'Persons Unknown' - 'Pilot': You cannot get there from here
Strangers wake up together in an intriguing summer series
"Persons Unknown."
Credit: NBC
My "Persons Unknown" screener got lost in the mail, so I couldn't review it in advance and had to watch it this morning on my DVR. I'd say my take is largely in line with what Fienberg wrote in his review: interesting atmosphere, characters who are thin so far, the detours to the real world are distracting and unnecessary, and a whole lot is going to depend on the payoff. But it held my interest, and NBC's track record last summer with similar cheap, foreign-produced programming suggests we'll see it all the way through, so I'll stick around for at least a few weeks.
What did everybody else think?
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupZacharyTF
June 8, 2010 at 9:47AM EST Reply to CommentI didn't watch the pilot and have no intention to, but everytime I saw the commercials for it and I saw the bright yellow hallway, it reminded me of the Mars Investigations office. Oh, how I miss you, Veronica Mars.
June 8, 2010 at 10:07AM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed the episode. I agree that the "real world" stories were unnecessary. I'd rather get to know the characters and spend more time on the mystery of where they are and why they're there, then see the creepy Grandmother who now has custody of her granddaughter.
I'll stick with it and see where it goes, for now.
jcpdiesel21
June 8, 2010 at 10:20AM EST Reply to CommentI thought this was a fairly enjoyable summer show. The detours outside of the creepy town and away from the kidnapped people so far are the least interesting part about the show, but I really like the atmosphere that the show has created so far, and the acting is decent. At this point, it's a hell of a lot better than Harper's Island.
gladly
June 8, 2010 at 10:56AM EST Reply to CommentI thought it was passable and completely agree that the detours away from the captives leave me cold for the moment. A genuine shiver ran down my spine when they came back to the hotel and the night manager welcomed them. That was just creepy. So having no faith that this will eventually pay off, I'll just try to enjoy those moments.
daforcella
June 8, 2010 at 11:08AM EST Reply to CommentLike Fienberg, I liked Herpes Island. Persons Unknown seems to have mystery down better than that so far, but it's missing the wonderful soap of the CBS thriller.
http://quietpoolperspective.blogspot.com/2010/06/persons-unknown-where-are-we.html
DonBoy
June 8, 2010 at 11:55AM EST Reply to CommentActually, it reminded me of "Drive", but nobody gets to go anywhere.
lormac
June 8, 2010 at 12:17PM EST Reply to CommentI kind of liked Harper's Island - until the crappy ending. And this show looks promising, but I have to disagree about the 'real world' scenes. Wasn't there one of those monitoring devices hidden in the grandmother's living room? Doesn't that mean that the conspiracy (or whatever) extends beyond the ghost town? Here's my plot hole: If they can build a fire (and pretty easily too, so that guy should definitely sign up for Survivor as soon as this show wraps up), why don't they drag all the furniture into the middle of town and build a huge bonfire in hopes of attracting some forest ranger, etc.?
Nick You're absolutely right about the grandmother's living room also being monitored. That surveillance shot was the moment when I truly became intrigued.
June 8, 2010 at 1:11PM ESTChrissy Yes, up until that moment I thought they were setting her up as the bad guy (clearly nuts, wants to mother her granddaughter, tells deep family secrets to a newspaper reporter in a flat affect monotone), but that shot made me curious.
June 8, 2010 at 10:53PM ESTBigTed
June 8, 2010 at 2:35PM EST Reply to CommentHaving been burned so many times with crappy endings to "mystery" shows, if the characters and situations need to be interesting in and of themselves for me to bother sticking it out. And based on the first episode, this show doesn't have what it takes.
It was clear by the end that the characters will be put through various moral/ethical tests, but I don't care enough about them to wonder what they'll do.
What I liked best were the creepy/weird aspects, such as when the fully staffed Chinese restaurant suddenly appeared. If the whole show had more of a "Twin Peaks" vibe, I might have ended up watching it just for that.
klg19 This was my take, as well. I found my attention wandering quite a bit during the episode, which seemed to last considerably longer than an hour. Which makes me sad, because I love me some Alan Ruck.
