What's it about?
While Sophia and Thomas prepare for the next step on their mission, Sterling begins to see conspirators everywhere, including among his own people. Meanwhile, Sean and Madeline seek answers behind Leila's abduction and Michael's coercion.
Review
Another week... another solid episode of 'The Event' and hopefully a double review whammy tonight as I am about to sit down to watch episode eight. But first things first we need to discuss episode seven.
The format of this episode closely follows that of episode six and traces the back story of one of our main characters, last week it was Simon (we'll get to him later) and this week it's Director Sterling. I'm not the biggest fan of this character, I'm not sure if it is because we're not supposed to like him or because I just don't enjoy him when he's on screen.
Either way this episode takes us on an interesting journey to see why he is so hell bent on not be betrayed by anybody around him. It was an interesting story and did serve a purpose as by the end of the episode I was feeling much more sympathetic towards him, the man clearly has issues and when he realises the rather large mistake/s he made in this episode he's only going to feel worse.
I would, in fact, go as far as to say that one of my favourite scenes in this episode is the exchange between Sterling and President Martinez as they share a beer at the end of the episode. Having spent six weeks as the stalwart agent it is nice to see Sterling get the fleshing out treatment that was awarded to Vicky in previous episodes, the man has a heart and sadly it's been broken.
What's most interesting here is perhaps the flashback format which the show has taken on, previously we've seen different timelines for different characters and perspectives etc... but in these most recent episodes the flashbacks have taken on more of a sole character story which is only causing further comparisons with predecessor 'Lost'.
Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, this slight adjustment in the format may even be due to comments they've received from the audience/network since the show premiered. It's not unusual for a show to make adjustments on the run as the audience respond to different aspects of the show. It's working well to help flesh out some of the previously thinner characters on the show so I'm down with it continuing this way in the future.
Now for Simon: last week we were left hanging as to whether he'd survived the collapsing building. The good news is yes he did! The bad news is that he could be found out as being one of the aliens. I do enjoy a good 'will he be discovered? Won't he?' although this episode is a microcosm of what is going on over on Fox with 'Fringe' these days.
For a while I honestly thought that Simon would be found out and that there would be serious repercussions which would further separate Sophia and the Inostrankans from the human race but I was mistaken, in fact the old bait-and-switch manoeuvre was taking place right under my nose and I didn't notice, although when Sterling realises he shared a lift with Thomas he is going to be rather miffed.
Rallying round to save Simon brought out the family (literally in some cases) nature between the Inostrankan people which was nice to see. Now that Sophia has been released (or sprung) we're getting to see more of the organisation of the group outside of the mountain encampment.
Thomas on his own plays a sort of terrorist leader type role, his phone calls to the White House and his threats to the Avias flight survivors have shown his dangerous nature but with Sophia on hand to take charge, which is does instantly, we're getting to see a different side to both of their characters.
There's one very big development/reveal between the two of them which I won't spoil for those who haven't seen it but I definitely did not see it coming and I'm interested to see how it affects the way the Inostrankan people organise their efforts.
Laura Innes is getting to show her inner leader now that she is out in the open and this is making her character far more interesting. The scenes showing her in the camp showed her devotion to her people and her scenes with the President have shown her stronger side and brought some very interesting social commentary to the show. Now we get to see exactly what she is willing to do to get her people home.
Speaking of home we get some interesting developments on that front in this episode, developments which further allude to either a knowledge of or ability to travel through time. It seems the Inostrankans have been manipulating human scientific development with the hope of developing the required materials to get them home, the disappearing plane in the pilot was just a small example of the required effect for travelling to where ever it is they come from.
We're no closer to finding out exactly who they are but now we know its going to be very difficult for them to get back there.
All this talk and I've not even mentioned poor Sean and Leila. They spend the bulk of the episode struggling to come to the realisation that the people behind all their misfortunes may in fact be extraterrestrials. Sean has been a reluctant hero but now that he has Leila back his continuing heroics feel a little laboured. Obviously they want to get to the bottom of where Samantha (what the hell was with the ending?) is being held and why Michael ended up being coerced in to flying the plane but considering the past six weeks of nastiness they've been through I'm reluctant to say he would be so anxious to continue down the path they are currently on.
That being said there are some interesting developments in their story, particularly leading to the room full of very scary little girls to whom we are introduced in the closing moments of the show. I can only assume that room relates to a plot point which I believe is in episode eight. We shall find out very shortly.
Sadly the ratings are still on a downward trend but if the recent appearance by the cast explaining that the show will be relaunched following its winter break is anything to go by then NBC are all to happy to flog this show to death in order to get those viewing figures up and I'm happy with that.
Surely the fact that 'The Event' was sold to nearly every international market before its US premiere is enough to keep the faith going for a little while longer. This show has so much to give and its really starting to find its voice now.
Keep up the good work Nick Wauters!
Next week...
Martinez interrogates Michael as he reveals the people who wanted him to do the assassination attempt were going to call it off, but a call from someone told them to go through with it. He also reveals the call was made mere minutes after a meeting Martinez had about the press conference. After looking through phone records, they discover Jarvis, the vice-president, was in on the attempt. Meanwhile, Sean is shot by one of the men who survived the explosion, forcing Leila to kidnap a doctor to perform surgery on him. Vicky is ordered by Dempsey to kill Jarvis, however she lets him live and tells him to confess. The men sent out by Martinez capture Jarvis, but before he could reveal who gave him orders, a car explosion goes off, supposedly killing him. Dempsey is then shown looking in the mirror soon after taking a medicine for his coffee, then showing his face shifting to a younger version of himself.
Overall
Story 3.5
Character 4.0
Weirdness 3.5
Overall 3.5
No comments:
Post a Comment