Editor's Note: This post contains spoilers from the premiere of The Player.
Entertainment is full of plotlines that make wealthy people look evil, or like criminals, or even cold-hearted. NBC’s new “pulp” The Player just takes a new approach with an Illuminati-level conspiracy.
The Player, which premieres tonight on NBC, asks viewers to accept the unusual premise that there is a strange and secret conspiracy. Because “ordinary games become stale,” the world’s richest people bet on crime with the help of a secret organization run by Mr. Johnson (Wesley Snipes). Snipes’ acting career was put on hold by a three-year prison sentence for intentionally failing to file tax returns for three years. He was released in April of 2013.
On The Player Snipes is the “pit boss” of “the house where the probability of criminal activities are determined” and works with dealer Cassandra (Charity Wakefield) and a player. In this far-fetched plot, the group has more power and more information than federal law enforcement and even MI6. In order to determine the odds for various criminal acts, “the house” has supposedly been spying on people through whatever technology was available during that time in history (from telegraphs to the internet).
The House predicts crime, and has a player who tries to stop it. But preventing crime isn't the goal. The game exists to provide a gambling outlet to a club of wealthy individuals who bet for or against these crimes for their amusement and financial gain.
In the premiere, Johnson recruits Alex Kane (Philip Winchester), “the biggest pain in the ass security consultant” in Las Vegas, to be the player after Kane unintentionally foils a kidnapping attempt on Shada, the daughter of a wealthy foreign family.
This secret society’s power is proven when the police get a call ordering them to leave Cassandra and Kane even though they consider him a prime suspect in the homicide of his ex-wife.
Johnson tells Kane “our group” wants him to try to stop a second attempt to kidnap Shada that is likely to result in her mother being killed. If he agrees, the game’s rules dictate that Kane cannot tell anyone about The House or the upcoming crime.
Kane agrees because he knows Shada and her family and doesn’t want them to be killed and because he’s still on the run from law enforcement. He’s the number one suspect for the murder of his ex-wife Dr. Virginia “Ginny” Lee, who was killed by the would-be kidnappers when they tracked Kane down (in Lee’s apartment) after he prevented their first attempt to snatch Shada.
Although divorced Kane and Ginny remained close because Ginny “saved” Kane from who he was. He was in military intelligence and used to hunt down and kill terrorists without orders to kill them. In one scene he admits that he even enjoyed killing them. Without her, he fears becoming that man again.
After rescuing Shada from her kidnappers and would-be killers, Kane is offered the chance to become “The Player” for good. With scorn, Kane asks, “you gamble with people’s lives for your own amusement?” Cassandra attempts to woo Kane into accepting the job, claiming it would be a way for him to make a difference.
Mr. Johnson attempts to justify the game claiming the gamblers (aka: the richest of the rich) would do far worse things (destroy nations, start wars, etc) if not for the game.
