'The Event' - 'To Keep Us Safe': Can you handle the truth?
Episode two offers a step in the right direction, at least
Sean (Jason Ritter) and Leila (Sarah Roemer) go swimming on "The Event."
A quick review of "The Event" episode two coming up just as soon as I'm in a negative position...
I was very hard on "The Event" in my initial review for two reasons: 1)Because the show seemed like a shell game, constantly teasing me with questions without the slightest hint of answers, and 2)Because it was doing so in the middle of an episode that had no characters worth latching on to (even if some were played by actors I enjoy like Jason Ritter) or anything of substance beyond all the "What the hell is going on?" story devices.
On the first issue, "To Keep Us Safe" was a big step in the right direction. We find out immediately where the plane went, find out that Laura Innes and her fellow prisoners are aliens, and that there's a second group of aliens lurking around out there, led by Clifton Collins Jr.
So good for the producers on that score. They offered up some fairly substantial stuff, even if they didn't tell us what The Event actually is, what Collins' faction is up to, why DB Sweeney is so set on killing the President (and why he still cares about stopping Sean even after the plane crash gambit didn't work), etc. Obviously, if they answer everything in episode two, there's not much of a show, but they provided enough information so that I didn't feel cheated at episode's end.
As for the second issue... well, I'm still not terribly invested. I appreciate the effort with the Sean/Leila flashback to make us care about them as people and as a couple, but they're still two-dimensional - and that's still one more dimension than anybody else has.
And that, I would argue, is the much bigger problem. I don't want to keep bringing up the "Lost" comparison (though with that opening sequence and then the jet engine lying on the desert floor, it's kind of hard not to), but the first "Lost" after the pilot told us a whole lot less about the island than this episode did about various things, and yet I was far more invested and entertained by the people and by the craft on display by the filmmakers.
"To Keep Us Safe" was far less obnoxious than this show's pilot, but the show as a whole still feels fairly empty. I'll give it another week or two (I still have an episode three screener to watch), but this doesn't seem like a show for me.
What did everybody else think?
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September 27, 2010 at 10:03PM EST Reply to CommentHey Alan, when did you get the screeners? Did you know they were aliens when you wrote your review for the pilot?
sepinwall Nope. We all wrote our initial reviews off the pilot. Episodes 2 & 3 showed up middle of last week.
September 27, 2010 at 10:04PM EST
September 27, 2010 at 10:03PM EST Reply to CommentYeah, the mystery is solid enough through two episodes, but the characterization is really lacking – and I can't tell how much potential there is in making those characters interesting. Even Ritter's character, while likable, just exists to move the plot around - or for the plot to move him around.
At this stage, I'd put Event ahead of FlashForward but behind Heroes, and nowhere close to Lost.
September 27, 2010 at 10:06PM EST Reply to CommentIt's not just that it's slow, or that I've seen it done before. It takes itself soooo seeeeriously. I like a lot of these actors, but I'm done. Boring and smug = adios.
jake
September 27, 2010 at 10:34PM EST Reply to CommentI'm confused, isn't The Event, the aliens crash landing in 1944?
Dexx Obviously not lol
September 28, 2010 at 1:48AM ESTBob A.
September 27, 2010 at 10:48PM EST Reply to CommentI still don't care about any of the characters nor am I really interested, except for the Alien Leader (Laura Innes).
The flashback technique and script execution to add depth to the characters seems rather forced every time...why? When LOST would do flashbacks week-after-week it always seemed worth your time, not so with this show.
I think I got one maybe two more episodes in me to care about what is going on before I will be forced to bail...
Ed W
September 27, 2010 at 11:15PM EST Reply to CommentI'm not invested in it and might never be but it seems more thought was put into it than Flashforward so I'll probably give it another week or two and see how it goes.
I give the show credit for casting a somewhat annoyingly weeny guy as the young male who ended up in the hospital and is on the run. A lot of shows would have cast someone with look or charm but they took the braver route. ;)
September 28, 2010 at 9:30AM ESTMary Going to have to disagree, Jason Ritter is one of the few good things about this show. And he is plenty good looking.
September 28, 2010 at 10:24AM ESTLaurlyn I disagree also with your assessment of the lead character of Sam. I find Jason Ritter not conventionally good looking but still cute and charming. His character is, so far, the only one I care about.
September 28, 2010 at 2:14PM ESTcgeye
September 28, 2010 at 12:32AM EST Reply to CommentOne big problem: The Conspiracies suck.
Sure, I get it -- the Feds can't reveal this because it's the Communist Threat as nightmare -- Sleeper agents completely indistinguishable from Real Amurricans, save a decades-long grudge and 1% of their DNA. This is the way V would have worked, by eliminating the lizards-in-human-skin concept and just leave the *idea* of aliens whose proof of alienness is what they think. That's the way to dramatize Al-Q: No matter how assimilated they are, blood will tell.
