Recap: 'The Finder,' Season 1, Episode 1, 'An Orphan Walks into a Bar'

"The Finder," Season 1, Episode 1, "An Orphan Walks into a Bar" begins with Walter Sherman, the title character, finding the guitar of one John Fogerty, a famous old rocker who composed the theme song for the series.

Spoilers follow.

The series has the air of an Elmore Leonard story. First of all it is set in and around Miami, rapidly becoming the favorite venue of mystery/crime series. Second it has a collection of quirky characters. There is Sherman, a vet whose encounter with an explosion in Iraq has rearranged his brain to give him the gift of finding people and things. He is aided in his endeavor by Isabel, a Karen Sisco-like Deputy U.S. Marshal, Leo, his lawyer and owner of the Ends of the Earth Bar out somewhere in the Everglades, and Willa, a teenage girl who works at the bar as a condition of her parole.

The plot this week is a teenage boy who wants to find his father, an old friend of Sherman's and a military hero whose plane has gone down under mysterious circumstances. This assignment is accomplished through the duration of the episode which includes a strange flying dream that involves an aircraft in flight being bombarded by microwave ovens. This turns out to be an important clue.

Some interesting back story for Willa is revealed as well. It seems that due to the fact she was born into a family of grafters, she has been a bad girl indeed since at least the age of eight. Her parole officer thinks she should be in jail. Sherman and Leo disagree, being of the opinion that a better environment might break her of her evil ways. Whether that is going to be the case or not is left uncertain by the end of the episode. She is a pathological liar, much to her detriment.

All in all "The Finder" is one of the more interesting episodes to come out so far this midseason. The beginning episode is somewhat awkward and difficult at times to follow. But one recommends that one should stick with the series for now. The viewer stands to be well rewarded with yet another hour of entertainment.

Source: The Finder, An Orphan Walks into a Bar, TV.Rage