[TV] The Event

[Tscott]

I had always assumed that the gun had been planted on the plane (in the restroom) for him by the same rogue government guys who are working with the kidnappers.

But he wasn't working with the kidnappers.  He was there to stop his girlfriend's father from doing what the kidnappers wanted him to do.

[disarm]

btw, I missed the part where they explained how Jason Ritter got a handgun onto an airliner. Was that ever explained in Episode 2? (I was guilty of channel surfing that Monday).

I assumed it had something to do with him being pictured in a maintenance uniform rather than as a passenger.

i think this is most correct...he snuck onto the tarmac and slipped aboard the plane disguised as a maintenance worker rather than going through the passenger security screening.  of course how he got the handgun on airport grounds is another matter...

[Blackjack]

I was hoping we'd find out Jason was a genius plastics designer (remember John Malkovich and his ridiculous plastic or was it wood pistol in In the Line of Fire?) who created an amazing plastic pistol that fires plastic shells with titanium-like properties. And he's also a genius painter that can paint plastic pistols so they look metallic.

All of which is no more ridiculous than anything else in The Event to this point. But I still enjoy watching the show, so far.  

[Isgrimnur]

With the stuff about them messing with his life, I'm getting a Nowehere Man vibe out of all of that.  I'm sure since he's already on the run, though, they'll be downplaying the aspects of them screwing with hsi background.  Not really sure what else they can do to him.

And now I need to go crack my Nowhere Man DVDs and watch them.

[Moliere]

NBC Confirms 'The Event' To Represent America In New Olympic Event

NBC Sports confirmed Friday that the one-hour science-fiction drama The Event will represent the United States in an event recently added to the 2012 Summer Olympics.

[CeeKay]

I was all WTF? Until I saw where the link went to.

[rittchard]

A really tight "24" feel to last night's episode, with good pacing and tension and a few tricks up their sleeves. 

Spoiler for Hiden:

Funnily I was bitching and self congratulating when I predicted the old "Silence of the Lambs" switcheroo on the houses, kept saying how predictable it was.  But then the second switcheroo with the fakeout actually surprised me.  I should have guessed it as it seemed everything was being telegraphed starting with the broken glass, and clearly there's no way that bad chick was gonna die when she got "shot."

The presidential stuff is/was a little weak all in all IMHO, I'm not sure I'm buying Blair Underwood as the pres.  Give me All State guy any day of the week!  At least next week it looks like he is going to go Jack Bauer on us, so maybe that's a start.  But Blair is kind of just too pretty for me to take him seriously, I can't get past my image of him from LA Law.

[Mr. Fed]

Regarding the last two episodes:

Spoiler for Hiden:

I'm just finding the bad guys' willingness to engage in splashy, loud, attention-drawing killings to be too over-the-top.  Taking down the entire Yuma FBI office?  Randomly shooting the guy to get his car?  It comes off less as sinister and more as "completely out of control."

[WarPig]

Spoiler for Hiden:

The kid who asked to have his picture taken so the hero could show his mommy...I about cried.  That kid did an amazing job tugging at the 'ole heartstrings.

[EddieA]

Regarding the last two episodes:

Spoiler for Hiden:

I'm just finding the bad guys' willingness to engage in splashy, loud, attention-drawing killings to be too over-the-top.  Taking down the entire Yuma FBI office?  Randomly shooting the guy to get his car?  It comes off less as sinister and more as "completely out of control."

Spoiler for Hiden:

I take it as more of a "We're so powerful and our conspiracy so vast that we can do whatever we want without worrying about the consequences."

But Blair is kind of just too pretty for me to take him seriously, I can't get past my image of him from LA Law.

That's because he looks exactly the same now as then.  I think he may be this generation's Dick Clark.

[Blackjack]

Can't we just put this entire thread in spoilers, then people can't see it unless they know the Super Secret Encrypted Password that only Jason Ritter could hack into.  

I'm starting to have this sick feeling that perhaps...

Spoiler for Hiden:

...his girlfriend is one of the Aliens (but maybe doesn't share their agenda), because otherwise why would all these people be after her? Other than that they all wanted that hot girl from Disturbia?  

[EddieA]

The show has been picked up for the entire season

[Autistic Angel]

I'm starting to have this sick feeling that perhaps...

Spoiler for Hiden:

...his girlfriend is one of the Aliens (but maybe doesn't share their agenda), because otherwise why would all these people be after her? Other than that they all wanted that hot girl from Disturbia?  

I don't think that's likely just yet.  As far as I can tell

Spoiler for Hiden:

kidnapping her and Jason Ritter were just a means to coerce her father into flying the jet into the President.  Then, when Jason Ritter used his many L33T skillz to elude capture, they decided to use her as bait to draw him out.  The end goal is to kill them both, not because they're aliens, but because they Know Too Much.

Of course, one of the best things about the Vast Shadowy Conspiracy trope is that virtually any plot twist can be justified by claiming it was actually part of the plan all along.  It makes all your plotholes magically disappear!

-Autistic Angel

[Blackjack]

The start of last night's episode made me think I'd mistakenly tuned into a zombie film. 