But they've set up the premise as to make resolution impossible. Like THE 4400, what does the world do with this shock? Create genocide? Lose homo sapiens' place on the food chain? In both cases, peaceful coexistance is impossible, and elimination of the threat through genocide or banishment is impossible. The sturm and drang of these series give implacable proof that People Don't Change, or if they Change, They'll Be Proved as Suckers -- so, really the showrunners can't take this anywhere new where audiences of light entertainment would accept.
Finally, with the level of infiltration 60+ years old, they should have taken over by now. Why haven't they? If they don't have superior tech, why haven't the prisoners been killed? If these are the most boring aliens ever created, then why give a damn about their war with Earth? What's in it for us, except mopped SFX and beats from LOST?
Grant
September 28, 2010 at 1:37AM EST Reply to CommentTo say I suffered through this episode is a bit of an understatement. I think I intellectually bailed on this show in 58 minutes of episode #1 (when the President started up at the plane to shield his son). I emotionally bailed tonight after 20 minutes or so... Michael Buchannan stumbled out of the plane an tells Jason Ritter he's the only one that can save his daughter. From the LOST-like plane crash, to the 24 style shaky cam... where Where LOST edged into sentimental Spielberg territory, this lurches closer to Independence Day without the intended 'campiness'. A nonstop blur of confusing plot, wooden acting, terrible dialog and even a bad CGI airliner. Add that crabby nurse from ER with the limp. Like that plane in the desert, this show is bound to crash.
Ken
September 28, 2010 at 7:37AM EST Reply to CommentThe only character I find particularly interesting is Laura Innes' and she's under-utilized. Everyone else just has their role to play and there is little mystery in who they are... so far. I hope people's disappointment with The Event leads them to watch Lone Star as I really don't want them to cancel that show. Talk about characters with dimensions! It's only been two episodes and I'm totally hooked.
linus You've guys pretty much nailed it on the head. This show seems hollow. Characters are so one dimensional. It reminds me of a summer action flick. Sure the action is kind of cool, but it lacks any real depth. Especially coming off a masterpiece such as LOST this seems like an empty imitation. Also doesn't help that some of the best shows of all time exist currently - ie breaking bad, mad men, dexter etc. This show pales in comparison.
September 28, 2010 at 9:15AM ESTlisag
September 28, 2010 at 10:53AM EST Reply to CommentBlair Underwood lacks the gravitas of a President. I find it so hard to watch him. And I usually very much like Željko Ivanek, but he is so over the top. Aside from Laura Innis and Jason Ritter, the acting is terrible. I may/may not give this show one more week. I am bitterly disappointed.
John
September 28, 2010 at 11:30AM EST Reply to CommentSaw the alien thing coming. Looks like NBC picked up and repackaged 'V'
September 28, 2010 at 12:09PM EST Reply to CommentI'll bring some more Debbie Downer to The Event:
-Aliens crash in 1944? Right, super-sophisticated aliens, who are capable of amazing feats like crossing the gulfs of vast light years, are still not sophisticated enough to avoid a crash on Earth! The Aliens look exactly like humans (saves vast sums on wardrobe), but cannot avoid being captured by humans who only recently invented radar... I guess the other possibility is they are actually from the future. That explanation would be far better than the typical SF cliche path they appear to be traveling at the moment.
I don't know why being from the future would change their DNA by 1% though...
-Flashbacks already? We don't even know who these character are yet, we couldn't care less about them, and the producer's primary way to get the viewer invested in the characters is by flashback?
-Plane crash with jet engines lying about? Flashbacks? LOST ripoffs and countless SF cliches on the way...
Positives?
-yeah nice eye candy with Sarah Roemer...
Found Okay, I have to comment on this. How about a super-sophisticated race with flying machines that can traverse their world? Not sophisticated enough to keep some of those from crashing? Oh wait, it gets better. How about this race has orbiting spaceships, let's call them shuttles. They can't keep those from blowing up?
September 28, 2010 at 10:49PM ESTS**t happens and sophistication can't save you. Plus, how do you know their ship wasn't a prototype, a desperate, last-ditch effort to save their race?
As to the 1% genetic difference, ever hear of the panspermia theory?
Terry Connolly OK Found, glad you believe in Roswell. I said sophisticated enough to "cross vast light years". Have Earthlings somehow achieved interstellar travel, and hitfx missed it the story?
September 29, 2010 at 12:14AM EST"S***" like crashing into Roswell or some Alaskan mountain ranges does not "happen" to races who could travel between the stars.
