22 September 2010

First Thoughts: The Event

On The Event, in last night's premiere. Sean (played by Jason Ritter) asked his girlfriend, Leila, this:

Boyfriend: How's the water?
And she told him how great it was. Which meant, she took a dip and swam, right? To say how great it was, she wouldn't just be standing in the water?

Because, she came out of it looking this awesome:


Her hair's not even wet!!! Maybe she walked over water?  Or just waded through and from it. Of course, this observation has nothing to do with the actual program. I only pointed it out because...there was nothing else to nitpick about The Event.

Not to say that it was great. I wouldn't want to be too quick to declare this. Especially not after Flashforward last season (which started out with a lot of promise but didn't really deliver).

But I sat there enjoying the series, that I think I applauded more than once. I like the disorder, that it didn't follow the proper sequence of telling a story. It was not easy to tell where was the beginning, the middle or the end, without the subheadings. I like the suspense. I like the mystery of whatever is behind the conspiracy.

Somewhere in the middle of The Event, I was beginning to hope Jack Bauer would miraculously appear.  It was frustrating to watch Sean trying to "stop a terrorist" on the plane. And just as I was about to tell myself this was like 24 all over again....that plane zapped and disappeared in mid-air, leaving me with my mouth open.

What exactly was that and what's the big Event?

My hope for this series is that we get the answers as soon as possible. My hope is that we don't get thrown in a loop because I think it will have to take a decade before anyone who has seen Lost to ever really get over Lost. I know many writers are aspiring to do "the next Lost". But let's face it, there's only one like that series. So, the rest of you have to come up with something more clever to keep the viewers intrigued.