Star-Crossed (2014)

Star-Crossed is a by-the-numbers, odds-against, inter-species, teenage love story.

The emo-dialogue only sounds good if you’re just watching your first TV show..... The show’s decade-forward future is intriguing but inconsistent.

I actually could imagine checking out more. Here's why: It's message. Set in a Louisiana high school in the near future, Star-Crossed may be a sci-fi tale, but it really is about something viewers of all ages and tastes can relate to: discrimination.

Teen romance does play a major role in [Star-Crossed]... but there's a serious story of prejudice hiding underneath. That serious side--a look into the good and bad of humanity when faced with the "other"--is as compelling as it gets.

Turgid dialogue obscures intriguing ideas, amid uneven echoes of civil rights and supremacist crusades.

The politics are surprisingly complex ... That’s a lot of heavy lifting for a fluffy teen sci-fi romance, but so far the show acquits itself well, sticking the landing with its romantic moments and politically minded scenes in equal measure.

Some of Star-Crossed falls into the CW’s well-trod comfort zone: young-adult romantic drama with a sci-fi twist. It shows extra ambition, though, by putting its outsiders so constantly and viscerally close to those who suspect and fear them. Add forbidden love, which can never escape the shadow of potential doom, and Star-Crossed could become both provocative and entertaining.

Star-Crossed looks as though it intends to take itself very seriously as an allegory for a futuristic brand of race relations. It’s also a budding love story, with Emery and Roman blowing hot and cold for one another while a seemingly goodly human student named Grayson (Grey Damon) hopes to cut in and claim her.

All in all, Star-Crossed tries hard to differentiate itself, at least in its plotline, from its network stablemates. And in the CW’s world of homogenized TV, that’s enough of a reason to applaud the effort.

The reason why the show is so fascinating because the aliens and the humans and the love that they have for