June 8, 2010 at 4:21PM EST
June 8, 2010 at 4:40PM ESTKujo
June 8, 2010 at 3:26PM EST Reply to CommentNot horrible. I'm intrigued. I'll continue watching.
filmcricket
June 8, 2010 at 7:12PM EST Reply to CommentForgot this was on, but will try to catch it somewhere.
What I really want to ask Alan is: are you going paintballing with the cast of "The Wire" this weekend?
Girly
June 9, 2010 at 2:48AM EST Reply to CommentI want to eat authentic Chinese food every night!
And I am very intrigued about the restaurant and hotel staff...
Chrissy
June 9, 2010 at 9:13AM EST Reply to CommentTwo things occurred to me last night about the plot of this show: 1) the "councilor" never showed the group her implant, which must mean something; and 2) the group never asked the guy with the gun how he got out of the hotel (since the elevator wasn't working when they got out of their rooms and Joe didn't see it working when he was in the hall ahead of everyone else). They did a decent, although not great, job of asking the right people the right questions and acting more or less non-stupidly, but there were times when I really wanted them to ask or do something and they stubbornly refused.
Probably not a good idea to start analyzing, but that's half the fun, right?
lormac No, PLEASE analyze! You did a great job. I did not think about how the 7th guy got out of the hotel.
June 10, 2010 at 1:20PM ESTbuzmeg
June 9, 2010 at 9:33AM EST Reply to CommentBest line of the opener "Best Chinese food I ever had" (the scene made me run out for some takeout)
Hwat
June 9, 2010 at 7:15PM EST Reply to CommentI found myself judging it mostly on what I think the future won't be. Ie, I don't think they in anyway have the talent to carry this off without being stupid, and I see Fienberg says "you gotta be patient" - no, I don't - not if they are just stretching it out to make more money - that doesn't mean I'm just going to have to wait through reams of rubbish to get some "payoff" - Babylon 5 is one of the few exceptions where they knew what they were going and the payoffs were worth it over time. Most other shows aren't. So the people behind this better be really good if this is going to work.
lanksta
June 10, 2010 at 7:17PM EST Reply to Commentyou no what, i liked it. i dont get the 'real world' being unnecessary, its clearly gonna be necessary at some point...surely? and it took up all of 2 mins of the the whole show so it was'nt too much of a distraction. there probably are flaws like in anything but its really creepy and intriguing. it will work best as a mini series or just a one off series, doubt it will be able to sustain much story any longer, (depending on what happens in the next few ep's) if it dont the ending will be crap. in fact this concept might have worked well in a movie????
i dunno, will check out the next few episodes see what happens
OldDarth
June 12, 2010 at 8:38AM EST Reply to CommentThe pilot intrigued my wife and I enough to continue watching. Agree that the characters are very thin to this point.
steven b
June 16, 2010 at 11:43AM EST Reply to CommentPersons Unknown is the worst show ever ill-conceived. With horrible acting, equally awful script, and a total lack of a plot. Lets not forget the poor editing. There were lots of editorial blemishes throughout the entire show. It was painful to watch. Even the "Saw" fans will be disappointed. There is a transparence of what is to come that takes the scare out of it completely. This show is almost as bad of an idea as having the Bush family in office.
Murphy I cannot agree more with Steven b. And I can't believe that ANYBODY would find this shotty script and equally worse acting as passable, put alone enjoyable. NBC is clearly trying to capture the hungover LOST fans with a mystery about where and why are they there, but, has failed miserably. The lead female actress is the worst. Her scene last night when she grabbed a bottle and threatened another member of the house was so over the top and unreal, it showed that she desperately needs more acting school. I don't know what the rest of you are watching, but, I assume you think Jay Leno is funny as well, so, that would tell me all I need to know. This show will be cancelled in a few weeks. Bet the barn on it.
June 22, 2010 at 10:51AM EST