Panspermia is a possible explanation. Much better than some BS Roswell story designed to sell the gullible "Aliens are real and among us" conspiracy theories. It works great, there's lots of cash to be made from folks who WANT to believe that aliens are behind the scenes running things.
Found Terry, you disappoint me. You seem to jump to conclusions very quickly. I don't believe in Roswell, well the town exists, but I don't believe that aliens walk among us. On the other hand, I don't believe that the plot on this show is already toast. I don't know if the show's writers can save it or not, but I certainly could.
September 29, 2010 at 12:53AM ESTYour basic assumption here seems to be that, once a certain level of technology is achieved, nothing can ever go wrong again. No mistakes, no accidents, no "up jumps the devil". Well, good luck with that. I see nothing in our history which makes that remotely plausible.
Terry Connolly Found- Perhaps I jumped to that conclusion so quickly since you were so quick to miss that fact that humans can not traverse light years.
September 29, 2010 at 8:31AM ESTOn the other hand, I am glad you don't buy the Roswell BS, and your response shows that you are indeed more intelligent then I gave you credit for. I am sorry for that.
Here's the thing about space travel- If there were aliens who had interstellar travel, the overwhelming likelihood is that they would already have had it for thousands and of years, not just recently like we do. Their "mistakes" would have been overcome centuries before they arrive at Earth, their technology would have to be so far advanced past our comparable blunders.
Also, the DNA theory I mentioned refers to the "aliens" actually being humans from the future. I'm certainly open to your ideas on how you could save this show by rewriting the plot from the time travel angle.
Found Terry, I just don't see why that would be the overwhelming likelihood. Why is it any more likely than this was one of the first attempts to use, and I'm assuming here, some sort of Faster Than Light technology? Any civilization that has interstellar travel must have gone through a testing and development phase, right?
September 29, 2010 at 3:03PM ESTThat aside, there could be many reasons which fit in with your "overwhelming likelihood". Maybe they stole the ship. Maybe they're fleeing persecution or they're criminals or terrorists or the last survivors of their civilization. And maybe they weren't the best at operating the technology.
There are myriad things a good writer can do with what's been laid out so far. Including time travel. I like the idea, but time travel is very tricky for the best of writers to handle. At this point in the game, I have no idea if the writers of "The Event" are good, great, bad, or terrible. I think it's too early to tell.
BTW, I enjoy the discussion with you. Nice meeting you!
Terry Connolly Hey Found- I agree, good discussion. Easy to get off on the wrong foot on the net, but at least we can agree Sarah Roemer is easy on the eyes. :-) (Assuming of course you are a guy who likes girls.)
September 29, 2010 at 6:05PM ESTThis is probably not the best place to discuss this. One of the reasons I overreacted a bit to your first comments is I've had some discussions with some UFO types over at Above Top Secret. A lot of those folks assumed since I don't believe in Roswell, that I also don't believe there are ET's somewhere out there. I do think there are.
The Drake Equation is a good place to start investigating. I've done a lot of research into this topic over the years, and as I said this is not a good forum for the topic.
Michael Shermer has some great articles on this too. Here is a quote: "Biological evolution operates at a snail's pace compared to technological evolution (the former is Darwinian and requires generations of differential reproductive success, the latter is Lamarckian and can be implemented within a single generation). 2. The cosmos is very big and space is very empty (Voyager I, our most distant spacecraft hurtling along at over 38,000 mph, will not reach the distance of even our sun's nearest neighbor, the Alpha Centauri system that it is not even headed toward, for over 75,000 years). Ergo, the probability of an ETI who is only slightly more advanced than us and also makes contact is virtually nil. If we ever do find ETI it will be as if a million-year-old Homo erectus were dropped into the middle of Manhattan, given a computer and cell phone and instructed to communicate with us. ETI would be to us as we would be to this early hominid--godlike."
Found Terry, I agree that this is probably not the best place to discuss this. You have a better one? And oh, yes, I'm a guy who likes girls and Sarah is fine.
September 29, 2010 at 11:29PM ESTStop apologizing! I never found any of your comments the least bit offensive.
You know, I actually met Frank Drake once. Well, met is a strong word. I was a kid touring the Greenbank Radio Observatory and he was there and talked to the group for a few minutes. Pretty cool, eh?
I'm into Fermi's Question: "Where Are They?" Now we know. They're on NBC on Monday night. I guess I should say "we". Yep, I'm one of them. I probably shouldn't reveal this here, but I was driving the ship when it crashed. I was fiddling with the radio. You have any idea how hard it was to get good music on 1944 Earth radio?
Talk to you, man. Peace.
Schmoker
September 28, 2010 at 12:13PM EST Reply to CommentWith a couple of exceptions (the agent and his fake vein, the president (and thus us) finally getting briefed on them being aliens (really???), each and every flashback was immediately met with a "Don't Care!" from me---although only once out loud.
