hitch-34 I was tootling around stations one night, and saw these "Mystery Women" movies on the Hallmark HD station. So, being a fan of mysteries, and needing something that I knew would be "cozy," I recorded this one and another. I even stuck around long enough to try to start this one, but...I can't imagine tuning these in on purpose.All of the most fundamental dreadful movie-making things happen here. Other posters have pointed out that the plot points happen utterly irrationally. e.g., the heroine deciding in the space of five minutes that she just HAS TO go find her birth-mother. (No mention of Dad, by the way). She and her ditz lawyer friend dig up Mum's location in less time that it takes me to write this review- -utterly daft--and off she goes. She leaves her majordomo ex-spy, ex-spook, ex-commando, hacker, genius, etc., guy, Clarence Williams III, in charge of her store, and off she goes. She of course finds good old mum in minutes, and, of course--Mum's just being arrested for ...MURDER.The things that happen that are just cringe-worthy are things hardly related to the bad plotting. Extras walk, extra-slow, through every scene. (Can't afford enough extras to populate the town, so, those we DO have--walk slowly!) It's painful to watch--like those awful, self-conscious 8th Grade plays that your untalented kid put on for your cringing entertainment. The heroine apparently NEVER works in her own store; she closes it constantly, or leaves it to Mr. Spy-versus-Spy to run. The idea that this guy would work, for HER, is simply laughable. She plays a 22, 24 year-old like "girl," when she's obviously nearer to 40. Little baby-doll tops, goofy pants...geeze. There's the ubiquitous police chief, who doesn't ARREST her for meddling, or being at the scene of EVERY murder in town; he gives her an obligatory half-hearted lecture each time, and that's it. She has the usual, "I'm going to stick my nose in here and nobody is going to punch me in it, or tell me to bugger off, like real people would" thing going on, and she's not REMOTELY as believable as Jessica Fletcher--that should tell you something.The DA BFF is just...annoying. She passed law school? In what universe? The universal law school of Ditzery? She dresses like an underpaid weather girl on the smallest local station in the US--her clothes look like Walmart castoffs. AND...no brains demo'ed here at all.It's just AWFUL. I used to think that the SciFi channel had dreadful movies, but this caps the pile. Even more so than the "Woman in Jeopardy of the Week" Lifetime Movies, which I tried a few times and then gave up as simply unwatchably bad. Now this station is apparently where TV actresses who have outgrown any possible real network or movie success go to act out their years. Yes, this movie had the aforementioned Clarence Williams and the guy who played Pete, from the Mod Squad, reunite. At least those two didn't look like they were cut from cardboard, stiffly walking in uber-slow baby steps across the screen.Just...DREADFUL. I'm surprised that there is more than one of these. REALLY surprised. You gotta have mighty low standards to watch this through. *MIGHTY LOW.*

dlhs8954 Contrary to another review, just because a storyline seems meaningless, doesn't mean it is.Most good stories have at least one subplot. In this episode the subplot provided some comic relief to an otherwise very serious episode. I was in stitches!The fact that it reunited a couple of dear old friends made it much more special - especially to us fans of The Mod Squad. Because The Mod Squad was a very serious show. To have it's two male stars (Clarence Williams III as series regular Philby, and Michael Cole as Desmond) in a more comical situation was a treat to me!In this episode, while Samantha is off looking for her birth mother, a silly, but fun little subplot has a couple of old spies (Philby & Desmond) get together to free a Russian spy who landed in the local jail.Philby decides to get himself arrested, so he can tell the Russian spy how he's going to be busted out.It's the 'how' that is hysterical. The police chief, who has a semi-adversarial relationship with Samantha and Philby, is befuddled when he has to arrest Philby for breaking a window.Desmond then, comes in 'under cover' to help break both Philby & the Russian spy out of jail. What ensues is like The Keystone Cops. It is hysterical, and so much fun!

heathentart While not being my favorite genre of mysteries - I prefer puzzles such as those Agatha Christie's "Hercule Poirot" solves - cozies have their own, intense fan group.A "cozy" mystery is typified by a nice setting, no grit, no gore - or not much gore. It's evenly paced, with few car chases and no walks down the seamier side of life.The "Mystery Woman" series typifies just this genre, and does it mostly well. In this particular undertaking, there is a lot to squeeze into a two-hour (minus commercials) timeframe.Samantha Kinsey tries to find her birth mother, finds her, gets embroiled in a murder investigation and ties it all up neatly. Perfect "cozy" material. What was done well? They found an actress to play Sam's half-sister, Christine Lakin, who does bear a resemblance, especially around the eyes, to Kellie Martin. They're almost the same height, size, and have similar hair. Good job on that! There is a sub-plot pairing Clarence Williams' "Philby" with Michael Cole's "Desmond" as two old compadres from that mysterious past of "Philby's". We suspect a secret squirrel spy past, but we don't really know. For the middle-aged crowd, for whom these "Mystery Woman" films seem to be aimed, it's a fun little ride back to our younger days watching "The Mod Squad." This is Miss Martin's 3rd directing job, and it's not a bad one. The scenes are set up neatly, but there are few surprises."Mystery Woman: At First Sight" won't win many awards, but it's a pleasant way to spend two hours. It is a LOT better than watching endless re-runs of movies we've seen hundreds of times.It's a pure pleasure to have something to watch that isn't muddled, befuddled or a stupid reality show. The Hallmark Channel does me very well with their "Crime-Time Sunday" line-up, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Maurice_Rodney This production had an attractive protagonist, a cozy middle class middle American setting, a small cast of journeymen actors, and two prime time television hours (minus commercials) to work with. Yet, in the end, I felt completely let down.First of all, a significant portion of production resources were diverted into a totally meaningless sub-plot involving Clarence Williams III and Michael Cole, who starred together in "The Mod Squad", back in 1968. I kept expecting Peggy Lipton to show up, but I gather she has been able to find work on her own.In this episode, Samantha Kinsey ventures out to explore her own roots. Of course, the "Mystery Woman" lives up to her moniker by the end of the two-hour drama, at which point we expect her to explain it all to us. But there is no revelation of "family ties", no exploration of "family values", no knitting together of loose ends, and no answers to pertinent questions. In fact, the most obvious questions about Samantha's roots are not even asked. She simply walks away.Even if the writers had devoted 100% of their budget to the main plot line, it is not clear that they would have known what to do with these characters. It seems they had not started out with the first requirement, a good story that would involve an audience in the lives of well-drawn characters.I was left with the feeling that this entire production crew had frittered away a great deal of time, money, and effort, and I had just wasted two hours of a Tuesday night.