[rshetts2]

Well it appears that NBC feels The Event has been a sucess.  They just increased its season order from 13 to a full 22.


oh and regarding Blackjacks sick feeling: 

Spoiler for Hiden:

I have the sick feeling that the girl isnt an alien but Jason Ritter is. The girl is just bait.  Nice bait, though

[CeeKay]

Look a few post up rshetts 

[rittchard]

The start of last night's episode made me think I'd mistakenly tuned into a zombie film. 

lmao that's the same thing I said.  I was like, it's Resident Evil!  Bring on Milla Jovovovovovich!

[rittchard]

Spoiler for Hiden:

I was really happy and pleasantly surprised they didn't torment us with a prolonged capture over the whole season, I was feeling tortured already.  I love that they move the plot along so quickly and got our hero back with his girl so soon.  Also glad to see Blair step it up as President, though it's kind of hard to stomach that anyone would believe he would "execute" 90+ people as a revenge tactic.  Still wish Jack Bauer would find Mulder and Scully and take care of business 

[rshetts2]

Look a few post up rshetts 

Yeah but mine has numbers and stuff and I misspelled success and.......   ok I skimmed and missed EddieA's post  but Im glad it got expanded into a full season.  Its been decent so far and theyve done a good job of keeping things moving. 

[Blackjack]

Spoiler for Hiden:

I was really happy and pleasantly surprised they didn't torment us with a prolonged capture over the whole season, I was feeling tortured already.  I love that they move the plot along so quickly and got our hero back with his girl so soon.  Also glad to see Blair step it up as President, though it's kind of hard to stomach that anyone would believe he would "execute" 90+ people as a revenge tactic.  Still wish Jack Bauer would find Mulder and Scully and take care of business 

I liked at the end that the First Lady questioned him, along "Would you really have done that?" lines. And he wouldn't quite answer the question. Makes him more interesting as a character, imho.

[LoneStarSpur]

Really, really liking the show so far.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I really don't like how the insider 'alien' can get in to talk to Sophia so easy.
I don't think they're aliens, I think they're from the future.
I think we know for sure now that the plane disappearing or the crash landing in '44 are not the Event. "What difference does it make? They're all(?) going to die anyway."
Glad they wrapped up the kidnap thing so quickly.

[Asharak]

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think we know for sure now that the plane disappearing or the crash landing in '44 are not the Event. "What difference does it make? They're all(?) going to die anyway."

I disagree with that interpretation.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think that comment was only supposed to reference the much slower aging/longer lifespans of the aliens/prisoners/whatever. Human life seems inconsequential to them because it is so short by comparison. I share your suspicion that we haven't seen the real "Event" -- actually, whatever is to come, I'm not sure they'll ever stop hinting that there isn't more behind the next door, sadly -- but I don't think that particular comment was foreshadowing it.

- Ash

[ericb]

Really, really liking the show so far.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I really don't like how the insider 'alien' can get in to talk to Sophia so easy.
I don't think they're aliens, I think they're from the future.
I think we know for sure now that the plane disappearing or the crash landing in '44 are not the Event. "What difference does it make? They're all(?) going to die anyway."
Glad they wrapped up the kidnap thing so quickly.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I have to agree with the future human idea.  There's no way "aliens" could have evolved to be so similar and adapt so quickly to earth (culture, day to day life, diseases, etc).  I'd have to say they came back as a last ditch effort to prevent the event from happening whatever it is.

[LoneStarSpur]

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think we know for sure now that the plane disappearing or the crash landing in '44 are not the Event. "What difference does it make? They're all(?) going to die anyway."

I disagree with that interpretation.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think that comment was only supposed to reference the much slower aging/longer lifespans of the aliens/prisoners/whatever. Human life seems inconsequential to them because it is so short by comparison. I share your suspicion that we haven't seen the real "Event" -- actually, whatever is to come, I'm not sure they'll ever stop hinting that there isn't more behind the next door, sadly -- but I don't think that particular comment was foreshadowing it.

- Ash

Spoiler for Hiden:

You're probably right (I think I batted about .100 on my Lost predictions  ), but I thought that statement dovetailed nicely with the "Why bother telling them about the Event since we can't do anything about it" stuff from the first episode. I'm thinking that the Event is some kind of global catastrophe.

I haven't the slightest idea what aliens or people from the future have to do with anything, but it seems likely that they are there because of the Event (obvious I guess  ).

I'm pretty hopeful we'll find out what the Event is by the end of the season.

[Autistic Angel]

...so, what the hell happened to Sarah Roemer in last night's episode?  I haven't had any complaints about her performance as Leila in previous weeks, but her acting in this last episode was painful to watch.  I honestly can't tell if "Generic Wide-Eyed Stare" was her way of trying to play "tough," "scared," "emotionally numb," or "replaced by a pod person from beyond the moon," but since none of those states were appropriate through the entire episode, her decision to hold that one expression in every scene seems like a bad one.

