DVD REVIEW: Touch Season One

[JessHorsley]

Creator Tim Kring and Actor Kiefer Sutherland In Heart-felt Drama On Home Video...

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Tim Kring, best known for bringing fans the television series "Heroes," returned to TV once more with the FOX series Touch. Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Danny Glover, and David Mazouz, Touch shares little in common with Sutherland's previous hit on FOX, 24. In fact, while they both feature engaging, intriguing ideas, there's no doubt in my mind Touch is the more emotionally charged for the two and should impress fans with its engaging premise that everyone is connected and everything happens for a reason.

Sutherland stars as widowed father Martin Bohm, who's having difficulty taking care of his 11 year old son Jake (Mazouz), who is severely autistic. Jake sees the world in numbers and seemingly doesn't connect or communicate with anyone, which couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, Jake "feels" the world around him and feels the wrongs in the world, seeking to right these wrongs and put the world back in order. While mute and choosing to never touch anyone - including his own father - the young boy must seek to communicate with his father and right the world, including everything from preventing crimes, reconnect lost loved ones and even saving lives. Of course, a shadow organization wishing to use Jake's gift haunt the family, seeking to gain full custody of the boy and seperate Jake and his father Martin for good.

While the series is obviously fictional and overly emotional, the premise - should one care to get religious or even metaphysical - seems frightening realistic. Anyone who doesn't believe the world is connected and that things can and have happened in a specific way is simply not noticing what's going on around them. Sure, it's debatable how much of the show's premise is based on false assumptions about the way the universe works, but - after all - it's television, it's entertaining, and in all seriousness, it's emotionally driven, tugging at our heart-strings as we watch relationships develop and grow.

The entire show revolves around Martin's relationship with his son and the love and trust Martin has for this seemingly mute and unresponsive child who seeks to have no other goals in life than to change the world for the better. What's most rewarding however isn't watching the two main characters, but watching them positively influence those around them and how these actions and the results of their actions change the world. In fact, to someone who's had an experience like the many different characters in Touch, watching this show may anchor your belief in a reason, a result, an effect, a higher power...whatever it may be you're searching for, Touch provides a purview that's wholly unique on television.

There's no doubt in my mind things happen for a reason. Maybe something seemingly random has happened to you which changed your life forever and, if so, you'll understand and immediately connect with Touch. Maybe you met someone and missed a bus which crashed, maybe you mis-dialed your phone and reached a long-lost friend in need of help, maybe you found the love of your life after spilling your food on them at a restaurant...who knows how these things happen, how the universe works, or why things happen the way they do, but Touch looks to connect you to these seemingly random events and show you just how meaningful and special the world can be.

11 episodes from the first season of Touch are included on 3 DVDs, each featuring 5.1 Dolby Digital audio as well as subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. The 3 discs also include an extended pilot episode, a number of deleted scenes, and two supplements: "Fate's Equation" and "Touch the World," which focus on the show's premise, characters, and creation.

While the show will seem overly-sentimental and maybe even ridiculous to some viewers, if you have ever considered we all - no matter where we live, what we do, how old we are, or who we know - are connected to everyone else, then you just might connect with Touch.

Look for Touch available on DVD now wherever fine home video is sold and check out more on TouchRedThread.com.

- Jess C. Horsley