Okay, I'll admit, even I was a little intrigued by the enigmatic promos for this new NBC show. The show's own title was a slogan: "WHAT IS THE EVENT?" Though I knew it would more than likely be one of the many ambitious shows that will try to imitate my favorite (you know the one), I still figured why not give it a chance. Maybe this one will succeed where others failed and live up to what it tries to be, or, better yet, become something of its own. With that, I've watched the first two episodes of The Event.
(Possible spoilers)
STORY
I was just shaking my head and rolling my eyes a lot after a bombardment of familiar set pieces appeared such as a sunny Island where bad things are going down and an airplane in peril. I was wondering if they were even trying.
One thing you will notice right off the bat is that this show is extremely, extremely non-linear. I mean, you thought Lost jumped around you should think again. The show's BAM-BAM-BAM approach to present and jumbled past situations will be very disorienting for those who aren't used to and won't immediately roll with it. What makes up for it is that there are at least interesting things going on in this madness. Okay, in the flashbacks we are shown the point of views of two different groups. Group 1 includes this show's everyman Sean Walker, his beautiful girlfriend Leila, and her family. Sean and Leila are going on an Island vacation together (where Sean plans to propose to Leila, of course) while Leila's parents watch over her daughter... or her sister (I wasn't really clear on it). I don't think the show is ballsy enough to go Chinatown and be both. While on their vacation, Sean and Leila's calm is hampered by another couple who are shady without being shady. Eventually, Leila disappears and Sean is on the run. Meanwhile, gunmen descend on Leila's parents and daughter/possible sister. Okay, now the more interesting Group 2 involves the President of the United States Elias Martinez, a newly elected, no nonsense, and idealistic man who has recently become aware that his shady lieutenants and successors have detained a massive and mysterious group of people in an Antarctic facility. Now in the present, we are shown Sean and Leila's father on board a plane with Sean, armed and trying to rally help because Leila's father is about to crash the plane into Martinez's press conference. The press conference that Martinez hopes will expose the false imprisonment and shed light on this "mysterious group," with the group's soft spoken leader Sophia Maguire as a representative.
Now I really thought of this as a simple government conspiracy story, like Persons Unknown mixed with a little 24 and Lost. But the very end of the episode more the anything is what will bring people back for another viewing, while also reminding fans of the pivotal plane ride of Lost's fifth season.
The second episode builds on Sean's on the run storyline, culminating in his capture for a murder he didn't commit. Meanwhile, Martinez and his advisors are led to believe that a long missing faction of the "mysterious group" is responsible for all of these events, although apparent group leader Sophia proclaims that the group actually saved them from the plane attack. She won't elaborate more, of course. A task force is set up to find the missing faction, which is led by CIA Agent Lee, who we get wind early on that he is actually a mole for the "mysterious group." We do however get some elaboration on the "mysterious group" in flashbacks. They are an apparant missing link in the human species, having a .1 percent difference to our DNA. They are no doubt above us in many ways. In this light I assume they could be called Homo Sapien Superior, or Mutants of X-Men fame. The only really interesting traits behind them is that they have superior and unparalled technology backing them up and they age much slower than normal people; Sophia, for instance, has gone from 1944 to 2010 and has only gotten a few wrinkles.
This episode ends on just as big a cliffhanger as it shows the shocking conclusion to the plane in peril arc. This insures I will come back, naturally, as I am easily persuaded by shows like this.
CHARACTERS
Though Sean Walker is your standard reluctant, everyman hero, I gravitated towards him because he is acted by Jason Ritter correctly. I felt more for him in the second episode as he desperately pleads his unbelievable case. I want him to get through this. Elias Martinez, played by Blair Underwood, is also likeable. He's like what we all expected Obama to be; the badass diplomat, the shining knight whose gonna fix the system. He's a guy who tries to do the right thing and not compromise, though both could come with risks. And for us guys, Leila is played by Sarah Roemer, who pulls off the role just as well as Ritter as Sean (neither one requires much of anything special, they're just correct). Laura Innes shrouds herself in calm mystery as the mysterious group leader Sophia, trying to protect her people but not make waves with the masses. Sophia is no doubt a principal player. Second to her in the mysterious group is Clifton Collins, Jr. as a renegade member who would prefer to go Magneto on everyone. If this series takes off, I'm at least glad it is vehicle for Collins, Jr., an actor who doesn't get as much praise or as many roles as he should. Zeljko Ivanek, who I think has made a career off of playing corporate douchebags, plays what I believe to be Secretary of Defense with all the smug cynicism and cold calculating nature he brings to just about every role. Tony Todd was there as a general or something for like a second (way to utilize a good actor). All the characters are good so far, we just have to hope that they aren't expendable episodic drifters who die in their second or third appearance.
PROS
The story has potential, but then again so did FlashForward and Persons Unknown. The characters and the situations they are in are all cryptic as hell, which guarentees that the curious ones will stick around to figure why these things are happening. Also the dialogue is pretty good, sharp, intelligent, believeable; again, something those other shows screwed up on. There is a high level of compelling mystery that can capture an audience's intrigue as well as characters you can kinda care about. So that's two things you have to keep an audience, namely me, but both of those things need improvement.
CONS
I've already mentioned the uber-nonlinear story structure. The Event's frantic need to be on the go and not slow down will either increase tension at an over the top rate or completely lose people. And each episode's flashbacks aren't to something specific but mainly just keep jumping around from anywhere to 10 minutes ago to 60 years ago. I mean Lost had flashbacks, but this is a little much. This also means there may not be enough time to fully get to know characters and thus not care as much about them or their predicaments. Speaking of characters, there have already been about three who introduced right off, given a little depth, and killed very soon after. I hate that. Also there is just a high level of confusion. I don't if the "event" the show is titled for has just happened, happened a long time ago, or if it is still coming. And you probably noticed I had little clue of who some of the characters were and what it was they did (I'm currently watching the third episode and I guess Sean is all of a sudden a former computer hacker...ok!). So there's that.
ALL IN ALL
The Event is no "new Lost", but it does have its own brand of mystery and intrigue and can at least keep me interested when I'm watching. Despite its somewhat incoherent story and pacing, The Event is well written, acted, and shot. For now, at least. I will keep watching unless it eventually sinks into the same slump other "new Lost" shows find themselves in sooner or later.
This has been an update from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment