The Event: "To Keep Us Safe" - Sept. 27 - Grading & Discussion

[startrekwatcher]

Average. The same problems I had with last week's pilot I had again with this installment--

The characters are still boring. I didn't mind when LOST did fill in the blank flashbacks so you could see onscreen how things came together but in this episode that seemed gratuitous. For instance, did we really need to see Leila's kidnapping. It was so by the book in how these things go down that it was boring to sit through and wasn't needed. Or the flashbacks are randomly inserted like Sean's flashback to meeting his boring love interest. The only thing worthwhile about that is it showcased Ritter's skill about playing awkward very well. That is also another issue I have--the show doesn't try to do anything new or interesting.

It is perfectly content to play by an old cliched-ridden book of tv ptropes that are so worn out that it zaps the series from having any sort of suspense, tension or urgent excitement--i.e. the whole nurse calls the cops then there we have a routine prisoner chase.

Also while LOST had supernatural elements it always had an admirable sense of conviction in its storytelling always feeling grounded in realistic reactions and anchored by a certain gravitas necessary for a drama but The Event doesn't have that to the point where a plane crashing in the dessert followed by mysterious helicopters arriving shortly seem totally silly and eye-rolling--not to mention it was a rather underwhelming answer to last week's intriguing mystery of where did the plane go. I did appreciate that they didn't drag out the fact that the 97 prisoners were aliens.

The only thing interesting once again like last week were the scenes centering on flashbacks or exposition involving
Sophie and her people. And the episode's cliffhanger.

Overall a very mixed bag. It was better than last week but I don't know how much patience I have to sit through any more average episodes hoping it will get good.

 

[indianatrekker26]

ya did we really have to see how ritter met his girlfriend?

 

[watermelony2k]

I do like that the character's are being revealed in flashbacks, but short and to the point.

I can remember some Lost ones that were just abysmal and they lasted whole episodes.

I appreciate that too, but I'm finding that none of these characters come off nearly as likable as many of those in LOST.

 

[The Habs Fan]

Excellent

I liked this episode way more than the pilot. Not sure why, but the flashbacks seemed to work better too and not seem as jarring or confusing. Maybe I'm just getting used to the style.

Count me as one who thinks the detainees are not aliens but are humans from the future.

 

[Tom]

I think they are humans from the future that meant to come back in time (to change something?) but went too far and ended up in 1944. But if this were the case why didn't others from the future save them? It could also be they are refugees from some apocolyptic event in the future and are the last ones left, there only escape was to go into the past (kinda like the Star Trek: TOS episode , All our Yeaterdays). They may have had no control on what year they would end up in.

 

[The Habs Fan]

I forgot to put this in my post, but did anyone notice that James Wong is credited as Co-Executive Producer? This show may turn out to be pretty good.

(James Wong was a writer and producer on seasons 1, 2, and 4 of X-Files and seasons 1 & 2 of Millennium.)

 

[Agent Richard07]

I thought of The 4400 too and figured that they might be from the future.

 

[cbspock]

This show isn't going to last. Not a big fan of all the flashbacks. The trick has been used to DEATH!!


-Chris

 

[Starbreaker]

Time jumping has been used by every TV show ever. It's not the death of The Event.

 

[sojourner]

So let me get this straight. Someone tries to stop the president from announcing the "others" to the world by killing him with a plane. The "others" save him by making the plane disappear. This convinces the president that the announcement would have been a mistake because they saved his life????

I think he needs to worry more on who managed to get that close to wiping him out with an airliner.

 

[Nowhere Man]

I think they are humans from the future that meant to come back in time (to change something?) but went too far and ended up in 1944. But if this were the case why didn't others from the future save them? It could also be they are refugees from some apocolyptic event in the future and are the last ones left, there only escape was to go into the past (kinda like the Star Trek: TOS episode , All our Yeaterdays). They may have had no control on what year they would end up in.

