Las Vegas is the gambling capital of the world so it is no surprise that this series that shows 'The Player' preventing various crimes while anonymous wealthy gamblers bet on whether he succeeds is set there. Alex Kane is the Player in question, a former intelligence officer who has been recruited to work for The House after his wife has disappeared, presumed murdered. His contacts there are 'Pit Boss' Isaiah Johnson who picks the bets and 'Dealer' Cassandra King who provides him with all the information he needs. Each episode is dedicated to one bet, although sometimes there are secondary related bets. While he is working for The House he learns that his wife is in fact alive but he has no idea where she might be or why she disappeared; Mr Johnson agrees to use the resources of The House to find her but it is by no means uncertain that her disappearance wasn't arranged to help Kane's recruitment. A few episodes in and it becomes apparent that the FBI is interested in Mr Johnson; wondering how he is connected to various ex-special forces people and suchlike (former Players) in the Las Vegas area.
This series started well enough showing us Kane being recruited and introducing us to the main characters and sowing the seeds of doubt concerning what happened to Kane's wife. These episodes are centred on a 'bet of the week' where Kane stops various crimes which inevitably lead to some action; this action is pretty impressive. Philip Winchester does a solid enough job as Kane although he is somewhat overshadowed by Wesley Snipes who plays Johnson at first I thought he was wasted in the role but as we learn more about the character, and we see that he is more than a man in a sharp suit, he gets to do more with the character and make him interesting. Other notable performances come from Charity Wakefield as Cassandra and Damon Gupton who plays Detective Cal Brown' a friend of Kane on the Las Vegas police force. The most disappointing aspect of the series is that just as it steps up a gear and gets really interesting it was cancelled leaving the viewer wondering what on Earth happens next the last episode was really great but it certainly wasn't a great last episode. I just wish that when series like this are cancelled they would get a couple of episodes to wrap it up; even a rushed ending would be better than ending it as more questions are being raised and none are resolved. Overall a promising start and I'm sure I'd have rated it slightly higher if it had continued but it is hard to recommend a series which ends in such a frustrating manner.
This series started well enough showing us Kane being recruited and introducing us to the main characters and sowing the seeds of doubt concerning what happened to Kane's wife. These episodes are centred on a 'bet of the week' where Kane stops various crimes which inevitably lead to some action; this action is pretty impressive. Philip Winchester does a solid enough job as Kane although he is somewhat overshadowed by Wesley Snipes who plays Johnson at first I thought he was wasted in the role but as we learn more about the character, and we see that he is more than a man in a sharp suit, he gets to do more with the character and make him interesting. Other notable performances come from Charity Wakefield as Cassandra and Damon Gupton who plays Detective Cal Brown' a friend of Kane on the Las Vegas police force. The most disappointing aspect of the series is that just as it steps up a gear and gets really interesting it was cancelled leaving the viewer wondering what on Earth happens next the last episode was really great but it certainly wasn't a great last episode. I just wish that when series like this are cancelled they would get a couple of episodes to wrap it up; even a rushed ending would be better than ending it as more questions are being raised and none are resolved. Overall a promising start and I'm sure I'd have rated it slightly higher if it had continued but it is hard to recommend a series which ends in such a frustrating manner.