The Event was an engaging, frantic, and eventful set-up for a bigger story, but not much more. There wasn’t a lot of time to get to know the characters or delve deep into anything, but that’s fine...for now. This is just the sort of show this blogger likes, where it looks like the writers are going to hide the ball for a while. If you don’t, then be heartened. The show’s writers have planned a big clue or reveal in each episode, and they want to have smaller story arcs every five or six episodes. They have also promised us more character development.
The pilot changed time and locations often, showing us different characters at different times and giving away different clues. We will attempt to put it in some sort of order for this review.
In Alaska, about 13 months ago, there was a detention camp holding 97 prisoners, including the prisoner who seemed to be in charge of them, Sophia. There, someone told Sophia that someone named “William” had been recaptured, that he had been in Los Angeles, and we learned that he had been gone for some time. The president hinted that the prisoners “may not be Americans,” so we think they are probably extra terrestrials.
Nearly thirteen months later, the main character, Sean Walker, took his girlfriend, Leila, on a cruise after asking her father’s permission to marry her. The father (Scott Patterson from Gilmore Girls) interrupted Sean’s nervous speech with a laid-back, “Sean, relax. You have my permission.” On the vacation, Sean and Leila met an annoying young couple when Sean saved the female part of that couple from drowning. The couple got Leila to drink too much, so Leila stayed in the next day. When Sean got back to their room, Leila was gone and a new couple was staying in the room. There was no record of Leila or Sean ever getting on the boat. Sean started freaking out and getting angry. With things like “Boiling Points,” “Punk’d,” and my family in this world, this blogger’s first assumption would have been that this was a prank. But Sean recognized right away that this was serious—Leila was gone.
Blair Underwood (the doctor who dated Miranda on Sex and the City) plays the president. He’s coming across as a David Palmer sort, not an evil president. He talked about how he wanted to set the prisoners free. Sean turned into a nervous guy hijacking an airplane. Apparently, his future father-in-law was flying the plane into the house the President was having a party in, because “they had offered him” something (probably Leila). Sean begged Leila’s dad not to go through with the deed. We felt sympathy for the teary father who was once so easygoing. At the last second, the plane disappeared. Sophia, who was at the party, told the President, “They saved us….I haven’t told you everything.” Our minds weren't blown yet, and we aren't ready to compare this to LOST. But we were entertained, and we want to tune in next week.
Episode grade- B
Watch the pilot here for free on NBC: http://www.nbc.com/the-event/video/i-havent-told-you-everything/1250176/
The "It's the Next Lost" crapola not withstanding I thought it was a pretty good pilot. I will need to watch it again as I was not giving the show my full attention which is something you certainly need to do. IMO, this pilot really needed to be two hours so you could flesh out the main characters a bit more; this was my main complaint. "Lost"? No, and probably never, but time will tell. I hope it stays around long enough for us to find out.
ReplyDeleteWe agree about the two hours thing, even though we really didn't have enough time to watch two hours of "The Event" this week, haha.
ReplyDeleteWe don't know if you DO actually need to rewatch the pilot. We don't think it was very deep or that the clues were hidden. You probably caught everything you need to know to move on. But it can't hurt.
It feels more like Flashforward or the X-Files right now, but we will see. We think it will get a full season to lure us in, which is more than what we will need to see if it's going to be good.
We miss LOST like a fat kid on a diet misses cake :(