Don't flash back to things we know already (how many times are we going back to that cruise ship already?), and don't give me character moments that are two dimensional at best. Just haven't earned the right to make me care about Ritter giving hot chick swimming lessons when neither of them is anything but a cardboard cutout so far.
Think I'm one more episode from being out, and that just because my life is so boring that I'll watch again even though the first two pretty much blew.
Jon Doe
September 28, 2010 at 12:20PM EST Reply to CommentI am a TV Scifi junky and I find commercials better than this boring Frack. Count me gone......
Tim
September 28, 2010 at 1:44PM EST Reply to CommentI'm enjoying it very much, its kept me interested every step of teh way and i cant wait to see what happens next.
And that plane attack was not to kill the president it was to kill the leader of the aliens. The people who kidnapped the girl and set up the plane attack are either a rival of the aliens or they are a disgruntled faction of the aliens who have turned against sophia.
September 28, 2010 at 2:20PM EST Reply to CommentAs I started watching it this morning I tweeted "The Event is pish yet I can't help watching"...........and it's true. I love Laura Innes and she's about the only reason to keep watching, so I guess I'll give it another week or two and reassess!
dean
September 28, 2010 at 2:29PM EST Reply to CommentLost, Lost, Lost... blah blah blah... In my book, the Event is better since I've already seen two of its episodes while I switched off Lost even when its pilot hadn't ended yet... After that I saw some episodes my friend was watching but still didn't find it interesting... there were tens of better drama shows out there and the so called mystery didn't suck me in....
Found
September 28, 2010 at 4:27PM EST Reply to CommentSeems that a lot of people on here suffer from LDS -- Lost Derangement Syndrome! They don't care about the characters because they're not Sawyer or Kate or Locke. Boo Hoo. I don't know if this will be good or not, but so far I like it. Shows like this really rely on story which means plot and writing, which went by the wayside as "Lost" kept getting renewed. If you want to watch lovable characters stranded on an island engaged in nonsensical plots, I recommend "Gilligan's Island".
Angela I didn't like Lost or the characters on Lost. But I don't like this show either. Though I am totally into character depth and development, I can't find it in this show.
September 28, 2010 at 6:29PM ESTGridlock
September 28, 2010 at 7:31PM EST Reply to Comment"Hello, I'm the president of the united states. Thanks for obviously but not provably saving my life. Somehow this obviously means there's more of you out there. Therefore, back to your salt mine!"
Alien(!) Leader: "WTF? Umm. OK. Douchebag."
Viewer: "click"
Found Okay, not even close to what happened. For example, what obviously means that there's more aliens out there might be a plane disappearing into some sort of spacetime rift? Not the alien leaders reaction either.
September 28, 2010 at 10:19PM ESTBut, whatever. If you don't like it, you don't like it. I'm sure that when it's cancelled it'll be replaced with something great. Maybe "Fattest Loser Dancing With A Kardashian"?
Hwat
September 28, 2010 at 9:00PM EST Reply to CommentLess obnoxious but still obnoxious. And enough with the flashbacks, get a move on. This is probably on life support, but I'll give it a few more.
(And why the hell doesn't this shit page work in Firefox?)
VisionOn
September 29, 2010 at 9:45AM EST Reply to CommentThe frenetic editing "style" makes watching The Event like going back in time to an MTV show from the mid-90's.
I'm convinced after watching this episode that the main reason they are doing it is to hide the fact that this show is completely unoriginal and just uses bits and pieces from other TV shows. We've seen it all before but by chopping it into ridiculously short sequences they are hoping we won't notice.
Would it kill them to have a sequence longer than five minutes to give the characters a slight hint of depth?
CB
September 29, 2010 at 1:00PM EST Reply to CommentI would have loved for the Ritter character to be driving in the FBI car with Mulder and Scully - couldnt they just get them for 1 scene? I dont get why his character matters anymore though - why the murder setup when just last week they had erased the record of him being on the ship? Are they going to put the data back in the ships record now? Was that a spoiler? I am going to check this out again because I dont think it is so clear on who is on who's side just yet.
September 29, 2010 at 1:10PM EST Reply to CommentI would like to know how the military guy at the end of the episode was able to check the vitals of 200+ people within 30 seconds of arriving on scene, and then definitively tell Lee, "I checked the vitals on all of them, they're all dead." Best example of a series that is consistently causing me to say "WTF" at all the worst times.
Darren
September 29, 2010 at 4:00PM EST Reply to CommentI'm not convinced they are actually aliens...
Shawn Yeah, I instantly assumed they were terrestials of some sort--as in, not from outer space. What they are, I have no idea.
September 29, 2010 at 8:59PM EST