Will The Nine Lives of Chloe King be just another lame teenage melodrama or an interesting fantasy show? It is hard to predict at this point.
ABC Family seems to be focusing on drama and appealing to a younger audience. Even with the supernatural elements, Chloe King is ranking high in the drama appeal. Mix teen angst with forbidden love and danger and the network will have more viewers than with a show that is just about a cat girl.
Should sci fi fans care about Chloe King, though? Her "cat powers" were sometimes awesome, but also sometimes lame.
Examples of the lame-nitude, one bad guy can fight three of the Mai (race of cat people)? Why couldn't she run fast to get away from him? She can kill a human by kissing him. But why doesn’t that apply when she kisses her mom? Why would she have to kiss a person on the lips to kill him? And why doesn’t she just kiss the bad guy to get rid of him?
BUT there are also good things about the show. Sometimes her cat magic is nifty. She can race across rooftops. She has an awesome claw manicure. Plus, cat hearing would be a helpful power.
The story is also inviting. It’s a coming of age story about a girl who finds out she really isn’t like everyone else. She wants to have a normal life and date normal human guys, but there is so much about herself that she doesn’t know. Is she this mystical “Uniter,” who are the bad guys and what do they want, and what new feline power will she discover tomorrow?
So the show could go either way. It could fizzle into yet another series that is nothing but fluff and love triangles. However, the show also has the potential to be a gripping story about a girl becoming a superhero and learning about her mysterious past.
Though The Nine Lives of Chloe King is definitely not purrfect, don’t flip the channel just yet. Chloe King could surprise us…
