Believe

What’s extremely effective is the relationship (and chemistry) between Sequoyah and McLaughlin. You will find yourself rooting for them and hoping nothing comes between them.

Sequoyah is an appealing presence, doing what she can with an impossible wonder-kid role. And Cuarón is incapable of creating a boring shot. But he won't direct every episode. The only actor in the pilot who seems to be having any fun is Sienna Guillory as a hitwoman.

Believe does require a few leaps of belief from viewers. The law seems surprisingly indifferent, for instance, to locating this escaped Death Row inmate. Still, with its seriously flawed “hero” and a girl who’s hard to resist, Believe could be an interesting ride.

The pilot is at its best when Cuaron's visual choreography takes center stage; at its worst, when any of the characters open their mouths.

Neither the plot nor the characters are sufficiently evocative to suggest that viewers will want to spend months, much less years, following them.

Believe substitutes mawkish sentiment for character development and thinks mysterious incidents and procedural beats constitute a story.

Darkly shot and dimly plotted, the premiere episode never comes close to firming its grip. It instead plods and meanders, inviting viewers to invest elsewhere rather than buy into this poorly put-together jumble of something or other.