by allowing Bex to profile Richard’s psychopathic tendencies and show her disbelief that he and many other inmates had broken out of a secret prison.

He was one of the most dangerous serial killers and partly a product of his mom’s vicious childhood abuse, so he chose victims similar to her. He had killed seven women and nearly killed an eighth woman, but they rescued her.

Case-of-the-week procedurals rarely work unless the series tries to tie the cases to the main characters and make it personal.

To Bex Henderson, saving these women meant everything, and Richard Harris changed the game when he abducted a pretty brunette instead of a blonde woman who looked like his mom.

The team had to find out his new motive and fast!

The Hunting Party does that beautifully and features a strong cast. We’ve already praised Roxburgh, and Patrick Sabongui (Jacob Hassani), Josh McKenzie (Shane Florence), and Nick Wechsler (Oliver Odell) were substantial additions, too.

While the main draw of the series is Bex Henderson and catching the serial killer who got away, Shane Florence and Jacob Hassani made interesting wingmen. Jacob tried to tell her as little as possible, only that they had to find Richard Harris before he harmed someone else.

Shane wanted to help as the prison guard since he had overseen Richard’s cell block, but Jacob was overly cautious about who they let in.

Shane: Wait! I’m coming with you.

Jacob: No, this is not your problem.

Shane: I’ve been pulling bodies out of the rubble all night.  I’m not going to sit on my hand letting inmates loose.

Jacob: I appreciate everything you’ve done for the recovery effort, but we’ll take it from here.

Shane: Harris was on my cell block. I’ve spent the last six years down here with him. I know you all know his file, but no one has spent more time with him than me. No one here knows him better than me.

Shane wouldn’t back down. I don’t think Jacob was used to that, so these missions will be entertaining, especially since Shane was often torn about his loyalty.

He appeared to trust and befriend Bex, but Jacob routinely chirped in his ear that she was an outsider and couldn’t know about the experiments. They were a prison secret, and he should know his place.

This was one of Lucas McKenzie‘s best emotional works, as Shane ultimately hinted to Bex about seeing some experiments on the prisoners.

Ultimately, he knew Richard Harris the best in the last few years, and certain clues, such as his obsession with sunflowers, gave them a considerable lead.

Richard Harris never left anything unfinished, so Bex suspected he went to attack Nicole Weston, the one who got away.

Initially, it seemed odd that she only trusted Oliver Odell, but she must have suspected that Bex would connect with her. Bex tore down her walls, and they bonded over falling for the wrong kind of man. If only Bex knew what that meant initially.

Another one of Jacob’s plans backfired – using Nicole as bait to lure Richard Harris in. As he started to attack her, he threatened to reveal the Pit’s secrets, so Jacob shot him.

Since Bex was forced to clean up the mess, she had to lie to Nicole about what happened.

I suspect Bex and Shane will never be comfortable lying to people while it merely rolls off Jacob’s tongue.

Bex’s unintentionally amusing connection of the dots about the sunflowers reminded me of Hannah Swenson, who solves the case at the worst time and finds herself in danger.

That was a phenomenal twist. Nicole Weston was the mastermind behind those murders and was so viciously proud of who she had turned Richard Harris into.

I made him into the monster the whole world was afraid of.

— Nicole

 Now that she’s a wanted serial killer, what are Jacob’s plans for her?

Bex and Oliver’s relationship was fascinating. It made more sense why Jacob and the Attorney General were so interested in their past relationship.

Oliver Odell went rogue besides being her partner. We don’t know why, but he blew up the cabin with a suspect in it. However, when those spoiler photos were released, I initially suspected he set the bomb at the Pit, so I prefer this.

It’s complicated because if he hadn’t, Bex wouldn’t have found the young girl who became her adopted daughter. That was a twist in itself. It’s hard cause I saw Bex’s POV. She was grateful for her daughter but wished Oliver had returned to extinguish the fire.

Now that he’s asked for her assistance to find the prison escapees, will they be able to work together again? I can’t wait to learn more about them. Angsty relationships are my jam.

That was some cliffhanger! Even Oliver suspected the prison break was planned. Something shady must have happened if the warden hadn’t prevented it.

I don’t trust Jacob Hassani. He’s hiding way too much in honor of the mission, and I fear someone will get hurt. But that intrigues me even more to learn what they used the Pit for.

The Hunting Party hit the ground running and had me guessing every time they threw another twist in.

This team is already intriguing, and I’m excited to see how they interact as they hunt for more escaped convicts, especially Oliver and Bex’s estranged connection.

We’re also curious how Army intel officer Jennifer Morales (Sara Garcia) will mesh with the team) since she hasn’t appeared yet.

So, TV Fanatics, what did you think of The Hunting Party premiere? Will you be returning, too? Were you surprised by all the twists?

Let us know in the comments.

The Hunting Party will air an encore episode on Monday, February 3, at 10/9 on NBC. Future episodes will air on NBC on 10/9c.

Check back tomorrow for our exclusive interview with Nick Wechsler as he teases more about The Hunting Party.