Review: 'The Event' - 'And Then There Were More'/'Inostranka': Join together
What did everybody think of the conspiracy thriller's return?
Virginia Madsen and Blair Underwood on "the Event."
Credit: NBC
"The Event" returned to the airwaves tonight with back-to-back episodes. I offered my review this morning. Now it's your turn. For those of you who came back after the long wait, what did you think? Same show as before, better, worse, what?
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 Signuppamelajaye
March 7, 2011 at 11:03PM EST Reply to Commentmy reactions to the return of the Event
GET IT OUT OF CHUCK'S TIMESLOT
that's it. We watched an ep of Big Bang that Jay had not seen, and oddly, I had not seen either. Now I'm watching House.
March 8, 2011 at 2:27AM ESTwebdiva Amen to that!!
March 8, 2011 at 3:34AM ESTed w
March 7, 2011 at 11:11PM EST Reply to CommentOne of the few reasons to watch this show is for the occasionally nice cinematography, which it sometimes delivers very well on. Also, Ritter and Roemer make a nice couple and despite the cheese I'm engaged when they are on screen.
Beyond that, it's just crap. Im' not rooting for it to be canceled though since I have no faith that whatever they replace it will be better.
Jack Yeah, I thought the single shot when the warehouse was collapsing earlier in the season (which lasted about a minute, if you ignore the odd trick here and there) was really impressive given the amount of destruction going on around the characters. Shame the show is rubbish, so I haven't bothered going back to it.
March 8, 2011 at 6:56AM ESTDirtyKash
March 7, 2011 at 11:16PM EST Reply to CommentSo, uh, with Leila being 50% human, 50% alien, I'm guessing she ages, just not as slowly as the aliens and not as fast as the humans? (Sarah Roemer is a terrible actress, by the way. "Sean, what do we do?!")
After getting tortured, bloodied, shot at several times (including at the end within 50 feet courtesy of Thomas' rifle), etc., Blake Sterling is still alive? And looking over the body of the girl he had been interviewing? Is this guy superman?
I've watched every episode, but I'm still very, very confused at many things about the show.
Jim
March 7, 2011 at 11:27PM EST Reply to CommentPrediction: Time traveling evolved humans from the future and NOT aliens at all. Not sure what "the event" is that they're planning.
me my guess, hal holbrook is ritter from the future or some such nonsense.
March 8, 2011 at 12:25AM ESTcan't explain why i have stuck with this horrible show for this long.
matt s god that would actually work! holbrook being ritter from the future i mean.
March 8, 2011 at 5:20AM ESTtime traveling evolved humans would work too but i can literally see it being made fun of on the blogosphere as a complete and total rip off of that south park ep.
Chrissy
March 8, 2011 at 12:22AM EST Reply to CommentI guess I'd disagree that the story hasn't moved forward at all. Sean and Leila found *both* her sister and her father, and the Inostranka prisoners escaped. I'd say, short of the actual Event occurring, that counts as plot movement.
I also like Virginia Madsen (between this and the Cabrini Green episode of Chicago Code, I'm officially afraid of my bathroom mirror again). Her storyline was very, very silly - the congressman of Mt. Inostranka dies and no one cleans out his high clearance office until his wife hand delivers an incriminating file to the president himself? The incompetence is layered like an onion on this show.
But I don't really care. It's goofy and pretty to look at. I don't have any new complaints, anyway, although I do hope we can focus away from Leila for a while. She is dumber than dirt. "Do you think it's possible she was lying?" Yeesh.
jmartnwa
March 8, 2011 at 1:07AM EST Reply to CommentI watched The Event, sort of as a guilty pleasure, from the beginning through tonight. The fall finale episode ended terribly and this episode as a whole was... not good.
I hated Virginia Madsen's character. The way she delivered dialogue to me was so scripted and lacked any semblance of a natural cadence or inflection. The main problem was the incredibly stupid scene showcasing her convincing one of the heads of National Intelligence to let her get "personal letters" from her husband's desk. If that weren't bad enough, the guy cleared the office and she was allowed to CLOSE THE DOOR to her late husband's office, with a full file cabinet, with no supervision whatsoever. I was unable to suspend my disbelief from this point forward. The way over the top extra terrestrial stuff is totally different, because it's designed to be part of a story. But something realistic in nature but executed in a way that never would have happened -- was quite frankly brutal.
Roemer wasn't good tonight either... her reactions and dialogue seemed ripped from an after school special in terms of depth and execution. I've liked her overall, but tonight it was tough. Luckily she's uber-hot, that helps.
Love Zeljko (he's way too good for this) and am enjoying Ritter, but at this point that's about it. Holbrook has an iconic voice and a great stare, but he's given nothing to really work with here.
The show is trending in the wrong direction... and it doesn't help when it bumps one of my favorite shows for a week, even if most things are in repeats these past few weeks.
VBarkley
March 8, 2011 at 2:26AM EST Reply to CommentDid anyone watch it? I gave up.
webdiva
March 8, 2011 at 3:37AM EST Reply to CommentAfter this abomination has sunk to a new low of boredom, needless coyness, and irritation-inducing torpor, I want no more complaints about my having enjoyed Defying Gravity. Don't even get me started!
matt s
March 8, 2011 at 5:24AM EST Reply to Commenti think alan said this already in his recap but
tonight's twofer was lacking in foward momentem---the plot might have actually been fowarded thanks to the fact that there was a massive prison break of the other aliens, and that sean and leila's actual involvement with the show seems to have finally been integrated into some of the other character's plotlines--but it definitely didn't FEEL like there was any foward momentum---and that's deadly to a show like this.
Brent
March 8, 2011 at 6:53AM EST Reply to CommentI believe they filmed these before the break so it's about the same. There's an all right show in between the Sean and Leila stuff. The plot moved quickly and they didn't play coy with answers. It looks like we are now headed towards the reveal of what the Event is (the arrival of more aliens, this time, the whole world will know) the attack at Inostranka had some legitimate suspense even if Sterlings plan was really dumb. End result: I'm in for the long haul. The images of the Washington Monument collapsing in a future episode give me hope for 24'esque tension.
Evan
March 8, 2011 at 12:17PM EST Reply to CommentIt was better, but still with flaws. Hated the ending with the old guy moving weird pieces around the board. And Sean not being able to go with Leila. But in terms of action and the rest of the plot, I actually enjoyed it. So just two things isn't too bad, but man -- they need to stop blatantly avoiding ways to answer questions (now Sean/viewer can't see Mitchell's answers) and also stop introducing weird things that just obscure even more (the board at the end).
Lynda Malone
March 9, 2011 at 9:12AM EST Reply to CommentPlease, please, please get rid of Leila. Did it mention anywhere that she had learning difficulties because I personally can't take any more of her. Seaaan, Seaaan, Seaaan!!! Otherwise the thing seems to be moving on a bit. Will stick with it for a while anyway.
Lee
March 9, 2011 at 1:21PM EST Reply to CommentClassic case to me of a good premise, some really good actors brought down because of horrible, juvenile writing. I just can't believe how bad the writing is on this thing - I watched a total of about half of it and found the dialogue so benign and just plain bad.
No wit, no humor, no spark - no nothing. I gave it one last shot and no more wasting my time on this thing.
Maybe with a cast like this they just couldn't afford good writers, who knows?