Actually, since that was Jonas Pate's first turn directing an episode The Event, I'm wondering if he's to blame.  He was heavily involved in Surface, The Bionic Woman and, more recently, Caprica, and they've had more than their fair share of acting moments....

-Autistic Angel

[rittchard]

I like you guys' theory about the "aliens" being people from the future, it seems to be fit pretty well, although it would make it even more derivative of The 4400, but whatever.  If that's correct, probably The Event is some catastrophic thing (war?  solar flare?) that wipes the planet of water, etc. - so they send their best and brightest back in time to... prepare for it?  I dunno how you prepare for a solar flare besides what they did in the Sunshine movie.

Back to the show, I like that they actually featured the Asian guy and I thought he did a great job in his backstory scenes.

Also did I miss something about locations?  It seemed like Jason and his girl teleported to her house from Texas?

Spoiler for Hiden:

I was sure they were going to kill him off but they kind of ruined it by showing him in the preview.

[CeeKay]

I like you guys' theory about the "aliens" being people from the future, it seems to be fit pretty well, although it would make it even more derivative of The 4400, but whatever. 

did they ever establish where the 4400 came back from?

[theohall]

Also did I miss something about locations?  It seemed like Jason and his girl teleported to her house from Texas?

Would you care to guess the ridiculous number of shows that completely ignore time in relation to distance?  Or movies for that matter?  There are lots of "bad guys are somewhere in Europe" moments, it is night time in the States, yet magically, the good guys appear in Europe in the day-time of the same day.     Nevermind Europe being 5-8 hours ahead of the US depending on time of year and country.

Go watch Iron Man or Die Hard With a Vengeance and explain to me how they get to locations in such short time frames without teleporting around or something.  Especially Obadiah in Iron Man when he doesn't have a jet pack, yet.

[EddieA]

Actually, since that was Jonas Pate's first turn directing an episode The Event, I'm wondering if he's to blame.

I rarely notice how a show is directed, but I did with this episode.  There were lots of weird camera angles, where it seemed like we were watching the scene from some mysterious onlooker's point of view, but we weren't.  The oddest was when Sean and Leila were in the car and we got a shot consisting mostly of the car seats' headrests.  Also, they usually flash the time period on the screen, but they neglected to mention that (presumably) a day or two passed while they drove to Leila's house, making it seem as if they had taken one of those portals there.  I really liked the collapse of the building, though.

did they ever establish where the 4400 came back from?

Spoiler for Hiden:

They were from the future.  The human race has almost destroyed itself, so they sent the 4400 back to set humanity on a better path.

[LoneStarSpur]

I'm not so sure about the 'from the future' thing now. I had just watched 12 Monkeys when I wrote that. 

Was the location of Leila's home ever really identified? I was assuming it was in Florida, but it might have actually been in Texas.

Still really liking it.

[Isgrimnur]

An Event wiki has the hometown listed as Atlanta. 

[EddieA]

Although it seemed like they were setting up the "Others" (for lack of a better word) as coming from the future to avert a catastrophic event, that doesn't seem to fit anymore.  If they were from a horrible future, why would Thomas be so desperate to get them back to it?  They did drop a few hints about where they were from in the last episode - Simon mentioned that there's no water there and Sophia seemed to react to the dog as if she had never seen one before.

[metallicorphan]

too much jumping back and forward, I'll give it a few more episodes to get into it's stride before making a final decision.

exactly my thoughts,i have just watched the first episode on the CH4 on demand thing we have here(they have the first 6 episodes available),and i haven't read the rest of this thread,but damn that jumping back and forth pissed me right off

Present day>>11 days earlier>>present day>>13 months earlier>>>present day>>>8 days earlier>>>present day

[Asharak]

Present day>>11 days earlier>>present day>>13 months earlier>>>present day>>>8 days earlier>>>present day

That happens far less in the subsequent episodes. They make consistent use of flashbacks in every episode but it's far more restrained, generally focusing on only a single story line and single time period for the flashback per episode.

- Ash

[metallicorphan]

yeah i have watched the 4 episodes now(it was 4 that was available not 6)episode 5 is on this Friday,so we are about 3 episodes behind you guys...it did get better especially with the timelines,so i am gonna stick with it,for now at least

i see that the viewing figures for each episode have dropped a lot(last episode was 5 and a Half million while the first episode was 11 million),i hope it at least runs so it has an outcome at the end and not cut off prematurely

i didn't know the lead kid who plays Sean was John Ritters son,i always liked John Ritter

[metallicorphan]

The Presidents wife is pissing me off

[LoneStarSpur]

Good show last night after last week's disappointment.

[Graham]

So, I have watched the first episode, but that's it.  Is it worth watching the other episodes?

[metallicorphan]

i need to catch up as i have missed the last two episodes

Graham-i wasn't so sure about the series after watching the first episode,but it does get better,and those flashbacks/whatever do calm down some in later episodes(but they do still happen)

[CeeKay]

So, I have watched the first episode, but that's it.  Is it worth watching the other episodes?

it gets better, and they're quicker to resolve mysteries than a lot of shows like this.  it kind of sucks there's a just under three month break before the next episode.