The Event – “I Haven’t Told You Everything” – review

• Tweet
• Pin It

There’s a mysterious new show on the horizon. Its NBC’s The Event, and I watched the season premiere last night.

As The Event unraveled, it reminded me of a whole slew of other shows and films. For instance, much of the plot in the pilot episode takes place from the POV of one character until we break, survey what happened days or hours prior, and then see the action again, this time from the POV of someone else. The political action thriller film Vantage Point was much the same.

In fact, speaking of Matthew Fox roles, The Event also feels eerily similar to Lost.  I felt like I was having a vague Lost deja vu.  There’s a mystery.  There’s an airplane.  There’s some suspenseful action.  Heck, there’s even a beach.

Of course, you don’t really know why any of it is happening, and that’s why I was also reminded of Fringe. Unfortunately, I dislike Fringe. Even as an enormous J.J. Abrams fan, I hated that so many episodes passed me by without revealing what in the world was going on in that series. I will only allow a series to string me along for so long. Then I want some answers. That’s why I enjoyed the X-Files so much:  by the end of the episode the phenomena either had a scientific explanation or a supernatural one or both. You were rarely left feeling dumb and confused.

But I digress.

Also, in a fashion somewhat similar to Heroes, the pilot episode identified key players in this intriguing game that’s afoot. We meet them and try to piece together what purpose each serves in the grand scheme. (That’s how Flash-Forward worked, too.)  Among them:

• Asian-American hottie Ian Anthony Dale who seems to be some kind of investigator or clandestine agent,
• Blair Underwood as the President who is of Cuban descent (yeah, that’s believable.  Not.),
• ER‘s Laura Innes (how refreshing to see her not play a jerk) as a super secret detained convict,
• Scott Patterson (Luke of Gilmore Girls) as a commercial airlines pilot and main character Sean’s would be father-in-law,
• and Sean, portrayed by Jason Ritter.

Now, what kept me watching The Event, even after it kept jumping around in chronology like Marty Mcfly on drugs, was actor Jason Ritter. This is actually a moment of truth for Ritter. It’s an opportunity to escape the shadow of his famous dad and solidify himself as a leading man. So far, Mr. Ritter, you are doing an awesome job!

Most of the pilot, in fact, revolves around his character Sean, even though it is clear that something much bigger and probably barely related to him and his life is going on. SPOILER ALERT! His girlfriend’s little sister is kidnapped while she and Sean are on a cruise. Then the girlfriend is possibly kidnapped, too, right from the cruise ship while Sean is snorkeling. Sean then tries to hijack an airplane! The airplane is meant to missile into the President (Underwood) and kill him. In the final minutes, however, you realize your intuition is correct. Sean is trying to save the plane, not crash it. And it’s his almost father-in-law, the pilot, who is dooming the flight. Could be because his daughters keep turning up missing. What do you think?

Meanwhile, some days before a plane targets the President, he learns of a secret prison located in Alaska. I kept waiting to hear a Sarah Palin reference, but there were none. When he finds out he wants it shut down. Remind you of anyone? But he, of course, wants to visit it first. When he does, despite bucking from his advisers, which include the pale, sinister Zeljko Ivanek as Director of National Intelligence, Blake Sterling. There he meets female prisoner Sophia (Innes) who we the audience know had a meeting much earlier with secret agent man Simon Lee (Dale). These two seem to know more about the event than anyone else, but Sophia most of all.

What was the Event? Did witnessing it or causing it get Sophia locked up in the super secret Alaska prison that even the President didn’t know existed?

I can tell you, SUPER SPOILER ALERT that in the end, even as Sean fails to prevent the airplane from barreling down toward the Nation’s leader, something inexplicable happens. A portal, a wizardly vortex, if you will, opens storm like in the center of the sky and promptly swallows the plane, allowing it to disappear without a trace just moments before it can kill the President, his family, and Sophia. Remember, Sean and his girlfriend’s father are on that plane.

“I haven’t told you everything,” Sophia tells President Martinez after the strange event that is not the main event. Thus ends episode one. I suspect aliens. What about you?

Want more of The Event? TV Squad delivered 10 Things to Know about The Event. One of those is the tidbit that each character will have a feed you can follow on Twitter. Maybe we can get some clues that way! Can’t wait to see how Sean put everything together about his disappearing almost-relatives and got himself on that airplane with a gun. I’ll keep watching!