Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Eric McCormack, Rachael Leigh Cook, Kelly Rowan, Arjay Smith, LeVar Burton, Scott Wolf, Brad Rowe, Jonathan Scarfe, DJ Qualls, Dan Lauria, Shane Coffey, Robert Curtis Brown, Chris Gartin, David Paymer, Peter Coyote, Jamie Bamber.

Psychotherapy, a treatment of the analysis of the mind…we understand so little of what drives human behaviour, what guides the brain and how it sparks certain actions by the person, that it is reasonable to look upon the practise with some suspicion, an excuse provided by opinion to keep a criminal, a murderer, an abuser, away from facing the full fury of justice.

However, even if science has a flaw, humanity has benefitted from the insights of the practise, and whilst certain behaviours are still regarded as anti-social, the fact that they can be explained by the continuing drive to understand what lays beneath the surface, the effect that illness, of pressures, of external influences can have on even the most balanced of people, and the individual to whom once upon a time might have either faced stigmatism or ostracism for their actions, perhaps even be falsely accused of a crime and facing certain death at the hands of the state…that is the point of Perception, facing the truth that others cannot see.

Spread across three series, Eric McCormack stars as a gifted, but eccentric neuroscience professor who lives with paranoid schizophrenia. Daniel Pierce is a man who sees more than most, and despite the regularity of help received from his delusions and hallucinations as he strives to understand the complexity of the case put before him, and his former student, turned F.B.I. agent, Kate Moretti, and it is his unique perception that allows the truth of the situation to become clearer, that it is not always what it seems.

American television tends to cut series short, high viewing figures is the only game in town, and yet something tends to be forgotten, that its programmes and series such as Perception that many find the calling of learning to present itself in ways they may never have thought or believed; and neuroscience, whilst perhaps a scary domain in which to investigate and give time to exploring further, deserves to be one of the measures of academia which can propel the population into an area of understanding others, of learning how to empathise rather than ridicule those who are neurodiverse, who react differently to the strains of modern life.

Perception is more than a television series, it is tool in which to gain insight, into relationships, into friendships, into the unknown, and with typical charisma from the lead of Eric McCormack, the delight and intrigue of Rachael Leigh Cook, the excellent Arjay Smith as the professor’s university aide Max Lewicki, Levar Burton in arguably his best role as Paul Henry, even if you include Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Scott Wolf as Kate Moretti’s former husband, it shines with creative insight that it would be almost a crime to have missed it.

Awareness is not a new thought to be urged upon us, but it is one we often sadly lack, even the most observational of us are prone to overlooking the obvious, we lack the sensitivity to listen and see without prejudice, and it is only by constantly pushing at the boundaries of our life can we hope to truly gain the truth of what Perception can offer us. A superb series, one that is unabashed at dealing with the complexity of the struggle many silently deal with.

Ian D. Hall