Surfacing

I've decided NBC's Surface got a bad rap from critics somewhat undeservedly.

It's the story of a group of strange, unidentified sea creatures, and I had no plan to watch it when promos began last summer.

But I did, and I was hooked from the first episode.

Paging one heroic scientist
As the plot goes, one heoric scientist is faced with unraveling the mystery of the strange creature's existence along with an insurance executive who lost his brother to a creature while SCUBA diving. (The insurance man is played with great earnestness and authentic Southerness by Jay R. Ferguson.) A parallel plot involves a young North Carolina boy who's unwittingly-at first-raising one of the creatures hatched from an egg. A mysterious scientist and his evil henchman loom behind everything.

I watched the final four episode-arc this weekend, cleaning off my DVR a bit. There were moments it reached a level of 24-style suspense as its plot threads converged to reveal a complex scienentific conspiracy. Not to mention the fact Ian Anthony Dale made a devilishly evil bad guy with surprising secrets as it all wound down.

TV movie climax
A tidal-wave finale in the final hour was a little like a typical TV-movie climax, but even that played out with some edge-of-the-seat complication.

I'll grant the sea-creature raised by the North Carolina boy, named Nim--short for Nimrod the hunter-- is a little cute, but the relevance of their union excuses any generated sentimentality.

If
--You're a Dean Koontz fan
--A fan of supsense with science fiction elements
--Appreciate a bad guy who makes you want to hit him
--Need something for your iPod

get caught up on this show and hope it returns for a second season.