I didn't see the pilot and I missed the first 20 minutes of this one, so i'm still a little lost. I originally thought they are aliens, but your theory sounds pretty good. It stands to reason that Aliens would not evolve to look like us even if there were ape like creatures on that planet. If they are from the future, how long does it take for our DNA to change one percent? Are we talking thousands of years, tens of thousands , hundreds of thousands, or more? If it is more than say twenty or thirty thousand years, they would look different, taller, different fore head slope, larger brains possibly, enhanced senses.

 

[bigdaddy]

I'm going with parallel dimension where we evolved differently so we are smarter and lvie longer. 1% is everythnig and nothing.

The flashbacks are horribly handled, but not quite as bad as the pilot, nothing could be that bad though.

So let me get this straight. Someone tries to stop the president from announcing the "others" to the world by killing him with a plane. The "others" save him by making the plane disappear. This convinces the president that the announcement would have been a mistake because they saved his life????

I think he needs to worry more on who managed to get that close to wiping him out with an airliner.

You forgot that after the others saved him they killed everyone on the plane, which made no sense at all!

 

[FreezeC77]

Well you're talking about natural evolution of a species, there's nothing to say that the reason there are significant changes in DNA is because of artificial means. That technology became advanced to the point that they began manipulating human DNA and that's why there are differences between their DNA and a normal human DNA.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Well you're talking about natural evolution of a species, there's nothing to say that the reason there are significant changes in DNA is because of artificial means. That technology became advanced to the point that they began manipulating human DNA and that's why there are differences between their DNA and a normal human DNA.

True, didn't think about that.

 

[sojourner]

I'm going with parallel dimension where we evolved differently so we are smarter and lvie longer. 1% is everythnig and nothing.

The flashbacks are horribly handled, but not quite as bad as the pilot, nothing could be that bad though.

So let me get this straight. Someone tries to stop the president from announcing the "others" to the world by killing him with a plane. The "others" save him by making the plane disappear. This convinces the president that the announcement would have been a mistake because they saved his life????

I think he needs to worry more on who managed to get that close to wiping him out with an airliner.

You forgot that after the others saved him they killed everyone on the plane, which made no sense at all!

They didn't find that out until the end of the episode.

 

[Starbreaker]

Man, people will do anything to pass a drug test these days.

I've seen someone actually do something similar to this on Forensic Files. He evaded a murder or rape charge for several years.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'm going with parallel dimension where we evolved differently so we are smarter and lvie longer. 1% is everythnig and nothing.

The flashbacks are horribly handled, but not quite as bad as the pilot, nothing could be that bad though.

So let me get this straight. Someone tries to stop the president from announcing the "others" to the world by killing him with a plane. The "others" save him by making the plane disappear. This convinces the president that the announcement would have been a mistake because they saved his life????

I think he needs to worry more on who managed to get that close to wiping him out with an airliner.

You forgot that after the others saved him they killed everyone on the plane, which made no sense at all!

They didn't find that out until the end of the episode.

Could a split in the ranks of the aliens or a third faction thats working against the aliens and the government.

 

[Jack Bauer]

This was better than the pilot. They probably could've skipped the pilot and aired this instead and most viewers probably wouldn't have missed much at all and been able to find it.

I wonder if Broken Arm Dude was in on it and killed as part of the abduction or was he just a dupe the whole time and had no prior knowledge of the kidnapping. He was a douche so either way I'm glad he's dead. And that cruise ship security dude from the pilot was involved too. I should've guessed last week that he was involved.

 

[Aragorn]

It didn't look like Broken Arm Dude was in on it. I think he wanted to drug and rape Leila.

 

[Jack Bauer]

It didn't look like Broken Arm Dude was in on it. I think he wanted to drug and rape Leila.

Yeah, probably though I bet his girlfriend picked him as the conspirators' victim because she knew what kind of guy he was. Poor douchebag but at least he got to sleep with her.